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How NASA’s Psyche Mission Will Explore an Unexplored World

November 16, 2022

The target of NASA’s Psyche mission – a metal-rich asteroid, also called Psyche, in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter – is an uncharted world in outer space. From Earth- and space-based telescopes, the asteroid appears as a fuzzy blur. What scientists do know, from radar data, is that it’s shaped somewhat like a potato and that it spins on its side. By analyzing light reflected off…

NASA’s Next-Generation Asteroid Impact Monitoring System Goes Online

November 16, 2022

To date, nearly 28,000 near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) have been found by survey telescopes that continually scan the night sky, adding new discoveries at a rate of about 3,000 per year. But as larger and more advanced survey telescopes turbocharge the search over the next few…

One Year From Launch: US-European Satellite to Track World’s Water

November 16, 2022

An international team of engineers and technicians has finished assembling a next-generation satellite that will make the first global survey of Earth’s surface water and study fine-scale ocean currents. The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission is just a year…

NASA’s Juno: Science Results Offer First 3D View of Jupiter Atmosphere

November 16, 2022

New findings from NASA’s Juno probe orbiting Jupiter provide a fuller picture of how the planet’s distinctive and colorful atmospheric features offer clues about the unseen processes below its clouds. The results highlight the inner workings of the belts and zones of clouds encircling Jupiter, as well as its polar cyclones and even the Great Red Spot. Researchers published several papers on…

NASA Turns to the Cloud for Help With Next-Generation Earth Missions

November 16, 2022

The cutting-edge Earth science satellites launching in the next couple of years will give more detailed views of our planet than ever before. We’ll be able to track small-scale ocean features like coastal currents that move nutrients vital to marine food webs, monitor how…

Solar Electric Propulsion Makes NASA’s Psyche Spacecraft Go

November 16, 2022

When it comes time for NASA’s Psyche spacecraft to power itself through deep space, it’ll be more brain than brawn that does the work. Once the stuff of science fiction, the efficient and quiet power of electric propulsion will provide the force that propels the Psyche…

Take a 3D Spin on Mars and Track NASA’s Perseverance Rover

November 16, 2022

It’s the next best thing to being on Mars: Two online interactive experiences let you check out Jezero Crater – the landing site and exploration locale for NASA’s Perseverance rover – without leaving our planet. One new experience, called “Explore with Perseverance,” allows you to follow along with the rover as though you were standing on the surface of Mars. Another interactive…

Justin Simon Shepherds Perseverance Through First Phase of Martian Rock Sampling

November 16, 2022

The evening of Aug. 1 felt a lot like a birthday to NASA planetary scientist Justin Simon. On that night, Simon attended a virtual watch party for researchers preparing to use NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover to conduct the first detailed study of a candidate rock…

NASA’s Perseverance Plans Next Sample Attempt

November 16, 2022

In its search for signs of ancient microbial life on Mars, NASA’s Perseverance rover is once again preparing to collect the first of many rock core samples that could eventually be brought to Earth for further study. This week, a tool on the rover’s 7-foot-long…

One Year Out: NASA’s Psyche Mission Moves Closer to Launch

November 16, 2022

With NASA’s Psyche mission now less than a year from launch, anticipation is building. By next spring, the fully assembled spacecraft will ship from the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a launch period that opens Aug. 1, 2022. In early 2026, the Psyche spacecraft will arrive at its target, an asteroid of the same name in…