New Study of Meteorite Provides More Evidence for Ancient Life on Mars

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 17, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (39) | 14

(PhysOrg.com) -- In 1996, when scientists examined a meteorite from Mars previously uncovered in Antarctica, they were intrigued by what looked like microscopic fossils of ancient Martian life forms. Now, ...

Close-up photos of dying star show our sun's fate (w/ Video)

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Dec 15, 2009 | 5 / 5 (21) | 5

(PhysOrg.com) -- About 550 light-years from Earth, a star like our Sun is writhing in its death throes. Chi Cygni has swollen in size to become a red giant star so large that it would swallow every planet ...

Scientist uncovers relics of ancient cosmos

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 14, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (19) | 3

(PhysOrg.com) -- A University of Manchester scientist, working as part of an international team, has uncovered an unexpectedly rich trove of relicts from the ancient cosmos.

Rare Scottish mineral may indicate life on Mars

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 10, 2009 | 3.6 / 5 (21) | 7

(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) scientists is looking for clues about life on Mars in an earthy clay mineral found only in Aberdeenshire in Scotland.

Life on Mars theory boosted by new methane study

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 08, 2009 | 4.9 / 5 (31) | 11

Scientists have ruled out the possibility that methane is delivered to Mars by meteorites, raising fresh hopes that the gas might be generated by life on the red planet, in research published tomorrow in Earth an ...

Sandtrapped Rover Makes a Big Discovery

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 03, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (56) | 11

Homer's Iliad tells the story of Troy, a city besieged by the Greeks in the Trojan War. Today, a lone robot sits besieged in the sands of Troy while engineers and scientists plot its escape.

New computer-developed map shows more extensive valley network on Mars

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Nov 23, 2009 | 4.4 / 5 (9) | 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- New research adds to the growing body of evidence suggesting the Red Planet once had an ocean.

Spacesuits with artificial intelligence may look for life on Mars

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Nov 04, 2009 | 5 / 5 (7) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronauts may in future be wearing spacesuits equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) and digital eyes, turning them into what the researchers call cyborg astrobiologists.

A Mars Rover Named 'Curiosity'

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Oct 30, 2009 | 4.9 / 5 (18) | 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- If you found your grandmother's diary, tattered and dust covered, up in the attic, would you read it? Of course you would. Granny was a pistol! Brush off the dust, open up the little book, ...

Russia hopes nuclear ship will fly humans to Mars

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Oct 29, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (33) | 36

(AP) -- Russia should build a new nuclear-powered spaceship for prospective manned missions to Mars and other planets, the nation's space chief said Thursday.

Robot Armada Might Scale New Worlds

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Oct 28, 2009 | 4.3 / 5 (11) | 5

(PhysOrg.com) -- An armada of robots may one day fly above the mountain tops of Saturn's moon Titan, cross its vast dunes and sail in its liquid lakes.

Water Bears to Travel to Martian Moon, Test Theory of Transpermia

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Oct 13, 2009 | 3.9 / 5 (14) | 22

(PhysOrg.com) -- Tiny microscopic creatures commonly known as water bears (also called Tardigrades), along with a few other life forms, will be sent to the Martian moon Phobos to test whether organisms can ...

Scientists work to free Mars rover Spirit

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Oct 13, 2009 | 5 / 5 (11) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- In the past several weeks, scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory finished experimentation on methods to get the rover Spirit unstuck from its location near a plateau called Home Plate.

Study of first high-resolution images of Pallas confirms asteroid is actually a protoplanet

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Oct 12, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (22) | 7

(PhysOrg.com) -- Britney E. Schmidt, a UCLA doctoral student in the department of Earth and space sciences, wasn't sure what she'd glean from images of the asteroid Pallas taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. ...

New aluminum-water rocket propellant promising for future space missions

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

Oct 07, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (21) | 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers are developing a new type of rocket propellant made of a frozen mixture of water and "nanoscale aluminum" powder that is more environmentally friendly than conventional propellants ...