space exploration

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Computer Glitch Makes Hubble Go Dark

NASA is struggling to reboot the 'brain' of the telescope

(Newser) - The famed Hubble telescope is still kicking after more than three decades in space, but it's been dark for more than a week now because of a computer glitch. NASA has tried and failed to reboot the telescope's payload computer since it crashed on June 13, reports Live...

2 Dueling Views on Jeff Bezos&#39; Space Trip
Is Bezos
a Hero
or a Jerk?
2 Views
OPINION
Jun 8, 2021 11:50 AM CDT

Is Bezos a Hero or a Jerk? 2 Views

One writer thinks his space trip shows integrity, another the exact opposite

(Newser) - Jeff Bezos, conqueror of retail sales on Earth, is venturing into space next month on the first manned voyage of his Blue Origin company. As you might expect, this generated all kinds of opinions, and below are one each from the yea and nay camps:
  • Bravo: At Time , Jeffrey Kluger
...

China Just Joined an Elite Mars Club
China Just Joined
an Elite Mars Club
May 15, 2021 12:22 PM CDT

China Just Joined an Elite Mars Club

Nation landed a spacecraft on the red planet

(Newser) - China landed a spacecraft on Mars for the first time on Saturday, a technically challenging feat more difficult than a moon landing, in the latest step forward for its ambitious goals in space. Plans call for a rover to stay in the lander for a few days of diagnostic tests...

China Gambles, Wins With Massive Rocket Re-Entry

Long March 5B burned up over the Maldives

(Newser) - China's space agency said a core segment of its biggest rocket reentered Earth’s atmosphere above the Maldives in the Indian Ocean and that most of it burned up early Sunday, per the AP . Harvard astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, who tracked the tumbling rocket part, said on Twitter, “An...

SpaceX Crew Makes Safe, Rare Splashdown

4 astronauts are back after record-setting stay at International Space Station

(Newser) - A four-member SpaceX crew returning from the International Space Station made a piloted landing in the Gulf of Mexico early Sunday, the first such nighttime landing in almost 54 years. After the gentle water landing just before 3am, aided by four parachutes, the Resilience capsule was lifted onto a recovery...

NASA Just Flew a Helicopter on Mars

It's the first powered flight on another planet

(Newser) - NASA just scored some serious bragging rights among Earthlings. The agency's Ingenuity helicopter completed a short flight on Mars—the first powered flight on another planet, reports the Washington Post . The 4-pound craft rose about 10 feet for 30 seconds or so before returning to the planet's surface....

This Man Made History 60 Years Ago
This Man Made
History 60 Years Ago
Apr 12, 2021 10:05 AM CDT

This Man Made History 60 Years Ago

Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin made a pioneering spaceflight, became national hero

(Newser) - Crushed into the pilot's seat by heavy G-forces, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin saw flames outside his spacecraft and prepared to die. His voice broke the tense silence at ground control: "I’m burning. Goodbye, comrades." Gagarin didn’t know that the blazing inferno he observed through a...

Here Is the Crew of First Private Flight by SpaceX

Billionaire fills out his 4-person team

(Newser) - A billionaire’s private SpaceX flight filled its two remaining seats Tuesday with a scientist-teacher and a data engineer whose college friend actually won a spot but gave him the prize, per the AP . The new passengers: Sian Proctor, 51, a community college educator in Tempe, Arizona, and Chris Sembroski,...

Touchdown! NASA Lands Another Rover on Mars
Touchdown! NASA Lands
Another Rover on Mars
UPDATED
Feb 18, 2021 3:00 PM CST

Touchdown! NASA Lands Another Rover on Mars

Perseverance arrives safely

(Newser) - NASA successfully landed another rover on Mars Thursday. The Perseverance rover touched down about 4pm Eastern after a typically nail-biting descent. Ground controllers at the space agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena cheered and exchanged fist bumps and high-fives in triumph—and relief—on receiving confirmation that the six-wheeled...

World's Mars Club Grows by 2 This Week

UAE probe on track to arrive Tuesday, and China's the following day

(Newser) - February is a big month in terms of Mars exploration, and it gets started Tuesday with a crucial moment in what AFP calls the first Arab space mission. A probe launched by the United Arab Emirates from Japan in July is on track to reach the planet's orbit at...

Japan Thrilled About 'Treasure Box' From Space

Capsule with material from asteroid was successfully dropped to Earth

(Newser) - China's mission to retrieve moon rocks isn't the only successful space feat in the news these days. A small capsule containing asteroid soil samples that was dropped from 136,700 miles in space by Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft landed as planned in the Australian Outback on Sunday, per...

We May Have Been Visited by Relic of Early Space Age

Mysterious space object zipped by Earth, and NASA experts think it hails from the 1960s

(Newser) - In the wee hours of Tuesday morning, an object in space zipped by Earth at a distance of about 27,000 miles. The object has been given the not-so-descriptive designation of "2020 SO," and while nobody knows with certainty what it is, NASA researchers have an intriguing guess....

China's Ambitious Moon Mission Off to Good Start

Probe lands, aims to bring back moon rocks

(Newser) - A Chinese robot probe launched to return lunar rocks to Earth landed on the moon Tuesday, the government announced. Assuming all goes well, the mission will be the first in 40 years to retrieve moon rocks. The Chang'e 5 probe "successfully landed on the moon in the preselected...

Asteroid's Odds of Hitting Earth Just Improved

Though they're still slim for the year 2068

(Newser) - In nine years, a big asteroid will come close enough to Earth that it will be visible with the naked eye. In 2036, Apophis will make a return trip, and Earthlings will again be safe. The year 2068, however, might be a different story. Scientists just made some new calculations...

Scientists Discover Surprise About Jupiter&#39;s Icy Moon
Moon of Jupiter
Reveals a Surprise
new study
Nov 9, 2020 2:32 PM CST

Moon of Jupiter Reveals a Surprise

Researchers say Europa glows in the dark

(Newser) - Scientists have just figured something out about the Jupiter moon Europa—it glows in the dark. Which, as a post at NASA points out, might not seem that weird to a layman. After all, we look up and see our own moon glowing in the night sky. But something entirely...

Source of Cosmic Radio Bursts Is Finally Discovered

They come from 'magnestars'

(Newser) - A flash of luck helped astronomers solve a cosmic mystery: What causes powerful but fleeting radio bursts that zip and zigzag through the universe? Scientists have known about these energetic pulses—called fast radio bursts—for about 13 years and have seen them coming from outside our galaxy, which makes...

In Clouds of Venus, a Tantalizing Find
Something
Weird Is
Happening
on Venus
new study
Sep 14, 2020 11:23 AM CDT

Something Weird Is Happening on Venus

Chemical associated with biological life is detected in the clouds

(Newser) - Astronomers have found something unexpected in the clouds of Venus—a chemical usually associated with biological life. Does this mean there's life on Venus? Nope, far from it, explains the MIT Technology Review . But the gist from coverage is that the discovery is extremely intriguing. In their paper in...

NASA Patents Cheaper Way to Reach the Moon

New course is for small, unmanned missions

(Newser) - One of NASA's newest patents is about something laymen might not have thought was necessary—a map to the moon. But as the Observer reports, the newly patented route is designed for small, unmanned scientific missions. And it will not only save money, it will allow those missions to...

Rare Splashdown Nears
Rare Splashdown Nears
Jul 31, 2020 5:30 PM CDT

Rare Splashdown Nears

Crew expects to bob in the water off Florida for a while before being picked up

(Newser) - Two US astronauts about to make the first splashdown return in 45 years said Friday they'll have seasick bags ready if needed. SpaceX and NASA plan to bring Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken back Sunday afternoon in the company's Dragon capsule, aiming for the Gulf of Mexico just...

Rock From Mars Continues Its Strange Journey

NASA is bringing the small meteorite back to the red planet

(Newser) - Somewhere around 700,000 years ago, an asteroid or comet slammed into Mars and sent debris flying everywhere. And perhaps 1,000 years ago, one small piece of rock finally ended up on Earth. Now that same bit of basalt is going back to Mars, reports the BBC . As the...

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