NASA Plans Jupiter Mission

Plans to land astronaut on lunar surface by 2020

(NEWSER) - China launched its first lunar mission today, beginning its gambit to be the third country to put a man in space. The Chang'e-I probe fired into space unmanned, but the lunar orbiter should earn China’s space program respect—and lucrative contracts, Bloomberg reports. China next plans to land a lunar rover in 2012 and astronauts in 2020. More»

Planet's latest addition sparks search for more

(NEWSER) - Scientists have discovered Saturn’s 60th moon, and are hinting that more could exist. In May, cameras aboard the Cassini spacecraft captured the “extremely faint object,” which scientists have officially designated a moon and tentatively named Frank. Composed mostly of ice and rock, Frank is about a mile wide and orbits between two other Saturnian moons, Methone and Pallene. More»

He gives rare interview ... to Australian accountants

(NEWSER) - Fans of the space program are in for a treat: The normally reticent Neil Armstrong sat down for an hourlong interview about that moon landing of his with, of all outlets, the Certified Practicing Accountants of Australia. Some highlights:

• 50-50: "I thought we had a 90% chance of getting back safely to Earth on that flight but only a 50-50 chance of making a landing on that first attempt. There were so many unknowns ..."
• Close call: When Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended to the moon's surface in the Eagle, the on-board computer was guiding them toward a rocky, steep area. "Not a good place to land at all," says Armstrong. "I took over manually and flew it like a helicopter out to the west direction, got into a smoother area without so many rocks and found a level area and was able to get it down there safely before we ran out of fuel." There was "something like 20 seconds of fuel left."

JUICE probe will launch in 2022

(NEWSER) - The first Europe-led mission to the outer solar system will explore the icy moons of Jupiter. The European Space Agency approved the JUICE—JUpiter ICy moons Explorer—mission yesterday. The project's solar-powered spacecraft is scheduled to launch in 2022 and arrive in the Jovian system by 2030 to spend three years exploring the moons Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa, all of which are believed to have liquid oceans hidden below their icy surfaces, reports the Christian Science Monitor . More»

Dione can't support life or liquid oceans, but check out other gas giant moons

(NEWSER) - Good news for future space colonists: Saturn's icy moon, Dione, contains a thin layer of oxygen that hints at life on other gas giant satellites, the BBC reports. Spotted by the Cassini spacecraft about two years ago, Dione's oxygen layer lacks the necessary density to support life and is too thin to be called an atmosphere—scientists prefer "exosphere." But the discovery tells us that oxygen is common in Saturn's system and "it can come from a process that doesn't involve life," a scientist tells Space.com . More»