Space Exploration

Missions like the Kepler Space Telescope and the newer Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) have revealed thousands of exoplanets out there among the stars, but we know surprisingly little about them. To get up close and personal, we’re going to need extremely precise space telescopes. MIT scientists have proposed an …

At 2:43 p.m. EST (7:43 GMT) on December 31, 2018, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft went into orbit around asteroid Bennu — setting new records for the smallest body ever orbited by a spacecraft and the closest orbit of a planetary body by any spacecraft. NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft at asteroid Bennu. Image …

At 9:26 p.m. EST on January 2, 2019 (2:26 a.m. GMT, 10:26 a.m. Beijing Time on January 3), China National Space Administration’s Chang’e-4 lunar probe touched down on the far side of the Moon, becoming the first spacecraft to successfully soft-land on the Moon’s side never visible from Earth. This …

The science team of NASA’s New Horizons mission has unveiled potentially significant discoveries about a Kuiper Belt object known as Ultima Thule. This image taken by New Horizons’ Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) is the most detailed of Ultima Thule returned so far by the spacecraft. It was taken at 12:01 …

Humanity first visited the moon decades ago, but today is the first time a mission has made a soft landing on the moon’s far side. The Chinese Chang’e 4 probe set down in Von Kármán crater on January 3rd (Beijing time), marking another important milestone in the Chinese mission to …

New images from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft — taken from as close as 17,000 miles (27,000 km) on approach — revealed Ultima Thule as a contact binary. This image taken by New Horizons’ Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) is the most detailed of Ultima Thule returned so far by the spacecraft. …

NASA’s Juno orbiter has captured images of a volcanic plume on Jupiter’s moon Io during the mission’s 17th flyby of the giant planet. JunoCam acquired three images of Io prior to when it entered eclipse, all showing a volcanic plume illuminated beyond the terminator; the image shown here, reconstructed from …

It’s no simple matter to reach the outer solar system, so NASA is making the most of the opportunity it has with the New Horizons probe. After successfully completing its Pluto flyby in 2015, the agency redirected the spacecraft to visit an even more distant object known as Ultima Thule. …

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) rely on the thin hull of the station to protect them from the vacuum of space. Even a small breach could spell disaster for the station and its crew, so personnel on the ground carefully monitor conditions. It’s a good thing, too. The …

NASA’s Juno spacecraft is on a mission to study Jupiter, but that’s not the only celestial object in range of its instruments. Jupiter has plenty of moons, and Juno can take a peek at those while it loops around the gas giant. On its most recent orbit of Jupiter, Juno …