space probes

(Newser) - NASA is likely to help Britain send a probe to the moon by 2012, reports the BBC. A study found that the British "Moonlite" proposal fit a gap in NASA's plans. The project will fire darts from an unmanned probe into the moon's surface to discover what lies beneath....

(Newser) - Earth-like lightning occurs on Venus, scientists said today in reporting on findings of a European space probe. Cloud-to-cloud lightning takes place about 35 miles above the surface—a phenomenon long suspected but unclear to earthbound observers due to signal interference. Lightning affects atmospheric chemistry, so the findings will allow scientists...