Latest Planetary Missions Program Office News

New data from the agency’s Jovian orbiter sheds light on the fierce winds and cyclones of the gas giant’s northern…

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft is 6 days and less than 50 million miles (80 million km) away from its second close…

The spacecraft was making its 71st close approach to Jupiter when it unexpectedly entered into a precautionary status. Data received…

The six-wheeled explorer recently captured several Red Planet mini-twisters spinning on the rim of Jezero Crater. A Martian dust devil…

Although NASA’s Lucy spacecraft’s upcoming encounter with the asteroid Donaldjohanson is primarily a mission rehearsal for later asteroid encounters, a…

NASA has selected eight participating scientists to join its Lucy mission to the Jupiter Trojan asteroids. These asteroids are remnants of…

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft has its next flyby target, the small main belt asteroid Donaldjohanson, in its sights. By blinking between…

The orbiter bound for Jupiter’s moon Europa will investigate whether the moon is habitable, but it first will get the…

That’s a great question. And it’s a question that NASA will seek to answer with the Europa Clipper spacecraft. Europa…

The spacecraft’s star trackers help engineers orient the orbiter throughout its long journey to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa. Three months…

With help from AI, scientists discovered a fresh crater made by an impact that shook material as deep as the…

Lee esta nota de prensa en español aquí. Studies of rock and dust from asteroid Bennu delivered to Earth by…

Even by the standards of Io, the most volcanic celestial body in the solar system, recent events observed on the…

NASA will brief media at 11 a.m. EST Wednesday, Jan. 29, to provide an update on science results from NASA’s…

Known as flow formations, these channels could be etched on bodies that would seem inhospitable to liquid because they are…

New images taken from space show how dust on and around InSight is changing over time — information that can…

From sending crew members to the International Space Station to launching a spacecraft to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa to determine…

A new study points to why, and how, Io became the most volcanic body in the solar system. Scientists with…

Scientists find that cometary dust affects interpretation of spacecraft measurements, reopening the case for comets like 67P as potential sources…

NASA has selected SpaceX to provide launch services for the Dragonfly mission, a rotorcraft lander mission under NASA’s New Frontiers…

Headed to Jupiter’s moon Europa, the spacecraft is operating without a hitch and will reach Mars in just three months…

One year ago today, the future of space communications arrived at Earth as a beam of light from a NASA…

Matthew Kowalewski describes himself as “curious about too many things,” but that curiosity comes in handy when engineering instrumentation scheduled…

NASA has released a new edition of Issue 4 of the Astrobiology Graphic History series. The issue now includes NASA’s…

As NASA continues to innovate for the benefit of humanity, agency inventions that use new structures to harness sunlight for…

NASA Science Activation’s Solar System Treks collaborated with Astrobiology SciComm Guild SMEs to create enhancements to the Europa Trek portal.

NASA’s Europa Clipper has embarked on its long voyage to Jupiter, where it will investigate Europa, a moon with an…

Find details about the launch sequences for the orbiter, which is targeting an Oct. 14 liftoff on its mission to…

With a spacecraft launching soon, the mission will try to answer the question of whether there are ingredients suitable for…

Nota del editor: Este comunicado se actualizó el 12 de octubre de 2024 para reflejar una nueva fecha de lanzamiento…

Editor’s note: This advisory was updated Oct. 13, 2024, to reflect a change in the start time for the prelaunch…

The Deep Space Optical Communications tech demo has completed several key milestones, culminating in sending a signal to Mars’ farthest…

From Aug. 19-20, ESA’s (European Space Agency’s) Juice (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) mission made history with a daring lunar-Earth flyby…

With NASA’s Europa Clipper just weeks away from launch, five short videos give a behind-the-scenes peek at some of the…

The first NASA spacecraft dedicated to studying an ocean world beyond Earth, Europa Clipper aims to find out if the…

NASA will hold a media teleconference at 4 p.m. EDT, Monday, Sept. 9, to provide an update on Europa Clipper,…

NASA and SpaceX are targeting a launch period opening Thursday, Oct. 10, for the agency’s Europa Clipper mission, which will…

Lee este artículo en español aquí Digital content creators are invited to register to attend the launch of the…

The largest spacecraft NASA has ever built for planetary exploration just got its ‘wings’ — massive solar arrays to power…

As part of an asteroid sample exchange, NASA has transferred to JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) a portion of the…

NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission continues to yield scientific discoveries and garner accolades for its groundbreaking achievements. The mission team was…

Using cameras designed for navigation, scientists count ‘fireflies’ to determine the amount of radiation the spacecraft receives during each orbit…

The excerpts below are taken from Discovery Program oral history interviews conducted in 2009 by Dr. Susan Niebur and tell…

In studying data collected from NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission, which in 2022 sent a spacecraft to intentionally collide with the…

Scientists from around the world are gathering this week in California to take stock of the state of science from…

Scientists have eagerly awaited the opportunity to dig into the 4.3-ounce (121.6-gram) pristine asteroid Bennu sample collected by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx…

Infrared imagery from the solar-powered spacecraft heats up the discussion on the inner workings of Jupiter’s hottest moon. New findings…

NASA has selected 12 participating scientists to join ESA’s (European Space Agency) Hera mission, which is scheduled to launch in…

For the benefit of all, NASA released a summary Thursday of the fifth biennial Planetary Defense Interagency Tabletop Exercise. NASA’s…

Images from the November 2023 flyby of asteroid Dinkinesh by NASA’s Lucy spacecraft show a trough on Dinkinesh where a…