Press Releases & Feature Stories Archive - Solar System Exploration Division

NASA is Aboard First Private Moon Landing Attempt

02.21.2019

The highly anticipated moment is here: a shot at the first private Moon landing, and NASA's on board

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.

Tiny Neptune Moon Spotted by Hubble May Have Broken from Larger Moon

02.20.2019

Scientists using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have come up with an explanation for a mysterious moon around Neptune that they discovered in 2013.

NASA Scientists Show How Ingredients for Water Could Be Made on Surface of Moon, a Chemical Factory

02.20.2019

When a stream of charged particles known as the solar wind careens onto the Moon’s surface at 450 kilometers per second (or nearly 1 million miles per hour), they enrich the Moon’s surface in ingredients that could make water, NASA scientists have found.

To Catch a Wave, Rocket Launches From Top of World

01.28.2019

On Jan. 4, 2019, the CAPER-2 rocket flew through active aurora borealis, or northern lights, to study the waves that accelerate electrons into our atmosphere.

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 Research Reveals Saturn is Losing Its Rings at “Worst-Case-Scenario” Rate

12.17.2018

New NASA research confirms that Saturn is losing its iconic rings at the maximum rate estimated from Voyager 1 & 2 observations made decades ago. The rings are being pulled into Saturn by gravity as a dusty rain of ice particles under the influence of Saturn’s magnetic field.

NASA's Juno Mission Halfway to Jupiter Science

12.11.2018

NASA's Juno Mission Halfway to Jupiter Science

NASA’s Newly Arrived OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Already Discovers Water on Asteroid

12.10.2018

Recently analyzed data from NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission has revealed water locked inside the clays that make up its scientific target, the asteroid Bennu.

NASA Goddard Year in Review - 2018

12.07.2018

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of scientists, engineers and technologists who build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study Earth, the Sun, our solar system and the universe. Looking back over 2018, here is just a small sampling of our year's highlights and memorable moments.

NASA Highlights Asteroid Bennu, Earth’s Polar Ice at AGU Meeting

12.06.2018

NASA researchers will present new findings on a wide range of Earth and space science topics at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), Dec. 10-14 in Washington.

Planetary Defense: The Bennu Experiment

12.06.2018

On Dec. 3, after traveling billions of kilometers from Earth, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft reached its target, Bennu, and kicked off a nearly two-year, up-close investigation of the asteroid.

Radio JOVE From NASA: Tuning In to Your Local Celestial Radio Show

12.04.2018

What does Jupiter sound like? If you had to take a guess, would you imagine the sharp staccato of popcorn popping? The slow static of waves reaching the shore? The universe is full of radio emissions, and all you need to hear them for yourself is a box the size of a DVD player.

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.

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Executes Fourth Asteroid Approach Maneuver

11.13.2018

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft executed its fourth Asteroid Approach Maneuver Nov. 12.

How Earth Volcanoes Offer a Window into the Evolution of Life and the Solar System

11.13.2018

Volcanoes help keep Earth warm, wet and habitable. Could volcanoes have played a similar role on other celestial bodies? Do they still? NASA Goddard scientists are trying to find out.

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.