Meteorites are solid extraterrestrial materials that survive passage through a planetary atmosphere and reach the surface, providing direct samples of Solar System bodies for scientific investigation. As a research topic, they are categorized into stony, iron, and stony-iron types, with further subdivision into chondrites and achondrites based on texture and degree of differentiation. Meteorites preserve information on early Solar System processes, including nebular condensation, accretion, thermal metamorphism, and core–mantle differentiation. Their isotopic, mineralogical, and chemical compositions constrain models of planetesimal formation, planetary evolution, chronology via radiometric dating, and the distribution of volatiles and organic compounds in the protoplanetary disk.
Southwest Research Institute, or SwRI, is studying impact flashes generated by high-speed collisions. One application of understanding impact flashes is to remotely identify what materials are involved in the collisions. ...
Planetary Sciences
2 hours ago
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Four-and-a-half billion years ago, a massive world—possibly as big as the moon or even Mars—orbited our sun before crashing into another celestial body and shattering into rubble. Now, in a paper published in the journal ...
Planetary Sciences
22 hours ago
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China's Tianwen-2 sample-return mission is well on its way to its target, an asteroid called Kamo'oalewa. The spacecraft left Earth in May 2025 and should return in late 2027 with samples of a space rock that scientists had ...
New observatories and spacecraft missions are probing environments in our solar system that could potentially host life but have long remained hidden. Icy moons like Saturn's Enceladus and Jupiter's Europa likely contain ...
Astrobiology
Jun 2, 2026
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When the solar system formed, a disk of gas and dust orbited the young sun. Over the course of millions of years, the dust gradually clumped together to form kilometer-sized chunks known as planetesimals. Some grew into planets, ...
Planetary Sciences
May 22, 2026
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NASA's Perseverance Mars rover recently took a self-portrait against a sweeping backdrop of ancient Martian terrain at a location the science team calls Lac de Charmes. Assembled from 61 individual images, the selfie shows ...
Planetary Sciences
May 12, 2026
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For decades, the search for life beyond Earth has revolved around a key question: What molecules should scientists be looking for on other planets or moons? A new study, published in Nature Astronomy, suggests that the more ...
Astronomy
May 11, 2026
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NASA's Curiosity rover has identified seven new organic compounds on the planet Mars, according to new research published in Nature Communications.
Astrobiology
Apr 23, 2026
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NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has uncovered a diverse mix of organic molecules on Mars, including chemicals widely considered building blocks for the origin of life on Earth.
Astrobiology
Apr 21, 2026
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The possibility of life on other planets is one of the biggest mysteries in science. But what would happen if we actually found it? Our scientists are preparing for this possibility by helping to develop a new system that ...
Astrobiology
Apr 20, 2026
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