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Icy Hot: Europa’s Frozen Crust Could Be Warmer Than We Thought

15 Apr , 2016 by Jason Major

All the worlds may be ours except Europa but that only makes the ice-covered moon of Jupiter all the more intriguing. Beneath Europa’s thin crust of ice lies a tantalizing global ocean of liquid water somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 kilometers deep—which adds up to more liquid water than is on the entire surface of the […]

How Do We Terraform The Moon?

31 Mar , 2016 by Matt Williams Video

Given its proximity to Earth and our history of exploring it, colonizing and terraforming the Moon could be much easier than other Solar bodies

Does Antarctica Have A Hidden Layer Of Meteorites Below Its Surface?

22 Feb , 2016 by Bob King

A team of University of Manchester researchers proposes an intriguing answer to the puzzle of why we’ve found precious few iron meteorites among the thousands of meteorites recovered from the ice sheets of Antarctica.

What About a Mission to Europa?

27 Jul , 2015 by Fraser Cain

Europa’s water exists in a layer around the planet, encased in a layer of ice. Could there be life down there? Hooray! Welcome to the 200th official episode of the Guide To Space! First off, thank you. Thank you for watching, liking, sharing, subscribing and being a patron of our show. Yes, you. Thank you. […]

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What’s Up With Ceres’ Mysterious Bright Spots? Reply Hazy, Ask Again Later

23 Jul , 2015 by Alan Boyle

The crater that contains those puzzlingly bright spots on Ceres may harbor an equally puzzling haze. Or not. The hints of haze on the dwarf planet, seen in some of the images coming from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, add another intriguing twist to Ceres’ mysteries. The hubbub over haze arose this week during the Exploration Science Forum at NASA’s Ames […]

Rosetta’s Comet Sparkles with Ice, Blows Dust From Sinkholes

2 Jul , 2015 by Bob King

Comet 67P/C-G may be tiny at just 2.5 miles (4 km) across, but its diverse landscapes and the processes that shape them astound. To say nature packs a lot into small packages is an understatement. In newly-released images taken by Rosetta’s high-resolution OSIRIS science camera, the comet almost seems alive. Sunlight glints off icy boulders and pancaking sinkholes […]

Ceres Has Lots of Bright Spots

17 Jun , 2015 by Bob King

Those bright mystery spots aren’t the only ones on Ceres. Recent photos posted on JPL’s Photojournal site feature a spectacular rayed crater resembling the familiar lunar craters Kepler and Copernicus. Lunar rays are bright because they contrast with their older surroundings which have been darkened by exposure to solar and cosmic radiation. Impacts expose fresh material from below the surface […]

Latest Research Reveals a Bizarre and Vibrant Rosetta’s Comet

24 Jan , 2015 by Bob King

We’ve subsisted for months on morsels of information coming from ESA’s mission to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Now, a series of scientific papers in journal Science offers a much more complete, if preliminary, look at Rosetta’s comet. And what a wonderful and complex world it is. Each of the papers describes a different aspect of the comet from the size and density […]

Get a Change of View of Mercury’s North Pole

5 Jan , 2015 by Jason Major

It’s always good to get a little change of perspective, and with this image we achieve just that: it’s a view of Mercury’s north pole projected as it might be seen from above a slightly more southerly latitude. Thanks to the MESSENGER spacecraft, with which this image was originally acquired, as well as the Arecibo Observatory here on […]

Philae Lander Early Science Results: Ice, Organic Molecules and Half a Foot of Dust

18 Nov , 2014 by Bob King

An uncontrolled, chaotic landing. Stuck in the shadow of a cliff without energy-giving sunlight. Philae and team persevered. With just 60 hours of battery power, the lander drilled, hammered and gathered science data on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko before going into hibernation. Here’s what we know. Despite appearances, the comet’s hard as ice. The team […]

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