Space Exploration News

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.

Cassini Detects Organic Molecules in Freshly Ejected Ice Grains from Enceladus’ Ocean

Oct 7, 2025 by News Staff

Saturn’s moon Enceladus continuously ejects a plume of ice grains and gases originating from its subsurface ocean via fractures near its south pole....

Global map of the albedo from the 750 nm filter of the UV-VIS camera onboard NASA’s Clementine spacecraft. The image shows the near side and far side of the Moon in Lambert, equal-area projection. Image credit: NASA.

Moon’s Far Side is Colder than Near Side, New Research Suggests

Oct 6, 2025 by News Staff

The stark contrast between the Moon’s near side and far side in topography, volcanic activity and crustal structure provides critical insights into lunar...

Spectrally distinct units at the Juventae Plateau, Mars. Image credit: Bishop et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-61801-2.

Planetary Scientists Discover New Mineral on Mars

Oct 6, 2025 by News Staff

The newly-discovered mineral, named ferric hydroxysulfate, provides clues about the environment and history of the Red Planet, including the possibility...

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.

Jezero Crater Experienced Multiple Episodes of Fluid Activity, New Study Confirms

Sep 23, 2025 by News Staff

Minerals are the building blocks of rocks, and the types of minerals and their chemistry provide critical information about rock formation and history....

This image of the asteroid Ryugu was captured by the Optical Navigation Camera - Telescopic (ONC-T) on JAXA’s Hayabusa-2 spacecraft on June 26, 2018, from a distance of 13.7 miles (22 km). Image credit: JAXA / University of Tokyo / Kochi University / Rikkyo University / Nagoya University / Chiba Institute of Technology / Meiji University / Aizu University / AIST.

Liquid Water Once Flowed on Asteroid Ryugu’s Parent Body, Scientists Say

Sep 22, 2025 by News Staff

This water flow occurred on an ancient asteroid more than one billion years after its formation and was probably triggered by an impact that generated...

Detections of near-infrared emissions in Saturn’s ionosphere (left) show dark bead-like features embedded within bright aurora; in the stratosphere (right), 500 km below, a lopsided star-pattern extends towards the equator. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / Stallard et al.

Webb Detects Complex Structures in Upper Atmosphere of Saturn

Sep 19, 2025 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA James Webb Space Telescope have detected a series of dark, bead-like and asymmetric star-shaped features in the ionosphere...

Map of the ananguites strewn field, based on the tektite locations. Image credit: Musolino et al., doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2025.119600.

New Type of Tektite Reveals 11-Million-Year-Old Asteroid Impact in Australia

Sep 18, 2025 by News Staff

Tektites are nearly pure glasses (practically no crystalline inclusions) created when a space rock slams into Earth, melting surface material and hurling...

Perspective view of Mars’ north polar ice cap and its distinctive dark troughs forming a spiral-like pattern. The view is based on images taken by ESA’s Mars Express and generated using elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on board NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / NASA / MGS / MOLA Science Team.

Martian North Polar Vortex Creates Seasonal Ozone Layer, Planetary Scientists Say

Sep 17, 2025 by News Staff

The polar vortex is a consequence of Martian seasons, which occur because the planet’s axis is tilted at an angle of 25.2 degrees, according to University...

This map shows the size and shape of the ozone hole over the South Pole on October 5, 2022, when it reached its single-day maximum extent for the year. Image credit: Joshua Stevens / NASA’s Earth Observatory.

Earth’s Ozone Layer Remains on Track to Recovery in Coming Decades, Experts Say

Sep 17, 2025 by News Staff

The ozone layer is healing and the Antarctic ozone hole in 2024 was smaller than in previous years, according to a new report from the World Meteorological...

Saturn’s moon Enceladus with a plume. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SSI / Kevin M. Gill.

Planetary Scientists Question Ocean Origin of Organic Molecules in Enceladus’ Plumes

Sep 16, 2025 by News Staff

Saturn’s magnetosphere contains trapped plasma and energetic charged particles which constantly irradiate the surface of Enceladus. The plasma consists...

This artist’s impression shows how Mars may have looked about 4 billion years ago. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Perseverance Finds Potential Chemical Signatures of Ancient Microbial Life on Mars

Sep 10, 2025 by News Staff

NASA’s Perseverance rover has explored and sampled igneous and sedimentary rocks within Jezero crater to characterize early Martian geological processes...

Protopapa et al. used Webb observations (white) to detect methane gas on Makemake; sharp emission peaks near 3.3 microns reveal methane in the gas phase above Makemake’s surface; a continuum model (cyan) is overlaid for comparison; the gas emission peaks are identified where the observed spectrum rises above the continuum. Image credit: S. Protopapa / I. Wong / SwRI / STScI / NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb.

Webb Detects Methane Gas on Dwarf Planet Makemake

Sep 9, 2025 by News Staff

Using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have found evidence for gaseous methane on the distant dwarf planet Makemake. Reported in...

Hubble captured this image of 3I/ATLAS on July 21, 2025, when the comet was 446 million km (277 million miles) from Earth. Image credit: NASA / ESA / David Jewitt, UCLA / Joseph DePasquale, STScI.

Planetary Scientists Propose Mission to Explore Next Interstellar Comets

Sep 4, 2025 by News Staff

Planetary researchers at Southwest Research Institute has completed a study detailing how a proposed spacecraft could fly by an interstellar comet, providing...

Juno capturing the marks on Jupiter of all four Galilean moons; the aurorae related to each are labeled Io, Eur (for Europa), Gan (for Ganymede), and Cal (for Callisto). Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / UVS Team / MSSS / Gill / Jónsson / Perry / Hue / Rabia.

Juno Observes Ultraviolet Satellite Footprint of Jupiter’s Moon Callisto

Sep 4, 2025 by News Staff

Jupiter hosts the brightest and most spectacular aurorae in the Solar System. Near its poles, these shimmering lights offer a glimpse into how the planet...

STP-Sat6. Image credit: Northrop Grumman.

Study Reveals Cause of Potentially Damaging Electrical Discharges on Satellites

Sep 1, 2025 by News Staff

Using data collected by sensors on the U.S. Department of Defense Space Test Program Satellite 6 (STP-Sat6) in geostationary orbit, scientists have found...

A giant collision in the early history of Mars created a global magma ocean. Image credit: Vadim Sadovski / Imperial College London.

Martian Mantle Holds Frozen Record of Planet’s Violent Beginnings, Study Suggests

Aug 28, 2025 by News Staff

The mantle of Mars contains ancient fragments up to 4 km wide from its formation — preserved like geological fossils from the planet’s violent...

Asteroids Bennu and Ryugu are Part of Polana Collisional Family, Webb Observations Suggest

Aug 26, 2025 by News Staff

The new Polana collisional family in the Solar System’s main asteroid belt is the hypothesized origin of the near-Earth asteroids (101955) Bennu, which...

This mosaic image of asteroid Bennu is composed of 12 images collected on December 2, 2018 by OSIRIS-REx’s PolyCam instrument from a range of 15 miles (24 km). Image credit: NASA / NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / University of Arizona.

Elements in Samples from Asteroid Bennu Reflect Composition of Early Solar System, Study Says

Aug 26, 2025 by News Staff

The first bodies to form in the Solar System acquired their materials from stars, the presolar molecular cloud and the protoplanetary disk. Asteroids that...

This illustration depicts the interior of Ceres, including the transfer of water and gases from the rocky core to a reservoir of salty water; carbon dioxide and methane are among the molecules carrying chemical energy beneath Ceres’ surface. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Dwarf Planet Ceres May Have Had Lasting Source of Chemical Energy to Fuel Habitability

Aug 20, 2025 by News Staff

Although there is no evidence that microorganisms ever existed on Ceres, the results of a new study support theories that this dwarf planet may have once...