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Explanation: How does your favorite planet spin? Does it spin rapidly around a nearly vertical axis, or horizontally, or backwards? The featured video animates NASA images of all eight planets in our Solar System to show them spinning side-by-side for an easy comparison. In the time-lapse video, a day on Earth -- one Earth rotation -- takes just a few seconds. Jupiter rotates the fastest, while Venus spins not only the slowest (can you see it?), but backwards. The inner rocky planets across the top underwent dramatic spin-altering collisions during the early days of the Solar System. Why planets spin...

The debate surrounding the value of human versus robotic exploration has largely ignored the fact that humans are vastly more capable of exploring planetary surfaces than are robotic rovers. Indeed, Mars-analog exploration conducted by the Mars Society suggests that humans can do “rover science” thousands of times faster than rovers. Rovers are incapable of conducting even a small fraction of the science humans are capable of, including the most important Martian science objectives: detailing its geologic history and searching for fossil or living organisms. If current thinking prevails, it will be in vain pursuit of these two objectives that billions...

NASA may be preparing to deliver some monumental news about Mars after surprisingly calling for a rare news conference on Wednesday. Officials with the space agency said they plan to discuss a 'new finding' by the Perseverance rover, which has been on the Red Planet since 2021. The discovery involves a rock called 'Sapphire Canyon,' collected by the rover in July 2024 from an ancient river system in a Martian area called Neretva Vallis. Scientists are excited because this rock might contain 'biosignatures,' which are chemical clues that could hint at ancient microbial life on Mars. >>> While NASA has...

It started with a quiver deep down in the Martian crust weak, barely detectable, yet bearing 4.5-billion-year-old echoes. Those seismic waves, recorded by NASA's InSight lander from 2018 to 2022, have revealed a remarkable discovery: giant preserved fragments of Mars' primordial crust, trapped in the planet's mantle since the formation of the Solar System.The discovery emerged from the painstaking analysis of eight exceptionally clear marsquake events by a team led by Constantinos Charalambous of Imperial College London. Using the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS), InSight recorded how primary (P) and secondary (S) waves traveled through the planet, reflecting and...

NASA reveals a breathtaking photo of Earth and Moon taken from deep space. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU | The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel From nearly 290 million kilometers away, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft turned its gaze homeward and captured an arresting glimpse of Earth and the Moon, now just distant specks of light nestled among the stars of the Aries constellation. According to NASA, this deep-space photo opportunity came as part of a scheduled instrument calibration while the spacecraft continues its cruise toward the asteroid Psyche. Testing Cameras With Familiar Cosmic Landmarks The image, taken on July 20 and 23, was created...

These fins are said to be among the largest aerodynamic control surfaces ever built for a rocket. Grid fin for the next generation Super Heavy booster. SpaceX/X Elon Musk’s SpaceX has redesigned some parts of its colossal Mars-bound Starship to improve its stability and control. The most notable change is the removal of a landing fin from the Super Heavy booster, which will now use three redesigned grid fins that are 50% larger and stronger to improve vehicle control during descent. The announcement was made on Wednesday via a post on X, where SpaceX shared images revealing the complex, honeycomb-like...

This view of tracks trailing NASA’s Curiosity was captured July 26, 2025, as the rover simultaneously relayed data to a Mars orbiter. Combining tasks like this more efficiently uses energy generated by Curiosity’s nuclear power source, seen here lined with rows of white fins at the back of the rover. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Thirteen years into its mission, Curiosity is smarter and more efficient than ever. New multitasking abilities, self-managed naps, and clever engineering fixes are keeping it powered and mobile as it investigates ancient Martian landscapes for signs of past habitability. Thirteen years after touching down on the Martian surface,...

Russian scientists say they’ve built a new kind of engine that could cut the trip to Mars down to just one month. A working prototype already exists, and it’s unlike anything currently used in space. ============================================================= Russia’s New Plasma Engine. Credit: IZVESTIA/Sergey Lantyukhov | The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel ============================================================= A new propulsion system developed by Russian scientists is generating buzz in the spaceflight community. According to researchers from Rosatom’s Troitsk Institute, a laboratory-tested magnetoplasma engine could make it possible to travel from Earth to Mars in as little as one to two months—a significant leap from today’s six-...

This artist’s concept depicts NASA’s Europa Clipper as it flies by Mars, using the planet’s gravitational force to alter the spacecraft’s path on its way to the Jupiter system. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech ================================================================ During a close Mars flyby, NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft tested its radar system, REASON, for the first time in space. The radar’s flawless performance thrilled scientists, as it successfully bounced signals off the Martian surface—proving it’s ready to scan Europa’s ice shell for signs of a hidden ocean. The 60GB of data gathered not only confirmed the hardware’s reliability but also gave researchers an early opportunity to fine-tune...

On December 30, 2024, a stunning event captured the attention of both locals and space experts when a massive metal ring crashed from the sky into a Kenyan village southeast of Nairobi. The 2.5-meter diameter object, weighing approximately 500 kilograms, landed in a field without causing injuries but immediately sparked widespread curiosity and concern about space debris falling to Earth. The mysterious metal ring and its identification As New Year celebrations approached, villagers witnessed the extraordinary sight of a half-tonne metallic object plummeting from above. Local authorities quickly secured the area to prevent public access while experts were called in...

Trying to create a whiff of an alien atmosphere—sunbaked sulfur and chalk NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS ============================================================= Robot explorers have found Mars to be a world of sulfur, acids, magnesium, iron and chlorine compounds, all of which are sunbaked and wrapped in a carbon-dioxide-rich atmosphere. But what would this complex and exotic brew smell like? It turns out that everyone—not just Mars explorers—might be able to find out, because there may be ways to recreate whiffs of the Red Planet here on Earth. One relatively recent innovation in the perfume business is "Headspace" technology. "It gathers the molecules, and then the sample is...

The largest piece of Mars ever found on Earth was sold for just over $5 million at an auction of rare geological and archaeological objects in New York on Wednesday, while a juvenile dinosaur skeleton went for more than $30 million. Source NBCThe 54-pound (25-kilogram) rock named NWA 16788 was discovered in the Sahara Desert in Niger by a meteorite hunter in November 2023, after having been blown off the surface of Mars by a massive asteroid strike and traveling 140 million miles (225 million kilometers) to Earth, according to Sotheby’s. The estimated sale price before the auction was $2...

NEW YORK — For sale: A 54-pound (25-kilogram) rock. Estimated auction price: $2 million to $4 million. Why so expensive? It's the largest piece of Mars ever found on Earth. Sotheby's in New York will be auctioning what's known as NWA 16788 on Wednesday as part of a natural history-themed sale that also includes a juvenile Ceratosaurus dinosaur skeleton that's more than 6 feet (2 meters) tall and nearly 11 feet (3 meters) long. According to the auction house, the meteorite is believed to have been blown off the surface of Mars by a massive asteroid strike before traveling 140...

He walks with a cane and is a bit hard of hearing. Yet Boris Chertok, 95, a former deputy chief designer in the Soviet bureau that put the first Sputnik satellite into orbit 50 years ago, still has strong opinions on the evolution of the country's space program. Chertok says the free-market changes instituted by President Boris Yeltsin after the Soviet Union fell apart were disastrous for Russian science. "We need to restore what we have lost over 15 years of destructive reforms," said Chertok, whose very name was once a state secret. "The market economy is incapable of fulfilling...

Explanation: Sure, that figure-8 shaped curve you get when you mark the position of the Sun in Earth's sky at the same time each day over one year is called an analemma. On the left, Earth's figure-8 analemma was traced by combining wide-angle digital images recorded during the year from December 2011 through December 2012. But the shape of an analemma depends on the eccentricity of a planet's orbit and the tilt of its axis of rotation, so analemma curves can look different for different worlds. Take Mars for example. The Red Planet's axial tilt is similar to Earth's, but...

Explanation: On the Mars rover's mission Sol 46 or Earth date April 6, 2021, Perseverance held out a robotic arm to take its first selfie on Mars. The WATSON camera at the end of the arm was designed to take close-ups of Martian rocks and surface details though, and not a quick snap shot of friends and smiling faces. In the end, teamwork and weeks of planning on Mars time was required to program a complex series of exposures and camera motions to include Perseverance and its surroundings. The resulting 62 frames were composed into a detailed mosaic, one of...

U.S. — Washington was abuzz with the news that Elon Musk had officially stepped down from his duties as head of the Department of Government Efficiency. Musk said he will now spend his time tackling the much easier job of sending human beings to Mars. Musk started DOGE with Vivek Ramaswamy and hit the ground running on President Donald Trump's first day back in office. While Ramaswamy quickly abandoned the venture after coming to the conclusion that running for governor of Ohio was easier than cutting wasteful spending in Washington, D.C., Musk stayed on for several more months before he...

A mini planetary parade will see Jupiter, Mercury, Uranus, Mars, Neptune and Saturn align above the horizon Astronomy enthusiasts are in for a celestial treat at dawn tomorrow, as a stunning mini planetary parade is set to grace our skies. The early hours of the morning will witness Jupiter, Mercury, Uranus, Mars, Neptune and Saturn aligning just above the horizon. The prospects of catching Uranus with the naked eye might be slim, but it's anticipated that avid sky-gazers across Britain could capture glances of other planets, with some spotted even without the need for binoculars. Shedding light on this space...

NASA and Northrop Grumman of Dulles, Virginia, have finalized a contract to develop the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) for Gateway, which will be a critical way station and outpost in orbit around the Moon as part of NASA’s Artemis program. NASA and its commercial and international partners are building Gateway to support science investigations and enable surface landings at the Moon, which will help prepare astronauts for future missions to Mars. The firm, fixed-price contract is valued at $935 million. Under the contract, Northrop Grumman will be responsible for attaching and testing the integrated HALO with the Power and...

The longest molecules ever found on Mars have been unearthed by NASA's Curiosity rover, and they could mean the planet is strewn with evidence for ancient life. Molecule chains containing up to twelve carbon atoms linked together were detected in a 3.7 billion-year-old rock sample collected from a dried-up Martian lakebed named Yellowknife Bay, according to a study published March 24 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. These long carbon chains are thought to have originated from molecules called fatty acids, which, on Earth, are produced by biological activity. While fatty acids can form without biological...