Space travel inspires us to dream about tomorrow, says Neil deGrasse Tyson. So why did we give up? As a nation, we need to keep reaching for the stars, to push back our boundaries and stake out new frontiers.
100 Days and Counting to NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover Landing
April 28th, 2012At 10:31 p.m. PDT today, April 27, (1:31 p.m. EDT), NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory, carrying the one-ton Curiosity rover, will be within 100 days from its appointment with the Martian surface. At that moment, the mission has about 119 million miles (191 million kilometers) to go and is closing at a speed of 13,000 mph (21,000 kilometers per hour).
THAR SHE BLOWS! AMATEURS PHOTOGRAPH INCOMING COMET
April 28th, 2012Astronomy is one of the few sciences that allows amateur practitioners to actively take part in real research projects — be it monitoring planetary atmospheres or studying distant galaxies.
E.T. Not Home
April 28th, 2012What if we ARE all alone? Scientists say Earth may be a ‘one-off fluke’ and the Milky Way’s billions of other planets may all be lifelessO
Dark Matter May Collide With Atoms Inside You More Often Than Thought
April 28th, 2012Invisible dark matter particles may regularly pass through our bodies, and dozens to thousands of these particles may be colliding with atoms inside us every year, according to a new calculation.
Huge Lake on Saturn’s Moon Titan Acts Like Earth’s Mudflats
April 28th, 2012An enormous lake on Saturn’s moon Titan apparently behaves like mudflats on our planet, draining and refilling over time, according to a new study.
Russia to Send Manned Mission to Moon by 2030
April 28th, 2012Russia is planning to send a manned mission to the moon by 2030, Russian space agency Roscosmos said on its website on Friday.
What we learned from North Korea’s Rocket no-show
April 28th, 2012Looking back on what we were shown — and what was not shown — during our unprecedented press tour of North Korea’s space facilities, I realize that both these aspects of reality had lessons for us. The very absence of some expected features of the trip strongly indicated the presence of important features of North Korea.
Sunny outlook for space weather forecasters
April 28th, 2012For decades, companies have tailored public weather data for private customers from farmers to airlines. On Wednesday, a group of businesses said that they are on the cusp of developing a new market: fine-tuned space weather products for customers as varied as electrical utilities and satellite operators.
Shuttle prototype Enterprise arrives in NYC
April 28th, 2012Two retired shuttle ferry flights down, one to go.
Enterprise touched down for the last time at John F. Kennedy Airport at 11:22 a.m. today after flying low over the Statue of Liberty and up the Hudson River atop a 747 carrier aircraft.
Astronaut, cosmonauts safely return to Earth
April 28th, 2012An American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts are back on Earth today after a high-flying departure from the International Space Station.
Cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov backed a Russian Soyuz spacecraft away from the outpost about 4:18 a.m. EDT. Flying along with him: U.S. astronaut Dan Burbank and cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin.
HOW LONG HAS TITAN BEEN A HAZY METHANE MOON?
April 28th, 2012Saturn’s moon Titan is one of the most scientifically interesting spots in the solar system. The second-largest moon after Jupiter’s Gannymede and bigger than the planet Mercury, it’s shrouded beneath a thick, smoggy atmosphere rich in methane creating a greenhouse effect and constantly unloads complex hydrocarbons that rain down on the surface.
Going platinum
April 28th, 2012CAN reality trump art? That was the question hovering over the launch on April 24th, at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, of a plan by a firm called Planetary Resources to mine metals from asteroids and bring them back to Earth.
Editorial: Ideas must venture out of this world
April 28th, 2012No one can accuse James Cameron of not thinking outside the box. This board’s favorite film-making billionaire has ideas that could be described as innovative, sure, but most seem to be downright zany (“Titanic 3D,” anyone?). Some of his ideas are out of this world, even.
The United States is spacing out
April 28th, 2012This Tuesday, the JHU Politik Speaker Series held an event entitled “Earth & Space: Space Expansionism, Geopolitics and Earthkeeping,” which focused on the relation between an expanding human presence in space and global politics.
Occupy Asteroids?
April 28th, 2012The announcement this week of an asteroid mining venture — backed by Google executives, the Perot Group, and James Cameron, among others — is precisely the sort of item that conjures both absurdity and horror in its full implications.
Space, the next frontier — for Hillary Clinton?
April 28th, 2012She has been the US secretary of state, a senator and nearly became president, but Hillary Clinton joked Thursday that she might want to try another role — space tourist.
Florida’s Space Industry Struggles to Survive
April 28th, 2012For 50 years, it’s been a critical part of Florida’s economy. But now our space industry is struggling to survive. The retirement of the shuttle program has left thousands of workers jobless. And, it’s also called into question whether Florida’s days as America’s pre-eminent space state are over.
John Glenn Named One Of Thirteen Presidential Medal Of Freedom Recipients
April 28th, 2012Mercury and Shuttle astronaut John Glenn has been named as one of President Barack Obama’s recipients for the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Glenn was the first U.S. astronaut to reach orbit in 1961 atop and Atlas rocket. Glenn left NASA in 1964. He would then spend some two and a half decades serving his home state of Ohio as a senator.
Astronomer finds meteorite pieces in Gold Country
April 28th, 2012Searchers near historic Sutter’s Mill have discovered fragments of the meteorite that exploded high in the sky at sunrise last Sunday.