Scientists Hatch Round-Trip Mission to Mars

(NEWSER) - UFO watchers are speculating online that a NASA image of a Martian landscape may show an alien skull, reports the Telegraph. "There appears to be a narrow pointed small mouth, so this creature most likely is a carnivore," noted one. An image that looked surprisingly like a skull that made the Internet rounds three years ago is now believed to be the result of tampering. A famous "Martian face" photographed in the 1970s turned out to be a trick of light. More»

Twin 'grails' will study moon's gravity field

(NEWSER) - Two NASA probes are poised to reach the moon over the New Year's holiday. After a journey of more than three months, the $496 million Grail probes—short for Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory—will soon be in place, reports AP . Grail A is set to arrive on New Year's Eve and Grail B the following day. More»

New $35B project could launch up to 165 tons into space

(NEWSER) - NASA today unveiled plans for a rocket that will power the next generation of space exploration, designed to take manned missions to distant asteroids and eventually Mars, Space.com reports. The uncreatively named “Space Launch System,” or SLS, uses bits of technology from the defunct space shuttle and Constellation projects, but actually bears a stronger resemblance to the old Apollo craft than the shuttle, the AP reports, since it uses a mix of liquid hydrogen and oxygen instead of a solid rocket booster. More»

NASA, ESA discuss combining missions

(NEWSER) - American and European space agencies trying to reconcile their Mars ambitions with their budgets are stepping up cooperation. NASA and ESA had planned to send two rovers to Mars for a tandem mission in 2018, but they're now considering combining functions and sending a single rover. America's Max-C rover is still in the early planning stages while the Europeans were ready to start building their ExoMars rover, the BBC notes. More»

Protons could kill embryo's eggs, cut sperm count

(NEWSER) - Propagating the human race far away from home could be tough: Powerful radiation in space would likely sterilize female embryos conceived there, NASA finds, and it could shrink sperm counts, too. At the moment, we don’t have the technology required to create spacecraft shielding to block the radiation, the Telegraph reports. “The present shielding capabilities would probably preclude having a pregnancy transited to Mars,” notes a scientist. More»