Earlier this month, NASA probes in orbit and on the Martian surface detected an incredibly bright global aurora as a powerful solar storm struck Mars. The aurora was accompanied by a powerful dose of radiation that would have posed a significant danger to humans exploring the Red Planet.
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An international team of scientists has discovered evidence suggesting water ice may exist around the equator of Mars – a region in which it was believed the vital resource would be unable to survive.
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On September 22, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft successfully completed a gravity assist flyby with Earth, which has set the probe on a course to rendezvous with the asteroid Bennu next year. At its closest point, OSIRIS-REx flew within 10,711 miles of Earth's surface.
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A mock Orion space capsule is helping to ensure that astronauts return safely to Earth. The full-scale simulated spacecraft is part of project by a Kansas State University kinesiology team to study the physical challenges faced by astronauts returning to Earth after prolonged space missions.
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At the 68th International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide, Australia, this week, NASA and the Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos, signed a joint statement making the US space agency's deep space gateway concept a common goal for the two major powers.
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In September 2006, the ESA's first lunar mission, SMART-1, ended when the probe was deliberately crashed into the Moon. The exact location of the craft’s final resting place wasn’t known, but now images from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) have found the telltale scars of the site.
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The Australian government has announced plans to establish a national space agency. Although the country has played a key role in international space programs for decades, creating its own agency will allow Australia to grow a domestic space industry and keep talent from heading overseas.
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Global Aerospace Corporation's "Pluto Hop, Skip and Jump" mission concept that will be presented on Monday would not only land on the dwarf planet, but autonomously hop hundreds of kilometers from one spot to another as it explores its frozen surface.
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If all goes according to plan, in 2020 NASA will launch a rover to Mars to look for signs of past or present life. To help astrobiologists tease out biological material from other deceiving compounds in the planet's regolith, researchers suggest focussing efforts on finding the element vanadium.
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NASA has taken another step toward a forward in 3D printed rocket engines by manufacturing and testing an igniter prototype made of two distinct metal allows using an advanced laser printing method that could one day reduce the costs by a third and speed up the process by half.
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