Planetary sciences is an interdisciplinary field that investigates the formation, evolution, and current state of planets, moons, and smaller bodies within and beyond our Solar System using the methods of physics, chemistry, geology, and atmospheric science. It encompasses studies of planetary interiors, surfaces, atmospheres, magnetospheres, and ring systems, as well as orbital dynamics and interactions with stellar radiation and plasma environments. Planetary sciences integrates remote sensing, in situ spacecraft measurements, laboratory experiments, and numerical modeling to constrain processes such as accretion, differentiation, tectonism, volcanism, impact cratering, climate evolution, and potential habitability on diverse planetary bodies.
Modularity is taking off in more ways than one in space exploration. The design of the upcoming "Lunar Gateway" space station is supposed to be modular, with different modules being supplied by different organizations. In ...
Space Exploration
Oct 14, 2025
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Scientists at MIT and elsewhere have discovered extremely rare remnants of "proto Earth," which formed about 4.5 billion years ago, before a colossal collision irreversibly altered the primitive planet's composition and produced ...
Planetary Sciences
Oct 14, 2025
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What if our understanding of Uranus and Neptune's compositions have been wrong, specifically regarding their classifications as "ice giants?" This is what a recent study accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics ...
Planetary Sciences
Oct 9, 2025
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Surface features on asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson, as identified by the Southwest Research Institute-led Lucy mission, have been given official names by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). The surface features of ...
Planetary Sciences
Oct 1, 2025
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What type of lander could touch down on Jupiter's volcanic moon, Io? This is what a recent paper presented at the AIAA 2025 Regional Student Conference hopes to address as a team of student engineers from Spartan Space Systems ...
Planetary Sciences
Sep 30, 2025
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The asteroid belt is found orbiting between Mars and Jupiter and is a vast collection of rocks that is thought to be a planet that never formed. When our solar system formed 4.6 billion years ago, the material in this region ...
Planetary Sciences
Sep 29, 2025
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Venus is often called Earth's "sister planet" because of their similarities in size, mass, and composition. Both are rocky worlds that formed about the same time in the inner solar system; however, despite these similarities, ...
Planetary Sciences
Sep 29, 2025
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A research team from the Institute of Applied Ecology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a novel framework to evaluate the soil microbial carbon pump (MCP), offering new insights into long-term carbon sequestration ...
Ecology
Sep 25, 2025
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In a science lab on the fourth floor of UTSA's Multidisciplinary Studies Building, UTSA students engage in meticulous choreography around a glowing furnace, melting rocks to produce lava.
Planetary Sciences
Sep 24, 2025
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On May 21, 2010, the Akatsuki orbiter ("Dawn" in Japanese) launched from the Tanegashima Space Center atop a H-IIA Launch Vehicle, establishing orbit around Venus in December 2015. In so doing, Akatsuki became the first interplanetary ...
Space Exploration
Sep 22, 2025
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