Space Exploration news

The Stars My Destination

The Stars My Destination

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 10, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (23) | comments 2

The Voyager spacecraft are now in the outermost layer of the heliosphere, traveling toward interstellar space - the first man-made spacecraft to travel such a vast distance from Earth.


NASA to Begin Attempts to Free Sand-Trapped Mars Rover

NASA to Begin Attempts to Free Sand-Trapped Mars Rover

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 12, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA will begin transmitting commands to its Mars exploration rover Spirit on Monday as part of an escape plan to free the venerable robot from its Martian sand trap.


SMOS satellite instrument comes alive

SMOS satellite instrument comes alive (w/ Video)

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 19, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

The MIRAS instrument on ESA's SMOS satellite, launched earlier this month, has been switched on and is operating normally. MIRAS will map soil moisture and ocean salinity to improve our understanding of the ...


Second Planned Extrication Drive is Straight Ahead Again

Second Planned Extrication Drive is Straight Ahead Again

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 19, 2009 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (4) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Because the first extrication drive for Spirit, on Sol 2088 (Nov. 17), stopped as soon as it began due to an exceeded tilt limit, the plan for an extrication drive on Sol 2090 (Nov. 19) wil ...


A Tale of Planetary Woe

A Tale of Planetary Woe (w/ Video)

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 11, 2009 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (11) | comments 5

Once upon a time — roughly four billion years ago — Mars was warm and wet, much like Earth. Liquid water flowed on the Martian surface in long rivers that emptied into shallow seas. A thick atmosphere blanketed ...


Russia hopes nuclear ship will fly humans to Mars (AP)

Russia hopes nuclear ship will fly humans to Mars

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Oct 29, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (33) | comments 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.


A Mars Rover Named 'Curiosity'

A Mars Rover Named 'Curiosity'

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Oct 30, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (18) | comments 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, ...


2 parachutes malfunctioned in NASA test flight (AP)

2 parachutes malfunctioned in NASA test flight

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Oct 30, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 1

(AP) -- Two of three parachutes malfunctioned in the test flight of a prototype moon rocket earlier this week, causing major damage to the booster, NASA said Friday.


Shuttle nears space station, docking scheduled (AP)

Shuttle docks at space station, unloads parts (Update 2)

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 18, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(AP) -- Space shuttle Atlantis arrived at the International Space Station on Wednesday for a weeklong stay, and the astronauts quickly unloaded a huge platform full of spare parts needed to keep the outpost ...


sky, sun

A lightning strike in Africa helps take the pulse of the sun

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 11, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (11) | comments 2

Sunspots, which rotate around the sun's surface, tell us a great deal about our own planet. Scientists rely on them, for instance, to measure the sun's rotation or to prepare long-range forecasts of the Earth's ...


NASA's new moon rocket makes first test flight (AP)

NASA's Ares I-X moon rocket makes first test flight

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Oct 28, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (25) | comments 17

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Ares I-X test rocket lifted off at 11:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a two-minute powered flight.


Meteor showers in Asia disappoint (AP)

Meteor showers in Asia disappoint

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 18, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(AP) -- Thousands of stargazers across Asia stayed awake overnight to catch a glimpse of what was advertised as an intense Leonid meteor shower, but the show fizzled rather than sizzled for many because of ...


Team Prepares to Uplink Commands to Spirit

Tilt Parameters End First Extrication Drive for Spirit

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 17, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- The preliminary results from the first extrication drive for Spirit on Sol 2088 (Nov. 17, 2009) indicate the rover stopped less than 1 second after it began, sensing more vehicle lateral tilt ...


Unusual meteorite found by time-lapse camera observatory

Unusual meteorite found by time-lapse camera observatory

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 05, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (15) | comments 3

(PhysOrg.com) -- An unusual meteorite with an interesting orbit has been tracked to the ground using a photographic observatory that records time-lapse images of fireballs traveling across the sky.


Robot Armada Might Scale New Worlds

Robot Armada Might Scale New Worlds

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Oct 28, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (11) | comments 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.