Artist concept of Mars Odyssey mapping mission. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04245

Artist concept of NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04244

Artist concept of NASA Artist concept of Mars Exploration Rover MER from December, 2002. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04240

Artist concept of NASA Artist concept of Mars Exploration Rover MER from December, 2002. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04239

This artist's concept shows the Mars Helicopter on the Martian surface. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23771

An artist illustration of the Chandra spacecraft in orbit. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA18166

This artist's concept of lightning distribution in Jupiter's northern hemisphere incorporates a JunoCam image with artistic embellishments. Data from NASA's Juno mission indicates that most of the lightning activity on Jupiter is near its poles. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22474

Artist's concept of a young, newly discovered planet, exposed to observation by a warped debris disk. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26601

This artist concept of the Lunar Prospector shows the spacecraft in lunar orbit. Instrument masts are fully deployed. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA18162

Artist concept of NASA's Jason 1 spacecraft from December, 2002. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04237

Artist concept of Mars Odyssey orbit insertion. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04246

Artist concept of NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04241

This artist rendition shows the asteroid Vesta and is part of the Mission Art series from NASA's Dawn mission. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19369

This artist's rendering shows a concept for a robot called AquaSimian that would assist with hazardous situations underwater. The concept is derived from RoboSimian, a land-based robot designed and built at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. RoboSimian is shown in PIA19313. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19315

Artist's concept of the current mission configuration. SIM PlanetQuest (formerly called Space Interferometry Mission), currently under development, will determine the positions and distances of stars several hundred times more accurately than any previous program. This accuracy will allow SIM to determine the distances to stars throughout the galaxy and to probe nearby stars for Earth-sized planets. SIM will open a window to a new world of discoveries. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04248

This artist's concept shows the InSight spacecraft, encapsulated in its aeroshell, as it cruises to Mars. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22547

Artist conception of the Clementine spacecraft, a joint mission of the U.S. Strategic Defense Initiative Organization and NASA. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA18159

An artist's concept of InSight's heat probe, called the Heat and Physical Properties Package (HP3), annotates various parts inside of the instrument. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23045

An artist illustration of the InSight lander on Mars. InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is designed to give the Red Planet its first thorough check up since it formed 4.5 billion years ago. The mission will look for tectonic activity and meteorite impacts, study how much heat is still flowing through the planet, and track Mars' wobble as it orbits the sun. While InSight is a Mars mission, it's more than a Mars mission. InSight will help answer key questions about the formation of the rocky planets of the solar system. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22745

Artist concept of the Deep Space 1 spacecraft from December, 2002. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04242

An artist concept depicting one of NASA's twin Voyager spacecraft. Humanity's farthest and longest-lived spacecraft are celebrating 40 years in August and September 2017. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21839

This is an artist depiction of NASA Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer LADEE observatory as it approaches lunar orbit. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA18160

In this artist's visualization, the newly discovered planet-like object, dubbed "Sedna," is shown where it resides at the outer edges of the known solar system. The object is so far away that the Sun appears as an extremely bright star instead of a large, warm disc observed from Earth. All that is known about Sedna's appearance is that it has a reddish hue, almost as red and reflective as the planet Mars. In the distance is a hypothetical small moon, which scientists believe may be orbiting this distant body. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA05566

This artist's concept shows the Lunar Flashlight spacecraft, a six-unit CubeSat designed to search for ice on the Moon's surface using special lasers. The spacecraft will use its near-infrared lasers to shine light into shaded polar regions on the Moon, while an onboard reflectometer will measure surface reflection and composition. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23131

This artist's concept depicts an aerial view of what the Jezero Crater area of Mars may have looked like billions of years ago. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22907

Artist rendering of NASA's Dawn spacecraft approaching Mars. Dawn, part of NASA's Discovery Program of competitively selected missions, was launched in 2007 to orbit the large asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. The two bodies have very different properties from each other. By observing them both with the same set of instruments, Dawn will probe the early solar system and specify the properties of each body. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA18152

Artist concept of Next Generation Space Telescope from December, 2002. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04243

Artist concept of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment GRACE from December 2002. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04236

This artist's concept shows what exoplanet Kepler-1649c could look like on its surface. The planet is the closest to Earth in size and temperature found yet in data from the Kepler space telescope. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23690

This artist's concept shows Surrogate, a robot that could one day assist in disasters or hazardous situations such as a dangerous chemical laboratory. Surrogate was designed and built at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Its components came from RoboSimian, another JPL-built robot designed for disaster relief and mitigation (see PIA19313). Surrogate rolls on a track rather than moving on its limbs. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19314

Artist rendition of the formation of rocky bodies in the solar system -- how they form and differentiate and evolve into terrestrial planets. Note: After thorough examination, NASA managers have decided to suspend the planned March 2016 launch of the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission. The decision follows unsuccessful attempts to repair a leak in a section of the prime instrument in the science payload. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16078

Artists concept of NASA Asteroid Redirect Robotic ARM Mission capturing an asteroid boulder before redirecting it to a astronaut-accessible orbit around Earth moon. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19349

This artist concept shows NASA Dawn spacecraft above dwarf planet Ceres, as seen in images from the mission. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19598

Artist rendering of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter LRO, above the moon. LRO carries seven instruments that make comprehensive remote sensing observations of the moon and measurements of the lunar radiation environment. The LRO mission is managed by NASA Goddard for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA18163

This artist's concept, updated as of June 2020, depicts NASA's Psyche spacecraft. Set to launch in August 2022, the Psyche mission will explore a metal-rich asteroid of the same name that lies in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The spacecraft will arrive in early 2026 and orbit the asteroid for nearly two years to investigate its composition. Scientists think that Psyche, unlike most other asteroids that are rocky or icy bodies, is made up of mostly iron and nickel — similar to the Earth's core. The Psyche team will use a magnetometer to measure the asteroid's magnetic field. A multispectral imager will capture images of the surface, as well as data about the Psyche's composition and topography. Spectrometers will analyze the neutrons and gamma rays coming from the surface to reveal the elements that make up the asteroid itself. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23875

This artist's concept shows exoplanet Kepler-1649c orbiting around its host red dwarf star. This exoplanet is in its star's habitable zone (the distance where liquid water could exist on the planet's surface) and is the closest to Earth in size and temperature found yet in Kepler's data. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23689

An artist's concept portrays a NASA Mars Exploration Rover on the surface of Mars. Two rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, will reach Mars in January 2004. Each has the mobility and toolkit to function as a robotic geologist. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04928

The artist's rendition shows the newly discovered planet-like object, dubbed "Sedna," in relation to other bodies in the solar system, including Earth and its Moon; Pluto; and Quaoar, a planetoid beyond Pluto that was until now the largest known object beyond Pluto. The diameter of Sedna is slightly smaller than Pluto's but likely somewhat larger than Quaoar. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA05567

This artist's concept shows RoboSimian, a robot intended to assist with disaster relief and mitigation. RoboSimian is an ape-like robot that moves around on four limbs. It was designed and built at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. It will compete in the 2015 DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals. To get the robot in shape for the contest, researchers at JPL are collaborating with partners at University of California, Santa Barbara, and the California Institute of Technology. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19313

Just how dim is the sunlight on Pluto, some three billion miles away? This artist concept of the frosty surface of Pluto with Charon and our sun as backdrops illustrates that while sunlight is much weaker than it is here on Earth, it isnt as dark as you might expect. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19682

This artist's concept shows a hypothetical planet covered in water around the binary star system of Kepler-35A and B. In a 2017 study in the journal Nature Communications, researchers investigating the climates of exoplanets determined that this hypothetical planet could be habitable, depending on its distance from the two stars. On the far edge of the habitable zone, the hypothetical water-covered planet would have a lot of variation in its surface temperatures. But closer to the stars, near the inner edge of the habitable zone, the global average surface temperatures on the same planet would stay almost constant. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21470

Artist rendition of the InSight (Interior exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) Lander. InSight is based on the proven Phoenix Mars spacecraft and lander design with state-of-the-art avionics from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory missions. Note: After thorough examination, NASA managers have decided to suspend the planned March 2016 launch of the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission. The decision follows unsuccessful attempts to repair a leak in a section of the prime instrument in the science payload. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16079

This artist's concept depicts astronauts and human habitats on Mars. NASA's Mars 2020 rover will carry a number of technologies that could make Mars safer and easier to explore for humans. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23302

The European Space Agency Mars Express spacecraft is depicted in orbit around Mars in this artist concept illustration. The spacecraft was launched June 2, 2003, from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on a journey to arrive at Mars in December 2003. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04802

This artist's concept depicts the 140-mile-wide (226-kilometer-wide) asteroid Psyche, which lies in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Psyche is the focal point of NASA's mission of the same name. The Psyche spacecraft is set to launch in August 2022 and arrive at the asteroid in 2026, where it will orbit for 21 months and investigate its composition. Scientists think that Psyche, unlike most other asteroids that are rocky or icy bodies, is made up of mostly iron and nickel — similar to the Earth's core. Exploring the asteroid could give valuable insight into how our own planet and others formed. The Psyche team will use a magnetometer to measure the asteroid's magnetic field. A multispectral imager will capture images of the surface, as well as data about the Psyche's composition and topography. Spectrometers will analyze the neutrons and gamma rays coming from the surface to reveal the elements that make up the asteroid itself. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23876

This artist's rendering illustrates a conceptual design for a potential future mission to land a robotic probe on the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa. The lander is shown with a sampling arm extended, having previously excavated a small area on the surface. The circular dish on top is a dual-purpose high-gain antenna and camera mast, with stereo imaging cameras mounted on the back of the antenna. Three vertical shapes located around the top center of the lander are attachment points for cables that would lower the rover from a sky crane, which is envisioned as the landing system for this mission concept. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21048

Artist's concept of a dust storm on Titan. Researchers believe that huge amounts of dust can be raised on Titan, Saturn's largest moon, by strong wind gusts that arise in powerful methane storms. Such methane storms, previously observed in images from the international Cassini spacecraft, can form above dune fields that cover the equatorial regions of this moon especially around the equinox, the time of the year when the Sun crosses the equator. The Cassini spacecraft ended its mission on Sept. 15, 2017. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22482

In this artist's concept, a two-stage United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V launch vehicle speeds the Mars 2020 spacecraft toward the Red Planet. The rocket stands at 197 feet (60 meters) tall. This will be the 11th Mars launch on an Atlas rocket and the fifth by the Atlas V following NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2005, Curiosity rover in 2011, MAVEN orbiter in 2013 and InSight lander in 2018. Charged with returning astronauts to the Moon by 2024, NASA will establish a sustained human presence on and around the Moon by 2028 through NASA's Artemis lunar exploration plans. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23922

This artist concept shows the Mars Helicopter, a small, autonomous rotorcraft, which will travel with NASA's Mars 2020 rover mission, currently scheduled to launch in July 2020, to demonstrate the viability and potential of heavier-than-air vehicles on the Red Planet. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22460

Juno's 53-day orbit has presented the opportunity to observe Jupiter's dark side. This animation is an artist's rendition of Juno's inbound -- over Jupiter's north pole -- approach to Perijove 17 (which occurred on Dec. 21, 2018). During the flyby the SRU obtained the closest view of Jupiter's aurora with a visible light imager to date. Animation available at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22962

This artist's rendering shows NASA's Dawn spacecraft maneuvering above Ceres with its ion propulsion system. Dawn arrived into orbit at Ceres on March 6, 2015, and continues to collect data about the mysterious and fascinating world. The mission celebrated its ninth launch anniversary on September 27, 2016. This illustration is an update to PIA18921, which was produced before Dawn had mapped Ceres' surface. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20919

In February 2021, NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover and NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter (shown in an artist's concept) will be the agency's two newest explorers on Mars. Both were named by students as part of an essay contest. Perseverance is the most sophisticated rover NASA has ever sent to Mars. Ingenuity, a technology experiment, will be the first aircraft to attempt controlled flight on another planet. Perseverance will arrive at Mars' Jezero Crater with Ingenuity attached to its belly. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23962

This artist rendition is of the Interior exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport InSight Lander. InSight proposes to place a single geophysical lander on Mars to study its deep interior. Note: After thorough examination, NASA managers have decided to suspend the planned March 2016 launch of the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission. The decision follows unsuccessful attempts to repair a leak in a section of the prime instrument in the science payload. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA13958

An artist's concept of the Magellan spacecraft making a radar map of Venus. Magellan mapped 98 percent of Venus' surface at a resolution of 100 to 150 meters (about the length of a football or soccer field), using synthetic aperture radar, a technique that simulates the use of a much larger radar antenna. It found that 85 percent of the surface is covered with volcanic flows and showed evidence of tectonic movement, turbulent surface winds, lava channels and pancake-shaped domes. Magellan also produced high-resolution gravity data for 95 percent of the planet and tested a new maneuvering technique called aerobraking, using atmospheric drag to adjust its orbit. The spacecraft was commanded to plunge into Venus' atmosphere in 1994 as part of a final experiment to gather atmospheric data. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA18175

This artist's rendition shows one possible appearance for the planet HD 219134b, the nearest confirmed rocky exoplanet found to date outside our solar system. The planet is 1.6 times the size of Earth, and whips around its star in just three days. Scientists predict that the scorching-hot planet -- known to be rocky through measurements of its mass and size -- would have a rocky, partially molten surface with geological activity, including possibly volcanoes. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19833

This artist's concept shows a black hole with an accretion disk -- a flat structure of material orbiting the black hole -- and a jet of hot gas, called plasma. Using NASA's NuSTAR space telescope and a fast camera called ULTRACAM on the William Herschel Observatory in La Palma, Spain, scientists have been able to measure the distance that particles in jets travel before they "turn on" and become bright sources of light. This distance is called the "acceleration zone." https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22085

This artist's concept illustrates one possible answer to the puzzle of the "giant galactic blobs." These blobs (red), first identified about five years ago, are mammoth clouds of intensely glowing material that surround distant galaxies (white). Astronomers using visible-light telescopes can see the glow of the blobs, but they didn't know what provides the energy to light them up. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope set its infrared eyes on one well-known blob located 11 billion light-years away, and discovered three tremendously bright galaxies, each shining with the light of more than one trillion Suns, headed toward each other. Spitzer also observed three other blobs in the same galactic neighborhood and found equally bright galaxies within them. One of these blobs is also known to contain galaxies merging together. The findings suggest that galactic mergers might be the mysterious source of blobs. If so, then one explanation for how mergers produce such large clouds of material is that they trigger intense bursts of star formation. This star formation would lead to exploding massive stars, or supernovae, which would then shoot gases outward in a phenomenon known as superwinds. Blobs produced in this fashion are illustrated in this artist's concept. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA07221

This artist's concept shows a view from above the Lunar Flashlight spacecraft, a six-unit CubeSat designed to search for ice on the Moon's surface using special lasers. The spacecraft uses its near-infrared lasers to shine light into shaded polar regions on the Moon, while an on-board reflectometer measures surface reflection and composition. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23132

This artist's concept from August 2015 depicts NASA's InSight Mars lander fully deployed for studying the deep interior of Mars. This illustration updates the correct placement and look of Insight's main instruments. For an earlier artist rendition, see PIA17358. InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, will investigate processes that formed and shaped Mars. Its findings will improve understanding about the evolution of our inner solar system's rocky planets, including Earth. The lander will be the first mission to permanently deploy instruments directly onto Martian ground using a robotic arm. The two instruments to be placed into a work area in front of the lander are a seismometer (contributed by the French space agency Centre National d'Études Spatiales, or CNES) to measure the microscopic ground motions from distant marsquakes providing information about the interior structure of Mars, and a heat-flow probe (contributed by the German Aerospace Center, or DLR) designed to hammer itself 3 to 5 meters (about 16 feet) deep and monitor heat coming from the planet's interior. The mission will also track the lander's radio to measure wobbles in the planet's rotation that relate to the size of its core and a suite of environmental sensors to monitor the weather and variations in the magnetic field. Two cameras will aid in instrument deployment and monitoring the local environment. Note: After thorough examination, NASA managers have decided to suspend the planned March 2016 launch of the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission. The decision follows unsuccessful attempts to repair a leak in a section of the prime instrument in the science payload. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19811

This artist's rendering shows a giant exoplanet causing small bodies to collide in a disk of dust. A study in The Astronomical Journal finds that giant exoplanets with long-period orbits are more likely to be found around young stars that have a disk of dust and debris than those without disks. The study focused on planets more than five times the mass of Jupiter. The astronomers are conducting the largest survey to date of stars with dusty debris disks, and finding the best evidence yet that giant planets are responsible for keeping that material in check. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22082

NASA's Mars 2020 Project will re-use the basic engineering of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity to send a different rover to Mars, with new objectives and instruments. This artist's concept depicts the top of the 2020 rover's mast. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20760

Created using data collected by the JunoCam imager aboard NASA's Juno spacecraft, this animation is an artist's concept that shows a view of a mountain on the Jovian moon Io. The data was recorded during close flybys of the moon in December 2023 and February 2024. The mountain, which the Juno science team has nicknamed "Steeple Mountain," is between 3 and 4.3 miles (5 and 7 kilometers) in height. One side of Steeple Mountain is in shade in the animation because only one side of the mountain was illuminated when imaged by JunoCam. Animation available at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26294

Artist's concept of the New Horizons spacecraft flying by a possible binary 2014 MU69 on Jan. 1, 2019. Early observations of MU69 hint at the Kuiper Belt object being either a binary orbiting pair or a contact (stuck together) pair of nearly like-sized bodies with diameters near 20 and 18 kilometers (12 and 11 miles). https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21943

Artist's illustration of the trajectory of asteroid 2017 YE5 through the solar system. At its closest approach to Earth, the asteroid came to within 16 times the distance between Earth and the moon. A movie is available at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22560

Atmosphere on Enceladus Artist Concept

Saturn Rings Artist Concept

Artist Concept of Rhea Rings

Artist's illustration of Jupiter and Europa (in the foreground) with the Galileo spacecraft after its pass through a plume erupting from Europa's surface. A new computer simulation gives us an idea of how the magnetic field interacted with a plume. The magnetic field lines (depicted in blue) show how the plume interacts with the ambient flow of Jovian plasma. The red colors on the lines show more dense areas of plasma. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21922

Artist rendition, part of the Dawn Mission Art series. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19377

NASA Aqua satellite carries six state-of-the-art instruments in a near-polar low-Earth orbit. Aqua is seen in this artist concept orbiting Earth. The six instruments are the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU-A), the Humidity Sounder for Brazil (HSB), the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS (AMSR-E), the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES). Each has unique characteristics and capabilities, and all six serve together to form a powerful package for Earth observations. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA18156

Created using data collected by the JunoCam imager aboard NASA's Juno spacecraft, this animation is an artist's concept that shows an aerial view of Loki Patera, a lava lake on the Jovian moon Io. The 124-mile-long (200-kilometer-long) lake is filled with magma, rimmed with hot lava, and dotted with islands. Loki provided a spectacular reflection when imaged by JunoCam during flybys of the moon in December 2023 and February 2024, suggesting it and other parts of Io's surface are as smooth as glass. The large island in Loki Patera does not have a name. Animation available at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26293

This artist's concept depicts "heartbeat stars," which have been detected by NASA's Kepler Space Telescope and others. The illustration shows two heartbeat stars swerving close to one another in their closest approach along their highly elongated orbits around one another. The mutual gravitation of the two stars would cause the stars themselves to become slightly ellipsoidal in shape. A third, more distant star in the system is shown in the upper left. Astronomers speculate that such unseen companions may exist in some of these heartbeat star systems, and could be responsible for maintaining these oddly stretched-out orbits. The overlaid curve depicts the inferred cyclic change in velocities in one such system, called KIC 9965691, looking something like the graph of an electrocardiogram (hence the name "heartbeat stars"). The solid points represent measurements made by the HIRES instrument at the W.M. Keck Observatory, and the curve is the best fit model for the motions of this system. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21075

This artist's concept shows what the weather might look like on cool star-like bodies known as brown dwarfs. These giant balls of gas start out life like stars, but lack the mass to sustain nuclear fusion at their cores, and instead, fade and cool with time. Observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope suggest that most brown dwarfs are roiling with one or more planet-size storms akin to Jupiter's "Great Red Spot." https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21475

An artist concept of the Ocean Surface Topography Mission/Jason 2 Earth satellite. The Ocean Surface Topography Mission/Jason 2 is an Earth satellite designed to make observations of ocean topography for investigations into sea-level rise and the relationship between ocean circulation and climate change. The satellite also provides data on the forces behind such large-scale climate phenomena as El Niño and La Niña. The mission is a follow-on to the French-American Jason 1 mission, which began collecting data on sea-surface levels in 1992. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA18158

This artist's rendering shows NASA's Juno spacecraft making one of its close passes over Jupiter. Launched in 2011, the Juno spacecraft will arrive at Jupiter in 2016 to study the giant planet from an elliptical, polar orbit. Juno will repeatedly dive between the planet and its intense belts of charged particle radiation, traveling from pole to pole in about an hour, and coming within 5,000 kilometers (about 3,000 miles) of the cloud tops at closest approach. Juno's primary goal is to improve our understanding of Jupiter's formation and evolution. The spacecraft will spend a little over a year investigating the planet's origins, interior structure, deep atmosphere and magnetosphere. Juno's study of Jupiter will help us to understand the history of our own solar system and provide new insight into how planetary systems form and develop in our galaxy and beyond. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19639

This artist's rendering shows the twin spacecraft of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) mission, a partnership between NASA and the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ). GRACE-FO is a successor to the original GRACE mission, which began orbiting Earth on March 17, 2002. GRACE-FO will carry on the extremely successful work of its predecessor while testing a new technology designed to dramatically improve the already remarkable precision of its measurement system. The GRACE missions measure variations in gravity over Earth's surface, producing a new map of the gravity field every 30 days. Thus, GRACE shows how the planet's gravity differs not only from one location to another, but also from one period of time to another. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21607

This artist's concept shows NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Spitzer begins its "Beyond" mission phase on Oct. 1, 2016. Spitzer is depicted in the orientation it assumes to establish communications with ground stations. Spitzer is over 130 million miles (210 million kilometers) away from Earth, or about 1.5 times the distance between Earth and the Sun. The selected research proposals for Spitzer's Beyond phase include a variety of objects that the mission was not originally planned to address -- such as galaxies in the early universe, the black hole at the center of the Milky Way and exoplanets. Spitzer faces increasing challenges and risks in its Beyond phase. To enable this riskier mode of operations, the mission team will have to override some autonomous safety systems. Mission engineers are hard at work preparing for these new challenges. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20913

This artist's-concept illustration depicts the spacecraft of NASA's Psyche mission near the mission's target, the metal asteroid Psyche. The artwork was created in May 2017 to show the five-panel solar arrays planned for the spacecraft. The spacecraft's structure will include power and propulsion systems to travel to, and orbit, the asteroid. These systems will combine solar power with electric propulsion to carry the scientific instruments used to study the asteroid through space. The mission plans launch in 2022 and arrival at Psyche, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, in 2026. This selected asteroid is made almost entirely of nickel-iron metal. It offers evidence about violent collisions that created Earth and other terrestrial planets. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21499

When NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter attempts its first test flight on the Red Planet, the agency's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover will be close by, as seen in this artist's concept. Ingenuity, a technology experiment, will be the first aircraft to attempt controlled flight on another planet. When it attempts its test flights on Mars in spring 2021, Ingenuity will remain within a 0.6-mile (1-kilometer) radius of Perseverance so it can communicate wirelessly with the rover. Perseverance then communicates with relay orbiters around Mars that send the signal back to Earth. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23963

This artist's concept shows a brown dwarf, an object that is at least 13 times the mass of Jupiter but not massive enough to begin nuclear fusion in its core, which is the defining characteristic of a star. Scientist using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope recently made the first ever direct measurement of wind on a brown dwarf. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23684

This artist's concept animation shows a brown dwarf with bands of clouds, thought to resemble those seen on Neptune and the other outer planets in the solar system. By using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers have found that the varying glow of brown dwarfs over time can be explained by bands of patchy clouds rotating at different speeds. Videos are available at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21752

Artist's concept of Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69, which is the next flyby target for NASA's New Horizons mission. Scientists speculate that the Kuiper Belt object could be a single body (above) with a large chunk taken out of it, or two bodies that are close together or even touching. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21868

This artist's concept shows NASA's InSight lander with its instruments deployed on the Martian surface. InSight's package of weather sensors, called the Auxiliary Payload Subsystem (APSS), includes an air pressure sensor inside the lander -- its inlet is visible on InSight's deck -- and two air temperature and wind sensors on the deck. Under the deck's edge is a magnetometer, provided by UCLA, to measure changes in the local magnetic field that could also influence SEIS. InSight's air temperature and wind sensors are actually refurbished spares built for Curiosity's Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS). Called Temperature and Wind for InSight, or TWINS, these two east- and west-facing booms sit on the lander's deck and were provided by Spain's Centro de Astrobiología (CAB). https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22957

Artist graphic of the asteroid belt, part of Dawn Mission Art series. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19380

An artist's impression shows the major interior layers of Earth, Mars and the Moon. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22573

Artist rendition of NASA Dawn spacecraft, part of the Dawn Mission Art series. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19376

This artist's illustration shows the planetary system K2-138, which was discovered by citizen scientists in 2017 using data from NASA's Kepler space telescope. Five planets were initially detected in the system. In 2018, scientists using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope found evidence of a sixth planet in the system. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23002

The European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft is depicted in orbit around Mars in this artist's concept stereo illustration. The spacecraft was launched June 2, 2003, from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on a journey to arrive at Mars in December 2003. This red-blue anaglyph artwork can be viewed in 3-D on your computer monitor or in color print form by wearing red-blue (cyan) 3-D glasses. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04803

This artist's concept of a lake at the north pole of Saturn's moon Titan illustrates raised rims and rampartlike features such as those seen by NASA's Cassini spacecraft around the moon's Winnipeg Lacus. New research using Cassini radar data and modeling proposes that lake basins like these are likely explosion craters, which could have formed when liquid molecular nitrogen deposits within the crust warmed and quickly turned to vapor, blowing holes in the moon's crust. This would have happened during a warming event (or events) that occurred in a colder, nitrogen-dominated period in Titan's past. The new research may provide evidence of these cold periods in Titan's past, followed by a relative warming to conditions like those of today. Although Titan is frigid compared to Earth, methane in the atmosphere provides a greenhouse effect that warms the moon's surface. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23172

WFIRST, the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope, is shown here in an artist's rendering. It will carry a Wide Field Instrument to provide astronomers with Hubble-quality images covering large swaths of the sky, and enabling several studies of cosmic evolution. Its Coronagraph Instrument will directly image exoplanets similar to those in our own solar system and make detailed measurements of the chemical makeup of their atmospheres. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20060

An artist's concept illustrates the positions of the Voyager spacecraft in relation to structures formed around our Sun by the solar wind. Also illustrated is the termination shock, a violent region the spacecraft must pass through before reaching the outer limits of the solar system. At the termination shock, the supersonic solar wind abruptly slows from an average speed of 400 kilometers per second to less than 100 kilometer per second (900,000 to less than 225,000 miles per hour). Beyond the termination shock is the solar system's final frontier, the heliosheath, a vast region where the turbulent and hot solar wind is compressed as it presses outward against the interstellar wind that is beyond the heliopause. A bow shock likely forms as the interstellar wind approaches and is deflected around the heliosphere, forcing it into a teardrop-shaped structure with a long, comet-like tail. The exact location of the termination shock is unknown, and it originally was thought to be closer to the Sun than Voyager 1 currently is. As Voyager 1 cruised ever farther from the Sun, it confirmed that all the planets are inside an immense bubble blown by the solar wind and the termination shock was much more distant. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04927

This artist's concept depicts NASA's Mars 2020 rover on the surface of Mars. The mission takes the next step by not only seeking signs of habitable conditions on Mars in the ancient past, but also searching for signs of past microbial life itself. The Mars 2020 rover introduces a drill that can collect core samples of the most promising rocks and soils and set them aside on the surface of Mars. A future mission could potentially return these samples to Earth. Mars 2020 is targeted for launch in July/August 2020 aboard an Atlas V 541 rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21635

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A full scale external tank and twin solid rocket booster replicas will stand at the Atlantis exhibit entrance at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, preparing to launch guests deep into the 30-year history of the Space Shuttle Program. A groundbreaking ceremony for the future home of Atlantis was held Jan. 18. For more information on this and other exhibits at the visitor complex, go to http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com. Artist rendering courtesy of PGAV Destinations for Delaware North Parks & Resorts

This artist concept shows K2-138, the first multi-planet system discovered by citizen scientists. The central star is slightly smaller and cooler than our Sun. The five known planets are all between the size of Earth and Neptune. Planet b may potentially be rocky, but planets c, d, e, and f likely contain large amounts of ice and gas. All five planets have orbital periods shorter than 13 days and are all incredibly hot, ranging from 800 to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22088

Scientists using data from NASA's Kepler mission have confirmed the first near-Earth-size planet orbiting in the habitable zone of a sun-like star. The habitable zone is the region around a star where temperatures are just right for water to exist in its liquid form. The artist's concept compares Earth (left) to the new planet, called Kepler-452b, which is about 60 percent larger. The illustration represents one possible appearance for Kepler-452b -- scientists do not know whether the planet has oceans and continents like Earth. Both planets orbit a G2-type star of about the same temperature; however, the star hosting Kepler-452b is 6 billion years old, 1.5 billion years older than our sun. As stars age, they become larger, hotter and brighter, as represented in the illustration. Kepler-452b's star appears a bit larger and brighter. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19825

This artist's rendering shows a cutaway of the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure instrument, or SEIS, which will fly as part of NASA's Mars InSight lander. SEIS is a highly sensitive seismometer that will be used to detect marsquakes from the Red Planet's surface for the first time. There are two layers in this cutaway. The outer layer is the Wind and Thermal Shield -- a covering that protects the seismometer from the Martian environment. The wind on Mars, as well as extreme temperature changes, could affect the highly sensitive instrument. The inside layer is SEIS itself, a brass-colored dome that houses the instrument's three pendulums. These insides are inside a titanium vacuum chamber to further isolate them from temperature changes on the Martian surface. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22320

In this artist's concept, NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter stands on the Red Planet's surface as NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover (partially visible on the left) rolls away. Ingenuity, a technology experiment, will be the first aircraft to attempt controlled flight on another planet. It will arrive on Mars on Feb. 18, 2021, attached to the belly of NASA's Perseverance rover. Perseverance will deploy Ingenuity onto the surface of Mars, and Ingenuity is expected to attempt its first flight test in spring 2021. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23720

Artist's rendering of the twin spacecraft of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) mission, scheduled to launch in May, 2018. GRACE-FO will track the evolution of Earth's water cycle by monitoring changes in the distribution of mass on Earth. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22431

Artist Concept of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Huygens Descent Sequence Artist Concept