Space Exploration news

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

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 17, 2009 | 4.9 / 5 (30) | 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, ...

Spirit Rover: Right-Front Wheel Rotations

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

7 hours ago | 4.5 / 5 (2) | 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) ...

Scientists discover fog on Titan

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

12 hours ago | 4.7 / 5 (6) | 2

Saturn's largest moon, Titan, looks to be the only place in the solar system—aside from our home planet, Earth—with copious quantities of liquid (largely, liquid methane and ethane) sitting on its surface. ...

Calif. space tourism firm launches S. Korea deal

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

14 hours ago | 5 / 5 (2) | 0

(AP) -- A California company developing a rocket plane for space tourism announced Thursday that it has an agreement with a nonprofit group in South Korea to conduct launches in that nation.

Glint of Sunlight Confirms Liquid in Northern Lake District of Titan

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 17, 2009 | 5 / 5 (12) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Cassini Spacecraft has captured the first flash of sunlight reflected off a lake on Saturn's moon Titan, confirming the presence of liquid on the part of the moon dotted with many large, ...

Colliding auroras produce an explosion of light

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 17, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (8) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A network of cameras deployed around the Arctic in support of NASA's THEMIS mission has made a startling discovery about the Northern Lights. Sometimes, vast curtains of aurora borealis collide, ...

Top US lawmaker skeptical of new space funding

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 17, 2009 | 3.8 / 5 (4) | 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.

How to Find Signs of Life on Mars

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

9 hours ago | not rated yet | 0

By studying the signatures of fossil life on Earth, geobiologists can get a clue of what to look for when hunting for extraterrestrial life on Mars.

Studying how black holes grow

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 17, 2009 | 5 / 5 (2) | 1

Black holes are some of the most exotic objects in the universe. They are the final evolutionary stage of giant stars much larger than the sun. When these stars explode, their cores collapse down to the size ...

Orion Launch Abort System Attitude Control Motor Lights Up Sky

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 17, 2009 | 5 / 5 (2) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- It looked like a light show in Elkton, Md., on Tuesday, Dec. 15, as NASA ground tested a full-scale attitude control motor, or ACM. The motor operated with precision as its elaborate eight-valve ...

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 ...