When NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft sailed past Pluto on July 14th, 2015, it gathered a treasure trove of information regarding what used to be the 9th planet. Among the most intriguing was an odd “heart shaped” feature on Pluto’s surface which is clearly of more recent origin than what surrounds it. Now, a new study […]
In August, the European Southern Observatory announced the discovery of an Earth sized planet orbiting in the habitable, or Goldilocks Zone, of the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri. Given its location just 4.22 light years away, the newfound world is as close to Earth as a potentially life-supporting planet could plausibly be, raising interesting philosophical […]
The solar system just keeps getting wetter and wetter. According to a new study published in Geophysical Research Letters, Enceladus is not the only Saturnian moon harboring a global ocean beneath its frozen surface. Based on new modeling, Dione, the fourth largest moon in the system, can now be called a water world as well. […]
NASA today announced further evidence supporting the existence of plumes erupting from the global salt water ocean which is believed to exist on Jupiter’s moon Europa. The discovery is based on a series of observations in the extreme ultra-violet end of the visible light spectrum as Europa passed in front of Jupiter during its the […]
A new study of Pluto’s massive chasms strongly suggests that the former planet is concealing a liquid water ocean beneath its bizarre and wildly varying surface. From the abstract in Geophysical Research Letters: The New Horizons spacecraft has found evidence for geologic activity on the surface of Pluto, including extensional tectonic deformation of its water […]
SpaceX achieved its second consecutive successful landing at sea overnight as a part of the JCSAT-14 satellite launch to Geostationary Transfer Orbit. Coming less than one month after the first successful drone ship landing which took place during the NASA CRS-8 resupply mission to ISS on April 8, last night’s achievement was even more challenging […]
The House appropriations sub-committee which funds NASA held a hearing yesterday regarding the Administration’s FY-2017 budget request. Background The Administration request for FY 2017 is $18.262 billion. NASA says that the proposed budget is really $19.025 billion because it includes $763 million from other sources. The Congressional appropriation (what NASA actually received) for FY 2016 was […]
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft is about to make a return visit to one of the most interesting environments we have yet discovered in the Saturn system, and that is saying something. On Wednesday, October 28th, Cassini will make a low flyby over the South Pole of Enceladus, the 300 mile diameter moon which appears to contain […]
A Shocking Encounter at Hyperion: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute This week brought two new findings from the Cassini spacecraft in the Saturn system. The first involved data from a September 26, 2005 flyby of Saturn’s bizarrely shaped moon Hyperion. According to new analysis, during the approach, Cassini was struck by a beam of electrons coming from […]
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech The treasure trove which is the Cassini spacecraft orbiting the Saturn system continues to produce fascinating discoveries. Now it appears that Saturn’s moon Enceladus has a subsurface ocean, one which is likely responsible for the geysers which Enceladus is jetting into space. It is important to note that after the end of […]
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