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.
A team of researchers from the University of Zurich and the NCCR PlanetS is challenging our understanding of the solar system planets' interior. The composition of Uranus and Neptune, the two outermost planets, might be more ...
Planetary Sciences
Dec 10, 2025
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As humanity prepares to take its first steps on Mars, a comprehensive report released by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and steered by scientists at Penn State lays out a detailed science strategy ...
Space Exploration
Dec 9, 2025
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NASA has selected two science instruments designed for astronauts to deploy on the surface of the moon during the Artemis IV mission to the lunar south polar region. The instruments will improve our knowledge of the lunar ...
Space Exploration
Dec 8, 2025
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Envision a time when hundreds of spacecraft are exploring the solar system and beyond. That's the future that NASA's ESCAPADE, or escape and plasma acceleration and dynamics explorers, mission will help unleash: one where ...
Space Exploration
Nov 13, 2025
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This article is a speculative piece based on the European Space Agency (ESA) Strategy 2040 plan for the future of space exploration. Dr. Orson Sutherland, a program manager responsible for Mars exploration at ESA, shared ...
Space Exploration
Nov 12, 2025
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Models help scientists understand everything from the particles that make up the universe to massive superstructures of galaxies at the beginning of time. But sometimes they model more mundane, though perhaps even more complex, ...
Space Exploration
Nov 10, 2025
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The first dual-satellite mission to another planet, NASA's ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers), is scheduled for launch no earlier than Sunday, Nov. 9, from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The two identical ...
Space Exploration
Nov 6, 2025
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The ice giants remain some of the most interesting places to explore in the solar system. Uranus in particular has drawn a lot of interest lately, especially after the 2022 Decadal Survey from the National Academies named ...
Space Exploration
Oct 20, 2025
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Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden and the US space agency NASA have made an unexpected discovery that challenges one of the basic rules of chemistry and provides new knowledge about Saturn's enigmatic ...
Astrobiology
Oct 16, 2025
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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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