Iowa State's Curtis Struck wrote a commentary -- "Astrophysics: Rough times in the Galactic countryside" -- published in the Sept. 15 issue of Nature. He notes the Milky Way's past may not have been as peaceful as astronomers thought.
Researchers from Iowa State University and the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory have developed chemistry and procedures that astronauts can use to test the quality of their drinking water at the International Space Station.
Secure World Foundation experts are available on orbital debris, space situational awareness, space traffic management, space sustainability, and related topics.
A nearby star is pummeling a companion planet with a barrage of X-rays a hundred thousand times more intense than the Earth receives from the Sun. New data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope suggest that high-energy radiation is evaporating about 5 million tons of matter from the planet every second. This result gives insight into the difficult survival path for some planets.
Using an obstacle course of lunar tasks, a Kansas State University research team is trying to develop a way to measure astronauts’ physical capacities and keep them safe in space. They are supported by a three-year, $1.2 million grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
A team of scientists has collected enough high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope images over a 14-year period to stitch together time-lapse movies of powerful jets ejected from three young stars. These phenomena are providing clues about the final stages of a star's birth, offering a peek at how our Sun came into existence 4.5 billion years ago.
Scientists are expressing confidence that questions about life on Mars, which have captured human imagination for centuries, finally may be answered, thanks in part to new life-detection tools up to 1,000 times more sensitive than previous instruments.
A workshop has brought together leading representatives from space agencies and international experts to discuss key issues related to global response and cooperation in the event of a Near Earth Object (NEO) impact threat to Earth.
A green thumb and a little flair as a gourmet chef may be among the key skills for the first men and women who travel to the Red Planet later this century, according to a scientist who reported here today on preparations for the first manned missions to Mars.
The first nuclear power plant being considered for production of electricity for manned or unmanned bases on the Moon, Mars and other planets may really look like it came from outer space.
Beth Ellen Clark, associate professor and chair of the physics department at Ithaca College, has received a $2.7 million grant from NASA to support her participation in the first U.S. mission to bring samples of an asteroid back to the Earth for study and analysis.
A new study -- Analyzing the Development Paths of Emerging Space Nations: Opportunities or Challenges for Space Sustainability? – was detailed at a special Secure World Foundation (SWF) event on August 22 in Washington, D.C.
How common are droplets of saltwater on Mars? Could microbial life survive and reproduce in them? A new million-dollar NASA project led by the University of Michigan aims to answer those questions.
The largest ancient riverbeds on Mars most likely were created not by water, but by massive, fast-moving, low-viscosity lava flows that ravaged the planet’s surface in a way we don’t see on Earth.
A giant cosmic necklace glows brightly in this image taken by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The object, aptly named the Necklace Nebula, is a recently discovered planetary nebula, the glowing remains of an ordinary, Sun-like star. The nebula consists of a bright ring, measuring 12 million miles across, dotted with dense, bright knots of gas that resemble diamonds in a necklace. The knots glow brightly due to absorption of ultraviolet light from the central stars.
Wichita State University is the lead Kansas institution participating in the development of the $127 million northern test site of the Pierre Auger Cosmic Ray Observatory, a major international effort to probe the cosmos and learn more about how cosmic rays work.
In August of 2016, when NASA’s Juno Mission begins sending back information about the atmosphere of the planet Jupiter, research done by Georgia Institute of Technology engineers using a 2,400-pound pressure vessel will help scientists understand what the data means.
Although disappointed by the retirement of the Space Shuttle program, a former astronaut and a biochemist who has flown experiments aboard the last two U.S. space shuttle missions both believe the outlook on research in a near-zero gravity environment should remain optimistic.
The mirrors that Dr. James Hadaway and his associates at The University of Alabama in Huntsville will soon test for NASA's next great space observatory look pretty much like he thought they should look 15 years ago.
Atlantis' return to earth marks the end of an era, but also opens an unprecedented age of private and commercial spaceflight that will require international collaboration to keep watch over the practice, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln professor and internationally renowned space law expert said.
Spacecraft the size of integrated circuits could revolutionize the way we explore the solar system.
Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope discovered a fourth moon orbiting the icy dwarf planet Pluto. The tiny, new satellite -- temporarily designated P4 -- was uncovered in a Hubble survey searching for rings around the dwarf planet.
Today, Neptune has arrived at the same location in space where it was discovered nearly 165 years ago. To commemorate the event, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has taken "anniversary pictures" of the blue-green giant planet.
Researchers in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill/North Carolina State University joint biomedical engineering department will be at the Kennedy Space Center for the last space shuttle launch of the NASA program as Atlantis departs for its final mission into Earth’s orbit.
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope crossed another milestone in its space odyssey of exploration and discovery. On Monday, July 4, the Earth-orbiting observatory logged its one millionth science observation during a search for water in an exoplanet's atmosphere 1,000 light-years away.
Astronomers are working with medical physicists and radiation oncologists to develop a potential new radiation treatment – one that is intended to be tougher on tumors, but gentler on healthy tissue.
Space biomedical researchers have developed tools that expand the use of ultrasound to provide better health care for astronauts during flight. The benefits are not just limited to spaceflight. These tools are now being used to improve health care around the world, especially in remote and underserved locations.
A team of scientists studying the galaxy cluster Abell 2744, nicknamed Pandora's Cluster, have pieced together the cluster's complex and violent history using telescopes in space and on the ground, including Hubble, VLT, Subaru, and Chandra.
Resembling looming rain clouds on a stormy day, dark lanes of dust crisscross the giant elliptical galaxy Centaurus A. This image was taken in July 2010 with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3.
Devising ways to explore space in tight fiscal times tops the agenda of the 9th International Conference on Low-Cost Planetary Missions, set for June 21-23 at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.
The release of the executive summary of Space Security 2011, the eighth annual report on developments that have an impact on the security and long-term sustainability of outer space.
University of Delaware astronomer Judi Provencal has been busy manning the command center for a star watch of epic proportions, the latest observing run of the Whole Earth Telescope (WET). This global collaboration of observatories collects asteroseismic data—information on stellar waves that pass through hot stars in the cosmos like earthquakes pass through Earth.
By studying the X-rays emitted when superheated gases plunge into massive black holes, astrophysicists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have provided an important test of a long-standing theory that describes the extreme physics occurring when matter spirals into these massive objects.
What would it take to make a manned mission to Mars a reality? A team of aeronautical and textile engineering students from North Carolina State University believe part of the solution may lie in advanced textile materials. The students joined forces to tackle life-support challenges that the aerospace industry has been grappling with for decades.
A mineral survey instrument to be built at Arizona State University is a key component in a new NASA mission to asteroid 1999 RQ36.
Peering deep into the star-filled, ancient hub of our Milky Way, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has found a rare class of oddball stars called blue stragglers, the first time such objects have been detected within our galaxy's bulge. Blue stragglers are so named because they seem to be lagging behind in their rate of aging compared with nearby older stars.
Mars developed in as little as two to four million years after the birth of the solar system, far more quickly than Earth, according to a new study published in the May 26 issue of the journal Nature. The red planet’s rapid formation helps explain why it is so small, say the study’s co-authors.
A local supernova factory has recently started production, according to a wealth of new data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory on the Carina Nebula. This discovery may help astronomers better understand how some of the Galaxy's heaviest and youngest stars race through their lives and release newly-forged elements into their surroundings.
Though the universe is filled with billions upon billions of stars, the discovery of a single variable star in 1923 altered the course of modern astronomy. In commemoration of this landmark observation, astronomers with the Space Telescope Science Institute's Hubble Heritage Project partnered with the American Association of Variable Star Observers to study the star. The observations are being presented today at the American Astronomical Society Meeting in Boston, Mass.
Scientists present their design for Einstein Telescope – Europe’s next-generation detector that will ‘see’ the Universe in gravitational waves.
The Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3 has taken an image of galaxy NGC 4214. This galaxy glows brightly with young stars and gas clouds, and is an ideal laboratory to study star formation and evolution.
An NC State researcher has helped create supercomputer simulations that demonstrate how carbon is produced in stars, proving an old theory correct.
Indiana University Bloomington scientists will use knowledge about methane production by cold-weather microbes on Earth to help NASA zero in on evidence for similar, carbon-based microbes that could have evolved on Mars, the Jovian moon Europa, or Saturn's Enceladus.
A mission to explore the organic seas of Saturn’s moon Titan is one of three proposals selected by NASA for additional design and development.
The first human spaceflight occurred 50 years ago, but the efforts began before then. Dr. Joseph Brady, whose career spans more than 60 years, played a significant role in those efforts as a trainer for Ham the Space Chimp. Spaceflight history takes center stage Monday night in Baltimore as Brady is honored with the prestigious Pioneer Award.
Friday’s space shuttle launch provides an opportunity to spark excitement over learning. The National Center for Family Literacy, through its Wonderopolis website, has tips to help families and teachers inject fun and learning into this historic moment.
Late last year, astronomers noticed an asteroid named Scheila had unexpectedly brightened, and it was sporting short-lived plumes. Data from NASA's Swift satellite and Hubble Space Telescope show these changes likely occurred after Scheila was struck by a much smaller asteroid.
Three prototype Cornell-developed, fingernail-sized satellites – collecting the solar wind’s chemistry, radiation and particle-impact data – will be mounted on the International Space Station after the space shuttle Endeavour delivers them on its final flight, which is scheduled to launch at 3:47 p.m. EDT on Friday, April 29.
Exotic bacteria that do not rely on oxygen may have played an important role in determining the composition of Earth’s early atmosphere, according to a theory that UChicago researcher Albert Colman of a volcanic crater in Siberia.
Astronomers may now know the cause of an historic supernova explosion that is an important type of object for investigating dark energy in the universe. The discovery, made using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, also provides strong evidence that a star can survive the explosive impact generated when a companion star goes supernova.
RSS
Medicine keyboard_arrow_right
Sciencekeyboard_arrow_right
Life keyboard_arrow_right
Business keyboard_arrow_right
Journal News keyboard_arrow_right
By Location keyboard_arrow_right
Meetings, Grants, and Events keyboard_arrow_right