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NASA marks 20 years of continuous Mars exploration
NASA's Mars Pathfinder probe dropped to the surface of Mars for an airbag-cushioned landing 20 years ago Tuesday, bouncing 15 times across an ancient flood plain before deploying a mobile robot to usher in two decades of uninterrupted Martian exploration.
Dawn mission managers await NASA decision on spacecraft’s future
The future of NASA's Dawn spacecraft, running low on hydrazine fuel and now flying around the dwarf planet Ceres without the help of internal pointing wheels, will be decided in the coming weeks by top space agency managers.
VideoRide with NASA’s Juno orbiter over turbulent Jupiter
Take a trip around Jupiter with NASA's Juno spacecraft in a time-lapse animation created from a sequence of images taken during the probe's last close-up flyby of the gas giant May 19.
Cassini survives closest brush with Saturn’s inner ring
Barreling through space near the inner edge of Saturn's wispy D ring, NASA's Cassini spacecraft shielded from itself bits of ice and dust Sunday as the probe made its most dangerous plunge close to the planet, collecting spectacular edge-on views of Saturn's rings with an on-board camera.
Jupiter surprises in first trove of data from NASA’s Juno mission
The first months of observations of the solar system's biggest planet from NASA's Juno spacecraft have revealed huge swirling polar cyclones, previously-undetected structures and motions beneath Jupiter's distinctive clouds, and the first evidence for what lies at the core of the gas giant, scientists said Thursday.
Earlier launch of NASA’s Psyche mission touted as cost-saving measure
A NASA spacecraft set to explore a metallic asteroid for the first time will launch in 2022, a year earlier than originally planned, and reach its destination in 2026, four years ahead of schedule, giving ground teams a shorter wait for the mission's scientific payoff and shaving $100 million off the project's total cost, officials said Wednesday.
Probe into crash of ESA lander recommends more checks on ExoMars descent craft
Investigators who studied the crash of the European Space Agency's Schiaparelli lander on Mars last year have recommended more stringent testing and computer modeling before the launch of a joint European-Russian landing craft in 2020 to avoid a repeat of the mistakes that doomed the probe's descent through the Martian atmosphere.
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft aims to skirt Saturn’s innermost ring
Fresh off its fifth passage through a gap between Saturn's atmosphere and rings, NASA's robotic Cassini spacecraft is looping toward a close brush with the planet's innermost ring next week, when the probe will again use its high-gain antenna as a shield against icy particles that may lie in its path.
Juno spacecraft makes another pass by Jupiter
Making its fifth science pass close to Jupiter's turbulent cloud tops, NASA's Juno spacecraft sailed by the solar system's king planet Friday to collect another treasure trove of data on the giant world's atmosphere, internal structure, and magnetic field.
Cassini downlinks view of Titan’s methane clouds on third loop inside rings
The Cassini spacecraft captured a captivating image of wispy methane clouds suspended above Titan's hydrocarbon lakes as the probe headed for its third shot through Saturn's ring gap Tuesday.