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| Image credit: NASA |
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| Study Negative on Hubble Repair |
| Dec 8, 2004 - There has been tremendous controversy ever since NASA announced that they wouldn't sending astronauts to repair and upgrade the aging Hubble Space Telescope. An independent report delivered to the agency says that even sending a robotic mission to repair the observatory is probably a bad idea - it would be too costly and risky. A robotic mission might take $2 billion or more to develop, might not reach Hubble in time, and probably only has a 50% chance of succeeding - it would be more cost effective to launch a new observatory with the instruments built for Hubble. (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: ESA |
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| Channels at Reull Vallis |
| Dec 8, 2004 - The European Space Agency's Mars Express took this image of Reull Vallis, a region in the southern hemisphere of Mars. It's an outflow channel 20 km (12.4 miles) wide that extends 1,500 km (932 miles) long, cutting deeply into the terrain. There are many impact craters in the area which have been filled with material from flowing glaciers which have long since disappeared. (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: NASA/JPL/SSI |
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| Views of Iapetus |
| Dec 8, 2004 - NASA released Cassini's photos of Iapetus this week, taken when the spacecraft was within 1.1 million km (684,000 miles) of Saturn's moon. The 1,436 km (892 mile) moon is famous for its two faces: one hemisphere and the poles are snowy white, while the other side is very dark. You can see many impact craters in the bright areas, and in the transition between the two hemispheres. The string of dots are mountains that may rival some of the tallest mountains on Earth, Io, and maybe even Mars. (Full Story) |
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