Thursday - April 24, 2008
Galaxies colliding! Sounds like a job for the crew of the Starship Enterprise. Astronomers believe galaxies have been running into each other for billions of years. There's even evidence our own Milky Way galaxy has swallowed a smaller companion, with more to come, both big and small. These titanic "interactions" often trigger pyrotechnic eruptions of star formation, and sometimes they eject streams of stars into the loneliness of intergalactic space. Yet astronomers say creatures living in those galaxies would hardly notice a thing.
[More...]
Monday - April 14, 2008
NASA's new Mars rover aims high. It's bigger, more powerful and more sophisticated than any other robotic vehicle that has landed on another planet. It will try to answer a big question: Has life existed elsewhere in the solar system? Its very ambition has gotten the rover in trouble. Thanks to a mix of technological setbacks and engineering misjudgments, the rover's epic scale is matched by epic problems.
[More...]
Wednesday - April 9, 2008
As a Russian Soyuz spacecraft rose into the bright blue sky Tuesday, spectators held their breaths, South Koreans celebrated their first astronaut and the astronaut's mother fainted. The flight itself -- launched from the same pad that sent Yuri Gagarin and Sputnik into space -- seemed flawless. The spacecraft lifted off within seconds of its scheduled departure and delivered its crew into orbit about 10 minutes later.
[More...]
Thursday - March 27, 2008
NASA rejoiced at a successful nighttime landing that capped an exceptionally long -- and successful -- mission to the international space station. Endeavour's touchdown Wednesday night on NASA's illuminated runway wrapped up a voyage that lasted 16 days and spanned 6.5 million miles.
[More...]
Wednesday - March 26, 2008
NASA has no plans to turn off either of the healthy twin Mars rovers to make up for cost overruns faced by a big new rover slated to fly to the Red Planet next year, the space agency said Tuesday. In a rare move, NASA said it rescinded a letter sent last week to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena that directed budget cuts to the Mars exploration program.
[More...]
Tuesday - March 25, 2008
Scientists plan to put one of the twin Mars rovers to sleep and limit the activities of the other robot to fulfill a NASA order to cut $4 million from the program's budget, mission team members said Monday. The news comes amid belt-tightening at NASA headquarters, which is under pressure to cover cost overruns of a flagship Mars mission to land a Hummer-sized rover on the Red Planet next year.
[More...]
Monday - March 24, 2008
Scientists say they have found the best evidence yet that an ocean of liquid water may be hidden below the surface of Saturn's giant moon Titan. If the results are confirmed, it would be a starting point for further study into whether the ocean could be capable of supporting life. The latest evidence of an underground ocean is indirect and is based on analyzing radar images and Titan's spin rates.
[More...]
Thursday - March 20, 2008
Pushing the Hubble Space Telescope to its limits, astronomers say they have made the first discovery of the organic molecule methane in the atmosphere of a planet circling a sun-like star. Although methane can be generated by cows and rotting garbage, scientists say there's little chance that they've stumbled on signs of life on the planet, about 63 light-years from Earth.
[More...]
Monday - March 17, 2008
Astronauts flexed the giant arms of the international space station's new robot for the first time, testing the brakes and maneuvering the appendages into position for a Monday night spacewalk. All the brakes on the Canadian-built robot named "Dextre" passed the test but one in the wrist joint of its left arm. That brake slipped a tad more than engineers wanted, but officials weren't concerned.
[More...]
Thursday - March 13, 2008
After linking up with the international space station, Endeavour's astronauts got right to work Thursday unloading the parts they'll need to build a giant robot that will help maintain the orbiting outpost. Astronauts Robert Behnken and Gregory Johnson were using the station's robotic arm to pull a pallet containing the Canadian robot, named "Dextre," from Endeavour's cargo bay and install it temporarily on a station girder.
[More...]
Wednesday - March 12, 2008
The seven-man crew of the shuttle Endeavour maneuvered toward the international space station early Wednesday, with the astronauts spending their first full day in orbit carefully examining the ship for any launch damage. Endeavour was set to dock with the station late Wednesday to deliver a giant robot and the first piece of a new Japanese lab.
[More...]
See More Articles in Space Section >>
Sign Up for Business and Technology News Alerts
Headline Feeds
