NASA

Read the latest NASA news today on Newser.com

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NASA to Harpoon Comets
 NASA to Harpoon Comets 
Dec 14, 2011 2:45 PM CST

NASA to Harpoon Comets

It's testing plan now with big crossbow on Earth

(Newser) - Why the heck does NASA need a 6-foot crossbow capable of flinging a projectile up to a mile and generating as much as 1,000 pounds of force? So it can test its designs for a harpoon meant to sink into distant asteroids and comets, of course. NASA is currently...

World's Biggest Plane to Rocket People into Space

Paul Allen project might be ready for tests in 2016

(Newser) - The world's biggest plane, with wings longer than a football field, is being built to launch astronauts and cargo into outer space. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and aerospace innovator Burt Rutan have teamed up to create the gargantuan aircraft, which will work by hauling a rocket high into the...

NASA Astronomer Denies 2012 Mayan Apocalypse
 NASA Denies 
 2012 Apocalypse 
Dec 11, 2011 3:11 PM CST

NASA Denies 2012 Apocalypse

Astronomer criticizes list of doomsday 'Mayan' predictions

(Newser) - The Earth will not be destroyed or burned or gravitationally warped on Dec. 12, 2012, according to a NASA scientist, Space.com reports. Despite claims that the Mayan calendar predicts our planetary demise next year, astronomer Don Yeomans says we can "sleep well on Dec. 21 of next year....

NASA OKs First Private Space Station Trip

SpaceX will send up cargo in February

(Newser) - One year and one day after SpaceX became the first private company to launch a capsule into orbit and return it to Earth safely, NASA has given the OK to attempt a cargo run to the International Space Station, reports the AP . SpaceX will attempt to launch an unmanned payload...

NASA Spots Habitable Earth-Like Planet

Kepler-22b averages 72 degrees and may have oceans

(Newser) - Finally, an Earth-like planet where the weather is nice enough for an occasional visit. Only, it's 600 light-years away. Today NASA announced the existence of Kepler-22b, the first-ever planet discovered in the "habitable zone" of a sun-like star—where temperatures are placid enough to allow for water, ScienceNOW...

Mars Rover 'Curiosity' Launches

Thousands converge to watch

(Newser) - The world's biggest extraterrestrial explorer is on its way to Mars. NASA today launched the six-wheeled, one-armed robotic rover, nicknamed Curiosity. An unmanned rocket blasted off with the spacecraft from Cape Canaveral. The journey to Mars will take 8 1/2 months and cover 354 million miles. Thousands of NASA...

NASA Preps Biggest-Ever Mars Rover

Can planet sustain life? Curiosity will search for clues

(Newser) - It’s “a Mars scientist's dream machine”: NASA is getting ready to launch its largest-ever Mars rover on Saturday. It’s not just big—it’s “the largest and most complex piece of equipment ever placed on the surface of another planet,” the agency’s Mars...

NASA Puts Out Call for Astronauts

Though it'll be a looong time before you get into space

(Newser) - Bust out your resume, space cadets, because NASA wants you! Yes, despite the recent end of the space shuttle program, and the fact that everyone and their brother once dreamed of being an astronaut, a September report concluded that the space agency needed to recruit fresh astronauts or face a...

Giant Asteroid Headed Toward Fly-by of Earth

Astronomers call it a rare chance to learn about life's origins

(Newser) - We're just five days away from an aircraft-carrier-sized asteroid passing less than 202,000 miles from the Earth, a rare near-miss for an object this large, reports ABC News . The object called 2005 YU55 is a circular c-type asteroid—carbon-based, darker than charcoal, and the kind likely responsible for...

Beam Me Up: NASA Explores 'Tractor Beams'

Study will examine ways to move objects via laser light

(Newser) - "Tractor beams" could soon move from science fiction to science fact, thanks to a NASA-funded study. Ideas for tractor beams—"the ability to trap and move objects using laser light," explains NASA —have been published, but none has been put into practice. "Though a mainstay...

NASA-Backed 'Space Taxi' to Fly Next Year

Dream Chaser's first test flight scheduled for summer 2012

(Newser) - With the space shuttles retired, NASA currently has to rely on the Russians to ferry astronauts and cargo to and from the International Space Station. But it hopes to be able to hail a taxi soon. Dream Chaser, one of four "space taxis" being developed by private industry with...

NASA: We've IDed Most Killer Asteroids Out There

911 of the 981 big ones have been found

(Newser) - You can sleep easy tonight. Or easy-ish. NASA today announced that it has identified more than 90% of the giant asteroids out there that could threaten Earth (think dinosaur-killing size). "We know now where most of them are and where most of them are going. That really has reduced...

Another Falling Satellite on Its Way

1.6 tons of space junk could land somewhere on Earth

(Newser) - Brace yourself: Another satellite is falling, and this time the chances are one in 2,000 that it’ll hit someone. A German satellite known as ROSAT is due to plummet around the end of October, and while a lot of it will disintegrate before returning to Earth, experts say...

ISS Captures Southern Lights
 ISS Captures Southern Lights  
Sep 29, 2011 5:30 AM CDT

ISS Captures Southern Lights

Rare footage of Aurora Australis released

(Newser) - An increase in solar activity is causing more spectacular displays of the northern—and southern—lights, as recently captured by the crew of the International Space Station. NASA has released rare footage of the Aurora Australis, or southern lights, taken by ISS astronauts as the station passed over the Indian...

NASA: Satellite Fell in Remote South Pacific

Scientists think UARS picked the perfect spot

(Newser) - Now that NASA's had time to crunch the numbers regarding last weekend's falling satellite , it has a pretty good idea of where it splashed down—in the middle of nowhere in the South Pacific. The dead UARS craft entered the atmosphere generally above American Samoa, according to the...

So Where Did Satellite Land? NASA May Never Know

Need more exact data to pinpoint where UARS and debris hit the Earth

(Newser) - NASA's just-crashed UARS satellite may have been the size of a bus and weighed 6 tons, but, because of its speed and uncertainty about the exact time it hit the Earth, scientists say they don't know exactly where their space junk crashed, reports the Chicago Tribune . "We...

Falling Satellite: NASA Says It Might Come Down Tonight or Early Tomorrow in North America
 Satellite Splashes Down 
 Over Pacific 
UPDATED
Sep 24, 2011 5:15 AM CDT

Satellite Splashes Down Over Pacific

Dead UARS craft finally comes down

(Newser) - Your luck held: NASA's dead six-ton satellite came down without apparent harm somewhere over the Pacific between 11:23pm EDT and 1:09am, the agency says . The exact spot isn't yet known, but the UARS craft likely broke up along a 500-mile path, notes AP . Most of the...

With Satellite Set to Hit, World Uneasy

26 pieces of NASA spacecraft to likely reach Earth tomorrow

(Newser) - The 6.5-ton Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite is going to plummet to Earth tomorrow afternoon , and the fact that NASA can't say exactly where is making some people uneasy. Some 26 pieces of the satellite, ranging in size up to a few hundred pounds, are likely to survive re-entry...

NASA's New Worry: Astronauts Going Blind

It could happen on a trip to Mars

(Newser) - NASA has a serious health concern to resolve before it fires up a manned mission to Mars or some other way-off locale: Astronauts might not be able to see anything once they get there. As the Orlando Sentinel explains, the space agency is seeing more cases of astronauts reporting blurred...

Satellite to Hit Earth Friday—or Fridayish

NASA's latest calculations get a little more specific

(Newser) - We know it's coming ... and now we sort of know when. The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite—the 1,100 pounds of it that make it through Earth’s atmosphere—will crash onto land or sea on Friday. Give or take a day . The Washington Post notes NASA will get...

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