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‘Space’ Stories

Fusion drive promises to propel astronauts to Mars in only a month

, Apr 9th 2013 Discuss [0]

One of the biggest challenges in exploring our solar system is the vast distances that astronauts have to traverse. Researchers at the University of Washington are currently working on a fusion-powered spacecraft that in theory will be able to take astronauts to Mars and back in only 30 days. The researchers believe that their fusion-powered spacecraft could shave years from a round-trip to Mars. Read The Full Story

Curiosity rover experiment finds Mars has lost a lot of its ancient atmosphere

, Apr 9th 2013 Discuss [0]

A recent experiment conducted aboard the NASA Curiosity rover has confirmed that Mars lost most of its ancient atmosphere. The experiment shows that billions of years ago, Mars was a significantly warmer and wetter world. Having a warmer and wetter climate would've made Mars more habitable earlier in its life. Read The Full Story

Boeing completes launch vehicle adapter preliminary design review

, Apr 8th 2013 Discuss [0]

NASA partner Boeing has announced that it has completed its launch vehicle adapter preliminary design review. The launch vehicle adapter is the component of Boeing's rocket design that would attach a crew capsule to the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. The completion of the preliminary design review is one of six performance milestones Boeing has to complete for this particular device. Read The Full Story

NASA to place an asteroid into orbit around the Moon

, Apr 7th 2013 Discuss [0]

NASA will likely be funded $105 million for a new mission proposed by the Obama administration. President Obama will likely request the $105 million when he releases his federal budget request for 2014 next week. In the mission, NASA will seek out a 500-ton near-Earth asteroid (NEA) about 25-foot long, capture it, and drag it into orbit around the Moon. NASA will then send astronauts, via NASA's upcoming Orion capsule and Space Launch System rocket, to the asteroid in 2021 to study it and grab samples. Read The Full Story

NASA chooses TESS and NICER projects for 2017 missions

, Apr 6th 2013 Discuss [0]

NASA has decided on two "low-cost" missions that it plans on launching in 2017. The first project involves the MIT-led Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) project, and the second project involves the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER), which will be mounted onto the International Space Station. NASA will spend a total of $255 million for both projects. Read The Full Story

Hubble spies most distant supernova ever

, Apr 5th 2013 Discuss [0]

The things scientists and astronomers have discovered about the universe around us using the Hubble space telescope is amazing. One of the most recent discoveries by the Hubble space telescope is what astronomers say is the most distant supernova ever seen. The supernova explosion was so far from Earth that it took 10 billion years for the light to reach our planet. Read The Full Story

Curiosity rover communication moratorium in effect until May 1

, Apr 4th 2013 Discuss [0]

March was an eventful month for NASA's Mars Curiosity rover, which experienced a variety of issues and delays, some due to problems with the rover itself and others due to conditions outside of anyone's control. Those issues have been resolved, but now starting today a communication moratorium has gone into effect, and Curiosity will be on its own, perhaps taking the most exotic vacation ever, until May 1. Read The Full Story

Photos show Curiosity’s parachute flapping in the Martian wind

, Apr 4th 2013 Discuss [0]

Back in August of 2012, NASA successfully landed the Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars. The massive rover had a highly complicated system designed to bring it safely to ground inside Gale Crater. One of the primary devices used to slow the Curiosity rover's decent to the surface of Mars was a gigantic parachute. Read The Full Story

Dark Matter detection suggested aboard ISS

, Apr 3rd 2013 Discuss [0]

Today a briefing was held at Europe's CERN laboratory which had experiment chief Samuel Ting of MIT announcing what may be the first official detection of dark matter. Ting is a Nobel-prize winning physicist and made it clear that though "more statistics" are going to be needed to be entirely certain of the results, theses findings are the most compelling evidence of dark matter yet. Read The Full Story

Saturn’s moon Titan reveals even more life-sustaining possibilities

, Apr 3rd 2013 Discuss [0]

The moon known as Titan should ring a bell for you if you're interested in the possibility of life on planets other than our own. Saturn's yellow moon has been the subject of life-sustaining chatter for some time now, the most recent discovery about it having been found in an experiment done right here on Earth. Down at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, an experiment has been done that suggests life in a whole new region before suspected to be devoid of it. Read The Full Story

Supermassive black hole wakes to feast on giant planet as astronomers watch

, Apr 3rd 2013 Discuss [0]

Astronomers at the European Space Agency have watched a hitherto-dormant black hole wake and gorge upon a nearby substellar object the size of a "super Jupiter", a months-long feasting that consumed a tenth of its mass. The sudden flaring of the black hole - believed to have a mass around 300,000 times that of our Sun - came after several decades of inactivity, the ESA said, but is a timely example of the appetite the super-dense anomalies can have. Scientists expect a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way to flare in a similar way, potentially as soon as this year. Read The Full Story

Researchers uncover how spiral galaxy arms form

, Apr 3rd 2013 Discuss [0]

Spiral galaxies are beautiful astronomical realities that have long been the cause of speculation, with no definitive conclusion having been made over what causes them. Researchers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the University of Wisconsin-Madison have helped solve this conundrum, stating that they've proved the spiral arms are persistent, long-lived, and self-perpetuating. Read The Full Story
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