A new technology that allows satellites to de-orbit themselves at the end of their lives could help mitigate the problem of space debris.

The post Satellites Equipped With a Tether Would be Able to De-Orbit Themselves at the end of Their Life appeared first on Universe Today.

This year, the NASA's NIAC Program is looking at some really interesting ideas - such as a water-powered, laser-shooting, asteroid-mining spacecraft!

The post Robotic asteroid mining spacecraft wins a grant from NASA appeared first on Universe Today.

Jupiter’s moon Europa is an intriguing world. It’s the smoothest body in the Solar System, and the sixth-largest moon in the Solar System, though it’s the smallest of the four Galilean moons. Most intriguing of all is Europa’s subsurface ocean and the potential for habitability. The scientific consensus is that Europa has a subsurface ocean …

Continue reading "Saltwater Similar to the Earth’s Oceans has been Seen on Europa. Another Good Reason Why We Really Need to Visit This Place"

The post Saltwater Similar to the Earth’s Oceans has been Seen on Europa. Another Good Reason Why We Really Need to Visit This Place appeared first on Universe Today.

When InSight landed on Mars on Nov. 26th, 2018, it deployed a parachute to slow its descent through the thin Martian atmosphere. As it approached the surface, it fired its retro rocket to slow it even more, and then gently touched down on the surface. As it did so, its retro rockets excavated two small …

Continue reading "This is What the Ground Looked Like After InSight Landed on Mars"

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If NASA sends a Starshade into space, it will need to perform some very accurate formation flying with the space telescopes it is working with

The post In Order to Reveal Planets Around Another star, a Starshade Needs to Fly 40,000 km Away from a Telescope, Aligned Within Only 1 Meter appeared first on Universe Today.

If you want to know what a talent for scientific visualizations looks like, check out Eleanor Lutz. She’s a PhD student in biology at the University of Washington, and at her website Tabletop Whale, you can see her amazing work on full display. Her latest piece is a map showing all the orbits of over …

Continue reading "An Orbit Map of the Solar System"

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Ceres, at almost 1,000 km (620 miles) in diameter, is the largest body in the asteroid belt. Between 2015 and 2018, NASA’s ion-powered Dawn spacecraft visited the dwarf planet, looking for clues to help us understand how our Solar System formed. Ceres is the first dwarf planet ever visited by a spacecraft. Now that scientists …

Continue reading "Ceres is a Strange Place, Including a Volcanic Peak 4,000 Meters High Made From Bubbling Salt Water, Mud and Rock"

The post Ceres is a Strange Place, Including a Volcanic Peak 4,000 Meters High Made From Bubbling Salt Water, Mud and Rock appeared first on Universe Today.

Saturn’s moon Mimas is the smallest of the gas giant’s major moons. (Saturn has 62 moons, but some of them are tiny moonlets less than 1 km in diameter.) Two new studies show how Mimas acted as a kind of snow-plow, widening the Cassini division between Saturn’s rings. Saturn’s iconic rings set it apart from …

Continue reading "Mimas Pushes Through Saturn’s Rings Like a Snowplow"

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