A new era of human spaceflight is upon us, and its movers and shapers say it will be cheaper, safer and aimed at the masses. Whether you just want to experience weightlessness, take a quick suborbital jaunt or spend a few days aboard the Internati
A recently spied planet orbits so close to its star that a new year comes every 10 hours. Called SWEEPS-10, the planet belongs to a newfound class of zippy exoplanets called ultra-short-period planets that have orbits of less than a day.
SpaceDev founder Jim Benson has stepped down as chairman and chief technology officer of the Poway, Calif.-based company to launch a new commercial space tourism venture called Benson Space Company.
The Mars Rover Opportunity has arrived at the rim of a big crater that scientists never thought it could reach. Hope it can explore the depths of Victoria Crater to find out more about the history of the red planet -- especially whether water still e
Stars that are 10 times more massive than the Sun generate powerful stellar radiation, which can prevent the accumulation of material. Radiation shoots out stronger at the poles of the star and is much weaker in the equator regions.
A new wide-field survey of the sky has made its first major discovery - two planets orbiting far-distant stars. The SuperWasp project uses camera lenses and super-sensitive detectors to monitor stars for tiny dips in light that might betray a pass
A sizzling-hot star is spinning around at near break-up velocity. "Alpha Arae is very close to its breakup velocity, and the matter may freely escape the equatorial regions, 'launched' by the centrifugal force, as if you were on a crazy
A commercial rocket blasted off from a site in New Mexico, but malfunctioned before it reached space. "Because of an unexpected aerodynamic effect, the vehicle was short of its effected range, it went to an altitude of 40,000 feet," a missi
The world's first female space tourist and first space blogger, American national Anousheh Ansari: "One of the cosmonauts told me, 'We are all very close to each other, like brothers and sisters, it is very unique because we drink each o
Nearly 2,000 years ago, Chinese astronomers spotted a bright light materializing in the night sky. Turns out the skywatchers had witnessed the spectacular explosion of a dying star.
Recent images from the depths of cosmos show more than 500 galaxies in the early universe, scientists reported today. The galaxies—viewed with the Hubble Space Telescope—existed less than a billion years after the Big Bang, the purported birth of
If the planned Jan. 30 launch of Bigelow Aerospace's Genesis 2 space module is successful, Las Vegas entrepreneur Robert Bigelow plans to send a human-rated habitat into orbit in either the second half of 2009 or the first half of 2010.
NASA started it all back in 1976 with an image of an interesting mountain on Mars and a caption that described it as appearing to have eyes and nostrils. Thirty years later, the Face on Mars still inspires myths and conspiracy theories.
A new discovery is casting doubt on the idea that a type of star explosion shines with equal brightness wherever it occurs in the universe. The finding could have implications for estimates of the size of the cosmos.
In a sign that spaceport competition is now an entrepreneurial venture, Mr. Larson's company is scheduled to make the first launch from New Mexico's nonfederal spaceport - an airport for space travel - Sept. 25. The 20-foot-long, unmanned
Discovered just 11 years ago, a class of oddball "failed stars" continues to baffle as well as enlighten astronomers. Now researchers have spotted for the first time one of these failed stars, called a brown dwarf, with a companion planet—b
The Milky Way might not have formed through the merger of several smaller galaxies as previously thought, but by some other unknown process, a new study suggests.
NASA delayed the planned landing of space shuttle Atlantis by at least a day after engineers spotted an object that may have accidentally flown out of its cargo bay. "We were wondering if we had to hire some more air traffic controllers for the
A newly discovered planet has one-quarter the density of water and would float if placed in a bathtub large enough to hold it. "It's lighter than a ball of cork," said study team leader Gaspar Bakos of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for
While human space flight has certainly changed the way mankind looks at itself in the cosmos, NASA has also been incorrectly credited to being the inventor of numerous widgets ranging from personal computers to freeze-dried ice cream.
To most common terrestrial dwellers, there's no place like Earth. But new simulations show that many Earth-like planets might exist outside of our solar system.
Spacewalking astronauts worried they have may have gummed up a successful job connecting an addition to the international space station Tuesday when a bolt, spring and washer floated free. [bolts?!!!! engineers?!!!!]
A study of nearby galaxy clusters has failed to detect distortions in the ancient microwave radiation many scientists have linked to the creation of our universe. The finding could cast doubt on the entire Big Bang theory, but other experts have seri
The Hubble Space Telescope has spied one of the smallest objects ever detected around a normal star. The object further blurs the line between stars and planets and raises new questions about how planets should be defined outside our solar system.
"What we want to do is explore the most energetic explosions in the solar system so we can actually predict when they will occur and why they happen," Professor Louise Harra, of University College London's Mullard Space Science Laborato
The Mojave, California Spaceport is preparing to handle test flights of the SpaceShipTwo – a passenger carrying suborbital craft commented Burt Rutan, head of Scaled Composites, and its giant mothership, White Knight 2.
Earthlike planets covered with deep oceans that could harbor life may be found in as many as a third of solar systems discovered outside of our own, U.S. researchers said.
Wheeling across the open, parking lot-like dune fields of Meridiani Planum, the robot is nearing a major milestone: rolling up to "Victoria", a crater that is roughly half a mile wide and 230 feet deep. From where Opportunity now sits, V
The heart of one of the Milky Way galaxy's most massive star clusters harbors as many as five pinwheels, a strange and relatively newly discovered type of stellar object, astronomers say.
The thruster selected for primary propulsion on SMART-1 is the PPS-1350 developed by SNECMA. This is a stationary plasma thruster (SPT) with a chamber diameter of 100 mm
