Planetary Science – Page 45

Japanese probe fires rockets to steer into orbit at Venus

December 6, 2015 Stephen Clark

Five years after missing a shot to enter orbit at Venus, Japan’s Akatsuki spacecraft completed a critical rocket burn late Sunday in a bid to salvage the research mission and become the only space probe operating around Earth’s nearest planetary neighbor.

Tiny thrusters to do heavy lifting as Japanese probe approaches Venus

November 18, 2015 Stephen Clark

Inside a month until its next chance to swing into orbit around Venus, Japan’s Akatsuki spacecraft has weathered unexpectedly “severe” conditions after missing an arrival opportunity in 2010, according to the mission’s project scientist.

Solar wind blasting away Martian atmosphere

November 5, 2015 William Harwood

The solar wind, the million-mile-per-hour stream of charged particles blasted away from the sun, is slowly but surely stripping away Mars’ atmosphere and likely played a major role in turning the red planet from a habitable world in the distant past into the dry, frozen wasteland seen today, scientists said Thursday.

NASA might pick two Discovery missions, but at a price

October 5, 2015 Stephen Clark

A senior NASA official said Monday the agency could select two new robotic planetary science missions next year for launch in the early 2020s, and the five finalists favor Venus and asteroid research.

Charon takes center stage in new batch of New Horizons images

October 2, 2015 Stephen Clark

With meandering canyons four times as long, and twice as deep, as the Grand Canyon in the American Southwest, the crust of Pluto’s moon Charon may have been shaped by violent eruptions and geology once thought improbable for a small body in the far depths of the solar system, scientists said Thursday.

Secrets behind Pluto’s pastels far from being answered

September 24, 2015 Stephen Clark

Geologists said Thursday they are bewildered by images from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft baring unseen landscapes on Pluto with unexpected “snakeskin” textures, colorful chasms routing through ancient landforms, and vivid new views of apparent glacial flows.

Dawn gets better look at bright spots on Ceres

September 9, 2015 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, nearly halfway through its exploration of the dwarf planet Ceres, has returned its best images yet of a mysterious grouping of bright spots inside a crater on the Texas-sized world, bolstering evidence that Ceres is geologically alive.

Uranus, Neptune in NASA’s sights for new robotic mission

August 25, 2015 Stephen Clark

NASA has asked scientists to assess how to design and fly robotic space probes to Uranus and Neptune, the last of the solar system’s classical planets yet to be orbited, likely ensuring the huge icy worlds are near the top of the space agency’s to-do list in the coming decades.

Dawn enters new orbit closer to Ceres

June 7, 2015 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Dawn asteroid explorer has arrived at its new perch 2,700 miles from the dwarf planet Ceres, a vantage point scientists say will yield better views as the probe continues to step closer to the surface.

UAE details ambitious plan for Martian weather satellite

May 8, 2015 Stephen Clark

Scientists from the United Arab Emirates have announced the Arab world’s first Mars probe will launch in July 2020 and collect global measurements of the Martian atmosphere.