The Solar System

NASA’s Dragonfly to Proceed with Final Mission Design Work

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

Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Inst.

The Solar System

Uncategorized

Temperatures Across Our Solar System

Let’s look at the mean temperature of the Sun, and the planets in our solar system.

Posted November 16, 2023

Europa Clipper

Europa

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

The Solar System

Time Is Running Out to Add Your Name to NASA’s Europa Clipper

Six weeks remain for you to add your name to a microchip that will ride aboard the spacecraft as it explores Jupiter’s moon Europa. It’s not every day that members of the public have the chance to send their names into deep space beyond Mars, all the way to Jupiter and its moon Europa. But […]

Posted November 13, 2023

Mars

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Mars 2020

MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN)

Perseverance (Rover)

The Solar System

NASA’s Mars Fleet Will Still Conduct Science While Lying Low

Rovers and orbiters will continue collecting limited data during a two-week communications pause due to the position of Earth, the Sun, and the Red Planet. NASA will hold off sending commands to its Mars fleet for two weeks, from Nov. 11 to 25, while Earth and the Red Planet are on opposite sides of the […]

Posted November 10, 2023

Juno

Europa

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Jupiter

Jupiter Moons

Planets

The Solar System

NASA’s Juno Finds Jupiter’s Winds Penetrate in Cylindrical Layers

The finding offers deeper insights into the long-debated internal structure of the gas giant. Gravity data collected by NASA’s Juno mission indicates Jupiter’s atmospheric winds penetrate the planet in a cylindrical manner, parallel to its spin axis. A paper on the findings was recently published in the journal Nature Astronomy.

Posted November 9, 2023

Asteroids

Goddard Space Flight Center

Lucy

The Solar System

NASA’s Lucy Surprises Again, Observes 1st-ever Contact Binary Orbiting Asteroid

NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft took images of asteroid Dinkinesh, discovering that the asteroid has the first-ever contact binary pair orbiting the asteroid.

Posted November 7, 2023

Curiosity (Rover)

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Mars

Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)

The Solar System

NASA’s Curiosity Rover Clocks 4,000 Days on Mars

The mission team is making sure the robotic scientist, now in its fourth extended mission, is staying strong, despite wear and tear from its 11-year journey. Four thousand Martian days after setting its wheels in Gale Crater on Aug. 5, 2012, NASA’s Curiosity rover remains busy conducting exciting science.

Posted November 6, 2023

Hubble Space Telescope

Jupiter

Planets

The Solar System

Hubble Provides Unique Ultraviolet View of Jupiter

This newly released image from the NASA Hubble Space Telescope shows the planet Jupiter in a color composite of ultraviolet wavelengths. Released in honor of Jupiter reaching opposition, which occurs when the planet and the Sun are in opposite sides of the sky, this view of the gas giant planet includes the iconic, massive storm called the […]

Posted November 3, 2023

Asteroids

Goddard Space Flight Center

Lucy

The Solar System

NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft Discovers 2nd Asteroid During Dinkinesh Flyby

On Nov. 1, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft flew by not just its first asteroid, but its first two. The first images returned by Lucy reveal that the small main belt asteroid Dinkinesh is actually a binary pair.

Posted November 2, 2023

Juno

Ganymede

Jupiter Moons

The Solar System

Salts and Organics Observed on Ganymede’s Surface by NASA’s Juno

Data collected by NASA’s Juno mission indicates a briny past may be bubbling to the surface on Jupiter’s largest moon. NASA’s Juno mission has observed mineral salts and organic compounds on the surface of Jupiter’s moon Ganymede.

Posted October 30, 2023