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Dec 21, 2024

Curiosity Reaches Mount Sharp to Look for Life's Niches

More than two years after touching down inside Gale Crater, NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity has arrived at the place that drove scientists to select the landing site at the outset -- Mount Sharp. The three-mile high mountain of l

Incoming! Sun Launches Two CMEs at Earth

On Wednesday, an active region on the sun erupted with an X1.6 flare. Although more powerful eruptions have been observed in recent months, this flare was Earth-directed, quickly deluging our atmosphere with ionizing radiation tha

Nicaragua 'Meteorite' Probably Wasn't a Meteorite

Big ‘boom’? Check. Big crater? Check. It must be a meteorite! That was the key logic behind the “meteorite” that apparently narrowly missed Nicaragua’s capital city over the weekend, but some craters can be deceiving.

Weird Microscopic Structure Found in Mars Meteorite

Scientists have found a strange structure resembling a microbial cell inside a Martian meteorite, but they're not claiming that it's evidence of Red Planet life. The researchers discovered the microscopic oval object within the

New Horizons spacecraft crosses Neptune orbit en route to historic Pluto encounter

NASA's Pluto-bound New Horizons spacecraft has traversed the orbit of Neptune. This is its last major crossing en route to becoming the first probe to make a close encounter with distant Pluto on July 14, 2015. The sophisticat

Rosetta mission: Potential comet landing sites chosen

Europe's Rosetta mission, which aims to put a robot on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, has identified five potential locations for the touchdown. The choice of sites was driven largely by operational considerations - they are pla

How Do Black Holes Form? Clue Found

Black holes are some of the strangest objects in the universe, and they typically fall into one of two size extremes: "small" ones that are dozens of times more massive than the sun and other "supermassive" black holes that are bi

Sea Plankton on Space Station, Russian Official Claims

A Russian official claims that samples collected by cosmonauts show evidence of sea plankton on the outside of the International Space Station, news agencies are reporting. Cosmonauts on the orbiting outpost have allegedly disc

Staring into a Seething Nest of Massive Stars

NGC 3603 has the distinction of being one of the brightest and most active star formation regions in our galaxy. Now, astronomers using the Wide Field Imager at the ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile have gotten an unprecedente

What happens to the human immune system in outer space

Here’s something to consider before getting your heart set on a trip to Mars. From NASA: Spaceflight may temporarily alter the immune system of crew members flying long duration missions aboard the International Space Station. T

Jupiter and Venus will align almost completely on Monday night

Look up. A flurry of UFO "sightings" is expected early on Monday morning when a spectacular "double star" is created as the two brightest planets in the sky align almost completely. In what is said to be one of the highlights o

3,500 Pounds of Trash Will Burn Up in Earth's Atmosphere This Weekend

After hanging out at the International Space Station for a month, a commercial cargo ship is diving toward Earth — and it's filled to the brim with more than 3,000 pounds of garbage. Astronauts living on board the ISS used a rob

NASA probe may have caught dust from interstellar space, a first

Seven tiny grains of rock captured by NASA's comet-chasing Stardust probe in 2004 may be visitors from the vast reaches of interstellar space, researchers say. These interstellar dust motes from Stardust are fluffier and more d

The Universe Seems to be Missing Some Light

An extraordinary amount of ultraviolet light appears to be missing from the universe, scientists have found. One potential source of this missing light might be the mysterious dark matter that makes up most of the mass in the cosm

European Cargo Spaceship Makes Final Delivery to Space Station

An unmanned European cargo vessel has linked up with the International Space Station for the last time. The European Space Agency's fifth Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-5) joined up with the station at 9:30 a.m. EDT (1330 GMT

US and Indian Spacecraft Rapidly Approach Mars

Two Mars-bound spacecraft are both in excellent health ahead of their September arrivals in orbit around the Red Planet, managers for both missions report. Play Video Is Salt the Key to Finding Life on Mars? Could

Astronauts Have a Hard Time Sleeping in Space

Astronauts have a hard time sleeping during space flights and are often sleep deprived. This is recognized as a major problem for the space program because sleep deprivation is known to be associated with health problems and inatt

Why NASA’s Physics-Defying Space Engine Is Probably Bogus

travel and science as a whole: They ran an experiment whose results seem to defy the very laws of physics, and could change how we travel through outer space. Problem is, experts say that it’s incredibly unlikely that Isaac Newt

Hubble finds supernova star system linked to potential 'zombie star'

Using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, a team of astronomers has spotted a star system that could have left behind a "zombie star" after an unusually weak supernova explosion. A supernova typically obliterates the exploding white

Next Mars Rover Will Make Oxygen from CO2

Nasa’s Mars 2020 rover will take a small step towards helping us directly explore the red planet, by studying how to convert its carbon dioxide atmosphere to oxygen. Jack Mustard from Brown University suggests the Mars Oxygen In

Rosetta Spacecraft Set for Unprecedented Close Study of a Comet

After 10 years and four billion miles, the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft will arrive at its destination on Wednesday for the first extended, close examination of a comet. The last in a series of 10 thruster firin

Jupiter Moon Io Unleashes Cataclysmic Eruptions

One of Jupiter's moons has unleashed a series of huge volcanic eruptions over a hellish 2 week period that were so bright they could be studied in detail by ground based observatories. Discovery News - Top Stories

Melt ponds shine in NASA laser altimeter images

Even from 65,000 feet above Earth, aquamarine melt ponds in the Arctic stand out against the white sea ice and ice sheets. These ponds form every summer, as snow that built up on the ice melts, creating crystal clear pools. ScienceDaily: Latest Science N

Asteroid impacts significantly altered ancient Earth

New research shows that more than four billion years ago, the surface of Earth was heavily reprocessed as a result of giant asteroid impacts. A new model based on existing lunar and terrestrial data sheds light on the role asteroi ScienceDaily: Latest Science N

NASA maps out geysers, finds evidence of liquid water on surface of Saturn moon

On the surface of one of Saturn's icy moons, scientists have discovered the possible existence of a very important, life-sustaining element: liquid water. NASA scientists announced Monday the identification of 101 distinct gey

Oceans play a vital role in moderating climate on Earth-like planets. (Science Daily)

esearchers at the University of East Anglia have made an important step in the race to discover whether other planets could develop and sustain life. New research published today in the journal Astrobiology shows the v Ocean Today

36-Year-Old NASA Probe's Engines Successfully Fired Up by Private Team

An old NASA spacecraft under the control of a private team fired its thrusters yesterday (July 2) for the first time in a generation. NASA's International Sun-Earth Explorer 3 probe (ISEE-3), which the agency retired in 1997,

Raw Materials For The Formation Of Titan May Have Been Locked In Ices That Condensed Before Saturn Began Forming

A joint research effort between NASA and the European Space Agency has found proof that nitrogen within the atmosphere of Saturn’s moon Titan came from conditions very similar to those that formed most of the ancient comets in t

Zero-gravity coffee: Espresso machine headed into space

The espresso machine, designed to create a "perfect espresso in a weightless environment," will be rolled out for the Futura Mission, the second long-term mission of the Italian Space Agency aboard the International Space Station.

NASA Television to Air Expedition 39 Crew's Return from Space Station

Three crew members currently aboard the International Space Station are scheduled to end more than six months on the orbiting laboratory Tuesday, May 13 (U.S. time), and NASA Television will provide complete coverage of their retu NASA Breaking News

Birds' migration secrets to be revealed by space tracker

Icarus, a wildlife receiver circling above Earth, will monitor the epic journeys of tiny birds and insects, helping to warn us of volcanic eruptions and to protect us from diseases. Small birds, butterflies, bees and fruitbats wil Environment news, comment and

Lake on Mars could have teemed with microbial life

Minerals identified by Nasa's Curiosity Mars rover suggest lake contained water of low salinity and neutral pH suitable for life. An enormous crater near the northern plains of Mars once harboured an ancient lake that could have s Science news, comment and anal

Ancient crater could hold clues about moon's mantle

Researchers have found evidence of diverse mineralogy in the moon's South Pole Aitken basin, a giant crater left by an impact 4 billion years ago. The findings could mean that some minerals dug up during that ancient impact remain ScienceDaily: Latest Science N

Earth life "may have come from Mars"

Life may have started on Mars before arriving on Earth, a major scientific conference has heard. New research supports an idea that the Red Planet was a better place to kick-start biology billions of years ago than the early Ea

Life on earth 'began on Mars'

Evidence is mounting that life on Earth may have started on Mars. A leading scientist has claimed that one particular element believed to be crucial to the origin of life would only have been available on the surface of the red pl Science news, comment and anal

Scientists Detect Moon's Internal Water on Lunar Surface

Scientists have been aware that there's ice on the moon for some time. Now, though, they've discovered something else about the lunar surface. It turns out that there's magmatic water, which is water that originates from deep with

Japan's Epsilon Rocket Launch Halted After Automatic Alarm Issued

The maiden flight of Japan’s newest rocket was cancelled within the very last minute on Tuesday after an automatic alarm was tripped. The launch of the Epsilon rocket was scheduled for 1:45 pm Japan Standard Time (12:45 am Ea

Chelyabinsk Meteorite Fragments Reveal Potential Space Collision

When the Chelyabinsk meteorite streaked across the sky in February, it caused quite a bit of a stir in Russia. The resulting shockwave from its impact shattered glass, injuring over a thousand people. Now, scientists have found ou

New telescope will be 10 times sharper than Hubble

Scientists are currently hard at work on a new telescope that promises to have 10 times the resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope — but we're going to have to wait awhile. So far, only one of an eventual seven massive mirr

Space Telescope Kepler, a Job Well Done

Though NASA last week scrapped efforts to restore the crippled Kepler spacecraft to full working order, the space telescope project -- one of the most successful scientific missions ever -- almost certainly will continue to yield

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