Planetary scientist Fran Bagenal explains how each NASA mission builds on previous discoveries and encourages scientists to take on difficult challenges to learn more about our home in the universe.
NASA
Posted inEditors' Highlights
A Whistle Here, There, and Everywhere on the Giant Planet
NASA’s Juno spacecraft is “hearing whistles” all over the place on Jupiter, a type of natural plasma waves called whistlers that are sometimes associated with atmospheric lightning.
Posted inNews
New Space Telescope Named for Nancy Roman, Astronomy Pioneer
Nancy Grace Roman’s namesake telescope will search for distant worlds and the earliest galaxies.
Posted inNews
Five Spitzer Discoveries About Solar Systems Near and Far
The powerful infrared space telescope is powering down after 16 years. It has revolutionized our understanding of solar systems, including hidden surprises in our own.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Curiosity Rover Reveals Oxygen Mystery in Martian Atmosphere
An air-sampling study has captured long-term trends in the concentrations of five key atmospheric gases for the first time.
Posted inScience Updates
Watching Earth’s Interconnected Systems at Work
Surface Biology and Geology, a new NASA Earth observation effort, is developing a path forward for monitoring the Earth system from space.
Posted inNews
Modern Planet Protection Rules Recommended and Welcomed
Protocols for the Moon and Mars, human exploration, ocean worlds, and the private sector are all due for a major overhaul.
Posted inNews
What Inflates the Solar Bubble? Voyagers Count What’s Missing
The first in situ measurement of the pressure at the edge of the solar system reveals that there’s still a lot we don’t know about what sets the size of the heliosphere.
Posted inFeatures
How Cassini Ran Rings Around Saturn and What It Helped Us Learn
Once and future rings: During its final 22 orbits, the Cassini spacecraft provided a completely new look at one of our solar system’s most famous features.
Posted inFeatures
Apollo’s Legacy: 50 Years of Lunar Geology
Samples of the Moon’s surface brought back by Apollo astronauts ushered in a new era of planetary science. Scientists today continue the legacy.