Space Exploration News

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

Martian Ocean May Never Have Existed

Jun 17, 2015 by News Staff

A new study published online in the Journal of Geophysical Research – Planets suggests that a frigid, icy planet 3 – 4 billion years ago better...

A meteorite from the Red Planet. Image credit: Michael Helfenbein.

Researchers Discover Traces of Methane in Meteorites from Mars

Jun 16, 2015 by News Staff

A multinational group of scientists led by Dr Nigel Blamey of Brock University and the University of Aberdeen, UK, has found methane in fragments of Martian...

By combining radio-wave data exchanged between Rosetta and Philae as part of the CONSERT experiment with trajectory data and the current model of the shape of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the location of the lander has been determined to lie within an ellipse measuring approximately 16 x 160 m. The CONSERT ellipse corresponds to the outer limits of the various solutions identified for the likely landing site of Philae, although this depends to some extent on the shape model assumed. Image credit: ESA / Rosetta / Philae / CONSERT / MPS for OSIRIS Team / UPD / LAM / IAA / SSO / INTA / UPM / DASP / IDA.

Rosetta’s Philae Lander Wake-Up Kicks Off Intense Activity

Jun 16, 2015 by News Staff

The European Space Agency (ESA) and its Rosetta mission partners are working to juggle the spacecraft’s flight plan to help with renewed Philae lander...

Cassini spacecraft has recently provided scientists the first close-up, visible-light views of a behemoth hurricane swirling around Saturn's north pole. The hurricane's eye is about 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) wide, 20 times larger than the average hurricane eye on Earth (NASA / JPL-Caltech / SSI)

Saturn’s Polar Cyclones Feed on Small Thunderstorms, New Study Says

Jun 16, 2015 by News Staff

Huge polar hurricanes on Saturn are a puzzling phenomenon, since the gaseous planet lacks an essential ingredient for brewing up such hurricanes –...

This artist’s concept shows two MarCO CubeSats and the Mars lander InSight. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Two CubeSats Will Accompany NASA’s InSight Lander to Mars in 2016

Jun 15, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s two small Mars Cube One (MarCO) CubeSats will be flying past Mars in 2016 just as the agency’s next Mars lander, InSight (Interior Exploration...

The Philae lander at work on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Image credit: ESA / AOES Medialab.

ESA’s Philae Lander Phones Home after 7-Month Silence

Jun 14, 2015 by News Staff

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Philae lander has woken up after seven months in hibernation on the surface of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The Philae...

These images show four different ‘faces’ of the dwarf planet Pluto as it rotates about its axis with a period of 6.4 days. From left to right, the images were taken when Pluto’s central longitude was 17, 63, 130, and 243 degrees, respectively. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

New Views of Pluto Captured by New Horizons

Jun 12, 2015 by News Staff

NASA has just released a set of images of the dwarf planet Pluto taken by New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager during May 29 – June 2,...

The X2.2-class flare, March 11, 2015. Image credit: SDO / NASA.

New Tool Could Predict Earth-Directed Coronal Mass Ejections Day in Advance

Jun 11, 2015 by News Staff

A new measurement and modeling tool could give more than 24 hours’ notice of coronal mass ejections that could be harmful to systems on Earth. New tool...

The bright spots on dwarf planet Ceres are seen in this image taken by Dawn on June 6, 2015. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

Dawn Shoots New Close-Up of Ceres’ Bright Spots

Jun 11, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s Dawn mission scientists have just released a new close-up image of mysterious bright spots on the crater-pocked surface of Ceres. This is among...

This view of Tethys was taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft on April 11, 2015. The crater Odysseus is seen at the right of the image. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Cassini Captures Stunning View of Saturn’s Moon Tethys

Jun 10, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has returned a spectacular new image of Tethys, a small, icy moon of Saturn. This view of Tethys was taken by NASA’s Cassini...

Deposits of impact glass have been preserved in Martian craters, including Alga Crater, shown here. In color coding based on analysis of data from the CRISM instrument on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, green indicates the presence of glass; blues are pyroxene; reds are olivine. This view shows Alga Crater’s central peak, which is about 3 miles (5 km) wide within the 12-mile (19-km) diameter of this southern-hemisphere crater. The information from CRISM is shown over a terrain model and image based on observations by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera. The vertical dimension is exaggerated by a factor of two. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / JHUAPL / University of Arizona.

Scientists Detect Large Deposits of Impact Glass on Mars

Jun 9, 2015 by News Staff

Glasses formed by asteroid impacts are an important target to search for signs of ancient life on Mars, but until now they have not been detected on the...

This image of an impact crater in the Sirenum Fossae region of Mars was taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on March 30, 2015. Image credit: NASA / JPL / University of Arizona / Alfred McEwen.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Beams Back Close-Up Photo of Fresh Crater

Jun 8, 2015 by News Staff

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has captured an impressive picture of a fresh...

A new video animation is based on images taken by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

New NASA Video Reveals Heavily Cratered Surface of Ceres

Jun 8, 2015 by News Staff

A new animated video by NASA’s Dawn mission scientists provides dramatic flyover views of the dwarf planet Ceres. The video is based on observations...

The Reiner Gamma formation is a well known lunar swirl region, due to its nearside location. Swirls are described by curving, diffuse bright patterns, which are interspersed with darker lanes. These anomalous albedo patterns are associated with local magnetic anomalies of varying intensities; swirl complexes are often extensive and may stretch across thousands of kilometers, well beyond localized magnetic anomalies. Image credit: NASA / LPI.

Comet Collisions Could Explain Formation of Mysterious Lunar Swirls

Jun 3, 2015 by News Staff

Comet impacts over the past 100 million years can account for many of the features in the mysterious lunar swirls – wispy bright regions scattered...

This image is part of a sequence taken by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft on May 23, from a distance of 3,200 miles (5,100 km). Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

Dawn Spacecraft Gets Close-Up View of Ceres’ Surface

Jun 2, 2015 by News Staff

This picture of the surface of the dwarf planet Ceres was taken by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft from a range of about 3,200 miles (5,100 km) on 23 May 2015. This...

Rosetta’s continued study of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko has revealed an unexpected process at work close to the comet nucleus. Image credit: ESA / ATG medialab / Rosetta / MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS / UPD / LAM / IAA / SSO / INTA / UPM / DASP / IDA / Feldman et al / NavCam / CC BY-SA IGO 3.0.

ESA’s Rosetta Spacecraft Makes Unexpected Discovery

Jun 2, 2015 by News Staff

Observations of the inner coma of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko with the Alice far-ultraviolet spectrograph onboard ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft reveal...

This image was captured by the Mars Express orbiter on November 19, 2014. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin.

Mars Express Sees Strange Craters in Arabia Terra

Jun 2, 2015 by News Staff

This new image from ESA’s Mars Express orbiter shows bluish wind-blown deposits inside eroded craters in the Arabia Terra region of Mars. This image...

Cassini passed Hyperion on 31 May 2015 at a distance of about 21,000 miles (34,000 km). Mission scientists expect images from the encounter to arrive on Earth within 1-2 days. This view of the moon was obtained during Cassini’s flyby on 26 September 2005. It reveals crisp details across the strange, tumbling moon’s surface. Differences in color could represent differences in the composition of surface materials. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

NASA’s Cassini Spacecraft Makes Close Flyby of Hyperion

Jun 1, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s Cassini space probe performed a close flyby of Saturn’s irregularly shaped moon Hyperion on 31 May 2015. Cassini passed Hyperion on 31 May 2015...

This artist’s rendition shows the InSight Mars lander spacecraft on the Red Planet. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

InSight: NASA Engineers Begin Testing Next Mars Lander

May 28, 2015 by News Staff

NASA engineers have begun testing a car-sized Mars lander, dubbed InSight, scheduled to launch in 2016. This artist’s rendition shows the InSight Mars...