Planetary Science Nuggets
Science Nuggets are used to highlight important science results from research and analysis (R&A) and mission activities across PSD. A subset of these submissions are selected by PSD leadership to be presented to the Science Mission Directorate leadership and, potentially, NASA leadership, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, or the White House. This collection represents some of the Science Nuggets that have been received and/or presented. If you would like to submit a nugget, please fill out the template at https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/PSD-Science-Nuggets.
- Atmosphere Exchange & Signs of Life
- Surface Dust Levitates Above the Ground When the Sun Rises on Mars
- Massive Volcanism Leads to Heat-Death of Earth-Like Worlds
- Impact Ejecta Across Venus’ Tallest Mountains
- Complete Set of Nucleobases Used in Life Found in Meteorites
- Giant Ice Volcanoes Discovered on Pluto
- A Fast and Robust Surface Sample Acquisition System for a Venus Lander
- Neptune’s Moon Triton: Is Volatile Transport Still Occurring?
- Non-Protein Amino Acids in Carbon-Rich Hayabusa Grains
- Arecibo Radar Maps of Venus from 1988 to 2020
- Radiolytic Destruction of Uracil in Solar System Ices
- Dielectric Breakdown “Sparking” on the Moon
- Exogenic Origin for the Volatiles Sampled by LCROSS
- How Dark is Space? Twice as Bright as Expected!
- Statistical Wave Study Confirming Lightning on Venus!
- Determining Key Characteristics of Lunar Pyroclastic Deposits From Remote Sensing Data Products
- New Horizons Discovery of “Tight Twins” in the Kuiper Belt
- Is Mars Middle Atmospheric Water Vapor Close to Saturation?
- Curiosity: Ancient Winds and Waves on Mars
- Simulations of Massive Ancient Volcanic Eruption Show Unexpected Climate Warming
- Did Cyanide Play a Role in Metabolic Reactions on Early Earth?
- Dynamics of Clathrates in Ocean Worlds
- Mineral-Driven Metabolism
- The Remarkably Low Density of Kuiper Belt Object Arrokoth
- Porosity-Filling Metamorphic Brines Explain Ceres's Low Mantle Density
- A New Understanding of Venus’ Tail Rays from Parker Solar Probe
- Interpreting Hydrogen and Carbon Dioxide Disequilibrium on Enceladus
- 2008 TC3 — Ureilitic or Carbonaceous Chrondrite Asteroid?
- Impact of Clouds and Hazes on Characterization of Exoplanets
- Eris: The Brightest KBO (but Why?)
- Evolution of Multicellularity in Response to Predation
- Time-Dependent Heavy Oxygen in Mars’ Atmosphere
- Molecular Cousins Discovered on Titan
- Subsurface Rocks on the Moon
- UV Attenuation of Mars Analog Materials
- Crevasse Propagation on Brittle Ice: Application to Cycloids on Europa
- Oldest Material on Earth Predates the Solar System
- Uranus and Neptune: Poorly Understood Planets
- Global Geomorphologic Map of Titan
- Crustal Magnetic Field at the InSight Landing Site
- Why is Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Red?
- Uranus is Losing Particles Via the Movement of Magnetic Blobs
- The Great Mars Dust Storm of 2018
- Dust Charging and Transport on Airless Planetary Bodies
- Hyperdiverse Hydrothermal Communities and Life Detection
- Enceladus’ Low Mass Organics
- Mars CO2 Inventory Determined Using Results From Multiple Spacecraft
- Towering Dust Clouds on Mars: Volcanic Peaks Not Required
- Absence of Observed Lightning on Venus
- Simulating Hydrothermal Vent Environments
- Measuring Titan’s Methane from Earth
- Chloride Salts and the History of Water on Mars
- What Can Ices in Comets teach us about the Early Solar System?
- Carbon Monoxide May Not Rule Out the Presence of Life
- Long-term variation of Venus' 365-nm albedo
- Origins of the Molecules of Life
- Ancient Remnants of Mars’ Northern Ice Caps Revealed by Orbital Sounding Radar
- Molecular Complexity of Titan’s Enigmatic Haystack Ice Cloud
- An Asteroid Belt Co-Orbiting With Venus
- New Features of Io’s Tail Seen in Jupiter’s Aurora
- Impact Origin for Phobos and Deimos
- Recent Tectonic Activity on the Moon?
- Juno Detects Jupiter's Lightning at Highest Radio Frequency Ever
- Aguas Zarcas: A Recent Fall of Organic-Rich Meteorites in Costa Rica
- "Breathing" in Mars' Upper Atmosphere
- Model Illuminates Radiation Environment in Lunar PSRs
- The K Star Biosignature Detection - Advantage for Directly Imaged Exoplanets
- Juno Reveals the Depth of Jupiter's Zones and Belts
- Mantle Materials and Mysterious Magmas in the Moon's Largest Impact Basin
- Late Formation of Outer Solar System Small Bodies
- Gale Crater: Warm & Wet or Cold & Icy?
- Asteroid Bennu, Unexpected
- Episodic Water Release on the Moon
- Evidence for Early Planetary Shake-Up
- Global Maps of Surface and Topography for Pluto and Charon
- A New Great Dark Spot on Neptune
- Magnetic Signatures of Plumes at Europa in 19 Year Old Data
- MAVEN Observes Mars Proton Aurora
- Early, Purple Earth and Exoplanet Biosignatures
- Testing Telepresence for Ocean Worlds
- Laughing Gas Could Have Helped Warm Early Earth
- Unified Theory of Volcanic Origin for Martian Meteorites
- Earth’s Oldest Rock Found on the Moon?
- Ceres’ History of Cryovolcanic Activity
- Mars Cannot Be Terraformed Using Indigenous CO2
- Triton’s Capture Transformed a Pre-existing Neptunian Satellite System
- SOHO/SWAN Observations of Comet Water Production
- Rethinking Long-Term Controls on Planetary Climate
- Magnetic Reconnection at Jupiter’s Outer Magnetospheric Boundary
- Titan Viewed with Infrared Eyes
- New Extreme Dwarf Planet: 2015 TG387
- Enceladus’ Complex Organics
- A Breakthrough in Weather and Climate Prediction for Mars
- Turning up Jupiter’s Thermostat
- A Potentially Habitable World Next Door
- Venus Looks Different From Day To Night Across Wavelengths
- Organic Compounds from an Ancient Martian Lakebed
- Possible Ocean Material Exposed on Europa’s Surface
- Pale Orange Dots: Organic Haze as a Biosignature on Other Earths
- Juno discovers new heavy ion radiation belt very close to Jupiter
- ClO measured in Venus’ Atmosphere Key to Abundant Carbon Dioxide
- K2 Mission Observations of 12 Days in the Pluto-Charon System
- Planetary Science Analog Research team assists observation of Hawai’i Eruptions
- Carbonate-Rich Sites on Ceres
- Crustal Magnetic Anomalies on Mars Control the Solar-Wind Bow Shock
- Atmospheric Seasonality as an Exoplanet Biosignature
- Atmospheric Mountain Waves on Venus
- Seasonal Variation in Mars Methane
- Asteroid 2018 LA Impacts Earth on June 2, 2018
- Global Conditions at Earth’s Largest Mass Extinction Event
- Mapping Titan After Cassini
- The Changing Ice on Ceres
- New Views of Occator Crater Reveal Complex Processes
- Understanding Aeolian Activity In Gale Crater
- NASA Heliophysics 2017 Poker Flat Sounding Rocket - Campaign Ends Successfully in Alaska
- Largest Batch of Earth-Size Habitable-Zone Planets Around a Single Star
- Girls STEAM Ahead with NASA Announcement to Libraries
- NASA Radiation Dosimetry Experiment (RaD-X)
- Oceans Melting Greenland: Early Results from NASA's Ocean-Ice Mission in Greenland
- Pluto's Global Surface Composition
- The Calabash Clash
- Lake Superior-Sized Ice Deposit on Mars
- NASA and the First Robotics Competition
- How Friendly Is Enceladus' Ocean to Life?
- Disintegrating Comet Observed by Hubble
- Comet Catalina (C/2013 US10) Outbound
- Coronal Mass Ejections measured at the Moon
- Hints at Ceres' Composition from Color
- Sulfurous Ceres
- Recurring Slope Lineae in Central Uplifts
- Titan as a Natural Space Weather Station
- A Surprisingly Young Region in Saturn's Rings
- The Power of Astrobiology in the Classroom . . .inspiring a new generation of STEM learners
- Astrobiology Celebrates the National Park Service Centennial
- 2015-16 ANSMET Meteorites
- Multi-facility study of asteroid 2016 RB1 during its near-Earth Encounter
- Water Delivery to the Early Moon
- Hubble Observations of Venus' sulfur-bearing species reveal a surprising twist
- Venus Loses Ocean Via Powerful Electric Winds
- Rivers of Hydrocarbons Flow Through Titan's Narrow Canyons
- Impacts on Titan: Do They Splash or Thud?
- Rise in Earth's Oxygen timed to the Rise of Animals
- Charon's Dark Red Poles
- Cryovolcanism on Pluto?
- NASA-Funded Radar Research Provides Backdrop for Lunar Module in Air & Space Museum's New Flight Hall
- Venus Clouds Differ from Morning to Evening
- Evolution of Titan's "Magic Island"
- Modern Microbial Ecosystems Provide Window to Early Life on Earth
- Views of Our Planets & Pluto-Explored at the World Stamp Show
- Talking Rov-E Answers Mars Questions
- From the Inner Solar System to the Oort Cloud and Back Again: A Comet's Tale
- Small Mounds In Chryse Planitia: Assessment Of Mud Volcano Hypothesis
- MAVEN surveys the ionosphere of Mars
- Manganese and Mars' Earth-like Past
- Helium in the Moon's Exosphere Measured by three Different Spacecraft Show Remarkable Agreement
- Lunar Swirls: Unraveling the Origin of Mysterious Features
- Massaging the Moon: Earth's Gravity Controls Lunar Fault Distribution
- Volcanoes Must Have Erupted Through Ancient Mars Ice Sheet
- Mineral Salts Seen in Ceres Bright Spots
- Saturn's F Ring: A Calm Core in the Midst of Chaos
- Cassini Snags Rare Specks of Speeding Interstellar Dust
- Carbon Distribution Throughout the Solar System
- In-Situ and Biosignature Detection in the Atacama with the Nanopore MinION Sequencer
- Two Years of Meteorology
- New Horizons explores Pluto and the Kuiper Belt
- NEOWISE Finds an Elusive Asteroid as Dark as a Lump of Coal
- Manganese and Sulfur in abundance on Mars
- 2016 HO3: A Quasi-moon for Earth
- Heating of Jupiter's upper atmosphere above the Great Red Spot
- Io's Atmospheric Collapse: What happens to the Aurora?
- Mars' Polar Topography Reveals Astronomical Forcing of Climate
- Biosignatures in a Chilean Mars Analog
- Massaging the Moon: Earth's Gravity Controls Lunar Fault Distribution
- Hints at Ceres' Composition from Color
- Venus Loses Ocean Via Powerful Electric Winds
- Two Mars Years of Meteorology
- Lunar Swirls: Unraveling the Origin of Mysterious Features
- How Friendly Enceladus' Ocean to Life?
- MAVEN surveys the ionosphere of Mars
- Impacts on Titan: Do They Splash or Thud?
- New Horizons explores Pluto and the Kuiper Belt
- Carbon Distribution Throughout the Solar System
- Coordinated Rapid Response to a New near-Earth Asteroid Discovery and Flyby
- Volcanoes Must Have Erupted Through Ancient Mars Ice Sheet
- Small Mounds in Chryse Planitia: Assessment of Mud Volcano Hypothesis
- Saturn's F Ring: A calm Core in the Midst of Chaos
- New Craters on the Moon: Watch Out!
- Briny Liquid Water in Recurring Slope Lineae (RSL) on Mars
- Unexpected Carbon compounds in the Moon's Exosphere
- Unique Mafic Mound on the Lunar Farside
- Science Mission Directorate - Weekly Highlights - November 20, 2015
- Science Mission Directorate - Weekly Highlights - November 13, 2015
- Science Mission Directorate - Weekly Highlights - October 16, 2015
- 19th Annual Partner Meeting in Los Angeles Unites GLOBE'S Global Community
- Close Flyby of Near-Earth Asteroid 2011 UW158
- Conservation Policy and the Measurement of Forests
- Planetary Science Division Monthly Review
- Measuring the Depth of an Alien Sea
- Cassini Makes a "Shocking" Discovery at Saturn's Moon Hperion
- Telltale Geyser Dust from Enceladus Seafloor Vents
- Ceres Captures Dawn in Orbit
- Does Chiron have rings?
- Two New Binary Asteroid Systems
- Radiation in Deep Space: LRO's Human Tissue Proxy Helps Future Explorers
- MAVEN Detects Unexpedted Aurora on Mars
- MAVEN Observes Mysterious Dust Cloud Surrounding Mars
- MAVEN Ultraviolet Image of Comet Siding Spring's Hydrogen Coma
- Minerals in Watersheds Around Gale Crater
- Close Pass of Near-Earth Asteroid 2015 HM10
- New Understanding of Prebiotic Organic Synthesis
- Powerful Earth-based Radars Used to Observe Venus' Surface to Look for Changes
- Saturn "Ring Rain"
- Spectacular Pluto!
- Stepping Toward the Origin of Life
- Titan's Atmosphere Responds to Sunspot Cycle
- Venus's Mysterious "Aurora"
- Super Sonic Winds Seen in the Upper Atmosphere of Venus as Day Turned to Night
- Unique Cloud Structure at Venus Explained
- An Isolated Microbial World, Deep Under Antarctica
- Asteroids mixing throughout the Solar System
- Biomarkers Below Planetary Surfaces
- Balloon Observation Platform for Planetary Science (BOPPS)
- Carbon Dioxide Snowfall on Mars
- Chemical Factories on Comets
- Evidence of Crusty Impacts on Early Earth
- Curiosity Investigates Details About Water in Mars Soil
- Did Saturn's Moon Have a Subsurface Global Ocean?
- Massive Eruptions on Io
- Feldspar-rich Rock Units Identified on Mars
- Filled Craters: Evidence of Mantle Material
- Object Discovered with the Most Distant Known Orbit in the Solar System
- Understanding the Plasma Field Around Jupiter by Looking at Auroras from its Moons
- Glass-coated Viruses Thrive in Extreme Environments
- Finding Glycine may be an indicator of past life
- Early Life Had Limited Raw Materials At Its Disposal
- Bound Hydroxide Confirmed on Phobos 7 Deimos
- Jupiter's Shrinking Great Red Spot
- Characterizing the Lunar Dust Environment: First results from LADEE Dust measurements
- Characterizing the Lunar Atmosphere: First results from LADEE Argon measurements
- Characterizing the Lunar Atmosphere: First Results From LADEE Sodium Observations
- Elements for Life are Universal
- Signals for Early Atmospheric Escape from D/H ratios in Mudstones from Gale Crater
- Exploring the Solar Wind on the Way to mars with MAVEN
- MESSENGER Detects Seasonal Variation of Mercury's Exosphere
- MESSENGER Confirms the Equatorial Elipticity and Polar Oblateness for Mercury
- MESSENGER Detects Structure and Dynamics of Mercury's Magnetospheric Cusp
- MESSENGER and Mariner 10 Magnetic Field Data Shows No Secular variation Over 40 years
- Microbes, How Low Can They Go?
- Collapsed Craters Provide Evidence for Subsurface Ice on Mars
- Radar imagery of Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) 2014 HQ124
- Pan-STARRS tracks JAXA's Hayabusa
- Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) NEOWISE Restart
- Opportunity Identifies the Oldest Habitable Environment on Mars
- Racing toward Pluto - New Horizons views tiny moon Hydra
- Rosetta at Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko
- ESA/Rosetta Explores Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko
- Solar Forecast: 1.5 Billion Years of Habitability
- Core asymmetry promotes activity in Enceladus' southern hemisphere
- Stormy Uranus
- Titan's Hazy Sunsets
- A New Global Geologic Map of Mars
- Summertime Clouds in Titan's North
