SPACE
& SCIENCE NEWS: December 2008
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| NASA's year in review 2008 |
Dec 31, 2008 |
| Grim details of Columbia disaster |
Dec 31, 2008 |
| Ancient Earth was a barren waterworld |
Dec 30, 2008 |
| Mars rovers near five years of
science and discovery |
Dec 30, 2008 |
| 2008: The year in spaceflight |
Dec 28, 2008 |
| NASA awards space station commercial
resupply services contracts |
Dec 24, 2008 |
| Will Obama pursue space-based
solar power? |
Dec 23, 2008 |
| US investigation into gravity
weapons 'nonsense' |
Dec 22, 2008 |
| Space is just a little bit closer |
Dec 22, 2008 |
| Looking for extraterrestrial
life in all the right places |
Dec 21, 2008 |
| Scientists
find 'missing' mineral and clues to Mars mysteries |
Dec 19, 2008 |
| Kepler spacecraft
ready to ship to Florida |
Dec 19, 2008 |
| Planets living
on the edge |
Dec 19, 2008 |
| Flaw theory
over Mars Beagle loss |
Dec 18, 2008 |
| Galaxy clusters'
stunted growth confirms dark energy |
Dec 17, 2008 |
| Report urges
timetable for human mission to Mars |
Dec 16, 2008 |
| Titan's volcanoes
give NASA spacecraft chilly reception |
Dec 16, 2008 |
| Phoenix site
on Mars may be in dry climate cycle phase |
Dec 16, 2008 |
| Saturn's dynamic
moon Enceladus shows more signs of activity |
Dec 16, 2008 |
| Commercial
space station finds first customers |
Dec 15, 2008 |
| Pieces coming
together for first test launch of NASA's new spacecraft |
Dec 15, 2008 |
| Virgin Galactic
'mothership' to take first flight |
Dec 13, 2008 |
| Cosmic diamonds
may be hidden in 'carbon onions' |
Dec 12, 2008 |
| Ocean worlds
may be dying stars' last haven for life |
Dec 11, 2008 |
| Astronomers
find the two dimmest stellar bulbs |
Dec 11, 2008 |
| Swirling waters
boost chance of life on Europa |
Dec 11, 2008 |
| Hubble Telescope
finds carbon dioxide on an extrasolar planet |
Dec 10, 2008 |
| Giant black
hole confirmed in Milky Way |
Dec 10, 2008 |
| Space elevator
trips could be agonisingly slow |
Dec 9, 2008 |
| Rivers of
gas flow around stars in new space image |
Dec 9, 2008 |
| Collider 'needs
warning system' |
Dec 8, 2008 |
| Hunting new
Earths and the edge of the universe |
Dec 7, 2008 |
| Search for
alien engineering comes up dry – so far |
Dec 6, 2008 |
| NASA orbiter
finds Martian rock record with 10 beats to the bar |
Dec 6, 2008 |
| Large Hadron
Collider gears up for July restart |
Dec 5, 2008 |
| Universe's
dark matter mix is 'just right' for life |
Dec 5, 2008 |
| Next NASA
Mars mission rescheduled for 2011 |
Dec 4, 2008 |
| Venus ultraviolet
puzzle 'solved' |
Dec 4, 2008 |
| Light 'echoes'
solve mystery of famous supernova |
Dec 4, 2008 |
| Has an alien
comet infiltrated the solar system? |
Dec 3, 2008 |
| World 'must
tackle space threat' |
Dec 3, 2008 |
| Meteorite
hunters hit pay dirt in Canadian prairie |
Dec 3, 2008 |
| Big bang's
afterglow may reveal birthplace of comets |
Dec 2, 2008 |
NASA's year in review 2008
(Dec 31, 2008)
NASA
landed on Mars, photographed
distant worlds, added to the International
Space Station, took part in a lunar science mission with India
and made major progress toward returning astronauts to the moon as
the agency celebrated its 50th birthday in 2008.
Read
more. Source: NASA |
Grim details of Columbia disaster
(Dec 31, 2008)
NASA has released a detailed report into the deaths of the crew of
space shuttle Columbia.
It comes almost six years after the orbiter disintegrated when re-entering
the Earth's atmosphere. The report includes grim details of the crew's
final moments as the shuttle broke up over the state of Texas.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Ancient Earth was a barren waterworld
(Dec 30, 2008)
Dry land may be something of a novelty. Calculations by Nicolas Flament
of the University of Sydney, Australia, and colleagues suggest that
Earth was a water-world until about 2.5 billion years ago, with land
making up only 2 to 3 per cent of its surface.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Mars rovers near five years of science
and discovery
(Dec 30, 2008)
NASA rovers Spirit
and Opportunity may still have big achievements ahead as they
approach the fifth anniversaries of their memorable landings on Mars.
Of the hundreds of engineers and scientists who cheered at NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, on Jan. 3, 2004, when Spirit
landed safely, and 21 days later when Opportunity followed suit, none
predicted the team would still be operating both rovers in 2009.
Read
more. Source: NASA/JPL |
2008: The year in spaceflight
(Dec 28, 2008)
2008 was a mixed year for spaceflight. China carried out its first
spacewalk, India sent a probe to the Moon, and several private space
vehicles took flight for the first time. But the news was dominated
by concerns about NASA's long-term goals and a looming gap in US space
access after the retirement of the space shuttle.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
NASA awards space station commercial resupply
services contracts
(Dec 24, 2008)
NASA has awarded two contracts – one to Orbital
Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., and one to Space
Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, Calif. –
for commercial cargo resupply services to the International
Space Station. At the time of award, NASA has ordered eight flights
valued at about $1.9 billion from Orbital and 12 flights valued at
about $1.6 billion from SpaceX.
Read
more. Source: NASA |
Will Obama pursue space-based solar power?
(Dec 23, 2008)
Could power beamed to Earth from space solve our energy problems?
Advocates of space-based solar power may find a receptive ear in the
Obama administration. The space-based solar power (SBSP) concept involves
using geosynchronous satellites to collect solar energy and beam it
down to Earth, most likely in the form of microwaves.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
US investigation into gravity weapons
'nonsense'
(Dec 22, 2008)
If you think the idea of gravitational
waves propelling interplanetary spacecraft sounds like science
fiction, you're in good company – any astrophysicist will rubbish
the idea out of hand. However, that didn't stop the US Defense Intelligence
Agency (DIA) from commissioning a report to investigate whether the
elusive waves could pose a threat to US security.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Space is just a little bit closer
(Dec 22, 2008)
The upper reaches of Earth's atmosphere are much lower than expected,
a US Air Force satellite has found. Currently, the ionosphere
– a layer of charged particles that envelopes the planet –
is at an altitude of about 420km, some 200km lower than expected.
The behaviour of the ionosphere is important because disturbances
in its structure can upset satellite communications and radar.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Looking for extraterrestrial life in all
the right places
(Dec 21, 2008)
Scientists are expanding the search for extraterrestrial life –
and they've set their sights on some very unearthly planets. Cold
"Super-Earths" – giant, "snowball" planets that astronomers
have spied on the outskirts of faraway solar systems – could
potentially support some kind of life, they have found.
Read
more. Source: Ohio State University |
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