SPACE
& SCIENCE NEWS: February 2006
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| Mars probe poised for 'hair-raising'
orbit entry |
Feb 28, 2006 |
| X Prize Foundation takes next
step toward $2 million Lunar Lander Challenge |
Feb 27, 2006 |
| Spacecraft detects new kind of
cosmic explosion |
Feb 26, 2006 |
| New Hubble images offer best
view yet of Pluto and its three satellites |
Feb 24, 2006 |
| Is our universe about to be mangled? |
Feb 24, 2006 |
| NASA's Spitzer makes hot alien
world the closest directly detected |
Feb 23, 2006 |
| Ice worms could hold clues to
alien life |
Feb 23, 2006 |
| Rings of ice and dust may encircle
Pluto |
Feb 22, 2006 |
| Japanese infrared space observatory
goes into orbit |
Feb 22, 2006 |
| Quantum teleporter creates laser
beam clones |
Feb 21, 2006 |
| Comet dust
sparks scientific intrigue |
Feb 21, 2006 |
| Faint stars
may supply the cosmic X-ray fog |
Feb 21, 2006 |
| Public space
travel: Building the business case |
Feb 20, 2006 |
| Top stars
picked in alien search |
Feb 19, 2006 |
| New fleet
of private spaceships announced |
Feb 18, 2006 |
| Mars rover
to seek safe winter haven |
Feb 17, 2006 |
| Iron meteorites
may be solar system boomerangs |
Feb 16, 2006 |
| NASA's Spitzer
finds violent galaxies smothered in 'crushed glass' |
Feb 16, 2006 |
| Space-elevator
tether climbs a mile high |
Feb 15, 2006 |
| Biggest lightning
storm ever recorded on Saturn |
Feb 15, 2006 |
| Saturn's inner
moons – more rubble than ice |
Feb 14, 2006 |
| Still-forming
solar system may have planets orbiting in opposite directions |
Feb 14, 2006 |
| US-built oxygen
generator ready for space station |
Feb 14, 2006 |
| Darwin's warm
pond theory tested |
Feb 13, 2006 |
| The dino-daddy
of all meat eaters |
Feb 13, 2006 |
| Spirit Mars
Rover reaches 'Home Plate': Formation has researchers puzzled |
Feb 13, 2006 |
| Fossett breaks
record; makes emergency landing |
Feb 12, 2006 |
| New Horizons
update |
Feb 11, 2006 |
| 'Man in the
moon' origin may have been found |
Feb 10, 2006 |
| Dusty discs
found around hypergiant stars |
Feb 9, 2006 |
| Father of
Tyrannosaurus is unearthed in China |
Feb 9, 2006 |
| Milky Way
accused of million-star theft |
Feb 8, 2006 |
| Space rock
re-opens Mars debate |
Feb 8, 2006 |
| NASA to divert
cash from science into shuttle |
Feb 8, 2006 |
| Experts poles
apart over Moon landing sites |
Feb 7, 2006 |
| Xena reignites
a planet-sized debate |
Feb 6, 2006 |
| Research into
dwarf galaxies starts to unlock the deep secrets of dark matter |
Feb 6, 2006 |
| Andromeda's
new satellite galaxy is faintest yet |
Feb 5, 2006 |
| Deep Impact
mission reveals comet's icy cargo |
Feb 3, 2006 |
| Icy Trojan
asteroids boost planet-forming theory |
Feb 2, 2006 |
| Distant world
tops Pluto for size |
Feb 2, 2006 |
| Rocket Racing
League names its first team |
Feb 1, 2006 |
Mars probe poised for 'hair-raising' orbit
entry
(Feb 28, 2006)
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is preparing for a "hair-raising"
entry into orbit around the Red Planet on 10 March, mission managers
say. If successful, the spacecraft will spend seven months spiralling
towards the planet until it skims just 300 kilometres from its surface
– where it will study the planet's geology and climate in unprecedented
detail.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
X Prize Foundation takes next step toward
$2 million Lunar Lander Challenge
(Feb 27, 2006)
The X Prize Foundation (XPF) is moving forward with plans to offer
a $2 million Lunar Lander Challenge (LLC) by releasing draft rules
of the competition today, making them available for public comment.
The LLC was originally introduced in a Letter of Intent executed between
XPF and NASA's Centennial Challenges manager, Brant Sponberg, at the
2005 X Prize Cup. It is planned that the challenge will take place
at this year's X Prize Cup event on Oct. 21-22, 2006 in Las Cruces,
New Mexico. The LLC will require a rocket capable of vertical takeoff
and vertical landing to fly from one pad to another and back.
Read
more. Source: X Prize Foundation |
Spacecraft detects new kind of cosmic
explosion
(Feb 26, 2006)
Scientists using NASA's Swift
satellite have detected a new kind of cosmic explosion. The event
appears to be a precursor to a supernova,
which is expected to reach peak brightness in a week. Scores of satellites
and ground-based telescopes are now trained on the sight, watching
and waiting. Amateur astronomers in the northern hemisphere with a
good telescope in dark skies can also view it.
Read
more. Source: Spaceflight Now / NASA |
New Hubble images offer best view yet
of Pluto and its three satellites
(Feb 24, 2006)
In the Feb. 23 issue of Nature, a team led by Dr. Hal Weaver of the
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.,
describes its discovery of two new moons around Pluto
– a finding that made the ninth planet the first Kuiper
Belt object known to have multiple satellites. In a companion
paper, discovery team members led by Alan Stern of the Southwest Research
Institute, Boulder, Colo., conclude that the two small moons were
very likely born in the same giant impact that gave birth to Charon.
Read
more. Source: Johns Hopkins APL |
Is our universe about to be mangled?
(Feb 24, 2006)Our universe may one day be obliterated or assimilated
by a larger universe, according to a controversial new analysis. The
work suggests the parallel universes proposed by some quantum theorists
may not actually be parallel but could interact – and with disastrous
consequences.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
NASA's Spitzer makes hot alien world the
closest directly detected
(Feb 23, 2006)
A NASA-led team of astronomers have used NASA's Spitzer
Space Telescope to detect a strong flow of heat radiation from
a toasty planet orbiting a nearby star. The findings allowed the team
to "take the temperature" of the planet. "This is the closest extrasolar
planet to Earth that has ever been detected directly, and it presents
the strongest heat emission ever seen from an exoplanet," said Drake
Deming of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. The planet HD
189733b orbits a star that is a near cosmic neighbor to our sun,
at a distance of 63 light years in the direction of the Dumbbell Nebula.
Read
more. Source: NASA/CalTech |
Ice worms could hold clues to alien life
(Feb 23, 2006)
A tiny worm that lives in glaciers and snowfields is drawing attention
for what it could reveal about life on other planets. The ice worm
inhabits glacial regions in the coastal ranges of Alaska, British
Columbia, Washington and Oregon. The odd creature easily moves through
ice, is liveliest near the freezing point of water and dissolves into
a goo when warmed.
Read
more. Source: MSNBC/AP |
Rings of ice and dust may encircle Pluto
(Feb 22, 2006)
Faint, icy rings may periodically appear around Pluto
when small space rocks smash into its two recently discovered moons,
new research suggests. NASA's New
Horizons spacecraft, currently en route to the planet, will search
for the rings – and may have to change course to avoid them.
Image: Artist's impression of Pluto
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Japanese infrared space observatory goes
into orbit
(Feb 22, 2006)
A new infrared telescope was put in orbit by Japan today to begin
an 18-month mission to conduct a comprehensive all-sky survey that
should detect light from up to ten million objects scattered throughout
the Universe. The Astro-F
observatory lifted off at 2128 GMT (6:28 a.m. local time Wednesday).
The spacecraft was flown into orbit using a three-stage solid-fueled
M-5 rocket that launched from the Uchinoura Space Center near Kagoshima,
Japan, on the southern tip of Kyushu Island.
Read
more. Source: Spaceflight Now |
Quantum teleporter creates laser beam
clones
(Feb 21, 2006)
Quantum physicists have moved beyond teleporting individual photons
to imitating a classic science-fiction scenario – a teleportation
machine that generates two near-identical copies of the original.
In the fifth episode of the original Star Trek series, the transporter
malfunctioned and beamed up to the Starship Enterprise two copies
of Captain Kirk, which looked identical but behaved differently. A
new experiment has now demonstrated “quantum telecloning” –
transporting a whole laser beam to two separate places.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
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