Space Missions News

May 22, 2025

Top Headlines

Saturn's Moon: Mysterious Wobbling Atmosphere Like a Gyroscope

May 22, 2025 — The puzzling behavior of Titan's atmosphere has been revealed. The team has shown that the thick, hazy atmosphere of Saturn's largest moon doesn't spin in line with its surface, but instead wobbles like a gyroscope, shifting with the ...

Missing Link in Early Martian Water Cycle Discovered

May 20, 2025 — Astronomers have filled a large gap in knowledge about Mars' water cycle. Their research on water percolating from surface to aquifer could change the picture of what early Mars was like, suggesting that less of the planet's water may have been ...

Streaked Slopes on Mars Probably Not Signs of Water Flow, Study Finds

May 19, 2025 — Researchers analyzed a global database of 500,000 strange streaks that occur on steep Martian slopes, concluding that they're most likely caused by dry processes rather than liquid ...

Ultraviolet Data from NASA's Europa Clipper Mission

May 15, 2025 — The Ultraviolet Spectrograph (UVS) aboard NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft has successfully completed its initial commissioning following the October 14, 2024, launch. Scheduled to arrive in the Jovian system in 2030, the spacecraft will orbit ...

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What Lies Beneath: Using Rock Blasted from Craters to Probe the Martian Subsurface

May 14, 2025 — By analyzing how far material ejected from an impact crater flies, scientists can locate buried glaciers and other interesting subsurface ...

Volcanic History and Clues to Ancient Life on Mars

Apr. 18, 2025 — Researchers use the sophisticated technology on NASA's Perseverance rover to analyze volcanic rocks in Mars' Jezero Crater. Their findings show that some of the same volcanic processes that led to ...

Innovative Approaches Advance Search for Ice on the Moon

Apr. 23, 2025 — Scientists and space explorers have been on the hunt to determine where and how much ice is present on the Moon. Water ice would be an important resource at a future lunar base, as it could be used ...

Did It Rain or Snow on Ancient Mars? New Study Suggests It Did

Apr. 21, 2025 — Geologists weigh in on a long-running debate about Mars: Billions of years ago, was the Red Planet warm and wet or cold and ...

Curiosity Rover Finds Large Carbon Deposits on Mars

Apr. 17, 2025 — Research from NASA's Curiosity rover has found evidence of a carbon cycle on ancient ...

Crystal Clues on Mars Point to Watery and Possibly Life-Supporting Past

Apr. 16, 2025 — A new study analyzing data from NASA's Perseverance rover has uncovered compelling evidence of multiple mineral-forming events just beneath the Martian surface -- findings that bring scientists one ...

Molten Martian Core Could Explain Red Planet's Magnetic Quirks

Apr. 15, 2025 — First ever supercomputer simulations of Mars with a fully molten core could explain the Red Planet's unusual magnetic field. Billions of years ago, Mars had an active magnetic field. Mysteriously, ...

Solar Cells Made of Moon Dust Could Power Future Space Exploration

Apr. 3, 2025 — The same dirt that clings to astronauts' boots may one day keep their lights on. Researchers created solar cells made out of simulated Moon dust. The cells convert sunlight into energy efficiently, ...

Martian Dust Could Pose Health Risks to Future Astronauts

Mar. 31, 2025 — Inhaling dust particles from the Red Planet over long periods of time could put humans at risk of developing respiratory issues, thyroid disease and other health ...

Organic Molecules of Unprecedented Size Discovered on Mars

Mar. 24, 2025 — The longest organic molecules identified to date on Mars have recently been detected. These long carbon chains, containing up to 12 consecutive carbon atoms, could exhibit features similar to the ...

Oxygen for Mars

Mar. 24, 2025 — To mitigate global climate change, emissions of the primary culprit, carbon dioxide, must be drastically reduced. A newly developed process helps solve this problem: CO2 is directly split ...

Age of Upcoming Asteroid Flyby Target

Mar. 17, 2025 — New modeling indicates the main belt asteroid (52246) Donaldjohanson may have formed about 150 million years ago when a larger parent asteroid broke apart; its orbit and spin properties have ...

Weighing in on a Mars Water Debate

Mar. 13, 2025 — Water once existed in abundance of at the surface of Mars. How much of that water has been stored in the planet's crust is still unclear, according to a new ...

How's the Weather on Mars?

Mar. 6, 2025 — A new study revealed that atmospheric gravity waves play a crucial role in driving latitudinal air currents on Mars, particularly at high altitudes. The findings, based on long-term atmospheric data, ...

The Chances of Anything Coming from Mars

Mar. 5, 2025 — Within the next decade, space agencies plan to bring samples of rock from Mars to Earth for study. Of concern is the possibility these samples contain life, which could have unforeseen consequences. ...

Adsorptive Regolith on Mars Soaks Up Water, Researchers Reveal

Feb. 26, 2025 — Researchers are looking underfoot to uncover the mysterious past of Mars: Martian regoliths in the soil. Their water storage capabilities may help us understand the change in water on Mars over ...

Lunar Trailblazer Blasts Off to Map Water on the Moon

Feb. 25, 2025 — On Wednesday 26 February, a thermal imaging camera blasted off to the Moon as part of NASA's Lunar Trailblazer mission. This aims to map sources of water on the Moon to shed light on the lunar ...

Why Is Mars Red? Scientists May Finally Have the Answer

Feb. 25, 2025 — A new study shows a water-rich mineral could explain the planet's color -- and hint at its wetter, more habitable ...

Jumping Workouts Could Help Astronauts on the Moon and Mars, Study in Mice Suggests

Feb. 13, 2025 — Jumping workouts could help astronauts prevent the type of cartilage damage they are likely to endure during lengthy missions to Mars and the Moon, a new study suggests. The researchers found that ...

Meteorite Discovery Challenges Long-Held Theories on Earth's Missing Elements

Feb. 5, 2025 — Earliest inner solar system planetesimals shaped the inventory of moderately volatile elements in terrestrial ...

AI-Driven Performance Prediction Model to Advance Space Electric Propulsion Technology?

Feb. 4, 2025 — A research team presents an AI assessor for Hall-effect ion thrusters, the engines of satellites and space ...

Moon Is Not as 'Geologically Dead' as Previously Thought

Jan. 28, 2025 — Scientists developed advanced dating methods to track geological changes on the far side of the moon and found evidence of relatively recent ...

Follow the Water: Searching for a Lunar Oasis

Jan. 28, 2025 — As humankind imagines living off-planet -- on the moon, Mars and beyond -- the question of how to sustain life revolves around the physical necessities of oxygen, food and water. We know there is ...

Explaining Persistent Hydrogen in Mars' Atmosphere

Jan. 28, 2025 — The fact that the cold, dry Mars of today had flowing rivers and lakes several billion years ago has puzzled scientists for decades. Now, researchers think they have a good explanation for a warmer, ...

Dwarf Planet Ceres: Building Blocks of Life Delivered from Space

Jan. 27, 2025 — The dwarf planet is a bizarre, cryovolcanic world. However, the organic deposits discovered on its surface so far are unlikely to originate from its interior. The organic material found in a few ...

NASA's Pandora Mission One Step Closer to Probing Alien Atmospheres

Jan. 16, 2025 — Pandora, a small satellite mission poised to provide in-depth study of at least 20 known planets orbiting distant stars to determine the composition of their atmospheres cleared an important ...

Mysteries of Icy Ocean Worlds

Dec. 20, 2024 — A study introduces a novel thermodynamic concept called the 'centotectic' and investigates the stability of liquids in extreme conditions -- critical information for determining the ...

Origins of Lunar Water and Its Connection to Earth's Early History

Dec. 19, 2024 — Scientists have unveiled groundbreaking research on the origins of lunar water, offering insights that could reshape our understanding of the Earth-Moon system and the broader solar system. The ...

Scientists Solving Meteorological Mysteries on Mars

Dec. 19, 2024 — Scientists are changing our understanding of climate and weather on Mars and providing critical insights into Earth's atmospheric processes as ...

New Evidence Exists for Hidden Water Reservoirs and Rare Magmas on Ancient Mars

Dec. 19, 2024 — A new study explores how variations in Mars' crustal thickness during its ancient history may have influenced the planet's magmatic evolution and hydrological systems. The research suggests ...