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Feb 28, 2017

'Women of NASA' Lego Set: Q&A with Creator Maia Weinstock

Lego announced on Tuesday (Feb. 28) that it would be making a fan-created set called Women of NASA, featuring five important women who have worked for the agency. Maia Weinstock, the set's creator, recently talked with Space.com about what motivated the project. Weinstock built the set and submitted it to...

Feb 28, 2017

Mars Colonists Might Need to Radically Alter Their Bodies and Minds

In 2016, two astronauts finished nearly a year of work on the International Space Station. NASA's Scott Kelly and Russia's Mikhail Kornienko were studied closely for changes in their physical and psychological health. NASA touts the mission as part of its Journey to Mars, in which it hopes to send...

Jan 31, 2017

North Korea's Missile Threats to US May Not Be Empty for Long

North Korea has always talked the talk, and now it seems to be walking the walk as never before. The nuclear-armed rogue nation appears to be making progress on an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which could conceivably allow the Hermit Kingdom to make good on its oft-repeated threat to turn...

Jan 31, 2017

The Outer Space Treaty Has Been Successful – But Is It Fit for the Modern Age?

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Space exploration is governed by a complex series of international treaties and agreements which have been in place for years. The first and probably most important of them celebrates...

Jan 31, 2017

TRAPPIST-1: How Long Would It Take to Fly to 7-Planet System?

The discovery of seven Earth-size planets around a nearby star, TRAPPIST-1, is certainly exciting news. But what would it take to visit one of these potentially Earth-like alien worlds? TRAPPIST-1 is 39 light-years away from Earth, or about 229 trillion miles (369 trillion kilometers). It would take 39 years to...

Jan 31, 2017

Could a Spacecraft Fly to the Sun?

Humans have sent spacecraft to the moon, Mars and even distant interstellar space, but could we send a spaceship to the scorching sun? The answer is yes, and it's happening soon. In 2018, NASA plans to launch the Solar Probe Plus mission to the sun. Earth is about 93 million...

Nov 30, 2018

Soar Over NASA's InSight Landing Site on Mars in This Stunning Video

The flyover video above, and available here on YouTube, shows the area in and around Elysium Planitia, the equatorial plain on which InSight touched down on Monday (Nov. 26). At the beginning, the supra-regional topography of the landing site is shown from various perspectives within a radius of a few...

Nov 30, 2018

NASA's Stunning Photo of the Moon Will Make You Swoon

The moon is pretty enough here from Earth, but it's even more stunning up close, as this new photograph from NASA reminds us. The image was captured on Nov. 3 by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been circling the moon since 2009. While the crater itself is not quite...

Nov 30, 2018

Hello, Bennu! NASA Asteroid-Sampling Probe Reaches Its Target Space Rock

NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft sidled up to the diamond-shaped asteroid Bennu today (Dec. 3) at about 12 p.m. EST (1700 GMT), wrapping up a circuitous cosmic chase that lasted 27 months. Achievement unlocked: 'We have arrived!' NASA officials said via Twitter today. [OSIRIS-REx: NASA's Asteroid Sample-Return Mission in Pictures] NASA’s OSIRIS-REx...

Nov 30, 2018

SpaceX Launches Dragon Cargo Ship to Space Station, But Misses Rocket Landing

According to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Twitter, a hydraulic pump on one of the first stage grid fins stalled, so the booster ended up splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean rather than coming in for a landing at a pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida....

Nov 30, 2018

Tiny 'Blueberries' on Mars Continue to Baffle Scientists

It was just a few months after NASA's Opportunity rover touched down on Mars in 2004 that it spotted a geological curiosity: tiny, iron-rich spheres scattered across the rock surface near the robot's landing site. Snack-loving scientists working with the mission dubbed these objects blueberries, but the features were easier...

Nov 30, 2018

This Fluffy Alien World Farts Helium

Since scientists first found planets around other stars, many of their most striking discoveries have come from off-Earth instruments like NASA’s Kepler and Hubble space telescopes. Kepler has identified more than 2,000 verified planets passing by their stars, while Hubble observations have helped scientists characterize exoplanet atmospheres. But two new...

Nov 30, 2018

Where DOES Space Begin? Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Flies Right into the Debate

There's just one little problem: The vehicle fell a whole 11 miles (17 km) short of the height many people use to demarcate space, at 62 miles (100 km). That boundary, nicknamed the Karman line, is often treated as edict, but Virgin Galactic's flight comes in the midst of a...

Nov 30, 2018

Could Life on Mars Be Lurking Deep Underground?

WASHINGTON — To find life on Mars, scientists may need to give up surface exploration and go deep. Typically, Mars missions searching for signs of life target the planet's surface, at sites where there are signs of ancient water (a reliable indicator of where life is found on Earth). But...

Nov 30, 2018

Christmas 'Hippo' Asteroid Is Buzzing Earth, Its Closest Flyby in 400 Years

If only a hippopotamus will do this Christmas, Santa has the space rock for you. A small asteroid will fly safely by Earth Saturday (Dec. 22) and according to the folks at NASA, it looks just like the mighty hippo in new radar images. The asteroid, called 2003 SD220, is...