Solar System Exploration Stories

The final downlink shift by the Ingenuity team was a time to reflect on a highly successful mission — and to prepare the first aircraft on another world for its new role. Engineers working on NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter assembled…

After investigating the high-standing bedrock at the Bunsen Peak workspace deep within the Margin Unit, the unique nature and composition of this rock was deemed worthy for collection of Perseverance’s 21th rock core sample, Comet Geyser! Bunsen Peak is named…

NASA has confirmed its Dragonfly rotorcraft mission to Saturn’s organic-rich moon Titan. The decision allows the mission to progress to completion of final design, followed by the construction and testing of the entire spacecraft and science instruments. “Dragonfly is a…

Did you know the Sun has moss? Due to its resemblance to the earthly plants, scientists have named a small-scale, bright, patchy structure made of plasma in the solar atmosphere “moss.” This moss, which was first identified in 1999 by…

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, will build a moonquake detector for astronauts to deploy on the Moon in 2026 during the Artemis III mission, which will return astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time in…

The next full Moon will be Tuesday evening, April 23, 2024, The Moon will appear full for about 3 days around this time, from Monday morning to Thursday morning. 

Earth planning date: Monday, April 15, 2024 On most sols of planning, the science team does their best to balance collecting new observations of the “typical”  with the “unusual.” The dividing line between those is subjective, but informed by the…

Editor’s Note, April 16, 2024: This story has been updated to remove an unclear secondary image and caption. As the Moon blotted out the Sun to viewers across the United States during the April 8 solar eclipse, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance…

We continue Citizen Science Month with these ongoing NASA projects! Remember: everybody can participate in science – not just professional scientists. Although it is referred to as citizen science, people from around the globe can participate. In fact, many valuable…

Earth planning date: Friday, April 12, 2024 As we’ve continued to drive up into Gediz Vallis, the ground in front of us has become increasingly littered with large rocks sticking up out of the sand. While certainly good for geology,…