Space Exploration News

This computer-generated view depicts part of Mars at the boundary between darkness and daylight. At top right is NWA 7034. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of New Mexico / Sci-News.com.

New Secrets Revealed about Ancient Mars from ‘Black Beauty’ Meteorite

Oct 20, 2016 by James Romero

New analysis of the most famous Martian meteorite ever recovered has changed our understanding of the early volcanic history and evolution of the Red Planet....

ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter at Mars. Image credit: D. Ducros / ESA.

ExoMars TGO Successfully Enters Mars Orbit, Schiaparelli Situation under Assessment

Oct 19, 2016 by News Staff

ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) has entered an elliptical orbit around Mars, while contact has not yet been confirmed with the Schiaparelli lander. ESA’s...

Artist’s impression of New Horizons encountering a Pluto-like object in the distant Kuiper Belt. Image credit: NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI / Alex Parker.

Scientists Determine Color of Kuiper Belt Objects JR1 and MU69

Oct 19, 2016 by Natali Anderson

According to a team of researchers led by Southwest Research Institute scientist Simon Porter, Kuiper belt objects (KBO) JR1 and MU69 are as red as, if...

Artist’s impression depicting the separation of the Schiaparelli module from the Trace Gas Orbiter, and heading for Mars. Image credit: D. Ducros / ESA.

ExoMars 2016 Arrival and Landing: Watch Live

Oct 19, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Artist’s impression depicting the separation of the Schiaparelli module from the Trace Gas Orbiter, and heading for Mars. Image credit: D. Ducros / ESA. ESA’s...

MAVEN obtained this image of rapid cloud formation on Mars in July 2016. Image credit: NASA / MAVEN / University of Colorado.

MAVEN Ultraviolet Images Reveal Hidden Secrets of Mars

Oct 18, 2016 by News Staff

New images from NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft show the ultraviolet glow from the Red Planet’s atmosphere in detail,...

Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko likely spent millions of years in the scattering disk, a distant portion of the Kuiper belt. Image credit: Mattia Galiazzo / Paul Wiegert.

Researchers Predict Possible Birthplace of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Oct 17, 2016 by News Staff

Using statistical analysis and computing, a duo of researchers at Western University in Canada has charted a path that likely pinpoints the origins of...

Artist’s impression visualizing the ExoMars 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter, with its thrusters firing, beginning its entry into Mars orbit on October 19, 2016. Image credit: ESA / ATG Medialab.

ExoMars-2016 Mission Approaches Red Planet

Oct 16, 2016 by News Staff

Artist’s impression visualizing the ExoMars 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter, with its thrusters firing, beginning its entry into Mars orbit on October 19, 2016....

According to Prof. Limoli and co-authors, deep space travel poses a real and unique threat to astronauts. Image credit: Das Wortgewand.

Deep Space Travel Poses Unique Threat to Astronauts, Researchers Say

Oct 11, 2016 by News Staff

Exposure to highly energetic charged particles can lead to a range of potential central nervous system complications that can occur during and persist...

Two 2001 images from NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor orbiter show a dramatic change in the Red Planet’s appearance when haze raised by dust-storm activity in the south became globally distributed. At left, an image from late June 2001 shows clear conditions over much of Mars, with regional dust-storm activity occurring in the Hellas basin (bright oval feature) near the edge of the south polar cap. At right, a July 2001 image from the same perspective shows the planet almost completely enveloped. Dust extends to altitudes of more than 37 miles (60 km) during global-scale dust storms. Image credit: NASA / JPL / MSSS.

Global-Scale Dust Storm Could Hit Mars within Months, Warn NASA Researchers

Oct 10, 2016 by News Staff

A global-scale dust storm could envelop the Red Planet within the next few months, according to planetary researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory...

The main idea behind the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative is to send light-propelled nanocrafts to the Alpha Centauri system within the next generation. Image credit: Breakthrough Initiatives.

New Light Sail Proposed to Ride a Laser Beam to the Stars

Oct 10, 2016 by James Romero

A laser beam-riding sail in the shape of a giant trapped ping pong ball could carry the first manmade object across interstellar space towards the recently-discovered...

This image shows an artist concept of NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

NASA’s MAVEN Probe Celebrates One Martian Year in Orbit around the Red Planet

Oct 4, 2016 by News Staff

NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft, sent to Mars to explore its upper atmosphere, ionosphere and interactions with the...

This image from Curiosity’s Mast Camera shows inclined strata at Zabriskie Plateau, about a third of a mile (0.5 km) northeast of the ‘Pahrump Hills’ outcrop at the base of Mount Sharp, the central peak within the Gale Crater on Mars. These sedimentary rocks are inclined toward the south and are also interpreted as the deposits of small deltas building out into a lake. The Mast Camera’s left-eye camera recorded the component frames of this mosaic on July 22, 2014, during the 696th Martian day of Curiosity’s work on Mars. The color has been approximately white-balanced to resemble how the scene would appear under daytime lighting conditions on Earth. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS.

Curiosity Takes Close Look at Interactions between Mars’ Crust and Atmosphere

Oct 2, 2016 by News Staff

Curiosity has found evidence that chemistry in the Martian surface material contributed dynamically to the makeup of the planet’s atmosphere over time. This...

Farewell, Rosetta! ESA’s Spacecraft Crashes into Comet

Sep 30, 2016 by News Staff

ESA’s Rosetta mission has concluded as planned, with the controlled impact onto Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. An artist’s impression of Rosetta...

Rosetta orbiting Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Image credit: ESA / AOES Medialab.

ESA’s Rosetta Orbiter to Crash Land into Comet: Watch Live

Sep 29, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Rosetta orbiting Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Image credit: ESA / AOES Medialab. ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft is set to complete its mission in a controlled...

Mosaic of the Valles Marineris hemisphere of Mars projected into point perspective, a view similar to that which one would see from a spacecraft. The distance is 1,550 miles (2,500 km) from the surface of the planet. The mosaic is composed of 102 Viking Orbiter images of Mars. The center of the scene shows the entire Valles Marineris canyon system, over 1,240 miles (2,000 km) long and up to 5 miles (8 km) deep, extending form Noctis Labyrinthus, the arcuate system of graben to the west, to the chaotic terrain to the east. Many huge ancient river channels begin from the chaotic terrain from north-central canyons and run north. The three Tharsis volcanoes (dark red spots), each about 15.5 miles (25 km) high, are visible to the west. South of Valles Marineris is very ancient terrain covered by many impact craters. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Marsquakes Could Support Life Deep within the Red Planet

Sep 28, 2016 by James Romero

The combination of seismic activity and water locked away at depth within Mars could be releasing sufficient hydrogen gas to support communities of microorganisms,...

On Monday, September 19, 2016, OSIRIS-REx’s OCAMS MapCam camera recorded a star field in Taurus, north of the constellation Orion as part of the spacecraft’s post-launch instrument check. MapCam’s first color image is a composite of three of its four color filters, roughly corresponding to blue, green, and red wavelengths. The three images are processed to remove noise, co-registered, and enhanced to emphasize dimmer stars. Image credit: NASA / Goddard / University of Arizona.

OSIRIS-REx Sends Back First Images, Checks Its Instruments

Sep 27, 2016 by News Staff

NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security – Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) and its instruments remain healthy...

The surface of Europa looms large in this newly-reprocessed color view; image scale is 1.6 km per pixel; north on Europa is at right. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SETI Institute.

Hubble Space Telescope Directly Images Possible Water Plumes on Europa

Sep 26, 2016 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has imaged what may be water vapor plumes erupting off the surface of Europa, the sixth-closest moon of Jupiter and...

This colorful view of Mercury was produced by using images from the color base map imaging campaign during MESSENGER’s primary mission. These colors are not what Mercury would look like to the human eye, but rather the colors enhance the chemical, mineralogical, and physical differences between the rocks that make up the planet’s surface. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Carnegie Institution of Washington.

Mercury is Tectonically Active Planet, Planetary Scientists Say

Sep 26, 2016 by News Staff

Recent images from NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft reveal small fault scarps on Mercury’s surface. These cliff-like landforms are small enough that planetary...

In 2012 Cassini spotted a cloud system called the south polar vortex in Titan’s atmosphere at an altitude of about 186 miles. The spacecraft’s instrument has now detected a massive ice cloud below it. This image was taken by Cassini in 2013. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Cassini Spots Exotic Ice Cloud in Titan’s Stratosphere

Sep 22, 2016 by News Staff

Cassini mission scientists think the appearance of a cloud of dicyanoacetylene ice in Titan’s stratosphere is explained by ‘solid-state’ chemistry...