Recent News in...

Astrophysics

Observations from HST and the Kepler space telescope have provided evidence for the first moon discovered orbiting a planet outside of our solar system. The discovery was announced on 03 October 2018. The moon may be the size of Neptune, orbiting a planet several times the mass of Jupiter with the designation Kepler-1625b. More...

Heliophysics

The Voyager 2 became the second spacecraft (the first was Voyager 1) to escape the heliosphere and enter insterstellar space. More...

The Parker Solar Probe made its first perihelion pass on 05 November 2018, coming within 25 million km of the Sun. The probe will orbit the Sun over the course of the next seven years, ultimately coming closer than 7 million km from the Sun's surface.

Lunar and Planetary Science

The European Space Agency has announced that, in part due to effects of the COVID19 pandemic, the launch of the ExoMars 2020 mission - now designated ExoMars 2022 - will be delayed until the next Mars launch opportunity in 2022.

Four proposals have been selected as finalists for the next one, or possibly two, Discovery missions: DAVINCI+, a Venus atmospheric probe; IVO, the Io Volcano Observer; TRIDENT, a Triton flyby; and VERITAS, a Venus radar mapper. For more, see the NASA Press Release.

The European Space Agency Solar Orbiter launched successfully from Cape Canaveral on February 10 at 4:03 UT (February 9, 11:03 p.m. EST). The mission will orbit within 0.28 AU of the Sun and make multiple flybys of Venus. For more on the launch, see the NASA press release.

A primary sampling site has been chosen for the OSIRIS-REx mission. The site, designated "Nightingale", is located in a crater in the high northern hemisphere of asteroid Bennu. Sample collection is scheduled for August 2020. For more, see the NASA press release.