The Neil Gehrels’ Swift Observatory is plummeting toward Earth, and NASA is spending $30 million to try to stop it.
spacecraft
Posted inResearch & Developments
Perseverance Spots Organic Matter on Mars
The Mars Perseverance rover has detected intact organic molecules near previously-described potential signatures of ancient life, according to a new study published today in Science Advances.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
The Speedy Particles That Could Help Us Learn More About Uranus
New simulations suggest that a spacecraft-mounted detector of energetic neutral atoms could improve our understanding of the ice giant’s environment, as well as the relationship between the planet, its magnetosphere, and the heliosphere.
Posted inScience Updates
Vast Space, Sparse Data: An AI Answer to Twin Space Weather Challenges
Modern machine learning and AI methods can help heliophysics researchers and space weather forecasters overcome limitations from a dearth of observations and the infrequency of extreme events.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Rocket Launches and Reentries Harm Earth’s Ozone Layer
Solid-state fuels—recently used to help launch astronauts to the Moon for the first time in decades—appear to be the fuel type with the most detrimental effects on the ozone.
Posted inScience Updates
New Directions in Mapping Ice Sheet Fabrics and Flow
Polarimetric radar advances enable scientists to measure orientations of crystals, bubbles, and other properties that affect the flow of glaciers and ice sheets—and their contributions to sea level.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
What Makes Mars’s Magnetotail Flap?
Spacecraft reveal a key driver of up-and-down motions of thin, current-carrying plasma sheets on the nightside of Mars.
Posted inResearch & Developments
Artemis II Crew Splashes Down
After a journey to and around the Moon, the Artemis II crew splashed back to Earth off the coast of San Diego at 5:07 p.m. local time (8:07 p.m. ET) on 10 April.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Distant Cousins? How Field Work on Earth Could Help Us to Better Understand Titan
What do Saturn’s moon Titan and the Earth have in common? Quite a lot as it turns out, from hydrocarbon deposits to polar clouds, lakes and rivers, craters and canyons, and more.
Posted inResearch & Developments
Curiosity Stumbles Upon Evidence of Ancient Martian Winds
Researchers have found evidence of a sandstorm on Mars that occurred about 3.6 billion years ago.