Dissent Grows as Scientists Oppose NASA’s New Moon Mission

NASA’s plan for manned space exploration focuses on establishing a base on the moon, as a vital stepping stone for a visit to Mars. The initiative has been trumpeted by the Bush administration, which wants the first mission to launch by 2020. But trouble is brewing as a growing group of former mission managers, planetary [...]

Mars rovers find new evidence of ‘habitable niche’

Inch by power-conserving inch, drivers on Earth have moved the Mars rover Spirit to a spot where it has its best chance at surviving a third Martian winter — and where it will celebrate its fourth anniversary (in Earth years) since bouncing down on Mars for a projected 90-day mission in January 2004.
Meanwhile, researchers are [...]

Asteroid may hit Mars in next month

LOS ANGELES – Mars could be in for an asteroid hit. A newly discovered hunk of space rock has a 1 in 75 chance of slamming into the Red Planet on Jan. 30, scientists said Thursday.
“These odds are extremely unusual. We frequently work with really long odds when we track … threatening asteroids,” said Steve [...]

The NFL is trying To "Enrich Themselves" By removing Free Broadcasts

Says Comcast. The moment of truth may be coming in the NFL Network/Cable showdown. This Thursday the NFL Network scored what is arguably the most interesting regular season game of the year (at least in the NFC): The 10-1 Packers vs. the 10-1 Cowboys. But, not a whole lot of people are going to be [...]

Are asteroids a threat to Earth?

Hollywood thrillers such as Deep Impact helped to jump-start America’s interest in knowing what our “deflection strategy” would be if a giant asteroid was on a potentially catastrophic collision course with Earth.
Chris Palma, senior lecturer in astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State, says that such events are statistically highly probable. “Throughout Earth’s [...]

The Enduring Mysteries of the Moon

The moon–linked in myth with goddesses of witchcraft and the hunt, with gods of magic and wisdom–is nearly as old as Earth itself, with enigmas of its own. As close as the moon is to Earth, we are still far from solving all its mysteries–from how the moon was born to whether life on Earth [...]

List of artificial objects on the Moon

The following table is a partial list and location of artificial objects on the surface of the Moon. They have been abandoned after having served their purpose. The list does not include smaller objects such as the retroreflectors and Lunar Surface Experiment Package. Nor does it include the Fallen Astronaut statuette or Alan Shephard’s [...]

Mars rovers begin to stir as dust storms recede

NASA’s twin Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity are starting to move again after being immobilised for six weeks by severe dust storms.
The storms hit in late June, just as Opportunity was poised to enter the 800-metre-wide Victoria crater, which may contain crucial geological records of past conditions on Mars.
Lofting dust high in the atmosphere, the [...]

Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber heading into space

According to recent news out of NASA, the next time the Discovery crew take their ship into orbit, the “force” will be with them — because they’re taking Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber along for the ride. That’s right, for the film’s 30th anniversary, the original lightsaber prop from the first Star Wars film is taking a [...]

Earth and Mars are Converging at 25 Miles per Sentence

August 21, 2007: By the time you finish reading this sentence, you’ll be [...]

The moon is not dead yet, nor has it revealed all its secrets

In October 1963, two cartographers with the Air Force Aeronautical Chart and Information Center saw a strange glow on the moon. Using the 24-inch refractor telescope at Lowell observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, James Greenacre and Edward Barr saw a deep, ruby-red glow coming from the crater Aristarchus. The sighting might have been glowing gas from [...]

Rocket blasts off carrying Mars lander

A robotic dirt and ice digger blasted off Saturday on a 422 million-mile journey to Mars that NASA hopes will culminate next spring in the first ever landing within the red planet’s Arctic Circle.The Phoenix Mars Lander blasted off before dawn, precisely on time, hurtling through the clear moonlit sky aboard an unmanned Delta rocket. [...]

Report: Drunk astronauts allowed on shuttle

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) — Astronauts were allowed to fly after flight surgeons and other astronauts warned they were so drunk they posed a flight-safety risk on at least two occasions, an aviation weekly reported Thursday.
It cited a special panel studying astronaut health, which found “heavy use of alcohol” before launch that was [...]

How the rovers changed our view of Mars

Talk about a tough act to follow. The robotic rovers Spirit and Opportunity have been exploring Mars‘ rocky landscape for more than 1,200 Martian days — much longer than any previous robot to touch down on the Red Planet.
Originally designed to last only three months, Spirit and Opportunity have continued functioning for 14 times that [...]

Prototype Moon Rovers Tested in the Arctic

The question of whether humans or robots should explore space has been decided by NASA: it’ll be both. In the future, NASA anticipates that humans will work with robotic explorers to gather and analyze data more efficiently than either could do alone. This will be the eventual scenario when humans set foot on the Moon [...]