space exploration

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Ecuador's Very First Satellite Has Very Bad Luck

3-pound cube satellite hits space debris, might be kaput after just a month

(Newser) - Ecuador's space agency achieved a big milestone a month ago when it launched its first-ever satellite into space. Little Pegasus, a cube-shaped device weighing less than 3 pounds, had been happily transmitting photos and playing the Ecuadorean national anthem in orbit ever since—until it apparently smashed into the...

Moon Smash Could Be Seen From Earth

Big rock slammed into it last month, says NASA

(Newser) - If you happened to be glancing skyward the night of March 17 and noticed a bright flash on the moon, NASA has your explanation: A meteor slammed into it, reports National Geographic . A 90-pound rock hit the moon at 56,000mph, creating an explosion 10 times brighter than any previously...

Moon's Water May Come From ... Earth

New study suggests it arrived via ancient meteorites

(Newser) - Scientists discovered water on the moon only a few years ago, and until recently, the prevailing theory was that it got there via comets. Now they're not so sure. New research on rocks brought back from the Apollo 15 and 17 strongly suggests a different possibility: The moon got...

Russia to Pump $52B Into Space Industry

And may create new space ministry

(Newser) - Russia is getting (even more) serious about space exploration. Vladimir Putin today announced a plan to pump roughly $52 billion into the country's space industry, and floated the idea of creating a special "space ministry," Russia Today reports. "Russia should preserve its status of the leading...

Hawking: We'll Have to Escape 'Fragile Planet' in 1K Years

He urges more space exploration

(Newser) - Stephen Hawking, the British physicist who has spent his career decoding the universe, is urging the continuation of space exploration—for humanity's sake. “We won’t survive another 1,000 years without escaping our fragile planet," said the 71-year-old Hawking. He made the remarks Tuesday at Cedars-Sinai...

Dark Matter News Might Be Space Station's Finest Hour

Experiment there yields what may be the first glimpse of the stuff

(Newser) - Astronomers are plenty excited today over the news that an experiment aboard the International Space Station may have caught the first glimpse of dark matter. You know, the "mysterious substance that may hold the cosmos together," in the words of USA Today . Or the "mysterious dark matter...

US Might Try to Catch an Asteroid

Plan would bring million-pound rock close enough for exploration

(Newser) - President Obama's budget proposal will include funds for a wild plan to use a robotic spacecraft to snag an asteroid and drag it close enough to Earth for astronauts to land on and study it, Aviation Week reports. The project, as dreamed up in a study last year by...

Voyager Hasn't Made Space History—Yet

NASA discounts report that craft has left the solar system

(Newser) - Space fans will have to hold off on popping the champagne cork. After the American Geophysical Union declared this morning that Voyager 1 had achieved the mind-boggling feat of leaving our solar system, NASA threw a wet blanket on the party, at least temporarily, reports Time . “It is the...

Sex in Space Won&#39;t Kill You After All

 Sex in Space 
 Won't Kill You 
 After All 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Mar 17, 2013 12:23 PM CDT

Sex in Space Won't Kill You After All

But a new study raises concerns about reproduction in plants, and maybe humans

(Newser) - One of the week's most salacious stories got its start in the journal Plos One with this headline: "Cell Wall Assembly and Intracellular Trafficking in Plant Cells Are Directly Affected by Changes in the Magnitude of Gravitational Acceleration." Of course, it wasn't until the Daily Mail...

NASA: Yep, Mars Could Have Supported Life

Soil sample dug up by Curiosity proves it

(Newser) - NASA scientists examining their first sample of Martian rock dug out by the rover Curiosity found some remarkable things in there: sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and carbon. In other words, ingredients that show the planet once could have supported life. Lead scientist Michael Mayer sums it up thusly:
  • "
...

After Glitch, Space Station Delivery Back on Track

But SpaceX capsule won't arrive today as scheduled

(Newser) - The space capsule that was supposed to deliver fresh fruit and other supplies to the International Space Station won't be arriving today as planned thanks to yesterday's glitch after takeoff , reports Wired . But engineers at SpaceX say they have resolved the problem with Dragon's thrusters, and it...

Mars Mission Seeks Married Couple

Private group plans to launch husband and wife to planet in 2018

(Newser) - In less than five years, a husband and wife could be on their way toward Mars in an audacious but bare-bones private mission that would slingshot them around the Red Planet, according to a plan outlined today by a financial tycoon and his team. The voyage would be a cosmic...

Mars Rover Drills Into Planet for First Time

Curiosity's successful test paves way for bigger projects

(Newser) - NASA's Mars rover has busted out a new tool to pry into the planet's secrets. Curiosity used a drill at the top of one of its arms to make a small hole in Martian rock, reports LiveScience . It was just a test, the first of its kind, but...

Iran Might Have Faked Its Monkey Launch

British newspapers examine photos, smell a rat

(Newser) - Iran announced with great fanfare this week that it launched a monkey into space and brought him home safely. Hold the trumpets, though: British newspapers the Times , the Telegraph , and the Independent now say, or at least strongly suggest, that Iran is lying. Why? In part because the monkey celebrated...

NASA Fires Up Apollo-Era Engine to Learn Old Tricks

Unit from late 1960s taken out of storage for tests

(Newser) - A vintage rocket engine built to blast the first US lunar mission into Earth's orbit more than 40 years ago is again rumbling across the Southern landscape. The engine, known to NASA engineers as No. F-6049, was supposed to help propel Apollo 11 into orbit in 1969, when NASA...

NASA: We're Sending a New Rover to Mars

Modeled after Curiosity, it should launch in 2020

(Newser) - NASA is headed to Mars—again. The space agency said today it plans to launch another mega-rover to Mars in 2020 that will be modeled after the wildly popular Curiosity. To keep costs down, engineers will borrow Curiosity's blueprints, build from spare parts where possible, and use proven technology...

Endeavour Finally Reaches Its Permanent Home

12 miles later, the space shuttle arrives at a Los Angeles museum

(Newser) - It took much longer than expected, but the Space shuttle Endeavour has finally reached its permanent resting place at a Los Angeles museum. After a 12-mile journey through city streets that included thousands of adoring onlookers, flashing cameras, and even the filming of a TV commercial, Endeavour arrived at the...

It's Out There: A Planet Made of Diamond

Astronomers say '55 Cancri e' has an interesting makeup

(Newser) - It's going to need a much better name. A planet known as "55 Cancri e" is making headlines today after astronomers revealed that much of it is made of diamond, reports Space.com . The bad news for ambitious space travelers is that it's 230 trillion miles away...

Mars Rover Finds 'Bright Object'

Curiosity makes first scoop of planet's surface

(Newser) - The Curiosity rover has conducted its first scoop of Mars' surface—and found an unidentified "bright object," the AP reports. The rover won't make another scoop until NASA officials can deduce what the thing is. It could just be a piece of the rover itself. Curiosity has...

Scientists Want 'Space Boat' to Explore Titan's Lakes

Saturn's moon is full of lakes, rivers, seas

(Newser) - If you think the Mars rover is cool, wait until you hear this: Scientists want to send a "space boat" to explore Saturn's largest moon, Titan. The floating probe would land in one of the moon's many methane lakes and would explore its many lakes, rivers, and...

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