Space Exploration

  NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft successfully landed gently on the surface of the asteroid Bennu last week and scooped up a sample of pristine material from the early solar system. It’s an incredible accomplishment for all involved, but OSIRIS-REx might end up a victim of its own success. NASA reports the …

During the ‘Touch-And-Go’ sample collection event on October 20, 2020, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft collected more than enough surface material (at least 60 grams) of the near-Earth asteroid Bennu to meet one of its main mission requirements, according to the mission scientists. This series of images from OSIRIS-REx’s SamCam camera shows …

  NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has completed the most critical phase of its mission: booping an asteroid. The probe has been orbiting the asteroid Bennu for almost two years, but yesterday it descended to the surface to scoop up a few grams of precious primordial material for eventual return to Earth. …

On October 20, 2020, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer) spacecraft briefly touched an asteroid to collect regolith (rocks and dust) from the surface of the near-Earth asteroid (101955) Bennu. All spacecraft telemetry data indicates the sample collection event, known as ‘Touch-And-Go’ (TAG), executed as expected. …

The Antarctica’s ozone hole has now reached its maximum size, according to an analysis of data collected by ESA’s Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite. This year’s ozone hole over Antarctica is one of the largest in recent years. Image credit: ESA. Each year for the past few decades during the southern hemisphere …

  NASA’s InSight Lander made history when it became the first mission to take seismic readings on another planet, but the lander’s other major experiment hasn’t been as successful. The mission’s burrowing heat probe, sometimes called the “Mole,” has struggled to even make it underground, but NASA has finally reported …

  Companies have been building cell towers all over Earth for decades, and yet, you still don’t have to look hard to find dead zones. Some people even live in places where they can’t get a bar to save their lives. Soon, the surface of the moon might even have …

BepiColombo, a joint endeavor between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), successfully completed its first flyby of Venus on October 15, 2020. The closest approach took place at 03:58 GMT at a distance of about 10,720 km from the planet’s surface. An artist’s impression …

Solar storms strip a planet’s atmosphere over time, and only a strong magnetosphere would be able to provide maximum protection. Lunar samples gathered by NASA’s Apollo missions recently revealed that the Moon had its own global magnetosphere, lasting from about 4.25 to 2.5 billion years ago. According to new research, …

The bright frosts observed in 2015 in the equatorial region of Cthulhu on Pluto are mostly made of methane-rich ice, according to new research. This image, taken by NASA’s New Horizon spacecraft in 2015, shows the Pigafetta Montes mountain range on Pluto; the colorization on the right indicates the concentrations …