Starry Messenger: The Starry Skies Newsletter

The Starry Messenger

The StarrySkies Network Newsletter
http://StarrySkies.com
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Space Shuttle Discovery moves to the launch pad in hopes for a May 31 launch. Michael Griffin, NASA's chief is featured in Time's top 100. And send you name into space and to the Moon along with NASA spacecraft heading out into that final frontier.

Remember to visit http://starryskies.net as well as read the newsletter. We post news on a daily basis and do not include all stories in the newsletter.

How Long Will the Sun Shine? We tend to take our Sun for granted, its always been there and we don't think much about its demise. We know that some stars end their lives by exploding and some just fade away. How long will our Sun live and how will it die?

Welcome to StarrySkies' "STS-124 Gallery."
Click on the image to see a larger image and the caption.

STS-124: Busy pad flow picks up for Discovery - crew arriving

Engineers are working through the opening issues with Discovery at Pad 39A - all of which are expected for a pad flow - as the pace picks up ahead of the May 31 launch date target.

Ancient Asteroid Impact Coated Earth in Blanket of Beads

The asteroid linked to dinosaurs' demise 65 million years ago slammed into the Yucatan Peninsula with such force it pulverized Earth's crust. The result was a veil of airborne carbon beads that blanketed the planet, a new study finds.

How a Type-Ia Supernova Works: The Movie

Picture an exploding star. You probably picture a round ball going boom in a round way. But real supernovae apparently aren't like that at all.

Russia's Energomash to double production of rocket engines

Russia's Energomash, a leading rocket engine manufacturer, is planning to double the number of engines produced for Atlas and Zenit launch vehicles in the future, the head of the company said on Tuesday.

Phoenix descending

With Phoenix, a US$420-million mission to the edge of the planet's north ice cap, the agency hopes to finally touch its quarry, in the form of dirty water ice scraped from the subsurface and melted in the probe's on-board ovens.

Black Hole Rips Apart Screaming Star

In a distant galaxy, a star orbiting a massive central black hole strays too close to the insatiable giant and is torn apart. But before it can be devoured, the star lets out one last scream in a flare of light that slowly echoes across the galaxy. Astronomers on Earth pick up this faint call and use it to map the nucleus of the galaxy from which it emanated.

Digging for Dark Matter: The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) Detector

How do you catch a WIMP? No, I'm not talking about bullying the weakest kid in class, I'm talking about Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (those WIMPs). Well, it isn't easy.

Did Earth once have multiple moons?

The ancient catastrophe that gave birth to the Moon may have produced additional satellites that lingered in Earth's skies for tens of millions of years.

Relive NASA's glory days in glorious HD

More than 100 hours of classic footage from NASA's Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space missions have been restored for high-definition television — and will be made available to the world through the space agency's archives.

Report on NASA ignites call for credit card crackdown

Congressional supporters of a bill meant to curb government credit card abuse called Monday for stricter sanctions — including termination and jail time — against employees who misuse the cards at NASA, as well as other agencies.

Tiny planet makes a big splash this month

May is for Mercury. The elusive little planet should be easy to spot tonight when it lies just below a two-day-old crescent moon.

Water and Space

Of all the things to worry about in a glass of tap water — rust from old pipes, giardia and that strange, recurring mossy taste — perhaps the last thing that comes to mind is the possibility of rocket fuel and aircraft-engine cleanser. Yet America's commitment to flight, space exploration and intercontinental missilery has had a trickle-down effect.

Lyon College team looks at caves for Mars perspective

A biology professor at Lyon College and his students are looking in caves under the Earth's surface to help decide if life could exist on Mars.

NASA Kepler Mission Offers Opportunity to Send Names Into Space

How cool would it be to have your name on board the spacecraft that discovers the first known Earth-like planet beyond our solar system? Well, here's your chance.

ISS To Double Crew Size

NASA and its partners on the International Space Station (ISS) are in final preparations for the shift from a full-time crew of three to a crew of six on the orbiting laboratory, beginning with the STS-124 space shuttle mission upcoming in June.

House Panel Second Guesses NASA's Zero-G Contract Award

U.S. congressional investigators are scrutinizing NASA's decision to give Zero Gravity Corp. (Zero-G) a shot at conducting the type of weightless flights for researchers and astronauts the space agency traditionally has conducted aboard its own aircraft.

Earth's poles long overdue for reversal

A reversal of the Earth's magnetic poles could happen sooner than we think, according to Dutch scientists who report that the planet's magnetic field is becoming gradually less stable.

ESA contributes to ocean carbon cycle research

The Earth's oceans play a vital role in the carbon cycle, making it imperative that we understand marine biological activity enough to predict how our planet will react to the extra 25 000 million tonnes of carbon dioxide humans are pumping into the atmosphere annually.

The Vision for Space Exploration and the retirement of the Baby Boomers (part 2)

In part 1 of this article, we documented the projected significant impact to federal budget of the retirement of the baby boomers, which will begin in the next few years. We suggested that this pending financial pressure is a major threat to the Vision for Space Exploration (VSE), since the VSE has been designed with the assumption of flat budget increases that keep pace with inflation.

How would you get around on Mars?

From Martian space probes to experimental wind turbines, Thursday's All University Celebration of Research, Scholarly and Creative Activity featured notable research projects and study findings from Cal State Long Beach student and faculty.

STS-127: Endeavour's crowded mission to complete Kibo

Planning for Endeavour's STS-127 mission - which will complete assembly of the Kibo Laboaratory complex - has already begun.

Is There Life on Mars? Ask a Magnet.

Magnetite, a type of iron oxide, is common on both Earth and Mars, and appears in many forms. On Earth, some of those forms are produced only by bacteria and have unique magnetic signatures. Soon Sam Kim has developed a means of detecting this biologically-produced magnetite that could help in the search for life on Mars.

Jupiter's Rings Made in the Shade

Jupiter has a thin set of nearly imperceptible rings with features that have long puzzled scientists. A new study reveals how light and shadow are at work there, solving several mysteries at once.

European Space Agency searching for Astronerds rather than Astronauts

You might expect it to be a search for mankind's finest specimens – young paragons of intelligence, courage, fitness and endurance who could one day be on a flight to Mars. But when European space chiefs begin sifting thousands of applications in a search for four new astronauts, they will not be interested in the kind of daredevil who pioneered space exploration.

Rare meteorite, found in Utah, now on display at UGS

It is the size of a bowling ball but heavier, tumbled from space, and is believed to be about 4.5 billion years old. Now, the Gunlock Meteorite is on display at the Natural Resources Map & Bookstore, 1594 West North Temple, in Salt Lake City.

Highest Flood Recorded on Lower Mississippi River Since 1973

The largest flood on the lower Mississippi River since 1973 was measured on April 22 in Vicksburg, Mississippi by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

New look at turquoise treasures of the Aztecs

Thirty years ago the archaeological scientists Garman Harbottle and Edward Sayre used neutron activation analysis to show that turquoise mosaics from Mexico, found as far away as the great Maya city of Chichén Itzá in Yucatan and dating back to around AD900, used raw material originating in the Cerrillos mines between Albuquerque and Santa Fe in New Mexico, an overland distance of some 3,200 km (2,000 miles).

Stonehenge mystery hinges on unusual stones

A new excavation at Stonehenge seeks to prove that it was not a shrine of the dead but a temple of healing utilizing unique bluestones from a site 250 miles away in Wales.

Unwrapping secret of Bolton Museum's Mummy

WHEN a Bolton "mummy" went to hospital for an x-ray, radiologists made a startling discovery… the mummy was 700 years old and its hands and feet were missing.

Japanese balloon bombs: A forgotten history

In 1944 and 1945, the Japanese military launched bomb-carrying balloons to strike the American homeland. Many balloons landed in Oregon, including one that killed six people in Klamath County.

Space Shuttle Discovery Arrives at Launch Pad, Countdown Test Set

After safely reaching its launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, space shuttle Discovery now awaits its next major milestone for the upcoming STS-124 mission. A launch dress rehearsal, known as the terminal countdown demonstration test, is scheduled to take place at Kennedy from May 6 to 9.

Send Your Name to the Moon

As part of our Messages from Earth project, The Planetary Society is working with NASA and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory to collect names to fly on NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
NASA invites people of all ages to join the lunar exploration journey with an opportunity to send their names to the Moon aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft.

Martian soil can support life

Saralynn Davis has had "space dreams" most of her life. This spring she proved that astronauts, given a bio-dome, can probably one day grow beans on the planet Mars. Her award-winning science fair project will take her to the international science fair in Atlanta, Ga., next week.

Four Former Astronauts Enter Hall Of Fame

NASA will be honoring its best and brightest Saturday afternoon during the 2008 U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

Earth 'noise' could attract alien invaders

No matter how quiet we try to be now it's too late to prevent alien invaders. So says Alexander Zaitsev of the Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics in Moscow, Russia, who points the finger at astronomers.

Soyuz astronaut recalls terrifying descent

The 400,000-foot plunge lasted about 23 minutes. It seemed longer.
American Peggy Whitson can't recall whether she was right-side-up or upside-down in the Russian Soyuz capsule as it dived violently through the atmosphere, smoke wafting from the controls, communication lost with the ground.

Key Climate Sensor Restored to NPOESS

A sensor considered critical in monitoring global climate will be restored to the first satellite scheduled to fly in the National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) top officials from NOAA, NASA, and the Air Force said yesterday.

Q&A: Titan's Smoggy Sand Grains

Titan and Earth have much in common, but not when it comes to sand. On Earth, sand grains form by breaking things down, but on Titan, the opposite may be true - with much of the sand a product of building things up.

Astronaut Q&A: A Violent Return, Odd Welcome to Earth

NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, a 48-year-old biochemist who grew up on a farm in Iowa, returned to the United States this week after serving six months as the commander of the International Space Station.
In a series of interviews since landing, Whitson talks about the bumpy ride back to Earth, the surprise greeting in a Kazakhstan field and why she's sitting a bit delicately in her chair.

Spot elusive Mercury

Mercury — the closest planet to the Sun — makes its best evening appearance of the year this month. Mercury looks about as bright as it ever does, with the view made picturesque May 2 by its location just 2° south of the Pleiades star cluster (M45), which lies in the constellation Taurus the Bull.

Did the solar system 'bounce' finish the dinosaurs?

The sun's movement through the Milky Way regularly sends comets hurtling into the inner solar system – coinciding with mass life extinctions on earth, a new study claims.

ESO Staff Share Stunning Images of Solar Phenomena

Cerro Paranal, home of ESO's Very Large Telescope, is certainly one of the best astronomical sites on the planet. Stunning images, obtained by ESO staff at Paranal, of the green and blue flashes, as well as of the so-called 'Gegenschein', are real cases in point.

NASA Astronaut to Receive the Royal Treatment

NASA astronaut Clay Anderson will be honored at the Kansas City Royals baseball game on May 15. Anderson will throw out the first pitch as the team hosts the Detroit Tigers at Kauffman Stadium. Before the game, Anderson will be available to sign
autographs for fans, including an estimated 18,000 students and teachers attending the 10th Annual "School Day at the K."

Flying blind A lack of government vision is hurting Canada's space industry, observers say

Hailed as a triumph for Canadian sovereignty, the federal government's decision to block the proposed sale of key units of MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. — Canada's leading space business — to an American firm could signal a turning point for Canada's space industry.

A PHOENIX ON MARS

A new emissary from Earth is set to parachute onto Mars May 25, making it the first craft to land on the Red Planet's north polar region.

Ketchup Experiment Recovered from Columbia Crash

Using data recovered from a damaged computer hard-drive that was aboard the ill-fated Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003, scientists have recently learned more about why the act of shaking a material can quickly transform it into something completely different.

Moon to Hide a Beehive

If the weather is clear in your area on Saturday, May 10, be sure to check out the fat crescent moon in the southwestern sky with binoculars or a small, low power telescope as darkness falls. On that evening, the moon will be positioned within the dim constellation of Cancer, the Crab.

Did dinosaur-killing asteroid ignite an oily tinderbox?

Imagine the asteroid impact that killed off the dinosaurs and you may also picture a hellish aftermath of global forest fires. However, soot particles from across the globe now suggest that the smoke that shrouded the world after the collision came from immature oil in rocks at the crater site.

Here Comes the Sun

After 30 years of planning and arguing and canceling because it was too hard and too expensive, NASA has finally ordered up a mission that, for now, it calls Solar Probe. It's asked the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory to work up a plan for a launch in 2015.

Venturing to Venus

Scientists think Venus and Earth were birthed from the same parent material some 4.5 billion years ago. But while Earth was developing into a thriving planet filled with life, Venus went down a wayward path, becoming Earth's "evil" twin: a hellishly hot world enveloped by a thick, toxic atmosphere.

Michael Griffin The 2008 TIME 100

Mike Griffin, 58, had wanted to be administrator of NASA since the inception of the agency. To him, the appeal of the job was never about position or title but about the fact that space fired his imagination. It still does, and now, thanks to him, manned exploration of the moon and Mars is becoming a real possibility.

U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame adds shuttle-era items

Many new items are in a collection to be unveiled today when a new shuttle wing is opened at the Astronaut Hall of Fame, which is on SR 405 just outside Kennedy Space Center.
The museum already houses the largest collection of personal memorabilia from American astronauts who flew during the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs.

Reno on edge after odd series of earthquakes

An unusually intense swarm of earthquakes — more than 1,000 over the last two months — has struck beneath a small suburb of Reno, leaving residents shaken and scientists puzzling over the cause.

How do coastal cities fare under rising flood risk?

Rising sea levels will amplify the flood risk in coastal cities like Miami, New York, Rotterdam and Guangzhou, while population increase and economic growth will increase the value of the assets at risk to new levels By Celine Herweijer and others

NASA Satellites Aid in Chesapeake Bay Recovery

From the distant reaches of the universe, to black holes and Saturn's rings, NASA explores some of the most far-out parts of space. But NASA also does research much closer to home. In fact, NASA Earth Science satellites are taking part in the management and recovery of an ecosystem right in our own backyard, the Chesapeake Bay.

VIDEO: Solar Flares Cause "Sunquakes"

A new study reveals solar flares cause seismic waves to ripple across the sun's surface. The findings will help scientists study other stars.

Some Things New Under the Sea

In the quest to explore the remarkable diversity of microbial life on Earth, a German-American team of scientists has discovered seafloor bacteria that can "eat" natural gases such as ethane, propane, and butane—and in a previously unknown way: without oxygen.

Cyclone Nargis

Nargis formed into a tropical cyclone on the April 27, 2008, in the central Bay of Bengal about 360 miles off of the southeast coast of India. This image of Nargis was captured by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite on April 29, 2008, at 12:02 a.m. local time (April 28, 18:32 UTC).

Mystery Of Ancient Supercontinent's Demise Revealed

In a paper published in Geophysical Journal International, Dr Graeme Eagles from the Earth Sciences Department at Royal Holloway, University of London, reveals how one of the largest continents ever to exist met its demise.

Climate 'fix' could deplete ozone

Research has cast new doubt on the wisdom of using Sun-blocking sulphate particles to cool the planet. Sulphate injections are one of several "geo-engineering" solutions to climate change being discussed by scientists.

The Androgynous Pharaoh? Akhenaten had feminine physique

Akhenaten wasn't the most manly pharaoh, even though he fathered at least a half-dozen children.
In fact, his form was quite feminine. And he was a bit of an egghead.

DNA confirms IDs of czar's children, ending mystery

For nine decades after Bolshevik executioners gunned down Czar Nicholas II and his family, there were no traces of the remains of Crown Prince Alexei, the hemophiliac heir to Russia's throne.

The mummy with a story to tell

The hundreds of people who visited the Museum of Natural History in Mdina yesterday and on Saturday were astonished to learn of an Egyptian mummy encased in a sarcophagus housed there.

De Beers Finds Shipwreck, Treasure From Columbus Era

De Beers, the world's biggest undersea diamond miner, said its geologists in Namibia found the wreckage of an ancient sailing ship still laden with treasure, including six bronze cannons, thousands of Spanish and Portuguese gold coins and more than 50 elephant tusks.

Neandertals Ate Their Veggies, Tooth Study Shows

Tiny bits of plant material found in the teeth of a Neandertal skeleton unearthed in Iraq provide the first direct evidence that the early human relatives ate vegetation, researchers say.

Canaveral National Seashore's Turtle Mound survives

Scores of Native American mounds have been lost through time, but the one thought to be the nation's highest — Canaveral National Seashore's Turtle Mound — survived.

Cave woman is laid to rest after 1,900 years

THE remains of a woman have been laid to rest in a hidden location in the Yorkshire Dales – about 1,900 years after she died.She was returned in a special ceremony to the mysterious limestone cave where she was discovered by two Yorkshire divers more than a decade ago.

GLAST goes for blast-off

Due to be launched by NASA this month, the GLAST satellite will study the gamma-ray sky in unprecedented detail and shed light on some of the most extreme astrophysical processes in nature, explain Julie McEnery, Steve Ritz and Neil Gehrels

Astrobiology Is Alive and Well

Lord Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal, opened AbSciCon 2008, the fifth bi-annual astrobiology science conference. His thoughtful view on life in the cosmic context set the tone for the vigorous and intellectually diverse meeting.

What Mars Fossils Might Look Like

Fossil microbes found along an iron-rich river in Spain reveal how signs of life could be preserved in minerals found on Mars. The discovery may help to equip the next generation Mars rover with the tools it would need to find evidence of past life on the planet.

Phoenix Lander Takes Aim at Martian Arctic

NASA's Mars-bound Phoenix spacecraft is gearing up for a landmark landing near the martian north pole this month to find out whether the region could have once supported microbial life.

Astronomers spot a runaway supermassive black hole

A black hole 600 million times the mass of the Sun has been kicked out of the centre of a distant galaxy, according to research from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, Germany.

First private tourist spacecraft is being designed in Russia

A private Russian company has ordered the Myasishchev Experimental Machine-building Plant to design a tourist spacecraft.

Scientists Find Rings of Jupiter Are Shaped in Shadow

Scientists from the University of Maryland and the Max-Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany appear to have solved a long-standing mystery about the cause of anomalies in Jupiter's gossamer rings.

Hubble mission: Big on safety, pressed for time

The astronauts who will make the next space shuttle mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope say safety upgrades at NASA will make their flight safer but their job harder.

Ultra-dense galaxies found in early universe

A team of astronomers looking at the universe's distant past found nine young, unusually compact galaxies, each weighing in at 200 billion times the mass of the Sun. The findings appeared in the April 10 issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Compact Galaxies in Early Universe Pack a Big Punch

Imagine receiving an announcement touting the birth of a baby 20 inches long and weighing 180 pounds. After reading this puzzling message, you would immediately think the baby's weight was a misprint. Astronomers looking at galaxies in the universe's distant past received a similar perplexing announcement when they found nine young, compact galaxies, each weighing in at 200 billion times the mass of the Sun.

NASA Spacecraft Tracks Raging Saturn Storm

As a powerful electrical storm rages on Saturn with lightning bolts 10,000 times more powerful than those found on Earth, the Cassini spacecraft continues its five-month watch over the dramatic events.

Huge Black Hole Catapulted Through Space

A colossal black hole has been spotted exiting its home galaxy, kicked out after a huge cosmic merger took place. The event, seen for the first time, was announced today.

Is there a hidden order to the Northern Lights?

The shifting, shimmering Northern Lights might be more ordered than anyone realised. New observations suggest that, contrary to expectations, some of the colourful light shows appear to be polarised, with their electromagnetic waves lined up in a common orientation.

Ares I Thrust Oscillation mitigation options head into trade study

A trade study has begun on three leading candidates to mitigate Ares I's Thrust Oscillation problem, as the Tiger Team work through design immaturity and mass constraints.

HOP, SKIP AND A JUMP

The Martian atmosphere is thin, but it can whip up a mean sandstorm: On the Red Planet, wind-driven grains travel up to 10 times faster than those blowing along Earth's surface, new analyses suggest.

Polaris's Pulsations Pick Up

Polaris is important not just because it's the North Star. It also happens to be the brightest and nearest Cepheid variable star, 430 light-years away.

New Mercury features get artists' names

Just four months after the Messenger spacecraft flew by Mercury for the first time, the International Astronomical Union has approved names for the first batch of new features photographed by the instrument (see a map with the named features here).

The Space Blame Game

Three spacefliers are still recuperating from this month's rough ride back down to Earth from the international space station aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, and the investigation into the glitches that caused the April 19 shake-up is just getting started. But a multiplayer blame game already has begun - with the potential targets ranging from shoddy Russian workmanship, to saboteurs of the space effort, to the entire female sex. The finger-pointing could have an effect on the way spaceflight is done for years to come.

The Real Soyuz Problem - Looking Past the Smoke and Flames

While public attention remains focused on the unraveling drama of the emergency spacecraft landing on April 19, and how close to death the crew actually came, space engineers in Russia and the United States are already looking ahead.

Space war would leave destructive legacy

If war ever breaks out in space it's not the loss of individual satellites that will do the damage, but the debris this produces. It will stay in orbit and go on harming satellites for decades, according to two studies presented at the American Physical Society meeting in St Louis, Missouri, last week.

The Astrobiology Universe

The Astrobiology Science Conference, recently held in Santa Clara, California, was a complex universe teeming with topics and ideas. Although there were far too many interesting presentations to cover in full, this overview provides a few highlights.

Former Titan Launch Tower Demolished

After more than 40 years hosting rockets, a Cape Canaveral launch pad came crashing down Sunday.
More than 200 pounds of explosives were used to bring down the Titan launch tower.

Review: Shuttle Launch Experience

The launch experience has been recounted in everything from books to IMAX documentaries, but now it can be simulated to some degree with an amusement-park-like ride, the Shuttle Launch Experience.

The satellite shootdown: the rest of the story

Taylor Dinerman's article "Satellite shootdown overcomes bureaucracy" (The Space Review, February 25, 2008) was right on target about the challenges involved in the destruction of NROL-21. Now here's the rest of the story.

Oldest Known Objects May Be Surprisingly Immature

Some of the oldest objects in the Universe may still have a long way to go, according to a new study using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. These new results indicate that globular clusters might be surprisingly less mature in their development than previously thought.

Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast

HOBBIT WARS

Defenders of a small humanlike species that lived on an Indonesian island more than 12,000 years ago have launched their latest scientific counterattacks against critics of their position. Remains of Homo floresiensis, also referred to as hobbits, display no signs of growth disorders proposed by researchers who regard the fossils as those of modern humans, says Dean Falk of Florida State University in Tallahassee.

INCAN SKULL SURGERY

When Incan healers scraped or cut a hunk of bone out of a person's head, they meant business. Practitioners of this technique, known as trepanation, demonstrated great skill more than 500 years ago in treating warriors' head wounds and possibly other medical problems, rarely causing infections or killing their patients, two anthropologists find.

Shipwreck hunters find century-old schooner

In her day, she was the archetype of the trim, speedy Great Lakes schooner.
Carrying a full set of canvas aloft, with cargos of grain and iron ore, she was a magnificent vision; widely regarded as the biggest, fastest and most beautiful of all the three-masted lakes schooners of the age.

Ancient Maya Tomb Yields "Amazing" Fabrics

Fabric fragments excavated from the tomb of an ancient Maya queen rival modern textiles in their complexity and quality, scientists say.

Galaxies Gone Wild!

Astronomy textbooks typically present galaxies as staid, solitary, and majestic island worlds of glittering stars. But galaxies have a dynamical side. They have close encounters that sometimes end in grand mergers and overflowing sites of new star birth as the colliding galaxies morph into wondrous new shapes. Today, in celebration of the Hubble Space Telescope's 18th launch anniversary, 59 views of colliding galaxies constitute the largest collection of Hubble images ever released to the public. This new Hubble atlas dramatically illustrates how galaxy collisions produce a remarkable variety of intricate structures in never-before-seen detail.

Will Mercury Hit Earth Someday?

First, the bad news: the inner solar system is unstable. Given enough time, Jupiter's gravity could yank Mercury out of its present orbit.

Mars Features Resemble Hydrothermal Springs

There's a growing buzz in the astrobiology community that ancient hydrothermal springs may have been spotted on Mars.
Thanks to the eagle-eyed work of Carlton Allen and Dorothy Oehler of NASA's Johnson Space Center, "spring-like" mounds have been found in Vernal Crater in Arabia Terra on the red planet.

Strange Scars on Mars Suggest Recent Glaciers

A vanished glacier with a mysterious calling card suggests Mars went through many ice ages in its very recent past.

A chat with Buzz Aldrin

Buzz Aldrin, 78, and Neil Armstrong were the first humans to walk on the moon on July 20, 1969. Aldrin addressed an audience at Yuri's Night at Moffett Field, and The Newspaper caught up with him after his speech for a question and answer session

Uh-Oh, NASA: Soyuz May Have a Design Flaw

More bad news for NASA's post-shuttle retirement plans: an article in the Moscow daily Izvestiya quoted Anatoly Perminov, the head of Russia's federal space agency, saying that the Soyuz TMA-11 spaceship that experienced a perilous landing last weekend may suffer from a design flaw.

General predicts busy time for Cape Canaveral

As the space shuttle program winds down at Kennedy Space Center, activity should be picking up across the river at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

"Toothbrush," "Firefly" Among Galactic Smashups

Harry Potter's owl Hedwig has nothing on the knowing gaze of this cosmic "creature." The above collision of two spiral galaxies, known as Arp 272, is part of a collection of 59 images released today in honor of the Hubble Space Telescope's 18th birthday. The new atlas of galaxy mergers is the largest set of Hubble images yet released to the public, according to NASA.

The Space Race For the New Millenium

Despite funding concerns, NASA prepares to build a base on the moon, explore it with robots, and maybe even cover it with antennas.

Report: Supplying ISS will be difficult

NASA's attempt to finish the International Space Station by the time it retires its space shuttle fleet in two years would require much to happen and very little to go wrong, a congressional auditor told lawmakers Thursday.

Space 'spiderwebs' could propel future probes

A new type of solar sail has been woven by a team of scientists in Finland. The spiderweb-like sail is designed to catch the wind of ionised gas that blows from the Sun, carrying spacecraft to the outer reaches of the solar system, or letting them tack back and forth through the asteroid belt on exploration or mining missions.

Shuttles' end may leave space station out in the cold

The nation's three-ship space shuttle fleet faces "significant challenges" in completing construction and continuing operation of the $31 billion International Space Station, raising the possibility of Draconian cutbacks at the orbiting exploration and scientific facility, the Government Accountability Office warned Congress on Thursday.

New Online Map Reveals Evidence of the Forces that Once Shaped Mars

A new online map lets visitors explore Mars' past through a collection of high-resolution observations from one of the most powerful spectrometers ever sent to the Red Planet. Evidence of ancient bodies of water, flowing rivers and groundwater peeks out from beneath layers of hardened magma and dust—testaments to Mars' progression through wet, volcanic and dry eras.

Clinton turns attention to observatory in Puerto Rico

The financially strapped Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico has a new patron in New York senator and presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton — just weeks before the island's Democratic primary.

ESA to undertake lunar rover study

The European Space Agency is offering €500,000 ($786,500) for a pressurised lunar rover (PLR) phase 0/A study to produce a conceptual design, to evaluate its functional, technical and operational requirements and determine its likely cost and development schedule. The closing date for proposals is 14 May.

Rumors of Ares troubles denied

No 'procurementirregularities,' saysMarshall official
Claims that Marshall Space Flight Center is facing contract troubles with its Ares rocket program are false, a NASA spokeswoman said Thursday.

Astronaut safety NASA must take active role in Russian inquiry

A report from a Russian news agency on the danger to astronauts from a faulty space capsule landing calls for a stronger response by U.S. space officials.

Arc to Arcturus

There is a brilliant star that sparkles with a golden yellow or topaz hue, roughly halfway up in the eastern sky as darkness falls this week. This is Arcturus in the constellation of Boötes, the Herdsman.

ISS orbit corrected with ATV spacecraft engines for first time

International Space Station orbit correction was conducted with the engines of the European ATV Jules Verne cargo craft on Friday for the first time. The Jules Verne docked with the station on April 3.

Shoulder Motor Balks on Opportunity Rover's Robotic Arm

A small motor in the robotic arm of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity that began stalling occasionally more than two years ago has become more troublesome recently.

Plan to identify watery Earth-like planets develops

Astronomers are looking to identify Earth-like watery worlds circling distant stars from a glint of light seen through an optical space telescope and a mathematical method developed by researchers at Penn State and the University of Hawaii.

Catching a Glimpse of a Black Hole's Fury

New telescope evidence suggests twisted magnetic fields in supermassive black holes cause particle and energy jets to surge out in corkscrews

Radio telescope reveals secrets of massive black hole

At the cores of many galaxies, supermassive black holes expel powerful jets of particles at nearly the speed of light. Just how they perform this feat has long been one of the mysteries of astrophysics.

Glaciers Reveal Martian Climate Has Been Recently Active

Brown University researchers have found compelling evidence of thick, recurring glaciers on Mars, a discovery that suggests that the Red Planet's climate was much more dynamic than previously believed – and could change again. Results are published on the cover of Geology magazine.

Earthquake in Illinois could portend an emerging threat

To the surprise of many, the earthquake on April 18, 2008, about 120 miles east of St. Louis, originated in the Wabash Valley Fault and not the better-known and more-dreaded New Madrid Fault in Missouri's bootheel.

Genetic Sequencing of Protein from T. rex Bone Confirms Dinosaurs' Link to Birds

Scientists have put more meat on the theory that dinosaurs' closest living relatives are modern-day birds.
Molecular analysis, or genetic sequencing, of a 68-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex protein from the dinosaur's femur confirms that T. rex shares a common ancestry with chickens, ostriches, and to a lesser extent, alligators.

Refining the date of dinosaur extinction

Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Berkeley Geochronology Center have pinpointed the date of the dinosaurs' extinction more precisely than ever thanks to refinements to a common technique for dating rocks and fossils.

Scientists Reveal Presence of Ocean Current "Stripes"

More than 20 years of continuous measurements and a dose of "belief" yield discovery of subtle ocean currents that could dramatically improve forecasts of climate, ecosystem changes

Ozone Hole Recovery May Reshape Southern Hemisphere Climate Change

A full recovery of the stratospheric ozone hole could modify climate change in the Southern Hemisphere and even amplify Antarctic warming, according to scientists from the University of Colorado at Boulder, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA

Scientists urged to make a stand on climate change

Scientists must work harder at making the public aware of the stark difference between good science and "denialist spin".
That's the call from the University of Adelaide's Professor Barry Brook, Director of the Research Institute for Climate Change and Sustainability.

Better Regional Monitoring Of CO2 Needed As Global Levels Continue Rising

Monitoring Earth's rising greenhouse gas levels will require a global data collection network 10 times larger than the one currently in place in order to quantify regional progress in emission reductions, according to a new research commentary by University of Colorado and NOAA researchers appearing in the April 25 issue of Science.

Arctic marine mammals on thin ice

The loss of sea ice due to climate change could spell disaster for polar bears and other Arctic marine mammals. The April Special Issue of Ecological Applications examines such potential effects, puts them in historical context, and describes possible conservation measures to mitigate them. The assessment reflects the latest thinking of experts representing multiple scientific disciplines.

Sierra Nevada rose to current height earlier than thought, geologists say; implications for modeling global climate

Geologists studying deposits of volcanic glass in the western United States have found that the central Sierra Nevada largely attained its present elevation 12 million years ago, roughly 8 or 9 million years earlier than commonly thought.

1600 Eruption Caused Global Disruption

The 1600 eruption of Huaynaputina in Peru had a global impact on human society, according to a new study of contemporary records by geologists at UC Davis.

Purdue researchers propose way to incorporate deforestation into climate change treaty

Purdue University researchers have proposed a new option for incorporating deforestation into the international climate change treaty.

Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast

The 2007 Working Group on California Earthquake Probabilities (WGCEP 2007), a multi-disciplinary collaboration of scientists and engineers, has released the Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast (UCERF)—the first comprehensive framework for comparing earthquake likelihoods throughout all of California. It provides important new information for improving seismic safety engineering, revising building codes, setting insurance rates, and helping communities prepare for inevitable future earthquakes.

Buried Dogs Were Divine "Escorts" for Ancient Americans

Hundreds of prehistoric dogs found buried throughout the southwestern United States show that canines played a key role in the spiritual beliefs of ancient Americans, new research suggests.

Tomb of Cleopatra and lover to be uncovered

Archaeologists have revealed plans to uncover the 2000 year-old tomb of ancient Egypt's most famous lovers, Cleopatra and the Roman general Mark Antony later this year.

Neanderthals at Mealtime: Pass the Meat

Neanderthals living in southwestern France 55,000 to 40,000 years ago mostly ate red meat from extinct ancestors of modern bison, cattle and horses, according to a new study on a large, worn Neanderthal tooth.

Possible Existence of a Sasanian Fire Temple in Sarab-e Mort

Archaeologists working at Sarab-Mort site in Kermanshah Province have announced the news of the possible discovery of a Sasanian Fire Temple adjacent to the Parthian Manor house, reported Persian service of ISNA on Monday 21, 2008.

Court orders US federal jurisdiction over possible 'Griffin' shipwreck

An appeals court has ruled that the U.S. government should have authority for now over a Lake Michigan shipwreck that could be The Griffin, a 17th century vessel built by the French explorer La Salle.

Did the Great Pyramids' builders use concrete?

It is a theory that gives indigestion to mainstream archaeologists. Namely, that some of the immense blocks of the Great Pyramids of Egypt might have been cast from synthetic material - the world's first concrete - not just carved whole from quarries and lugged into place by armies of toilers.

Mystery Of Ancient Supercontinent's Demise Revealed

Infant Carrying Ruled Out As Reason Why Early Humans Walked Upright

Scientists investigating the reasons why early humans — the so-called hominins — began walking upright say it's unlikely that the need to carry children was a factor, as has previously been suggested.

Crew Earth Observations 'Top Ten' Photos

The Crew Earth Observations Team shares their "Top Ten" Crew Earth Observations. Check them out and share your thoughts on a blog with Sue Runco, Earth remote sensing scientist at Johnson Space Center.

Every Day is Earth Day on the International Space Station

There may be only one place in the universe which can be the subject of 300,000 and counting photos and still never get old. It is the same place that astronauts spend hours upon hours of their free time watching, for months, yet still can't get enough. It's not a distant galaxy, or a spectacular nebula. It's simply home — our planet Earth.

Powerful Antenna Attached to NASA's GLAST Satellite

The powerful antenna system that will enable NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Telescope (GLAST) to communicate with stations on Earth has been successfully connected to the spacecraft in the Astrotech payload processing facility near NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

Shoulder Motor Balks on Opportunity Rover's Robotic Arm

A small motor in the robotic arm of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity that began stalling occasionally more than two years ago has become more troublesome recently.

Ruptured gas duct blamed for Proton failure

The Russian State Commission investigating the AMC-14 failure of a Proton Breeze M launch has traced the cause to the rupture of the gas duct between the gas generator and the propellant pump turbine in the Breeze M main engine.

Return to the moon Orbiter to map lunar surface

A robotic precursor of resuming human expeditions to the moon will likely be postponed by at least a few weeks from its October launch target, but NASA does not foresee any problems launching the lunar orbiter and high-speed impactor before the end of this year.

Electric Sail Prototype to Ride the Solar Wind

An electrically-charged solar sail with a possible "turbo" option may be ready for its first space trials in three years if scientists in Finland have their way.

US Media Accuse RSA of Women Discrimination

NBC News and Associated Press accused head of Russian Space Agency (RSA) Anatoly Perminov of discrimination against women after he had explained the recent ballistic landing of Soyuz-TMA 11 spacecraft with presence of two women aboard. When saying that Mr. Perminov jokingly referred to the popular Russian superstition stating that presence of women aboard brings bad luck.

April 28: ISRO to launch 10 satellites

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch ten satellites, including eight from abroad, which will be carried by PSLV-C9 on April 28 from Sriharikota. The cluster of satellites to be lifted included Indian satellite Cartosat-2A weighing 690 kg. The vehicle would also carry eight nano satellites of 16 to 27 kg from Canada, Netherlands, Denmark and Germany, an ISRO official told agencies..

It's life, Jim, but it just doesn't know it

THE truth may well be out there, but the chances are that whatever extra-terrestrial life does exist is not smart enough to fathom the fact.
That, at least, is the opinion of Professor Stephen Hawking, the famed astrophysicist, who this week gave his views on the potential for alien life.

Blasting off

Eugene native Dr. Stanley G. Love described his day at work on Feb. 7 as "pretty intense. Usually there are dozens of people working around the pad and often there is no Shuttle there. This time there were only us and our seven-person strap-in crew. Everybody else had been evacuated to keep them safely clear of the fully (fueled) rocket, which stood there, tall as an office building, hissing and steaming. And I was about to go up and climb into it…"

Solar flares leave Sun quaking

Violent explosions in the Sun's atmosphere have been linked to 'starquakes' on its surface, a discovery that may one day help protect astronauts from dangerous radiation.

Looking downstream - STS-128 and STS-127 gain opening templates

With all three orbiters at various stages of pre-launch processing, shuttle managers are already planning their downstream missions, with opening plans being 'turned on' for STS-127 and STS-128.

NASA begins work to solve boil-off problem

NASA has started the contractor selection process for its lunar surface thermal control system study that could find a solution to the biggest hurdle in its plans to return to the Moon: stopping propellant loss.

Did a short circuit cause spacecraft's steep descent?

The cause of a Russian spacecraft's fiery descent back to Earth on Saturday is still unknown, but investigators suspect an electrical short circuit or the delayed detachment of a propulsion module might be to blame, NASA's space operations director Bill Gerstenmaier said on Tuesday.

Black hole plasma jet reveals twisted magnetic fields

BLACK holes don't just consume everything nearby - occasionally they fire out huge corkscrews of gas. Now the first look down the barrel of one of these jets has uncovered its origins.

Mysterious 'bright young things' found in solar system

Some families seem blessed with eternal youth, looking much younger than their years. Now, astronomers have found just such a clan of icy objects in the outer solar system. They appear puzzlingly fresh-faced, despite the fact that they probably formed in a collision more than a billion years ago.

Solar system could go haywire before the Sun dies

How will life on Earth end? The answer, of course, is unknown, but two new studies suggest a collision with Mercury or Mars could doom life long before the Sun swells into a red giant and bakes the planet to a crisp in about 5 billion years.

Establishing the Vision for Space Exploration

To those of us who have committed our lives to the proposition that the exploration and development of space as the means by which we can build a prosperous global civilization that will last far beyond our current limits to growth, recent events have a familiar and depressing feel.

Our view: Rough ride home

Plunging back to Earth in a fiery reentry from orbit is a dangerous moment for astronauts.
That was tragically shown in 2003 when the shuttle Columbia broke apart and burned up returning home, killing all seven crew members aboard.

3 problems uncovered on Soyuz capsule

NASA might have to wait three months for an answer to why a Russian Soyuz space capsule dropped to Earth like a rock in an emergency re-entry. The Soyuz that landed Saturday had at least three problems:

Rovers rockin' and rollin'

The surface of Mars has given up many surprises to rovers Spirit and Opportunity. As of this week, both of the 384-pound rovers have endured four years past their expected life of 90 days. The trusty robots have helped humans see the red planet as a complex world that might hold signs of life, rather than as a forbidding and barren place.

So what is the right stuff?

The European Space Agency is doing its first major trawl for recruits for more than a decade. An expected 50,000 applicants will be whittled down to four astronauts destined to live on the International Space Station. What are they looking for?

Nasa 'should follow Columbus'

Professor Stephen Hawking has called for a new era of space conquest akin to Christopher Columbus' discovery of the new world.
In a speech honouring Nasa's 50th anniversary, the 66-year-old astrophysicist said the situation we face "is like Europe before 1492″.

Begging for more than small change

Small changes to the way we live our lives are not enough to tackle the environmental challenges facing the planet, argues Tom Crompton. In this week's Green Room, he says the stark reality is that the only option is to cut the unsustainable consumption of the Earth's finite resources.

Bionic eye 'blindness cure hope'

A 'bionic eye' may hold the key to returning sight to people left blind by a hereditary disease, experts believe.
A team at London's Moorfields Eye Hospital have carried out the treatment on the UK's first patients as part of a clinical study into the therapy.

Japan's cherry to fly into space

One of Japan's most enduring national symbols, the cherry flower, is set to travel into space.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) will send seeds to its soon-to-orbit science lab at the International Space Station (ISS).

Wild bee decline 'catastrophic'

Wild bee populations around the UK are experiencing "catastrophic declines", the Bumblebee Conservation Trust has warned.
Mary Celeste Syndrome - where a honey bee hive is found almost completely deserted - has appeared in Scotland.

Energy and Food Production Compete

The use of corn for ethanol production has drawn many farms into indirect competition with energy production companies. This diversion of farm capacity to the energy sector leaves fewer farms to produce food, putting upward pressure on food prices and ties the price of food to the price of oil.

Melting Glaciers will Cause Flooding, then Drought

Many areas of the world rely on glacier runoff for drinking water and agriculture. As global temperature rises, glaciers are melting faster and earlier in the year. This can cause flooding in the spring and a lack of water when it is most needed in the summer months. Additionally, smaller glaciers may completely disappear in the coming years - leaving the surrounding areas without this valuable resource altogether.

Eratosthenes: Calculating the Earth's Circumference (video)

A video that explains how Eratosthenes was able to calculate Earth's circumference using observations made at two wells at different locations on the first day of summer.

Owning up to history

At the same time that Ohio State University is preparing to send the remains of American Indians back to West Virginia, the school is returning tissue and blood samples from Yanomamo tribes, at the request of the Brazilian government.

Freedom's last refuge in South sought

Gen. Andrew Jackson's early 19th century hunt for Angola ended with the Florida settlement's destruction. Documentarian Vickie Oldham is now trying to find remains of the town, the Southeast's last major outpost for free blacks and fugitive slaves.

Terracotta army has egg on its face

China's terracotta army, a collection of 7000 soldier and horse figures in the mausoleum of the country's first emperor, was covered with beaten egg when it was made, scientists say.

Turkish site a Neolithic 'supernova'

As a child, Klaus Schmidt used to grub around in caves in his native Germany in the hope of finding prehistoric paintings. Thirty years later, as a member of the German Archaeological Institute, he found something infinitely more important: a temple complex almost twice as old as anything comparable.

Rising Sea Levels Threaten Egypt's Ancient Cities

In Egypt's ancient city of Alexandria, waves from the Mediterranean Sea send foam crashing over the sea wall and onto hundreds of concrete barriers built to protect the city from the rising waters.

The wisdom of NASA's elders

It's not uncommon in the aerospace industry to bring back retired employees to serve on review panels or otherwise share their expertise and experience with younger staff. These "graybeards", who no longer have a vested interest in specific projects and programs, are free to share their candid opinions and insights on engineering decisions. If such an approach is effective at the project level, why not do something similar at the highest levels?

The Present is the Key to the Past

Mike Russell thinks life began in iron sulfide deposits at ocean vents. In this interview, he expands on his theory of how life originated, and explains why "life from space" scenarios are dead wrong.

Echo of Ancient Cosmic Explosion Seen

Huge explosions on Earth may be one-time deals, but their resounding echoes can give us another bang for our buck if conditions are right.

NASA Aims for All-Commercial ISS Resupply

NASA will base U.S. resupply of the International Space Station on the untried vehicles of the Commercial Orbital Transportation System (COTS) program, and will not buy cargo services from Russia after the space shuttle fleet retires.

The Hunt for Red Hot Hydrothermal Vents

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has a slide show titled: "The Hunt for Red Hot Hydrothermal Vents". It tells the story about their search for the vents on the sea floor of the Arctic and the animals that live around them.

Haze over the Caspian Sea

A hazy plume drifted over the northern end of the Caspian Sea in early April 2008. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite took this picture on April 12, 2008. This image shows the plume curving over the water's surface. Underneath the plume, much of the water appears blue-green, thanks to the Sea's shallow northern depths

Did the Flores Hobbit Have a Root Canal?

And you thought Frodo had it hard. In what is shaping up to be a battle of Tolkienian proportions, the tiny remains from Flores, Indonesia–paleoanthropology's hobbit–have once again come under attack.

How deep should we look for evidence of first Americans?

Three sites in Texas have been discovered and at least partially excavated in the past 15 years yielding evidence of at least one culture older than Clovis. Most of the Clovis sites have been firmly dated to around 12,500 to 13,000 years ago.

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