Scientists Prototype Moon House

We should listen to Gingrich's space ideas: Jeffrey Goldberg

(NEWSER) - Jeffrey Goldberg is not what one might call a Newt Gingrich fan, but as he sat on the tarmac at Reagan National Airport gazing at the space shuttle Discovery as it prepared for its final flight, he realized something: "On the matter of space exploration … Newt Gingrich is exactly right." With no immediate plans to put Americans back into space, the US space program is "aimless." Writing for Bloomberg, Goldberg argues that "every year that goes by without a grand vision for space exploration [is] a year in which thousands of students otherwise inclined to study science fail to discern its romantic and heroic possibilities." More»

Wants to go boldly into future with 'grandiose' space vision

(NEWSER) - A stellar idea or just lunacy? Either way, Newt Gingrich wants an American colony on the moon by the end of his second term, reports Politico . Speaking in Florida, home to much of NASA, Gingrich called his moon proposal a "Northwest Ordinance for space," and "grandiose," comparing it to visions by Abraham Lincoln, the Wright brothers, and John F. Kennedy. "I accept the charge that I am grandiose and that Americans are instinctively grandiose,” Gingrich said. “Does that mean I’m visionary? You betcha.” More»

New crater will be blasted into surface as NASA hunts for buried ice

(NEWSER) - If there's ice under the moon's surface, NASA aims to find it tomorrow. A rocket will smash into a crater near the moon's south pole, kicking up hundreds of thousands of pounds of lunar dirt. The dirt will be analyzed for traces of ice or water by a satellite following close behind, which will crash into the moon itself 4 minutes later. NASA will show the crashes—scheduled for 7:31am EDT—live on its website. More»

(NEWSER) - NASA will launch a mission Wednesday to gather information about how humans might someday colonize the moon, the Los Angeles Times reports. A robotic orbiter will provide detailed maps of the topography and first-of-their kind peeks inside craters where ice might be hiding. “We're going to provide NASA with what is needed to get human beings back to the moon and to stay there for an extended duration,” said one mission official. More»

Discovery stuns lunar experts

(NEWSER) - Water has been detected in moon rock brought to Earth by Apollo astronauts, reports Space.com. A team used a new super-sensitive technique to discover the water in volcanic glass beads in the rock. The stunning find, detailed in the journal Nature, is forcing scientists to rethink theories about the moon's origin 4.5 billion years ago. More»