Space Exploration news

Planetary Society plans new 'solar sail'

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created 12 hours ago | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 0

(AP) -- Four years after its first solar sail ended up in the ocean instead of orbit, The Planetary Society announced Monday that by the end of 2010 it will try again to launch a spacecraft that will be propelled by the ...


L-R: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet and John Cusack at the premiere of "2012"

NASA on crusade to debunk 2012 apocalypse myths

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created 18 hours ago | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 3

The world is not coming to an end on December 21, 2012, the US space agency insisted Monday in a rare campaign to dispel widespread rumors fueled by the Internet and a new Hollywood movie.


Success in 'space elevator' competition (AP)

Success in 'space elevator' competition (Update 3)

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 05, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (34) | comments 53

(AP) -- A robot powered by a ground-based laser beam climbed a long cable dangling from a helicopter on Wednesday to qualify for prize money in a $2 million competition to test the potential reality of the ...


Space hotel taking bookings for 2012 opening

Space hotel taking bookings for 2012 opening

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 05, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (21) | comments 11

(PhysOrg.com) -- The first orbiting space hotel is on track to open for its first customers in 2012, but hurry, as bookings are filling fast.


Seattle team wins $900,000 in Space Elevator Games (AP)

Seattle team wins $900,000 in Space Elevator Games

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 07, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (17) | comments 6

(AP) -- A Seattle team has collected a $900,000 prize in a NASA-backed competition to develop the concept of an elevator to space - an idea spurred by science fiction novels.


Russian rocket to launch from French Guiana in 2010

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 07, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (5) | comments 4

A Russian rocket will next year for the first time blast off from a European launch pad in South America, officials said Saturday, as the first rockets headed for the site on board a ship.


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 2

(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.


Station Prepares For New Spacecraft, Monitors Debris

Station Prepares For New Spacecraft, Monitors Debris

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 06, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 2

The station crew prepared Friday for the arrival of the Russian Mini-Research Module 2 (MRM2) which is scheduled for launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on Nov. 10. The MRM2 will arrive at the ...


Hidden Territory on Mercury Revealed

Hidden Territory on Mercury Revealed

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 04, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (20) | comments 1

The MESSENGER spacecraft's third flyby of the planet Mercury has given scientists, for the first time, an almost complete view of the planet's surface and revealed some dramatic changes in Mercury's comet-like ...


Spacesuits with artificial intelligence may look for life on Mars

Spacesuits with artificial intelligence may look for life on Mars

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 04, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 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.


Mars: Chaotic terrain between Kasei Valles and Sacra Fossae

Mars: Chaotic terrain between Kasei Valles and Sacra Fossae

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 06, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (7) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Mars Express flew over the boundary between Kasei Valles and Sacra Fossae and imaged the region, acquiring spectacular views of the chaotic terrain in the area.


Kepler

Kepler Mission Update

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 06, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (7) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Kepler completed another science data download over October 18-19. In this download, a month's worth of science data was transmitted through the NASA Deep Space Network and into the Science ...


Frost-Covered Phoenix Lander Seen in Winter Images

Frost-Covered Phoenix Lander Seen in Winter Images

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 05, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (5) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Winter images of NASA's Phoenix Lander showing the lander shrouded in dry-ice frost on Mars have been captured with the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE camera, aboard ...


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.