By Paul Scott Anderson, on June 18th, 2020
Neptune’s largest moon Triton as seen by Voyager 2 in 1989. The proposed Trident mission would be the first to return to this bizarre world in over three decades. Photo Credit: Credit: NASA/JPL/USGS
Much of the outer Solar System has now been visited by robotic spacecraft from Earth, including the gas and ice giants […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Paul Scott Anderson, on August 30th, 2019
View od the fully assembled James Webb Space Telescope. The sunshield and unitized pallet structures (UPSs) that fold up around the telescope for launch, are partially deployed to enable telescope installation. Photo Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) just took another big step towards completion, as the two halves it was […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Paul Scott Anderson, on August 24th, 2019
Artist’s concept of Europa Clipper during a flyby of Europa. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s next mission back to Jupiter’s moon Europa just took another big step towards reality. The next phase of Europa Clipper has been confirmed, giving the go-ahead for the mission to proceed to final design, construction and testing.
[…]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Paul Scott Anderson, on May 14th, 2018
Illustration of the Galileo probe at Europa in 1997, and how the plume disrupted the moon’s magnetic field. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Michigan
For decades, Jupiter’s moon Europa has fascinated scientists and the public alike after it was learned that a global water ocean lies beneath the icy crust. Could there be life […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Paul Scott Anderson, on September 21st, 2017
Artist’s conception of the Europa lander. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The push for a return mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa has been gaining steam in the last few years, with NASA now planning for Europa Clipper, which would make repeated close flybys to study the moon’s interior ocean and the exciting potential for life. […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Paul Scott Anderson, on August 31st, 2017
An example of possible spectroscopy results from one of Europa’s water vapor plumes. Image Credit: NASA-GSFC/SVS/Hubble Space Telescope/Stefanie Milam/Geronimo Villanueva
NASA’s upcoming James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will be used to study two of the most fascinating moons in our Solar System – Europa and Enceladus, also known as “ocean worlds” since both […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Paul Scott Anderson, on February 13th, 2017
Artist’s conception of the proposed Europa lander, with sampling arm extended. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
For decades now, Europa has beckoned – this moon of Jupiter which is frozen on the outside but hides a global ocean on the inside – has so far only been visited by spacecraft during brief flybys. Scientists and […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Paul Scott Anderson, on January 13th, 2017
Artist’s illustrationn of Voyager 1 looking back on the Solar System. Image Credit: NASA/ESA/G. Bacon (STScI)
There have been many incredible planetary missions over the past several decades, from as close as our Moon to the outer reaches of the Solar System. Right now, there are robotic explorers at Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Ceres, […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Paul Scott Anderson, on September 26th, 2016
Composite image showing the possible water vapor plumes near the south pole of Europa, at about the 7 o’clock position. The image of Europa, from the Galileo and Voyager missions, is superimposed on the Hubble data. Image Credit: NASA/ESA/W. Sparks (STScI)/USGS Astrogeology Science Center
Intriguing new findings about Jupiter’s moon Europa were announced […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Paul Scott Anderson, on August 23rd, 2016
Artist’s conception of the Europa Clipper spacecraft near Europa. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
For a long time now, there has been growing interest in sending a mission back to Jupiter to better study one moon in particular: Europa. Previous missions such as Voyager and Galileo showed us this world up close for the first […]
Like this:Like Loading...
|
|