Space Exploration News

Saturn’s Rings are Disappearing at Rapid Pace

With Saturn hanging in the blackness and sheltering NASA’ Cassini spacecraft from the Sun’s blinding glare, the probe viewed Saturn’s rings as never before, revealing previously unknown faint rings and even glimpsing its home world. Image credit: NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute.
Dec 18, 2018 by News Staff

A team of planetary researchers from the United States and the United Kingdom has discovered that Saturn’s rings are younger than previously thought and that they are actually disappearing at a rapid pace through a process called ‘ring rain.’ The findings were published in the journal Icarus. With Saturn hanging in the blackness and sheltering NASA’ Cassini spacecraft from the Sun’s blinding glare, the probe viewed Saturn’s rings as never...

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An artist’s rendering of the Europa ‘tunnelbot.’ Image credit: Alexander Pawlusik, LERCIP Internship Program, NASA’s Glenn Research Center.

Nuclear-Powered Tunneling Probe to Search for Extraterrestrial Life on Europa

Dec 17, 2018 by News Staff

A liquid ocean in contact with a silicate interior makes Jupiter’s icy moon Europa a prime location for life. This possibility is compounded if geologic...

This composite image of Ultima Thule was taken just 33 hours before the December 2 course-correction maneuver that fine-tuned New Horizons’ trajectory for its New Year’s flyby. At left is the full LORRI image with a yellow circle centered on the location of Ultima Thule. Unlike the LORRI images taken in August through October 2018, the object is now evident among the many background stars even without further processing. Nevertheless, Ultima Thule really stands out after subtracting the background stars; the region within the yellow box has been expanded in the star-subtracted version of the image on the right. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft Captures New Images of Ultima Thule

Dec 14, 2018 by News Staff

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has returned new images captured on approach to its next flyby target, the Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69, also known as...

This false-color image shows the dwarf planet Ceres. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

Dwarf Planet Ceres Has Carbon-Rich Surface, Study Suggests

Dec 13, 2018 by News Staff

The surface of the dwarf planet Ceres may contain several times the concentration of carbon than is present in the most carbon-rich, primitive meteorites...

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7302

NASA’s InSight Lander Snaps Gorgeous Selfie on Mars

Dec 12, 2018 by News Staff

On December 6, 2018, NASA’s InSight lander used a camera on its robotic arm to snap a view of itself and the surroundings. Visible in the selfie are...

An artist concept of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. Image credit: NASA / Goddard.

OSIRIS-REx Finds Water-Bearing Minerals on Asteroid Bennu

Dec 11, 2018 by News Staff

New data from two instruments on NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft — the OSIRIS-REx Visible and Infrared Spectrometer (OVIRS) and the OSIRIS-REx Thermal...

This illustration shows the position of NASA’s Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes, outside of the heliosphere, a protective bubble created by the Sun that extends well past the orbit of Pluto. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Voyager 2 Reaches Interstellar Space

Dec 11, 2018 by News Staff

Forty-one years after it launched into space, NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft has crossed the outer edge of the heliosphere. Called the heliopause, this...

This image from InSight’s robotic-arm mounted Instrument Deployment Camera shows the instruments on the spacecraft’s deck, with the Martian surface of Elysium Planitia in the background. The color-calibrated picture was acquired on December 4, 2018 (Sol 8); in the foreground, a copper-colored hexagonal cover protects the SEIS seismometer; the gray dome behind SEIS is the wind and thermal shield, which will be placed over SEIS; to the left is a black cylindrical instrument, the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Probe (HP3); HP3 will drill up to 16 feet (5 m) below the Martian surface, measuring heat released from the interior of the planet; above the deck is InSight’s robotic arm, with the stowed grapple directly facing the camera; to the right can be seen a small portion of one of the two solar panels that help power InSight and part of the UHF communication antenna. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

InSight Records Sound of Wind on Mars

Dec 10, 2018 by News Staff

On December 1, 2018, NASA’s InSight lander captured a haunting low rumble caused by vibrations from the Martian wind, estimated to be blowing between...

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is on a mission to explore the asteroid Bennu and return a sample to Earth. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab.

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Arrives at Asteroid Bennu

Dec 4, 2018 by News Staff

After traveling through space for more than two years and 1.2 billion miles (2 billion km), NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource...

InSight flipped open the lens cover on its Instrument Context Camera (ICC) on November 30, 2018, and captured this view of Mars. Located below the deck of the InSight lander, the ICC has a fisheye view, creating a curved horizon. Some clumps of dust are still visible on the camera’s lens. One of the spacecraft’s footpads can be seen in the lower right corner. The seismometer’s tether box is in the upper left corner. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

InSight Landed inside Sand-Filled Crater, NASA Researchers Say

Dec 3, 2018 by News Staff

On November 26, 2018, NASA’s InSight probe touched down on the western side of a flat, smooth expanse of lava called Elysium Planitia. Now the mission...

InSight Successfully Lands on Mars, Sends First Images

Nov 27, 2018 by News Staff

After an almost seven-month, 300-million-mile (458 million km) journey from Earth, NASA’s InSight lander successfully touched down Monday, November 26,...

This is an illustration showing a simulated view of NASA’s InSight lander about to land on the surface of Mars. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

InSight Landing on Mars: Watch Live

Nov 26, 2018 by News Staff

NASA’s Mars Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) lander is scheduled to touch down on the Red Planet...

Martian moon Phobos. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona.

Martian Moon Phobos Got Its Strange Grooves from Rolling Boulders

Nov 22, 2018 by News Staff

New research from Brown University reinforces the idea that grooves crisscrossing the surface of Phobos, the larger of the two Martian moons, were made...

The four MMS spacecraft -- shown here in an artist’s concept -- have made more than 4,000 trips through the boundaries of Earth’s magnetic field. Image credit: NASA / Goddard / Conceptual Image Lab.

NASA’s MMS Mission Maps Magnetic Reconnection in Earth’s Magnetotail

Nov 20, 2018 by News Staff

 NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission consists of four identical spacecraft that orbit around Earth through the dynamic magnetic system surrounding...

Jezero Crater, one of the paleolakes examined in the study, is a paleolake and potential landing site for NASA’s Mars 2020 rover mission to look for past life; the outlet canyon carved by overflow flooding is visible in the upper right side of the crater; ancient rivers carved the inlets on the left side of the crater. Image credit: NASA / Tim Goudge.

Massive Floods Created Huge Canyons near Ancient Martian Lakes

Nov 19, 2018 by News Staff

From studying rock formations from satellite images, planetary researchers know that hundreds of craters across the Martian surface were once filled with...

This image captured by NASA’s Juno orbiter shows a multitude of magnificent, swirling clouds in Jupiter’s North North Temperate Belt. The image was taken at 4:58 p.m. EDT on October 29, 2018 (1:58 p.m. PDT) as the spacecraft performed its 16th close flyby of Jupiter. At the time, Juno was about 4,400 miles (7,000 km) from the planet’s cloud tops, at a latitude of approximately 40 degrees north. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Gerald Eichstaedt / Sean Doran.

Juno Takes Closer Look at Jupiter’s Magnificent, Swirling Clouds

Nov 13, 2018 by News Staff

NASA’s Juno spacecraft made its 16th close science flyby of Jupiter on October 29, 2018 and captured stunning images of the gas giant. This image captured...

Photograph of the 5,000th sunrise over Mars captured by NASA’s Opportunity rover. Image credit: NASA.

Researchers Capture Sound of Martian Sunrise

Nov 9, 2018 by News Staff

A team of researchers from Anglia Ruskin University and the University of Exeter, UK, has created the soundtrack of the Martian sunrise captured by NASA’s...

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe approaching the Sun. Image credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.

Parker Solar Probe Makes Its First Close Approach to the Sun

Nov 8, 2018 by News Staff

On November 5, 2018, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe achieved its first perihelion — its first close approach to the Sun — and flew within 15 million...

Three waves can be seen in this image, which is an excerpt of a JunoCam image taken on February 2, 2017, during Juno’s fourth flyby of Jupiter. The region imaged in this picture is part of the visibly dark band just north of Jupiter’s equator known as the North Equatorial Belt. Most of this belt is characterized by downwelling motions, but during the fourth flyby it had several bright areas of upwelling clouds. One of those upwelling clouds appears to be accompanied by dark regions, which are most likely shadows. The shadow associated with the center of the three waves is about 25 miles (40 km) long; from the angle of illumination, researchers deduced that the shadowed part of the wave must be around 4 miles (7 km) above the main cloud deck, with the peak of the wave probably close to 6 miles (10 km) above the main cloud deck. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / JunoCam.

Juno Spots ‘Waves Trains’ in Jovian Atmosphere

Nov 6, 2018 by News Staff

NASA’s Juno orbiter has detected ‘wave trains’ — massive structures of moving air that appear like waves — in the atmosphere of Jupiter. Three...

This artist’s concept shows NASA’s Dawn spacecraft arriving at Ceres. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

NASA’s Dawn Mission Ends as Spacecraft Runs Out of Fuel

Nov 2, 2018 by News Staff

NASA declares Dawn, a mission to the two largest bodies in the Solar System’s main asteroid belt, Vesta and Ceres, over after the spacecraft depletes...

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