Mars Odyssey celebrates 100,000 orbits, captures epic view of solar system’s largest volcano

NASA’s Odyssey spacecraft, the longest-running mission at Mars, circled the Red Planet for the 100,000th time today, the mission team announced in a statement. To celebrate the milestone, the space agency released an intricate panorama of Olympus Mons, the tallest volcano in the solar system;  Odyssey captured the view in March. The volcano’s base sprawls 373 miles (600 kilometers) near the Martian equator while it soars 17 miles (27 kilometers) into the planet’s thin air. Earlier this month, astronomers discovered ephemeral morning frost coating the volcano’s top for a few…

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It’s International Asteroid Day, and astronomers have much to celebrate

Today, astronomers and space lovers around the world are collectively marveling at our mercurial presence in the universe, particularly as we drift the cosmos amid large asteroids like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. June 30 marks Asteroid Day, a holiday observed annually to reflect on the prospect of a planet-destroying space rock striking Earth and what scientists are doing to mitigate that risk. The day is observed on the anniversary of the 1908 Tunguska event in Russia, when a space rock about half the…

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The new space race: International partnerships (op-ed)

Charles Bolden served as the 12th NASA Administrator, making him only the second astronaut to hold that position. Bolden is the Founder & CEO Emeritus of The Charles F. Bolden Group Ambassador Stuart Holliday served as United States Ambassador for Special Political Affairs at the United Nations (2003-2005) after the President’s nomination and the Senate’s confirmation. Holliday is CEO of Meridian International Center, a leading non-partisan institution advancing global security and prosperity through effective leadership and diplomacy.  President Joe Biden’s announcement in April 2024 that Japanese astronauts will join an…

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