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VideoLive coverage: New Horizons flyby target comes into focus
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft made a historic New Year's encounter with an object nicknamed Ultima Thule in the Kuiper Belt a billion miles beyond Pluto. The NASA space probe passed Ultima Thule at a distance of around 2,200 miles (3,500 kilometers) at 12:33 a.m. EST (0533 GMT) on Jan. 1, making it the most distant planetary body ever explored up close.
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft heads for New Year’s encounter with distant world
Three years and a billion miles past Pluto, NASA's New Horizons probe is on the verge of at least one more pioneering, once-in-a-lifetime milestone: a New Year's Day flyby of a small body known as 2014 MU69, unofficially dubbed Ultima Thule -- "beyond the known world" -- in a NASA naming contest.
Q&A with Steve Clarke, deputy associate administrator for exploration in NASA’s science division (members only)
It's Steve Clarke's job to merge the goals of space scientists with NASA's strategic plans for exploring the solar system, two factors which are not always in lock-step, as the space agency seeks to return humans to the moon, and eventually send astronauts to Mars.
NASA picks nine companies to compete for commercial lunar lander missions
NASA announced Thursday nine companies that will be eligible to compete for up to $2.6 billion in contracts over the next decade to ferry scientific instruments and tech demo payloads to the moon aboard commercial robotic landers, a first step in what agency officials said will foster expanded private investment in deep space exploration and an eventual return of humans to the lunar surface.
NASA’s InSight mission lands on Mars to study planet’s hidden interior
NASA's InSight spacecraft plunged into the rarefied atmosphere of Mars at a speed of more than 12,000 mph Monday and braked to a gentle touchdown, setting the stage for a two-year surface mission to probe the planet's deep interior.
VideoLive coverage: InSight probe lands on Mars
NASA's robotic InSight spacecraft, carrying a pair of European-built science instruments, successfully landed Monday on a broad, flat equatorial Martian plain named Elysium Planitia. Touchdown was confirmed at 2:54 p.m. EST (1954 GMT) to begin a science mission focused on studying the deep interior of Mars.
InSight tweaks trajectory to home in on Mars landing site
On the eve of its blazing entry into the Martian atmosphere, NASA's InSight spacecraft briefly pulsed its control jets Sunday to target a safe, flat landing zone near the planet's equator -- the last in a series of trajectory correction maneuvers since the mission's launch in May.
InSight’s entry, descent and landing timeline
NASA's InSight lander will fly from the outer edge of the Martian atmosphere at a speed of more than 12,000 mph to a controlled descent rate of 5 mph just above the red planet's surface in less than seven minutes.
VideoVideo: JPL’s Rob Manning explains InSight’s entry, descent and landing
JPL chief engineer Rob Manning, a veteran of Mars mission teams dating back to Mars Pathfinder more than two decades ago, describes how the InSight spacecraft will enter the Martian atmosphere and touch down on the red planet.
Mars lander on course for Monday touchdown
After a six-month voyage from Earth, NASA's InSight Mars lander, streaking through space at at some 12,300 mph, will slam into the thin martian atmosphere Monday afternoon to begin a nail-biting six-and-a-half-minute descent to the surface, kicking off a billion-dollar mission to probe the red planet's hidden interior.