Editor’s note: for more than half a century we have been learning how to use the viewpoint from space to study our home world. The instruments we have developed often […]
Missions & Hardware
Posted inAnalog Studies, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Desert Worlds, Exploration Gear & Tech, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Status Report
Perseverance Rover Snaps Selfie in Mars’ Western Frontier
The agency’s six-wheeled geologist took a self-portrait during its survey of an ancient landscape that may predate the formation of Jezero Crater itself.
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Missions & Hardware, Sample Return, Status Report
Fatigue-crack Formation In Samples From Asteroid Bennu And Petrologic Controls On Boulder Properties And Evolution
Thermal fatigue has been observed to be an important driver of boulder evolution on asteroid Bennu through the development of morphological features such as exfoliation flakes and linear fractures in […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Missions & Hardware, Status Report
A Preliminary Exploration Of The Effects Of Baseline Length For The LIFE Space Mission
By aiming to find and characterise dozens of habitable exoplanets through the technique of nulling interferometry, the LIFE space mission will produce transformational science. One of the key parameters for […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Sample Return, Status Report
Curiosity Astrobiology Rover Gets Stuck And Unstuck In ‘Atacama’
Earth planning date: Friday, May 1, 2026 Chile’s Atacama desert is the driest mid-latitude desert in the world, receiving only 15 millimeters (0.59 inches) of precipitation per year. Only the […]
Posted inAstrobiology (general), Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Conferences and Meetings, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Status Report
The European Astrobiology Network Association (EANA) 2026 Conference: Astrobiology Missions
The European Astrobiology Network Association (EANA) 2026 Conference will be organised by the Space Exploration Institute in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, from the 1st (Tuesday) to the 4th (Friday) September 2026.
Posted inAnalog Studies, Cryobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Missions & Hardware, Panspermia, Press Release, Radiation, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Sample Return, Tricorders & Sensors
Responses of Cyanobacterial Crusts and Microbial Communities to Extreme Environments of the Stratosphere
How microbial communities respond to extreme conditions in the stratosphere remains unclear.
Posted inAstrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Status Report, Tricorders & Sensors
Diverse Organic Molecules On Mars Revealed By The First SAM TMAH Experiment
The search for organic matter on Mars has rapidly evolved in the past decade with simple aromatic, S-heterocycles, and aliphatic organic molecules detected in Gale crater.
Posted inAway Teams & Field Reports, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Exploration Gear & Tech, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Meteorites & Asteroids, Microgravity, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Sample Return, Status Report
Offworld Science Droids: A Review Maps Key Technologies For Small-body Sampling Robots
Unlike planetary rovers operating on the Moon or Mars, robots working on asteroids and comets must interact with surfaces where gravity is extremely weak, terrain is highly irregular, and material […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Status Report, Titan, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Science Goals and Objectives for the Dragonfly Titan Rotorcraft Relocatable Lander
NASA’s Dragonfly mission will send a rotorcraft lander to the surface of Titan in the mid-2030s. Dragonfly’s science themes include investigation of Titan’s prebiotic chemistry, habitability, and potential chemical biosignatures […]