Space mining has the potential to provide a greater supply of resources either for being exploited locally for construction or being sent back to earth.
The colorful cloud belts dominate Jupiter’s southern hemisphere in this image captured by NASA’s Juno spacecraft.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill
Jupiter’s bands are one of its most striking features – and can be seen from Earth – but they only go so deep within the giant planet. Now scientists think they know why.
Mars’ south polar cap, as seen from Mars Global Surveyor. Buried beneath, we now know, is a lake of liquid water.
NASA/JPL/MSSS
Researchers have found evidence of a large lake of salty water, buried 1.5 kilometres beneath the southern polar ice cap on Mars. So what does that mean for life on the red planet?
A moon shadow on Jupiter, the red planet now has a dozen more moons added to the list or such orbiting bodies.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS
Titan is more than a billion kilometres from our Sun but occasionally it’s shadow can be seen here on Earth, with the right technology. That’s what scientists gathered in Western Australia to observe.
Fragments of the asteroid 2018 LA scattered over a wide area in Botswana’s Central Kalahari Game Reserve.
Alexander Proyer
Alexander Proyer, Botswana International University of Science and Technology and Fulvio Franchi, Botswana International University of Science and Technology
Each meteorite is a piece of the puzzle to understanding our solar system.
The Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) at sunset, which observed the OSSOS survey.
wikipedia
Now’s a great time to see Jupiter as it’s about to be the closest to Earth for some time. Time too to catch up with the latest on the Juno mission, exploring the largest planet in our Solar System.
MESSENGER enhanced colour image showing the southern half of Mercury’s Caloris basin, hosting several red spots.
NASA/JHUAPL/CIW
Having discovered an asteroid from outside the solar system for the first time, scientists are hoping there are more out there – illuminating the path to extrasolar worlds.
An artist’s impression of the exoplanet in close orbit to a star.
ESA, NASA, G. Tinetti (University College London, UK & ESA) and M. Kornmesser (ESA/Hubble)
Jonti Horner, University of Southern Queensland; Jake Clark, University of Southern Queensland; Rob Wittenmyer, University of Southern Queensland, and Stephen Kane, University of California, Riverside
A solitary planet in an eccentric orbit around an ancient star may help astronomers understand exactly how such planetary systems are formed.
It’s a bird… It’s a plane… No, it’s an object from another solar system! Astronomers have been scrambling to identify a mysterious object passing through our solar system at a speed of about 160,000 km/h. This NASA file image shows a simulation of asteroids passing the earth.
(Handout)
The mystery object seen moving through our Solar system shows the void between the stars is far from empty. So can we expect more interstellar visitors?
Olympus Mons, biggest volcano in the Solar System.
Justin Cowart
The Cassini space probe discovered liquid lakes, poisonous gases and the basic elements of life on Saturn’s moon, Titan.
Cassini makes the first radio occultation of Saturn’s rings producing this simulated image with green for particles smaller than 5cm and purple where particles are larger.
NASA/JPL
The Cassini space probe took us up close and through the beautiful rings of Saturn. It captured some amazing images, and even the sound of the rings during its mission.