Planetary Science

Planetary Science
Science-enabling Technology
Technology Highlights
In February 2023, researchers from around the country gathered at a NASA-sponsored workshop to discuss the latest developments and a roadmap for a cryobot mission concept to drill through the icy crusts of Europa and Enceladus and search for life.
Posted December 5, 2023
Dragonfly
Planetary Science
Planetary Science Division
Saturn
Science & Research
Science Mission Directorate
The Solar System
NASA’s Dragonfly mission has been authorized to proceed with work on final mission design and fabrication – known as Phase C – during fiscal year (FY) 2024. The agency is postponing formal confirmation of the mission (including its total cost and schedule) until mid-2024, following the release of the FY 2025 President’s Budget Request. Earlier […]
Posted November 28, 2023
Citizen Science
Planetary Science
The first journal article about clouds identified by participants of the Cloudspotting on Mars project has been accepted for publication and is now available online! The article, “The Cloudspotting on Mars citizen science project: Seasonal and spatial cloud distributions observed by the Mars Climate Sounder” will appear in a special issue of Icarus
Posted November 1, 2023
Citizen Science
Planetary Science
Volunteers working with The Daily Minor Planet have made the project’s first big discovery: an asteroid passing very near planet Earth. On the night of October 3rd, a telescope for the Catalina Sky Survey snapped four pictures of a far northern section of the sky. The next day, volunteers  H. N. DiRuscio, X. Liao, V. Gonano and […]
Posted October 30, 2023
Dragonfly
Langley Research Center
Missions
Planetary Science
Planetary Science Division
Saturn
Saturn Moons
Science Mission Directorate
Dragonfly Team Utilizes Unique NASA Facilities to Shape Its Innovative Titan-bound Rotorcraft  With its dense atmosphere and low gravity, Saturn’s moon Titan is a great place to fly.  But well before NASA’s Dragonfly rotorcraft lander soars through Titan’s skies, researchers on Earth – led by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in La
Posted October 23, 2023
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
Goddard Space Flight Center
Jupiter
Planetary Science
Planets
The Solar System
Narrow jet stream near equator has winds traveling 320 miles per hour NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has discovered a new, never-before-seen feature in Jupiter’s atmosphere. The high-speed jet stream, which spans more than 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers) wide, sits over Jupiter’s equator above the main cloud decks.
Posted October 19, 2023
Science Mission Directorate
Asteroids
Planetary Defense
Planetary Defense Coordination Office
Planetary Science
Planetary Science Division
Near-Earth objects (NEOs) are asteroids and comets that orbit the Sun like the planets with orbits that come within 30 million miles of Earth’s orbit.
Posted October 17, 2023
DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test)
Asteroids
Didymos & Dimorphos
Planetary Defense
Planetary Defense Coordination Office
Planetary Science
Planetary Science Division
After 10 months flying in space, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) – the world’s first planetary defense technology demonstration – successfully impacted its asteroid target on Monday, September 26 at 7:14 p.m. EDT. as the world’s first attempt to move an asteroid in space.
Posted October 16, 2023
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