Space and astronomy news
Image credit: NASA/JPL With Spirit safely on the surface of Mars, engineers at NASA are starting to get a sense of the environment around it. So far, it looks like the rover couldn’t have landed in a better spot. The platform holding the rover is only tilted a few degrees, and there are no large …
Image credit: NASA A team of scientists have discovered bacteria inside a hole that was drilled 1,350 metres into the volcanic rock near Hilo, Hawaii. The hole began in igneous rock on the Mauna Loa volcano, and then passed through lava from Mauna Kea. At 1,000 metres they encountered fractured basalt glass which formed when …
Image credit: NASA/JPL NASA’s Spirit rover made a slight correction to its trajectory on December 26, when it fired its thrusters for 3.4 seconds. The maneuver went flawlessly, and put the lander right on course to land in Mars’ Gusev Crater on January 4 at 0435 UTC (11:35 pm EST January 3). This was Spirit’s …
2003 was quite a year for space and astronomy, with the loss of Columbia and Chinese making their first successful human space launch. It was definitely a year of highs and lows. Join Universe Today as we look at the top space stories of the year. In no particular order… Columbia Disaster Space exploration is …
Image credit: NASA/JPL Scientists are always looking for more ways to cram scientific instruments into spacecraft, and they’ve come up with an innovative idea for the Mars Exploration rovers: using the wheels to dig trenches to see what the environment on Mars is like a few centimetres beneath the surface. Researchers from Cornell University perfected …
Continue reading “Rovers Will Dig Trenches with Their Wheels”
Image credit: NASA According to a new simulation by a team of University of Washington astronomers, Earthlike worlds could be more common that previously believed. The team performed 44 computer simulations of planet formations near a star, and found that an Earth-sized world was created nearly every time – and a terrestrial planet was in …
Image credit: NASA/JPL NASA’s twin rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, are still on track to reach the Red Planet in early January. Spirit, which launched first, is scheduled to arrive on the evening of January 3, 2004 near the centre of Gusev Crater, which might have held a lake in the past. The spacecraft will jettison …
Image credit: Arianespace Europe’s first mission to the Moon, SMART-1, lifted off successfully on board an Ariane-5 rocket Saturday evening. The rocket launched from the Guiana Space Centre at 2314 GMT (7:14 pm EDT) carrying SMART-1 and two other satellites. The spacecraft has deployed its solar arrays, and is currently undergoing an initial checkout of …
Image credit: NASA/JPL Time is running out for NASA’s Galileo spacecraft. After eight years of loyal service imaging Jupiter and its moons, NASA controllers have aimed it at the gas giant. On September 21, 2003, Galileo will crash into Jupiter and be destroyed; this will prevent any chance the spacecraft will unintentionally crash into Europa …
Continue reading “Galileo Will Plunge Into Jupiter on September 21”
Image credit: NASA The Russian Progress cargo ship launched last week caught up and docked with the International Space Station on Saturday. It delivered nearly three tons of food, fuel, water, supplies and scientific gear for the next crew to inhabit the station. The Progress 12 automatically linked up with the Zvezda Service Module at …