The next Mars rover will be able to land near rugged terrain, giving scientists access to diverse landscapes. It will also cache core samples, a first step in the quest to return samples to Earth.Read More »
Two recently approved missions will explore our solar system's early history, looking at asteroids near Jupiter and an odd object that may be a planetary core.Read More »
Fifty years ago, a sounding rocket made history by taking the first measurement of an electric field in space. What techniques were used to capture this data?Read More »Planetary Sciences
Mars's core, widely thought to be at least partially molten, may eventually solidify completely, and researchers have turned to lab experiments to find out how.Read More »Planetary Sciences
Drilling into the famous, deeply buried Chicxulub crater off Mexico, researchers found deformed and porous granite that opens new avenues of research.Read More »Planetary Sciences
The consistently shallow depths of the depressions scattered across Mercury's surface suggest their morphology is not determined by the thickness of a volatile-rich outer layer.Read More »Mathematical Geophysics
Thomas Zurbuchen said other top goals for science and the agency include understanding and protecting life on Earth and probing fundamental aspects of the universe like dark matter and dark energy.Read More »