Nov 14, 2013 | Ask the Expert, Blog, Education Station, Exploration, Kids Space, NASA, Our Solar System, Space and Science
NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft is orbiting Mercury and has been able to snag images of two comets: 2P/Encke and C/2012 S1 (ISON. Later this month, both of these comets will be substantially brighter and much closer to Mercury and the Sun. MESSENGER has been poised for...
Nov 12, 2013 | Ask the Expert, Blog, Education, Education Station, Exploration, Kids Space, Mars, Space and Science
A new study has calculated how the Martian moon, Phobos, may be peppered with material from Mars itself. Therefore, a planned Russian mission to return a sample from the Martian moon Phobos will likely be a twofer. Work by James Head, professor of geological sciences...
Nov 11, 2013 | European Space Agency, Exploration, International Space Station, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), NASA, Planet Earth, Roscosmos, Space and Science, Space Research, Uncategorized
U.S., European and Russian astronauts descended safely to Earth late Sunday, ending a 166 day mission to the International Space Station that drew to a close with a celebration of the 2014 Winter Games scheduled for Sochi, Russia. The Russian Soyuz spacecraft...
Nov 9, 2013 | Ask the Expert, Ask the Experts — Answers, Blog, Book Reviews, Education, Education Station, Exploration, Kids Programs Online, Kids Space, Mars, Multimedia, NASA, Space and Science, Space Research, Why Space
Mission: Mars – Get Ready for the Future of Space Exploration by Pascal Lee; Scholastic Inc., New York; $6.99 (paperback); September 2013. Looking for a link to Mars for that special Christmas present? Here’s a book recommended for ages 9-12, but readers of all ages...
Nov 5, 2013 | Ask the Expert, Blog, Education Station, Exploration, Kids Space, NASA, Space and Science, Why Space
For those interstellar travelers hungry to hit high speed, there are places to visit! New research indicates that there are several tens of billions of potentially habitable, Earth-size planets, in the Milky Way Galaxy alone. Analysis by Univ. of Calif. Berkeley and...
Nov 3, 2013 | Blog, Education Station, Exploration, Kids Space, Mars, NASA, Space and Science
NASA’s Opportunity rover on Mars has survived five Martian winters since it landed on the Red Planet in January 2004. The robot is now seeking the Sun’s rays as winter approaches, doing so by ascending the northern edge of “Solander Point” at the rim of Endeavour...
Oct 30, 2013 | Asteroid Exploration, Benefits of Space Exploration, Blog, Education Station, Exploration, Kids Space, NASA, Space and Science, Space Research
A University of Washington (UW) class is crashing rockets into the ground…and on purpose. The student project is called “Sample Return Systems for Extreme Environments,” a novel technology that recently received $500,000 over two years from the NASA Innovative...
Oct 29, 2013 | Benefits of Space Exploration, Education, Exploration, International Space Station, Space Shuttle, NASA, Planet Earth, Space and Science, Space Research
As though she was counting down a space mission launch, NASA International Space Station program scientist Julie Robinson has been running through her list of top 10 science achievements carried out aboard the six person orbiting science lab with a...
Oct 28, 2013 | Asteroid Exploration, Mars, NASA, Our Solar System, Planet Earth, Space and Science, Space Research, The Moon
Orion, the new NASA spacecraft under development to transport U. S. astronauts to an assortment of deep space destinations, including the asteroids, the moon and eventually Mars, has been powered up for the first time at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, where it is...
Oct 28, 2013 | Blog, Education Station, European Space Agency, Exploration, Kids Space, Mars, Space and Science, Space Research
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Mars Express spacecraft was launched in early June 2003. On arrival at the Red Planet six-and-a-half months later, it has since orbited the planet nearly 12,500 times. From that orbital perch above Mars, the spacecraft has provided...