Missions
In archival spacecraft data of Venus, planetary scientists found evidence of active volcanic activity.
The newest issue of Mercury (Vol. 51 no. 2) is available to members, and this issue features a deepdive into the Event Horizon Telescope's observations of the Milky Way's supermassive black hole, details of the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope, news about several Mars missions, a look at the historical 1638 solstice lunar eclipse, and more!
The James Webb Space Telescope's commissioning observations of Jupiter show how well the telescope can track objects moving quickly across the sky.
Almost as old as Hubble, Chandra needs a follow-up to complement the James Webb Space Telescope.
This past Saturday, the James Webb Space Telescope successfully deployed its primary mirror's second side panel, marking the end of its extremely complex deployment sequence.
This report “paves the pathway to exploring the cosmos.”
The Perseverance rover has successfully drilled its first Martian core sample and stored said sample in a titanium tube.
A problem in the Hubble Space Telescope's Power Control Unit or a secondary circuit led to the iconic telescope's shutdown last month.
The Spring 2021 issue of Mercury (Vol. 50 no. 2) is available to members, and this issue features a new column, the story of black holes, a guide to the Kuiper Belt, astronomy's patron saint, the mysteries of our home galaxy, and more!
The Winter 2021 issue of Mercury (Vol. 50 no. 1) is available to members, and this celebratory issue features 50 years of human space exploration, NASA's Great Observatories program to understand the universe, historical solar eclipses, and more!
At 12:55pm Pacific Time, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory mission control erupted in applause as the Perseverance rover touched down on Mars.
At about 6:10 pm Eastern today, a NASA spacecraft will touch an asteroid, grab a 2-ounce sample of debris, and hold onto it until a return to Earth. At least, that’s the plan of this first attempt at the OSIRIS-REx mission’s complex series of events.
Because of its data collection and archival system, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed how — and who — can do science.
Two recent studies used data from the Mercury MESSENGER mission's flybys of Venus to reveal new details about the Venusian atmosphere.
A quartet of space probes is heading to Mars soon looking to answer lots of new questions — and an old one.
The Winter 2020 issue (vol. 49 no. 1) of Mercury magazine is online for ASP members, featuring a goodbye to Spitzer, kicking off a busy decade for Mars, and paying tribute to Katherine Johnson.
Tasked with mapping the motions of stars in our galaxy, the European mission is doing so much more.
A Chinese satellite got a historic view of the July 2 total solar eclipse from BEYOND Moon orbit.
How a mission designed to monitor climate change is also a prototype for a technique to detect gravitational waves. [Feature excerpt]
NASA's OSIRIS-REx gets a beautiful crescent view of the asteroid, revealing the incredible array of rocks on its surface.
On April 11, Israel’s dreams of landing its first spacecraft on the Moon ended after Beresheet crashed into the lunar surface—but it wasn't a failure, not by a long shot. [Feature excerpt]
