Space

Curiosity Detects Spike In Methane, And Other Organic Molecules, On Mars

In 2009, researchers detected methane on Mars, suggesting the planet may be biologically or geologically active.  Now NASA's Mars Curiosity rover has measured a tenfold spike in methane in the atmosphere around it and detected other organic molecules ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 17 2014 - 7:15pm

The Origin Of Theta Auroras Revealed

Auroras are the most visible manifestation of the sun's effect on Earth, but many aspects of these spectacular displays are still poorly understood. One particular type of very high-latitude aurora is known as a theta aurora-- seen from above it look ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 18 2014 - 6:35pm

Challenges for Orion and SLS: An Interview with GAO Director

...

Blog Post - Tomasz Nowakowski - Dec 21 2014 - 5:11pm

German Students Aim to Put Cyanobacteria on Mars to Generate Oxygen

Mars is a very harsh and hostile environment for future human explorers and like any other known planet it has no breathable air. ...

Blog Post - Tomasz Nowakowski - Jan 4 2015 - 12:43pm

KKs3: The Milky Way Gets A New Dwarf Galaxy Neighbor

Our Milky Way is part of a cluster of more than 50 galaxies that make up the ‘Local Group’, a collection that includes the famous Andromeda galaxy and many other far smaller objects. And now one more, a tiny and isolated dwarf galaxy almost 7 million light ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 23 2014 - 10:00am

Rosetta Instrument Will Make Invaluable Discoveries, Says ESA Scientist Matt Taylor

On Dec. 10th, ESA announced the latest important discovery regarding comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Rosetta spacecraft orbiting the comet has found the water vapor from its target to be significantly different to that found on Earth. ...

Blog Post - Tomasz Nowakowski - Jan 4 2015 - 12:32pm

A Brief History Of Exo-Earths And The Search For Extraterrestrial Life

Artist’s impression shows a sunset seen from the super-Earth Gliese 667 Cc. The brightest star in the sky is the red dwarf Gliese 667 C, which is part of a triple star system. ...

Article - The Conversation - Dec 26 2014 - 4:30pm

Keep Calm and Rove on: Oppy Struggles with Flash Memory Problems

...

Blog Post - Tomasz Nowakowski - Jan 4 2015 - 12:30pm

Gyrochronology: How To Accurately Determine The Age Of A Star

By observing and surveying 30 cool solar-type stars in the 2.5 Billion-year-old cluster NGC 6819 an international research team has created an analytical procedure for accurately determining the ages of stars with knowledge of their masses and rotation pe ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 12 2015 - 8:30am

Recipe For A New Earth: One Cup Silicon, 1/4 Tsp Sulfur, Dash Of Asteroid Water...

How might you make a new Earth? Our Terran "test kitchen" has given us a detailed recipe, it just wasn't clear how transposable it was in other areas, the same way a recipe in Los Angeles might not work as well in Denver. Now, astronomers ha ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 5 2015 - 6:38pm