Latest science news in Astronomy & Space
Air Force launches surveillance satellite from Ca.
(AP) -- A U.S. space surveillance satellite was launched late Saturday from the central California coast, the Air Force said.
Mars orbiter back at work after glitch
PASADENA, Calif., Sept. 21 (UPI) -- A NASA spacecraft orbiting Mars has resumed its study of the red planet after a computer glitch temporarily interrupted its mission, engineers at...
Orbiter Resumes Science Observations
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter resumed observing Mars with its science instruments on Sept. 18, recovering from an unplanned reboot of its computer three days earlier.
Lunar mission sheds light on early solar system
Moon was more geologically active than previously thought
Are solar flares a real threat?
Newsnight's Science editor Susan Watts considers how much we really need to worry about Nasa's solar flare warning and the possibility of life without electricity.
NASA captures very heavy rain in Typhoon Fanapi and 2 landfalls
Taiwan experienced a landfall and a soaking from Typhoon Fanapi, and NASA and JAXA's TRMM satellite noted a large area of very heavy rain in the system before it made...
'Archeologists of the air' isolate pristine aerosol particles in the Amazon
Environmental engineers who might better be called "archeologists of the air" have, for the first time, isolated aerosol particles in near pristine pre-industrial conditions. Working in the remote Amazonian Basin...
Analogy Watch: Gravitational Lensing
My last post about hydrogen bonding included a video about dogs as an analogy to the chemistry. This got me thinking about visual analogies, and how video or images can...
Space Veggies for Astronauts Grow in Arizona Desert
Astronauts flying to Mars or beyond may be able to grow their own veggies during the long trip using new technology currently being exhibited in the Arizona desert.
Rogue satellite still 'talking'
WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- An uncontrollable satellite drifting in orbit did not shut itself down as predicted and is a posing signal interference risk to other satellites, experts...
Air Force Launches Suborbital Ballistic Missile In Weapons Test
An unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile blasted off California early Friday (Sept. 17) in a successful weapons test.
Uranus may have been cosmic 'pinball'
PARIS, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Jupiter and Saturn may have played a game of cosmic "pinball" with the planet Uranus before finally tossing it into its present orbit, French...
Alien Planets Can Flock to Nearest Star
Astronomers are studying a newfound alien solar system to learn about planet migration and the history of how such worlds and their local solar system formed.
NASA’s CloudSat satellite and GRIP Aircraft profile Hurricane Karl
NASA's CloudSat satellite captured a profile of Hurricane Karl as it began making landfall in Mexico today. The satellite data revealed very high, icy cloud tops in Karl's powerful thunderstorms,...
Official: NASA Must Evolve Alongside Commercial Spaceflight
NASA needs to evolve for the future, not get stuck in the past, the agency's deputy administrator said this week.
Video: Samsung Announces Its Galaxy Tab
Justin.tv releases an iPhone app, Bing Maps gets public transportation directions, the HDCP antipiracy protocol gets broken, and Samsung announces the Galaxy Tab for all four major carriers.
U.K. predicts 'spaceplane' in 10 years
LONDON, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- British engineers say they believe spacecraft taking off from an ordinary airport runway and carrying tourists into space might be a reality in 10...
Moon Photos Shot from the Reconnaissance Orbiter
Scientists Find Moon's Surface More Complex Than Earlier Assumed.
Life beyond Earth 'within our grasp', astronomer says
With a bit of luck and a new space telescope, within five years we could know the answer to a question that humanity has pondered for millennia: Is there life...
Happy to Be the Tortoise in the Race to Fitness
A runner has gotten used to the fact that anybody else who is running the same path is probably going to pass him.
The drier edge of college football
College football betting markets show a statistically significant bias against home teams from arid regions who host teams from wetter environments, researchers from Kansas State University found.
In Cascades, a Search for the Grizzly
It has been more than a decade since the last confirmed grizzly bear sighting in the North Cascades, but researchers are still looking.
Back to the moon’s future
Orbiter scouts oldest spots on the lunar surface for prospective landing sites
Water around massive young stars
Water is critical to human life, but also plays an important role in the life of stars and their planetary systems. As a gas, water helps to cool collapsing...
New imaging of biggest crash on Earth
New images are arriving of the largest crash under way on Earth, involving the entire Indian subcontinent diving underneath Tibet. Indian subcontinent - Tibet - Earth...
UCSB, Texas A&M scientists document fate of deep hydrocarbon plumes in Gulf oil spill
SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Sept. 16, 2010 -- In the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, a team of scientists led by UC Santa...
New Types Of Rock Found On Moon By Researchers At Stony Brook University And NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Using data from the Diviner Lunar Radiometer, an instrument uniquely capable of identifying common lunar silicate minerals, scientists at Stony Brook University in New York and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory...
New Imaging Reveals Continental Crash Zone
Researchers probe inner Earth below Himalayas, Tibetan Plateau.