SETI Institute National Geographic October 17, 2012 They're calling it the planet next door, but even our fastest craft would take 40,000 years to reach this Earth-size neighbor. October 16, 2012 Step aside Tatooine. October 15, 2012 Solar wind sparked creation of lunar water, a new study says—a whole new explanation for water in the inner solar system. October 14, 2012 "I'm coming home," Felix Baumgartner radioed from 24 miles up Sunday, just before falling farther and faster than any human on record. Watch right here as Felix Baumgartner attempts to break the sound barrier—65 years to the day after Chuck Yeager did the same in a plane. October 12, 2012 As Endeavour hits L.A. streets Friday, zoomable, ultrahigh-resolution pictures offer a last spin around the flight deck, button by button. October 11, 2012 The universe just got a bit richer with the discovery of a diamond-rich exoplanet orbiting a nearby star, a new study says. October 10, 2012 October 8, 2012 Slime molds have evolved a way of remembering where they've been.
Cosmos Magazine - Space Asteroid surfaces are heavy with bombardment and are being shaped by impacts at even a microscopic level, researchers have found. Credit: JAXA CAMBRIDGE: Tiny particles of space dust bombard asteroids and shape their surface at a microscopic level, scientists have found. A study published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science analysed material from the surface of a near-Earth asteroid. The features discovered provide unprecedented detail about the history of primitive solar bodies. “Our findings show the landscape itself of the very surface of an asteroid,” said Eizo Nakamura, who worked on the study with colleagues at Okayama University in Misasa, Japan and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Exploring the surface of an asteroid Asteroids are considered to be intermediate products of processes that formed large solar bodies. Space weathering Nakamura and his team examined five dust grains from Itokawa’s surface, each measuring just 50 micrometres across.
Helioseismology Helioseismology The science studying wave oscillations in the Sun is called helioseismology. One can view the physical processes involved, in the same way that seismologists learn about the Earth's interior by monitoring waves caused by earthquakes. Temperature, composition, and motions deep in the Sun influence the oscillation periods and yield insights into conditions in the solar interior. Waves The primary physics in both seismology and helioseismology are wave motions that are excited in the body's (Earth or Sun) interior and that propagate through a medium. However, there are many differences in number and type of waves for both terrestrial and solar environments. Mars Rover Beginning To Hate Mars PASADENA, CA—NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientists overseeing the ongoing Mars Exploration Rover Mission said Monday that the Spirit's latest transmissions could indicate a growing resentment of the Red Planet. Spirit completes a diagram of an erect human penis on the planet's dusty surface. "Spirit has been displaying some anomalous behavior," said Project Manager John Callas, who noted the rover's unsuccessful attempts to flip itself over and otherwise damage its scientific instruments. The "robot geologist," as NASA describes Spirit, has been operating independently for over 990 Martian sols—nearly the equivalent of three Earth years. According to Callas, Spirit was operating normally until the onset of the Martian winter, whose shorter days and frigid temperatures typically mean a slower pace for exploratory rovers. Project leaders receive data from the Mars rover Spirit. "Granted, Spirit has been extraordinarily useful to our work," Callas said.
Astronomy Magazine Lunar Missions Ltd - Lunar Mission One Whether you are looking to be kept regularly updated on the progress of Lunar Mission One, or whether you want to influence the future of Lunar Mission One, the Lunar Missions Club is your key to being part of this historic mission. The Lunar Missions Club will be a community which, over the next ten years, will help guide this mission to success. Members of the Lunar Missions Club will be kept up to date with the latest mission developments, receiving exclusive newsletters and updates from the Lunar Mission One team. The club will be officially launched in 2015 but early-adopters can continue their discussions through our Kickstarter site until we launch the main club here.
New Scientist - Space Cookies on the New Scientist website close Our website uses cookies, which are small text files that are widely used in order to make websites work more effectively. Find out about our cookies and how to change them Space Log in Your login is case sensitive I have forgotten my password close My New Scientist Look for Science Jobs Earth's love handles keep satellites from falling Big bang, no boom: Did Planck pop inflation bubble? Ringed asteroid will make a star blink out over Africa TODAY: 12:19 10 April 2014 The first known asteroid with Saturn-like rings will cross in front of a star this month, perhaps revealing clues to how the thin rings stay in shape NASA 'flying saucer' for Mars to land in Hawaii TODAY: 20:46 09 April 2014 The test flight will use an inflatable system designed to get heavy loads – and perhaps people – safely on the Martian surface Dark matter hunters turn to nano-blasts and enzyme ice TODAY: 19:30 09 April 2014 Borg assimilation on the ISS? PICTURE OF THE DAY: 15:30 09 April 2014
The Space Race By the mid-1950s, the U.S.-Soviet Cold War had worked its way into the fabric of everyday life in both countries, fueled by the arms race and the growing threat of nuclear weapons, wide-ranging espionage and counter-espionage between the two countries, war in Korea and a clash of words and ideas carried out in the media. These tensions would continue throughout the space race, exacerbated by such events as the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 and the outbreak of war in Southeast Asia. Space exploration served as another dramatic arena for Cold War competition. On October 4, 1957, a Soviet R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile launched Sputnik (Russian for “traveler”), the world’s first artificial satellite and the first man-made object to be placed into the Earth’s orbit. Sputnik’s launch came as a surprise, and not a pleasant one, to most Americans.