http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. The crew of the International Space Station has increased to six for the first time today with the arrival of three new residents including ESA astronaut Frank De Winne with the Soyuz TMA-15 spacecraft. http://www.physorg.com/news162811991.html Space & Earth Fri, 29 May 2009 10:34:08 EST news162811991 (PhysOrg.com) -- The idea of the space elevator just got a little crazier. While the `traditional` concept involved using rocket propulsion or laser light pressure to propel loads up a cable anchored to Earth, a new study shows that a rotating space elevator could do away with engines or laser light pressure application completely. Instead, the unique double rotating motion of looped strings could provide a mechanism for objects to slide up the elevator cable into outer space. The space elevator could launch satellites and spacecraft with humans, and even be used to host space stations and research posts. http://www.physorg.com/news162112945.html Physics Thu, 21 May 2009 08:23:09 EST news162112945 (PhysOrg.com) -- Observations from NASA's twin Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft have allowed scientists to reveal for the first time the speed, trajectory, and three-dimensional shape of solar explosions known as coronal mass ejections, or CMEs. http://www.physorg.com/news160162452.html Space & Earth Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:34:44 EST news160162452 A montage of comet images made using NASA's Swift spacecraft illustrates just how different three comets can be. The images, including a never-released image of Comet 8P/Tuttle, were shown during a webcast called "Around the World in 80 Telescopes" Organized by the European Southern Observatory headquartered in Garching, Germany. http://www.physorg.com/news159812197.html Space & Earth Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:18:42 EST news159812197 (AP) -- NASA is facing a critical deadline to make its biggest decision in a generation: whether to go forward with plans to retire the space shuttle fleet and replace it with a new mode of space travel. But the agency still has no chief to make the $230 billion call. http://www.physorg.com/news159643208.html Space & Earth Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:27:10 EST news159643208 (PhysOrg.com) -- The first International Academy of Astronautics Planetary Defence Conference is being held in Granada, Spain, on 27-30 April. Among the topics under discussion will be preparations for the near-Earth flyby of asteroid Apophis in 2029. http://www.physorg.com/news159547499.html Space & Earth Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:46:00 EST news159547499 (PhysOrg.com) -- Twin NASA spacecraft have provided scientists with their first view of the speed, trajectory, and three-dimensional shape of powerful explosions from the sun known as coronal mass ejections, or CMEs. This new capability will dramatically enhance scientists' ability to predict if and how these solar tsunamis could affect Earth. http://www.physorg.com/news158940323.html Space & Earth Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:06:02 EST news158940323 Two places on opposite sides of Earth may hold the secret to how the moon was born. NASA's twin Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft are about to enter these zones, known as the L4 and L5 Lagrangian points, each centered about 93 million miles away along Earth's orbit. http://www.physorg.com/news158515936.html Space & Earth Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:15:44 EST news158515936 (AP) -- A Russian spacecraft carrying a crew of three including U.S. billionaire space tourist Charles Simonyi landed safely in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, officials said. http://www.physorg.com/news158395899.html Space & Earth Wed, 08 Apr 2009 07:52:11 EST news158395899 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA has chosen the material for a heat shield that will protect a new generation of space explorers when they return from the moon. After extensive study, NASA has selected the Avcoat ablator system for the Orion crew module. http://www.physorg.com/news158337577.html Space & Earth Tue, 07 Apr 2009 15:40:44 EST news158337577 (PhysOrg.com) -- GOCE's sophisticated electric ion propulsion system has been switched on and confirmed to be operating normally, marking another crucial milestone in the satellite's post-launch commissioning phase. http://www.physorg.com/news158237939.html Space & Earth Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:59:38 EST news158237939 (PhysOrg.com) -- Saturn's largest moon, Titan, may have a subterranean ocean of hydrocarbons and some topsy-turvy topography in which the summits of its mountains lie lower than its average surface elevation, according to new research. http://www.physorg.com/news158234875.html Space & Earth Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:08:19 EST news158234875 (PhysOrg.com) -- The sunspot cycle is behaving a little like the stock market. Just when you think it has hit bottom, it goes even lower. http://www.physorg.com/news157820871.html Space & Earth Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:08:26 EST news157820871 (AP) -- After eight days together, it's time for the space shuttle and space station crews to say goodbye. http://www.physorg.com/news157187066.html Space & Earth Wed, 25 Mar 2009 08:04:54 EST news157187066 (PhysOrg.com) -- After liftoff 17 March, ESA's GOCE spacecraft is performing very well, having achieved an extremely accurate injection altitude of 283.5 km, just 1.5 km lower than planned. The Mission Control Team is now working round-the-clock shifts to implement a series of critical check-out procedures. http://www.physorg.com/news156697875.html Space & Earth Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:12:13 EST news156697875 The launch next month of two large European telescopes designed to probe the formation of galaxies and the "Big Bang" scientists say created the universe has been postponed by several weeks, it was announced here on Friday. http://www.physorg.com/news156163167.html Space & Earth Fri, 13 Mar 2009 11:40:07 EST news156163167 (AP) -- The near-hit of space junk Thursday was a warning shot fired across the bow of the international space station, experts said. There's likely more to come in the future. With less than an hour's notice, the three astronauts were told they'd have to seek shelter in a Russian capsule parked at the space station in case a speeding piece of space junk hit Thursday. http://www.physorg.com/news156083582.html Space & Earth Thu, 12 Mar 2009 19:40:48 EST news156083582 (AP) -- NASA is replacing some space shuttle connections in hopes of plugging a gas leak and launching Discovery to the international space station on Sunday, after delays of more than a month. http://www.physorg.com/news156105508.html Space & Earth Thu, 12 Mar 2009 19:39:08 EST news156105508 (PhysOrg.com) -- Early this morning the Cassini spacecraft relayed information that it had successfully swapped to a backup set of propulsion thrusters late Wednesday. http://www.physorg.com/news156102106.html Space & Earth Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:42:44 EST news156102106 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter properly followed commands today to shut down and restart, a strategy by its engineers to clear any memory flaws accumulated in more than five years since Odyssey's last reboot. http://www.physorg.com/news156063467.html Space & Earth Thu, 12 Mar 2009 07:58:17 EST news156063467 (PhysOrg.com) -- Tuesday's spacewalk with Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke and Flight Engineer Yury Lonchakov concluded at 5:11 p.m. EDT when the Pirs docking module airlock was closed. The spacewalk concluded ahead of schedule, lasting 4 hours and 49 minutes. http://www.physorg.com/news155940871.html Space & Earth Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:55:15 EST news155940871 (PhysOrg.com) -- This month an ESA team is preparing to test the performance of the smallest yet most precisely controllable engine ever built for space, sensitive enough to counteract the force of incoming sunshine. http://www.physorg.com/news155916067.html Space & Earth Tue, 10 Mar 2009 15:03:49 EST news155916067 The search for habitable planets continues with the March 6 launch of the Kepler spacecraft, the latest in NASA's series of low cost, highly focused Discovery missions. Kepler, built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., includes redundant avionics systems designed and built by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) to help guide and control the spacecraft as it stares deep into space, watching for planets orbiting stars. http://www.physorg.com/news155817762.html Space & Earth Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:43:15 EST news155817762 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has fully recovered from an unexpected computer re-set last week and resumed its scientific investigation of Mars. http://www.physorg.com/news155404099.html Space & Earth Wed, 04 Mar 2009 15:50:08 EST news155404099 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Cassini spacecraft has found within Saturn's G ring an embedded moonlet that appears as a faint, moving pinprick of light. Scientists believe it is a main source of the G ring and its single ring arc. http://www.physorg.com/news155318928.html Space & Earth Tue, 03 Mar 2009 16:09:19 EST news155318928 (PhysOrg.com) -- With Mars disappearing in its metaphorical rearview mirror, NASA's Dawn spacecraft's next stop is the asteroid belt and the giant asteroid Vesta. Dawn got as close as 549 kilometers (341 miles) to the Red Planet during its Tuesday, Feb. 17, flyby. http://www.physorg.com/news154966600.html Space & Earth Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:17:33 EST news154966600 (PhysOrg.com) -- Titan's vast dune fields, which may act like weather vanes to determine general wind direction on Saturn's biggest moon, have been mapped by scientists who compiled four years of radar data collected by the Cassini spacecraft. http://www.physorg.com/news154966417.html Space & Earth Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:14:26 EST news154966417 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter unexpectedly rebooted its computer Monday morning, Feb. 23, and put itself into a limited-activity mode that is an automated safety response. http://www.physorg.com/news154892208.html Space & Earth Thu, 26 Feb 2009 17:37:24 EST news154892208 (PhysOrg.com) -- ESA`s Venus Express spacecraft has observed an eerie glow in the night-time atmosphere of Venus. This infrared light comes from nitric oxide and is showing scientists that the atmosphere of Earth`s nearest neighbour is a temperamental place of high winds and turbulence. http://www.physorg.com/news154706058.html Space & Earth Tue, 24 Feb 2009 13:54:52 EST news154706058 (PhysOrg.com) -- Satellites orbiting the Earth must occasionally be nudged to stay on the correct path. MIT scientists are developing a new rocket that could make this and other spacecraft maneuvers much less costly, a consideration of growing importance as more private companies start working in space. http://www.physorg.com/news154621961.html Space & Earth Mon, 23 Feb 2009 14:33:54 EST news154621961