With the future of the International Space Station uncertain, the Chinese have announced their own space station program, instead of joining forces with the other space powers. China’s space station will be named “Tiangong” which means “Heavenly Palace” in Mandarin. Continue reading
After years of development and decades of flying, the now-cancelled space shuttle program has left more to future generations than pieces for museums and fond memories of exploration. Its legacy lives on in an artificial heart device, NASCAR racing cars and rescue tools used to reach car accident victims. Continue reading
The following is a huge infographic showing the true scale of the solar system with all its planets, minor bodies and the most famous probes we have sent out into deep space. Scientists measure distances in our solar system in … Continue reading
As NASA prepares to wrap up its shuttle program, leaving open questions about what comes next for U.S. human spaceflight, the next big thing in NASA’s astronomy program has been dealt a blow. Continue reading
A piece of space junk zoomed uncomfortably close by the International Space Station today (June 28), so close that the outpost’s six-man crew had to take shelter in Russian space capsules in case of a collision. Continue reading
This animation depicts the artist’s vision of the key events of the future NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission. It is planned to launch in late 2011 and reach Mars in August 2012. The rover will be called “Curiosity”. Continue reading
Europe’s ambition for a spacecraft to return autonomously from low orbit is a cornerstone for a wide range of space applications, including space transportation, exploration and robotic servicing of space infrastructure. Continue reading
Sample return is something of a holy grail to planetary explorers. The advantage is that age dating and extensive compositional analysis can be done better with modern instruments in Earth-based laboratories than on miniaturized instruments that have to prepared years in advance for space flight. Continue reading
The following infographic shows how the Antimatter-Hunting Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer works. It was sent to the International Space Station in the STS-134 mission by the Space Shuttle Endeavour on May 16th 2011. The shuttle landed back on Earth on June … Continue reading
About one in 10 rocky planets around stars like our Sun may host a moon proportionally as large as Earth’s, researchers say. Our Moon is disproportionately large – more than a quarter of Earth’s diameter – a situation once thought to be rare. Continue reading