GoKawiil
Tech News
Analysis of data from a Mars orbiter has revealed geological features consistent with recent volcanic activity on the planet's surface, according to researchers studying the imagery. The findings point to a specific region where deposits and surface patterns resemble those left by volcanic eruptions on Earth.
A study in Science Advances reports that the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter detected unexpected spikes of hydrogen chloride gas around the flanks of Alba Mons, Mars's largest volcano by surface area. Researchers also identified newly discovered fissures thousands of feet long with mineral discoloration resembling volcanic gas vents on Earth, pointing to gas seeping from underground.
NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft, which reached Mars in October 2001, and its younger counterpart the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have both far outlasted their original mission timelines of just a few years. The two orbiters continue to gather data on Martian ice and surface changes while also relaying communications from every NASA rover on the surface back to Earth.
NASA has accelerated its DAVINCI atmospheric probe mission to Venus, now set for a December 2030 launch, a year earlier than previously scheduled. Its sister mission, the VERITAS orbiter, is slated to launch in November 2032, while ESA's EnVision orbiter is also planned for 2032, and Rocket Lab hopes to send a privately funded cloud-sampling probe as early as next year.
NASA scientist Robert Wagner spotted a fresh lunar crater by comparing images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's wide-angle camera taken in October 2025, tracing the impact to sometime between April 11 and May 22, 2024. The crater, since named McGetchin after scientist Tom McGetchin, measures 728 feet wide and 141 feet deep, and scientists estimate an impact of this size occurs roughly once every 132 years.
NASA scientist Robert Wagner discovered a massive new lunar crater while performing a routine data check on imagery from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The impact, likely caused by an object roughly the size of a six-story building sometime between April and May 2024, created a crater 728 feet wide and 141 feet deep, the largest fresh impact site the orbiter has ever recorded.
NASA-affiliated scientists have documented the largest newly formed crater on the Moon, resulting from an impact recorded in 2024. The impact site is unusual because it produced a cold spot stretching more than four miles across, a thermal signature researchers describe as extremely rare.