Topic: Solar Systems
Closer Look: Mars is the Future

Closer Look: Mars is the Future

Since Mars Spirit and Opportunity first set down on Mars in 2004, there has been a continuous robotic presence on the Red Planet. The Phoenix and Insight Landers have answered specific questions about Mars composition and interior, while a small herd of rovers have explored terrains that appear to have once been awash in water.  While NASA’s current major focus is the Artemis program and the return of humans to the lunar surface, this work is all being done with a look ahead toward future human-missions to Mars and asteroids. The desire to go to Mars is complex and brings together all...

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Catch the (Alien) Rainbow

Catch the (Alien) Rainbow

Each glory is unique, depending on the composition of the planet’s atmosphere and the colors of the light from the star that illuminates it. WASP-76 (the «Sun» of WASP-76b) is a yellow and white main sequence star like our Sun, but different stars create glories with...

Can Radar Protect Us From the Earth-Killer?

Can Radar Protect Us From the Earth-Killer?

Deep Space Station 13 at NASA’s Goldstone complex in California – part of the agency’s Deep Space Network – is an experimental antenna that has been retrofitted with an optical terminal. In a first, this proof of concept received both radio frequency and laser signals...

Using Radar to Watch Asteroid Rotation

Using Radar to Watch Asteroid Rotation

The day before asteroid 2008 OS7 made its close approach with Earth on Feb. 2, this series of images was captured by the powerful 230-foot (70-meter) Goldstone Solar System Radar antenna near Barstow, California. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech One of the most...

Migration Solves Exoplanet Puzzle

Migration Solves Exoplanet Puzzle

Artistic representation of an exoplanet whose water ice on the surface is increasingly vaporizing and forming an atmosphere during its approach to the central star of the planetary system. This process increases the measured planetary radius compared to the value the...

Water on Asteroids

Water on Asteroids

Using data from NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), Southwest Research Institute scientists have discovered, for the first time, water molecules on the surface of an asteroid. Scientists looked at four silicate-rich asteroids using the...

Bennu Descended from an Ocean World

Bennu Descended from an Ocean World

A view of the outside of the OSIRIS-REx sample collector. Sample material from asteroid Bennu can be seen on the middle right. Scientists have found evidence of both carbon and water in initial analysis of this material. The bulk of the sample is located inside....

Mimas’ Baby Ocean

Mimas’ Baby Ocean

In this view captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on its closest-ever flyby of Saturn's moon Mimas, large Herschel Crater dominates Mimas, making the moon look like the Death Star in the movie "Star Wars." Herschel Crater is 130 kilometers, or 80 miles, wide and...