Wanted: Garbage collectors in space
Using telescopes on Earth, space agencies track large pieces of debris orbiting the planet. Most of the garbage is in low-Earth orbit, or LEO, which extends as high as 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles) above Earth’s surface. This is an artist’s [...]
Herschel:Herschel reveals how most stars formed in the Universe
Do galaxies form their stars through violent and tumultuous merging events or rather via more steady and gentle processes? Scrutinising thousands of galaxies across the past 11 billion years of cosmic history with ESA’s Herschel Space [...]
BepiColombo:#02: Mercury Planetary Orbiter wraps up for hot work
The installation of high-temperature thermal blankets on the Structural and Thermal Model of the BepiColombo Mercury Planetary Orbiter has been completed. The spacecraft has been mounted on its Thermal Test Adapter and transferred to the Large [...]
EChO:Call for declaration of Interest in Science Instrumentation – Cosmic Vision Mission: Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory (EChO)
This Call for declaration of Interest in Science Instrumentation (CISI) is open to the European science community for enabling assessment studies of the science instruments of the EChO mission. EChO, the Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory, [...]
Shuttle Endeavour leaves space station forever
Endeavour and its crew of six departed the International Space Station late Sunday and headed home to wrap up NASA’s next-to-last shuttle flight.
Endeavour and its crew of six left the International Space Station and headed home to close out [...]
Skylon space plane gets a thumbs-up
A space plane that can take off and land from conventional runways is one step closer to reality.
Following a series of meetings in September 2010 at the International Space Innovation Center in Harwell, U.K., to look at the feasibility of [...]
NASA’s Spirit Rover Completes Mission on Mars
NASA has ended operational planning activities for the Mars rover Spirit and transitioned the Mars Exploration Rover Project to a single-rover operation focused on Spirit’s still-active twin, Opportunity.
This marks the completion of [...]
Is the Rocky Alien Planet Gliese 581d Really Habitable?
A rocky alien planet called Gliese 581d may be the first known world beyond Earth capable of supporting life as we know it, a new study suggests.
Astronomers performing a new atmospheric-modeling study have found that the planet likely lies [...]
How computers got us into space
When you look back at the past 50 years of human spaceflight, don’t forget the computer scientists who helped make it all possible.
That’s the message Arthur Cohen wants to pass along on the golden anniversary of NASA astronaut Alan [...]
Japanese satellite Hinode discovers two huge holes in sun’s magnetic field
A JAPANESE satellite has captured images showing two huge holes in the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the solar corona, which are blasting solar material into space.
Known as “coronal holes” these openings in the Sun’s magnetic field allow [...]
