space

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Moon Will Appear Extra Bright Tonight

Tonight's sky will seem 30 percent brighter than usual, NASA says

(Newser) - If tonight’s full moon looks bigger and brighter than normal, that’s because it is, Space.com reports. The satellite reaches its perigree today, making its position the closest of the year to Earth—though still some 222,000 miles away. The moon's irregular orbit causes the distance to...

British Satellites May Provide Cell Phone Service on Moon

Program would give lunar residents cell phone service

(Newser) - The UK’s space agency is reviewing the feasibility of a mission to put satellites in orbit around the moon, CNET reports. The MoonLITE study plans to send four “penetrator darts” containing geophysical instruments into the moon’s crust, monitoring their findings with four accompanying satellites. The resulting data...

Endeavour Heads Home
 Endeavour Heads Home 
Nov 28, 2008 2:30 PM CST

Endeavour Heads Home

After a successful mission, shuttle returns to Earth

(Newser) - The space shuttle Endeavour separated from the International Space Station today and headed back to earth. Having completed a 12-day mission that upgraded the station’s living quarters, Endeavour’s seven-person crew began the 2-day trip back to the Kennedy Space Center, Florida Today reports. "Thanks for the incredible...

India Smashes Probe Into Moon
 India Smashes Probe Into Moon 
Nov 15, 2008 7:46 AM CST

India Smashes Probe Into Moon

Landmark trip gathered data on lunar surface

(Newser) - India’s Moon Impact Probe, decorated with the country’s colors, was a smashing success for India's space program when it rammed into the moon’s surface today, Bloomberg reports. The green, white, and orange probe hurtled downward for half an hour, gathering data on the moon’s surface before...

Scientists Snap First Images of New Planets

Three-planet, one-planet systems caught on camera

(Newser) - Scientists have photographed planets outside our solar system for the first time, Space.com reports. One team captured images of a three-planet system orbiting a star in the Pegasus constellation, while another group snapped a planet rotating around the star Fomalhaut. The planets can't support life or little green men,...

Mars Lander Falls Silent
 Mars Lander Falls Silent 
Nov 10, 2008 5:11 PM CST

Mars Lander Falls Silent

Phoenix lacks the solar power to continue its mission

(Newser) - The Martian autumn has cut power to NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander, ending its mission of scientific discovery, NASA reports. As anticipated, shorter days and increasingly overcast skies are preventing sufficient solar energy from reaching the lander’s power cells. It has already collected data for 2 months longer than...

Nearby Solar System Looks Familiar

(Newser) - A nearby solar system looks a lot like ours, complete with newly identified asteroid belts, gas giants, and a similarly sized sun, Space.com reports. The star at the center of the system is visible without magnification, and scientists say they can infer the presence of planets in a zone...

3-D Map Adds Light Years to Concept of Universe

Survey used red shift to find relative distances of heavenly bodies

(Newser) - Telescope photographs of the night sky are compelling, but it’s hard to get a feel for the heavens when you’re Earthbound. The recently completed Sloan Digital Sky Survey can help: It is a 3-D map of the area within 2 billion light years of Earth that allows the...

Tourist, Crew Dock at Space Station

Garriott will perform experiments, take photos from space

(Newser) - American space tourist Richard Garriott arrived safely at the International Space Station today for a 10-day visit, Space.com reports. “I can fly!” Garriott told Russia’s command center, where former NASA astronaut and dad Owen watched his son become the first second-generation space-traveler. Also aboard the Soyuz...

Trick Telescopy Aids in Search for Alien Life

Precision mirrors could show stargazers planets far, far away

(Newser) - Telescope technology currently in the works will use light measurements to search for planets beyond our solar system whose orbit around a star means they could support life, Wired reports. The system, called nulling interferometry, uses tiny mirrors that move at atomic levels to combine the power of several telescopes,...

It's Snowing on Mars
 It's Snowing on Mars 
Sep 30, 2008 4:27 AM CDT

It's Snowing on Mars

Phoenix lander can't tell whether wet stuff is reaching ground

(Newser) - Snow has been falling nightly in the Mars atmosphere for about a month now, giving scientists more reason to believe that life may have once existed in the red planet's polar regions. Lasers onboard the Phoenix lander have tracked icy snow falling for a mile from clouds drifting 2.5...

China's First Space Walker Back on Earth

Landmark mission ends on live TV in Mongolia

(Newser) - China's third manned space mission ended successfully yesterday when the Shenzou 7 spacecraft made a soft landing in Inner Mongolia, reports Space.com. The re-entry vehicle descended beneath a giant parachute, a hatch opened and the happy astronauts clambered out. The flawless return to earth was broadcast live on television....

Chinese Astronaut Takes Spacewalk

Next up: assembling space station

(Newser) - A Chinese astronaut took the nation's first spacewalk today, floating outside the orbiter module's hatch for about 13 minutes. "Greetings to all the people of the nation and all the people of the world," he declared in a live broadcast on state TV, waving a Chinese flag.

Discoveries Boost Hope for Alien Life

New forms of extreme bacteria fuel hope for extraterrestrial life

(Newser) - Humans have always wondered about the possibility of alien life somewhere out there. And while scientists seem to agree that the discovery of extraterrestrials will not happen soon, growing numbers are convinced it will happen. The search is being fueled in part by recent discoveries of strange new life forms...

There's a New Space Race, and US Is Losing

Rest of the world collaborates while fearful US falls behind

(Newser) - While the rest of the world cooperates incessantly on all matters extraterrestrial, the US, hampered by self-imposed regulations meant to keep weapons out of enemies' hands, is swiftly losing dominance of the final frontier, the Washington Post reports. The US’ military space program is still gargantuan, but the civil program,...

Thinking 'Bots May Probe Planets for Us

Gizmos could direct airships over Titan, Europa by 2017

(Newser) - WALL-E they aren't, but future space robots may decide how and where we explore other planets, Space.com reports. Using what expert Wolfgang Fink calls “tier-scalable reconnaissance,” orbiting spacecrafts could choose where to deploy airships that drop rovers on planet surfaces. NASA and Europe may test the software...

Earth Hits Cosmic Pitch
 Earth Hits Cosmic Pitch 
Jul 1, 2008 3:55 PM CDT

Earth Hits Cosmic Pitch

Cacophonous radiation beamed from planet could easily be intercepted by aliens

(Newser) - Earth’s atmosphere produces a natural sound and beams it off into the universe, Space.com reports. The sound—a painful series of chirps and whistles—is made by the collision of charged particles from the solar wind with Earth’s magnetic field.

There's a Huge Moon on the Rise

Solstice makes heavenly body look bigger tonight, tomorrow—but it's an illusion

(Newser) - Northern Hemisphere residents, check out the night sky tomorrow for an extra-large-looking moon. The moon illusion—a trick our brain plays on us—is enhanced by the summer solstice, and when Earth's satellite rises close to the horizon, conditions are perfect, LiveScience notes.

Strange Object Baffles Astronauts

Mysterious rectangle floats by

(Newser) - The Discovery’s crew was perplexed today when it spotted a mysterious object floating past the right wing, the Houston Chronicle reports. The astronauts sent videos and photos of the light-colored, rectangular object to NASA. They also noticed an unusual protrusion on the tail rudder. “We’re in data...

NASA Deploys Mars Probe's Robotic Arm

Radio glitch delays plan by 1 day

(Newser) - NASA’s Phoenix Mars lander extended its robotic arm for the first time late last night, the AP reports, a day late because of a temporary radio blackout. The arm, which will unfurl over a 2-day period, will eventually be used to take samples of ice below the surface in...

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