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NASA Helps Decipher How Some Distant Planets Have Clouds of Sand

A new study using archival observations by the now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope found a common trait among distant worlds where the exotic clouds form. Most clouds on Earth are made of water, but beyond our planet they come in many chemical varieties. The top of Jupiter’s atmosphere, for example, is blanketed in yellow-hued clouds made of ammonia and ammonium hydrosulfide. And on worlds…
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The FCC authorizes SpaceX’s Starlink system to be used on vehicles in motion

Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted SpaceX authorization to use its Starlink satellite internet system on vehicles in motion — including cars, trucks, boats, and aircraft. It’s a big win for SpaceX’s Starlink system, potentially opening up the service to a more diverse range of use cases and customers. SpaceX requested regulatory approval from the FCC in March of last…
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My Favorite Martian Image: ‘Enchanted’ Rocks at Jezero Crater

Not even Obi-Wan Kenobi could convince Perseverance’s Katie Stack Morgan that these are not the rocks she’s looking for. Ask any space explorer, and they’ll have a favorite photograph or two from their mission. For Katie Stack Morgan, the deputy project scientist for NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover, the first close-up image of layered rocks at the base of Jezero Crater’s ancient river…
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Help NASA Scientists Find Clouds on Mars

By identifying clouds in data collected by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the public can increase scientists’ understanding of the Red Planet’s atmosphere. NASA scientists hope to solve a fundamental mystery about Mars’ atmosphere, and you can help.
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A tiny NASA spacecraft launches to test out a new orbit around the Moon

Early this morning, a small NASA spacecraft about the size of a microwave embarked on the beginning of a four-month-long journey to the Moon, where it will eventually insert itself into a unique, elongated lunar orbit that no NASA mission has visited before. The spacecraft’s goal is simple: test out this particular orbit and see what it’s like. That’s because it’s the same orbit that…
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