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Saturn’s clouds run deep, rings may rain organics
Saturn’s clouds have roots deeper inside the planet’s atmosphere than scientists previously thought, and Saturn’s rings — now believed to have formed in the last 200 million years — appear to be raining organic molecules down on the planet, according to observations made by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft last year in the final weeks of its mission.
Space Launch System, planetary exploration get big boosts in NASA budget
NASA's planned rocket to send humans back to the moon and the agency's solar system exploration program were big winners in a $20.7 billion budget passed by Congress and signed by President Trump on Friday.
Atlas 5 rocket assembled for first Mars mission launch from Vandenberg
Ground crews at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California raised a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket on its launch pad earlier this month in preparation for liftoff May 5 with NASA's InSight lander heading to Mars.
NASA to decide soon whether flying drone will launch with Mars 2020 rover
Testing of a lightweight robotic helicopter designed to fly in the alien atmosphere of Mars has produced encouraging results in recent months, and NASA officials expect to decide soon whether the aerial drone will accompany the agency's next rover to the red planet set for liftoff in 2020.
New Horizons spacecraft’s next distant destination gets a nickname
The frozen faraway miniature world targeted for a high-speed flyby by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft on Jan. 1, 2019, now has a nickname: Ultima Thule.
New NOAA weather satellite reaches geostationary orbit
Less than two weeks after its launch from Cape Canaveral, a new NOAA weather observatory has boosted itself into a circular orbit more than 22,000 miles over the equator, and officials have renamed it GOES-17 ahead of a test series before it enters service later this year.
VideoEurope’s ExoMars orbiter nears start of methane-sniffing science mission
Nearly a year-and-a-half after arriving at the red planet, Europe's ExoMars orbiter is finally approaching a planned perch around 250 miles over the rust-colored world after repeatedly dipping into the Martian atmosphere to lower its orbit.
Photos: Atlas 5 blasts off with GOES-S weather satellite
NOAA's newest weather satellite, heading for a perch with coverage over the western United States and the Pacific Ocean, launched March 1 from Cape Canaveral on top of an Atlas 5 rocket.
InSight lander flown to California for final launch preps
NASA’s robotic InSight Mars lander arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California this week aboard a U.S. Air Force cargo plane, ready for final testing, fueling and launch aboard an Atlas 5 rocket May 5, two years later the originally planned.
Weather satellite for the West Coast launched from Cape Canaveral
A weather satellite set to bring new storm tracking capabilities to the western United States and the Pacific Ocean rode into space atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket Thursday.