Space Exploration

Surface water ice found within a brilliantly bright crater on the dwarf planet Ceres is being exposed by avalanches reprocessing impact deposits in just the last few years. This new interpretation of survey data from NASA’s Dawn mission provides the youngest evidence of surface activity on the largest body in …

SpaceX has shown off its rockets at all stages of development as it moves toward manned flights, but what are people going to wear on board those vessels? Now we have a pretty good idea courtesy of SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk. Musk posted an image on Instagram of …

A new study led by a Scripps Institution of Oceanography researcher contradicts a recently published paper, which suggested the interior of Earth’s only permanent natural satellite is wet. The Rusty Rock (bottom left) was chipped from a small boulder (center). Image credit: NASA. “It’s been a big question whether the …

Have you ever wondered how data and communication signals get from spacecraft to NASA mission control on Earth? It’s not as simple as pointing an antenna at NASA and hitting “send.” Earth rotates, so you might not always have direct line of sight to mission control. That’s why NASA started …

A new experiment at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory reveals how large diamonds may be formed from just hydrogen and carbon in the deep interior of ice giant planets such as Neptune and Uranus. A cutaway depicts the interior of Neptune (left). In the new experiment, Kraus et al studied a …

A relatively large near-Earth asteroid will safely fly by pur planet on September 1, 2017, according to NASA. (3122) Florence will pass safely by Earth on September 1, at a distance of about 4.4 million miles. Image credit: University of Colorado. Florence [full name (3122) Florence] is among the largest …

Solar eclipses happen every so often, but the one taking place on August 21st will be a first-of-its-kind event. That’s not because of the eclipse itself, but because of what the people in its path are doing. Various universities and scientific organizations are working to unite fans of science to …

NASA’s Cassini mission has shared an amazing close-up portrait of Saturn taken from the Cassini robotic probe. This is a false color image of Saturn, with exaggerated colors to enhance subtle variations in color to bring out details of the cloud structure. The view is centered on 46 degrees north …

NASA’s Cassini probe has been studying Saturn and its moons since 2005, and it’s almost time for the spacecraft to call it a day. The probe is running low on fuel, but scientists intend to get the most out of Cassini before it’s no longer capable of doing science. Earlier …

When SpaceX’s next mission launches on August 14, it won’t just be carrying supplies to the International Space Station (ISS). NASA has partnered with HP to perform a long-term experiment on how high-end, modern computers will perform in space compared with on Earth. Space, as you may or may not …