[SwRI] A Southwest Research Institute-led study used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to examine ice grains streaming from interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, just the third object from beyond our solar system […]
SWRI
Posted inIce Giant
SwRI Staff Contribute To New Ideas About Origins Of Uranus And Neptune
[SwRI] Uranus and Neptune are often considered planetary twins due to their many similar characteristics, including size, mass and atmospheric conditions, and have long been thought to have pulled from […]
Posted inIcy Worlds
SwRI Simulations Indicate That Large Impacts May Limit Ocean Formation In Icy Moons
[SwRI] Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) scientists provided simulations to understand the role disruptive impacts play on icy moons with subsurface oceans in our solar system.
Posted inPluto
New Horizons Finds Evidence Of Recent Liquid On Pluto’s Surface
[NASA] “Pluto never stops surprising us,” said Alan Stern, principal investigator of New Horizons and lead study author from the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. “In addition to suggesting […]
Posted inAstrogeology
SwRI Study Found Primordial Mini-moons May Explain Meteorite Composition
[SwRI] A new Southwest Research Institute-led study proposes a solution to a long-standing puzzle in planetary science — what caused the concentration, assembly and preservation of millimeter-sized, spherical mineral grains […]
Posted inInterstellar
New Horizons Extends Key Observations Of Interstellar Material Slowing The Solar Wind
[SwRI] A new Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) study based on data from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has uncovered fascinating insights into why the solar wind gradually slows as it moves […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Comets and Asteroids, Europa, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Missions & Hardware, Press Release
Two Spacecraft Observed Both Hemispheres Of Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Simultaneously
The Southwest Research Institute-led Ultraviolet Spectrograph (UVS) instruments aboard ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) spacecraft and NASA’s Europa Clipper made unique observations of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS in late 2025. […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Callisto, Europa, Ganymede, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Io, Jupiter, Press Release
New Insights Into The Potential For Life In The Jovian System
Southwest Research Institute was part of an international team that demonstrated how complex organic molecules (COMs), key chemical precursors to life, could have been incorporated into Jupiter’s Galilean moons during […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Callisto, Europa, Ganymede, Icy Worlds, Io, Jupiter, Press Release
The Water Makeup Of Jupiter’s Galilean Moons Was Set At Birth
While Io, the most volcanically active moon in the solar system, appears completely dry and devoid of water ice, its neighbor Europa is thought to harbor a vast global ocean […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Intelligence & Language, Press Release
New SwRI Laboratory To Study The Origins Of Planetary Systems
Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has created a new space science laboratory to enhance our understanding of the origins of planetary systems. SwRI’s Nebular Origins of the Universe Research (NOUR) Laboratory […]