Santa Cruz CA (SPX) Aug 26, 2022
For the first time, astronomers have found unambiguous evidence of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of an exoplanet (a planet outside our solar system). The discovery, accepted for publication in Nature and posted online August 25, demonstrates the power of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to deliver unprecedented observations of exoplanet atmospheres. Natalie Batalha, professor

Laurel MD (SPX) Aug 26, 2022
New Horizons remains healthy from its position deep in the Kuiper Belt, even as it speeds farther and farther from the Earth and Sun by about 300 million miles per year. The spacecraft is about 54 times farther from the Sun than Earth, which is about two billion miles farther out than our first science flyby target, Pluto, and about a billion miles farther out than Arrokoth, the Kuiper Belt obje

Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 26, 2022
The Mars 2020 Mission is pushing the boundaries of what is possible on Mars. The most incredible part of working on Mars 2020, for me, has been the versatility of both the hardware and the operations team to push our spacecraft to achieve things they were not originally designed for. The first example of this was the surprise extension of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter's operations. Ingenui

Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 26, 2022
Scientists got a surprise when NASA's Perseverance Mars rover began examining rocks on the floor of Jezero Crater in spring of 2021: Because the crater held a lake billions of years ago, they had expected to find sedimentary rock, which would have formed when sand and mud settled in a once-watery environment. Instead, they discovered the floor was made of two types of igneous rock - one that for

West Lafayette IN (SPX) Aug 26, 2022
The accepted view of Mars is red rocks and craters as far as the eye can see. That's much what scientists expected when they landed the rover Perseverance in the Jezero Crater, a spot chosen partly for the crater's history as a lake and as part of a rich river system, back when Mars had liquid water, air and a magnetic field. What the rover found once on the ground was startling: Rather th

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Aug 26, 2022
After a tantalizing year-and-a-half wait since the Mars Perseverance Rover touched down on our nearest planetary neighbor, new data is arriving - and bringing with it a few surprises. The rover, which is about the size of car and carries seven scientific instruments, has been probing Mars' 30-mile-wide Jezero crater, once the site of a lake and an ideal spot to search for evidence of ancie

Boulder CO (SPX) Aug 26, 2022
A new study of zircon crystals from two of Earth's oldest continents indicates that the formation of Earth's continental crust goes through cycles, with periods of increased crust production roughly every 200 million years, corresponding to the solar system's transit through the four primary spiral arms of the Milky Way galaxy. According to the study published in the journal Geology yesterday, r

University MS (SPX) Aug 26, 2022
It's been 50 years since humans last visited the Moon, and even robotic missions have been few and far between. But the Earth's only natural satellite is about to get crowded. At least six countries and a flurry of private companies have publicly announced more than 250 missions to the Moon to occur within the next decade. Many of these missions include plans for permanent lunar bases and

Moscow (AFP) Aug 26, 2022
Russia's only active female cosmonaut, Anna Kikina, said Friday she was ready for her upcoming flight to the International Space Station aboard Space X's Crew Dragon. The flight, scheduled for October 3, is set to go ahead despite soaring tensions between Moscow and Washington over Russia's military intervention in Ukraine. Kikina, a 37-year-old engineer, will be only the fifth professi

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Aug 26, 2022
In NASA's hunt for water and resources beyond Earth, a new technology could coat the "skin" of a satellite, turning its entire surface into a sensor that tallies the chemicals present on distant planets. Solving the mysteries of our home planet, solar system, and beyond is a key priority for NASA, and the new sensor could be a powerful tool in the investigation. Mahmooda Sultana, an instru