In late June, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson traveled to the Ocean State for a firsthand look at the research and technology that Rhode Island colleges, universities and businesses are producing to support the space agency’s mission.

Over the 14 years since its launch, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft has produced images and data proven that have transformed our understanding of Earth's celestial neighbor. Professor and noted lunar researcher Carle Pieters spoke with Space.com about the importance of future orbital observations of the moon.

Laura Lark and her team discover potential carbon enrichment in impact basins on Mercury's surface, shedding light on volatile-driven processes and the formation of dark low-reflectance material.

Meteoroid impacts on Mars' surface reveal intriguing connections between atmospheric density, elevation, and the formation of crater clusters, as hypothesized by Assistant Professor Ingrid Daubar

Assistant Professor Gerrit Budde received a Salomon award for his work establishing new procedures for complete sample digestion of meteorite samples utilizing laser-assisted melting and for combined isotope analyses of oxygen and ‘heavy’ elements. Professor Timothy Herbert received a Salomon award for his project developing proof of concept data directly relevant to the long-term stability of the Antarctic ice cap to be submitted to the NSF Marine Geology and Geophysics program.

A new study shows evidence that, as recently as 1991, a volcano erupted on Venus. “This study is really important,” said DEEPS Professor Emeritus James W. Head, who was not involved in the research. “Could this be the way Earth was in its earliest history? Or the way Earth is headed in its future?”

The Brown Daily Herald has featured a story about John Matthew Nicklas, a second-year medical student currently on leave from the Alpert Medical School, and DEEPS PhD student focused on planetary health. Planetary health is an interdisciplinary field that studies the links between human health and the health of the planet’s natural systems and resources.

A vital part of future planetary science missions will be the development of more inclusive teams. As NASA’s InSight mission comes to its end on Mars, Professor Ingrid J. Daubar and the team share strategies that have helped them to work toward this goal in a new Nature Astronomy article.

NASA has built a new rocket and spacecraft to get astronauts to Earth's nearest neighbor, and it's developing a new toolkit for them to use on the lunar surface as well. Professor James Head reflects on Apollo tool handling with Space.com

Panelists, including DEEPS professor James Head, discuss the year in space from China’s space station to hidden galaxies.

The NASA Rhode Island Space Grant Consortium has opened applications for 2023 scholarships.

DEEPS alumnus David Grinspoon ’82, senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, has been selected by NASA to participate in its independent study team on unidentified aerial phenomena, aka UFOs. The first of its kind at NASA, the team will analyze unclassified data on documented UFO sightings with the aim to shed light on the potential nature of the recorded encounters.

NASA’s InSight lander recorded a magnitude 4 marsquake caused by a massive meteoroid strike. “It’s unprecedented to find a fresh impact of this size,” said Assistant Professor (Research) Ingrid Daubar, who leads InSight’s Impact Science Working Group. “It’s an exciting moment in geologic history, and we got to witness it.”

NASA will host a virtual media briefing at 2 p.m. EDT (11 a.m. PDT) on Thursday, Oct. 27, to share new scientific findings based on observations from the agency’s InSight Mars lander and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). One of the participants will be Ingrid Daubar, DEEPS Assistant Professor (Research) and InSight impact science lead.

A new paper co-authored by Associate Professor Ralph Milliken and Senior Research Scientist Takahiro Hiroi examines the Formation and evolution of carbonaceous asteroid Ryugu using samples returned by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft (JAXA mission). DEEPS alumn Seiji Sugita also contributed to the research.