The mission will spend 20 months collecting data on the planet's core, its magnetic field, and the composition of its atmosphere.
Space & Planets
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Solar Wind Disconnects Venus’s Magnetotail
Polarity reversals in the solar wind magnetic field disconnect the magnetic field trailing behind Venus, allowing ions from the atmosphere to escape.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
A (Dust) Devil of a Time—on Mars
New computer simulations of Martian dust devils could aid Red Planet weather forecasts.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Patches of Low Electron Density Help to Heat the Ionosphere
Simulations show how changes in electron density can trap electromagnetic waves and heat electrons in the ionosphere.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Chasing Down the Slow Solar Wind
The Sun's plasma blasts Earth’s magnetosphere at more than a million miles per hour. The fastest pours from holes in the corona, but until recently the source of the "slow" solar wind was a mystery.
Posted inNews
NASA’s Juno Spacecraft Set to Orbit Jupiter Starting 4 July
The spacecraft's titanium vault and a polar orbiting flight plan that avoids intense radiation regions around Jupiter's equator will help reduce damage to Juno's instruments.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Curiosity Sends Curious Water Data from Mars
The rover's neutron spectroscopy instrument hints at an unexpected trend: The upper soil levels in the layers of Gale Crater's Kimberley formation seem to hold more water-associated hydrogen.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Mysterious "Necklace Echoes" in the Sky Explained
Scientists studying a 50–year–old mystery in the Earth's ionosphere have come up with their best explanation of it yet.
Posted inNews
Pharaoh's Iron Dagger Made from a Meteorite, Study Confirms
After examining the metal under bombardment by X-rays, scientists find the composition of King Tutankhamun's knife blade matches "iron of the sky."
Posted inNews
As Mars Gets Close, So Does a Blitz of Red Planet Dramas
NASA's first Mars program director advised the creators of the new film The Space Between Us, which opens this summer, on the science related to Mars colonization.