space exploration

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Japan to Tackle Space Junk With ... Giant Net

It's magnetic, and first trial run starts next month

(Newser) - The amount of dangerous junk floating around in space is by all accounts getting out of control . Next month, Japan's space agency will try to do something about it with a novel idea: It's launching a huge magnetic net, reports the South China Morning Post . The contraption is...

Astronomers May Have Found a Milestone Moon

It could be the first 'exomoon' detected around an exoplanet

(Newser) - Astronomers have found plenty of Earth-like planets out there in deep space, but so far they haven't found a moon orbiting one of them. Until now, maybe. Scientists might have detected one in orbit around a planet in the constellation Sagittarius, reports Nature . If so, it's the first...

China's Moon Rover Sends Back First Pics

Mission declared 'complete success'

(Newser) - China has declared the first rover mission to the moon in more than 40 years a "complete success," with the first photos sent back from its Jade Rabbit rover, the BBC reports. The rover—photographed by the lander after it separated from the vehicle yesterday —sent back...

And It's Off: Beijing's Moon Rover Sets Out

'Jade Rabbit' separates from landing vehicle, begins exploration

(Newser) - China's first moon rover has touched the lunar surface and left deep traces on its loose soil, several hours after the country successfully carried out the first soft landing on the moon in nearly four decades. The 300-pound "Jade Rabbit" rover separated from the much larger landing vehicle...

Astronaut Calls Kid, 6, Who's Fighting to Save NASA

Moon-walker Gene Cernan likes the boy's White House petition

(Newser) - A 6-year-old Denver boy is such a big fan of outer space that he created an online petition on the White House's We the People website when he heard that Congress might slash NASA funding. Connor Johnson still has a long way to go—about 85,000 signatures—to...

Everyone&#39;s in a Space Race These Days
Everyone's in a Space
Race These Days 
OPINION
Dec 9, 2013 1:55 PM CST

Everyone's in a Space Race These Days

And that's a good thing: Louis Friedman

(Newser) - Gone are the days of the US-versus-Russia space race. "There are now many space races," as numerous nations and private companies get into the game, "and that's good for science," writes Louis Friedman in the Los Angeles Times . Consider India's recent launch of a...

Hubble Finds Water on 5 Distant Planets

Vapor detected in atmosphere, but none of the planets could support life

(Newser) - It's seen as more of a confirmation of theory than a startling discovery, but scientists have found water in the atmosphere of five huge planets outside our solar system. A potential sign of life? Not quite, explains the LA Times . These five gas giants (or "hot Jupiters")...

Alien Life? Maybe Believers Were Right All Along

Bloomberg editors: Each new discovery seems to improve the odds

(Newser) - The editors at Bloomberg aren't exactly making the case that little green men are out there, but they think it's high time we all wrapped our heads around the possibility of alien life. Consider that just this week, a study found that billions of Earth-like planets exist, each...

Latest Entry in Race to Mars: India

Country could be 4th to get to red planet

(Newser) - It may soon get a little more crowded around Mars: India has successfully launched a spacecraft headed for the red planet, putting the country a 300-day journey away from being the fourth space agency to get there, the BBC reports. The Mars Orbiter Mission took off from a base on...

Newly Found Galaxy Is Oldest One Yet

It emerged about 700 million years after the Big Bang

(Newser) - Residents of the Milky Way, meet z8_GND_5296. That's the not-so-great name of a newly discovered galaxy that just happens to be the most distant—and thus oldest—ever spotted, reports CBS News . Scientists say it formed a mere 700 million years after the Big Bang, and it could shed...

Jupiter Forecast: Rain, With Chance of Diamonds

Two scientists float the possibility of liquid gems in space

(Newser) - It's just a theory, but a pretty dazzling one. Two scientists this week laid out the tantalizing possibility that Jupiter sees raindrops of liquid diamond and Saturn gets diamond hail, reports Nature . If true, both planets would be teeming with the gems. "If you had a robot there,...

New Find on Moon of Saturn: Plastic

Or at least a molecule used to make it

(Newser) - Earth and Saturn now have something in common: plastic. NASA's Cassini spacecraft detected the molecule propylene on Saturn's moon Titan, and propylene is one of the basic ingredients of modern plastic here on Earth, reports the BBC . It's the first extraterrestrial plastic ingredient ever found, reports NASA'...

NASA Lunar Launch Has Minor Tech Glitch

Agency says it won't affect flight to moon

(Newser) - NASA's newest robotic explorer ran into some technical trouble after last night's launch , but the agency says it's nothing to worry about. The LADEE spacecraft remains on track for the moon, though officials acknowledged the problem needs to be resolved in the next two to three weeks....

Watch NASA&#39;s Moon Launch Tonight
 NASA Launches  
 Moon Mission 
Sep 6, 2013 10:51 PM CDT

NASA Launches Moon Mission

Unmanned spacecraft to explore lunar atmosphere

(Newser) - NASA's newest robotic explorer rocketed into space late tonight in an unprecedented moonshot from Virginia. The LADEE spacecraft, which is charged with studying the lunar atmosphere and dust, soared aboard an unmanned Minotaur rocket about 11:30 Eastern. It was a change of venue for NASA, which normally launches...

New Telescope Will Be 10 Times Sharper Than Hubble

$700M Giant Magellan Telescope will be ready in 2022

(Newser) - Scientists are currently hard at work on a new telescope that promises to have 10 times the resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope—but we're going to have to wait awhile. So far, only one of an eventual seven massive mirrors has been completely cast and polished for the...

Voyager May Have Left Solar System—a Year Ago

Blended magnetic fields at solar system's edge blurred crossing: study

(Newser) - The Voyager 1 spacecraft, expected to leave our solar system any day now , may actually have already done so—more than a year ago. Though similar reports were squashed earlier this year, a new study in Astrophysical Journal Letters suggests that the craft passed beyond the solar system's edge...

Kepler Telescope Can't Be Fixed

But NASA's planet-hunter may be repurposed

(Newser) - Sorry space fans, but NASA has come up with no miracles to save its beloved Kepler telescope , reports National Geographic . At least in its current iteration. Engineers discovered in May that another of the telescope's gyroscopic wheels had gone on the fritz, meaning it could no longer remain steady...

Astronomers Find Blue Planet

But you wouldn't want to live there

(Newser) - A space traveler might be forgiven for mistaking Earth for another planet known as HD189733b from a distance—they're both a pleasant shade of blue. As Space.com explains, astronomers have for the first time determined the color of a far-flung world, this one 63 light-years away. (They did...

Half of NASA's New Astronauts Are Women

Including the first female fighter pilot to become an astronaut in almost 20 years

(Newser) - NASA has eight new astronauts—its first new batch in four years. Among the lucky candidates: the first female fighter pilot to become an astronaut in nearly two decades. A female helicopter pilot also is in the group. In fact, four of the eight are women, the highest percentage of...

Big Asteroid Buzzes by Earth Tomorrow

No risk of collision, but astronomers should be happy

(Newser) - Backyard astronomers, ready your telescopes. A big asteroid is about to zip by Earth, with its closest approach coming at 4:59pm Eastern tomorrow, says NASA . The rock will be 3.6 million miles away at that point, meaning there's no chance for a collision, but that should allow...

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