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Jan 31, 2008

How Groundwater Shaped Mars

Crusty, dusty and rusty describes the Mars of today. Surface features of the Red Planet, however, hint at a watery past where torrents of groundwater carved out deep canyons, formed sweeping fans of sediment and cemented together huge fault lines. Groundwater probably played a major role in shaping many of...

Jan 31, 2008

Georgia-Led Team Wins Cash for Space Rock Tracking Plan

A boxy spacecraft and its Georgia-based design team are $25,000 richer after winning an international competition to devise the best plan for tracking a space rock that will swing past Earth twice in the next 30 years. The small Foresight spacecraft designed by engineers in Georgia and California won first...

Jan 31, 2008

Spysat Debris Delays New Satellite's Launch

This story was updated at 3:34 p.m. EST. The planned Friday launch of a new U.S. spy satellite has been delayed by space debris from last week's destruction of its disabled predecessor, the mission's launch provider said Wednesday. Initially slated for a Feb. 29 liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base...

Dec 31, 2007

Young Planet Orbits Sun-Like Star

Astronomers say they have discovered the youngest planet to date circling a sun-like star, a discovery that will be a boon to the field of planet-formation theory. The extrasolar planet is an estimated 8 million to 10 million years old, a mere toddler compared to Earth, which is 4.5 billion...

Dec 31, 2007

Space Station Crew Prepares for Spacewalk Repair

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are preparing for a potential spacewalk this month to replace a broken motor at the base of one of their orbital lab's expansive solar wings. Station commander Peggy Whitson and flight engineer Dan Tani could make the repair as early as late January,...

Dec 31, 2007

Baby Versions of Milky Way Spotted

Astronomers have spotted small galaxies near the beginning of time that resemble ancestors of our own galactic home. The tiny galaxies are about one-tenth to one-twentieth the size of the Milky Way and have 40 times fewer stars. Light from the ancient clusters was emitted about 2 billion years after...

Dec 31, 2007

There's Got to Be an Invisible Sky

A new book brings cosmic objects close enough to touch — at least for the fingers of the blind. NASA this week debuted a new book that presents images from its Great Observatories in a new format that allows visually impaired people to experience them. About 10 million visually impaired...

Dec 31, 2007

Next Space Tourist Begins Training for Spaceflight

An American space tourist bound for the International Space Station (ISS) has begun training for his fall launch aboard a Russian rocket. Computer game developer Richard Garriott is spending six weeks in Russia to undergo initial medical checks and the first round of training for flight aboard a Soyuz spacecraft....

Dec 31, 2007

Astronaut Survey Finds no Evidence of Launch Day Drinking

A survey of NASA astronauts and flight surgeons has turned up no evidence that U.S. spaceflyers were drunk on launch day and revealed a desire for more transparency in how crews are selected for spaceflight. The anonymous survey, released Wednesday, did find one report of perceived impairment in an astronaut...

Dec 31, 2007

Europe Sets Launch Plan for First Unmanned Cargo Ship

PARIS - Europe's large unmanned space tug is undergoing final preparations for a maiden flight to the International Space Station sometime between Feb. 22 and March 9, with docking at the station likely to occur during windows of March 15-19 or March 30-April 5, program managers said Tuesday. At a...

Dec 31, 2007

NASA Eyes Kinked Space Shuttle Hose for Feb. 7 Launch

NASA's shuttle Atlantis is on target for a Feb. 7 launch so long as a kinked radiator hose doesn't put a crimp in the agency's plans. Top mission managers officially gave Atlantis and its crew approval Wednesday to press ahead with next week's planned launch toward the International Space Station...

Dec 31, 2007

Orbital Traffic Jam Looms for Space Station

WASHINGTON — The maiden flight of an unmanned European cargo ship is just one of several of tightly-packed arrivals and departures coming up for the International Space Station (ISS). The European Space Agency's (ESA) first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) is set to launch toward the space station as early as...

Aug 31, 2009

Predicting Extraterrestrial Weather

This Behind the Scenes article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation. Maybe even more than average citizens, the world's space agencies rely on daily and seasonal reports to better understand weather on Earth and other planets. Space-mission success ties directly to effective anticipation and navigation...

Jun 30, 2009

Tough Microbe Has The Right Stuff for Mars

Biologists have found microbes that live in the hottest, coldest, driest and most unpleasant places on Earth. Many of these bugs don't adapt well to new surroundings, but one microbe is remarkable for withstanding a wide range of conditions. This quality might make this unique organism suitable for adapting to...

Jun 30, 2009

Comet Killed Ice Age Beasts

Space rocks that slammed into the glaciers of eastern Canada some 12,900 years ago likely helped wipe out mega-animals like woolly mammoths and possibly the continent's first human inhabitants called the Clovis people, according to a new study that adds to evidence that a trio of factors were involved. The...