Perseverance used onboard suit swatches over 1,645 sols to make the first on-site Mars measurements of fine and ultrafine dust, down to 100–300 nm.
Tag: Exploration
JAXA’s MMX launches Oct 20, 2026 to land on Phobos twice, collect at least 10 g, deploy the 25‑kg Idefix rover, and return samples to Earth in 2031.
Launched Oct. 1, NASA’s SSPICY will in 2027 have Otter inspect up to four inoperable U.S. objects from hundreds of yards using electric propulsion.
DAVINCI’s descent probe was heated to 869 F (465 C) over about an hour to mirror Venus entry—and the engineering unit performed as intended.
On Feb. 1, 2025, XRISM’s Resolve saw redshifted iron lines in BP Crucis, showing Wray 977’s wind plunging toward pulsar GX 301‑2 at 335,000 mph.
Images and models suggest basal melting in Sputnik Planitia, with liquid nitrogen rising through cracks—the first recent evidence of liquid on Pluto.
Hayabusa2 fired its laser twice at asteroid Torifune during a high‑speed flyby. Here’s how laser ranging works and why it matters for future missions.
A global roughness map says Mercury shrank more than thought: nearly 12 miles in diameter, a 10–30% boost tied to debris-hidden wrinkles.
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched Aug. 30, 2026; 30 days to L2, about three months of commissioning, then a five-year, 1.4‑TB/day survey.
NASA’s Roman Space Telescope launched at 7:26 a.m. EDT to survey 100× Hubble’s view, 1000× faster, map 20 billion Milky Way stars, and send 1.4 TB daily.