Planetary Science

  1. Space

    Making an impression

    In its seventh day after successfully landing on the Red Planet, the Phoenix Lander digs its first trench and is ready to start its ice-hunting.

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  2. Planetary Science

    Dispatch from Mars, Sol 4

    The good news is a tentative sighting of ice by the Mars Phoenix Lander. The bad news is the discovery of a glitch in the system that will analyze soil samples.

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  3. Planetary Science

    Rarin’ to go

    After a day’s delay, the robotic arm on the Mars Phoenix Lander is free of its shackles and is preparing to dig for ice.

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  4. Planetary Science

    More than a pinch

    Water believed to flow on the Red Planet would have been too salty to foster life, scientists suggest.

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  5. Planetary Science

    See how it lands

    A camera on a Mars-orbiting spacecraft caught an image of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander suspended from its parachute just before it descended onto the Red Planet’s northern plains on May 25.

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  6. Planetary Science

    Touchdown! Phoenix lands on Mars

    The first close-up color images of the northern arctic circle on the Red Planet were recorded by the Mars Phoenix Lander spacecraft only a few hours after its flawless descent at 7:38 p.m. EDT, May 25. The detailed images suggest ice lies beneath the hard soil.

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  7. Planetary Science

    Hop, skip and a jump

    Less gravity on Mars means wind-driven grains of sand travel up to 10 times faster than those blowing along Earth’s surface, new analyses suggest.

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  8. Planetary Science

    BOOK LIST | Titan Unveiled

    Astronomer Lorenz and science writer Mitton provide the details of what we know so far about Saturn’s moon. TITAN UNVEILED Princeton University Press, 2008, 243 p., $29.95

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  9. Planetary Science

    Caught in the Act? Images may reveal planetary birth

    Astronomers, for the first time, have imaged dusty clumps surrounding young stars that could be planets in the making.

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  10. Planetary Science

    Gassy Geysers: Cassini surveys Saturn’s moon

    NASA's Cassini spacecraft had a close encounter with the giant vapor plume gushing from Saturn's tiny moon Enceladus.

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  11. Planetary Science

    Titan may harbor underground ocean

    Observations by the Cassini spacecraft hint that Saturn's smog-shrouded moon Titan may harbor a global ocean of water and ammonia 100 kilometers below its surface.

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  12. Planetary Science

    Dusty Clues: Study suggests no dearth of Earths

    A new study suggests that many, or perhaps most, sunlike stars have planets much like Earth.

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