Aug 19
The Russian Proton rocket aims to prove its reliability on Monday by putting into orbit one of the biggest commercial satellites ever built.
Aug 19
India will send their first mission to the Moon in September. Chandrayaan-1 has been built and will be launched from Indian soil and sent on a mission to study the lunar surface.
Aug 19
Iran said it successfully launched its first domestically produced satellite into orbit on Sunday, a move that could further exacerbate tensions with the West over its nuclear drive.
Aug 19
This article proposes an unusual way to land objects from orbit and probes returning from deep space. In this “Pit Stop” concept, the landing capsule, carefully steered by GPS in its plunge to earth, would aim for the opening of a deep vertical shaft set into the ground. The capsule would dive into this hole while still falling at terminal velocity
Aug 19
Cosmic voids really are devoid of matter. Astronomers have found that even the pervasive ‘dark matter’ which accounts for about 80% of the mass of the universe is not present in these voids, which are areas of vast emptiness in space that can be tens of millions of light-years across. . .
Aug 19
We’re already building or assembling massive structures in space — like the International Space Station and Dextre, the “monster” robot that got built in space this past spring — but space construction will soon become more and more common. And science fiction stories, from Isaac Asimov to Star Trek, show the way.
Aug 19
Astronomers announced today that a new “minor planet” with an unusual orbit has been found just two billion miles from Earth, closer than Neptune. Using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, astronomers detected a small, comet-like object called 2006 SQ372, which is likely made of rock and ice.
Aug 19
The gradual weakening of the overall magnetic field can take hundreds and even thousands of years. But smaller, more rapid fluctuations within months may leave satellites unprotected and catch scientists off guard, new research finds