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New Space News
Latest Dispatches of Space and Astronomy Occurrences
2013:   Jan
2012:   Dec   Nov   Oct   Sep   Aug   Jul   Jun   May   Apr   Mar   Feb   Jan
2011:   Dec   Nov   Oct   Sep   Aug   Jul   Jun   May   Apr   Mar   Feb   Jan
2010   2009   2008   more
 
NASA image of the giant barred spiral galaxy NGC 6872
NASA image of spiral galaxy NGC 6872.
Click for the NASA JPL background on the galaxy.
 
NASA artist rendering of completed International Space Station
NASA artist rendering of completed International Space Station.
Click for the NASA background on the ISS.
 
Shuttle Endeavour atop carrier aircraft enroute to California Science Center
Space shuttle Endeavour enroute to California Science Center.
Click for the NASA story on the shuttle era.
 
Neil Armstrong 1930-2012
The Apollo 11 lunar landing mission crew: Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, command module pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot.
Click for the NASA story.
 
NASA Mars rover Curiosity
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity.
Click for latest NASA update.
 
Astronauts work during a spacewalk outside the International Space Station orbiting Earth
Astronauts spacewalk outside the International Space Station orbiting Earth.
Click for story.
 
Laser lightcraft future space vehicle
A NASA artist's vision of a laser lightcraft for spaceflight in the next 100 years.
Click for story.
 
ASU LRO Moon map
Arizona State University astronomers use the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to map the Moon.   Click for story.
 
Space shuttle Atlantis
Atlantis over the Bahamas on the last-ever space shuttle flight.   Click for story.
 
Milky Way galaxy center images by NASA's Great Observatories in Space: Hubble, Spitzer and Chandra.   Click for story.
 
NASA images of nebulae in deep space: Cats Eye, Crab, Carina, Kronberger, Trifid, Veil, Horsehead, Jelly Fish, Wreath and Lagoon nebulae.   Click for photo gallery.
 
New Horizons at Pluto
New Horizons spacecraft encounters Pluto.
Click for story.
 
SpaceX Dragon at ISS
Dragon docked at the ISS.   Click for story
 
NASA Curiosity Rover working on Mars
Curiosity Rover working on Mars.
Click for story.
 
Alan Shepard postage stamp
Project Mercury postage stamp issued May 4, 2011, by the United States Postal Service (USPS) commemorates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Project Mercury, America's first manned spaceflight program, and NASA astronaut Alan Shepard's historic flight on May 5, 1961, aboard the spacecraft Freedom 7. The stamp depicts Shepard, his Mercury capsule Freedom 7, and the Redstone launching rocket.
 
The Space Place Exhibit Hall A Telescopes
The Space Place Exhibit Hall A Rockets
Information and graphics exhibitions mounted in Exhibit Hall A at The Space Place, a companion to Space Today Online in the virtual world Second Life, featuring NASA concepts of rockets for future space travel and a celebration of the 400th anniversary of the telescope.    SLURL »
blue info button2014 March

Powerful jets from Mars-bound comet spied by Hubble
National Geographic, March 30, 2014
The Hubble Space Telescope is keeping tabs on an icy interloper which, after lurking in the outer reaches of the Solar System for a million years, is heading for a close encounter with Mars.

Comet-hunting Rosetta satellite locks on to its target
International Business Times, March 30, 2014
The European Space Agencys comet-hunter woke up from hibernation in deep space. While still far away from comet 67P/ChuryumovGerasimenko, it observed the frozen body.

Newfound pink world lurks at Solar System fringes
Associated Press, March 29, 2014
Peering into the far reaches of the Solar System, astronomers have spied a pink frozen world 7.5 billion miles from the Sun – the second such object in a region of space beyond Pluto considered a celestial wasteland.

U.S. Air Force secretive X-37B space plane shatters orbit record
NBC News, March 28, 2014
The robotic miniature space shuittle has broken its own all-time endurance record in orbit after more than 470 days of circling the Earth on a mystery mission for the American military.

'Mars yard' to test European rover
BBC, March 27, 2014
Airbus has built a giant sand pit about the size of a basketball court in Stevenage to mimic the surface of Mars.

Icy Chariklo asteroid has ring system
BBC, March 26, 2014
The asteroid Chariklo has been confirmed as the smallest object in the Solar System to display a ring system. Encircling bands of material are more usually associated with the giant planets, such as Saturn and Uranus.

Europe begins Mars site selection for 2018 ExoMars rover
BBC, March 26, 2014
The European Space Agency has published a list of eight sites it is considering as a destination for the 600 lb. vehicle, which will land in January 2019 to search for evidence of past or present life.

Space shuttle veteran preserves history
Los Angeles Times, March 17, 2014
NASA shuttle veteran Dennis Jenkins, who spent 30 years sending shuttles into space, now is helping the California Science Center build its Endeavour display, giving old parts new life for the L.A. exhibit.

blue info button2014 February

Shooting photos of the stars
Popular Photography, Feb. 27, 2014
The night sky has inspired artists for millennia, and it is no less a muse for photographers today. Digital technology makes shooting stars more accessible than ever and requires no special equipment.

blue info button2014 January

Using big data to find a second Earth
Time magazine, jan. 17, 2014
Somewhere out there are worlds that can support life as we know it and Lisa Kalenegger has a way to find them.

The private space race is on
Phys.Org News, Jan. 3, 2014
Private American rockets blast open 2014 and commercial space race with big bangs on Jan. 6 and 7.

blue info button2013 December

Top exoplanet finds of 2013
Science News, Dec. 28, 2013
With the addition of 180 new worlds to the Paris Observatory's list of confirmed exoplanets, there are now more than 1,000 known planets orbiting stars other than the Sun.

Dark energy gets more confusing
Science News, Dec. 28, 2013
New measurements of light from distant exploding stars were supposed to illuminate the dark energy that is pushing the cosmos apart. Instead they have further shrouded the Universe's fate.

Meteorite makes an impact
Science News, Dec. 27, 2013
A 62-foot-wide space rock plowed through the atmosphere and exploded over southwestern Russia, shattering windows and causing 1,600 injuries. It was the largest recorded meteor since 1908. OPfficials reevaluated impact risks and increased monitoring for future events.

Visitor from the Oort Cloud
Science News, Dec. 27, 2013
Comet ISON was an ordinary-sized comet millions of years ago in the faraway Oort Cloud. A passing star may have given it a nudge onto a journey to within about 750,000 miles of the Sun.

Methane shortage on Mars
Science News, Dec. 26, 2013
After months of searching, the NASA rover Curiosity detected no appreciable methane in Mars atmosphere, disappointing scientists who had hoped to find a strong sign of life on the Red Planet.

Voyager 1 reaches interstellar space
Science News, Dec. 24, 2014
Some 36 years later, the Voyager 1 spacecraft became the first human-made object to pass beyond the heliosphere, the giant invisible bubble inflated by subatomic particles from the Sun, and enter the space between the stars.

Death of a planet hunter
Science News, Dec. 24, 2013
Using the Kepler Space Telescope, scientists discovered 10 earth-sized worlds and identified hundreds of yet-to-be-confirmed Earth-sized candidates.

Planck refines cosmic history
Sciencde News, Dec. 20, 2013
Astronomers say good-bye to the European Space Agency's Planck satellite, breaking off contact with the source of the most precise measurements yet of the Universes oldest light.


The editor apologizes for the inconvenience of this missing segment of the New Space News archive.

blue info button2013 January

The white veins of Mars
ABC News, Jan. 19, 2013
Curiosity rover hits a jackpot in its quest for a wetter past.

NASA's Spirit and Opportunity rovers nine years on the Red Planet
Huffington Post, January 2013
The golf-cart-size rovers landed on Mars in January 2004 on what was to have been only a 90-day search for signs of past water activity on the Red Planet.

NASA sends Mona Lisa to the Moon on a laser beam
MSNBC, Jan. 18, 2013
The U.S. space agency's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter scientists sent an image of the famous painting from Earth to the Moon-orbiting spacecraft's Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter. It waa the first one-way laser communication at planetary distances.

Smoky black cloud in space hides baby stars
European Southern Observeatory, Jan. 16, 2013
A photo from a telescope in South America shows a deep space cloud obscuring a noisy nursery of starbith.

Europeans agree to build a key piece of NASA's Orion spaceship
NBC News, Jan. 16, 2013
NASA and the European Space Agency have signed an agreement calling for the Europeans to provide the service module for the Orion space capsule, the U.S. space agency's crew vehicle for exploration beyond Earth orbit.

International space station to receive inflatable module
Washington Post, Jan. 16, 2013
The ISS is getting a new, inflatable room that resembles a giant spare tire.

Russia plans to send a probe to the Moon in 2015
Reuters, Jan. 15, 2013
Russia will resume a long-dormant quest to explore the moon by sending an unmanned probe called Luna-Glob, or Moon-Globe, there in 2015 on the first rocket to blast off from a new facility that Russia is building in its far eastern Amur region.

Satellites spy beetle attacks on forests
Live Science, Jan. 15, 2013
A computer program can detect minute changes in the health of forests by analyzing wavelengths of light given off by the landscape and recorded in satellite images.

Galaxies' crash sparks largest known spiral galaxy
BBC, Jan. 11, 2013
Astronomers using the Galaxy Evolution Explorer satellite to hunt for star-forming regions around galaxy NGC 6872 accidentaly spotted what now is the largest known spiral galaxy, a vast swathe of ultraviolet light from young stars, indicating a galaxy as big as five of our Milky Way galaxies.

The large rocky asteroid Apophis will not hit Earth in 2036
BBC, Jan. 11, 2013
Astronomers have decided a 300m-wide asteroid will not hit the Earth in 2036.

California's SpaceX plans astronaut flights in 2015
BBC, Jan. 10, 2013
The U.S. firm says it expects to start launching humans into orbit in its Dragon capsule.

Earth-sized planets number 17 billion
BBC, Jan. 8, 2013
Astronomers say one in six stars hosts an Earth-sized planet in a close orbit suggesting a total of 17 billion such planets in our galaxy.

100 billion alien planets fill our galaxy
Fox News, Jan. 5, 2013
Our Milky Way galaxy is home to at least 100 billion alien planets, and possibly many more.

Black Beauty meteorite points to Mars' kinder, gentler past
Tech News World, Jan. 5, 2013
A baseball-sized meteorite that contains more water than any previously found from Mars is adding evidence to the case for life on the Red Planet.

Carbon rich asteroids caused dark patches at protoplanet Vesta
French Tribune, Jan. 5, 2013
It had been thought that dark patches on Vesta came about from geological processes on the planet. However, now it seems the dark patches occurred from the collision of asteroids.

Dwarf galaxies found orbiting Andromeda confound scientists
Alaska Dispatch, Jan. 4, 2013
Thirteen dwarf galaxies are playing a cosmic-scale game of Ring Around Andromeda, forming an enormous structure astronomers have never seen before and are hard-pressed to explain with current theories of how galaxies form and evolve.

NASA says 2013 will be a year of science on the space station
Orlando Sentinel, Jan. 4, 2013
NASA will step closer to fulfilling the promise of the $100 billion space station that was intended to be a groundbreaking laboratory circling about 220 miles above Earth.

NASA's next Mars mission readies for 2013 launch
NASA, January 2013
The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission, scheduled for launch in late 2013, will be the first mission devoted to understanding the Martian upper atmosphere.

Astronomy calendar of celestial events for 2013
Sea & Sky, January 2013
Dates for notable celestial events including moon phases, meteor showers, eclipses, occultations, oppositions, conjunctions, and other interesting events.

Night sky highlights for 2013
MSNBC, January 2013
The year's most eagerly awaited shows in the skies above might not happen, but that's exactly what makes them so eagerly awaited.

First alien Earth will be found in 2013
Discovery, January 2013
The first truly Earth-like alien planet is likely to be spotted in an epic discovery that would cause humanity to reassess its place in the Universe.

blue info button2012 December

exoplanetTop space and astronomy stories of 2012
    NASA 2012 year in review
    NASA, December 2012
    Shuttles retired, Mercury ice, interstellar matter, Curiosity lands, Hubble discoveries, Orion spacecraft, commercial space, lost pioneers and more.

    Top 10 science stories of 2012
    CNN, Dec. 28, 2012
    Danger meets discovery: Curiosity on Mars, Baumgartner's jump from space, planet with four suns, nearby star has a planet, Vesta is a protoplanet, SpaceX to the space station.

    Top 10 space stories of 2012
    Astronomy, Dec. 28, 2012
    Astronomers found tiny galaxies ferociously forming stars, the most advanced planetary rover safely touched down on Mars, physicists discovered a particle theyÕve been seeking for 40 years, and more.

    The biggest astronomy stories of 2012
    Tech Hive, Dec. 28, 2012
    This year in geek: Mercury, Voyager 1, Hubble, exoplanets, commercial space, Curiosity, supersonic man, and more.

    The best astronomy images of 2012
    Slate, Dec. 19, 2012
    21 mind-bending shots.

Which countries were first to launch satellites?
Space Today Online, Dec. 13, 2012
A spacefaring nation is a country with a rocket powerful enough for space launches. Spacefaring nations are those which launch their own satellites to orbit. The first countries to loft their artificial moons to orbit above Earth are listed in chronological order.

North Korea puts satellite in orbit, prompting outrage
Spaceflight Now, Dec. 12, 2012
North Korea launched a three-stage rocket to deploy an object in orbit, catapulting the isolated nation into an elite club and raising international concerns over the country's long-range missile strike capabilities.
See: The first nations able to put their own satellites in orbit »

Onward and skyward
Science News, Dec. 1, 2012
With new efforts aimed at the stars, China seeks to revive its astronomical reputation.

blue info button2012 November

Mikhail Kornienko and Scott Kelly to stay a year at space station
ARRL, Nov. 27, 2012
Cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko of the Russian Federal Space Agency and NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly plan a one year mission aboard the International Space Station in 2015. They will collect scientific data important to future human exploration of our Solar System and to understand better how the human body reacts and adapts to the harsh environment of space as NASA plans for missions around the Moon, an asteroid and ultimately Mars.

Three hams return to Earth from ISS
ARRL, Nov. 20, 2012
A Soyuz spacecraft carrying Expedition 33 Commander Suni Williams, KD5PLB, and flight engineers Yuri Malenchenko, RK3DUP, and Aki Hoshide, KE5DNI, landed in the steppes of Kazakhstan, returning them safely to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) after 127 days in space.

First map produced of Universe 11 billion years ago
Reuters, Nov. 13, 2012
An international team of astronomers has produced the first map of the Universe as it was 11 billion years ago, filling a gap between the Big Bang and the rapid expansion that followed.

blue info button2012 October

NASA rover finds Mars' soil similar to Hawaii's
Reuters, Oct. 30, 2012
In the first inventory of minerals on another planet, NASA's Mars rover Curiosity found soil that bears a striking resemblance to weathered, volcanic sand in Hawaii.

International Space Station deploys five CubeSats
ARRL, Oct. 4, 2012
Five research CubeSats - all with Amateur Radio communication systems - were deployed from the International Space Station. The satellites were launched from the Kibo station module using a specially equipped robotic arm. The group includes TechEdSat, FITSAT-1, WE WISH, RAIKO, and F-1..

blue info button2012 September

Endeavour's final flight photo gallery
DVICE, Sept. 23, 2012
Space shuttle Endeavour made a last flight aboard the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft from Edwards Air Force Base to the California Science Center.

Astrochemistry enters a bold new era with ALMA
Astronomy Magazine, Sept. 21, 2012
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array is opening a new era of deciphering the chemistry of the universe.

Landsat 8 photo satellite to join 40-year mission
Associated Press, Sept. 21, 2012
The leet of NASA satellites for 40 years has documented forest fires, tsunamis and everyday changes in the Earth's geography.

Dawn spacecraft sees hydrated minerals on giant asteroid
Astronomy Magazine, Sept. 21, 2012
The giant asteroid Vesta has its own version of ring around the collar.

Curiosity Mars rover picks up the pace
BBC, Sept. 20, 2012
The Curiosity rover is making good progress towards its first major science destination on Mars.

President's signature, U.S. flag onboard Curiosity
NASA, Sept. 19, 2012
Curiosity's deck holds an anodized aluminum plaque bearing signatures of US officials, including President Obama and Vice President Biden, on the rover's 44th Martian day.

Snapshots of the Heavens: Amazing Astronomy Photos
Time Magazine, Sept. 19, 2012
The Royal Observatory culled 800 entries from astronomers and astro-photographers around the world to compile the best astronomy photos of the year.

Dark energy camera snaps first images ahead of survey
BBC, Sept. 18, 2012
Dark Energy Survey's 570-million-pixel camera, the most powerful sky-scanning camera yet built, will scan 300 million galaxies in the coming five years to pin down the mysterious stuff that makes up nearly three-quarters of our Universe.

Cosmonauts and astronaut land in Kazakhstan
CBS, Sept. 16, 2012
Two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA flight engineer bid their three International Space Station crewmates farewell Sunday, strapped into their Soyuz TMA-04M ferry craft, undocked from the lab complex and fell back to Earth, making a pinpoint landing in Kazakhstan to close out a 125-day voyage.

Girls launch their own high-interest STEM project into space
Edutopia, Sept. 14, 2012
Six middle-school girls from Bowling Green, Kentucky, got the idea to launch a camera into space. They had to learn everything from weather balloons to high-definition cameras, raise thousands of dollars to buy the gear, and address a host of technical challenges. Three months later, they had breathtaking photographic evidence from 22 miles above Earth to prove that they had accomplished their mission.

Dawn departs Vesta
USA Today, Sept. 5, 2012
NASA's Dawn spacecraft has spiraled out of the gravitational grasp of the asteroid on its way to explore another asteroid, Ceres, in 2015.

Spacewalking team repairs space station's power system
USA Today, Sept. 5, 2012
Astronauts have triumphed over a stubborn bolt on their second try.

Five obstacles to landing people on Mars
USA Today, Sept. 2, 2012
Sending humans on a mission to Mars will require overcoming outlandish obstacles.

blue info button2012 August

Twin probes launched to explore radiation belt
USA Today, Aug. 30, 2012
NASA's two-year mission to study Earth's Van Allen radiation belts is under way.

Neil_Armstrong and crew on Apollo11 commemorative buttonNeil Armstrong was the first man on the Moon
Mars rover CuriosityCuriosity rover at Mars
Astronomer Sir Bernard Lovell dies
BBC, August 7, 2012
The inquisitive scientist founded the University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank Observatory with the the Lovell Radio Telescope.

India set to launch Mars mission in 2013
AFP, Aug. 2, 2012
India plans to put an orbital probe around the Red Planet to study its climate and geology. India also is planning its first manned spaceflight in 2016..

Students blend astronomy and social media
Hays Free Press, August 1, 2012
tudents learned how telescopes work and how to collect data and shared their experiences through social media outlets.

blue info button2012 July

High energy stereoscopic telescope sees first light
Astronomy Magazine, July 27, 2012
The largest-ever Cerenkov telescope, looking out from Namibia, is dedicated to observing the most violent and extreme phenomena of the Universe in high-energy gamma rays.

Sally Ride, an American woman who shattered the space ceiling
New York Times, July 23, 2012
The first American woman to fly in space, Dr. Sally Ride, died July 23 at her home in San Diego. She was 61.

Astronomers spot a primordial pinwheel, the oldest prominent spiral galaxy yet
Scientific American, July 19, 2012
Three billion years after the Big Bang, most galaxies were clumpy and odd-shaped, but at least one had already assumed a familiar form.

The shuttle Enterprise goes on display in New York
BBC, July 19, 2012
The craft, completed in 1976, was NASA's first shuttle orbiter. It was not intended to fly into space. Instead, it performed test flights within Earth's atmosphere and paved the way for the five operational shuttles that followed.

Cassini spies bright-blue daytime lightning on Saturn
Fox News, July 19, 2012
NASA's Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn has captured an amazing view of lightning as bright blue spots inside a giant storm that raged on the ringed planet last year.

Vegan food for astronauts on the first Mars mission
One Green Planet, July 19, 2012
Remember astronaut ice cream, freeze-dried in a foil pouch? Or astronaut food squeezed out of tubes? Times have changed. The crew of the 2030 Mars mission will have fresh fruits and vegetables and live plants.

Planet UCF 1.01 discovered by Florida scientists
Orlando Sentinel, July 18, 2012
University of Central Florida scientists discovered another planet outside our Solar System. It is the closest Earth-size planet ever discovered. They named it UCF after their school.

Pioneer spacecraft anomaly solved, and it's not new physics
Los Angeles Times, July 18, 2012
A Jet Propulsion Laboratory researcher has solved the unexpected slowing of the two Pioneer spacecraft as the result of heat radiated by the spacecraft.

A half century of pioneering the skies at Palomar
CNET, July 17, 2012
After observing quasars and supernovae with its huge mirrors, storied Palomar Observatory, northeast of San Diego, still beckons scientists with its 200-inch telescope.

Discovery Channel wide-field telescope focuses for you
USA Today, July 16, 2012
The storied Lowell Observatory's new Discovery Channel Telescope in Arizona will bring asteroids hurtling past Earth, comets burning in the solar wind and frozen worlds whirling at the edge of our Solar System into your living room.

Russian Soyuz blasts off with crew for the space station
BBC, July 15, 2012
A Russian rocket has blasted off from Kazakhstan with a a three-man crew of Russian, Japanese and American astronauts bound for the International Space Station (ISS).

Satellites have an electric future
BBC, July 14, 2012
One of the most interesting trends in satellite production in the next few years is likely to be the wide introduction of electric ion propulsion units replacing the chemical thrusters used to maneuver them in space.

What happened to Hilton's hotel on the Moon?
BBC, July 13, 2012
It is more than half a century since the idea of a Hilton hotel on the Moon was first mentioned.

NASA could be 'terrified' at Mars landing
Los Angeles Times, July 11, 2012
NASA's Mars mission aims to determine whether conditions existed at any time to support microbial life on the Red Planet.

Hubble discovers new Pluto moon
BBC, July 11, 2012
Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have discovered a fifth moon circling the dwarf planet Pluto, with an irregular shape between 6 and 15 miles across.

Virgin Galactic to launch small satellites
BBC, July 11, 2012
Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic private company is pushing ahead with its small satellite launch system.

Huge vortex spied on Saturn moon
BBC, July 11, 2012
Nasa's Cassini spacecraft has spotted a swirling green mass of gas at the south pole of Saturn's moon Titan.

Move to open sky for Skylon spaceplane
BBC, July 11, 2012
The UK government is working to put in place regulations that would license the operation of spaceplanes in European airspace.

Asteroid named for gay rights pioneer Frank Kameny
Associated Press, July 10, 2012
A Canadian amateur astronomer has named an asteroid he discovered after a U.S. gay rights pioneer, who died in Washington in 2011.

blue info button2012 June

World's most powerful rocket launches secret US satellite
Christian Science Monitor, June 29, 2012
The NROL-15 spy satellite blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida atop a Delta 4-Heavy booster, the most powerful liquid hydrogen rocket engines ever built.

Astronomers' old trick opens new window on extrasolar planets
Christian Science Monitor, June 27, 2012
A method astronomers have used for nearly 20 years to indirectly find planets orbiting other stars has for the first time been used to take the direct measure of an extrasolar planet itself.

New NASA game lets players build and launch a virtual rocket
MarketWatch, June 27, 2012
With NASA's Rocket Science 101, a game for iPads and computers, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to launch a spacecraft.

Meteor metal among Solar System's oldest
UPI, June 26, 2012
U.S. scientists have discovered a primitive mineral in a meteorite that they believe to be among the oldest minerals formed in the Solar System.

China flagChina launches its first female astronaut
Voyager 1 is at the edge of the Solar System
UPI, June 15, 2012
NASA data from its Voyager 1 spacecraft show the venerable deep-space explorer, launched in 1977, has nearly reached the edge of the Solar System.

Hobby-Eberly Telescope measures two stars with one planet
Penn State Live, June 1, 2012
Penn State astronomers have measured a pair of stars orbited by one planet – like the stellar system of the fictional planet Tatooine in the movie Star Wars. The orbits of the stars and planet in the system, named Kepler 16, are aligned so that they eclipse each other when observed from Earth.

blue info button2012 May

First private space telescope may hunt asteroids
New Scientist, May 31, 2012
A private, non-profit organization plans to launch a space telescope dedicated to finding deadly asteroids before they find us - a project that governments have been slow to take up.

SpaceX Falcon 9 Dragon launch to space station
NASA, May 22, 2012
The flight by Space Exploration Technologies was part of its contract with NASA to have private companies launch cargo safely to the International Space Station.

blue info button2012 April

Marathon mouse space mission boosts bone protection
New Scientist, April 7, 2012
A group of mice have returned to Earth after the longest mission any animal has endured in space. The mice were floating around for 91 days to test a way to prevent the breakdown of bone.

blue info button2012 March

Jupiter moon's ocean may be too acidic for life
Yahoo, March 4, 2012
The ocean underneath the icy shell of Jupiter's moon Europa might be too acidic to support life.

Rocket passes big test for first private launch to space
Yahoo, March 4, 2012
A private SpaceX rocket sailed through a dress rehearsal for launch of a Dragon capsule soon to the International Space Station.

Oxygen envelops Saturn's icy moon
BBC, March 2, 2012
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has detected oxygen around one of Saturn's icy moons, Dione.

Galactic collision creates mysterious dark core
Christian Science Monitor, March 2, 2012
Images captured by the Hubble Space Telescope reveal a mysterious clump of dark matter left behind after a massive collision in galaxy cluster Abell 520.

blue info button2012 February

Possible 2018 mission means Mars exploration not totally dead
Dvice, Feb. 29, 2012
NASA scrapes together funds from human spaceflight and space technology to make something happen in the next six years.

How to capture images of stars
USA Today, Feb. 28, 2012
Digital technology has done wonders for making astrophotography easy and affordable, with few extra tools needed.   Astropix.com »

China will attempt to dock with its space station module
Washington Post, Feb. 17, 2012
China this summer will send three astronauts to dock with and live inside an experimental orbiting module launched last year.

Russian cosmonauts take six-hour stroll in space
The Register, UK, Feb. 17, 2012
Flight Engineers Oleg Kononenko and Anton Shkaplerov moved a crane and did other outside housekeeping at the International Space Station in preparation for a new lab and docking module.

Mysterious Great Eruption of Eta Carinae is a star that didn't die
ars technica, Feb. 16, 2012
During the 19th century, the Eta Carinae star system suddenly became the second-brightest in the night sky, then faded. It released energy as if the star had gone supernova, yet Eta Carinae somehow survives to this day.

Celebrating John Glenn's feat 50 years later
San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 16, 2012
He was the first American to orbit the Earth, aboard the Mercury capsule Friendship 7 on Feb. 20, 1962.

Hubble finds a relic of a shredded galaxy
ESA/Hubble, Feb. 15, 2012
Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have found a cluster of young blue stars surrounding a mid-sized black hole that probably formed at the heart of a now-disintegrated dwarf galaxy.

Privately-built Xombie rocket makes first free-flight for NASA
Washington Post, Feb. 15, 2012
Masten Space Systems' private unmanned rocket made its first autonomous free-flight at the Mojave Air and Space Port in the California desert as part of a NASA program exploring vertical landing systems for Solar System exploration.

President Obama kills later exploration of Mars and outer planets
Wired, Feb. 13, 2012
The U.S. 2013 budget takes a deep bite out of Mars and outer-planet science.

Iran has launched its third space satellite
Christian Science Monitopr, Feb. 3, 2012
The Middle Eastern nation launched a small Earth-observing satellite into orbit, marking the country's first successful mission since a failed attempt to put a monkey in space.

Space voyages shouldn't become politically incorrect
MSNBC, Feb. 3, 2012
Politicians ask why we should spend money on space programs and going to Mars, when we need dollars here on Earth? The answer is in the benefits of the space program we see all around us.

Spectacular new high-resolution image of our 'Blue Marble'
Wired UK, Feb. 3, 2012
NASA used the planet-pointing satellite, Suomi NPP, to snap an extremely high-resolution photograph that is the 2012 version of the famous Blue Marble image of our watery world.

Does our Milky Way galaxy have an evil twin?
Christian Science Monitor, Feb. 3, 2012
The Hubble Space Telescope has photographed the galaxy NGC 1073, a barred spiral twin to our own Milky Way.

Newly seen 'super Earth' is at just the right distance for life
National Geographic, Feb. 2, 2012
A planet that probably is a rocky super Earth has been found squarely within its star's habitable zone, making it one of the best candidates yet to support life.

NASA makes first ever video of the dark side of the Moon
Fopx News, Feb. 2, 2012
A gravity-mapping Grail spacecraft orbiting the Moon has beamed home its first video of the lunar far side – a view people on Earth never see.

NASA identifies high-priority technologies for next 5 years
Information Week, Feb. 2, 2012
Recommendations, in pursuit of NASA's goals for space exploration and better understanding of Earth, focus on 16 technologies from radiation mitigation to solar power.

We're living in a space cloud
Discovery, Feb. 1, 2012
A NASA robotic probe sampling particles flowing into our Solar System from our galactic neighborhood shows we're living in a cloud – and likely to stay in it for thousands of years.

blue info button2012 January

With the Sun's activity set to diminish, is global cooling coming?
Fox News, Jan. 31, 2012
The debate over global warming may be heating up again amid new scientific evidence that the Sun's activity is cooling down, which might cause temperatures to fall on planet Earth.

Russian Mars probe splashes Into Pacific Ocean
Mashable, Jan. 15, 2012
The failed Russian space probe, Phobos-Grunt, that was slated to visit the Martian moon Phobos, instead dropped into Earth's Pacific Ocean.

Scientists gear up to take a picture of a black hole
PhysOrg, Jan. 14, 2012
By imaging the glow of matter swirling around a black hole before it goes over the edge of the point of no return and plunges into the abyss of space and time, scientists can see the outline or shadow of the black hole.

International Space Station maneuvers to dodge space junk
The Mirror, UK, Jan. 13, 2012
Thrusters were fired to move the ISS up to avoid being struck by a piece of space junk just larger than a cricket ball from an old communications satellite.

Tiny planet triplets orbit dwarf star
Futurity, jan. 13, 2012
The trio are rocky, smaller than Earth and orbit a star too closely to be in its habitable zone where the temperature is mild enough for liquid water and possibly life to exist..

Hubble spies earliest galaxy cluster ever seen
Astronomy Now, Jan. 12, 2012
Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have uncovered a distant cluster of five tiny very young galaxies in the initial stages of construction 13.1 billion light years away.

New tool peers through the heart of the Milky Way
Gant Daily, Jan. 12, 2012
The infrared spectrograph can address a wide range of scientific issues from precise masses of eclipsing binary stars to the composition of M-dwarfs, the most common type of stars in our Milky Way galaxy.

Amazing astronomy illustrations from the 1800s
LiveScience, Jan. 11, 2012
Recently digitized drawings by a 19th-century artist reveal stunning sunspots, auroras and even planetary bodies as they were observed in the Victorian era. .

Astronomers see more planets than stars in galaxy
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jan. 11, 2012
The more astronomers look for other worlds, the more they find that it's a crowded and crazy cosmos.

A fat cluster of galaxies is named El Gordo
AccuWeather, Jan. 11, 2012
The most massive, hottest, most X-rays of any cluster found so far at great distance – consisting of two separate galaxy subclusters colliding at millions of miles per hour – is so far away that its light has traveled seven billion years to reach Earth.

Stars are a window to science
Charlotte Observer, Jan. 9, 2012
Astronomy institute in Western North Carolina draws kids in.

How the Universe evolved from nothing
Associated Press, Jan. 9, 2012
Theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss's book follows his hugely popular YouTube video.   video » 1:04:52

Tracing dark matter with ripples in the Whirlpool Galaxy
Universe Today, Jan. 9, 2012
Ripples in the outer gas mirror the underlying dark matter revealing that hydrogen in the disk is wrapped loosely around the galaxy's central bulge.

Astronaut to lead starship effort
BBC, Jan. 5, 2012
Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman to go into space, has been chosen by NASA and the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to lead the 100-Year Starship project that will take humanity to the stars.

Stars that ring like bells
Science 2.0, Jan. 5, 2012
The planet-hunting Kepler space telescope is finding we can see, but not, hear sonic pressure waves generated from stars.

America's secret spaceplane may be spying on China
BBC, Jan. 5, 2012
America's 29-ft. model of a space shuttle, the X-37B spaceplane, may be spying on China's Tiangong laboratory in space. The U.S. robot craft has a payload bay similar to a van and can descend through the atmosphere to a runway.
Images:   X-37B spaceplane   Tiangong spacelab

Unlocking cosmology with type 1a supernovae
Universe Today, Jan. 5, 2012
Cosmologists publish papers that constrain the size of the visible Universe, the rate of its breakneck expansion, and the distance to galaxies that lie closer and closer to the edges of both time and space. Type 1a Supernova. How exactly do they do it?

How bad can a coronal mass ejection be?
AccuWeather, Jan. 4, 2012
NASA has said Earth will face a barrage of increasingly common solar storms known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) during 2012 and 2013.

NASA's Grail-A and Grail-B gravity twins are circling the Moon
BBC, Jan. 1, 2012
The U.S. space agency has placed the two satellites in elliptical orbits around the lunar body to map gravity variations across the Moon in unprecedented detail.

blue info button2011 December

Where would Earth-like planets find water?
Discovery, Dec. 30, 2011
Astronomers have been finding extrasolar planets in the habitable zones surrounding their stars. This is the 'Goldilocks Zone' where temperatures are just right for water to remain in liquid form and presumably nurture life as we know it..

Dazzling satellite view of vast, bright Moon crater
Wired Magazine, Dec. 30, 2011
The enormous crater Aristarchus can be seen with the naked eye and modest binoculars enhance the view. NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter snapped an image as it swooped down to 16 miles above the lunar surface, just twice as high as airliners fly on Earth.

Space mountain produces terrestrial meteorites
NASA, Dec. 30, 2011
The discovery of a towering mountain on the giant asteroid Vesta could solve a longstanding mystery: How did so many pieces of the giant asteroid end up right here on our own planet?

NASA is not a priority for most presidential candidates
Boston Herald, Dec. 29, 2011
Of all the presidential candidates, the election of Newt Gingrich likely would have the greatest effect on NASA for one simple reason. He would pay attention to it.

Twin probes about to enter Moon orbit
TG Daily, Dec. 29, 2011
NASA's twin GRAIL-A and GRAIL-B spacecraft are entering orbit around the Moon to study its composition and gravity field.

Two planets survived the death of their suns
Time Magazine, Dec. 29, 2011
Kepler Space Telescope revealed planets that were swallowed by their stars and lived to tell the tale.

China's spaceflight plans through 2016 are far-reaching
USA Today, Dec. 29, 2011
China plans to launch space labs and manned craft and prepare to build space stations over the next five years. Its eventual goals are to have a space station and put an astronaut on the Moon. By the end of 2016, China will launch space laboratories, manned spacecraft and spave freighters, and make technological preparations for the construction of space stations, according to a new five-year plan.

2011 end-of-year logo2011 end-of-year wrap-up stories
    Top space weather and astronomy events of 2011
    Washington Post, Jan. 5, 2012
    The news ranged from spectacular auroral displays and effects on communications, power grids and satellite operations, to meteor showers, comets, solar and lunar eclipses, and space exploration.

    2011's top mysteries of space
    The Week, Dec. 29, 2011
    Between a giant planet made of diamond and a massive stellar explosion that shone with the light of a trillion suns, 2011 was quite a year for stargazers.

    Hunt for 'Goldilocks Planet' is among top 2011 sci-tech stories
    Radio Free Europe, Dec. 29, 2011
    The astronomical search came in third in RFE/RL's list of the most intriguing breakthroughs in the world of science and technology this past year.

    Best picks of space and astronomy pics from 2011
    Universe Today, Dec. 28, 2011
    The year 2011 was picturesque, bringing discovery of a supernova, the end of an era in human spaceflight, and more.

    2011 photo highlights from Saturn
    Spaceflight Now, Dec. 27, 2011
    NASA's Cassini spacecraft circling Saturn returned scores of picturesque scenes of the giant planet and its moons in 2011. The color images show not only the planet Saturn, but also its methane-rich moon Titan and some of the planet's other rocky satellites. Scientists have discovered 62 moons orbiting Saturn. Cassini is in an extended mission to study Saturn through 2017.

    The must-see outerspace travel videos of 2011
    First Post, Dec. 22, 2011
    Cool space and science videos from an historic year in space.

    A brighter future for spaceflight
    Space Travel, Australia, Dec. 21, 2011
    These are probably the worst times the spaceflight community has experienced in decades. But there's reason for hope.

    Space lasts and firsts in 2011
    EE Times, Dec. 21, 2011
    It was a year of lasts and firsts in space exploration. There was a growing list of space firsts during 2011 that have greatly accelerated man's understanding of the Universe.

    Most amazing astronomy stories – 11 in 2011
    MSNBC, Dec. 21, 2011
    From imaging of potentially habitable faraway planets, detection of another moon around Pluto, and lunar and solar eclipses, astronomical research in 2011 made extraordinary strides and raised questions for the future.

    Astronomy discoveries in 2011
    The Quad, Boston University, December, 2011
    2011 was an important year for astronomy, and with more advances in our capabilities to explore the Universe, 2012 might be even more impressive.

    NASA's biggest news in 2011
    NASA, Dec. 20, 2011
    NASA planned for human exploration of deep space, fostered commercial spaceflight and made major outerspace discoveries in 2011.
Christmas Wreath with pinecone and redribbonChristmas stories
Russian satellite chunk hits house on Siberia's Cosmonaut Street
Agence France-Presse, Dec. 23, 2011
A fragment of a Russian satellite that crashed into Siberia struck a residential house on a street named after cosmonauts.

NASA is using smartphone-driven robots at the ISS
Information Week, Dec., 27, 2011
Small satellites powered by modified smartphones act as astronaut assistants aboard the International Space Station.

ISS astronaut shoots movie of sungrazer Comet Lovejoy
National Geographic, Dec. 22, 2011
Time-lapse video shot through a window of the International Space Station by Commander Dan Burbank shows Earth's horizon at dawn with lightning storms, stars and Comet Lovejoy rising above and beyond the atmosphere.

Hubble offers a glimpse of the dawn of time
The Daily Mail, UK, Dec. 22, 2011
An image of the cold and dark Universe shows a unique galaxy forming at the rate of 100 suns a year just 750 million years after the Big Bang when the Universe was a mere five percent of its current age.

Hubble spots possibly organic carbon compounds on Pluto's surface
Popular Science, Dec. 21, 2011
The Hubble Space Telescope has sniffed out evidence of complex carbon molecules, the building blocks of life, on the frozen surface of the distant dwarf Solar System planet Pluto.

Russian, European, American astronauts are 30th expedition to the space station
Spaceflight Now, Dec. 21, 2011
A Russian Soyuz rocket lifted a three-man all-veteran crew from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to Earth orbit enroute to the International Space Station.

New 'deep fried' planets found are survivors of star death
National Geographic, Dec. 21, 2011
Two newfound Earth-size planets seen by NASA's Kepler Space Telescope probably are charred survivors of a near-death encounter with their fading parent star.

Scientists thrilled by new images of asteroid Vesta
CBS, Dec. 21, 2011
NASA's Dawn spacecraft has sent home more than 10,000 pictures of the asteroid Vesta since it slipped into orbit around the giant space rock in summer 2011.

It seems Earth usually may have a second moon
PhysOrg, Dec. 21, 2011
Sometimes near Earth orbit (NEO) comets and asteroids get pulled in by the Earth-Moon system's gravity to become moons of Earth temporarily.

NASA's RXTE satellite may have found the smallest black hole
Forbes, Dec. 17, 2011
After astronomers recently discovered what may be the largest black holes in the Universe, they now may have found the smallest.

Comet Lovejoy survives brush with the Sun
PC Magazine, Dec. 16, 2011
The first sungrazing comet to be discovered by an observer on the ground in more than 40 years did not disintegrate, was not vaporized, as it passed our star, and retains much of its brilliance as it moves away.

Russia's Mars probe to plunge to Earth in January
USA Today, Dec. 16, 2011
The unmanned Phobos-Ground Mars probe stuck in Earth's orbit will plummet to Earth between Jan. 6 and Jan. 19.

Our supermassive black hole will eat gas cloud
BBC, Dec. 14, 2011
A giant gas cloud is spiraling at 5 million mph along a squashed-oval path toward the supermassive black hole at the heart of our Milky Way galaxy. It t will arrive in the middle of 2013 providing our first close-up look at a black hole consuming a cloud.

Nasa's space harpoon will take samples from comets
BBC, Dec. 14, 2011
Engineers say it will be safer to collect material from the big frozen chunks of ice, gas and dust using the harpoon rather than trying to land on the celestial bodies. The samples should reveal the origins of the planets and how life was created on Earth.

Russian space designer Boris Chertok dies at 99
USA Today, Dec. 14, 2011
Russian rocket designer Boris Chertok, who played a key role in engineering Soviet-era space victories, died of pneumonia at age 99. He was involved in orbiting the world's first satellite in 1957 and preparing the first human spaceflight in 1961. He once was deputy to the father of the Soviet space program, Sergei Korolyov.

Giant plane to launch people and cargo into orbit
USA Today, Dec. 13
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and aerospace pioneer Burt Rutan are building a giant airplane and spaceship to zip people and cargo to orbit.

50th anniversary of the first Orbital Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio OSCAR 1
ARRL QST, Dec. 12, 2011
On December 12, 1961, the first amateur radio satellite, OSCAR 1, was launched to Earth orbit.

Japan launches its second spy satellite this year
Associated Press, Dec. 12, 2011
Japan successfully put a spy satellite into orbit from Tanegashima Island and expects to complete its network of intelligence-gathering spacecraft with a launch in 2012.

Volcanoes on Io
BBC, 2011
Professor Brian Cox, a particle physicist at the University of Manchester, explains the incredible volcanism on Jupiter's moon Io, the most geologically active object in the Solar System. Video, 5:20

SpaceX poised to make history with space station docking
Los Angeles Times, Dec. 9, 2011
The private Hawthorne, California, venture SpaceX will attempt the first-ever commercial cargo run to the International Space Station in February 2012. Its Dragon space capsule will dock with the $100-billion International Space Station – a feat that's been accomplished only by the world's wealthiest nations.

Mars rover Opportunity finds 'most powerful' water clue
BBC, Dec. 8, 2011
The aging rover has found slivers of a bright material that looks very much like gypsum, which is calcium sulphate, an unambiguous signal of water activity on the Red Planet.

A major milestone in the search for Earth's twin
Reuters, Dec. 6, 2011
The most Earth-like planet ever discovered is circling a star 600 light years away, a key finding in an ongoing quest to learn if life exists beyond Earth. Kepler-22b, on the list of more than 500 planets found to orbit stars beyond our Solar System, is the smallest and the best positioned to have liquid water on its surface.

New views of giant asteroid Vesta revealed
Taiwan News, Dec. 6, 2011
NASA's Dawn spacecraft has beamed back stunning images of the massive asteroid Vesta revealing it is more like a planet than an asteroid.

How to picture the size of the Universe
Wired News, Dec . 6, 2011
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has produced the deepest image of the universe ever taken when astronomers pointed Hubble at one small patch of the sky for several months and recording every tiny photon of light they could capture.

Final space shuttle commander leaving NASA
Florida Today, Dec. 5, 2011
Chris Ferguson, a veteran of three shuttle missions and the last astronaut to command a space shuttle, is retiring from NASA after 11 years.

Alien planets get pigeonholed
MSNBC, Dec. 5, 2011
Researchers have set up an online "periodic table," known as the Habitable Exoplanets Catalog, for extrasolar planets ranging from so-called Hot Mercurians to Cold Jovians, with Earth-like worlds right in the middle.

Record massive black holes discovered lurking in monster galaxies
UC Berkeley, Dec. 5, 2011
Astronomers have seen the largest black holes to date – two monsters with masses equivalent to 10 billion Suns that are threatening to consume anything, even light, within a region five times the size of our Solar System..

Incredible spinning star rotates at a million miles per hour
Universe Today, Dec. 5, 2011
The massive, bright, young, hot blue giant star, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, called VFTS 102, rotates at a million miles per hour, or 300 times faster than our Sun does.

New Horizons becomes closest spacecraft to approach Pluto
NASA, Dec. 3, 2011
NASA's New Horizons mission has reached a special milestone on its way to reconnoiter the Pluto system, coming closer to the dwarf planet than any other spacecraft.
Video» Dwarf Planet Mysteries Beckon to New Horizons 2:45

Massive 18 new planets discovered
Hindustan Times, India, Dec. 3, 2011
Using twin telescopes at the Keck Observatory in Hawaii, Caltech astronomers have discovered 18 new Jupiter-like planets orbiting massive stars.

Europe ends calls to stranded Mars probe
BBC, Dec. 3, 2011
It is looking increasingly grim for Russia's Mars probe stuck circling the Earth since its launch in early November. Other than brief radio contact, there has been silence. The European Space Agency is ceasing further attempts to get a signal.

Strange red galaxies a 'missing link' in history of the Universe?
Christian Science Monitor, Dec. 2, 2011
The discovery of four ruby-red, dim galaxies at the farthest fringes of the Universe help scientists understand how the earliest galaxies evolved to become what we see today.

Hot on trail of 'just right' far-off planet
New York Times, Dec. 2, 2011
In the last few years, astronomers have announced they have found planets orbiting stars in a sweet spot known as the habitable zone – not too hot, not too cold – where water and perhaps life are possible.

U.S. Air Force X-37B space plane orbital cruise extended
Engadget, Dec. 2, 2011
The billion-dollar robotic vehicle's spaceflight has been extended beyond the 270 days of its initial design.

Astronomers catch final moments of a death star before supernova strikes
Daily Mail, UK, Dec. 1, 2011
A fairly nondescript star system in the Whirpool galaxy suddenly caught astronomers' attention this summer as it went supernova.

Newfound alien planet is hot enough to melt iron
The Register, UK, Dec. 1, 2011
NASA's Kepler Space Telescope sees an Earth-sized exoplanet ideal for barbecues with a year less than three days.

The curious aftermath of Neptune's discovery
Physics Today, Dec. 1, 2011
Controversy following the sensational news of Neptune's observation in 1846 propelled U.S. astronomers to the international limelight.

blue info button2011 November

NASA's Kepler Space Telescope discovers super-Earth hot rod
Discovery News, Nov. 30, 2011
A planet about 1.6 times the radius of Earth has been found circling the Sun-like star Kepler-21.

AMSAT reports OSCAR 51 amateur radio satellite mission ends
ARRL QST, Nov. 29, 2011
AMSAT-OSCAR 51, the popular amateur radio FM repeater satellite, reached the end of its operational lifespan after seven years.

Liquid living worms survive space
BBC News, Nov. 29, 2011
Worm colonies can be established on space stations without the need for researchers to tend them.

NASA rover launched to seek out life clues on Mars
Reuters, Nov. 26, 2011
An unmanned Atlas 5 rocket blasted off from Florida, launching a nuclear-powered NASA rover toward Mars to look for clues on what could sustain life on the Red Planet.

Webb telescope probably will redefine history
SBS TV, Australia, Nov. 24, 2011
NASA's big new telescope could redefine our understanding of Earth's place in the universe, but it's not without an astronomical price tag.

NASA to launch massive Curiosity rover toward Mars
Scientific American, Nov. 24, 2011
Mars explorer is the biggest planetary rover ever built. It's bigger than a Smart car and weighs more than NASA's last three Mars rovers combined.

Stranded Russian Mars probe sends some signals
BBC, Nov. 24, 2011
The European Space Agency (ESA) contacted the stricken Russian probe Phobos-Grunt with partial success.

Russia could join a NASA-European Mars mission after losing its probe
Bloomberg, Nov. 24, 2011
Russia is talking to NASA and the European Space Agency about participating in Mars expeditions in 2016 and 2018.

Hubble captures a geriatric star dying in a puff of green smoke
The Daily Mail, UK, Nov. 24, 2011
Teetering on the edge of the faraway mass of stars known as globular cluster NGC 1846 is a little green puff that intrigued astronomers in a picture from the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys.

Most liveable alien worlds ranked
BBC, Nov. 23, 2011
Scientists list which moons and planets are most likely to harbor extra-terrestrial life.

Apollo 13 astronaut's notes up for auction
ABC TV News, Nov. 23, 2011
A famous set of notes scribbled by astronaut James Lovell aboard the failed Apollo 13 mission is at auction in Texas.

Sweet potatoes may someday soar high
Gannett, Nov. 23, 2011
The lowly tuber could feed astronauts traveling to Mars and beyond, according to research showing it could be grown in space as a major source of vitamin A, antioxidants and carbohydrates.

On one of Jupiter's moons, oceans, a lake – and life?
Time, Nov. 17, 2011
Europa, the innermost icy satellite of the giant planet, has a tortured, young surface, which may have lakes and oceans, and hold life.

Astronomers make high-resolution topographical map of Moon
Wired Magazine, Nov. 17, 2011
Astronomers at Arizona State University used NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to build a stunning map of the Moon – the highest-resolution, near-global topographic image of our lunar neighbor yet.

After 34 years in space, the Voyager spacecraft fly on and on and on
Time, Nov. 11, 2011
The creaky old spacecraft add 330 million miles to their odometers every year – each mile is a new distance record for the reach of the human species. Now the Voyagers are poised to pass the outermost boundary of the Solar System into the truly uncharted regions of interstellar space.

Russia to restart planetary exploration with Mars probe
Spaceflight Now, Nov. 7, 2011
Russia will launch on Nov. 8 the Phobos-Grunt probe to a moon of Mars, resuming the country's exploration of the Solar System after funding woes and mission failures hindered progress over the last two decades. The ambitious Phobos-Grunt, first conceived in the 1990s, will attempt to enter orbit around Mars, land on the Red Planet's potato-shaped moon Phobos, collect samples and return to Earth.

blue info button2011 October

Not such a stretch to reach for the stars
New York Times, Oct. 17, 2012
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) drew hundreds to a symposium on the 100-Year Starship Study, which is devoted to ideas for visiting the stars.

Famous telescope seeks new name
BBC, Oct. 14, 2011
The Very Large Array in New Mexico, one of the world's most famous radio telescope facilities, is in need of a new name.

Cleaning up the trash in space
The Week Magazine, Oct. 14, 2011
Since the Space Age began with the launch of Sputnik 54 years ago, we've turned the region just above Earth's atmosphere into a giant scrap yard, littered with everything from exploded rockets to tools lost during spacewalks.

NASA buys flights on Virgin Galactic's private spaceship
Fox News, Oct. 14, 2011
The space tourism company Virgin Galactic has struck a deal with NASA worth up to $4.5 million for research flights from New Mexico on SpaceShipTwo.

NASA plans to launch the James Webb Space Telescope in 2018
Miami Herald, Oct. 14, 2011
The telescope program, over budget and behind schedule, is planned for launch in 2018 and won't draw too heavily on resources for other projects, the NASA administrator said.

NASA's first step toward an asteroid will be wet
Houston Chronicle, Oct.14, 2011
NASA crew will train astronauts for asteroid mission in the sea for 13 days in the underwater Aquarius lab.

New NASA satellite to monitor Earth's weather and climate
MSNBC, Oct 12, 2011
In a clean room at the Astrotech Payload Processing Facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, technicians are preparing NASA's National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (NPP) spacecraft for flight.

New signs point to a billion planets in our galaxy where extra-terrestrials might be
Daily Mail, UK, Oct. 8, 2011
A computer model predicts that up to 1.2 per cent of planets could support life at any given time, with life-bearing planets being snuffed out and re-evolving life after supernovas bathed their surfaces in deadly radiation.

Supernova that lit up the skies 1,000 years ago still puzzling astronomers
Daily Mail, UK, Oct. 8, 2011
Researchers have detected pulses of gamma rays with energies exceeding 100 billion electron-volts coming from the Crab Nebula. These are a million times more energetic than medical X-rays and 100 billion times more than visible light..

Scientists predict that one-third of Sun-like stars might have Earth-like planets
Daily Mail, UK, Oct. 8, 2011
Analysis of data from the Kepler Space Telescope predicts that there may be more 'Earth-like' planets than previously thought.

Ski resort in space: scientist says snow flurries on Saturn's moon would make for perfect piste
Daily Mail, UK, Oct. 8, 2011
Mapping at the Lunar and Planetary Institute at Houston, Texas, has revealed the surface of Enceladus is covered in superfine ice crystals.

Space between the stars in the Milky Way looks like a writhing nest of vipers
Daily Mail, UK, Oct. 8, 2011
The Greeks and Romans looked at the skies and saw animals and gods, but the first picture of the gas between the stars looks more like a pit of snakes. Astronomers have been trying to snap it for 30 years.

The oldest stars in space: 10 billion-year-old supernovas spotted in the Subaru Deep Field
Daily Mail, UK, Oct. 8, 2011
A project spearheaded by Tel Aviv University researchers has revealed the massive number of supernovas in the Subaru Deep Field, a patch of sky the size of a full moon.

Nobel Prize discovery was made with Hawaii telescope
Pacific Business News, Oct. 8, 2011
The three U.S.-born scientists who won the Nobel Prize in physics made their discovery that the universe is expanding at an accelerating pace with the telescope at the W.M. Keck Observatory on the summit of Hawaii's Mauna Kea.

Venus ozone layer is a surprise
BBC, Oct.7, 2011
Scientists discover that Venus has an ozone layer high in its atmosphere, overturning the long-held view that it did not.

Did two giant collisions turn Uranus on its side?
Scientific American, Oct. 7, 2011
A pair of giant impacts early in solar system history could reconcile the dramatic tilt of Uranus with the equatorial orbit of its satellites.

Three exoplanets Hubble didn't discover earlier
Discovery Channel, Oct. 6, 2011
Hubble has done it again. The 21-year old space telescope has managed to pick out the impossibly faint glow from three worlds orbiting another star! However, this is a discovery with a huge difference: the image containing the star and its family of exoplanets was acquired in 1998..

Europeans planning closest solar probe ever
PC Magazine, Oct. 5, 2011
The European Space Agency (ESA) will send a probe closer to the Sun than has ever been attempted in an ambitious space mission expected to happen in 2017.

Comets were a water source for a thirsty early Earth
Reuters, Oct. 5, 2011
Astronomers have found the first comet with ocean-like water in a major boost to the theory that the celestial bodies were a significant source of water for a thirsty early Earth.

Citizen scientists help find life on Mars
MSNBC, Oct. 1, 2011
Interested in helping NASA scientists pinpoint where to look for signs of life on Mars? Join MAPPER for the 2011 field season.

Scientists zero in on black hole
MSNBC, Oct. 1, 2011
Astronomers used a quintet of space telescopes to look at the tumult surrounding a supermassive black hole and found a horribly messy eater.

blue info button2011 September

How old is the Universe?
STO, September 2011
Many astronomers say the Universe is 13.7 billion years old, plus or minus 10 percent. How do they know? There are four approaches to calculating the age.

Timeline of first orbital launches by country
Wikipedia, Sept. 30, 2011
While a number of countries have built satellites, only a few have developed the capability to send objects into orbit using their own launch vehicles.

SpaceX aims to build fully reusable space transports
MSNBC, Sept. 30, 2011
Millionaire space entrepreneur Elon Musk says his next-generation launch system is essential for Mars trips.    YouTube video, 3:58, »

Messenger findings to revolutionize views of Mercury
Los Angeles Times, Sept. 30, 2011
Data from the spacecraft orbiting the tiny planet next to the Sun indicate it has a lopsided magnetic field, a surprising abundance of sulfur and unusual hollows on its surface.

Heavenly Palace: China launches first element of space station
BBC, Sept. 29, 2011
A Long March rocket carrying China's first space laboratory, Tiangong-1, has launched from the Jiuquan spaceport in the Gobi Desert to an orbit some 350km above Earth.

After winning coveted shuttle, New York City museum changes the plan for it
New York Times, Sept. 28, 2011
Officials hope to build a museum to house the shuttle Enterprise on a parking lot opposite the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum.

blue info button2011 August

Titan's giant arrow explained
TG Daily, Aug. 17, 2011
The giant white arrow on the surface of Titan, Saturn's largest moon, is not an 'X marks the spot' from aliens.

Aerobic life existed 300 million years earlier than thought
TG Daily, Aug. 17, 2011
Oxygen may have been sustaining life in Earth's oceans long before there was any trace of it in the atmosphere.

575-Ft asteroid to zoom past Earth in cosmic close call
Irish Weather Online, Aug. 17, 2011
The third near-Earth asteroid of 2011 will pass between the moon and Earth.

Private spacecraft set to dock with ISS in November
Dvice, Aug. 17, 2011
For the first time, a private, commercial spacecraft will launch into Earth orbit and autonomously dock at the International Space Station.

Hubble Telescope captures Necklace Nebula
International Business Times, Aug. 12, 2011
The dying binary star 15,000 lightyears away has reflective gases in a circle of blue, green and red that resemble a jeweled necklace..

Orion spaceship set for new round of tests
AP, Aug. 12, 2011
The Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle and abort system will be subjected to sound vibration tests.

Mars rover explores ancient crater Endeavour
BBC, Aug. 12, 2011
Mars exploration rover, Opportunity, moved across the planet surface.

Two galaxies caught on collision course
UPI, Aug. 12, 2011
Two galaxies are heading for a collision about 450 million light years from Earth.

NASA creates deep space mission department to explore asteroids and Mars
International Business Times, Aug. 12, 2011
NASA was charged by Uncle Sam to put astronauts on an asteroid by 2025, and Mars by mid 2030s.

Twin lunar spacecraft prepared for launch from Cape Canaveral
Florida Today, Aug. 12, 2011
Twin moon-bound spacecraft flying in formation in lunar orbit will produce a high-quality map of the moon's gravity field and determine the structure of its interior from crust to core.

Oddball exoplanet is darker than coal
Discovery, Aug. 11, 2011
A dark alien world reflects less than one percent of the starlight that falls on it, making it the blackest exoplanet known.

SETI project: We're listening again, ET
San Jose Mercury News, Aug. 11, 2011
Forty-two radio telescope dishes will restart listening for intelligent life in the Universe.

Award-winning physicist says now is not a good time to cut NASA
Ogden Standard-Examinar, Aug. 8, 2011
The space shuttle fleet has improved the lives of countless people across the United States.

NASA Mars rover on final approach to rim of huge crater
PC Magazine, Aug. 8, 2011
The rover Opportunity is at the rim of the Endeavour crater.

Meteorites carried life's building blocks to Earth
Agence France-Presse, Aug. 8, 2011
Analysis of carbon meteorites suggests they brought the building blocks for DNA to Earth.

Spacecraft Digest database is online
AGI, Aug. 7, 2011
An encyclopedic database lists more than 2,000 past, present, and planned satellites.

Antimatter belt surrounds Earth
BBC, Aug. 7, 2011
Researchers discover Earth's magnetic field holds a band of antimatter particles between the bands of normal matter particles.

Britain's Prince Harry wants to be a NASA astronaut
International Business Times, Aug. 7, 2011
Britain's prince is said to be obsessed with going to space and wants to enter NASA training.

Nearly 100 unknown Milky Way star clusters found
Christian Post, Aug. 6, 2011
Europe's infrared VISTA Variables Telescope at the Paranal Observatory discovered 96 previously undetectable star clusters.

Juno spacecraft leaves Earth for long journey to Jupiter
CBS, Aug. 5, 2011
An Atlas 5 rocket launched NASA's solar-powered Juno probe on a five-year voyage to Jupiter.

Boeing pilots to make space trip
BBC, Aug. 5, 2011
Two Boeing employees will crew the first manned mission of its new astronaut capsule the CST-100 in 2015.

Post-shuttle U.S. space explorers need not be human
Reuters, Aug. 4, 2011
The U.S. space spotlight shifts toward space exploration without human beings on board.

Water on Mars? Scientists have found the strongest evidence yet
Washington Post, Aug. 4, 2011
For decades, space scientists have searched Mars for signs of water, the liquid generally believed to be essential for life.

Earth may once have had two moons
BBC, Aug. 3, 2011
A theory suggests Earth once had a small second moon that perished in a slow motion collision with its big sister.

Oxygen finally spotted in space
BBC, Aug. 2, 2011
Astronomers using the Herschel space telescope spot molecular oxygen in space for the first time.

Dawn spacecraft gets cozy with massive asteroid
MSNBC, Aug. 1, 2011
Scientists are poring over images of the massive asteroid Vesta, the first time it has been photographed up close.

SpaceX preps for Red Planet living in a colony on Mars
PC Magazine, Aug. 1, 2011
Space Exploration Technologies believes trips to Mars will be as commonplace as a trip to Europe in just several decades.

blue info button2011 July

Weird moon crater may be crash site of old NASA spacecraft
Tehran Times, July 31, 2011
A strange-looking scar on the moon has astronomers wondering whether the cause of this peculiar impact feature is a piece of space debris that smashed into the lunar surface or a spacecraft that made a planned crash landing decades ago.

International Space Station springboard to far space
Voice of Russia, July 30, 2011
The ISS will be used for testing technologies to build a permanent base on the Moon and organize manned missions to asteroids and the planet Mars.

SpaceX plans commercial cargo launch to space station
Reuters, July 28, 2011
Space Exploration Technologies, a privately owned firm developing a space taxi with U.S.-government backing, plans to launch a test capsule to the International Space Station.

Nine space stars who should have gone to orbit
MSNBC, July 23, 2011
A total of 355 people flew on U.S. space shuttles. Of those, 299 were Americans. Seven of them also had made pre-shuttle flights. About 90 percent of all Americans who have ever gone into orbit did so in a shuttle. Even so, there are others who should have flown aboard shuttles.

Astronomers find largest, most distant reservoir of water
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, July 22, 2011
Two teams have discovered the largest and farthest reservoir of water ever detected in the Universe. The water, equivalent to 140 trillion times all the water in the world's ocean, surrounds a huge black hole, called a quasar, more than 12 billion light-years away.

Vesta rock turns for Dawn probe
BBC, July 22, 2011
The giant asteroid Vesta is revealing more of itself to the US space agency's Dawn mission.

NASA's next rover destination will be a mountain on Mars
New York Times, July 22, 2011
NASA's Mars Science Laboratory nuclear-powered rover Curiosity will land at Gale Crater, a 96-mile-wide depression near the Martian equator with a three-mile-high mountain at its center.

Beautiful exoplanet aurorae is 1000 times brighter than on Earth
TG Daily, July 22, 2011
The aurorae are 100 to 1000 times more luminescent than on Earth.

Race to the moon heats up for private firms
New York Times, July 21, 2011
The next generation of space entrepreneurs is whipping up excitement over returning to the Moon.

End of the space shuttle era
    Atlantis' triumphant swan song ends 30-year space shuttle program
    AP, July 21, 2011
    Thousands were on hand at Cape Canaveral for the touchdown of Atlantis with four astronauts returning from the International Space Station, ending NASA's 30-year shuttle journey.

    Applause, but no tears at the end in Mission Control
    AP, July 21, 2011
    Two dozen men and one woman in Mission Control stayed focused as they made sure the Atlantis shuttle and its crew of four were safe on the ground.

    Russia says it's now the era of Soyuz after shuttle
    Agence France-Presse (AFP), July 21, 2011
    Moscow declared this the era of the Soyuz after the U.S. shuttle's last flight left the Russian space capsules as the sole means for delivering astronauts to the International Space Station.

    Interest in space memorabilia soars as shuttle era ends
    USA Today, July 20, 2011
    Space shuttle relics grow in price and popularity as NASA's 30-year-old shuttle program ends.

    Private space race heats up as US shuttle retires
    Agence France-Presse (AFP), July 13, 2011
    Private companies, aided by 50 years of NASA's cash and expertise in human space flight, are rushing to be the first to build a space capsule to replace the retiring US shuttle in the next few years.

    US shuttle's final spacewalk
    Agence France-Presse (AFP), July 12, 2011
    Two US astronauts wrapped up the last spacewalk of the shuttle era at the International Space Station.

    Space shuttle retirement leaves yawning gap in human spaceflight
    Guardian, UK, July 7, 2011
    NASA's farewell to the shuttle fleet underlines 30 years of missions that defined modern space flight. Closure of the shuttle program has left the space agency facing an uncertain future, with no means to fly astronauts into space, and no clear role in the ongoing human exploration of the Solar System.

    Space shuttle legacy: soaring in orbit and costs
    Yahoo! News, July 6, 2011
    The space shuttle program cost $196 billion over 40 years, ended the lives of 14 astronauts and managed to make less than half the flights promised. Despite that, there were big achievements that weren't promised: major scientific advances, stunning photos of the cosmos, a high-flying vehicle of diplomacy that helped bring Cold War enemies closer, and something to brag about.

    Apollo and Atlantis: a study in space contrasts
    MSNBC, July 6, 2011
    Astronauts have lifted off from Florida 165 times, and the only one of those launches that drew as much attention as Atlantis' final shuttle flight was the 21st liftoff, which was Apollo 11.

    Majority sees U.S. leadership in space as essential
    Pew Research Center, July 5, 2011
    Nearly six in ten say it is essential that the U.S. continue to be a world leader in space exploration and a majority say the shuttle program has been a good investment for the country.

    Good-bye space shuttle
    Science News, June 18, 2011
    Timeline looking back across three decades and 135 flights at the space plane's scientific legacy.

    End of an era
    Science News, May 25, 2011
    As NASA's space shuttles land for the last time, they leave behind a sound scientific legacy.

Hubble uncovers a fourth moon orbiting Pluto
PC Magazine, July 20, 2011
Space Telescope Science Institute (STSI) scientists have discovered a fourth satellite orbiting the dwarf planet Pluto at the outer fringe of the Solar System.

Funding for the James Webb Space Telescope is In jeopardy
NPR, July 15, 2011
To punish NASA, the U.S. House Appropriations Committee approved a bill to kill funding in 2012 for the James Webb Space Telescope, the Hubble Telescope's replacement.

NASA to choose between two Mars landing sites
AP, July 13, 2011
NASA's nuclear-powered Mars rover Curiosity in summer 2012 will touch down either in Gale Crater near the Martian equator or Eberswalde crater in the southern hemisphere.

Twilight of the dinosaurs backed by new study
Agence France-Presse (AFP), July 12, 2011
Paleontologists say dinosaurs were wiped out by a space rock that smashed into the Yucatan peninsula, Mexico, area of Earth 65 million years ago igniting massive fires.

NASA's next-generation space telescope on the chopping block
Fox News, July 7, 2011
Lawmakers have taken the ax to the James Webb Space Telescope, NASA's next-generation space telescope, the successor to Hubble and the space agency's biggest post-shuttle project.

Storm as wide as Earth rages on Saturn
MSNBC, July 6, 2011
The Great White Spot is a staggeringly powerful thunderstorm about 6,200 miles wide, nearly as wide as Earth, with a tail of white clouds that encircle Saturn. .

blue info button2011 June

Space debris is closest ever to the International Space Station
CNN, June 29, 2011
Space junk from a mysteriously unknown source passed within 1,100 feet of the orbiting station.

Not seeing sunspots
Science News, June 29, 2011
Astronomers have been counting sunspots and tracking solar cycles for 400 years. But recent studies of sunspots and other observations of the sun suggest that the Sun's newest 11-year cycle may not be starting on schedule this time.

Headin' on out: NASA aims for Jupiter, Mars and the Moon
Time, June 29, 2011
A Jupiter probe called Juno, a Mars rover named Curiosity and a mission named GRAIL to study the Moon's gravity field.

Most distant quasar raises questions
Science News, June 29, 2011
When a super-bright object appeared surprisingly soon after the Big Bang, it challenged theories of how black holes arise.

A fine how-do-you-do from an asteroid
Science News, June 27, 2011
A shudder of air and a quick streak of light were the only signs of an asteroid 2011 MDÕs near-Earth flyby.

Brilliant new photos of Mercury from MESSENGER
Wired, June 16, 2011
MESSENGER dropped into its final orbit around Mercury on March 17, 2011. The MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging spacecraft has sent home 20,000 photos.

Rare cosmic blast traced to black hole
USA Today, June 16, 2011
Astronomers think they've discovered the source of a mysterious blast of gamma rays that reached Earth.

An odd little comet with lousy table manners
MSNBC, June 16, 2011
The quirky, belching comet Hartley 2 confounds existing theories of the early Solar System.

Next solar cycle could be a no-show
Science News, June 15, 2011
Could the Sun's next cycle be delayed and maybe not happen at all? That could have major implications for EarthÕs climate.

Mercury composition unique among rocky planets
Science News, June 15, 2011
MESSENGER data give clues and reveal craters that could hold frozen water.

Japanese space probe finds unique asteroid dust
Reuters, June 14, 2011
A Japanese space probe landed in the Australian outback after a seven-year voyage to an asteroid, safely returning a capsule containing a unique sample of dust.

A year of the Moon in 2.5 Minutes
YouTube, June 14, 2011
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio used data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to show the changing Moon through the year 2011, compressing a month into 12 seconds and a year into 2.5 minutes.

Aquarius salt mapper satellite goes into orbit
BBC, June 10, 2011
Aquarius/SAC-D to measure sea saltiness
MSNBC, June 7, 2011
A collaboration among NASA, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France and Italy will map changes in brine levels from 408 miles above the Earth.

New super stellar explosions are bright and hard to explain
Science News, June 8, 2011
Six new supernovas are blue, brilliant and bizarre oddballs producing spectacular light shows as their glowing debris roils the gas around them.

Russia lifts U.S., Russian, Japanese crew to the ISS
AP, June 7, 2011
Soyuz carried Russian Sergei Volkov, NASA's Michael Fossum, and Satoshi Furukawa of Japan's JAXA space agency to a five-month tour of duty aboard the International Space Station.

Milky Way twin staggers skywatchers
USA Today, June 1, 2011
What does our Milky Way galaxy looks like from afar? Here's a look-alike galaxy 174 million-trillion miles away.

Life can thrive far below a planet's surface
Science News, June 1, 2011
A discovery in a South African mine suggests life could exist elsewhere below the surface of a planet or moon.

'Worms from hell' unearth possibilities for extraterrestrial life
Washington Post, June 1, 2011
Scientists have found complex, multi-celled roundworms a mile below our planet's surface in South African gold mines where temperatures can rise to as much as 99 degrees Fahrenheit, suggesting the potential for life on other planets and moons.

blue info button2011 May

The Moon has a watery interior
Science News, May 31, 2011
Parts of the moon's interior may contain as much water as in Earth's upper mantle.

Mars underwent a rapid buildup
Science News, May 31, 2011
Mars grew up in a hurry, reaching half its current size in no more than 1.8 million years.

Contender for most-distant object
Science News, May 31, 2011
Energy from a short-lived stellar explosion may have come here from the most remote object ever seen.

Juno's 400-million-mile trip to Jupiter to arrive 2016
Juno movie »
NASA, May 30, 2011
Launching between Aug. 5-26, 2011, the unmanned Juno spacecraft will explore the largest planet in the Solar System to unlock its secrets and those of the Solar System.

NASA's next Mars rover, Curiosity, to be launched in fall 2011
NASA, May 29, 2011
The Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity will assess the habitability of the planet and whether the Martian environment ever was able to support microbial life.

NASA's next Mars satellite, MAVEN, to be launched in fall 2013
NASA, May 28, 2011
The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) satellite will be the first mission devoted to understanding the Martian upper atmosphere.

Lunar watershed discovered
NASA, May 26, 2011
A science team has measured water from the Moon in tiny globules of molten rock, which are glass trapped within crystals suggesting the water content of lunar magma is 100 times more than previously imagined.

Survey captures local universe in 3-D
Science News, May 25, 2011
The most complete view to date of the nearby cosmos takes in 45,000 galaxies..

NASA's latest news from Saturn
NASA, May 25, 2011
Unlocking the secrets of the ringed planet.

NASA's latest news from Mars
NASA, May 25, 2011
The space agency explores the Red Planet.

NASA gives up trying to contact Mars rover Spirit
NASA, May 24, 2011
NASA has quit raying to regain contact with the long-lived Mars Exploration Rover Spirit, not heard from since March 22, 2010.

Scouring space for life – more Earths out there than we thought?
Time, May 24, 2011
An expanded habitable zone around stars makes extraterrestrial life more likely.

Cassini and telescope see violent Saturn storm
NASA, May 19, 2011
NASA's Cassini spacecraft at Saturn and a European Southern Observatory telescope on Earth tracked the growth of an early-spring storm in Saturn's northern hemisphere so large it stretches around the entire planet.

Is Hartley-2 a new breed of comet?
NASA, May 17, 2011
Were thin tendrils of dust and ice packed into a single mass or did a hodge-podge of mini-comets come together to form the core?

NASA to launch a science probe to an asteroid In 2016
NASA, May 15, 2011
NASA will launch an unmanned spacecraft to an asteroid and use a robotic arm to pluck samples that could explain our Solar System's formation and how life began. OSIRIS-REx (Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer) will be the first U.S. mission to return samples from an asteroid to Earth.

OSCAR I and amateur radio satellites celebrating 50 years
ARRL QST, May 11, 2011
The amateur radio satellite OSCAR I, the world's first non-government bird, was successfully launched into a low Earth orbit on Dec. 12, 1961, four years after the launch of Sputnik I.

First American manned spaceflight 50th anniversary
Space Today Online, May 5, 2011
NASA astronaut Alan Shepard was the first American to fly in space, on May 5, 1961, in the capsule Freedom 7.

blue info button2011 April

50th anniversary of first human flight in space
Space Today Online, April 12, 2011
USSR air force pilot Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space.

Stagnation fears haunt Russian space program
Reuters, April10, 2011
Fifty years after Yuri Gagarin blasted into orbit, descendants of the Soviet craft that carried him still generate pride and profit for Russia, but critics say the nation's space program has slid into stagnation.

How a penniless mystic won Russia the space race
The Telegraph, UK, April 10, 2011
A review of the BBC documentary The Storyville: Knocking on Heaven's Door by filmmaker George Carey about the Soviet Union's success in the Space Race from the work of pioneering scientists as well as penniless 19th-century mystic Nikolai Fedorov.

blue info button2011 March

NASA's Hubble rules out one alternative to dark energy
NASA< March 14, 2011
Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have ruled out one theory on the nature of dark energy after recalculating the expansion rate of the Usingniverse.

blue info button2011 February

Dark matter – new evidence on how galaxies are born
Time, Feb. 23, 2011
The universe's most dazzling star clusters, so-called starburst galaxies, are formed by its least visible matter – dark matter.

blue info button2011 January

Planet discovery – one step closer to a second Earth
Time, Jan. 10, 2011
Kepler-10b, a planet found by the Kepler team, is just 40% larger than Earth – the smallest planet yet found outside our solar system.

blue info button2010

Sumbandila OSCAR 67 amateur radio satellite active over the Americas
ARRL QST, Oct. 21, 2010
The FM repeater aboard the South African amateur radio satellite Sumbandila OSCAR 67 (SO-67) was activated over North and South America.

Amateur radio satellite OSCAR 67 active for the scouting Jamboree On The Air
ARRL QST, Oct. 12, 2010
The FM repeater aboard the South African amateur radio satellite Sumbandila OSCAR 67 (SO-67) will be active for the scouting Jamboree On The Air (JOTA).

The supernova's secrets cracked at last?
Time, Sept. 24, 2010
The universe's most dramatic phenomenon is captured by scientists using a 3-D simulation.

blue info button2009

Chinese amateur radio satellite XW-1 is launched
ARRL QST, Dec. 21, 2009
China's first amateur radio satellite, XW-1, was launched to become Hope-OSCAR 68 (HO-68).

Diamonds link comet to mammal extinction
CNN, Jan. 2, 2009
Tiny diamonds found in the soil are evidence a comet exploded above North America 13,000 years ago, leading to the extinction of dozens of mammal species.

40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission
Space Today Online, July 16, 2009
Apollo 11, the first manned mission to land on the Moon, was launched July 16, 1969, carrying Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin, Jr. On July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to land on the Moon.

blue info button2008

Amateur radio satellite functioning since 1990 likely to stop working by end of 2008
ARRL QST, Nov. 12, 2008
Working in space since 1990, digital satellite AMSAT-OSCAR 16 (AO-16) has been operating as an FM voice repeater through 2008.

Strange ring found circling dead star
NASA, May 29, 2008
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has found a bizarre ring of material around the magnetic remains of a star that blasted itself to smithereens.

Star dies an explosive death
Associated Press, May 22, 2008
In a stroke of cosmic luck, astronomers for the first time witnessed the start of one of the universe's most fiery events: the end of a star's life as it exploded into a supernova.

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