August 2017
Big science from small spacecraft
... cubesats as hitch-hikers; and onboard data reduction and data handling to significantly reduce science data volumes. JPL spacecraft technology development for cubesats/nanosats, and the corresponding mission they will be demonstrated on. From left...
June 2017
Automated or human-operated systems?
...redefinition of a communication protocol with an old probe left on Mars from a previous Pathfinder mission, for example. The JPL employee redesigns the entire mission of the Hermes spacecraft using a flyby of Earth to return to Mars in a much shorter...
17 December 2018
Innovative mission to view the surface of exoplanets using small sats
... signs of a thriving community on a planet light years from our own? A novel idea currently under consideration by scientists at JPL and Aerospace might one day show us just that as they are working on plans for a solar gravity...
June 2018
Cosmic communications and the anthropology of outer space
... that is essentially under the purview of anthropology - that is, the study of culture. Using NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) website, a curious Earth-bound human can track the two Voyager spacecraft, launched 40 years ago, as the...
17 March 2021
Like Venus, ancient water on Mars is trapped in its crust, new study says
... the rest really lost to space because of Mars's low gravity? According to new research from Caltech and JPL scientists, the answer is no. To understand where Mars’ water might has gone, scientists study how much deuterium...
13 February 2024
Thales Alenia Space to provide comms for planetary defence mission
... that would be capable of causing significant damage should they impact Earth. Managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), NEO Surveyor will journey 1.5 million kilometres to a region of gravitational stability – called the L1 Lagrange point...
