News Archive / Tagged: Jupiter

• Hubble portrait of Jupiter captures new changes in Great Red Spot

  Jim SharkeyOctober 15th, 2015

  Scientists using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have produced new maps of Jupiter as part of series of annual portraits of the Solar System's outer planets to analyze how these giant planets change over time. The images of Jupiter have already revealed a previously unseen filament in the core of the Great Red Spot and a rare wave just north of the planet's equator.

• Underground magma ocean could explain Io’s ‘misplaced’ volcanoes

  NASASeptember 13th, 2015

  Tides flowing in a subsurface ocean of molten rock, or magma, could explain why Jupiter's moon Io appears to have its volcanoes in the "wrong" place. New NASA research implies that oceans beneath the crusts of tidally stressed moons may be more common and last longer than expected.

• NASA’s mission to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa moves to development phase

  Jason RhianJune 19th, 2015

  If it were a crewed mission, it would probably be better suited for Jacques Cousteau than John Glenn. This is because the destination, Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, is covered in an ocean which has been estimated to contain more water than all of the oceans on Earth combined. The distant celestial body is considered to […]

• Our SpaceFlight Heritage: Departing the safe harbor – the flight of Pioneer 10

  Jason RhianJune 12th, 2015

  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla — Thirty-two years ago, on June 13, 1983, NASA’s Pioneer 10 spacecraft crossed the orbit of Neptune and left the Solar System for points unknown, venturing from the confines of our tiny portion of the cosmic backyard and into the vast, unexplored regions of the galaxy. With its mission to explore the […]

• Europa’s dark lines may be due to irradiated salt

  SpaceFlight InsiderMay 17th, 2015

  NASA released data this week from recent laboratory experiments further indicating Jupiter’s moon Europa could contain a subsurface ocean and possibly even support life. Europa, the smallest of the four Galilean moons, contains surface features covered by an intriguing dark material. The data shows the enigmatic dark streaks are likely formed as a result of sea […]

• CRS 2 contract sees new Lockheed Martin spacecraft, Dream Chaser reborn

  Jason RhianMarch 21st, 2015

  When Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Dream Chaser space plane was not selected under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP), it was viewed by many as the “death of a dream”. The play on words was not only a bit heavy, but also it appears to have been premature. Not only has the European Space Agency and Japan […]

• Mission to Europa included in proposed NASA budget

  Joe LatrellFebruary 4th, 2015

  NASA’s chief financial officer David Radzanowski had requested $30 million over the next year to start work on a mission to the Jovian (one of four closest satellites of the gas giant Jupiter) moon Europa. His request was granted in the latest White House Space and Sciences budget. The proposed budget covers everything from the Commercial Crew […]

• NASA’s Juno spacecraft on its way to unveil Jupiter’s mysteries

  Tomasz NowakowskiJanuary 8th, 2015

  The gas giant Jupiter safeguards many secrets crucial to our understanding of the evolution of our solar system. It could also provide insights on how giant planets form and the role these titans played in putting together the rest of the solar neighborhood. NASA’s Juno spacecraft is on its way to reveal those mysteries as […]

• NASA seeks proposals for Europa mission’s science instruments

  Jim SharkeyJuly 17th, 2014

  NASA recently issued an Announcement of Opportunity (AO) for proposals regarding  science instruments that could be flown aboard a future mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa. The selected instruments could potentially answer important questions about the icy moon and help guide the search for life beyond Earth.

• Rosetta discovers target comet – is actually two comets in one

  David DarlingJuly 16th, 2014

  The European Space Agency (ESA ) spacecraft Rosetta is rapidly closing on its target – comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko – at the start of what promises to be one of the most exciting space exploration missions of the year. Space exploration, like life – is what happens while you are making other plans. Three weeks before Rosetta is […]

• NASA instruments aboard Rosetta begin science as comet comes alive

  SpaceFlight InsiderJune 14th, 2014

  Since its launch in 2004, Rosetta has been traveling through space, patiently awaiting its mission – a rendezvous and landing on a comet. Composed of an orbiter and lander, the Rosetta spacecraft was awakened from a 957 day hibernation back in January and is slated to be the first vehicle to both orbit and land […]

• Our Spaceflight Heritage: Pioneer 10, first to achieve escape velocity from the Solar System

  Heather SmithJune 13th, 2014

  On June 13, 1983, Pioneer 10 left the Solar System and began its journey into interstellar space after 30 years of flight. It succeeded as becoming the first spacecraft to survey Jupiter, Pioneer 10 became the first spacecraft to achieve escape velocity from the Solar System.

• Testing begins on a new instrument to be added to NASA’s flying observatory

  Britt RawcliffeJune 5th, 2014

  NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is getting outfitted with a new instrument which is set to provide astronomers and scientists with observations only possible from the sky. The high-resolution, mid-infrared spectrograph, called the Echelon-Cross-Echelle Spectrograph (EXES), began testing on the nights of April 7 and 9, according to Matthew Richter, leader of the […]

• Hubble shows Jupiter’s giant red spot is shrinking

  SpaceFlight InsiderMay 17th, 2014

  Hubble images that have been taken over the past 19 years show Jupiter’s iconic Great Red Spot is shrinking. The Jovian trademark, which is actually a raging anticyclonic storm approximately three times as large as the Earth, has wind speeds estimated as exceeding several hundreds of kilometers per hour. Due to the reduction in size, the shape of […]

• House Appropriations Committee raises NASA budget

  Collin SkocikMay 10th, 2014

  On Thursday, May 8th, 2014, the House Appropriations Committee voted to give NASA $19.9 billion for FY 2015. This was about $439 million more than the White House had asked for. The Committee criticized President Obama for consistently asking for less money than what was needed to meet the space agency’s goals. A refrain which has been […]