Sensors on NASA’s Mars 2020 Spacecraft Answer Long-Distance Call From Earth
Instruments tailored to collect data during the descent of NASA’s next rover through the Red Planet’s atmosphere have been checked in flight. On October 8,…
JPL
NASA’s Perseverance Rover Bringing 3D-Printed Metal Parts to Mars
This video clip shows a 3D printing technique where a printer head scans over each layer of a part, blowing metal powder which is melted…
At Last! NASA InSight’s “Mole” Is Out of Sight, Below the Surface of Mars
Now that the heat probe is just below the Martian surface, InSight’s arm will scoop some additional soil on top to help it keep digging…
NASA’s DuAxel: Transforming Rover That Can Explore the Toughest Terrain
Made of a pair of two-wheeled vehicles, NASA’s DuAxel is designed to descend crater sides and near-vertical cliffs on the Moon, Mars, and beyond. A…
Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich Is Set for Launch in Weeks – 5 Things to Know
Set for launch in November, the Earth-observing satellite will closely monitor sea level and provide atmospheric data to support weather forecasting and climate models. On…
NASA’s Perseverance Rover Will Peer Beneath Mars’ Surface to Search for Signs of Life
The agency’s newest rover will use the first ground-penetrating radar instrument on the Martian surface to help search for signs of past microbial life. After…
Milestone for Planetary Scientists As AI Helps Discover Fresh Craters on Mars
It’s the first time machine learning has been used to find previously unknown craters on the Red Planet. Sometime between March 2010 and May 2012,…
NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover Is Ready for Space Lasers
Perseverance is one of a few Mars spacecraft carrying laser retroreflectors. The devices could provide new science and safer Mars landings in the future. When…
New Sentinel-6 Sea Level Satellite Arrives at California Launch Site
The Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich spacecraft will launch from the U.S. West Coast aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in November. The world’s latest ocean-monitoring satellite…
NASA-Qatar OASIS Project Aims to Find Buried Water in Earth’s Deserts
Researchers will design a mission to learn about underground aquifers in areas such as the Sahara and how climate change will affect them in the…
NASA’s New Mars Rover Will Use X-Rays to Hunt for Chemical Fingerprints Left by Ancient Microbes
PIXL, an instrument on the end of the Perseverance rover’s arm, will search for chemical fingerprints left by ancient microbes. NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover…
School Bus-Size Asteroid Approaching Earth – Here’s How Close NASA Says It Will Come
Roughly 15 to 30 feet wide, the object will make its closest approach on September 24. A small near-Earth asteroid (or NEA) will briefly visit…
Astronomers Discover “One of a Kind” Glow Surrounding Comet – Ultraviolet Atomic Emissions
An atmospheric light show previously relegated to planets and Jupiter moons is found on comet using data from ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft. Data from NASA instruments…
Infrared Eyes on Enceladus: Hints of Fresh Ice in Northern Hemisphere of Saturn’s Moon
Scientists used data gathered by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft during 13 years of exploring the Saturn system to make detailed images of the icy moon —…
NASA Takes Flight to Study California’s Wildfire Damage With Smoke-Penetrating Technology
While the agency’s satellites image the wildfires from space, scientists are flying over burn areas, using smoke-penetrating technology to better understand the damage. A NASA…
NASA Monitors Atmospheric Carbon Monoxide From California Wildfires
The observations from Earth orbit show high-altitude concentrations of the gas that are more than 10 times typical amounts. NASA’s Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), aboard…
Citizen Scientists Discover Dozens of Failed Stars Lurking in Our Cosmic Neighborhood
Using a NASA-designed software program, members of the public helped identify a cache of brown dwarfs — sometimes called failed stars — lurking in our…
Strange Activity on Asteroid Bennu Had NASA Baffled – “Definitely Surprised Us”
The asteroid, which is being studied by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx, shows some surprising activity on its surface, and scientists are beginning to understand what might be…