New observations of the M-type star L 98–59 and its surrounding system have revealed a planet with half the mass of Venus, making it the lightest exoplanet ever to be measured using the radial velocity method. Alongside this are a likely water world, and a possible planet in the habitable zone.
The Venus flyby provided an opportunity to test BepiColombo’s instruments ahead of its first encounter with destination planet Mercury.
Mercury-bound spacecraft BepiColombo has zoomed past Venus at a distance of only 340 miles, taking a bunch of selfies and a lot of scientific measurements that might shed new light on the mysteries of the planet’s atmosphere.
Launched Aug. 10 1966, Lunar Orbiter 1 was a mission that would set the mold for future planetary science missions thanks to a complicated camera system.
The reconnection of single-looped field lines in the Sun’s corona can create tension forces strong enough to hurl material into space, according to a new simulation.
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Psyche 16 is a seriously expensive bit of real estate, and NASA plans to go to great lengths to see what’s happening up there.
Last week, Perseverance was finally ready to collect the first sample in its search for ancient Martian life. But something went awry.
After stacking the stages of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for NASA’s Artemis 1 mission in June and July, EGS and TOSC powered up the Core Stage for the first time in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on August 6. The initial power up was a significant milestone in pre-launch processing, marking the beginning of the systematic checkouts of the vehicle and ground systems that will be used for the first launch on Artemis 1.
Just prior to powering up the Core Stage, the four umbilicals that connect ground services from the Mobile Launcher were attached to quick disconnect plates on the stage’s three major equipment bays: the forward skirt, intertank, and engine section. The Integrated Operations team of EGS and Jacobs and the SLS prime contractors are working almost around clock in the VAB to get through all the installations, checkouts, and special tests in time for a launch no earlier than the end of 2,021 but more likely in early 2022.
Research shows the Moon may not have a magnetic field after all, as samples returned by U.S. NASA astronauts show the true nature of Earth’s moon.
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover recently attempted its first-ever sample collection of the Martian surface on August 6. However, data shows that while the rover’s drill successfully drilled into the surface, no regolith was collected in the sample tube.
Meanwhile, as Perseverance was preparing for the sample collection event, a team of researchers using ESA’s Mars Express orbiter found evidence that previously thought of lakes of water underneath Mars’ south pole might actually be made of clay.
Perseverance’s sample collection failure
NASA’s Perseverance drilled into the surface of Mars but failed in its initial attempt to collect rock samples that would be picked up by future missions for analysis by scientists on Earth.
