Space Exploration news

The Meandering Channels of Mars

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 10, 2009 | 4.2 / 5 (6) | 5

Sinuous channels on the Martian surface may be evidence of relatively recent rainfall. Researchers plan to test this hypothesis by studying sinuous streams on Earth.

Top US lawmaker skeptical of new space funding

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 17, 2009 | 4.2 / 5 (6) | 4

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she was personally skeptical of manned space missions and warned that NASA's future funding could depend on whether it was likely to create jobs.

Spirit Rover: Rear Wheel Trouble Continues

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 10, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (5) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Results of diagnostic tests on Spirit's right-rear wheel on Sol 2109 (Dec. 8, 2009) continue to indicate a troubled wheel, which may leave the rover with only four operable wheels.

Spirit Rover: Right-Front Wheel Rotations

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 18, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (5) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Spirit's right-front wheel, which had stopped operating in March 2006, revolved with apparently normal motion during the first three of four driving segments on Sol 2117 (Wednesday, Dec. 16) ...

NASA unveils latest results from lunar mission

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 15, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (5) | 0

NASA's current mission in orbit around the moon, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, has been providing crucial insights about our nearest celestial neighbor since its launch in June. At a scientific ...

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Resumes Observations

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 16, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (5) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers are receiving new science data from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter after the spacecraft's six science instruments resumed observations today.

CU Students to Build Tiny Spacecraft to Observe 'Space Weather' Environment

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 29, 2009 | 4.2 / 5 (5) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- The University of Colorado at Boulder has been awarded $840,000 from the National Science Foundation for students to build a tiny spacecraft to observe energetic particles in space that should ...

Mars Odyssey Orbiter Puts Itself Into Safe Standby

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 01, 2009 | 5 / 5 (4) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter put itself into a safe standby mode on Saturday, Nov. 28, and the team operating the spacecraft has begun implementing careful steps designed to resume Odyssey's ...

Keeping Mars Contained

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 04, 2009 | 5 / 5 (4) | 1

When robotic spacecraft bring a sample of Mars back to Earth, scientists will need specially-designed facilities to study the samples and prevent them from escaping to the outside world.

NASA NuSTAR Telescope Being Built at Nevis

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 17, 2009 | 5 / 5 (4) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- It's an unlikely place to build a NASA telescope: a leafy estate in Irvington, N.Y., that once belonged to the son of Alexander Hamilton. Inside a hangar-like building on the site, which is ...

NASA Tests Unique Jumbo Jet with Opening in Side; Plane's Airborne Telescope Will Be Used to Study Cosmos

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 21, 2009 | 5 / 5 (4) | 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- A NASA jumbo jet that will help scientists unlock the origins of the universe with infrared observations reached a milestone Friday when doors covering the plane's telescope were fully opened ...

War-torn 'nursery' hopes to send monkeys to Mars

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 20, 2009 | 2.4 / 5 (8) | 6

The monkeys at this run-down research centre which was once the pride of Soviet science have seen it all -- a brutal civil war, freezing winters and starvation.

Japan's 'space beer' sparkles among drinkers

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 07, 2009 | 3.2 / 5 (6) | 0

A Japanese brewer has come up with a beer that's truly out of this world -- one made with barley grown from a line of seeds that once orbited the Earth aboard the International Space Station.

Cassini closes in on the centuries-old mystery of Saturn's moon Iapetus

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 10, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (4) | 0

Extensive analyses and modeling of Cassini imaging and heat-mapping data have confirmed and extended previous ideas that migrating ice, triggered by infalling reddish dust that darkens and warms the surface, ...

NASA puzzled why parachutes failed in rocket test

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 03, 2009 | 3.4 / 5 (5) | 3

(AP) -- NASA still isn't sure why two parachutes failed during a test flight of its prototype moon rocket just over a month ago.