SPACE

Next Stop for Curiosity Rover? Lava Mound May Hold Answers to Ancient Martian Lava Flows

While NASA’s Curiosity Rover revealed a possible location for reoccurring lakes on the surface of the red planet last week, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is finding even larger discoveries from its vantage point in the sky. Capturing new images with its HiRISE camera, one of six onboard instruments used by the orbiter, Reconnaissance has found evidence of one of the largest lava mounds found to date. And while it looks like a crispy pie pulled right from the oven, researchers say that the 1.2-mile wide circle of Martian crust is composed of iron-rich metamorphic rock, created thousands of years ago in a series of lava flows.

Japanese asteroid probe sets off on six-year journey

Japanese asteroid probe sets off on six-year journey A Japanese space probe named after a falcon blasted off on Wednesday, setting off on a six-year round trip to an asteroid for samples that scientists hope will help reveal the origins of life.

New U.S. spaceship set for Thursday test flight

Tourists stand on the original Apollo 1 launch pad overlooking the Delta IV Heavy rocket with the Orion spacecraft on Space Launch Complex 37B pad at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida December 1, 2014.

Turkey Day In Space—ISS Astronauts Float Through Thanksgiving

Despite having an international crew, and orbiting in a laboratory 260 miles above the surface of the Earth, astronauts aboard the International Space Station are celebrating today’s turkey day with a few of their zero-g versions of traditional Thanksgiving classics—and they’re even sharing what their thankful for with the rest of the world.

New Astronauts Bring Taste of Italy to ISS—ISSpresso An Instant Hit

Late Sunday morning, Nov. 23, three new replacements for Expedition 42 boarded the International Space Station, bringing the orbiting space lab’s population back to full strength. But, aside from bringing some fresh blood to the research conducted on the orbiting spacecraft, and new perspectives for how life in space should be conducted on the space station, the three new astronauts brought a bit of home back with them. And it’s Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti’s 44-pound carry-on that has the International Space Station salivating at the taste of Italy she brought aboard.

Multi-national crew reaches space station

International Space Station (ISS) crew Anton Shkaplerov of Russia matches palm with his daughter Kira from a bus window before the launch of the Soyuz-FG rocket at the Baikonur cosmodrome November 23, 2014.

International Space Station Crewmembers Arrive, and Some Start With Tweets

Rounding out the crew of six, who have been short-staffed since the return of three members earlier this summer, three new replacements for Expedition 42 aboard the International Space Station arrived late Sunday, Nov. 23, bringing the orbiting space lab’s population back to full strength.

A Kickstarter That’ll Send Memories to the Moon

In a time when space missions take the cover pages of nearly every news source, and the headlines pull readers in, the general public would be shocked to learn that many government space agencies are struggling to keep their satellites and spacecrafts up in the sky. And knowing the financial struggle all too well, a group of British researchers from the Lunar Mission Trust, a non-profit think-tank for astronomers and space buffs alike, have decided to crowd-fund their newest adventure to the moon. And with only 24 days left to go, many are questioning whether the team will be able to reach their lofty goals.

Researchers Reveal Method for Magnetic Field Calculation of Exoplanets

Knowing the level of a planet’s magnetic field can be an important fact to know in the study of how they interact. But studying the fields of an exoplanet, outside of our solar system and orbiting a foreign star, can be a difficult task that researchers have not yet been able to achieve. Though in nearly two decades of looking past our solar system to investigate exoplanets, researchers have developed several methods to estimate magnetic fields at quite a distance.

Lunar Mission To Take Remnants of Earth’s Culture to Space

For centuries now, since the dawn of man, early scientists have sought out remnants of space rock and interstellar interactions here on Earth. Legends of moon stones and pieces of stars have abounded in nearly every culture, but now that astronomers have the technology to leave their own mark on distant planets and satellites, one company is looking to leave a piece of Earth on our very own moon. If all goes according to plan, and the company can be funded by interested parties, a decade from now a spacecraft from the Lunar Mission One will land on the South Pole/Aitken Basin of the moon and create a new history for mankind.

Should Mysterious Russian Satellite Be Cause for Concern?

Nearly 50 years ago, the world was in a similar climate as it is today. International affairs were rocky at best, and former enemies on the global stage took to space as they would a battlefield. Nations like the U.S. and Soviet Russia engaged in a war of attrition, one that luckily never led to actual battle; but rather led to a space race the United States won first.

Russian ‘Satellite Killer’ May Spark International Warfare

Decades later, and a Russian space mission may just kick off yet another space race much closer to home. With news of fallen missiles creating craters in northern Siberia, and secret space missions being launched from the Russian side of the world, sky gazers have kept their eyes peeled in recent months for anything peculiar up in the sky. But now six months after researchers say that a Russian object was put into orbit around the Earth, astronomers fear that Russia’s spacecraft may be conducting a test run for anti-satellite warfare.

Philae Lander Reveals Organic Molecules on Comet 67P

For ten years, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Rosetta Mission has been on a path towards Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in hopes of finding answers to the origins of our solar system. And when the Rosetta Mission’s Philae Lander landed Nov. 12, researchers thought they’d find their answers. But with a myriad of errors and strange complications added to the mixture, the Philae Lander had a tough, short time to collect all of its data. Yet, even in spite of all the difficulties thrown into the mix, researchers at the ESA announced today that an analysis of Philae’s data reveals “organic” molecules on Comet 67P, much like those found here on Earth.

Should Mysterious Craters in Siberia Be Cause for Concern?

Earlier this past summer when a mysterious giant crater was discovered in northern Siberia’s Yamal Peninsula, many believed the phenomenon to be far too strange to be a natural occurrence. Ironically named “Yamal” which means “the end of the world”, much skepticism surrounded early news of the phenomenon. And when images hit the web a myriad of theories abounded, leading viewers to throw reason to the wind claiming that the crater was either a man-made hoax, a site for a meteorite crash, or even the workings of an alien UFO.
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