Clik here to view.
Titan Target
Titan Target One major target for exploration in the solar system has always been Saturn’s moon Titan. With its thick atmosphere, liquid ethane lakes, and subterranean water ocean, Titan really seems...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ice Giant Exploration
Ice Giant Exploration Since Voyager 2, no spacecraft has gotten up close and personal with our solar system’s ice giants, Uranus and Neptune. Mission proposals to explore these planets and their moon...
View ArticleOther Bodies
Other Bodies Planets are not the only interesting places to explore in our solar system. In addition to much-beloved dwarf planet Pluto, there is a number of small rocky bodies waiting to be visited....
View ArticleLunar Network
When it comes to exploring the far reaches of our solar system, robots rule. Man may have left footprints on the moon but our probes have landed on or orbited every single other planet as well as...
View ArticleNuclear Venus Mission
Nuclear Venus Mission The last probes to reach Venus’ hellish surface were Russia’s Vega 1 and Vega 2 landers in 1985. Each spacecraft lasted about an hour before croaking in the 840-degree-Fahrenheit...
View ArticleJul 16, 2012
Mars Dunes This field of crescent-shaped dunes (lat.73.62, lon. 328.215) is located just south of the North Polar layered terrain of Mars. These dunes, known as barchan dunes, usually form where there...
View ArticleJul 17, 2012
Supernova Remnant In the nearby galaxy known as the Small Magellanic Cloud, a massive star has exploded as a supernova and begun to dissipate its interior into a spectacular display of colorful...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Bone and Muscle Loss
Bone and Muscle Loss Possibly the most well known effect of weightlessness is the steady deterioration of muscles and bones. On Earth, the human body uses these organs for support and, in zero-g, they...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Psychology in Space
Psychology in Space Living and working in space can be a highly stressful experience. Astronauts ride to a space station atop what is essentially a gigantic firecracker, with rapid acceleration and...
View ArticleFoot Molting
Foot Molting After initial adjustments, an astronaut's body continues to undergo some strange changes. The weightless environment causes fluids to shift around, mostly flowing into the body and head....
View ArticleSolar Superstorms and Radiation
Solar Superstorms and Radiation Approximately three months after the crew of Apollo 16 returned from the moon, the sun sent out an enormous explosion from its surface, spewing out radiation and...
View ArticleFlying Space Barf
In space, no one can hear you sneeze. Though astronauts have been flying above the Earth for more than half a century, researchers are still working to understand the medical toll that space takes on...
View ArticleSpace Blindness
Space Blindness Someday in the future, a fearless crew may conquer all the odds and reach the end of a dangerous eight-month trip to Mars. But as they pull into orbit around the planet, they realize...
View ArticleJul 20, 2012
Hole on Mars Earlier this year, the CTX camera team saw a crater containing a dark spot on the dusty slopes of the Pavonis Mons volcano. We took a closer look at this feature with HiRISE and found this...
View ArticleJul 19, 2012
Moody Jupiter Amazing image of Jupiter taken in infrared light on the night of 17 August 2008 with the Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics Demonstrator (MAD) prototype instrument mounted on ESO's Very...
View ArticleJul 18, 2012
Beautiful Pulsar Data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA's XMM-Newton have been combined to discover a young pulsar in the remains of a supernova located in the Small Magellanic Cloud, or...
View ArticleRoaming
Roaming While female mountain lions generally remain in the region of their birth, young males leave home and cross vast distances in search of mates. In one study of mountain lions in the Black Hills...
View ArticleThe Meaning of Mountain Lions
The Meaning of Mountain Lions Science aside, mountain lions are a potent symbol of life beyond the boundaries of our own species. "I have incredible respect for the large cats, for their power, their...
View ArticleSmart Cats
Smart Cats Animals scientifically recognized as intelligent tend to be creatures amenable to laboratory experiments, such as chimpanzees and parrots, or routinely observable in nature, like elephants...
View Article