Cluster Helps Disentangle Turbulence in the Solar Wind

This solar wind is some million degrees Celsius, can move as fast as 750 kilometers (466 statute miles) per second, and – so far – defies a complete description by any one theory...

NASA Study Sees Earth's Water Cycle Pulse Quickening

Freshwater is flowing into Earth's ocean in greater amounts every year, thanks to more frequent and extreme storms related to global warming, according to a first-of-its-kind study by a team of NASA and university researchers...

NASA's EPOXI Mission Sets Up for Comet Flyby

NASA's EPOXI mission successfully performed a trajectory correction maneuver today. The maneuver refined the spacecraft's orbit for a flyby of comet Hartley 2 on Nov. 4...

Atmosphere Checked, One Mars Year Before a Landing

In preparation for NASA's next rover landing on the Red Planet, one Mars year away, an instrument studying the Martian atmosphere from orbit has begun a campaign...

NASA Uses 3 Satellites to See Strengthening Tropical Storm Nicol

Satellite data from NASA showed frigid thunderstorm cloud top temperatures, heavy rainfall, and extensive cloud cover as Nicole strengthened...

NASA and NSF-Funded Research Finds First Potentially Habitable E

A team of planet hunters has announced the discovery of a planet with three times the mass of Earth orbiting a nearby star at a distance that places it squarely in the middle of the star's "habitable zone."...

Alien View of Our Solar System

Summary: New simulations are providing scientists with a glimpse of what our solar system may look like to alien astronomers. The study could helps astronomers in the search for habitable planetary systems around distant stars...

Climate Change before it Goes Global

It’s pretty well accepted among the scientific community that life existed as far back as 3.5 billion years ago. But those were days before oxygen had accumulated to significant levels.What kind of creatures were lurking an an oxygen-free world?...

Rosetta Should Look South for a Landing Site

Scientists have determined that ESA's Rosetta mission needs to deliver its lander to a site in the southern hemisphere of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. A site in this region will be the safest and most scientifically interesting according to the recent study...

Venus Hot Outside, Cool Inside?

The heat in the atmosphere of Venus, induced from a strong greenhouse warming, might actually have a cooling effect on the planet’s interior. Studying planetary processes on Venus can provide important information about climate change on rocky planets, such as Earth. Climate change could have a profound effect on the future habitability of our planet...

Synthetic Life Could Aid Space Exploration

When packing for a manned mission to Mars or the Moon, the best thing to bring may not be food or fuel, but specially-designed organisms that can create those things for you...

New Map Offers a Global View of Health-Sapping Air Pollution

A new map offers the most comprehensive view to date of health-sapping particles in the air, suspected of causing millions of premature deaths each year in developing countries...

Dust Models Paint Alien's View of Solar System

New supercomputer simulations tracking the interactions of thousands of dust grains show what the solar system might look like to alien astronomers searching for planets...

Laser Tool for Studying Mars Rocks Delivered to JPL

A tool newly delivered from Los Alamos National Laboratory for NASA's Mars rover Curiosity will zap Martian rocks with a laser to learn the rocks' makeup...

Spring on Titan Brings Sunshine and Patchy Clouds

Scientists working with NASA's Cassini spacecraft are creating the first long-term study of Titan's weather...