Curiosity has gotten smarter: the Mars rover now has the capability to select ChemCam laser targets autonomously, allowing the four year-old prospector to choose its own targets for remote evaluation. ChemCam has been a godsend for qualifying geological targets for closer evaluation by the roving laboratory. It can also provide remote analysis of interesting formations that cannot be physically reached by the rover—for instance, something too high or beyond an obstacle that t

Just before 1 a.m EDT on July 22, 1969, the crew of Apollo 11 fired the Service Propulsion System rocket engine at the rear of the Service Module and broke free of lunar orbit to head home. Behind them: A successful three-day stay in the neighborhood of the moon, the first lunar landing, and a 2.5 hour moonwalk, during which they deployed experiments, gathered rock and soil samples, and tested all of the major systems needed to explore the lunar surface. Ahead of them: a July

This color view from NASA's Juno spacecraft is made from some of the first images taken by JunoCam after the spacecraft entered orbit around Jupiter on July 5th (UTC). Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS The image returned by the Juno Jupiter probe on July 10, 2016, was remarkable. This low-resolution image was prepared after JunoCam was activated 2.7 million miles past the planet, on the outward leg of the long, elliptical orbit it braked into on July 4 by firing its main ro

• Juno at Jupiter Orbital Insertion (JOI). Image credit Lockheed Martin. When spacecraft encounter distant worlds, we are mesmerized by the fantastic images that come back to Earth… the ruddy vistas of Mars, the deep aquamarine of Neptune, or the cracked and crinkled patchwork of Io. But some stories aren’t best told with pictures, and in the case of the recent rendezvous of NASA’s Juno spacecraft with giant Jupiter, it’s not what scientists will see that’s important… it’s wh