Topic: NASA
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11 survival stories from around the world
These survivors experienced extraordinary circumstances; hurricanes, tornados, and avalanches, and lived to tell the tale.
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Briefing
How dangerous are near-Earth asteroids? 5 key questions answered.
On Feb. 15, asteroid 2012 DA14, discovered a year ago, cleared Earth by a scant 17,200 miles. The same day, a smaller, unrelated asteroid that no one saw coming exploded 12 to 15 miles above Russia’s Chelyabinsk region. Events that day highlight the risk that near-Earth objects (NEOs) can pose – although to some extent, humans can counter them.
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Sequester 101: What happens if $85 billion in cuts hit on March 1
The sequester is a complex concept with a tortuous history. Here are the basics on the automatic spending reductions set to kick in March 1.
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Man and Mars through history
A look back over centuries at man's attempt to uncover information about the 'Red Planet.'Sources: NASA, American Museum of Natural History, and Scientific American
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Not just sexy Kim Jong-un: 5 times the Onion has fooled foreign media
When the People's Daily, the Chinese Communist Party's official newspaper, took as straight news The Onion's declaration that stout North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un was 2012's "Sexiest Man Alive," it became the biggest foreign media outlet to be fooled by the satirical American newspaper. But it is not the first. Here are several other foreign news sites that took Onion fiction as newsworthy fact.
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Antarctic Ozone Hole 2nd Smallest in 20 Years
On the Earth's surface, ozone is a pollutant, but in the stratosphere, it reflects ultraviolet radiation back into space, protecting us from skin cancer-causing UV rays.
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Reverse brain drain: China engineers incentives for “brain gain”
Chinese who found it hard to fit in at the water cooler abroad feel newly valued at home as China creates a reverse brain drain of financial incentives for native talent to return.
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Modern Parenthood Orionid meteor shower: Wake the kids, make a memory
The Orionid meteor shower peaks tonight, so wake the kids for a teachable moment of wonder – whether you can answer their questions or not, they’ll remember these fragments of Halley’s comet when they see that comet come around again in 2061.
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‘Beetlejuice’ sparks? Meteor shower brings 'shooting stars' and 'earthgrazers'
The increasing intensity of the annual Orionid meteor shower will be on full display Saturday night and Sunday morning as most of the US faces a cold, clear, moonless night – the perfect celestial screen.
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Orionid meteor shower: Watch for fireballs during weekend peak
One of the more spectacular meteor showers of the year peaks overnight Saturday, with perhaps 60 visible meteors an hour. Fireballs – any meteor brighter than Venus – are likely as Orionids plunge into the atmosphere at 148,000 miles per hour.
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Mars rover begins munching dirt, finds weird bright stuff (+video)
The soil has been successfully delivered to the rover's Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument, or CheMin, mission scientists announced Oct. 18.
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For Mars rover Curiosity, at last, it's dinnertime. On the menu: dirt.
It's period of painstaking preparations over, the Mars rover Curiosity has at long last ingested a sample of soil for analysis by its on-board chemistry lab. That's what it came 352 million miles for.
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Space shuttle Endeavour's L.A. journey subject of beautiful time-lapse video
The amazing time-lapse view of Endeavour's L.A. street journey, which ran from Friday to late Sunday, was created by a team of photographers organized by Matthew Givot
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Earth-size planet found just next door, in Alpha Centauri system
The planet is not habitable, it is too close to Alpha Centauri B. But rocky planets tend to have siblings, researchers note, raising hopes others could be found in the system just 4.4 light-years distant.
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Scientists confident moon born of colossal Earth collision that vaporized Zinc
Researchers examined rocks collected by astronauts during NASA's Apollo lunar landing missions, as well as a meteorite that originated on the moon to make the find.
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Earth-sized planet too hot for non-asbestos life forms, but ...
Earth-sized planet: With a mass about 1.1 times that of Earth, it is strikingly similar in size. Could the Alpha Centauri B system hold more Earth-sized, but habitable planets?
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Newfound Earth-sized planet too distant to visit
The exploration of the planet known as Alpha Centauri Bb will require technology not currently in existence, say researchers. But if it has sibling planets in a 'habitable zone' scientists may be encouraged to develop the new technology required to such explore new and distant worlds.
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Do Pluto's moons pose risks for NASA spacecraft? (+video)
Scientists are planning a new route for NASA's New Horizons space probe as it approaches a potentially perilous path toward Pluto. They aim to chart a safe, but interesting course.
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Water on the moon? Maybe a lot more than we thought ... thanks to the sun.
A new study finds 'an unanticipated, abundant reservoir' of water on the moon, molecules formed on the surfaces of oxygen-bearing rocks bombarded by protons from the solar wind.
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Supersonic daredevil skydiver touches down safely
On Sunday, Felix Baumgartner skydived 24 miles, jumping from a pressurized capsule, and landed safely on Earth. It was not immediately certain if he had broken the speed of sound.
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Shuttle X-ing: Endeavour spacecraft slowly winds through L.A.
In retirement, it's crawling along the streets of Los Angeles at a sluggish 2 mph, a pace that rush-hour commuters can sympathize with.
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Mars rover finds surprising rock, nuzzles it and shoots it with lasers
The rock is not like other rocks seen on Mars. It has more sodium and potassium.
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Space shuttle Endeavour: A final 2 m.p.h. mission through Los Angeles
The space shuttle Endeavour began its 2-mph crawl through streets of Los Angeles at about 2 a.m. Friday. A retired laser scientist uses Endeavour's terrestrial crawl as a teaching moment for Los Angeles school children.
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NASA rover Curiosity finds a rock not seen before on Mars (+video)
Using a laser and X-rays, the NASA rover Curiosity identified a rock named Jake as a form of basalt, similar to volcanic rocks found in ocean-island settings on Earth.
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Dragon capsule reaches space station, chocolate ripple ice cream intact
SpaceX's Dragon capsule delivered cargo including a little ice cream to the International Space Station Wednesday, confirming that a new era for NASA has finally been realized.
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SpaceX Dragon: Private space capsule delivers precious cargo to space station
The unmanned Dragon spacecraft was captured by station astronauts using a robotic arm after an apparently flawless approach by the cargo-laden space capsule.
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Did Mars rover photograph a broken piece of itself?
Curiosity scooped its first Mars sample using its robotic arm Sunday (Oct. 7) and used onboard cameras to snap photos of the event.
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Private rocket glitch: SpaceX launch anomaly won't scrap mission
The Falcon 9 is designed to withstand such an engine loss and still complete its mission, SpaceX officials said.
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SpaceX set to launch with cargo for International Space Station
The first commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station is set to lift off from the Kennedy Space Center Sunday evening. From the space station crew's standpoint, some of the most precious cargo could well be ice cream.
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The 20 most fascinating accidental inventions
Most inventors strive for weeks, months, or years to perfect their products. (Thomas Edison tried thousands of different light bulb filaments before arriving at the ideal mixture of tungsten.) But sometimes, brilliance strikes by accident. Here's a salute to the scientists, chefs, and everyday folk who stumbled upon greatness – and, more important, shared their mistakes with the world.UPDATE: After great reader feedback, we've added five additional accidental inventions: Stainless steel, plastic, ice cream cones, Post-it Notes, and matches.
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