LPL Spotlight Stories

This artist’s conception of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa shows a hypothesized cryovolcanic eruption, in which briny water from within the icy shell blasts into space. A new model of this process on Europa may also explain plumes on other icy bodies. Justice Blaine Wainwright

Plumes on Icy Worlds Hold Clues About What Lies Beneath

A new model shows how brine on Jupiter’s moon Europa can migrate within the icy shell to form pockets of salty water that erupt to the surface when freezing. The findings are important for the upcoming Europa Clipper mission and may explain cryovolcanic eruptions across icy bodies in the solar system.

 This artist's concept depicts the early Martian environment (right) – believed to contain liquid water and a thicker atmosphere – versus the cold, dry environment seen at Mars today (left). NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Escape from Mars: How Water Fled the Red Planet

New LPL-led research updates our understanding of how water escaped Mars – not like a leaky faucet but with a sudden splash.

Life on Ancient Earth and Alien Planets: UArizona to Lead NASA Astrobiology Projects

Two of the eight interdisciplinary research teams selected by the NASA Astrobiology Program to inaugurate its Interdisciplinary Consortia for Interdisciplinary Research program are located at the University of Arizona. Led by Betül Kaçar and Dániel Apai, the teams were selected from a pool of more than 40 proposals.

 This image shows four views of asteroid Bennu along with a corresponding global mosaic. The images were taken on Dec. 2, 2018, by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft’s PolyCam camera, which is part of the OCAMS instrument suite designed by UArizona scientists and engineers. NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

Asteroid's Scars Tell Stories of its Past

Impact craters left by space debris in the boulders on asteroid Bennu's rugged surface allowed researchers to reconstruct the history of the near-Earth object in unprecedented detail.
Taken on Oct. 28 by NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, this image shows the collector head after it was separated from the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism arm. The collector head is secured onto the capture ring in the Sample Return Capsule. NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/Lockheed Martin

OSIRIS-REx Successfully Stows Sample of Asteroid Bennu

The mission team spent two days working around the clock to carry out the stowage procedure.

 Captured by the spacecraft's SamCam camera on Oct. 22, 2020, this image shows that the sampler head on NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is full of rocks and dust collected from the surface of the asteroid Bennu. They show also that some of these particles are slowly escaping the sampler head through small gaps where the head's mylar flap is wedged open. NASA

OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Collects Significant Amount of Asteroid

The spacecraft seems to have bit off more than it can chew, so the mission team will expedite stowing the sample for the return trip home.

Watch: OSIRIS-REx Touchdown Causes a Stir on Asteroid Bennu

The sampling arm of NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft made contact with asteroid Bennu to stir up surface material and capture some of it for return to Earth in 2023.

 The University of Arizona's Anjani Polit (right), OSIRIS-REx Science Planning Team senior systems engineer, watches NASA's broadcast of the mission's Touch-and-Go event with anticipation. UArizona mission team members and members of university leadership, including President Robert C. Robbins (left) watched the broadcast from the university's Michael J. Drake Building. Chris Richards/University of Arizona

UArizona Mission Members Celebrate OSIRIS-REx Success

Members of the LPL-led OSIRIS-REx mission, along with UArizona leadership, gathered to watch NASA's live broadcast of the mission's much-anticipated Touch-and-Go, or TAG, sampling event.
Artist's impression showing the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft descending onto Bennu's surface to collect a sample on Oct. 20. NASA/Goddard/CI Lab

OSIRIS-REx Successfully Touches Asteroid Bennu in Sample Grab

Ten years after NASA selected LPL to lead the OSIRIS-REx mission, the spacecraft successfully completed its most treacherous and rewarding task: sample collection.

 NASA's UArizona-led OSIRIS-REx mission is the agency's first attempt to bring back a sample from an asteroid.NASA

What Touching an Asteroid Can Teach Us

NASA will make history on Oct. 20 by attempting its first-ever sample collection maneuver at an asteroid. LPL professor Dante Lauretta, principal investigator for the OSIRIS-REx mission, discusses the significance of the mission for science and society.