Latest NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Stories

Gas giant may hold keys to understanding solar system formation, evolutionSeveral University of Colorado Boulder faculty and students are participating in NASA's Juno Mission to Jupiter, now slated for launch Aug. 5 from Florida's Kennedy Space Center and which is expected to help steer scientists toward the right recipe for planet-making.The primary goal of the mission is to understand the origin and evolution of the massive gas planet, said CU-Boulder Professor Fran Bagenal of the...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Dawn spacecraft, the first ever to orbit an object in the main asteroid belt, is spiraling towards its first of four intensive science orbits. That initial orbit of the rocky world Vesta begins Aug. 11, at an altitude of nearly 1,700 miles (2,700 kilometers) and will provide in-depth analysis of the asteroid. Vesta is the brightest object in the asteroid belt as seen from Earth and is thought to be the source of a large number of...

NASA's Dawn spacecraft, the first ever to orbit an object in the main asteroid belt, is spiraling towards its first of four intensive science orbits. That initial orbit of the rocky world Vesta begins Aug. 11, at an altitude of nearly 1,700 miles (2,700 kilometers) and will provide in-depth analysis of the asteroid. Vesta is the brightest object in the asteroid belt as seen from Earth and is thought to be the source of a large number of meteorites that fall to Earth.The Dawn team has now...

NASA will host a news conference on Monday, Aug. 1, at noon EDT, to discuss the Dawn spacecraft's successful orbit insertion around Vesta on July 15 and unveil the first full-frame images from Dawn's framing camera. The news conference will be held in the Von Karman auditorium at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), 4800 Oak Grove Dr., Pasadena, Calif. Journalists also may ask questions from participating NASA locations or join by phone.To obtain dial-in information, journalists must...

Dawn took this image over Vesta's northern hemisphere after the spacecraft completed its first passage over the dark side of the giant asteroid. It is northern hemisphere winter on Vesta now, so its north pole is in deep shadow.The Dawn science team is working to determine the significance of the distinct features in this image, which include large grooves or ridges extending for great distances around Vesta.This image was taken by Dawn's framing camera on July 23, from a distance of 3,200...

WASHINGTON, July 28, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA will host a news conference on Monday, Aug. 1, at noon EDT, to discuss the Dawn spacecraft's successful orbit insertion around Vesta on July 15 and unveil the first full-frame images from Dawn's framing camera. The news conference will be held in the Von Karman auditorium at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), 4800 Oak Grove Dr., Pasadena, Calif. Journalists also may ask questions from participating NASA locations or join by...

NASA, looking forward to launching a Jupiter-bound mission next week, sent the Juno spacecraft to its final destination at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida as the agency makes final preparations for the launch. The solar-powered spacecraft was secured in place atop the United Launch Alliance Atlas V 55 rocket at 10:42 a.m. EDT on Wednesday. The "most powerful Atlas rocket ever made" is sitting on the launch pad at the base while technicians carry out "a final flurry of checks...

NASA will host a news conference on Monday, Aug. 1, at 2 p.m. EDT, to discuss the Dawn spacecraft's successful orbit insertion around Vesta on July 15 and unveil the first full-frame images from Dawn's framing camera. The news conference will be held in the Von Karman auditorium at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), 4800 Oak Grove Dr., Pasadena, Calif. Journalists also may ask questions from participating NASA locations or join by phone. To obtain dial-in information, journalists must...

WASHINGTON, July 27, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Astronomers studying observations taken by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission have discovered the first known "Trojan" asteroid orbiting the sun along with Earth. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Trojans are asteroids that share an orbit with a planet near stable points in front of or behind the planet. Because they constantly lead or follow in the same orbit as the planet, they never...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., July 27, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Juno spacecraft completed its last significant terrestrial journey on Wednesday, with a 15-mile (25-kilometer) trip from Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla., to its launch pad at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The solar-powered, Jupiter-bound spacecraft was secured into place on top of its rocket at 10:42 a.m. EDT (7:42 a.m. PDT). (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Juno will...