astronomy

NASA Searches for Small Satellite Launchers

Medicine & Technology Students and scientists continue to pack increasingly innovative missions into tiny satellites known as CubeSats, but getting them to space proves both difficult and expensive. A NASA program based at Kennedy Space Center hopes to help introduce a new class of rockets designed specifically for very small satellites, or even bunches of them.

Rare Quasar Quartet is the First of Its Kind

Imagine winning the Powerball jackpot-more than once. You may have a sense of how a team of astronomers feels after their discovery of a set of four quasars at the visible universe's edge. These brilliant beacons of light are typically spread far apart, but this quartet exists shoved together in only 650,000 light-years of space-equivalent to around a quarter of the distance between our closest big neighbor galaxy Andromeda and the Milky Way.

NASA Probe Searches Pluto for New Moons and Rings

NASA’s New Horizons space probe is set to make the history books when it flies past Pluto on July 14. Currently, the probe looking closely at the little dwarf planet as it looks for anything that could cause problems for the craft during the final months of its historic mission.

How Do Galaxies Die?

In a new study published in the journal Nature, researchers from the University of Cambridge and the Royal Observatory Edinburgh have found that when galaxies do die they die of strangulation.

NASA Scientist Says Space Mining Needs Oversight

While prospecting and mining on the moon or on asteroids is probably a couple of decades away from becoming reality, according to a NASA scientist speaking at a symposium on planetary and terrestrial mining, oversight will be needed by a body much like the United Nations.

Humans May Not Have to Carry Oxygen to Mars

NASA is already in the planning stages for a future trip to Mars, and one of the hurdles they must jump is how humans will breath on the Red Planet. However, instead of carrying huge oxygen tanks, future human missions may actually utilize methods to actually produce the life giving gas on the planet itself.

Cause of Galactic Death: Strangulation

It's the ultimate whodunnit: what kills galaxies? A new study, published today in the journal Nature, names strangulation as the primary cause of galactic death.

Giant Asteroid to Pass Close to the Earth

An asteroid that is approximately one-mile wide will come very close to the Earth on May 14, according to NASA’s Near Earth Object watch. While an asteroid of this size would be cataclysmic if it hit the Earth, this one will pass safely by.

Andromeda's Halo and Its Gaseous Glow

Thanks to the latest from the NASA Hubble Space Telescope astronomers may now be poised to understand the origins of our galaxy more clearly. A team of scientists led by astrophysicist Nicolas Lehner of the University of Notre Dame used the Hubble to find a massive gas halo surrounding the Andromeda Galaxy, our closest neighbor.

SpaceX Abort Test a Success

This week, SpaceX performed its pad abort test for its Dragon capsule at Cape Canaveral. While the test seemed to go off without a hitch, initially there was little word from the company about exactly how it went. Now, SpaceX has confirmed that while the test itself was a success, there is still plenty of room for improvement to prepare the capsule to fly astronauts too the International Space Station within two years.

NASA Wants Your Ideas for a Mars Colony

Mars is seen as the next frontier for humans. Ever since astronauts first walked on the Moon in 1969, scientists and space enthusiasts alike have dreamed of one day exploring the Red Planet. While we work on new rockets to get us to Mars, scientists are already hard at work thinking about how to build a sustainable colony on Mars. What do we need to survive? That’s the question NASA is asking the public in its latest competition.

Man's Next Endeavor In Space-Keeping Mankind Alive on Mars

As more news about Mars enters our scientific community each day, the importance of making survival on Mars a priority is thrown into sharp relief. No longer remote, science-fiction the goal of transforming Mars for ourselves with technology is at the core of our next endeavor in space.
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