New forecasts are helping scientists pinpoint one of the most elusive locations in space: the outer boundary of the Sun’s ...

While life on Mars (and Venus) has long been an obsession for those wondering if we're alone, there are other places in our ...

Solar sails are an exciting way to travel through the solar system because they get their propulsion from the sun. NASA has developed several solar sails, and their newest, the Advanced Composite ...

China envisions exploring the solar system, and it seems that would happen soon. The country launched Tianwen-2, an innovative space probe tasked with retrieving samples from an uncharted asteroid and ...

Unfortunately, this book can't be printed from the OpenBook. If you need to print pages from this book, we recommend downloading it as a PDF. Visit NAP.edu/10766 to get more information about this ...

The Sun is the source of energy for life on Earth and is the strongest modulator of the human physical environment. In fact, the Sun’s influence extends throughout the solar system, both through ...

In October 2024, two spacecrafts were successfully launched towards different bodies: Europa, a prime astrobiological target, and Dimorphos, the first test of planetary defence. Joined in their ...

A Chinese spacecraft built to collect specimens from an unexplored asteroid and return them to Earth successfully launched Wednesday from a military-run spaceport in the country’s mountainous interior ...

Since humanity first gazed up at the night sky, we’ve been driven by an insatiable curiosity to understand what lies beyond our pale blue dot. The past six decades of space exploration have delivered ...

Pt. 1. The golden age, 1957-1982. The beginning -- Of landers and orbiters -- The grandest tour -- Pt. 2. Hiatus and renewal, 1983-1996. The decade of Halley -- The era of flagships -- Faster, cheaper ...

Introduction: NASA's solar system exploration paradigm : the first fifty years and a look at the next fifty / James L. Green and Kristen J. Erickson -- Part I. Overview. Exploring the Solar System : ...