space exploration – News Stories About space exploration - Page 8

Scientists Hope to Make
Comet Lander Hop to Safety

Nov 14, 2014 6:05 PM CST

Scientists Hope to Make Comet Lander Hop to Safety

If it doesn't get sunlight soon, mission could be over

(Newser) - The spacecraft that landed on a comet yesterday is still talking to scientists, but its battery is expected to conk out soon. In what could be a last-ditch effort to save the mission, scientists with the European Space Agency say they'll try to make the Philae lander essentially hop...

Probe That
Landed on Comet
May Not Be Secure

Nov 12, 2014 3:50 PM CST

Probe That Landed on Comet May Not Be Secure

Harpoons might have to be fired again

(Newser) - No matter what, the European Space Agency made history today with its astonishing feat of landing a spacecraft on a comet . But now the ESA has a simpler concern: Its Philae lander, about the size of a washing machine, might fall off. The main problem is that the lander's...

Unmanned
Rocket Explodes
After Liftoff
at NASA Site

Oct 28, 2014 6:02 PM CDT

Unmanned Rocket Explodes After Liftoff at NASA Site

It was on its way to the International Space Station

(Newser) - A rocket that was supposed to deliver supplies to the crew aboard the International Space Station exploded in spectacular fashion just six seconds after liftoff this evening, reports CNN . The good news is that nobody was aboard, and NASA says nobody appears to have been killed on the ground at...

Google Exec Sets
Space Jump Record

Oct 25, 2014 8:21 AM CDT

Google Exec Sets Space Jump Record

Alan Eustace jumps from 25 miles up

(Newser) - A 57-year-old Google executive is the world's new space daredevil. Alan Eustace yesterday traveled more than 25 miles up to the top of the stratosphere in a balloon and then parachuted back down to earth in Roswell, NM, at speeds of up to 822mph, reports the New York Times ...

US Spaceplane Back After Secret 2-Year Mission

Oct 18, 2014 10:06 AM CDT

US Spaceplane Back After Secret 2-Year Mission

NASA still mum on what the X-37B is up to

(Newser) - A US spaceplane returned safe and sound yesterday after a two-year mission somewhere up there, reports Space.com . And what the unmanned X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle was doing for all that time is, as they say, classified. The shuttle-like craft came in without a hitch at Vandenberg Air Force Base...

'Man on the Moon'
Didn't Get There
Way We Thought

study says

Oct 2, 2014 6:00 PM CDT

'Man on the Moon' Didn't Get There Way We Thought

Scientists say it wasn't an asteroid impact, but a volcanic plume

(Newser) - Scientists know it as Oceanus Procellarum, but the rest of us generally refer to it as the "Man on the Moon"—the huge dark splotch on the moon visible from Earth. Either way, how did it get there? One commonly held view is that a massive asteroid slammed...

Professor: I've Got Proof Black Holes Don't Exist

Math just doesn't add up, argues UNC physicist

(Newser) - Massive stars don't just fade away, they collapse into black holes, right? Even non-scientists have at least a vague notion of these mysterious forces of nature out there in deep space. Well, sorry to spoil everybody's fun, but a physics professor at the University of North Carolina says...

There's a New Player
on the Mars Scene

Sep 24, 2014 12:45 AM CDT

There's a New Player on the Mars Scene

India's MOM probe succeeds at cost of just $72M

(Newser) - A proud day for India and its MOM: After a tense countdown early today, scientists in a Bangalore command center rejoiced as the country's Mars Orbiter Mission succeeded in putting a spacecraft in orbit around the red planet. The "Mangalyaan"—Hindi for "Mars craft"—probe...

NASA Plans
to Test World's
Biggest Rocket
in 2018

Aug 28, 2014 5:10 PM CDT

NASA Plans to Test World's Biggest Rocket in 2018

Someday, it might take humans to Mars

(Newser) - NASA is moving ahead with plans to build a massive rocket designed to explore deep space and culminate in human trips to Mars, the agency announced yesterday. The Space Launch System has passed from design phase to construction, reports the Houston Chronicle , and an unmanned test mission (not to Mars,...

Geckos Sent Into Space
to Have Sex Now in Danger

Jul 25, 2014 10:28 AM CDT

Geckos Sent Into Space to Have Sex Now in Danger

Communications compromised with Russian satellite

(Newser) - Five lust-filled lizards hurled into the heavens to get lucky in the name of science are now in peril. The Russian space agency Roscosmos is trying to fix faulty communications with its Foton-M4 satellite, which was launched last week with one male gecko and four females on board, reports Ars...

Moon Caves Might
Shelter Future
Astronauts

Jul 19, 2014 7:50 AM CDT

Moon Caves Might Shelter Future Astronauts

NASA studying about 200 lunar pits

(Newser) - If humans ever set up camp on the moon, NASA thinks they can make great use of some natural shelter: moon caves. As Vice explains, the space agency has identified more than 200 lunar pits on the moon's surface, and those pits lead to caves below that range anywhere...

We'll Be Visiting
Pluto in a Year
... Sort Of

Jul 14, 2014 12:40 PM CDT

We'll Be Visiting Pluto in a Year ... Sort Of

Flyby mission to get closer to dwarf planet than ever before

(Newser) - Exactly one year from today, a spacecraft will be "arriving" at Pluto—or so a planetary scientist puts it. More specifically, the New Horizons craft, about the size of a baby grand piano and carrying no one, will be passing closer to the dwarf planet than we've ever...

Chelyabinsk Meteor Is From Ancient Space Collision

study says

May 24, 2014 10:25 AM CDT

Chelyabinsk Meteor Is From Ancient Space Collision

Scientists think long-ago smashup led to last year's bang in Russia

(Newser) - Two big rocks collided in deep space about 290 million years ago, and a new study suggests that we earthlings felt the impact via that amazing meteor strike in Chelyabinsk, Russia, last year. Scientists analyzing meteorite fragments think that the chunk of asteroid that exploded over the city in 2013...

Astronomers Find
Planet With 8-Hour Day

Apr 30, 2014 5:13 PM CDT

Astronomers Find Planet With 8-Hour Day

Beta Pictoris b is a milestone discovery for scientists

(Newser) - If the 9-to-5 grind leaves you feeling like your day is shot, be thankful you're not living on the planet Beta Pictoris b. Scientists have calculated that its entire day is only eight hours long, reports the Los Angeles Times . The reason is that the gas giant's equator...

Meet Peggy, New Saturn Moon

Scientists think they've spotted a tiny one being formed

(Newser) - Astronomers think they're seeing a first—the birth of a Saturn moon. NASA's Cassini spacecraft spotted what the LA Times describes as a "fuzzy blob" near one of the planet's rings, though astronomers may not know for sure whether the maybe-moon they've nicknamed "Peggy"...

NASA Orbiter
Smashes
Into Moon
(on Purpose)

Apr 19, 2014 10:13 AM CDT

NASA Orbiter Smashes Into Moon (on Purpose)

LADEE ends short mission by disintegrating

(Newser) - A $280 million orbiter crashed into the moon and disintegrated yesterday, and NASA couldn't be happier about it. The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer met its end after completing a mission to orbit the moon and observe its atmosphere that began in September, reports the AP . In fact,...

Astronomers
Find Earth's
'Cousin'

Apr 17, 2014 5:05 PM CDT

Astronomers Find Earth's 'Cousin'

Kepler-186f is called the best bet yet to hold alien life

(Newser) - Other "Earth-like" planets have been discovered before, but a new one is generating a lot of excitement in astronomy circles because of how very Earth-like it actually is. Introducing Kepler-186f, which is maybe 10% bigger than our planet and thought to be in the not-too-hot and not-too-cold range that...

Citizen Scientists Hope
to Wake Up Old Satellite

Apr 16, 2014 1:28 PM CDT

Citizen Scientists Hope to Wake Up Old Satellite

ISEE-3 travels by Earth this summer for first time in 30 years

(Newser) - A long-dormant satellite is heading back toward Earth this summer after 31 years, and some "citizen scientists" want to try to wake it up and put it back to work, reports Motherboard . Cash-strapped NASA hasn't shown much interest in investing money in the idea, hence the move toward...

New Dwarf Planet 'Biden'
May Offer Cosmic Secrets

Mar 26, 2014 5:46 PM CDT

New Dwarf Planet 'Biden' May Offer Cosmic Secrets

Discovery at solar system's edge hints at more to come

(Newser) - Astronomers, and reporters who cover astronomy, are pretty excited today about the discovery of a suspected dwarf planet named 2012 VP-113—and thus nicknamed "Biden"—in the nether regions of the solar system beyond Pluto. Some snippets:

Nature : "The Solar System just got a lot more far-flung.

...

Winklevoss Twins Going
to Space, Via Bitcoins

Mar 5, 2014 4:05 PM CST

Winklevoss Twins Going to Space, Via Bitcoins

They use their go-to currency to book on Virgin Galactic

(Newser) - Virgin Galactic has signed up two more high-profile passengers to space: the Winklevoss twins of Facebook fame. In a blog post , Tyler wrote that he and Cameron had paid for their tickets using their favorite currency—bitcoins.

Tyler's take: "It is in this vein that Cameron and

...