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.
On March 18, NASA's IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) arrived at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for thermal vacuum testing at the X-ray and Cryogenic Facility, which simulates ...
Space Exploration
Apr 14, 2025
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Data received from NASA's Juno mission indicates the solar-powered spacecraft went into safe mode twice on April 4 while the spacecraft was flying by Jupiter. Safe mode is a precautionary status that a spacecraft enters when ...
Space Exploration
Apr 10, 2025
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A collaborative research team has improved visual localization and topographic mapping techniques that enable China's Zhurong rover to navigate and conduct scientific investigations on Mars. These techniques played a crucial ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 9, 2025
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What kind of mission would be best suited to sample the plumes of Saturn's ocean world, Enceladus, to determine if this intriguing world has the ingredients to harbor life? This is what a recent study presented at the 56th ...
Astrobiology
Apr 9, 2025
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74
Sometimes, the best way to learn how to do something is just to do it. That is especially true if you're learning to do something using a specific methodology. And in some cases, the outcome of your efforts is something that's ...
Space Exploration
Apr 3, 2025
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What can a sample return mission from Jupiter's volcanic moon, Io, teach scientists about planetary and satellite (moon) formation and evolution? This is what a recent study presented at the 56th Lunar and Planetary Science ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 1, 2025
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43
In the 1970s, NASA's Voyager probes passed through Jupiter's system and snapped pictures of its largest moons, also known as the Galilean moons. These pictures and the data they gathered offered the first hints that a global ...
Astrobiology
Apr 1, 2025
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54
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has detected the largest organic (carbon-containing) molecules ever found on the red planet. The discovery is one of the most significant findings in the search for evidence of past life on Mars. ...
Astrobiology
Mar 31, 2025
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63
What drives us to send probes throughout the solar system and rovers and landers to Mars? It's not cheap, and it's not easy. It's because we live inside a big, natural puzzle, and we want to understand it. That's one reason. ...
Astrobiology
Mar 28, 2025
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75
Scientists have long thought that our solar system's ocean worlds, such as Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's moon Enceladus, may harbor extraterrestrial life in the form of microbes. But detecting it could be a challenge ...
Astrobiology
Mar 24, 2025
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