Solar System

Delaying Death: Mercury Spacecraft Firing Engines To Stay Up Until 2015

Don't take these spectacular Mercury images (below the jump) for granted. Three weeks ago, NASA's orbiting Mercury spacecraft did an…

10 years ago

Beam Me Up, Mars! Uwingu Will Send 90,000 Radio Messages There Today

Maybe you can't climb on a rocketship to Mars, at least yet, but at the least you can get your…

10 years ago

‘Meteoric Smoke’: Comet Siding Spring Could Alter Mars Chemistry Permanently

Feeling lucky? Events such as the Comet Siding Spring approach by Mars in October only happen about once every eight…

10 years ago

Venus Express Spacecraft, Low On Fuel, Does Delicate Dance Above Doom Below

It's been an interesting year for Venus Express. A few months ago, controllers deliberately dipped the spacecraft into the atmosphere…

10 years ago

Jet! Rosetta’s Comet Is Feeling The Heat As Gas and Dust Erupts From Surface

Get a load of those streaks! Rosetta's comet is picking up in activity as it moves ever closer to the…

10 years ago

Rosetta Comet Sounds Make ‘Across The Universe’ Song Oh So Spooky

It's not quite across the universe from us, but Rosetta's comet is a fair distance away -- outside the orbit…

10 years ago

Opportunity Mars Rover Pushes Past 41 Kilometers Of Driving On Red Planet

Opportunity is the rover that keeps on going and going. It recently broke an extraterrestrial driving record after 10 years…

10 years ago

Mercury Spacecraft Moves To Testing Ahead Of 2016 Launch To Sun’s Closest Planet

After facing down a couple of delays due to technical difficulties, Europe's and Japan's first Mercury orbiter is entering some…

10 years ago

Where The Heck Did Philae Land? Rosetta Team Narrows The Cometary Search

The first soft comet landing Nov. 12 showed us how space missions can quickly drift to the unexpected. Philae's harpoons…

10 years ago