http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/space_time/space_missions/ Space Missions to Venus, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter and the Moon. Learn about new space missions being planned. Read astronomy articles on recent space missions by NASA, ESA and more. en-us Wed, 15 Feb 2012 20:05:01 EST Wed, 15 Feb 2012 20:05:01 EST 60 http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/logosmall.gif http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/space_time/space_missions/ For more science articles, visit ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120215095945.htm More than 70 teachers had an opportunity to experience what it feels like to float in space as they participated in the Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston last week. Wed, 15 Feb 2012 09:59:59 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120215095945.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120213145618.htm New and improved ways for future space travelers to communicate will be tested on the International Space Station after a launch later this year from Japan. The SCaN Testbed, or Space Communications and Navigation Testbed, was designed and built at NASA's Glenn Research Center over the last three years. Mon, 13 Feb 2012 14:56:56 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120213145618.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120209111111.htm Engineers have found the root cause of a computer reset that occurred two months ago on NASA's Mars Science Laboratory and have determined how to correct it. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:11:11 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120209111111.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120209101541.htm The 355-foot-tall mobile launcher, or ML, behaved as expected during its move to Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in November 2011, an analysis of multiple sensors showed. The top of the tower swayed less than an inch each way. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:15:15 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120209101541.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120209100806.htm The camera at the end of the robotic arm on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has its own calibration target, a smartphone-size plaque that looks like an eye chart supplemented with color chips and an attached penny. When Curiosity lands on Mars in August, researchers will use this calibration target to test performance of the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager, or MAHLI. MAHLI's close-up inspections of Martian rocks and soil will show details so tiny, the calibration target includes reference lines finer than a human hair. This camera is not limited to close-ups, though. It can focus on any target from about a finger's-width away to the horizon. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:08:08 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120209100806.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120209100646.htm NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer, or Galex, was placed in standby mode Feb. 7, 2012 as engineers prepare to end mission operations, nearly nine years after the telescope's launch. The spacecraft is scheduled to be decommissioned -- taken out of service -- later this year. The mission extensively mapped large portions of the sky with sharp ultraviolet vision, cataloguing millions of galaxies spanning 10 billion years of cosmic time. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:06:06 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120209100646.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120209100422.htm The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter recorded a scene on Jan. 29, 2012, that includes the first color image from orbit showing the three-petal lander of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit mission. Spirit drove off that lander platform in January 2004 and spent most of its six-year working life in a range of hills about two miles to the east. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:04:04 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120209100422.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120207151800.htm ESA's Mars Express has returned strong evidence for an ocean once covering part of Mars. Using radar, it has detected sediments reminiscent of an ocean floor within the boundaries of previously identified, ancient shorelines on Mars. Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:18:18 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120207151800.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120203092006.htm Mars may have been arid for more than 600 million years, making it too hostile for any life to survive on the planet’s surface, according to researchers who have been carrying out the painstaking task of analyzing individual particles of Martian soil. Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:20:20 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120203092006.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120201182149.htm A camera aboard one of NASA's twin Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) lunar spacecraft has returned its first unique view of the far side of the moon. MoonKAM, or Moon Knowledge Acquired by Middle school students, will be used by students nationwide to select lunar images for study. Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:21:21 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120201182149.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120201142402.htm A potent follow-up solar flare, which occurred Jan. 17, 2012, just days after the Sun launched the biggest coronal mass ejection seen in nearly a decade, delivered a powerful radiation punch to Earth's magnetic field despite the fact that it was aimed away from our planet. Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:24:24 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120201142402.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120127172736.htm The largest solar particle event since 2005 hit Earth, Mars and the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft traveling in-between, allowing the onboard Radiation Assessment Detector to measure the radiation a human astronaut could be exposed to en route to the Red Planet. Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:27:27 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120127172736.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120127172327.htm NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, mission arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California Jan. 27 after a cross-country trip by truck from the Orbital Sciences Corporation's manufacturing plant in Dulles, Va. The mission is scheduled to launch from Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean on March 14. Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:23:23 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120127172327.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120125160623.htm Some images of stark Martian landscapes provide visual appeal beyond their science value, including a recent scene of wind-sculpted features from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:06:06 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120125160623.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120125160531.htm Though generally thought to be quite dry, roughly half of the giant asteroid Vesta is expected to be so cold and to receive so little sunlight that water ice could have survived there for billions of years, according to the first published models of Vesta's average global temperatures and illumination by the sun. Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:05:05 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120125160531.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120125093619.htm Eight years after landing on Mars for what was planned as a three-month mission, NASA's enduring Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is working on what essentially became a new mission five months ago. Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:36:36 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120125093619.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120125093504.htm A new analysis of radar data from NASA's Cassini mission, in partnership with the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency, has revealed regional variations among sand dunes on Saturn's moon Titan. The result gives new clues about the moon's climatic and geological history. Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:35:35 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120125093504.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120118201225.htm The High Frequency Instrument aboard the Planck space telescope has completed its survey of the remnant light from the Big Bang explosion that created our universe. The sensor ran out of coolant on Jan. 14, as expected, ending its ability to detect this faint energy. Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:12:12 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120118201225.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120118201001.htm Twin NASA spacecraft that achieved orbit around the moon New Year's Eve and New Year's Day have new names, thanks to elementary students in Bozeman, Mont. Their winning entry, "Ebb and Flow," was selected as part of a nationwide school contest that began in October 2011. Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:10:10 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120118201001.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120118200826.htm In order to reduce power consumption, mission managers have turned off a heater on part of NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft, dropping the temperature of its ultraviolet spectrometer instrument more than 23 degrees Celsius (41 degrees Fahrenheit). It is now operating at a temperature below minus 79 degrees Celsius (minus 110 degrees Fahrenheit), the coldest temperature that the instrument has ever endured. This heater shut-off is a step in the careful management of the diminishing electrical power so that the Voyager spacecraft can continue to collect and transmit data through 2025. Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:08:08 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120118200826.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120118200606.htm In 1995, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope took an iconic image of the Eagle nebula, dubbed the "Pillars of Creation," highlighting its finger-like pillars where new stars are thought to be forming. Now, the Herschel Space Observatory has a new, expansive view of the region captured in longer-wavelength infrared light. Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:06:06 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120118200606.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120115223636.htm The last mineral thought to have been unique to the Moon has been discovered in the remote Pilbara region of Western Australia. Sun, 15 Jan 2012 22:36:36 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120115223636.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120113210608.htm New maps produced by the Lyman Alpha Mapping Project aboard NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter reveal features at the moon's northern and southern poles in regions that lie in perpetual darkness. LAMP uses a novel method to peer into these so-called permanently shadowed regions, making visible the invisible. Fri, 13 Jan 2012 21:06:06 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120113210608.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111111111.htm NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft successfully refined its flight path Wednesday with the biggest maneuver planned for the mission's journey between Earth and Mars. Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:11:11 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120111111111.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120109192512.htm NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity will spend the next several months at a site informally named "Greeley Haven." The name is a tribute to planetary geologist Ronald Greeley (1939-2011), who was a member of the science team for the Mars rovers and many other interplanetary missions. Mon, 09 Jan 2012 19:25:25 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120109192512.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120106130334.htm NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity will spend the next few months during the coldest part of Martian winter at Greeley Haven, an outcrop of rock on Mars recently named informally to honor Ronald Greeley, a professor of planetary geology, who died Oct. 27, 2011. Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:03:03 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120106130334.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120101224913.htm The second of NASA's two Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft has successfully completed its planned main engine burn and is now in lunar orbit. Working together, GRAIL-A and GRAIL-B will study the moon as never before. Sun, 01 Jan 2012 22:49:49 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120101224913.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111231200101.htm The first of two NASA spacecraft to study the moon in unprecedented detail has entered lunar orbit. Sat, 31 Dec 2011 20:01:01 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111231200101.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111223105435.htm No team of reindeer, but radio signals flying clear across the solar system from NASA's Cassini spacecraft have delivered a holiday package of glorious images. The pictures, from Cassini's imaging team, show Saturn's largest, most colorful ornament, Titan, and other icy baubles in orbit around this splendid planet. Fri, 23 Dec 2011 10:54:54 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111223105435.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111223105312.htm Just in time for the holidays, astronomers have come across a new image from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, that some say resembles a wreath. You might even think of the red dust cloud as a cheery red bow, and the bluish-white stars as silver bells. This star-forming nebula is named Barnard 3. Baby stars are being born throughout the dusty region, while the "silver bell" stars are located both in front of, and behind, the nebula. Fri, 23 Dec 2011 10:53:53 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111223105312.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111221105244.htm NASA's Dawn spacecraft has sent back the first images of the giant asteroid Vesta from its low-altitude mapping orbit. The images, obtained by the framing camera, show the stippled and lumpy surface in detail never seen before, piquing the curiosity of scientists who are studying Vesta for clues about the solar system's early history. Wed, 21 Dec 2011 10:52:52 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111221105244.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111216115022.htm Dust avalanches around impact craters on Mars appear to be the result of the shock wave preceding the actual impact, according to a new study. Small impacts might therefore be more important in shaping the Martian surface than previously thought. Fri, 16 Dec 2011 11:50:50 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111216115022.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111215135929.htm A team of scientists from Oregon has collected microbes from ice within a lava tube in the Cascade Mountains and found that they thrive in cold, Mars-like conditions. They have characteristics that would make the microbes capable of living in the subsurface of Mars and other planetary bodies. Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:59:59 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111215135929.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111213190202.htm The Radiation Assessment Detector, the first instrument on NASA's next rover mission to Mars to begin science operations, was powered up and began collecting data Dec. 6, almost 2 weeks ahead of schedule. RAD is the only instrument scheduled to collect science data on the journey to Mars. The instrument is measuring the energetic particles inside the spacecraft to characterize the radiation environment an astronaut would experience on a future human mission to the Red Planet. Tue, 13 Dec 2011 19:02:02 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111213190202.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111213164612.htm NASA's car-sized Curiosity rover has begun monitoring space radiation during its 8-month trip from Earth to Mars. The research will aid in planning for future human missions to the Red Planet. Curiosity launched on Nov. 26 from Cape Canaveral, Fla., aboard the Mars Science Laboratory. The rover carries an instrument called the Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) that monitors high-energy atomic and subatomic particles from the sun, distant supernovas and other sources. These particles constitute radiation that could be harmful to any microbes or astronauts in space or on Mars. The rover also will monitor radiation on the surface of Mars after its August 2012 landing. Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:46:46 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111213164612.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111213164414.htm NASA's Cassini spacecraft successfully completed its closest-ever pass over Saturn's moon Dione on Dec. 12, slaloming its way through the Saturn system on its way to a close flyby of Titan. Cassini is expected to glide about 2,200 miles (3,600 kilometers) over the Titan surface on Dec. 13. Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:44:44 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111213164414.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111213164229.htm NASA's Dawn spacecraft successfully maneuvered into its closest orbit around the giant asteroid Vesta Dec. 12, beginning a new phase of science observations. The spacecraft is now circling Vesta at an altitude averaging about 130 miles (210 kilometers) in the phase of the mission known as low altitude mapping orbit. Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:42:42 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111213164229.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111213144717.htm In 1977, Jimmy Carter was sworn in as president, Elvis died, Virginia park ranger Roy Sullivan was hit by lightning a record seventh time and two NASA space probes destined to turn planetary science on its head launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla. The identical spacecraft, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, were launched in the summer and programmed to pass by Jupiter and Saturn on different paths. Voyager 2 went on to visit Uranus and Neptune, completing the "Grand Tour of the Solar System," perhaps the most exciting interplanetary mission ever flown. Scientists who designed and built identical instruments for Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were as stunned as anyone when the spacecraft began sending back data to Earth. Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:47:47 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111213144717.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111212100155.htm In an action-packed day and a half, NASA's Cassini spacecraft will be making its closest swoop over the surface of Saturn's moon Dione and scrutinizing the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn's largest moon. Mon, 12 Dec 2011 10:01:01 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111212100155.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111207182151.htm An improved tool debuts Dec. 7 for viewing channels, dunes, boulders and other features revealed in the huge image files from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:21:21 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111207182151.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111207182031.htm NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has found bright veins of a mineral, apparently gypsum, deposited by water. Analysis of the vein will help improve understanding of the history of wet environments on Mars. Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:20:20 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111207182031.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111207000851.htm Solar storms and associated Coronal Mass Ejections can significantly erode the lunar surface according to a new set of computer simulations by NASA scientists. In addition to removing a surprisingly large amount of material from the lunar surface, this could be a major method of atmospheric loss for planets like Mars that are unprotected by a global magnetic field. Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:08:08 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111207000851.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111206082757.htm Vesta appears in a splendid rainbow-colored palette in new images obtained by NASA's Dawn spacecraft. The colors, assigned by scientists to show different rock or mineral types, reveal Vesta to be a world of many varied, well-separated layers and ingredients. Vesta is unique among asteroids visited by spacecraft to date in having such wide variation, supporting the notion that it is transitional between the terrestrial planets -- like Earth, Mercury, Mars and Venus -- and its asteroid siblings. Tue, 06 Dec 2011 08:27:27 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111206082757.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111205141802.htm NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has entered a new region between our solar system and interstellar space. Data obtained from Voyager over the last year reveal this new region to be a kind of cosmic purgatory. In it, the wind of charged particles streaming out from our sun has calmed, our solar system's magnetic field is piled up, and higher-energy particles from inside our solar system appear to be leaking out into interstellar space. Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:18:18 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111205141802.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111205141054.htm NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed its first planet in the "habitable zone," the region around a star where liquid water could exist on a planet's surface. Kepler also has discovered more than 1,000 new planet candidates, nearly doubling its previously known count. Ten of these candidates are near-Earth-size and orbit in the habitable zone of their host star. Candidates require follow-up observations to verify they are actual planets. Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:10:10 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111205141054.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111205101520.htm The expression goes, "Necessity is the mother of invention." And right now there is a need for NASA and the United States to have reliable access to low Earth orbit from homegrown sources. So, NASA's Commercial Crew Program and a number of American-led private companies are working together on new and innovative plans to do just that. Mon, 05 Dec 2011 10:15:15 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111205101520.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111201220917.htm Glide over the giant asteroid Vesta with NASA's Dawn spacecraft in a new 3-D video. Dawn has been orbiting Vesta since July 15, obtaining high-resolution images of its bumpy, cratered surface and making other scientific measurements. Thu, 01 Dec 2011 22:09:09 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111201220917.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111201220648.htm NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft completed a 140-second firing of its onboard rocket motors on Thursday, Nov. 24. The rocket burn was performed to keep the venerable comet hunter's options open for yet another exploration of a solar system small body. Thu, 01 Dec 2011 22:06:06 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111201220648.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111201220532.htm The moon Enceladus, one of the jewels of the Saturn system, sparkles peculiarly bright in new images obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. The images of the moon, the first ever taken of Enceladus with Cassini's synthetic aperture radar, reveal new details of some of the grooves in the moon's south polar region and unexpected textures in the ice. These images, obtained on Nov. 6, 2011, are the highest-resolution images of this region obtained so far. Thu, 01 Dec 2011 22:05:05 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111201220532.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111201220357.htm Excellent launch precision for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission has forestalled the need for an early trajectory correction maneuver, now not required for a month or more. Thu, 01 Dec 2011 22:03:03 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111201220357.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111129193104.htm The astrophysicist Stephen Hawking believes that if humanity is to survive we will have up sticks and colonize space. But is the human body up to the challenge? Scientists believe that Caenorhabditis elegans, a microscopic worm which has biologically similarities to human beings, could help us understand how humans might cope with long-duration space exploration. Tue, 29 Nov 2011 19:31:31 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111129193104.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111126155300.htm NASA began a historic voyage to Mars with the Nov. 26 launch of the Mars Science Laboratory, which carries a car-sized rover named Curiosity. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard an Atlas V rocket occurred at 10:02 a.m. EST (7:02 a.m. PST). Sat, 26 Nov 2011 15:53:53 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111126155300.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111121192410.htm NASA successfully completed the final flight in a series of tests of a new robotic lander prototype at the Redstone Test Center's propulsion test facility on the U.S. Army Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala. Data from this test series will aid in the design and development of a new generation of small, smart, versatile robotic landers capable of performing science and exploration research on the surface of the moon or other airless bodies in the solar system, such as asteroids or the planet Mercury. Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:24:24 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111121192410.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111121142455.htm NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission has the potential to be the most productive Mars surface mission in history. That's due in part to its nuclear heat and power source. The rover Curiosity's scientific instruments will get their lifeblood from a new radioisotope power system. Mon, 21 Nov 2011 14:24:24 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111121142455.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111121135919.htm New images and animated movies from NASA's Cassini spacecraft chronicle the birth and evolution of the colossal storm that ravaged the northern face of Saturn for nearly a year. Mon, 21 Nov 2011 13:59:59 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111121135919.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111121135804.htm Two NASA California centers have been selected to develop new space-aged technologies that could be game-changers in the way we look at planets from above and how we safely transport robots or humans through space and bring them safely back to Earth. Mon, 21 Nov 2011 13:58:58 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111121135804.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111121135658.htm Images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show sand dunes and ripples moving across the surface of Mars at dozens of locations and shifting up to several yards. These observations reveal the planet's sandy surface is more dynamic than previously thought. Mon, 21 Nov 2011 13:56:56 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111121135658.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111116180536.htm NASA has announced that it will extend the MESSENGER mission for an additional year of orbital operations at Mercury beyond the planned end of the primary mission on March 17, 2012. The MESSENGER probe became the first spacecraft to orbit the innermost planet on March 18, 2011. Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:05:05 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111116180536.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111114151131.htm NASA's Voyager 2 has successfully switched to the backup set of thrusters that controls the roll of the spacecraft. Deep Space Network personnel sent commands to the spacecraft to make the change on Nov. 4 and received confirmation Nov. 14 that the switch has been made. Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:11:11 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111114151131.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111110142102.htm Just as an expert chess player sacrifices a piece to protect the queen, the solar system may have given up a giant planet and spared the Earth, according to a new article. Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:21:21 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111110142102.htm