space exploration – News Stories About space exploration - Page 8

Newly Spotted Planet
Is Most Earth-Like Yet

Jan 7, 2015 3:58 AM CST

Newly Spotted Planet Is Most Earth-Like Yet

Kepler-438b just one of several exciting finds

(Newser) - If you're sick of Earth and have a spacecraft capable of traveling hundreds of light-years, astronomers have spotted the most promising destination yet. Kepler-438b is a newly-confirmed potential "Earth twin" detected by the Kepler Space Telescope, the BBC reports, one of eight confirmed new exoplanets. The planet, about...

Rover's Discovery Raises
Hopes of Life on Mars

Dec 16, 2014 6:39 PM CST

Rover's Discovery Raises Hopes of Life on Mars

Curiosity detects methane

(Newser) - The Mars rover has delivered what a NASA scientist calls an "oh my gosh moment"—it detected methane on the red planet, reports the New York Times . The discovery is making headlines because the gas had to originate somewhere, and one possibility is that the source is some...

NASA Craft Gets Final
Wake-Up Call for Pluto Flyby

Dec 8, 2014 4:01 PM CST

NASA Craft Gets Final Wake-Up Call for Pluto Flyby

New Horizons probe is awake and ready for its July 2015 encounter

(Newser) - New Horizons just got what's probably the earliest wakeup call ever. Even though it's not supposed to fly by Pluto—the destination of its nine-year, 3-billion-mile journey—until July, the NASA craft roused itself from its "hibernation" slumber and is fully awake for the last leg of...

NASA Scrubs
Launch of
'Mars Ship'

UPDATED

Dec 4, 2014 8:45 AM CST

NASA Scrubs Launch of 'Mars Ship'

Valve problem delays Orion unmanned maiden voyage

(Newser) - The spacecraft that NASA hopes to one day send to Mars is cooling its heels on the Cape Canaveral launchpad this morning, its maiden voyage delayed by gusts of wind and leaky valves, reports the AP . NASA says it needs more time to address the valve issues, but the Orion...

Lander 'Sniffed'
Organic Molecules
on Comet

Nov 18, 2014 2:52 PM CST

Lander 'Sniffed' Organic Molecules on Comet

But an attempt to get a soil sample may have failed

(Newser) - Before its battery petered out , the small spacecraft that landed on a moving comet managed to detect organic molecules on the comet, reports NBC News . An instrument aboard the Philae lander essentially sniffed the atmosphere and found evidence of the molecules, which, as the Wall Street Journal explains, are the...

Comet Lander's
Batteries Die

Nov 15, 2014 4:40 PM CST

Comet Lander's Batteries Die

But it manages to send data to scientists

(Newser) - In a development that's no huge surprise , the comet lander Philae is entering what the European Space Agency calls "idle mode." When the lander missed its intended spot on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko—and its harpoons didn't manage to lock into the comet successfully—it couldn't get...

Scientists Hope to Make
Comet Lander Hop to Safety

Nov 14, 2014 6:05 PM CST

Scientists Hope to Make Comet Lander Hop to Safety

If it doesn't get sunlight soon, mission could be over

(Newser) - The spacecraft that landed on a comet yesterday is still talking to scientists, but its battery is expected to conk out soon. In what could be a last-ditch effort to save the mission, scientists with the European Space Agency say they'll try to make the Philae lander essentially hop...

Probe That
Landed on Comet
May Not Be Secure

Nov 12, 2014 3:50 PM CST

Probe That Landed on Comet May Not Be Secure

Harpoons might have to be fired again

(Newser) - No matter what, the European Space Agency made history today with its astonishing feat of landing a spacecraft on a comet . But now the ESA has a simpler concern: Its Philae lander, about the size of a washing machine, might fall off. The main problem is that the lander's...

Unmanned
Rocket Explodes
After Liftoff
at NASA Site

Oct 28, 2014 6:02 PM CDT

Unmanned Rocket Explodes After Liftoff at NASA Site

It was on its way to the International Space Station

(Newser) - A rocket that was supposed to deliver supplies to the crew aboard the International Space Station exploded in spectacular fashion just six seconds after liftoff this evening, reports CNN . The good news is that nobody was aboard, and NASA says nobody appears to have been killed on the ground at...

Google Exec Sets
Space Jump Record

Oct 25, 2014 8:21 AM CDT

Google Exec Sets Space Jump Record

Alan Eustace jumps from 25 miles up

(Newser) - A 57-year-old Google executive is the world's new space daredevil. Alan Eustace yesterday traveled more than 25 miles up to the top of the stratosphere in a balloon and then parachuted back down to earth in Roswell, NM, at speeds of up to 822mph, reports the New York Times ...

US Spaceplane Back After Secret 2-Year Mission

Oct 18, 2014 10:06 AM CDT

US Spaceplane Back After Secret 2-Year Mission

NASA still mum on what the X-37B is up to

(Newser) - A US spaceplane returned safe and sound yesterday after a two-year mission somewhere up there, reports Space.com . And what the unmanned X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle was doing for all that time is, as they say, classified. The shuttle-like craft came in without a hitch at Vandenberg Air Force Base...

'Man on the Moon'
Didn't Get There
Way We Thought

study says

Oct 2, 2014 6:00 PM CDT

'Man on the Moon' Didn't Get There Way We Thought

Scientists say it wasn't an asteroid impact, but a volcanic plume

(Newser) - Scientists know it as Oceanus Procellarum, but the rest of us generally refer to it as the "Man on the Moon"—the huge dark splotch on the moon visible from Earth. Either way, how did it get there? One commonly held view is that a massive asteroid slammed...

Professor: I've Got Proof Black Holes Don't Exist

Math just doesn't add up, argues UNC physicist

(Newser) - Massive stars don't just fade away, they collapse into black holes, right? Even non-scientists have at least a vague notion of these mysterious forces of nature out there in deep space. Well, sorry to spoil everybody's fun, but a physics professor at the University of North Carolina says...

There's a New Player
on the Mars Scene

Sep 24, 2014 12:45 AM CDT

There's a New Player on the Mars Scene

India's MOM probe succeeds at cost of just $72M

(Newser) - A proud day for India and its MOM: After a tense countdown early today, scientists in a Bangalore command center rejoiced as the country's Mars Orbiter Mission succeeded in putting a spacecraft in orbit around the red planet. The "Mangalyaan"—Hindi for "Mars craft"—probe...

NASA Plans
to Test World's
Biggest Rocket
in 2018

Aug 28, 2014 5:10 PM CDT

NASA Plans to Test World's Biggest Rocket in 2018

Someday, it might take humans to Mars

(Newser) - NASA is moving ahead with plans to build a massive rocket designed to explore deep space and culminate in human trips to Mars, the agency announced yesterday. The Space Launch System has passed from design phase to construction, reports the Houston Chronicle , and an unmanned test mission (not to Mars,...

Geckos Sent Into Space
to Have Sex Now in Danger

Jul 25, 2014 10:28 AM CDT

Geckos Sent Into Space to Have Sex Now in Danger

Communications compromised with Russian satellite

(Newser) - Five lust-filled lizards hurled into the heavens to get lucky in the name of science are now in peril. The Russian space agency Roscosmos is trying to fix faulty communications with its Foton-M4 satellite, which was launched last week with one male gecko and four females on board, reports Ars...

Moon Caves Might
Shelter Future
Astronauts

Jul 19, 2014 7:50 AM CDT

Moon Caves Might Shelter Future Astronauts

NASA studying about 200 lunar pits

(Newser) - If humans ever set up camp on the moon, NASA thinks they can make great use of some natural shelter: moon caves. As Vice explains, the space agency has identified more than 200 lunar pits on the moon's surface, and those pits lead to caves below that range anywhere...

We'll Be Visiting
Pluto in a Year
... Sort Of

Jul 14, 2014 12:40 PM CDT

We'll Be Visiting Pluto in a Year ... Sort Of

Flyby mission to get closer to dwarf planet than ever before

(Newser) - Exactly one year from today, a spacecraft will be "arriving" at Pluto—or so a planetary scientist puts it. More specifically, the New Horizons craft, about the size of a baby grand piano and carrying no one, will be passing closer to the dwarf planet than we've ever...

Chelyabinsk Meteor Is From Ancient Space Collision

study says

May 24, 2014 10:25 AM CDT

Chelyabinsk Meteor Is From Ancient Space Collision

Scientists think long-ago smashup led to last year's bang in Russia

(Newser) - Two big rocks collided in deep space about 290 million years ago, and a new study suggests that we earthlings felt the impact via that amazing meteor strike in Chelyabinsk, Russia, last year. Scientists analyzing meteorite fragments think that the chunk of asteroid that exploded over the city in 2013...

Astronomers Find
Planet With 8-Hour Day

Apr 30, 2014 5:13 PM CDT

Astronomers Find Planet With 8-Hour Day

Beta Pictoris b is a milestone discovery for scientists

(Newser) - If the 9-to-5 grind leaves you feeling like your day is shot, be thankful you're not living on the planet Beta Pictoris b. Scientists have calculated that its entire day is only eight hours long, reports the Los Angeles Times . The reason is that the gas giant's equator...