spacecraft
Archaeology On Mars: Preserving Artifacts of Our Expansion Into the Solar System
In 1971, the Soviet Mars 3 lander became the first spacecraft to land on Mars, though it only lasted a…
These New Computer Simulations of the Sun are Hypnotic
It's almost impossible to over-emphasize the primal, raging, natural power of a star. Our Sun may appear benign in simple…
If You’re Going to Visit Venus, Why Not Include an Asteroid Flyby Too?
A recent study submitted to Acta Astronautica examines the prospect of designing a Venus mission flight plan that would involve…
Juice is Fully Deployed. It’s Now in its Final Form, Ready to Meet Jupiter’s Moons in 2031
Launched on April 14, 2023, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice; formerly known as JUICE) spacecraft…
Flying to (Hypothetical) Planet 9: Why visit it, how could we get there, and would it surprise us like Pluto?
In a recent study submitted to Earth and Planetary Astrophysics, an international team of researchers discuss the various mission design…
Two Spacecraft Could Work Together to Capture an Asteroid and Bring it Close to Earth for Mining
Humanity seems destined to expand into the Solar System. What exactly that looks like, and how difficult and tumultuous the…
BepiColombo Meets Mercury for the First Time on October 1
BepiColombo made a quick visit to Venus in August and is on to its next rendezvous. On October 1st it'll…
NASA has Approved a Space Telescope That Will Scan the Skies for Dangerous Near-Earth Asteroids
A lot of the threats humanity faces come from ourselves. If we were listing them, we'd include tribalism, greed, and…
Here are the First Pictures from CHEOPS
The CHEOPS spacecraft is taking the first tentative steps in its mission. Back on January 29th, the spacecraft opened the…
Voyager 2 Went Into Fault Protection Mode, But Engineers Brought it Back Online
NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft went into fault protection mode on Tuesday January 28th. The fault protection routines automatically protect the…