planetary science
NASA Successfully Landed Its Digging Robot on Mars
InSight is the first Mars mission to focus on the red planet’s interior, and will drill a hole five meters into its surface.
Scientists Discover ‘Super-Earth’ That’s Only Six Light Years Away
Astronomers have been looking for exoplanets around Barnard’s Star for decades. Now, they’ve finally spotted one.
What's That Weird Cloud That's Been Looming Over Mars for Weeks?
A 930-mile-long cloud is suspended over one of Mars' volcanoes.
Scientists Think Europa’s Equator Might Be Covered in 45-Foot-Tall Ice Spears
Sharp spikes called penitentes may be waiting to impale any spacecraft that lands in the moon's low latitudes.
NASA's Launching a Lander That Will Dig on Mars
Mars InSight will be the first interplanetary mission to lift off from the West Coast.
Pluto Has Towers of Ice 1,600 Feet Tall
The only other planet in the solar system to have such structures, called 'penitentes', is Earth.
Earth's Core Is Squirting a 'Jet Stream' of Liquid Metal Under the Surface
Scientists found it by taking a satellite “x-ray” of the globe.
Scientists Discovered a New Dwarf Planet at the Edge of Our Solar System
Giving Pluto some more company.
Mars Was Once Home to 400-Foot-High Waves Caused by Meteor Impacts
Mars had some pretty epic surfing conditions back in the day.
A Collision Between Mini-Moons May Have Formed One of Saturn's Outer Rings
A new paper reveals that Saturn’s F ring is probably the fallout of a moonlet fight.
Is There Any Hope for Planetary Big-Science Beyond Curiosity? Maybe Not
You'd think we'd never sent a multi-billion dollar rover to Mars before. Or sent a spacecraft there, or even _seen_ the Red Planet up close for that matter. The PR push behind NASA's latest big-ticket endevour was astounding. Times Square! It's almost...