The Solar System

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
Curiosity (Rover)
ExoMars
Goddard Space Flight Center
InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport)
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Mars
Mars 2020
Mars Exploration Rovers (MER)
Mars Express
Mars Odyssey
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
Mars Sample Return (MSR)
Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)
MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN)
Missions
Opportunity (Rover)
Perseverance (Rover)
The Solar System
Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO)
Scientists from around the world are gathering this week in California to take stock of the state of science from Mars and discuss goals for the next steps in exploration of the Red Planet. In the spirit of Mars 10, formally known as the 10th International Conference on Mars, here are 10 recent significant events […]
Posted July 24, 2024
Astrobiology
Enceladus
Europa
Goddard Space Flight Center
The Search for Life
The Solar System
Europa, a moon of Jupiter, and Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, have evidence of oceans beneath their ice crusts. A NASA experiment suggests that if these oceans support life, signatures of that life in the form of organic molecules (e.g. amino acids, nucleic acids, etc.) could survive just under the surface ice despite the harsh […]
Posted July 18, 2024
OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer)
Asteroids
Astrobiology
Astromaterials
Bennu
Goddard Space Flight Center
Johnson Space Center
Planetary Science
The Solar System
Scientists have eagerly awaited the opportunity to dig into the 4.3-ounce (121.6-gram) pristine asteroid Bennu sample collected by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Regolith Explorer) mission since it was delivered to Earth last fall.
Posted June 26, 2024
Asteroids
DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test)
Missions
Planetary Science
Planetary Science Division
Science Mission Directorate
The Solar System
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
Goddard Space Flight Center
Earth's Moon
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)
Planetary Science
The Solar System
NASA’s LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) imaged China’s Chang’e 6 sample return spacecraft on the far side of the Moon on June 7. Chang’e 6 landed on June 1, and when LRO passed over the landing site almost a week later, it acquired an image showing the lander on the rim of an eroded, 55-yard-diameter (about […]
Posted June 14, 2024
Perseverance (Rover)
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Mars
Mars 2020
Mars Sample Return (MSR)
The Solar System
Originally thought of as little more than a route clear of rover-slowing boulders, Neretva Vallis has provided a bounty of geologic options for the science team.    After detouring through a dune field to avoid wheel-rattling boulders, NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover reached its latest area of scientific interest on June 9. The route change not […]
Posted June 13, 2024
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