Space: Final Frontier

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January 2008
- Asteroid to Whiz Past Earth
  
  LiveScience | Jan 25, 08 9:49 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - A big asteroid is set to speed past Earth on Tuesday night, and those with amateur telescopes will get a peek. NASA discovered the object in October, and scientists believe it's between 500 and 2,000 feet in diameter, LiveScience reports. It won't come closer than 334,000 miles to Earth; the impact of an asteroid of its size would be disastrous. More »
- OMG! Bigfoot on Mars! Run!
  
  Daily Telegraph (UK) | Jan 24, 08 6:19 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - After nearly four years of important discoveries, it has taken a tiny rock outcropping that looks like Bigfoot to make people passionate about the Mars rovers, the Telegraph reports. Conspiracy theorists are sure a photo snapped in 2004 reveals an alien, or perhaps a creature like Sasquatch. "I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw what appears to be a naked alien running around on Mars," writes one blogger. More »
- Branson Unveils SpaceShipTwo
  
  TechCrunch | Jan 23, 08 5:31 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Richard Branson has unveiled the ship that will carry paying passengers to space. Slightly different from its original prototype, SpaceShipTwo will be carried to high altitude by a double-hulled plane called White Knight, where the rocket will then separate and launch. Branson's Virgin Galactic startup hopes to start test flights this summer, reports the TechCrunch blog. More »
- Dozens Report Giant 'UFO'
  
  Associated Press | Jan 15, 08 4:45 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Dozens of people in several small north central Texas towns claim they saw a bizarre UFO, reports AP. Townsfolk in the Bible Belt farming communities of Erath County—including a pilot and a police officer— sighted the huge object last week, with some claiming that US fighter planes were tailing it. The mysterious craft had glowing lights, and flew low, fast and silently, according to various accounts. More »
- Probe Zips Over Mercury Today
  
  Christian Science Monitor | Jan 14, 08 4:33 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - NASA's Messenger spacecraft this afternoon will whiz past Mercury at 141,000 mph and snap an estimated 1,200 detailed photos of the planet's surface from a mere 124 miles up. It will be the first of three passes before the craft starts orbiting the planet closest to the sun in 2011. What scientists find could provide clues about how the Earth was formed. More »
- Space Cloud on Collision Course
  
  Space.com | Jan 12, 08 7:46 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - A cloud of hydrogen 11,000 light years long and 2500 light years wide is headed straight for our galaxy, and the inevitable collision will create a spectacular burst of star formation. But don't plan your viewing party yet—Smith's Cloud, as it is called, won't arrive for another 20 to 40 million years, Space.com reports. More »
- Space Shuttle Astronauts Gain Fame
  
  Space.com | Jan 11, 08 1:20 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Four space shuttle pilots have taken one giant leap toward immortality, NASA announced this week: They'll make up the Astronaut Hal of Fame class of 2008. The inductees, who will be honored at a May ceremony, include the commanders who presided over the initial assembly of the International Space Station and the first mission dedicated to life sciences, Space.com reports. More »
- Asteroid Won't Slam Into Mars After All
  
  Space.com | Jan 11, 08 4:24 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - An asteroid heading toward Mars won't crash into it after all, according to disappointed scientists. They had initially calculated there was a 1-in-27 chance of the space rock hitting the red planet, but after new observations researchers estimate the odds are only 1 in 10,000, "effectively ruling out the possible collision," according to the latest report. More »
- Evolution Coming to Space Race
  
  Space.com | Jan 9, 08 2:33 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Engineers have devised a way of coming up with flight paths for space missions by using the laws of natural selection, Space.com reports. An algorithm called "differential evolution" treats different paths as individual organisms, which then "mutate," and the best solutions survive to the next generation. Engineers behind differential evolution hope NASA and other agencies consider using the method in future. More »
- NASA Plans Daring Hubble Fix
  
  New Scientist | Jan 9, 08 12:42 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Astronauts will save—and drastically upgrade—the Hubble Space Telescope in an unprecedented mission this year, NewScientist Space reports. The mission will make the Hubble 90 times more powerful than it originally was, but will require spacewalkers to complete a delicate electronics repair job in zero gravity while wearing bulky spacesuits. Without the tune-up, Hubble would go offline by 2011. More »
- '08 NASA Missions Called Risky
  
  Washington Post | Jan 6, 08 11:32 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - NASA is speeding up its space shuttle flight schedule to meet the 2010 deadline for the completion of the International Space Station. This year alone, the space agency will launch six missions—twice the number of the last two years—and some experts worry that the crunch is a recipe for a Columbia-like disaster. "Something has to give," one told the Washington Post . More »