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.
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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A swarm of spherical rovers, blown by the wind like tumbleweeds, could enable large-scale and low-cost exploration of the Martian surface, according to results presented at the Joint Meeting of the Europlanet Science Congress ...
Space Exploration
Sep 25, 2025
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A research team led by Prof. Tan Peng from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has revealed the temperature regulation mechanism of lithium-Mars gas batteries (LMGBs), ...
Space Exploration
Sep 23, 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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An expensive lunar rover that once had its moon trip canceled has a ride once again.
Space Exploration
Sep 22, 2025
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When the ESA launched the Gaia spacecraft in 2013, it didn't generate the same fanfare as the launch of other missions like the JWST, or first light from telescopes like the Vera Rubin Observatory. That's largely because ...
Astronomy
Sep 20, 2025
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Astronomers have used observatories around the world, including the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT), to study the asteroid 1998 KY26, revealing it to be almost three times smaller and spinning ...
Astronomy
Sep 18, 2025
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77
NASA's search for evidence of past life on Mars just produced an exciting update. On Sept. 10, 2025, a team of scientists published a paper detailing the Perseverance rover's investigation of a distinctive rock outcrop called ...
Astrobiology
Sep 17, 2025
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39
Last week, the Perseverance rover began an exciting new journey. Driving northwest of the Soroya ridge, Perseverance entered an area filled with a diverse range of boulders that the science team believes could hold clues ...
Planetary Sciences
Sep 9, 2025
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