Tag: Planetary Science
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InSight Mars lander escapes cancellation, aims for 2018 launch
The InSight lander in its cruise stage configuration prior to undergoing acoustic testing at Lockheed Martin. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Lockheed Martin The InSight Mars lander has won a reprieve from NASA’s top managers after persistent problems with one of the probe’s science instruments caused the mission to miss a narrow launch window planned for this month. The…
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Fate of NASA’s InSight Mars mission to be decided soon
Updated March 7. The back shell of the InSight spacecraft is lowered onto the lander in a clean room at Lockheed Martin. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Lockheed Martin NASA is close to deciding whether to spend an extra $150 million to send the InSight lander to Mars in 2018 or cancel the mission after an instrument problem made…
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Water ice abounds in Pluto’s frigid bedrock
This false-color image, derived from observations in infrared light by the Ralph/Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array (LEISA) instrument, shows where the spectral features of water ice are abundant on Pluto’s surface. It is based on two LEISA scans of Pluto obtained on July 14, 2015, from a range of about 67,000 miles (108,000 kilometers). The…
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Jupiter-bound Juno spacecraft breaks solar power distance record
Technicians work on one of the Juno spacecraft’s three solar panels before launch. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/KSC NASA’s Juno spacecraft bound for a rendezvous with Jupiter in July has set a record as the most distant solar-powered space probe ever flown. Juno broke the record previously held by the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft Jan. 13 as…
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NASA publishes tantalizing close-ups of dwarf planet Ceres
This image from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft shows Kupalo Crater, one of the youngest craters on Ceres. The crater has bright material exposed on its rim and walls, which could be salts. Its flat floor likely formed from impact melt and debris. Kupalo, which measures 16 miles (26 kilometers) across and is located at southern mid-latitudes,…
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NASA publishes tantalizing close-ups of dwarf planet Ceres
This image from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft shows Kupalo Crater, one of the youngest craters on Ceres. The crater has bright material exposed on its rim and walls, which could be salts. Its flat floor likely formed from impact melt and debris. Kupalo, which measures 16 miles (26 kilometers) across and is located at southern mid-latitudes,…
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U.S. lab generates first space-grade plutonium sample since 1980s
File photo of a plutonium-238 pellet. Credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory For the first time in nearly 30 years, the U.S. Department of Energy has produced a sample of plutonium-238, the radioactive isotope used to power deep space missions, good news for future NASA space probes heading to destinations starved of sunlight. The 50-gram (0.1-pound)…
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U.S. lab generates first space-grade plutonium sample since 1980s
File photo of a plutonium-238 pellet. Credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory For the first time in nearly 30 years, the U.S. Department of Energy has produced a sample of plutonium-238, the radioactive isotope used to power deep space missions, good news for future NASA space probes heading to destinations starved of sunlight. The 50-gram (0.1-pound)…
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Pluto’s floating mountains, intriguing structures fascinate scientists
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION Pluto nearly fills the frame in this image from the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) aboard New Horizons, taken on July 13, 2015, when the spacecraft was 476,000 miles (768,000 kilometers) from the surface. This is the last and most detailed image sent to Earth before the spacecraft’s…
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Pluto’s floating mountains, intriguing structures fascinate scientists
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION Pluto nearly fills the frame in this image from the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) aboard New Horizons, taken on July 13, 2015, when the spacecraft was 476,000 miles (768,000 kilometers) from the surface. This is the last and most detailed image sent to Earth before the spacecraft’s…