Space Exploration News

This image shows a region of Mars named Deuteronilus Mensae. The oblique perspective view was generated using a digital terrain model and Mars Express data gathered on February 25, 2018. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

ESA’s Mars Express Orbiter Spots Fractured Ice Sheets

Nov 26, 2019 by News Staff

The two Martian hemispheres are drastically different; the smooth northern lowlands sit up to 3 km below the rugged southern highlands, and the surface...

SEM image of the Acfer 094 polished section. CAI - Ca-Al-rich inclusion. Image credit: Matsumoto et al, doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aax5078.

Scientists Find Fossil Asteroidal Ice in Meteorite

Nov 26, 2019 by News Staff

An international team of scientists from the UK and Japan has found ‘fossilized asteroidal ice’ and pristine dust materials in a 4.6-billion-year-old...

Wing of Mars insect caught on the rover; inset: enlarged portion of wing. Image credit: William Romoser, doi: 10.13140/RG.2.2.12363.95520.

NASA Photos Show Insect- and Reptile-Like Life Forms on Mars, Entomologist Says

Nov 21, 2019 by News Staff

Ohio University Emeritus Professor William Romoser has analyzed photos from NASA’s various Mars rovers, mostly from the rover Curiosity, and found insect/arthropod-...

A model of the molecular structure of ribose and an image of the Murchison meteorite. Image credit: Yoshihiro Furukawa.

Researchers Find Extraterrestrial Sugars in Meteorites

Nov 20, 2019 by News Staff

An international team of scientists from Japan and the United States has found ribose and other bioessential sugars in two primitive meteorites, NWA 801...

The global geologic map of Titan. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU.

Researchers Create Global Geologic Map of Saturn’s Moon Titan

Nov 19, 2019 by News Staff

Using radar and infrared data from NASA’s Cassini orbiter spacecraft, a team of planetary geologists has identified and mapped the major geological units...

This image from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows Jezero Crater on Mars, the landing site for NASA’s Mars 2020 mission. On ancient Mars, water carved channels and transported sediments to form fans and deltas within lake basins. Examination of spectral data acquired from orbit show that some of these sediments have minerals that indicate chemical alteration by water. Here in Jezero Crater delta, sediments contain clays and carbonates. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS / JHU-APL.

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Finds Hydrated Silica in Jezero Crater

Nov 14, 2019 by News Staff

Using data from the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) instrument aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, researchers have...

This composite image of Ultima Thule was compiled from data obtained by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft as it flew by the object on January 1, 2019. The image combines enhanced color data (close to what the human eye would see) with detailed high-resolution panchromatic pictures. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute / Roman Tkachenko.

Kuiper Belt Object Ultima Thule Has New Name: Arrokoth

Nov 13, 2019 by News Staff

Ultima Thule (also known as 2014 MU69), the Kuiper Belt Object that was the target of the January 1, 2019 flyby by NASA’s New Horizons mission, has been...

Curiosity rover took this selfie on October 11, 2019. The rover drilled twice in this location, nicknamed Glen Etive. Just left of the rover are the two drill holes, called Glen Etive 1 (right) and Glen Etive 2 (left). Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS.

New Martian Mystery: Oxygen

Nov 12, 2019 by News Staff

The Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument onboard NASA’s Curiosity rover has measured the seasonal changes in the gases that fill the air directly...

NASA’s Voyager 2 Spacecraft Sends Back New Data on Interstellar Space

Nov 5, 2019 by News Staff

In November 2018, NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft became only the second human-made object to cross the outer edge of the Sun’s heliosphere, the bubble...

Area of the study: (a) Valles Marineris, Mars, showing the location of the landslide in Coprates Chasma (white box); (b) stereo-derived DEMs; (c and d) study areas within which morphological and morphometric characterization is conducted; burgundy lines: topographic profiles, numbered from proximal to distal edge of the landslide deposit; blue lines: longitudinal ridges; (e) oblique view of the landslide object of the study; red lines represent topographic profiles, numbered from proximal to distal area (following flow direction). Image credit: Magnarini et al, doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-12734-0.

Planetary Researchers Analyze Structure of Giant Martian Landslide

Oct 25, 2019 by News Staff

Unusually large and long ridges documented in massive landslides across our Solar System are commonly associated with the presence of ancient ice layers....

Curiosity Rover Snaps New Selfie on Mars

Oct 25, 2019 by News Staff

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity snapped a view of itself and its surroundings on October 11, 2019 (the 2,553rd Martian day, or Sol, of its mission). The...

The moons of our Solar System are brimming with unusual landscapes. However, sometimes they look a little more familiar, as in this new radar image from the Cassini orbiter. The image shows dark streaks carved into dunes reminiscent of those we might find on a beach on Earth, or raked with flowing lines in a Japanese Zen garden — but this scene is actually taking place on Saturn’s moon Titan. While our sand is composed of silicates, the ‘sand’ of these alien dunes is formed from grains of organic materials about the same size as particles of our beach sand. The small size and smoothness of these grains means that the flowing lines carved into the dunes show up as dark to the human eye. While previous images have spotted these eerily familiar patterns on Titan's dunes, this new image (colorized) shows them in greater detail. The image was obtained by Cassini's radar mapper on July 10, 2013. The vertical seam near the center is an artifact of radar image data processing. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Sci-News.com.

Researchers Unravel Origin and Chemical Composition of Titan’s Mysterious Dunes

Oct 22, 2019 by News Staff

Vast longitudinal dunes up to 330 feet (100 m) in height in the equatorial deserts of Saturn’s moon Titan are the Solar System’s most monumental surface...

Venus in real colors, processed from Mariner 10 images. Image credit: Mattias Malmer / NASA.

Venus May Never Have Been Wet and Warm World

Oct 16, 2019 by News Staff

A team of planetary researchers from the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) and elsewhere has found that a volcanic flow on Venus’ Ovda Regio highlands...

Wamelink et al were able to harvest radishes and radish seeds, cress and cress seeds, rye seeds, rocket, tomatoes and peas on Mars and Moon soil simulants. This photo shows experimental trays on April 16, 2015, seven days after sowing. Image credit: Wamelink et al, doi: 10.1515/opag-2019-0051.

Tomatoes, Peas and Several Other Crops Grow Well in Simulated Martian and Lunar Dirt

Oct 15, 2019 by Natali Anderson

A new experiment conducted by researchers at the Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands shows that it’s possible to grow crops on Martian...

Lunar Water Ice May Have Multiple Sources, Researchers Say

Oct 11, 2019 by News Staff

Lunar orbiters such as India’s Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft and NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) recently detected water icy on the floor of some...

This image, taken by ESA’s Mars Express on November 16, 2018, shows Nirgal Vallis on Mars. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

ESA’s Mars Express Orbiter Spots Ancient River System

Oct 10, 2019 by News Staff

A new image from the High Resolution Stereo Camera onboard ESA’s Mars Express shows the part of Nirgal Vallis, a dried-up river valley on Mars. This...

NASA’s Voyager spacecraft, one in the heliosheath and the other just beyond in interstellar space, took measurements as a solar event known as a global merged interaction region passed by each spacecraft four months apart. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Mary Pat Hrybyk-Keith.

Researchers Measure Pressure in Solar System’s Heliosheath

Oct 9, 2019 by News Staff

Using data from NASA’s Voyager spacecraft, a team of scientists has calculated the total pressure from particles in the outer region of the Solar System,...

Lithology of sulfate enrichments in Gale Crater, Mars: (a) magnesium sulfate-enriched lithology within multiple parallel horizons (red arrows) on a large block of bedrock; (b) calcium sulfate enrichments as erosion-resistant horizons (red arrows) in mudstone; (c) multiple horizons (red arrows) where euhedral white crystals and heterogeneous calcium sulfate and magnesium sulfate enrichments were observed; (d) exposed blocks at Old Soaker with desiccation cracks; circles represent the locations of Curiosity’s ChemCam targets with calcium sulfate enrichments (red) and without (blue); (e, f) close-up images of a mudstone and a sandstone enriched in calcium sulfate; (g) close-up image of bedrock with white euhedral crystals along with empty casts/moulds. Image credit: Rapin et al, doi: 10.1038/s41561-019-0458-8.

Salt-Rich Deposits Point to Ancient Briny Ponds in Mars’ Gale Crater

Oct 8, 2019 by News Staff

NASA’s Curiosity rover recently discovered rocks enriched in mineral salts within the 3.7-billion-year-old Gale Crater on Mars. According to a new paper...

This artist’s painting of the south polar region of Enceladus shows massive jets of water ice being blasted into space. Image credit: Karl Kofoed / NASA.

Scientists Find Low-Mass Organic Compounds in Ice Grains from Enceladus’ Plume

Oct 3, 2019 by News Staff

Saturn’s moon Enceladus is erupting a plume of gas and ice grains from its south pole. According to new research using data from NASA’s Cassini mission,...