Tag: Planetary Science

  • With Juno on Jupiter’s doorstep, Hubble eyes glowing Jovian auroras

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    Peering a half-billion miles across the solar system, the Hubble Space Telescope has caught a glimpse of brilliant auroras flashing over Jupiter’s north pole as NASA’s Juno orbiter speeds toward the gas giant for a close-up look. Part of Juno’s multi-pronged scientific campaign is aimed to determining how Jupiter’s auroras form and evolve, along with investigations…

  • Juno’s British-built engine readied for all-important firing at Jupiter

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    Artist’s concept of the Juno spacecraft’s Leros 1b main engine firing. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Ground controllers pressurized the Juno spacecraft’s propulsion system Tuesday to prep for a July 4 rocket firing by the probe’s UK-made rocket engine that will steer the spinning, solar-powered robot into orbit around Jupiter. Kicking off more than 20 months observing Jupiter’s…

  • Oxygen finding strengthens case that Mars was once habitable

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    This scene shows NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at a location called “Windjana,” where the rover found rocks containing manganese-oxide minerals, which require abundant water and strongly oxidizing conditions to form. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS High concentrations of manganese oxides found in Martian rocks by NASA’s Curiosity rover indicate the red planet’s atmosphere once had much more oxygen…

  • Timeline of Juno’s historic arrival at Jupiter

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    NASA’s Juno spacecraft must complete a carefully-planned sequence of events as it closes in on Jupiter for a make-or-break orbit insertion burn July 4. The timeline posted below shows the schedule of major events in the weeks ahead of Juno’s arrival at Jupiter, plus the minute-by-minute sequence of steps planned for July 4. Times below…

  • Juno right on target for July 4 rendezvous with Jupiter

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    Artist’s concept of the Juno spacecraft on approach to Jupiter. Credit: Lockheed Martin NASA’s Juno spacecraft, running on solar power more than 500 million miles from the sun, is on final approach for a Fourth of July arrival at Jupiter for a year-and-a-half campaign of exploration. Engineers this week are preparing the probe for a…

  • Japanese orbiter officially begins science mission at Venus

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    Artist’s concept of Japan’s Akatsuki spacecraft at Venus. Credit: JAXA Five months since a belated arrival at Venus, Japan’s Akatsuki spacecraft has officially started a modified scientific survey of the sweltering, shrouded planet’s atmosphere and climate. The probe’s science cameras are collecting regular images of Venus’s exotic clouds, and Japanese engineers are optimistic Akatsuki can…

  • Departure of Europe’s first Mars rover delayed to 2020

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    Artist’s concept of the ExoMars rover. Credit: ESA Europe’s ExoMars rover will not be ready for launch in 2018, officials said Monday, forcing a two-year delay for the ambitious mission to drill into the Martian surface and search for the remnants of past life. Delays in the development of the European-built rover and a Russian…

  • SpaceX announces plan to send mission to Mars in 2018

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    Artist’s concept of SpaceX’s Red Dragon spacecraft landing on Mars. Credit: SpaceX Elon Musk’s space transport company — chartered with a long-term goal of colonizing Mars — plans to send the first commercial mission to the red planet as soon as 2018 with assistance from NASA, SpaceX announced Wednesday. Measuring about 20 feet tall and…

  • Dawn mission expected to go into overtime at Ceres

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    The bright central spots near the center of Occator Crater are shown in enhanced color in this view from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft. Such views can be used to highlight subtle color differences on Ceres’ surface. This image combines high-resolution black-and-white imagery from February 2016 with lower-resolution color data collected by Dawn in September 2015. NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/PSI/LPI…

  • Opportunity rover snaps photo of Martian dust devil

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    Credit: NASA / JPL / Cornell / Ken Kremer (kenkremer.com) / Marco Di Lorenzo NASA’s Opportunity Mars rover has captured a dust devil spinning across the barren floor of Endeavour Crater, an impact basin the robot has explored since 2011 in the mission’s long-lived second act. The color mosaic presented here, created by Dr. Ken Kremer and Marco…