Around the world, astronomers are buzzing with anticipation over the approach of Comet ISON. On Thanksgiving Day 2013, the icy visitor from the outer solar system will skim the sun’s outer atmosphere and, if it survives, could emerge as one of the brightest comets in years.
First, though, it has to fly by Mars.
“Comet ISON is paying a visit … Read the rest of this article
Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano and NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy were hard at work outside the International Space Station (ISS) for the second time, when water started to leak into Luca Parmitano’s space suit helmet, immediately resulting in the duo heading back to the Quest Airlock to terminate the EVA. Luca and Chris explain the events that happened during EVA # … Read the rest of this article
NASA astronaut Michael Foale has retired, ending a 26-year space agency career that included 375 days in space during six space shuttle missions and extended stays aboard two space stations.
Foale spent 145 days aboard the Russian space station Mir in 1997 and 194 days aboard the International Space Station as commander of Expedition 8 from October 2003 to April … Read the rest of this article
Inspired by the dream of space exploration, artist Katie Paterson imagined sending a piece of her meteorite artwork back to space in a celebration of science, art and human technology. Her vision may just become reality, with a little help from ESA’s can-do cargo vessel.
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Campo del Cielo, Field of the Sky, by Katie Paterson, is on display as part …
ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano is spending six months on the International Space Station conducting experiments and keeping the orbital outpost running with five colleague astronauts.
In Luca’s spare time he photographs our world from 400 km high, looking out of the Station’s panoramic Cupola. Luca tweeted the picture above with the comment: “The sky is simply perfect.” Of course, for … Read the rest of this article
This set of artist’s concepts shows NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory cruise capsule and NASA’s Orion spacecraft, which is being built now at NASA’s Johnson Space Center and will one day send astronauts to Mars. The rover Curiosity is tucked inside of the Mars Science Laboratory cruise vehicle like human beings would be tucked inside Orion. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/JSC
Measurements taken … Read the rest of this article
In science fiction, finding antimatter on board your spaceship is not good news. Usually, it means you’re moments away from an explosion.
In real life, though, finding antimatter could lead to a Nobel Prize.
On April 3rd, researchers led by Nobel Laureate Samuel Ting of MIT announced that the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, a particle detector operating onboard the International Space … Read the rest of this article
The following are statements from the associate administrators of NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, Science Mission Directorate and Space Technology Mission Directorate on the administration’s budget request for the 2014 fiscal year.
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NASA’s FY2014 budget proposal includes a plan to robotically capture a small near-Earth asteroid and redirect it safely to the Earth-Moon system, where astronauts can visit …
In the wake of the Space Shuttle’s demise, new spacecraft are being developed in droves. While all existing craft are space capsules, not unlike those used back in the Apollo era, several of the next generation of spacecraft may be spaceplanes. One contender is being built in Switzerland, with the first prototype to be completed next year.
The SOAR spaceplane … Read the rest of this article
The antimatter hunter AMS-02 on the International Space Station is searching for the missing pieces of our Universe. The project’s first results published today are hinting at a new phenomenon and revealing more about the invisible ‘dark matter’.
AMS-02, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, consists of seven instruments that monitor cosmic rays from space. Unprotected by Earth’s atmosphere the instruments receive … Read the rest of this article
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