NASA's Perseverance rover has been exploring Jezero Crater on Mars for almost five years, covering dozens of kilometers of demanding terrain, drilling rocks, and collecting samples. Each core cylinder preserves traces of ancient water and possible microscopic life and prepares the ground for the future return of samples to Earth.
A new NASA study based on radio data from the Cassini mission suggests that Titan likely does not have a single global subsurface ocean, but layers of slush-like ice and isolated pockets of warm liquid water. Such an interior changes the image of Titan's habitability and the goals of the future Dragonfly mission.
Proba-3, a mission of the European Space Agency, uses two satellites to create artificial solar eclipses in orbit and continuously observes the inner corona. Continuous shots of coronal mass ejections and solar wind help scientists understand space weather and protect key systems on Earth.
At 06:01 CET on December 17, 2025, Ariane 6 lifted off from Kourou carrying Galileo satellites SAT 33 and SAT 34. After less than four hours of flight, they separated and are heading for in-orbit testing in MEO at approximately 23,222 km. The mission is the first Galileo launch on Ariane 6 and a step towards 29 active satellites and more reliable 24/7 services and HAS accuracy up to 20 cm.
Firefly's Blue Ghost, after the first fully successful commercial landing on the Moon, enters a new, technically demanding phase. The two-stage Blue Ghost 2 mission with the Elytra Dark orbital vehicle and NASA's LuSEE-Night experiment for the far side of the Moon is being tested at JPL's Environmental Test Laboratory.
The HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft records its 100,000th image of Mars after almost two decades in orbit. The detailed view of Syrtis Major reveals mesas, dunes, and traces of wind, helps in the selection of future landing zones, and involves the general public in exploration through the HiWish program.