Sep 16, 2010 | Blog, Commercial Space, Education Station, Exploration, Space Race, Space Tourism, Spaceports
The WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) is back in the air after a landing incident on August 19th. The WK2 is the mothership that totes to drop altitude the SpaceShipTwo (SS2) suborbital spaceliner – a six passenger, two pilot craft now under development for Sir Richard Branson’s...
Sep 16, 2010 | Blog, Education Station, Exploration, NASA, Our Solar System, Space and Science, The Sun
Here’s a hot one! Build a spacecraft that can fly to within four million miles of the Sun and study a region that has never been explored by a space probe. Doing so will require the satellite to be equipped with a high-tech heat shield to thwart searing 2,550 degree...
Sep 15, 2010 | Benefits of Space Exploration, Blog, Commercial Space, Education Station, Exploration, NASA, Space Race, Space Tourism
A memorandum of agreement between the Boeing Company and space tourist company, Space Adventures, may lead to passenger seats available on Boeing’s Crew Space Transportation-100 (CST-100) spacecraft to LEO. Boeing and Space Adventures have not yet set a price per seat...
Sep 13, 2010 | Ask the Expert, Blog, Education Station, Exploration, International Cooperation, Kids Space, Mars, NASA, Space and Science, Space Research, The Moon
How does your garden grow…if you’re on the Moon or Mars? Answering that question is on the scientific menu of researchers at the University of Arizona (UA) Controlled Environment Agriculture Center (CEAC). They are demonstrating that plants from Earth could be grown...
Sep 12, 2010 | Blog, Education Station, Exploration, Mars, NASA, Space and Science
NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity continues its trek toward the long-term destination of Endeavour Crater. The camera system toted by the robot can view portions of Endeavour Crater’s rim on the horizon. During stops, Opportunity is also using its microscope...
Sep 11, 2010 | Blog, Education Station, International Cooperation, International Space Station, Kids Space, NASA, Space and Science, Space Research, Space Shuttle
The largest scientific instrument to be installed on the International Space Station (ISS) is being readied for flight to the orbiting complex early next year. The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) is a state-of-the-art particle physics detector. The AMS-02 will...
Sep 11, 2010 | Blog, Education Station, NASA, Our Solar System, Space Race, The Moon
China is on track to launch its next Moon orbiter – Chang’e-2. The lunar probe is to be launched at the end of the year, according to Xinhua, a Chinese news agency. Chang’e-2 follows China’s first lunar mission, a spacecraft that carried out 16-months of research...
Sep 8, 2010 | Blog, Education Station, Exploration, Kids Space, NASA, Our Solar System, Space and Science
Sixty days before its flyby, NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft has snapped a picture of its quarry – comet Hartley 2. The spacecraft is on track for a November 4 flyby of the comet, ready to inspect Hartley 2 for over two months. The spacecraft is on an extended...
Sep 8, 2010 | Blog, Constellation Program, Education Station, Exploration, Kids Space, NASA, Our Solar System, Why Space
Thanks to data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, scientists are finding out that asteroids somewhat near Earth – termed Near-Earth Objects, or NEOs – come in all sorts of colors and compositions. Getting to know these space rocks is a step closer in dispatching...
Sep 7, 2010 | Blog, Education Station, European Space Agency, Exploration, International Cooperation, NASA, Our Solar System, Planet Earth, Space and Science, Why Space
One new assignment for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope: Spot erupting volcanoes on rocky worlds orbiting distant stars. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a large, infrared-optimized space telescope, scheduled for launch in 2014. JWST will find the first...