Mars has bright polar caps of ice that are easily visible from telescopes on Earth. A seasonal cover of carbon-dioxide ice and snow is observed to advance and retreat over the poles during the Martian year. Scientists using radar data have found a record of the most recent Martian ice age recorded in the north polar ice cap.
Tag: NASA
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NASA, France to Collaborate on Planetary Science and Space Exploration
NASA and the Astrophysics and Planetology Research Institute (IRAP), located in Toulouse, France, have signed an Affiliate Member statement with NASA’s Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI), which supports lunar and planetary science research to advance human exploration of the solar system through scientific discovery.
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NASA's OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Prepared for Mission to an Asteroid
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is revealed after its protective cover is removed inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at Kennedy Space Center, on May 21, 2016. OSIRIS-REx, targeted for a Sept. 8 launch, will be the first U.S. mission to sample an asteroid, retrieve at least two ounces of surface material and return it to Earth for study.
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NASA Telescopes Find Clues For How Giant Black Holes Formed So Quickly
Using data from NASA’s Great Observatories, astronomers have found the best evidence yet for cosmic seeds in the early universe that should grow into supermassive black holes.
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Fjord and Glacier in East-Central Greenland
On May 19, 2016, NASA’s IceBridge, an airborne survey of polar ice, crossed Greenland to fly central glacier flowlines in the east-central region of the country. This photo captures the fjord of Violin Glacier, with Nord Glacier at the upper left corner. This is IceBridge’s eighth spring campaign of science flights over Arctic sea and land.
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NASA: Solar Storms May Have Been Key to Life on Earth
Our sun’s adolescence was stormy—and new evidence shows that these tempests may have been just the key to seeding life as we know it.
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NASA Begins Launch Preparations for the First U.S. Asteroid Sampling Mission
NASA’s first spacecraft designed to return a piece of an asteroid to Earth arrived Friday at Kennedy Space Center to begin final preparations for a September launch.
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Up and Over
Cassini orbited in Saturn’s ring plane — around the planet’s equator — for most of 2015.
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CubeSats Deployed From the International Space Station
CubeSats fly free after leaving the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer on the International Space Station on May 17, 2016. Seen here are two Dove satellites. The satellites are part of a constellation designed, built and operated by Planet Labs Inc. to take images of Earth from space.
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May 19, 2000, Early Morning Liftoff of Atlantis on STS-101 Mission
Flames from the solid rocket boosters lit up the clouds of smoke and steam trailing behind shuttle Atlantis on May 19, 2000, as it lifted off on mission STS-101. It was the shuttle program’s third space station assembly flight, and first space flight for astronaut Jeff Williams, currently aboard the station as a member of the Expedition 47 crew.
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Water Etchings in Western Mexico Sands
Expedition 47 Flight Engineer Tim Kopra of NASA posted this May 15, 2016 photograph to social media, writing, “Water etchings in western @Mexico sands. @Space_Station #Explore”
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Kepler-223 System: Clues to Planetary Migration
A new study finds a solar system whose planets may resemble the ancient configuration of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
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Stargazing From the International Space Station
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) see the world at night on every orbit — that’s 16 times each crew day. An astronaut took this broad, short-lens photograph of Earth’s night lights while looking out over the remote reaches of the central equatorial Pacific Ocean.