Near the searing center of our Solar System orbits a celestial oddity—Mercury. As the smallest and closest planet to the Sun, Mercury defies conventional planetary norms. Twenty years ago, humanity embarked on a remarkable journey of exploration to unlock the secrets of this strange little planet. The Carnegie-led MESSENGER mission aimed to map Mercury's surface, study its geology, investigate its inner composition, characterize its magnetic field, and ultimately provide clues about how Mercury formed. 🛰️ READ ALL ABOUT THIS GROUNDBREAKING NASA MISSION: https://lnkd.in/ggF5A3Zg
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“Uranus is full of scientific mysteries, such as why it rotates nearly on its side and how it developed a complex magnetic field. More broadly, studying Uranus could provide insights into planets orbiting other stars; of the more than 5,000 known exoplanets, the most common are around the size of Uranus." An article from Nature explores why our recent planetary decadal survey recommends that NASA send a flagship mission to Uranus, as well as other key recommendations from our report. Read at https://ow.ly/3wAL50S4EEn. #PlanetaryScience #SpaceExploration #NASA
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“Uranus is full of scientific mysteries, such as why it rotates nearly on its side and how it developed a complex magnetic field. More broadly, studying Uranus could provide insights into planets orbiting other stars; of the more than 5,000 known exoplanets, the most common are around the size of Uranus." An article from Nature explores why our recent planetary decadal survey recommends that NASA send a flagship mission to Uranus, as well as other key recommendations from our report. Read at https://ow.ly/GtUR50Q5YVF. #PlanetaryScience #SpaceExploration #NASA
Next stop, Uranus? Icy planet tops priority list for next big NASA mission
nature.com
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NASA Rockets Set to Probe the Moon's Shadow During the Upcoming Eclipse... As the Moon wedges itself between Earth and Sun, temporarily dimming the day’s light over parts of our planet, three rockets will take to the skies to observe how those brief moments of darkness affect Earth’s upper atmosphere. On April 8, NASA will launch three sounding rockets from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia to study the disturbances in the ionosphere during the solar eclipse. The rockets will launch at three different times; 45 minutes before, during, and 45 minutes after the peak time of the eclipse, according to NASA. #technology#NASA#solarsystem#solareclipse
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Enceladus is the sixth-largest moon of Saturn. It is about 500 kilometers (310 miles) in diameter and is one of the highest-priority candidates amongst ocean worlds with Europa and Titan. Deep below its icy shell, an ocean is heated by the energy produced from gravitational tides as Enceladus orbits around Saturn. After the discovery of hydrogen and carbon dioxyde, finding phosphorus is another intriguing clues showing a little moon that, in that ocean, not only has energy to support an ecosystem, but also some of the fundamental bricks of life...Hopefully we will revisit it soon. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI.
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This week, I would like to highlight NASA's Europa Clipper mission set to launch in October of this year. Clipper will conduct reconnaissance of Jupiter's moon Europa through a series of flybys, ultimately hoping to determine whether the moon has conditions capable of sustaining life. One instrument that is set to launch on the Clipper Orbiter is the Mass Spectrometer for Planetary Exploration/Europa (MASPEX), which will work to collect gases within Europa's faint atmosphere and identify the molecular composition. With this information, scientists will be able to study the chemistry of the moon and suspected subsurface ocean, potentially revealing whether Europa is habitable. While Clipper is not planned to arrive to Europa until April 2030, we can expect truly groundbreaking information to come from this mission within the next few years. https://lnkd.in/eds7jCxm #LifeDetection@GT
Europa Clipper
jpl.nasa.gov
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NASA's OSIRIS-REx delivered its asteroid Bennu sample to Houston's Johnson Space Center (JSC) for analysis, with JSC noting, "The information collected could help scientists... investigate planetary formation and the origins of life." The 8.8-ounce sample will offer insights into the solar system, while parts are allocated to international agencies and 70% preserved for future exploration. Liked what you read? For more such 60 word news pieces delivered to your mail box, click the link in bio and subscribe to our daily newsletter! #ds #usnews #scrollmore #morningnews #dailynews #scrollupdate
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🌌 NASA’s latest discovery on Mars could change our future exploration plans! Here’s what you need to know. 🚀 NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has uncovered a mysterious hole on Mars, captured by the HiRISE camera from 256 km (159 miles) above the Martian surface on August 15, 2022. This intriguing vertical shaft could play a crucial role in future Mars missions. Here’s why: Potential Benefits: Radiation Protection: The hole could shelter future astronauts from Mars' high radiation levels due to its thin atmosphere and lack of a global magnetic field. Astrobiological Significance: These pits might serve as past or present habitats for Martian microbial life, offering clues to the planet's potential for harboring life. Unanswered Questions: The depth and extent of these holes remain unknown. Do they lead to large caverns or are they merely small depressions? This discovery opens up exciting possibilities for the future of Mars exploration. Stay tuned as we learn more about this mysterious Martian feature! Thank you for reading! If you found this post intriguing, please like, share, and follow for more updates on space exploration. #MarsDiscovery #NASA #SpaceExploration #Astrobiology
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The U.S. space agency NASA starts Thursday with its 2017-approved project to explore the asteroid (16) Psyche. The number 16 here means that Psyche is the sixteenth minor planet discovered. According to NASA observations, the celestial body, which lies in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, consists of up to 60 percent nickel and iron. Finding out the exact composition is part of the nearly $960 million program, which is also expected to yield important insights into the formation of the planets. According to one theory, Psyche could be a planetesimal, a building block, or a precursor to a planet. The mission is NASA's first to an asteroid composed mostly of metals. This could provide the necessary groundwork for possible #spacemining. #space #newspace #criticalminerals #rawmaterials #nasa
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Cosmic Treasure Hunt: NASA's OSIRIS-REx Bringing Home Asteroid Bounty NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is on the verge of delivering the first U.S. asteroid sample to Earth, containing approximately 8.8 ounces of rocky material from asteroid Bennu collected in 2020. Scientists aim to unravel key insights into our solar system's formation, the origins of Earth's life, and the behavior of asteroids, including the Yarkovsky effect, which influences their orbits and movement. Following its return, the spacecraft will land in Utah's desert, and the collected samples will undergo extensive analysis. Concerns exist regarding the potential presence of extraterrestrial microorganisms or hazardous substances in the sample and the sample return capsule's integrity. NASA has implemented rigorous containment measures and risk assessments to address these concerns. In 2005, Japan's Hayabusa spacecraft achieved the world's first asteroid sample-return mission, targeting asteroid Itokawa, and returned to Earth in 2010 with valuable dust samples. The OSIRIS-REx mission is a collaborative endeavor involving NASA, the University of Arizona, Lockheed Martin Space, and international partners such as the Canadian Space Agency and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. NASA will broadcast the landing live on NASA TV and the NASA app, beginning September 24th at 10 am EDT (8 am MDT). https://lnkd.in/gVSfHj36 #OSIRISRExReturns #AsteroidSample #SpaceExploration #CosmicDiscovery #NASAAdventure #CanadianSpaceAgency #JapanAerospaceExplorationAgency #UniversityOfArizona #LockheedMartinSpace Image Credit: NASA
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How would you like to hold a piece of Mars in your hands? That’s the ultimate goal of NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration and European Space Agency - ESA. They have designed a daring mission that involves a rover, a rocket, and an orbiter. * The rover, named Perseverance, is already on Mars, collecting and caching rocks and soil. * The rocket, called the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), will launch from the Martian surface and send the samples into orbit. * The orbiter, known as the Earth Return Orbiter (ERO), will capture the samples and bring them back to Earth. This is like a cosmic relay race, where each team member passes the baton to the next one. The MAV is the most critical and challenging part of the mission, as it will be the first rocket to ever take off from another planet. The MAV team has recently tested the rocket motors that will propel the MAV into space. The MAV is scheduled to launch in June 2028, and the samples are expected to arrive on Earth in the early 2030s. NASA and ESA are not just sending a rocket to Mars, they are sending a message of hope and curiosity. They are reaching for the stars, and bringing them closer to us as souvenirs from a distant land. #NASA #ESA https://lnkd.in/eDJkYm7C
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