Planetary Sciene

HST confirms sub-surface ocean on Ganymede

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, monitoring subtle shifts in auroras flickering around Jupiter's moon Ganymede, has confirmed the presence of a deep salt-water ocean 95 miles below the icy crust of the solar system's largest moon, scientists said Thursday.
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NASA readies SMAP for launch to monitor soil moisture

A NASA satellite is poised for launch Thursday to measure the amount of water in the top 2 inches of soil around the world to help scientists understand its effects on weather, its role in climate change and to better predict and respond to natural disasters. Read More...

Philae comet lander loses power, drops off line

Trapped in rough, forbidding terrain with its solar panels draped in shadow, the Philae comet lander raced the clock Friday to carry out high-priority science operations, including an attempt to drill into the surface of the nucleus, before exhausting its batteries. Read More...

Philae comet lander bounced into shadows, raising battery fears

When the Philae spacecraft landed on a comet Wednesday, the anchors needed to hold it down in the feeble gravity failed to fire and the lander bounced back into space, soaring more than a half mile before hitting the ground more than a half mile away. Read More...

Rosetta comet lander touches down; status uncertain

The European Space Agency's Rosetta probe released a small lander early Wednesday that descended to touchdown on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, but it was not immediately clear whether the spacecraft was stable in the feeble gravity. Read More...

Rosetta poised to release comet lander in historic first

The European Space Agency's Rosetta probe, flying in close formation with a slowly tumbling comet, was on track to release a small lander Wednesday that will attempt an unprecedented touchdown on the boulder-strewn, debris-spewing nucleus. Read More...

MAVEN orbiter launched on 10-month flight to Mars

A new NASA Mars probe began a 10-month voyage to the red planet Monday, blasting off on a $671 million mission to study the martian atmosphere and the cause of a dramatic case of climate change.
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NASA Mars orbiter cleared for launch

NASA's next Mars probe is poised for launch Monday, weather permitting, to kick off a $671 million mission to find out why a good portion of the red planet's atmosphere leaked away ages ago in an extreme case of climate change.
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