Category: Space

Space Story

NASA halts efforts to repair Kepler space telescope

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As reported on Engadget. By Sean Buckley It’s had a good run, but it seems like NASA’s Kepler telescope is down for the count — the space agency says it has stopped repair efforts. The 0.95 meter diameter space telescope launched four years ago, tasked with seeking out Earth-sized planets suitable for habitation. All was going well until the rig’s gyroscopic reaction wheels began to fail, robbing it of the precision aim needed to continue its task. After months of…

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Space

Researchers use Hubble to map 3D structure of exploding star

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As reported on Engadget. By Brian Heater Witness now the death of a star in glorious 3D. It’s not quite as exciting as all that, but astronomers have managed to map the eruptions of nova using footage from theHubble telescope. Above are three images of T Pyxidis (that’s T Pyx to its friends), a double star system located some 15,600 light-years away — the white globular bit in the middle is the star. The researchers reported…

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Space

Why We Can’t Send Humans to Mars Yet (And How We’ll Fix That)

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As reported on Wired. BY ADAM MANN While humans have dreamed about going to Mars practically since it was discovered, an actual mission in the foreseeable future is finally starting to feel like a real possibility. But how real is it? NASA says it’s serious about one day doing a manned mission while private companies are jockeying to present ever-more audacious plans to get there. And equally important, public enthusiasm for the Red Planet is riding high after the Curiosity…

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Science Space

Water Worlds, Tatooines, and Earth Twins: Planet-Hunting Kepler Telescope’s Greatest Hits

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As reported on Wired. BY ADAM MANN View as gallery Update: NASA’s Kepler space telescope has suffered a hardware malfunction threatening to end its life, a potentially sad finale to an important mission. This gallery of its greatest hits ran in November 2012, when the telescope completed its initial mission and prepared for a four-year extension. We are again offering this look at its best work, along with a few updated exoplanets it found in the meantime.…

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Science Space

Forever alone? How NASA’s Kepler craft is finding another Earth

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As reported on The Verge. By Carl Franzen Discovery of new planets in habitable zones is most promising yet in four-year quest Late last week, NASA announced that scientists using its Kepler space observatory had discovered two new planetary systems thousands of light years away from our own. Within these, seven new planets were found, and three of them are located in the sweet spot around their stars that makes it not too hot, nor too cold, for liquid water…

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Space

Electron showers could create the nano-spacesuit of the future Alt

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As reported on Engadget. By Joseph Volpe Historically, whenever man or beast’s been bombarded with massive amounts of radiation the results have either been gruesome or wholly fantastical (see: any superhero origin story). But recent research out of Japan indicates that a barrage ofelectrons could actually help scientists revolutionize microbiology and, more excitingly, space travel. The experiment, conducted by a team from the Hamamatsu University of Medicine, found that the larvae of fruit flies hit with this electron rush were…

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Science Space

European Space Agency wants you and your drone to help it dock spaceships

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As reported on The Verge. By Jeff Blagdon Wondering what to do with that Parrot.AR Drone collecting dust on your shelf? Why not help scientists at the European Space Agency (ESA) work on automated spaceship docking methods? The agency recently released an augmented reality app for iOS called Astro Drone (video below) that lets users simulate docking their Parrot.ARs with a virtual ISS. The (hopefully) millions of hours of resulting sensor data will go toward ESA’s early work on creating…

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Space

Photoshopped NASA Photos Give New Life to Outer-Space Imagery

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As reported on Wired. BY JAKOB SCHILLER Wiseman Seal Universal Kingdom Space Face Phoenix Phantom Magellanic Cloud Dolphin Black Body Butterfly View as gallery   Remember when you were a kid and you used to stare up into the clouds and pick out shapes and animals? Well Chris Keegan has taken that timeless exercise to whole new level by applying it to photos of space from NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory.   More Space-Related Photos Stirring Photos Chronicle the Final…

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Science Space Story

NASA’s discovery of third radiation belt around Earth will mean ‘rewriting textbooks’

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As reported on The Verge. By Jeff Blagdon Scientists used to think that the Van Allen belts — two nested rings of charged particles surrounding the Earth — bulge and swell in response to what’s happening on the sun, but are otherwise more or less fixed in place. Well, according to a new findingannounced by NASA, the rings are actually much more malleable than originally thought. New data shows their structure reconfigured in response to a…

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Space Story

Curiosity rover drills into Martian rock, looks for more evidence of water.

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As reported on Engadget. By Sean Buckley NASA scientists won’t have to wait until InSight’s 2016 drilling mission to see what lies beneath the surface of Mars — Curiosity is already on the case. After developing a taste for Martian soil late last year, the intrepid rover has started exploring the red planet’s bedrock, drilling a 0.63 inch (1.6 cm) wide hole 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) deep into Mars’ surface. Curiosity will spend the next several days analyzing the…

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