Planetary Science
- Planetary Science
Mars Polar Lander: Lost but now found?
A reanalysis of an image taken 5 years ago suggests that planetary scientists have found the remains of the Mars Polar Lander, which vanished minutes before it was supposed to touch down on the Red Planet.
- Planetary Science
Craft show
The Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft recently imaged Mars Odyssey and Mars Express, marking the first time that a spacecraft orbiting a planet other than Earth has captured images of other craft circling the same planet.
- Planetary Science
Roaming Giants: Did migrating planets shape the solar system?
New simulations suggest that the solar system's four biggest planets were once bunched together, setting up a planetary bowling game that rapidly and violently rearranged the structure of the outer solar system and tossed chunks of debris inward.
- Planetary Science
Ringing in a new moon
The Cassini spacecraft has spotted a new moon of Saturn, only the second known to lie within the planet's main rings.
- Planetary Science
Roving on the Red Planet
Scientists review the discoveries made by the Mars rovers after nearly 18 months on the Red Planet.
- Planetary Science
Saturnian moonscape
Planetary scientists have obtained their closest image yet of Epimetheus, one of Saturn's tiny moons.
- Planetary Science
Far-out science
New measurements show that the planetoid Sedna spins more rapidly than earlier observations had suggested.
- Planetary Science
The Huygens Chronicles
After several months of painstaking work analyzing data from the Huygens probe, planetary scientists are able to see the surface of Saturn's moon Titan in greater detail than ever before.
- Planetary Science
Comet mission loses some focus
A camera aboard the Deep Impact spacecraft, set to fire a projectile into the icy heart of Comet Tempel-1 on July 4, is slightly out of focus.
- Planetary Science
A Martian haven for life?
Images taken by two Mars spacecraft suggest that a volcano on the Red Planet erupted long ago at the confluence of two riverbeds, indicating that the region had two of the prequisites for life: heat and water.
- Planetary Science
A moon with atmosphere
Magnetic measurements by the Cassini spacecraft have revealed that Saturn's moon Enceladus has a tenuous atmosphere containing water vapor.
- Planetary Science
Dusty rejuvenation
The Mars rover Spirit recently had its dirty solar arrays cleaned off, possibly by a dust devil, allowing the craft to generate nearly as much energy as it did when it first landed on the Red Planet in January 2004.
