#discoveryprogram

A highly anticipated mission to Venus is in trouble after NASA pulled all of its funding, save for a tiny fraction meant to keep the planetary orbiter on brittle life support as its fate hangs in the balance. Read more…

There’s been a slight change to Lucy’s already-impressive itinerary. The NASA spacecraft, currently en route to visit Jupiter’s mysterious Trojan asteroids, will fly past a tiny main belt asteroid in order to test an innovative tracking system. Read more…

The InSight Lander Mission May Finally Be Over

The InSight lander, which has spent over four years carrying out science on the Martian surface, may have finally died due to a lack of solar power. Read more…

All Is Not Well at NASA’s JPL

NASA’s JPL is struggling with issues related to budget, staffing, and poor communications, forcing the space agency to delay a highly anticipated mission to Venus. Read more…

NASA’s Asteroid Probe Captures Haunting Images of the Earth and Moon

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft got its first view of the Earth-Moon system one year after launching from its home planet to explore a distant swarm of asteroids. The spacecraft captured beautiful, and somewhat daunting, images of Earth and its natural satellite as it whizzed past for a gravitational assist. Read more…

NASA’s Moonbound CAPSTONE Probe Is Stuck in Safe Mode

NASA’s CAPSTONE probe has nearly completed its four-month-long journey to the Moon, where it will test a unique halo orbit in preparation for a future space station. Late last week, however, as the probe was performing a course correction maneuver, CAPSTONE entered into safe mode from which it has yet to emerge. Read more…

Fix to Malfunctioning Lucy Probe Good Enough to Complete Asteroid Mission, NASA Says

Just a few hours into its 12-year journey to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids, the Lucy spacecraft ran into a problem. One of its solar arrays refused to fully open and mission controllers have been working on the problem ever since. There’s good news to report, however, as the team appears to have made a breakthrough. Read more…