Abstract: The 3D perception of satellites, including both their shape and pose, is a key foundation for robotic on-orbit servicing. However, the demanding space environment-such as intense and dim ...

Planets around other stars can help answer one of the greatest mysteries: How did we get here? How did the spinning disk of material left behind by our sun’s birth form our planet and its seven ...

The standard story of the origin of our solar system has gone like this: 4.6 billion years ago, a giant cloud of dust hung frozen in space. Then the explosion of a nearby star caused part of that dust ...

In late 2025 a mysterious comet flew between the orbits of Earth and Mars and reached a speed of more than 150,000 miles per hour during its closest approach to the sun. The rare interstellar guest to ...

The interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS was the third object ever discovered in our solar system that originated from another star system. Despite a viral conspiracy theory, NASA officials have repeatedly ...

WASHINGTON — An exoplanetary system about 116 light-years from Earth could flip the script on how planets form, according to researchers who discovered it using telescopes from NASA and the European ...

Earth and Mars were formed from material that largely originated in the inner solar system; only a few percent of the building blocks of these two planets originated beyond Jupiter's orbit. A group of ...

Every once in a while, the outer solar system reminds us that we've only discovered a negligible portion of it, and that the vast majority is still full of surprises. The latest example of this is a ...

HELSINKI — China has published coordinated papers outlining dual missions to the solar system’s edge, suggesting the long-studied project is nearing formal approval. A lead paper on the design and key ...

Researchers led by Rice University’s Guido Pagano used a specialized quantum device to simulate a vibrating molecule and track how energy moves within it. The work, published Dec. 5 in Nature ...

Far from the Sun’s heat, orbiting the outer planets of the solar system, are moons with oceans of liquid water beneath their frozen surfaces. Keith Cooper finds out how planetary scientists are ...