Researchers Find Two Extraterrestrial Minerals in El Ali Meteorite
The El Ali meteorite, a 15.2-ton iron meteorite found in 2020 near the tiny town of El Ali in Somalia, contains at least two new minerals: elaliite and elkinstantonite. This…
Mars Express Spots Two Large Craters at Martian South Pole
A new image from the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA’s Mars Express orbiter shows an exciting landscape of layered deposits, frost, ice, and dark dunes in Ultimi…
NASA’s Perseverance Rover Records Sound of Martian Dust Devil
Dust devils — convective vortices loaded with dust — are common at the surface of Mars, particularly at Jezero crater, the landing site of NASA’s Perseverance rover. They are indicators…
NASA’s Orion Spacecraft Successfully Lands in Pacific Ocean
NASA’s uncrewed Orion spacecraft successfully splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off Mexico’s Baja California at 12:40 p.m. ET on December 10, 2022. The splashdown is the final milestone of…
Planetary Scientists Find Evidence for Active Mantle Plume on Mars
Elysium Planitia, a flat-smooth plain just north of the Martian equator, is underlain by an 4,000-km-diameter active mantle plume, according to new research by scientists from the Lunar and Planetary…
Chicxulub-Like Asteroid Caused Megatsunami on Early Mars
The Chicxulub-like asteroid crash landed in shallow ocean waters in the Martian region of Chryse Planitia 3.4 billion years ago (Hesperian period) and left a crater about 110 km wide,…
Early Martian Ocean Was Over 300 Meters Deep, New Research Suggests
An analysis of chromium isotopes in Martian meteorites suggests that approximately 4.5 billion years ago, there was enough water for the entire planet to be covered in a 300-m-deep global…
NASA’s Orion Spacecraft is on Its Way to the Moon
Carrying an uncrewed Orion, NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) — the most powerful rocket in the world — lifted off today at 1:47 a.m. EST from at NASA’s Kennedy Space…
Martian Springtime Dust Storms Churn Up Surprisingly Earth-Like Cloud Patterns: Study
Using images obtained by two orbiting spacecraft, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and ESA’s Mars Express, planetary researchers analyzed textured dust storms that develop at the northern polar cap boundary on…
Researchers Find Extraterrestrial Noble Gases in Asteroid Ryugu Sample
The sample of material delivered to our planet from the near-Earth asteroid Ryugu contained a mixture of extraterrestrial (helium and neon) and terrestrial atmospheric gases, according to new research led…