Planetary Science Division

The Solar System

NASA’s DART Mission Sheds New Light on Target Binary Asteroid System

In studying data collected from NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission, which in 2022 sent a spacecraft to intentionally collide with the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos, the mission’s science team has discovered new information on the origins of the target binary asteroid system and why the DART spacecraft was so effective in shifting D

Posted July 30, 2024

Artemis

Earth's Moon

Goddard Space Flight Center

Lunar Discovery & Exploration Program

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)

The Solar System

NASA, JAXA Bounce Laser Beam Between Moon’s Surface and Lunar Orbit

NASA’s LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) has twice transmitted a laser pulse to a cookie-sized retroreflector aboard JAXA’s (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) SLIM lander on the Moon and received a return signal.

Posted July 29, 2024

Earth's Moon

Goddard Space Flight Center

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)

Missions

NASA Centers & Facilities

NASA Directorates

Planetary Geosciences & Geophysics

Science & Research

New Evidence Adds to Findings Hinting at Network of Caves on Moon

An international team of scientists using data from NASA’s LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) has discovered evidence of caves beneath the Moon’s surface.

Posted July 18, 2024

Asteroids

DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test)

Missions

The Solar System

NASA Selects Participating Scientists to Join ESA’s Hera Mission

NASA has selected 12 participating scientists to join ESA’s (European Space Agency) Hera mission, which is scheduled to launch in October 2024. Hera will study the binary asteroid system Didymos, including the moonlet Dimorphos, which was impacted by NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft on Sept. 26, 2022.

Posted June 25, 2024

Planetary Defense Coordination Office

DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test)

NEO Surveyor (Near-Earth Object Surveyor Space Telescope)

Science & Research

NASA, Partners Conduct Fifth Asteroid Impact Exercise, Release Summary

For the benefit of all, NASA released a summary Thursday of the fifth biennial Planetary Defense Interagency Tabletop Exercise. NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office, in partnership with FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and with the assistance of the U.S.

Posted June 20, 2024

Planetary Defense Coordination Office

Planetary Defense

Science & Research

NASA to Discuss Outcome of 5th Biennial Asteroid Threat Exercise

NASA will host a virtual media briefing at 3:30 p.m. EDT, Thursday, June 20, to discuss a new summary of a recent tabletop exercise to simulate national and international responses to a hypothetical asteroid impact threat. The fifth biennial Planetary Defense Interagency Tabletop Exercise was held April 2 and 3, 2024, at the Johns Hopkins […]

Posted June 14, 2024

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Magellan

Planetary Geosciences & Geophysics

VERITAS (Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography & Spectroscopy)

Venus

Volcanoes

Ongoing Venus Volcanic Activity Discovered With NASA’s Magellan Data

An analysis of data from Magellan’s radar finds two volcanoes erupted in the early 1990s. This adds to the 2023 discovery of a different active volcano in Magellan data. Direct geological evidence of recent volcanic activity on Venus has been observed for a second time. Scientists in Italy analyzed archival data from NASA’s Magellan mission […]

Posted May 27, 2024

Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES)