https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Universe Today has examined the potential for sending humans to Jupiter's icy moon, Europa, the planet Venus, and Saturn's largest moon, Titan, all despite their respective harsh environments and vast distances. These conversations with planetary science experts determined that humans traveling to these worlds in the foreseeable future could be possible, despite the harsh conditions and travel time, specifically to Titan. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-humans-pluto.html Space Exploration Mon, 08 Jan 2024 14:26:04 EST news623946361 Following a thorough evaluation, NASA has extended the planetary science missions of eight of its spacecraft due to their scientific productivity and potential to deepen our knowledge and understanding of the solar system and beyond. https://phys.org/news/2022-04-nasa-exploration-planetary-science-missions.html Space Exploration Tue, 26 Apr 2022 09:28:42 EDT news570184117 NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) recently captured a unique view of Earth from the spacecraft's vantage point in orbit around the moon. https://phys.org/news/2015-12-lunar-reconnaissance-orbiter-high-resolution-earthrise.html Space Exploration Fri, 18 Dec 2015 16:39:36 EST news369679101 (Phys.org) —NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer, or LADEE, observatory has been approved for a 28-day mission extension. The spacecraft is now expected to impact the lunar surface on or around April 21, 2014, depending on the final trajectory. https://phys.org/news/2014-02-nasa-moon-exploring-satellite-mission.html Space Exploration Mon, 03 Feb 2014 07:30:01 EST news310633912 Forty-five years ago, in December of 1968, the Apollo 8 crew flew from the Earth to the Moon and back again. https://phys.org/news/2013-12-forty-fifth-anniversary-earthrise-image.html Space Exploration Fri, 27 Dec 2013 05:01:09 EST news307342860 A $6 million University of Colorado Boulder instrument designed to study the behavior of lunar dust will be riding on a NASA mission to the moon now slated for launch on Friday, Sept. 6, from the agency's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. https://phys.org/news/2013-08-million-cu-boulder-instrument-sept-nasa.html Space Exploration Thu, 29 Aug 2013 16:52:34 EDT news297013942 When NASA's Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD) begins operation aboard the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission managed by NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., it will attempt to show two-way laser communication beyond Earth is possible, expanding the possibility of transmitting huge amounts of data. This new ability could one day allow for 3-D High Definition video transmissions in deep space to become routine. https://phys.org/news/2013-08-space-laser-broadband.html Space Exploration Wed, 28 Aug 2013 17:22:40 EDT news296929347 (Phys.org) —In partnership with NASA's Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, Calif., Goddard's Wallops Flight Facility will launch the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer known as LADEE in September, a robotic mission that will study the moon's thin atmosphere and dust particles. https://phys.org/news/2013-08-nasa-goddard-major-role-lunar.html Space Exploration Thu, 22 Aug 2013 07:50:01 EDT news296373862 The end of NASA's plutonium shortage may be in sight. On Monday March 18th, NASA's planetary science division head Jim Green announced that production of Plutonium-238 (Pu-238) by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) is currently in the test phases leading up to a restart of full scale production. https://phys.org/news/2013-03-restart-plutonium-production-deep-space.html Space Exploration Thu, 21 Mar 2013 09:17:02 EDT news283076204 (PhysOrg.com) -- In exploration, sometimes you find more than what you're looking for, including things that shouldn’t be there. As the Apollo 17 astronauts orbited over the night side of the moon, with the sun just beneath the horizon right before orbital "sunrise," Eugene Cernan prepared to make observations of sunlight scattered by the sun's thin outer atmosphere and interplanetary dust from comets and collisions between asteroids. The idea was to have the moon block the brilliant direct sunlight so this faint glow, called Coronal and Zodiacal Light (CZL), could be seen. They should have seen a dim "hump" of light in the middle of the horizon that gradually grew in size and intensity until it was overwhelmed by sunrise. What came next was not supposed to happen. https://phys.org/news/2010-06-moon-fountains.html Space Exploration Thu, 10 Jun 2010 17:10:50 EDT news195408608 For the first time, a spacecraft from Earth has captured hi-resolution images of a solar eclipse while orbiting another world. https://phys.org/news/2009-02-otherworldly-solar-eclipse.html Space Exploration Thu, 26 Feb 2009 15:41:10 EST news154885201