Tag: Planetary Science

  • NASA declares Opportunity rover dead after 15 years on Mars

    Opportunity’s front hazard-avoidance camera captured this image of the rover’s shadow July 26, 2004. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Eight months after last hearing from the Opportunity rover, NASA officials announced the end of the craft’s 15-year mission Wednesday, closing out an ambitious chapter of Mars exploration that proved the Red Planet once harbored running water and demonstrated…

  • NASA’s first interplanetary CubeSats fall silent beyond Mars

    MarCO-B, one of the experimental Mars Cube One (MarCO) CubeSats, took these images as it approached Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech After a successful mission that pushed the limits of small satellite technology, ground controllers have lost contact with two briefcase-sized CubeSats beyond Mars, NASA said Tuesday. The pioneering Mars Cube One, or MarCO, mission set records…

  • NASA’s first interplanetary CubeSats fall silent beyond Mars

    MarCO-B, one of the experimental Mars Cube One (MarCO) CubeSats, took these images as it approached Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech After a successful mission that pushed the limits of small satellite technology, ground controllers have lost contact with two briefcase-sized CubeSats beyond Mars, NASA said Tuesday. The pioneering Mars Cube One, or MarCO, mission set records…

  • OSIRIS-REx finds rugged terrain on asteroid Bennu

    NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft’s navigation camera captured this image of asteroid Bennu on Jan. 17 from a distance of approximately 1 mile (1.6 kilometers). The large boulder in partial shadow at the lower right of the frame is about 165 feet (50 meters) across. Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/Lockheed Martin Some time next year, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft…

  • OSIRIS-REx finds rugged terrain on asteroid Bennu

    NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft’s navigation camera captured this image of asteroid Bennu on Jan. 17 from a distance of approximately 1 mile (1.6 kilometers). The large boulder in partial shadow at the lower right of the frame is about 165 feet (50 meters) across. Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/Lockheed Martin Some time next year, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft…

  • JPL still trying to contact Opportunity rover on Mars

    STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION Opportunity’s panoramic camera captured this self-portrait on Mars in 2014. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State Univ. NASA’s Mars Opportunity rover landed on Mars 15 years ago this week, but the long-lived robot remains out of action in the wake of a global dust storm last summer that caused it…

  • JPL still trying to contact Opportunity rover on Mars

    STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION Opportunity’s panoramic camera captured this self-portrait on Mars in 2014. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State Univ. NASA’s Mars Opportunity rover landed on Mars 15 years ago this week, but the long-lived robot remains out of action in the wake of a global dust storm last summer that caused it…

  • Ultima Thule revealed in new detail with fresh flyby image

    A new image captured minutes before NASA’s New Horizons probe zipped by a rocky object in the Kuiper Belt on New Year’s Day shows the dual-lobed world — nicknamed Ultima Thule — is covered with intriguing fractures and a large crater-like depression that could provide clues about the early history of the solar system. The…

  • Ultima Thule revealed in new detail with fresh flyby image

    A new image captured minutes before NASA’s New Horizons probe zipped by a rocky object in the Kuiper Belt on New Year’s Day shows the dual-lobed world — nicknamed Ultima Thule — is covered with intriguing fractures and a large crater-like depression that could provide clues about the early history of the solar system. The…

  • China releases more images from far side of the moon

    China’s Yutu 2 rover on the far side of the moon. This image was released by Chinese space officials Friday, Jan. 11. Credit: CNSA/CLEP Chinese officials on Friday released more imagery from the Chang’e 4 mission, a robotic lander and rover exploring the far side of the moon after a successful landing Jan. 3. The…