Press Releases & Feature Stories Archive - Planetary Systems Lab

NASA Mission Reveals Asteroid Has Big Surprises

03.19.2019

A NASA spacecraft that will return a sample of a near-Earth asteroid named Bennu to Earth in 2023 made the first-ever close-up observations of particle plumes erupting from an asteroid’s surface.

NASA Invites Media to 57th Annual Robert H. Goddard Memorial Symposium

03.15.2019

Media are invited to the 57th Robert H. Goddard Memorial Symposium on March 20-21.

A Region of Bennu’s Northern Hemisphere Close Up

03.14.2019

These images were taken on February 25 while the spacecraft was in orbit around Bennu, approximately 1.1 miles (1.8 km) from the asteroid’s northern hemisphere.

NASA to Host Media Teleconference on Asteroid Sample Return Mission

03.14.2019

NASA is hosting a media teleconference at 1:30 p.m. EDT Tuesday, March 19, to announce new science from the agency’s first mission to return to Earth an asteroid sample that may contain unaltered material from the very beginning of our solar system.

“Goldilocks” Stars May Be “Just Right” for Finding Habitable Worlds

03.07.2019

Scientists searching the vastness of space for alien worlds that might support life face major challenges, one of which is that most stars are different from our Sun. Each type of star has different characteristics than can affect the chances of finding a habitable planet around them.

Five Teams Win NASA DALI Awards to Advance Future Lunar Missions

02.27.2019

The agency’s Development and Advancement of Lunar Instrumentation, or DALI, program recently awarded 10 teams funding to mature spacecraft-based instruments for use in future lander missions, including those offered by commercial ventures through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) contract.

NASA Selects Experiments for Possible Lunar Flights in 2019

02.21.2019

NASA has selected 12 science and technology demonstration payloads to fly to the Moon as early as the end of this year, dependent upon the availability of commercial landers.

Lucy Finds Its Place in the Solar System: Navigating NASA’s First Mission to the Trojan Asteroids

12.20.2018

In 2021, the feat of navigation that is the Lucy mission will launch. To steer Lucy towards its targets doesn’t simply involve programming a map into a spacecraft and giving it gas money – it will fly by six asteroid targets, each in different orbits, over the course of 12 years.

NASA's OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Arrives at Asteroid Bennu

12.03.2018

NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft completed its 1.2 billion-mile (2 billion-kilometer) journey to arrive at the asteroid Bennu Monday.

NASA's Lucy in the Sky with … Asteroids?

11.21.2018

Three years from now, a spacecraft named Lucy will begin its exploration that could help determine the early history of the Solar System.

TAGSAM Testing Complete: OSIRIS-REx Prepared to TAG an Asteroid

11.16.2018

On Nov. 14, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft stretched out its robotic sampling arm for the first time in space.

Aboard the First Spacecraft to the Trojan Asteroids: NASA Ralph's Next Adventure

11.06.2018

Ralph, one of NASA’s most well-traveled space explorers, has voyaged far and accomplished much: Ralph obtained stunning images of Jupiter and its moons, followed by a visit to Pluto. And, in 2021, Ralph journeys to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids. Ralph, however, is not an impossibly accomplished astronaut — it is a scientific instrument.

NASA Brings its Science and Supercomputing Advances to SC18

11.05.2018

From designing rocket launch pad components and safer rotorcraft to improving flood and drought forecasts to modeling the formation of planetary disks, NASA will highlight supercomputing advances at SC18, the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis, Nov. 12 to 15 in Dallas.

How a NASA Scientist Looks in the Depths of the Great Red Spot to Find Water on Jupiter

08.29.2018

Is there water deep in Jupiter's atmosphere, and if so, how much?

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Begins Asteroid Operations Campaign

08.24.2018

OSIRIS-REx, caught its first glimpse of asteroid Bennu last week and began the final approach toward its target.

NASA Goddard’s Science Jamboree Connects Disciplines and Interns

07.26.2018

The Goddard Science Jamboree provides an opportunity for interns and senior scientists alike to learn more about the science happening in other disciplines in one room.

Successful Second Deep Space Maneuver for OSIRIS-REx Confirmed

07.03.2018

New tracking data confirms that NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft successfully completed its second Deep Space Maneuver (DSM-2) on June 28. DSM-2 was OSIRIS-REx’s last deep space maneuver of its outbound cruise to the asteroid Bennu, with arrival scheduled for Dec. 3.

OSIRIS-REx Executes Second Deep Space Maneuver

06.28.2018

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft executed its second Deep Space Maneuver today, which put the spacecraft on course for its scheduled arrival at the asteroid Bennu in December. The mission team will continue to examine telemetry and tracking data as they become available and will have more information on the results of the maneuver over the next week.

Will We Know Life When We See It? NASA-led Group Takes Stock of the Science

06.25.2018

In the last decade we have discovered thousands of planets outside our solar system and have learned that rocky, temperate worlds are numerous in our galaxy. The next step will involve asking even bigger questions. Could some of these planets host life? And if so, will we be able to recognize life elsewhere if we see it?