Oct 26, 2012 | Ask the Experts — Answers, Asteroid Exploration, Blog, Education Station, Exploration, International Cooperation, Kids Space, Our Solar System, Planet Earth
An incoming asteroid with Earth’s name on it…what to do is a constant concern of Near Earth Object experts. How about a volley or two of space-launched paintballs? Sung Wook Paek, a graduate student in MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, says if timed...
Oct 23, 2012 | Blog, Commercial Space, Education Station, European Space Agency, Exploration, International Cooperation, Kids Space, Space Race, The Moon
Europe’s Astrium has briefed the major results of its Lunar Lander Phase B1 study, carried out on behalf of the European Space Agency (ESA). The study has consolidated the mission concept for automatic landing near the Moon’s south pole in 2019 as well as the...
Oct 22, 2012 | Ask the Expert, Blog, Education Station, European Space Agency, Exploration, Kids Space, Mars
The spectacular Valles Marineris canyon system on the Red Planet dwarfs in size the U.S. Grand Canyon. The European Space Agency’s Mars Express spacecraft has been taking image strips of the valley system since 2004. A mosaic view of the geological wonder – using 20...
Oct 21, 2012 | Blog, Education Station, Exploration, Kids Space, Mars, NASA
With all the deserved attention being paid to that new Mars arrival – the Curiosity rover – don’t forget the on-going travels of the Opportunity robot. Opportunity landed on Meridiani Planum on January 25, 2004 and is still cranking out science. Opportunity is now...
Oct 17, 2012 | Blog, Education Station, Exploration, International Cooperation, Kids Space, NASA, Our Solar System, Space and Science
It’s distant, far away from Earth, but still an observational delight: the planet Uranus. With the NASA Voyager 2 spacecraft flyby in January 1986 of the planet Uranus, those observations admittedly pictured the planet as a bland, featureless blue-green orb. But new...
Oct 11, 2012 | Ask the Expert, Blog, Education Station, European Space Agency, Exploration, International Cooperation, Kids Space, NASA, Our Solar System, Space and Science, Space Research
Back in January 2005, the European Space Agency’s Huygens probe parachuted onto Saturn’s moon, Titan. Thanks to a detailed analysis over seven years later, researchers have pulled together what happened to the probe at touchdown. The analysis is providing clues as to...
Oct 3, 2012 | Asteroid Exploration, Blog, Education Station, Exploration, International Cooperation, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Kids Space, Our Solar System, Space and Science
MASCOT – the Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout – will be bound for asteroid JU 3 in 2014 courtesy of Japan’s Hayabusa-2 mission. Four years later, on arrival at the space rock, MASCOT will free-fall onto the asteroid’s surface, automatically orient itself, then “hop” from...
Sep 28, 2012 | Ask the Expert, Blog, Education Station, European Space Agency, Exploration, International Cooperation, Kids Space, NASA, Our Solar System, Planet Earth, Space and Science, Space Research, The Sun
Saturn’s moon Titan provides the best opportunity to study conditions very similar to Earth – in terms of climate, meteorology and astrobiology. That’s the observation from Athena Coustenis from the Paris-Meudon Observatory in France. The scientist is presenting...
Sep 26, 2012 | Blog, Education Station, Exploration, Kids Space, Our Solar System, Planet Earth, The Sun
How best to put the distance between the Sun and the nearest star in perspective? Now the world’s largest exhibition – extending from New York to Hawaii – is to do just that and will be dedicated this week. The exhibition is named after the late Cornell astronomer...
Sep 24, 2012 | Ask the Expert, Blog, Comets, Education Station, Exploration, Kids Space, Mars, NASA, Our Solar System, Planet Earth, Space and Science
There is a high probability that life came to Earth — or spread from Earth to other planets — during the Solar System’s infancy. New research on this prospect has been presented at the now being held European Planetary Sciences Congress. The findings provide the...