Earth’s Moon is Shrinking, New Modeling Study Suggests
Earth’s Moon shrank more than 46 m (150 feet) in circumference as its core gradually cooled over the last few hundred million years, according to a paper published in the…
NASA Announces End of Ingenuity Mission
NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter made history by achieving the first powered, controlled flight on another planet on April 19, 2021. Despite initial plans for up to five flights, the helicopter has…
Mars Express Finds New Evidence for Ice-Rich Layered Deposits in Medusae Fossae
Over 15 years ago, ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft studied the Medusae Fossae Formation, revealing enigmatic deposits up to 2.5 km deep. From those early observations, it was unclear what the…
Scientists Solve Major Puzzle in Moon’s Geology
New research from the University of Bristol sheds light on the origin of titanium-rich basaltic magmas on the Moon. A map of the titanium abundances of the Moon’s surface, obtained…
Enceladus’ Surface May Contain Relatively High Abundances of Pristine Organic Material
Enceladus, the sixth-biggest moon of Saturn, presents a remarkable opportunity in our Solar System for searching for evidence of extraterrestrial life, given its habitable ocean and plume that deposits organic-bearing…
NASA Streams Cat Video from Deep Space via Laser
A 15-second ultra-high-definition video, featuring a cat named Taters, was streamed via laser from a record-setting 31 million km (19 million miles, or about 80 times the Earth-Moon distance) away…
Planetary Researchers Detect Hydrogen Cyanide in Plume of Enceladus
Using data from NASA’s Cassini mission, planetary scientists have detected several compounds of strong importance to the habitability of Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus, including hydrogen cyanide, acetylene, propylene and ethane.…
NASA’s Psyche Spacecraft Beams Back Its First Images
Already 26 million km (16 million miles) from Earth, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft will arrive at its target asteroid Psyche in 2029. The Psyche team wanted to test all of the…
Ice Plumes of Saturn’s Icy Moon Enceladus May Hold Amino Acids, Study Suggests
Enceladus is a prime target in the search for life in the Solar System, identified by NASA as the second-highest priority site for a flagship mission in the next decade.…
ESA Astronaut Captures Stunning Images of Rare Thunder Phenomenon
As part of the Thor-Davis experiment on the International Space Station (ISS), ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen has captured images of a phenomenon called red sprite. Equipped with a specialized event-based…