Space: Final Frontier

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October 2007
- Discovery Blasts Off Safely
  
  Associated Press | Oct 23, 07 1:51 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Despite dubious weather, ice buildup, and wing cracks, Discovery successfully launched from Cape Canaveral this morning. The spacecraft carries a crew of seven—including Pamela Melroy, only the second female shuttle commander—to a daunting construction job on the International Space Station, the AP reports. The "to do" list includes at least five spacewalks to install an addition and a set of 240-foot solar wings. More »
- Launch Tomorrow a Go: NASA
  
  Orlando Sentinel | Oct 22, 07 10:00 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - With one eye on potentially disastrous weather, NASA is preparing to launch its most ambitious space mission ever tomorrow, reports the Orlando Sentinel. The launch is a go despite an independent safety board's recommendation to delay because of hairline cracks in Discovery's wing panels. NASA says the cracks lie within the realm of “acceptable risk.” More »
- Teams Fail to Build Elevator to Heaven
  
  New Scientist | Oct 22, 07 5:30 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The race was on and the wind was up, which was something of a problem because contestants in the second annual Space Elevator Games in Utah yesterday were vying to send a vehicle 400 feet up a vertical cable attached to a crane. The prize of $500,000 in NASA cash went unclaimed, because none of the vehicles—prototypes for a future space elevator—managed the required velocity of at least 6.6 feet per second. More »
- Orbiting Telescope Will Retire
  
  Discovery Channel | Oct 17, 07 7:18 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - An orbiting telescope whose findings were the basis of over 1,200 research papers will be shut down tomorrow, after an unexpectedly productive eight-year run, The Discovery Channel reports. The Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) detected a bubble of gas surrounding the Milky Way, located remains of exploded stars, and measured elements of the Big Bang. More »
- Orion Nebula Closer to Us
  
  Discovery Channel | Oct 11, 07 9:12 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The famed Orion Nebula is the closest stellar nursery to Earth, and it's even nearer than scientists previously thought, a study finds. Researchers had pinned it at about 1,565 light years away 25 years ago, but using multiple telescope shots to create a "virtual telescope" as wide as the Earth itself reveals it's 10 to 20% closer. Those numbers are already being refined, Discovery Channel reports. More »
- Scientists Prototype Moon House
  
  Cosmos | Oct 11, 07 11:43 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - While scientists in the '60s raced to put a man on the moon, modern scientists want to put a dozen there for three years in 90%-95% self-sufficiency. An Australian team is prototyping Luna Gaia, a space habitat that would use biological systems to recycle materials and grow food, although bored astronauts would have to phone home for luxuries like "fruit salad, spices, or chocolate," says an engineer. More »
- Islamic Rituals Face a Celestial Test
  
  Guardian (UK) | Oct 10, 07 1:44 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - He wasn’t the first Muslim in space, but Malaysia's Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor will be the first to follow customized guidelines for religious observance in orbit, the Guardian reports. Praying toward Mecca and fasting between sunrise and sunset seemed impossible until scholars spent a year bringing the challenges down to Earth ahead of Shukor's blastoff today for the International Space Station. More »
- NASA Probe Gets Lucky with Jupiter Flyby
  
  CNET | Oct 9, 07 10:26 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - New Horizons, the robotic probe destined to reach Pluto in 2015, took some exciting photos when it flew within 1.4 million miles of Jupiter last February. Data from the fruitful detour for NASA’s fastest spacecraft will be published in Science this month. Highlights include photos of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot and a supervolcano erupting, CNET reports. More »
- Japan Sets Its Sights on the Moon
  
  Reuters | Oct 9, 07 12:26 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Japan is officially joining the ranks of countries intent on lunar exploration. The country plans to land an unmanned rover on the lunar surface "in the middle of the 2010s," a government official announced today. China and India have already announced plans to place a spacecraft on the mysterious satellite, Reuters reports. More »
- After Sputnik: Satellites Today
  
  Wired | Oct 4, 07 4:47 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Satellites have lost a bit of their star power since Sputnik blasted into orbit. But 50 years later, its grandkids continue to look down at the Earth and out into deep, deep space. Here are some of the coolest, according to Wired : James Webb Space Telescope: Putting the Hubble to pasture, this planned telescope will monitor the infrared spectrum to detect new planets. Envisat: Making Al Gore proud, this environmental lab monitors sea-ice coverage and changes to glaciers. More »
- 50 Highs and Lows Since Sputnik
  
  Time | Oct 4, 07 3:08 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Since Sputnik’s launch, space exploration has gone through some dizzying highs and tragic lows. Time recounts the top moments, replete with triumphs like John Glenn’s first earth orbit, tragic lows like the death of the Apollo 1 crew, and the many missteps in between – like the Soviets launching a dog in the Sputnik 2, only to have it die from exposure. More »
- Astronomers Watch as New Earth-Like Planet Forms
  
  Space.com | Oct 4, 07 2:45 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A massive belt of dust swirling around a young star 424 light-years away could be evidence of a second Earth in the making, Space.com reports. Astronomers observing the area through a NASA space telescope say many of the conditions for forming an Earth-sized planet are present, including moderate temperatures allowing for liquid water. More »
- Space Race Goes Private
  
  CNET | Oct 4, 07 11:33 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Today’s wildest-eyed entrepreneurs were kids when Sputnik launched 50 years ago today, and they’re picking up the government’s slack by taking their inspiration spaceward. Men who made millions in technology are privatizing spaceflight, even egging each other on to compete: Google is offering $20 million to the first private team to place a robotic rover on the moon, CNET reports. More »
- Sputnik Ignited Era of Discovery
  
  NPR | Oct 4, 07 9:00 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - In an era when billionaire tourists book rides in spaceships, launching a basketball-sized satellite into outer space might seem mundane. But when the Russians put Sputnik into orbit 50 years ago today, it kicked off much more than a Cold War competition. It signalled the start of an electrifying era in which, says NPR commentator and then-wide-eyed kid Andrew Chaiken, "Every day, things that had been science fiction were turning into fact." More »
- Russia Vows to Launch Arms Race in Space
  
  Reuters | Oct 3, 07 4:28 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Today Russia promised an arms race with the US and China if they keep launching military hardware into orbit. "We need to have strong rules about space, to avoid its militarization," General Vladimir Popovkin said. Reuters reports that his barb was aimed at Washington for its "Star Wars" program and Beijing for recent anti-satellite missile tests. More »
September 2007
- Scientists Stumped by Blast From Outer Space
  
  PhysOrg | Sep 29, 07 5:15 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A bizarre burst from outer space has scientists talking black holes and colliding stars, Physorg reports — and may even help us "determine the amount of material in intergalactic space," one researcher says. The radio waves, which were measured in milliseconds, might be a blast from 2 superdense neutron stars or the "last gasp" of a dying black hole. More »
- Opportunity Knocks on Mars
  
  Associated Press | Sep 28, 07 10:47 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - NASA’s Martian explorer Opportunity reached its first destination inside the cavernous Victoria Crater yesterday and prepared to get to work drilling into bright rock layers to collect data. The six-wheeled robot last month began the precarious decline into the crater, headed for a shiny piece of bedrock that scientists think is a relic of the ancient Martian surface, the AP reports. More »
- NASA Launches Asteroid Rocket
  
  Associated Press | Sep 27, 07 10:30 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - This morning NASA launched a spacecraft that's headed to the asteroid belt, where it will get a close-up look at the belt's largest bodies, asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. It's NASA’s first multi-target mission, and Dawn, which one engineer called “the first real interplanetary spaceship,” could tell scientists much about the early solar system. More »
- Hidden Galaxies Come to Light
  
  Space.com | Sep 24, 07 12:15 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Astronomers have added 14 “invisible galaxies” to their map of the heavens, thanks to an imaginative breakthrough and a massive telescope. Researchers realized that some galaxies might be hidden by the bright lights of quasars behind them, so they scanned quasar data for “dips” where those lights might be passing through galaxies, Space.com reports. More »
- From Tokyo With Love: Japan Launches 1st Lunar Probe
  
  BBC | Sep 14, 07 4:00 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Japan began its first trip to the moon today, launching a lunar probe that will spend a year orbiting Earth’s natural satellite. In what the Japanese call the most complex moon mission since America’s famous Apollo program, Selene will study the body’s origin and evolution, the BBC reports. More »