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Astrophysics

Astro-H, also known as Hitomi or "Eye", an X-ray astronomy collaboration between JAXA and NASA, was launched from the Tanegashima launch facility in Japan on 17 February 2016 at 5:45 p.m. Japan Standard Time (08:45 UTC). More...

ESA's Gaia mission launched successfully on a Soyuz-Fregat rocket from Kourour, French Guiana at 09:12 UT on 19 December 2013. The mission is designed to measure the positions and velocity of roughly 1,000,000,000 stars as well as determine their temperature, composition, and other properties. More...

Heliophysics

NASA's launch of the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) spacecraft took place at 7:27 p.m. on 27 June 2013 (02:27 UT, 28 June) about 100 miles from Vandenberg AFB. More...

Voyager 1 has encountered a region of spacecraft at the edge of our solar system that scientists believe is the last region the spacecraft will have to cross prior to entering interstellar space. More...

Lunar and Planetary Science

The Cassini spacecraft will plunge into Saturn's atmosphere on 15 September 2017, ending its nearly 20-year mission as planned. More...

NASA has chosen an instrument to be flown on the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO). The instrument, ShadowCam, will map the reflectance within permanently shadowed regions on the Moon to search for frost and ice deposits. KPLO, the first South Korean lunar mission, is scheduled to launch in December 2018. For more information, see the NASA press release.

NASA has announced new details on the discovery of a planetary system by researchers at the University of Liege in Belgium. The system, called TRAPPIST-1, contains 7 roughly Earth-size planets orbiting close to an ultra-cool dwarf star. Three of the planets appear to be in the habitable zone, potentially having liquid water and conditions amenable to life. For more information, see the NASA press release.