Planetary Science

Planetary Science

Year in review: Ocean may power Enceladus’ geysers

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft builds a stronger case for a subsurface ocean on Enceladus that drives ice geysers on the moon’s south pole.

Planetary Science

Year in review: Business booming on Mars

Mars now has seven robots studying it and together they have given scientists their best view of any planet in the solar system other than Earth.

Planetary Science

Rosetta casts doubt on comets as Earth’s water providers

Water in comet 67P’s thin, hazy atmosphere doesn’t chemically match Earth’s oceans, suggesting that asteroids, not comets, brought water to the planet.

Planetary Science

Martian crater was once filled with liquid water

Sandstone deposits on Mars indicate that Gale Crater, the Curiosity rover’s stomping ground, was once a lake fed by rivers.

Planetary Science

Pluto probe wakes up one last time

The New Horizons probe will remain active for the remainder of its journey to Pluto.

Planetary Science

Ancient moon’s mega magnetic field explained

Apollo-era moon rocks reveal ancient lunar magnetic field was at least as powerful as the one surrounding modern Earth.

Planetary Science

Preparing for disaster, celebrating success

Science cannot prevent all disasters or solve all the problems they spawn, but it can point to the best ways to prepare, making disasters less damaging than they might otherwise be

Planetary Science

Comet lander’s exploration cut short

The comet lander Philae made history with its touchdown on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, but a series of small hiccups prevented the robot from recharging its batteries, giving it only about 57 hours to explore the alien world.

Planetary Science

Setting sights on Mars — a half-century ago

Fifty years ago, the United States turned its eyes toward Mars and set a goal of sending humans as soon as possible.

Planetary Science

Planets stake their claim around infant star

At the center of the newly released telescope image is HL Tau, a star located about 450 light-years away in the constellation Taurus. A dense disk of gas and dust surrounds the star, which is a youthful million years old.

Planetary Science

Philae lander sent in a surprise before going to sleep

The robotic probe that landed on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko has beamed back some surprises about the icy boulder.

Planetary Science

Cassini maps depths of Titan’s seas

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft finds that some methane seas on Titan extend more than 200 meters beneath the Saturnian moon’s surface.