Dawn Spacecraft Arrives to Ceres—Hear What NASA Has to Say About the Mission

Medicine & Technology Mar 06, 2015

After more than seven years of drifting in space, NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has finally achieved its primary mission of entering orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres. Becoming the first ever mission to achieve orbit around a dwarf planet, mission controllers with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory received confirmation this morning that the small orbiter had finally reached its destination.

Astronomers Discover Planet in Multiple Star System

Mar 05, 2015

Astronomers have discovered a new planet located in a system with three stars and another planet located in a system with not one, not two, not three, but four stars in the system.

Arctic Ice Thinning Much Faster Than Scientists Thought

Mar 05, 2015

Scientists have discovered that Arctic sea ice, the ice that freezes and floats on waters in the Arctic, is thinning at much faster rate that they previously thought.

Military Satellite Explodes in Space

Mar 04, 2015

An aging United States military weather satellite dubbed Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Flight 13 (DMSP-F13) exploded in orbit on February 3. The explosion occurred after the 20-year-old satellite experienced a sudden spike in temperature, producing at least 43 pieces of debris.

Short Circuit Leaves Curiosity with One Arm

Mar 04, 2015

NASA has announced that the Mars Curiosity Rover now just has one arm, due to a short circuit that happened while the rover was attempting to retrieve a sample.

Dawn’s Long Journey About to End By Entering Orbit of Ceres

Mar 04, 2015

As the week draws to a close, NASA's Dawn spacecraft will begin the final climax of its long journey as it enters orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres, the largest body in the Main Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter.

NASA Seeks to Improve GPS Communications with Study of Ionosphere

Mar 02, 2015

When you don't know how to get to where you are going, chances are you pull out a smartphone or other type of device with a Global Positioning System (GPS) to help guide you where you need to go. What you may not know is that the signals traveling between the GPS satellites and your devices can get distorted thanks to the Earth's upper atmosphere.

NASA Receives Proposals for More Solar System Exploration

Mar 01, 2015

NASA has received dozens of new proposals for robotic missions for launch in 2021 to explore different parts of the solar system. Scientists have submitted concepts for sending probes to the moon, asteroids, comets and other planets for a chance to win $450 million in federal funding for their mission.

Curiosity Mars Rover Seeks Answers in the Rocks of Pahrump Hills

Feb 28, 2015

Finding some interesting chemistry in the rocks of Mars, NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover decided to investigate on Telegraph Peak earlier this week, boring into the Martian surface in search of answers. Though the rock powder poses new questions to the chemical composition of the planet, the car-sized Curiosity rover is far from reaching its final destination.

Should NASA and The International Space Station Be Worried About the Vapors?

Feb 27, 2015

Should the vapors be cause for concern? Well it certainly has been a question that has crossed NASA and the astronauts’ aboard the International Space Station minds. Since the snafu on Wednesday, Feb. 25, when a routine spacewalk led to water leaking into space station flight engineer Terry Virts’ helmet, the team has been buzzing with news of whether or not they will be cleared to walk again this weekend.

As Dawn Spacecraft Approaches, A Second Bright Light Emerges from Ceres

Feb 27, 2015

To better answer Piazzi’s original questions, and some new ones that have arisen in the more than two centuries since it was first discovered, researchers with NASA developed the Dawn Spacecraft mission which was originally launched in 2007. After a successful 14-month-orbit around Vesta in the asteroid belt, Dawn is now moving onto the next dwarf planet and will arrive to Ceres within the next week. And the first question that the Dawn mission would like to answer is a glaring one, visible on the surface.

Could Dark Matter and Black Holes Cause the Swirl In Your Galaxy?

Feb 21, 2015

Ever seen a snapshot of the universe and wondered just how and what makes the beautiful swirling shapes that modern telescopes now let us see? Imagery of the Horsehead Nebula, the Pillars of Creation, and even the Rose Galaxies have captivated researchers and the public for decades, but finding exactly what causes space dust, planets and stars to conform in such elegant forms has often eluded astronomers studying the infinite wonders of space. But a new study conducted by researchers with the Harvard University Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) reveals that the connection between collections of stars and the elliptical shapes of galaxies may have something to do with dark matter and the presence of black holes at the center of every galactic mass.

Researchers Find How Acidified Oceans Have Become with Help of NASA and ESA Satellites

Feb 17, 2015

While many argue that the fight against greenhouse gases is long over, climatologists and ecologists continue to urge that the battle continues on. And while the culprits are all the same, the problems with these remnants of burning fossil fuels are taking on new problems. A topic of major research has developed from these changes and now researchers are quantify just how it will impact our world in the years to come.

Ash, Auroras or Clouds—What Could this Strange Martian Plume Be?

Feb 17, 2015

Covered round-the-clock by rovers and orbiters, researchers know a lot about Mars and its vast desolate plains. Yet, some mysteries remain. Of course, researchers with major space agencies continue to look for evidence of life and of conditions hospitable to support possible manned missions, but even more so researchers are interested in the anomalies above the surface.

VIDEO—How Antiquated Technology May Reveal the Secrets of Titan’s Seas

Feb 15, 2015

Beneath the glaring surface and choppy waves, many secrets are hidden here in the oceans of Earth. The vast depths hide species unknown to men, lost treasures at the seafloor and perhaps even a cryptid or two. And while terrestrial studies of planets may have been interesting in the 20th century, space agencies are looking to aquatic surveys which may one day reveal the origins of life even farther out in space.