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Less than a month ago, on the 28th of October, the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (NPP) satellite launched into low-Earth with the main purpose of observing our planet’s environment and climate, some 800 km above our planet. Here you can see one of its first pictures, and what a picture it […]
The ever faithful Hubble telescope has offered us yet another fantastic glimpse into the Universe’s hidden gems. Captioned below is the NGC 1846 globular cluster, which lies 160,000 light-years away in the constellation Doradus. The cluster is actually the product of the Large Magellanic Cloud, which neighbors our own Milky Way. Check out this very large, […]
Two weeks ago, panic engulfed the Russian space agency after one of its dearest project, the $170 million Phobos-Grunt mission, which was set to land on Mars’ moon Phobos, collect samples and then return to moon, got stranded in orbit, completely blocked off from any kind of communication. Valiant efforts were made to restore the craft, […]
Astronomers from the Arizona State University have used NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) this mind blowing map of the Moon; it is the highest resolution near-global topographical map of our neighbor so far. As you’ve probably already figured out, the map reveals the Moon’s surface, using colors to depict elevation – from white and red […]
After a two year delay, almost a decade of planning, and several budget overruns, NASA’s proudest rover, Curiosity, is finally good to go. The car sized vehicle is twice as big and holds twice as much instruments as its predecessors, including a drill that will allow it to bore deep into the red planet’s rocks. […]
This year, mankind celebrated 50 years of space exploration since Yuri Gagarin‘s pioneering flight around Earth’s orbit, however the American Museum of Natural History is more concerned to set its eyes towards future, once with the opening of its new “Beyond Planet Earth” exhibit, which features tomorrow’s space age wonders, as well as relics from the […]
Yesterday, NASA held a press briefing where scientists involved in a recently published study, of intense consequences to the scientific community, and people looking for signs of extraterestrial life alike, discussed how Jupiter’s icy satellite has great chances of fostering life in the warm oceans beneath its surface. Europa’s surface is covered in a […]
Europa, the icy satellite of Jupiter, is covered in a thick crust of scarred and cross-hatched ice. Missions to Europa, which is comparable in size to Earth’s own moon, by NASA‘s Galileo spacecraft have brought back measurements which indicate the crust is tens of kilometers thick, however under it lies a warm ocean as far as […]
Many children dream of becoming astronauts, but for most, the dream just gets lost somewhere along the way; but that no longer has to be the case, especially considering the exciting times we are living in. NASA may have retired its space orbiters, but there are still many manned missions planned for the International Space […]
Earlier this morning, the Soyuz spacecraft successfully containing three excited new members for the ISS docked, thus bringing the space station to full effectiveness. Dan Burbank from the US and Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin are the new people lucky enough to be on the International Space Station for the next for months. […]
Space solar stations are not a new idea at all – they have been researched since the 1970; but as years pass, scientists understand more and more the numerous benefits this type of technology could bring – a true revolution in renewable energy. This idea might seem taken out from a scientific novel, but back […]
In a week filled with bad news for space exploration, astronomers finally have something to be happy about: the Mars Curiosity rover is ready to head towards the Red Planet, as NASA makes the final preparations for a launch scheduled for November 25. The rover is currently waiting patiently ontop an Atlas V rocket, just […]
On November 1st, only a few weeks ago, China opened a new chapter in its space program after successfully docking two unmanned spacecraft in Earth’s orbit, an unprecedent event for the nation. On Monday, Shenzhou 8 craft re-docked with the Tiangong 1 module, the later which is set to become the first component for China’s own […]
In a statement wrote by NASA scientists (and I can only imagine how they felt while writing it) it is revealed that if the world is going to end in 2012, the Sun won’t be to blame. A deadly fireball Contrary to what doomsayers and conspiracy adepts will have you believe, the Sun simply doesn’t […]
The probe, which had the purpose of reaching one of the two Martian moons, was declared dead, and it will probably crash on Earth in January, without presenting any kind of risk to populated areas. The Phobos-Grunt probe was supposed to reach Mars, orbit it a few months, deploy a Chinese satellite, then land […]
One of the fundamental backbones of the Big Bang theory states that after the rapid expansion of the Universe only the lightest elements were formed. A group of scientists stumbled across an amazing discovery recently when they found a gas cloud dating from the time of the early Universe exclusively made out of hydrogen and helium, proving […]
The Moon still holds numerous unanswered questions, and among these, perhaps the most interesting is the one regarding its lost magnetism. Why is it that the Moon had magnetism? Now, two teams working separately seem to have found two complementary explanations. Rock magnetism It all started when the Apollo missions brought back samples of moon […]
The drama continues for the Russian Grunt mission, which had the purpose of going to Phobos and extracting samples. The mission was supposed to launch, go to Mars, orbit it for a few months, then land on Phobos, extract samples of soil and rocks, then lift back up and return to Earth. However, the mission, […]
Just yesterday I was telling you about an extremely ambitious and admirable mission planned by the Russian, which has the purpose of extracting samples from Phobos, a moon of Mars. However, the mission seems to face some serious problems right after launch. According to Russian officials, the probe is currently stuck in orbit and engineers […]
The privately built SpaceX shuttle is only a few weeks away from its first space flight towards the International Space Station, but NASA already has big dreams for the Dragon; in a presentation held last week, SpaceX and space agency officials discussed sending Dragon to Mars in a revolutionary mission astronomers have called the ‘Red […]
After the International Space Station was completed, scientists noticed that exposure to weightlessness may have some deleterious effects on human health. The human body is too adjusted to the gravitational conditions on Earth, so extended periods of weightlessness can cause various physiological systems to change and atrophy. Astronauts on-board the International Space Station battle nausea […]
In these past few decades, the US space program seemed to have significantly overcome the Russian one, with all sort of missions and studies, but more recently, the balance seems to have turned once again, as NASA is undergoing numerous problems, while the Russians are planning an ambitious mission which is aimed at the Mars […]
The Hubble telescope has captured through an innovative technique, which harnessed light bent from a distant galaxy in a optical lens-like manner, a direct image of a disk of matter surrounding a black hole. The disk, made out of gas and dust, slowly swirls around a giant black hole’s center gradually getting consumed. Powered by […]
According to NASA, a large asteroid called 2005 YU55 is expected to pass at some 201,700 miles of Earth on Tuesday – closer than the Moon, and definitely closer than the Elenin comet. Now, before people start going all 2012 armageddon on me, let it be said that asteroids often pass at this distance from […]
Almost one year and a half ago six volunteers embarked on a fictive mission to Mars, designed to simulate the harsh conditions of interplanetary travel and isolation from the rest of the world. Today, November 4th, the team composed of volunteers from Europe, Russia and China is set to end their mission, hypothetically land back […]
If the Americans and NASA are having some issues regarding their space program at the moment, the Russians are doing just fine; recently an unmanned Russian Progress cargo ship loaded with 2.9 tons of supplies and equipment traveled and docked the International Space Station without any notable incidents or accidents. “Capture. We have indicator mode,” […]
In just a few hours, at 5 p.m. EDT, China will make another giant leap forward in its ever ambitious space program after it will launch the Shenzhou 8 spacecraft in a premiere mission for the nation, which will involve an unmanned docking with the Tiangong-1 spacecraft in Earth’s orbit. Besides the PR-driven first docking, the […]
In a landmark decision that will mark the future of commercial space flight, Boeing announced an agreement with Space Florida on Monday to lease the hangar that housed the space shuttles to bring similar spacecrafts and take people into outer space. In an area that has lost numerous specialized jobs, this move will create 140 […]
Black holes are perhaps the most fascinating and staggering objects in the known Universe, and we are just now beginning to uncover their secrets. Dr. Sergei Nayakshin of the University of Leicester and his team found that doughnut-shaped dust shrouds that cover about half of supermassive black holes may very well be the result of […]
Yesterday NASA tested a 18,000 pound mock-up of the ambitious Orion spacecraft in a water basin, to simulate how it would handle a Pacific Ocean landing in moderate sea conditions. The spacecraft is slated for space exploration programs and is capable of carrying four astronauts for as much as 21 days. The scientist at NASA’s […]
A new study published by researchers at University of Hong Kong has produced controversial waves among the astronomy community, as it claims, backed by sound evidence, that organic matter can be created naturally by stars and travel through out the universe via interstellar dust. It’s somewhat hard to believe, even picture, how organic matter can […]
Eris is a dwarf planet, observed in 2005 for the first time, whose discovery led to Pluto losing its planet status, even though a new moon was found orbiting it; recently, Eris passed in front of a planet, giving astrophysicists a clear view for the first time. Until now, the general scientific idea regarding it […]
This Friday morning NASA will upgrade its climate and weather observatory capabilities, when it’s set to launch a new, high-end satellite via a United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket, which promises to significantally improve weather forecast and offer a significant leap forward to authorities in the face of calamities. The project, lengthy dubbed the National Polar-Orbiting […]
Looks like one of NASA‘s latest priorities is to protect its lunar heritage from illegal black market trade of moon artifacts, evident in a recently highly publicized case in which a 74 year old grandmother attempting to sell a moon rock was intercepted by armed government officials. Part of an elaborate operation, federal agents tracked down Joanna […]
Using a pair of satellites that monitor the Earth, NASA recorded over 10.000.000 fires throughout the planet; they then took the recorded material and created an animation with it, as can be seen below. The animation also includes vegetation, snow cover, cloud cover, surface temperatures, and more. Africa was by far the ‘hottest’ continent, being […]
Another game of solar system monopoly is being played at the moment, and so far, the United States are losing it, according to commercial space entrepreneur Robert Bigelow. The first prize, ownership of the Moon, is up for grabs, and while Americans are still basking in the glory they had some 40 years ago, China […]
Water is everywhere on Earth – that’s easy to see for anybody. But why and how it got here, that’s a dilemma that until now, hasn’t been fully answered. A new comet study has shown how a ring of cold water vapor can encircle a young planet, while another related one explains a hailstorm of […]
Satellite deployments make up most of the space launches in any given year, however it’s also a highly risky operation. Every satellite launch costs around $10,000 per pound, and basically it’s fairly common for the total cost of a satellite to jump in the tens of millions of dollars range. Currently, in the geosynchronous orbit there […]
An astronomer working at the University of Hawaii captured the first ever pictures of a planet forming around a star. In order to do it, he used the 10-metre Keck telescopes on Mauna Kea and a system of mirrors; the main problem with taking pictures such as these ones is that the planet’s star usually […]
While the Earth is steadily being depleted of its natural resources, it might become imperative to look to the sky for alternatives. Studies so far alone has shown that the moon has twenty times more titanium and platinum than anywhere on Earth, along with helium 3, a rare isotope of helium, which is nonexistent on our planet, […]
Another meteor shower draws nearer, as scientists expect it to peak this Friday and Saturday – just before dawn on Oct. 21 and 22. Each October, the Earth passes through a trail of dust left behind by the Halley comet; when some of these particles, most no bigger than grains of sand get caught in […]
Set it went into operation, Fermi’s Large Area Telescope has detected 1873 gamma rays out in space, of which only two thirds have had their sources traced. Typically, gamma rays are huge bursts of energy generated by the collision between two stars or by black holes, however more than 600 discovered blasts still don’t have an explanation […]
Back in 2008, the Japanese Kaguya spacecraft made a fascinating discovery when it found a metres-deep cave in the Sea of Tranquility. Amazed by the find, NASA had its orbiting Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) to have in the depth scan of the area, which came back with high res images, like the one above. Scientists believe […]
During these past months, I’ve been receiving some questions regarding the whole doomsday-Elenin comet matter. In case you’re unfamiliar with the topic, the comet in case, discovered in December 2010, has a trajectory that passes quite close to Earth, and so of course, some people started panicking and claiming that the comet will hit us […]
NASA’s troubles are other companies good luck charm: Virgin has just struck a deal with NASA worth up to $4.5 million for research flights using the company’s new spaceship. NASA, who is just out of space orbiters, has to sign up several of these deals in order to continue their regular activity, and SpaceShipTwo, a […]
A map of the moon composed of superimposed observations in visible and ultraviolet wavelengths has revealed an amazing treasure – hordes of titanium ore, up to 10 times richer than on Earth. This could be the necessary motivation governments have been waiting for to initiate a mining colony project in the future. The discovery was made […]
A virtual trek, that is. NASA has just released a stunning video comprised of 309 photos the agency’s Opportunity Rover took during it’s three year journey from the crater Victoria to the crater Endeavor. Although the spanned distance is only 13 miles, the whole trip lasted a whooping three years. Granted, a relatively animated view […]
The most popular video sharing website in the world, YouTube, has teamed up with NASA and several other key figures from the scientific community to launch YouTube Space Lab, a global effort challenging students between the ages of 14 and 18 to design an experiment that can be conducted in space. I know there are […]
Most of us tend to believe the Earth is a safe heaven, with little regard to outerwordly consequences. The truth is our planet, although without a doubt a true gem within our galaxy, is susceptible to a slew of events triggered from within or well beyond our solar system. A lot of them are very […]
ESA’s Venus Express spacecraft has found an ozone layer high in the atmosphere of Venus, similar to that surrounding Earth and Mars according to astronomers. Ozone is considered fundumental to providing an environment capable of supporting life, as it absorbs much of the sun’s harmful ultraviolet ray. This recent discovery will provide highly valuable insight as to […]
