Planetary Science Archives

ESA’s Trace Gas Orbiter Spots Chloride-Bearing Deposits on Mars

By Enrico de Lazaro August 13, 2024

Chloride deposits are markers for early Mars’ aqueous past, with important implications for the understanding of the Martian climate and habitability. Using high-resolution color-infrared images captured by the Colour and…

Mid-Crust of Mars May Contain ‘Oceans of Liquid Water’

By News Staff August 13, 2024

New data about the Martian crust gathered by NASA’s InSight lander allowed geophysicists at the University of California San Diego and the University of California Berkeley to estimate that the…

‘Nanoparticle Warming’ Have Potential to Warm Mars, Planetary Scientists Say

By News Staff August 8, 2024

One-third of Mars’ surface has shallow-buried water, but it is currently too cold for use by life. Proposals to warm Mars using greenhouse gases require a large mass of ingredients…

Mars Once Hosted Lake Larger than Any on Earth: Lake Eridania

By News Staff August 7, 2024

This new image from the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) onboard ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft shows Caralis Chaos, broken-down and dried-up remnants of a vast ancient Martian lake named Lake…

Flakes of Natural Graphene Found in Lunar Soil Samples

By Natali Anderson August 1, 2024

In lunar regolith samples collected by China’s Chang’e-5 probe, planetary scientists have identified few-layer graphene formed together with complex minerals. The finding provides new insights into the origin of the…

Curiosity Finds Pure Sulfur on Mars

By News Staff July 22, 2024

Yellow crystals of elemental sulfur were revealed after NASA’s Curiosity rover happened to drive over a rock and crack it open on May 30, 2024, according to the Curiosity team.…

Study: Biological Amino Acids Could Survive in Near-Surface Ices of Europa and Enceladus

By News Staff July 18, 2024

Europa and Enceladus are key targets to search for evidence of alien life in our Solar System. However, the surface and shallow subsurface of these airless icy moons are constantly…

Astronomers Propose New Definition of Planet

By News Staff July 18, 2024

Established in 2006 by the International Astronomical Union, the current definition specifies that to qualify as a planet, a celestial body must orbit the Sun within our Solar System. But…

Cassini Reveals Surface Properties of Titan’s Hydrocarbon Seas

By News Staff July 16, 2024

Saturn’s moon Titan was explored by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft from 2004 to 2017. While Cassini revealed a lot about this Earth-like world, its radar observations could only provide limited information…

Ancient Mars was Cool and Relatively Wet, New Study Suggests

By News Staff July 11, 2024

In a new study, planetary scientists found strong similarities between soils found in Gale Crater on Mars and those of Canada’s Newfoundland, a cold subarctic climate. X-ray amorphous material comprises…