Space Exploration news

Success in 'space elevator' competition (Update 3)

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Nov 05, 2009 | 4.3 / 5 (36) | 54

(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 ...

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.

LCROSS Impact Finds Water on the Moon

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Nov 13, 2009 | 4.9 / 5 (31) | 14

(PhysOrg.com) -- The argument that the moon is a dry, desolate place no longer holds water. Secrets the moon has been holding, for perhaps billions of years, are now being revealed to the delight of scientists ...

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

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Oct 28, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (25) | 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.

The Stars My Destination

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Nov 10, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (23) | 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.

Hidden Territory on Mercury Revealed

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Nov 04, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (20) | 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 ...

Fantastic Voyage

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Nov 02, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (19) | 3

By travelling to the outer solar system, the two Voyager spacecraft allowed us to see amazing details of far-distant planets and moons.

Space hotel taking bookings for 2012 opening

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Nov 05, 2009 | 4.4 / 5 (21) | 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.

A bubbling ball of gas (w/ Video)

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Nov 11, 2009 | 4.9 / 5 (18) | 7

The Sun is a bubbling mass. Packages of gas rise and sink, lending the sun its grainy surface structure, its granulation. Dark spots appear and disappear, clouds of matter dart up - and behind the whole thing ...

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, ...

Seattle team wins $900,000 in Space Elevator Games

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Nov 07, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (17) | 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.

Planetary Society plans new 'solar sail'

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Nov 09, 2009 | 4.7 / 5 (14) | 1

(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 ...

Unusual meteorite found by time-lapse camera observatory

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Nov 05, 2009 | 4.3 / 5 (15) | 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.

Detecting Life-Friendly Moons

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Oct 26, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (11) | 3

The search for life-friendly real estate around distant stars doesn't have to be limited to planets. New research shows that habitable exomoons can be detected with a new method using current technology.

The Sun's Sneaky Variability

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Oct 28, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (11) | 5

Every 11 years, the sun undergoes a furious upheaval. Dark sunspots burst forth from beneath the sun's surface. Explosions as powerful as a billion atomic bombs spark intense flares of high-energy radiation. ...