Chanda Gonzales, senior director, Google Lunar XPrize, contributed this article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights . With “The Martian” in theaters now, and the world’s attention on Mars (and Matt Damon), let’s take a moment to remind ourselves of our sometimes-neglected but awesome neighbor, the moon. The moon is not only our nearest neighbor in space […]
Neutrinos in the sun mapped by the Super-Kamiokande experiment.Credit: © The T2K Collaboration Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B. McDonald will share this year’s Nobel Prize in physics for helping to reveal that subatomic particles called neutrinos can change from one type to another — a finding that meant these exotic particles have a teensy bit […]
“The Martian” makes being stranded on the cold red planet seem almost romantic. But what are your real survival odds? XPRIZE Founder and CEO Peter Diamandis reasons out his personal choice in this inaugural episode of #AskPeter. Got a question about the future? Go ahead and #AskPeter @XPRIZE. Credit: XPRIZE To source
Using stereo image data from ESA’s Mars Express, German Aerospace Center (DLR) scientists created this highly accurate view of the terrain fictional astronaut “Mark Watney”(played by Matt Damon ) would of had to traverse to find his way home. Credit: German Aerospace Center (DLR) To source
Astronaut Sally Ride seen in a NASA T-38 training jet wearing her flight helmet. The same helmet is now a part of the Smithsonian’s collection, along with other items and papers that belonged to the first American woman in space.Credit: NASA/Smithsonian In life, Sally Ride privately organized her personal items, NASA artifacts, awards and papers, […]
As NASA missions to Mars progress with science and complex human exploration missions, spacecraft will require larger heat shields to protect against the extreme heat of entering a planet’s atmosphere and decelerating at a safe altitude in the thin Martian atmosphere. To source
Testing of components of the BE-4 engine is in progress at Blue Origin’s facilities in West Texas.Credit: Blue Origin WASHINGTON — Blue Origin said Sept. 30 that it has completed more than 100 developmental tests of its BE-4 engine, which the company is building both for United Launch Alliance and its own vehicle. The company […]
WASHINGTON — Virgin Galactic announced Sept. 28 that it has made “significant progress” on the engines that it will use on its LauncherOne small satellite launch vehicle, two weeks after the company said it was increasing the vehicle’s performance. In a statement, Virgin Galactic said it had successfully carried out a 20-second test firing of […]
As NASA missions to Mars progress with science and complex human exploration missions, spacecraft will require larger heat shields to protect against the extreme heat of entering a planet’s atmosphere and decelerating at a safe altitude in the thin Martian atmosphere. To source
This May 2015 image from the HiRISE camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows part of a region on Mars called Acidalia Planitia, the landing site for the Ares 3 mission in the novel and movie “The Martian.”Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona Newly released photos taken by a NASA spacecraft provide a real-world look at the […]
Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Grace Potter, currently on tour in support of her first solo record, “Midnight,” manages to find time to post her thoughts about space and science via Instagram. Space.com sat down with Potter prior to her performance at New York’s Radio City Music Hall on Saturday (Oct. 3) to discuss her cosmic influences , […]
An artist’s rendition of a pulsar, which radiates bright beams of light from its two magnetic poles. The pulsar doesn’t necessarily rotate around those poles, so the beams of light sweep across the sky and sometimes appear to “pulse” on and off. This image portrays the Jodrell Bank Observatory (silhouetted in the foreground), where scientists […]
Artist’s illustration of World View’s balloon-borne capsule cruising through the stratosphere.Credit: World View Enterprises, Inc. TUCSON, Arizona — A new type of space tourism is set to lift off two years from now, without the aid of a rocket. Arizona-based World View Enterprises aims to start launching paying customers to the stratosphere in 2017 beneath […]