Archive | Solar system

NASA has selected two proposals for concept studies that could help us better understand the fundamental nature of space and how it changes in response to planetary atmospheres, radiation from the Sun, and interstellar particles. To source

After months grappling with the rugged reality of asteroid Bennu’s surface, the team leading NASA’s first asteroid sample return mission has selected four potential sites for the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft to “tag” its cosmic dance partner. To source

NASA has selected SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, to provide launch services for the agency’s Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission, which will allow astronomers to discover, for the first time, the hidden details of some of the most exotic astronomical objects in our universe. To source

NASA has awarded a contract to the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland for the agency’s Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) mission Science Operations Center (SOC). To source

NASA has selected eight new research teams to collaborate on research into the intersection of space science and human space exploration as part of the Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI). To source

NASA has announced that our next destination in the solar system is the unique, richly organic world Titan. Advancing our search for the building blocks of life, the Dragonfly mission will fly multiple sorties to sample and examine sites around Saturn’s icy moon. To source

NASA will announce a major new science mission to explore our solar system during a broadcast of NASA Science Live at 4 p.m. EDT Thursday, June 27. The announcement will air on NASA Television, the agency’s website, Facebook Live, YouTube, Periscope and USTREAM. To source

Cyanide and carbon monoxide are both deadly poisons to humans, but compounds containing iron, cyanide, and carbon monoxide discovered in carbon-rich meteorites may have helped power life on early Earth. To source

Scientists may have found a way to tell if alien worlds have a climate that is suitable for life by analyzing the light from these worlds for special signatures that are characteristic of a life-friendly environment. To source

The Moon is shrinking as its interior cools, causing the brittle surface crust to break as the Moon shrinks, forming faults where one section of crust is pushed up over a neighboring part. A new analysis gives the first evidence that these faults are still active and likely producing moonquakes today. To source

NASA’s Mars InSight lander has measured and recorded for the first time ever a likely “marsquake.” To source

Streams of meteoroids striking the Moon infuse the thin lunar atmosphere with a short-lived water vapor, according to researchers using data from NASA’s LADEE spacecraft. The findings will help scientists understand the history of lunar water. To source

A NASA spacecraft that will return a sample of a near-Earth asteroid named Bennu to Earth in 2023 made the first-ever close-up observations of particle plumes erupting from an asteroid’s surface. To source