US, India Prep for Unmanned Missions to Mars
Both the United States and India are gearing up for unmanned missions to Mars. India will launch its first interplanetary spacecraft when the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) sends its Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) to the Red Planet on Nov. 5. The spacecraft will be launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre located in Sriharikota, […]
Far-away Planet Found to be Same Color as Earth
The Hubble Space Telescope has helped scientists determine the color of a planet outside of our Solar System for the first time. Located about 63 light years from Earth, the planet known as HD 189733b would be a deep cobalt blue if viewed at close range, similar to Earth’s color as seen from space. Despite […]
Earth Preps for Close Encounter with Asteroid
Earth is about to have a close encounter with an asteroid, the nearest an object of its size has ever come to our planet. The fly-by is expected to occur at around 1924 UTC on Feb. 15, according to scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The US space agency says there’s no chance the asteroid […]
Milky Way Contains Billions of Earth-sized Planets, Studies Find
There are at least 17 billion Earth-sized worlds in our Milky Way galaxy, according to two new studies. Both groups of scientists used data from NASA’s Kepler mission to reach their conclusions, which were presented to the American Astronomical Society in Long Beach, California. The scientists found that the closer the planets are to their […]
Satellite’s Space Trip Ends After 30 Years
The longest operating Earth-observing satellite is about to be decommissioned by the US Geological Survey. The USGS has begun the task of lowering Landsat-5 from its operational orbit. The first series of maneuvers in that effort is likely to take place within the next month. Landsat-5 was the fifth of seven satellites launched as part […]
NASA Checks Out Potentially Hazardous Asteroids
First, the good news. There are fewer asteroids near Earth than previously estimated. Now the bad news. A new NASA survey also finds there may be more than twice as many aligned with Earth’s orbit than thought, which could increase the odds of an asteroid coming close enough to us to cause concern. The findings […]