In 2012, NASA continued to implement America’s ambitious space exploration program, landing the most sophisticated rover on the surface of Mars, carrying out the first-ever commercial mission to the International Space Station and advancing the systems needed to send humans deeper into space.
“NASA achieved historic milestones this year landing the most sophisticated rover on the surface of Mars, carrying … Read the rest of this article
Think you know how space affects you each day? You might – but you might not. Explore Down2Earth, ESA’s new online challenge, and join Europe’s space conversation. It’s a crucial discussion and your voice is welcome.
Using a series of intriguing questions, ESA’s new Down2Earth website presents 20 challenging questions illustrating how space benefits us daily right here on planet … Read the rest of this article
A new radar designed to test methods for finding orbital debris that can be hazardous to space navigation has been installed in Spain. The radar will be used to develop future debris warning services, helping to boost safety for European satellite operators.
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A new radar designed to test methods for finding orbital debris that can be hazardous to space …
Two massive stars racing in orbit around each other have had their colliding stellar winds X-rayed for the first time, thanks to the combined efforts of ESA’s XMM-Newton and NASA’s Swift space telescopes.
Colliding winds at Cyg OB2 #9
Stellar winds, pushed away from a massive star’s surface by its intense light, can have a profound influence on their environment.… Read the rest of this article
Clouds regularly punctuate Earth’s blue sky, but on Venus the clouds never part, for the planet is wrapped entirely in a 20 km-thick veil of carbon dioxide and sulphuric dioxide haze.
This view shows the cloud tops of Venus as seen in ultraviolet light by the Venus Express spacecraft on 8 December 2011, from a distance of about 30 000 … Read the rest of this article
NASA’s Curiosity rover is in a position on Mars where scientists and engineers can begin preparing the rover to take its first scoop of soil for analysis.
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NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity cut a wheel scuff mark into a wind-formed ripple at the “Rocknest” site to give researchers a better opportunity to examine the particle-size distribution of the material forming the …
Adam Steltzner doesn’t sound much like an ordinary engineer.
For instance, when we asked him if he would talk about Curiosity—and explain why the Mars rover matters to ordinary people – the former rock-n-roller responded “I’m totally down with that.”
He really is down with it. Steltzner is the NASA engineer who helped take the country’s cool new Curiosity rover … Read the rest of this article
This is a great time to be observing the planet Jupiter. It’s nearing opposition; it big and bright in the late-night/early-morning sky and that can only mean that lots of astronomers are pointing telescopes and cameras at it.
And that scrutiny aid off yesterday morning (about 6:35 am Texas time – 11:35 UT – on Sept. 10, 2012) when two … Read the rest of this article
In northern Chile, at 16,500 feet above sea level, scientists from around the world are building the world’s largest radio telescope. When completed in 2013, sixty-six huge antennas – some weighing 115 tons – will stretch across a 10 square mile area of desert, point at the stars and try to unlock the secrets of the universe.
In this preview … Read the rest of this article
By studying rocks blasted out of impact craters, ESA’s Mars Express has found evidence that underground water persisted at depth for prolonged periods during the first billion years of the Red Planet’s existence.
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The large 25 km-diameter crater in the foreground of this High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) perspective view has excavated rocks which have been altered by groundwater in …
The Sun Now (Visible light)
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The Sun Now (H-Alpha light)
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Aurora Oval
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Aurora Oval
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