The Solar System

Europa Clipper
Europa
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Jupiter
Jupiter Moons
The Solar System
The largest spacecraft NASA has ever built for planetary exploration just got its ‘wings’ — massive solar arrays to power it on the journey to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa. NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft recently got outfitted with a set of enormous solar arrays at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Each measuring about 46½ […]
Posted August 27, 2024
Johnson Space Center
Asteroids
Astromaterials
Bennu
General
Missions
NASA Centers & Facilities
NASA Directorates
OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer)
Planetary Science
Planetary Science Division
Science & Research
Science Mission Directorate
Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Inst.
The Solar System
As part of an asteroid sample exchange, NASA has transferred to JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) a portion of the asteroid Bennu sample collected by the agency’s OSIRIS-REx mission. The sample was officially handed over by NASA officials during a ceremony on Aug. 22 at JAXA’s Sagamihara, Japan, campus.
Posted August 23, 2024
Juno
Europa
Io
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Jupiter
Jupiter Moons
The Solar System
Using cameras designed for navigation, scientists count ‘fireflies’ to determine the amount of radiation the spacecraft receives during each orbit of Jupiter. Scientists with NASA’s Juno mission have developed the first complete 3D radiation map of the Jupiter system.
Posted August 20, 2024
Perseverance (Rover)
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Mars
Mars 2020
Mars Sample Return (MSR)
The Solar System
After 2½ years exploring Jezero Crater’s floor and river delta, the rover will ascend to an area where it will search for more discoveries that could rewrite Mars’ history. NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover will soon begin a monthslong ascent up the western rim of Jezero Crater that is likely to include some of the steepest […]
Posted August 14, 2024
Skywatching
Skywatching Tips
The Solar System
The Next Full Moon is a Supermoon, a Blue Moon; the Sturgeon Moon; the Red, Corn, Green Corn, Barley, Herb, Grain, or Dog Moon; Raksha Bandhan or Rakhi Purnima; and Tu B’Av. 
Posted August 12, 2024
Technology
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
ExoMars
Goddard Space Flight Center
Goddard Technology
Mars
Planetary Science
The Solar System
When a robotic rover lands on another world, scientists have a limited amount of time to collect data from the troves of explorable material, because of short mission durations and the length of time to complete complex experiments. That’s why researchers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, are investigating the use of […]
Posted August 5, 2024
Asteroids
DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test)
Missions
Planetary Defense
Planetary Defense Coordination Office
Planetary Science
Planetary Science Division
Science Mission Directorate
The Solar 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)
Planetary Science Division
Science Mission Directorate
The Solar System
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
Perseverance (Rover)
Astrobiology
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Mars
Mars 2020
Mars Sample Return (MSR)
The Solar System
The six-wheeled geologist found a fascinating rock that has some indications it may have hosted microbial life billions of years ago, but further research is needed. A vein-filled rock is catching the eye of the science team of NASA’s Perseverance rover.
Posted July 25, 2024
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