Space probes as a research area encompasses the design, deployment, and scientific utilization of uncrewed spacecraft sent beyond Earth orbit to investigate planetary bodies, small Solar System objects, and the heliosphere, and increasingly to perform astrophysical observations from deep space. Research focuses on mission architecture, autonomous navigation and operations, radiation-hardened avionics, long-duration power systems (e.g., RTGs, advanced solar arrays), high-gain communications, and in situ and remote-sensing payloads optimized for extreme environments. The field integrates planetary science, space plasma physics, and instrumentation, emphasizing data acquisition strategies, sample return capabilities, and technology maturation for future interplanetary and interstellar exploration.
Although Mercury was geologically active in its early days, today its surface appears almost completely static. This is why it is often perceived as a dead and dry planet. A new study led by Dr. Valentin Bickel from the Center ...
Planetary Sciences
Jan 27, 2026
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In sending a car-sized rotorcraft to explore Saturn's moon Titan, NASA's Dragonfly mission will undertake an unprecedented voyage of scientific discovery. And the work to ensure this first-of-its-kind project can fulfill ...
Space Exploration
Jan 26, 2026
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To land on the right foot on the Red Planet, European engineers have been dropping a skeleton of the four-legged ExoMars descent module at various speeds and heights on simulated Martian surfaces.
Space Exploration
Jan 21, 2026
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Through new experiments, researchers in Japan and Germany have recreated the chemical conditions found in the subsurface ocean of Saturn's moon, Enceladus. Published in Icarus, the results show that these conditions can readily ...
What exists beneath the surface of Jupiter's icy moon, Callisto? This is what a recent study accepted by The Planetary Science Journal hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated the subsurface composition of Callisto, ...
Planetary Sciences
Jan 14, 2026
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A small, icy moon of Saturn called Enceladus is one of the prime targets in the search for life elsewhere in the solar system. A new study strengthens the case for Enceladus being a habitable world.
Astrobiology
Dec 24, 2025
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102
One of the primary goals of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is to detect atmospheres around exoplanets, to try to suss out whether or not they could potentially support life. But, in order to do that, scientists have ...
Planetary Sciences
Dec 22, 2025
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The Southwest Research Institute-led Ultraviolet Spectrograph (UVS) aboard NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft has made valuable observations of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, which in July became the third officially recognized ...
Astronomy
Dec 18, 2025
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After nearly five years on Mars, NASA's Perseverance rover has traveled almost 25 miles (40 kilometers), and the mission team has been busy testing the rover's durability and gathering new science findings on the way to a ...
Planetary Sciences
Dec 17, 2025
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104
The Cassini probe took its final orbits, referred to as the Grand Finale Orbits (GFOs), in 2017, before launching itself into Saturn's atmosphere. During these GFOs, the probe collected samples of dust above and below Saturn's ...
