Feb 14, 2011 | Blog, Comets, Education Station, Exploration, NASA, Our Solar System, Space and Science
NASA’s Stardust-New Exploration of Tempel 1 (Stardust-NExT) is on target. Mission controllers report that they are pleased with final optical navigation solutions that show the predicted delivery of the spacecraft for a comet rendezvous is within a “green zone.” The...
Feb 11, 2011 | Blog, Comets, Education Station, Exploration, Kids Space, NASA, Our Solar System, Space and Science
If you want to express a little love for comets, check out the offer tied to the upcoming February 14 flyby of NASA’s Stardust spacecraft of comet Tempel 1. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory has set up a little celestial love campaign. Participants can spread the love...
Feb 9, 2011 | Blog, Education Station, Exploration, NASA, Our Solar System, Space and Science
The first image of comet Tempel 1 taken by NASA’s Stardust spacecraft is a composite made from observations on Jan. 18 and 19, 2011. The panel on the right highlights the location of comet Tempel 1 in the frame. On Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14 in U.S. time...
Feb 7, 2011 | Blog, Commercial Space, Education Station, Exploration, International Space Station, Kids Space, Mars, NASA, The Moon
NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver is given a tour of the Bigelow Aerospace facilities on February 4 by the company’s President Robert Bigelow. The tour showcased the private firm’s work on expandable space modules. Photo: NASA/Bill Ingalls NASA is reviewing use...
Feb 3, 2011 | Blog, China, Education Station, European Space Agency, Exploration, International Cooperation, Mars, Space Research
Mars500 crew (from left) Alexey Sitev, Yue Wang, Romain Charles, Alexandr Smoleevskiy, Diego Urbina and Sukhrob Kamolov. Mars isolation modules in Moscow – home for the Mars 500 project. A major simulation of a human voyage to Mars has reached a key milestone –...
Feb 2, 2011 | Ask the Expert, Book Reviews, Education Station, European Space Agency, Exploration, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Kids Space, Mars, NASA, Our Solar System, Planet Earth, Space and Science, The Moon, The Sun, Why Space
The 50 Most Extreme Places In Our Solar System by David Baker and Todd Ratcliff; The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Massachusetts; $27.95 (Hardcover); 2010. Readers of all backgrounds will love this book. The volume is beautifully produced,...
Jan 30, 2011 | Ask the Expert, Blog, Education Station, Exploration, Mars, NASA, Space and Science
NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover – Opportunity – is busy at work at the edge of “Santa Maria” crater, surveying the diverse textures of the geological feature. Recent imagery shows the rover making use of its instrument-laden robotic arm to inspect a targeted rock – even...
Jan 28, 2011 | Ask the Expert, Blog, Education Station, Exploration, Kids Space, NASA, Our Solar System, Planet Earth, Space and Science, The Sun
When it comes to the Sun, one could recall that line sung by Elvis: “A churning urn of burning funk.” But now space weather forecasters have a new tool to issue a one-to-four day advance warning of high speed streams of solar plasma and Earth-directed coronal mass...
Jan 27, 2011 | Ask the Expert, Blog, Education Station, Exploration, Kids Space, Mars, NASA, Our Solar System, Planet Earth, Space and Science
Things may have been pretty messy around the red planet in its past. New research suggests the possibility that the martian satellites – Phobos and Deimos — may have been the result of giant impact. The new theory is just out in the prestigious Icarus...
Jan 27, 2011 | Blog, Education Station, Exploration, Kids Space, NASA, Our Solar System, Space and Science
A Valentine’s Day target has been spotted by NASA’s Stardust spacecraft. Images of comet Tempel 1 have been relayed by the en route probe, over 16 million miles away from the celestial object. The Stardust NExT mission is slated to carry out close-up investigations of...