Planetary Science Division

Auroras

Heliophysics

The Solar System

The Sun

How Can I See the Northern Lights? We Asked a NASA Expert: Episode 54

How can I see the northern lights? To see the northern lights, you need to be in the right place at the right time. Auroras are the result of charged particles and magnetism from the Sun called space weather dancing with the Earth’s magnetic field. And they happen far above the clouds. So you need […]

Posted March 26, 2025

Astrobiology

Curiosity (Rover)

Goddard Space Flight Center

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Mars

Mars Exploration Program

Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)

Missions

NASA Centers & Facilities

NASA Directorates

Planets

Science & Research

The Search for Life

The Solar System

The Universe

NASA’s Curiosity Rover Detects Largest Organic Molecules Found on Mars

Researchers analyzing pulverized rock onboard NASA’s Curiosity rover have found the largest organic compounds on the Red Planet to date. The finding, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests prebiotic chemistry may have advanced further on Mars than previously observed.

Posted March 24, 2025

Goddard Space Flight Center

Lucy

Missions

New Modeling Assesses Age of Next Target Asteroid for NASA’s Lucy

Although NASA’s Lucy spacecraft’s upcoming encounter with the asteroid Donaldjohanson is primarily a mission rehearsal for later asteroid encounters, a new paper suggests that this small, main belt asteroid may have some surprises of its own.

Posted March 17, 2025

Investigation of Convective Updrafts (INCUS)

Earth Science

Science & Research

SmallSats Program

Wallops Flight Facility

NASA Awards Launch Service for Mission to Study Storm Formation

NASA has selected Firefly Aerospace Inc. of Cedar Park, Texas, to provide the launch service for the agency’s Investigation of Convective Updrafts (INCUS) mission, which aims to understand why, when, and where tropical convective storms form, and why some storms produce extreme weather.

Posted March 4, 2025

Asteroids

Goddard Space Flight Center

Jupiter

Lucy

The Solar System

Trojan Asteroids

Uncategorized

NASA Selects Participating Scientists to Join Lucy Asteroid Mission

NASA has selected eight participating scientists to join its Lucy mission to the Jupiter Trojan asteroids.

Posted February 27, 2025

Astrobiology

Europa

Europa Clipper

The Solar System

Is There Potential for Life on Europa? We Asked a NASA Expert: Episode 52

That’s a great question. And it’s a question that NASA will seek to answer with the Europa Clipper spacecraft. Europa is a moon of Jupiter. It’s about the same size as Earth’s Moon, but its surface looks very different. The surface of Europa is covered with a layer of ice, and below that ice, we […]

Posted February 25, 2025

Kennedy Space Center

Launch Services Office

Launch Services Program

NEO Surveyor (Near-Earth Object Surveyor Space Telescope)

Planetary Defense Coordination Office

Space Operations Mission Directorate

NASA Awards Planetary Defense Space Telescope Launch Services Contract

NASA has selected SpaceX of Starbase, Texas, to provide launch services for the Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor mission, which will detect and observe asteroids and comets that could potentially pose an impact threat to Earth.

Posted February 22, 2025