Topic: Planetary Society

NASA launches 100-year quest to send humans to the stars

A joint NASA-Pentagon project, called the 100 Year Starship Study, aims to get inventive minds thinking about how human interstellar space travel can become a reality by next century.

Final shuttle launch for Discovery: Was shuttle program worth it?

For 30 years, the space shuttle launch has served as the centerpiece of the US space program. But Feb. 24 will mark the last shuttle launch of Discovery, with the final flight of Endeavour to follow in April and – if there's enough money – Atlantis's last flight of the entire program in June. Here are five questions about what the shuttles have – and haven't – accomplished.

In a NASA first, NanoSail-D spacecraft to set sail on the sunlight

NASA's NanoSail-D is expected to test a type of propulsion that taps the momentum of photons in sunlight. Advocates say solar sails provide the best way toward interstellar travel.

Congressional tug-of-war holds NASA's new direction in the balance

As the space shuttle program folds, the House and Senate – and broader spaceflight community – have struggled to reach consensus on NASA's new human spaceflight focus.

Obama NASA plan: Mars shot as next generation's Apollo mission

According to President Obama, NASA needs a goal beyond the space station and the moon for human spaceflight to inspire the nation as the Apollo mission did. He has chosen Mars.

Dream of solar sailing in space lives on in new project

The US-based Planetary Society this week announced its second attempt to launch a small spacecraft with sails propelled by sunlight.

Should nations fly to the moon together?

As exploring the heavens becomes more expensive, many experts think it is time for nations to band together to push humanity to the next threshold of space exploration.

Hunt for new planets on the web

Horizon highlights – Planning ahead edition

An unexpected find on Mars

Perchlorate exists, too, in soils on Earth. Its presence probably has little bearing on prospects for life on Mars, scientists say.