Rosetta Mission Fuels Argument About Origin of Earth’s Water
The debate about the origin of Earth’s water just got deeper. The European Space Agency’s (ESA) comet-chasing spacecraft Rosetta has sent back some interesting information regarding water vapor it detected and analyzed on its target, Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. According to the ESA and an international group of scientists, the analysis shows that the chemical composition of […]
Science Scanner – Big Asteroid Won’t Hit Us, Artificial Skin Detects Pressure, Link Found: ER Visits and Internet Searches
Huge Asteroid Won’t Hit Us After All The NASA/JPL Near-Earth Object Program Office says that we can all breathe easier now: Reports indicating that a gigantic asteroid is heading our way and would possibly impact the Earth are not true. The 400-meter wide ‘2014 UR116’ asteroid, found on October 27 at the MASTER-II observatory in […]
Science Scanner: Orion Set for Test, Mars Meteorite May Have Organic Matter, Heavy Newborns Excel in School, Oceans Help Warming Hiatus
NASA Readies Orion Spacecraft for Test Flight Excitement continues to build in Florida as NASA makes final preparations for the tomorrow’s (12/4/14) first unmanned flight test of Orion spacecraft, which the space agency plans to use to send astronauts to an asteroid and then to Mars. Liftoff has been set for 1105 UTC from Space […]
Ground-Based Telescope Observes Exoplanet Transiting Bright Star
For the first time, an international team of astronomers has used a ground-based telescope to detect and observe the transit of a planet in front of a Sun-like star outside of our own solar system. Until now, only space-based telescopes were capable of detecting the transits of exoplanets as they passed by bright stars. Distortions […]
Science Scanner: Mapping an Asteroid; Why the Universe Didn’t Collapse; Spicy Food Saves Lives
Scientists Create Geologic and Tectonic Map of Vesta the Asteroid A group of scientists used high-resolution images captured by NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft between 2011 and 2012 to create what they say is the first total geologic and tectonic map of the asteroid Vesta. Details on the work appear in the December edition of the journal […]
Volcanic Activity Linked to A Warm and Wet Ancient Mars
Exploratory missions to Mars, such as NASA’s Curiosity Rover, have provided more and more evidence that Mars at one time was warm enough for water to flow on its surface. Now a new study published in the journal “Nature Geoscience” has found that those ancient, warm periods on the Red Planet probably took place in […]
NASA Study: Universe Shines Brighter Than We Thought
Analysis of observations gathered by the first two Cosmic Infrared Background Experiment (CIBER) missions shows that the universe shines much brighter that had been thought. CIBER scientists found that infrared light in what were thought to be dark areas of space between galaxies is producing a glow that gleams as brightly as all the known […]
Science Scanner: Space Chiefs Commit to ISS Cooperation, ESA Prepares for Comet Landing, Media/Real Violence Study
Space Agency Heads Reaffirm Commitment to ISS While the media has occasionally suggested over the past few months that the current diplomatic tension between the U.S. and Russia could impact the future of the International Space Station (ISS) mission, the heads of the space agencies involved with operating the ISS from Canada, Europe, Japan, Russia […]
New Research Reveals Ominous Future for Universe
A team of British and Italian scientists recently conducted research that suggests an ominous future for the universe. In a paper just published by the journal Physical Review Letters, the scientists said a review of new astronomical data found that dark energy (a theoretical form of energy that cosmologists believe is responsible for the accelerated […]
Science Scanner: ISS Resupply Spacecraft Explodes, Tiny Decontamination Devices, Walking Workstations = Health/Happy Workers
Rocket With NASA’s Cargo Spacecraft Explodes Shortly After Liftoff/Russian Supply Mission Reaches ISS You probably read about this elsewhere, but we’d be remiss if we were to omit mention of the two ISS resupply missions launched yesterday… one successful while the other crashed and burned, or perhaps more accurately, burned and crashed. NASA’s resupply mission […]