Topic: Unmanned Space Exploration

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What makes a planet livable? Five things scientists look for.

Scientists have so far detected at least 550 planets outside the solar system – and another 2,000-plus await confirmation. But how to pick out the ones that may be Earth-like havens for life? Here's what one team looks for in assessing any planet's potential habitability and its similarity to Earth's properties.
In Pictures: China's space program
Falling satellite: 10 times space junk has crashed into Earth

Falling satellite trackers at NASA say it will hit Friday night or Saturday morning and has a small chance of crashing in the US. But the precise track and timing of the falling satellite is still hard to predict. Falling space junk has happened before, however, including these 10 examples.
The 9 weirdest things ever flown on the Space Shuttle

When NASA's space shuttles launch into orbit, they don't just carry astronauts and supplies into the final frontier. There's a lot of other weird stuff that makes the out-of-this-world journey, too. Here nine recent space oddities carried into orbit on NASA shuttles.
In Pictures: Coming back to Earth

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Venus to have its final day in the sun for the 21st century

The planet Venus is due to pass in front of the sun on June 5th and 6th. It won't do so again until 2117.
Mars Opportunity rover sees its own shadow in crater

Opportunity just started moving again two weeks ago, after spending more than four months at a site along Endeavour's rim called Greeley Haven. The rover sat out the harsh Martian winter at the site, whose tilt allowed Opportunity to angle its solar panels toward the low-hanging sun.
Light from alien 'super-earth' seen for first time

NASA's Spitzer space telescope has detected a light source coming from a large earth-like planet.
Death Valley used as stand-in for Martian landscape (+video)

A project scientist for NASA's huge Curiosity rover is leading a handful of journalists on a trip to Death Valley, whose geology and vistas resemble Mars in some places. The goal is to help reporters get a better idea of the science Curiosity will be doing when it touches down on the Red Planet on the night of Aug. 5.
Spectacular photos capture the bizarre workings of Saturn's F ring (+video)

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has captured detailed images of the intricate workings of Saturn's F ring. It appears to be more dynamic than was previously thought.
Spacecraft probes bizarre mystery of Saturn's 'weirdest ring' (+video)

NASA's Cassini orbiter has spotted strange objects punching holes in Saturn's outermost ring.
Humongous solar flare erupts from sun

A spectacular solar flare erupted on the sun Monday, kicking up a massive amount of plasma.
Thousands of comets orbiting new star collide every day, create visible debris ring

Comets, perhaps over 80 trillion, circle a young star that houses one alien planet and maybe more. There are thousands of daily comet collisions in the star's orbit.
NASA's Kepler observatory to continue hunt for strange new worlds (+video)

Funding for the Kepler mission, which has discovered more than 2,300 potential alien planets to date, was slated to run out this November.
Strange features on Mercury upend thinking about 'first rock from sun'

New results from NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft show Mercury to have features unlike anything scientists have seen elsewhere in the solar system. Here's one: a huge core for a planet this size.
How did the moon get there? NASA videos explain.

Images captured by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter have been used to create an animated 4-billion-year history of the moon.
Life on Mars: Could fossil record be trapped in ancient lake mud?

A team of scientists from Brown University found that only 79 lake beds contained deposits of minerals that hint at clays on the surface.
Oxygen atmosphere found on distant Saturn moon Dione (+video)

Dione's atmosphere was detected by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which spotted an ultra-thin layer of oxygen ions so sparse that it is equivalent to conditions 300 miles above Earth.
Orion Nebula shows us how stars are born (+video)

A joint project of the Herschel and Spitzer space telescopes show rapid changes in brightness in the star nursery in the Orion constellation.
Is Mars sucking water from its own atmosphere?

Salty soils on Mars act to collect moisture from the Red Planet's atmosphere, according to new research. The salt and the moisture combine to create a brine that may encourage nutrients.
NASA telescope detects massive cloud of 'buckyballs' hurtling through space (+video)

Space carbon spheres, known as buckyballs have recently been discovered by NASA astronomers. Scientists compare these tiny particle clouds to soccer balls, or oranges in a crate.
Obama's NASA budget: Mars takes a hit, but space science isn't dead

Two major Mars missions lost out to the James Web Space Telescope in Obama's proposed NASA budget, but there's still money for other ambitious space-science missions.
Is NASA giving up on Mars? (+video)

NASA's 2013 budget includes deep cuts to its planetary science mission, particularly its efforts to send spacecraft to Mars. Instead, the space agency will focus on human spaceflight and infrared astronomy. Is NASA now heading down the wrong path?
What makes a planet livable? Five things scientists look for.

Scientists have so far detected at least 550 planets outside the solar system – and another 2,000-plus await confirmation. But how to pick out the ones that may be Earth-like havens for life? Here's what one team looks for in assessing any planet's potential habitability and its similarity to Earth's properties.
Mars budget cuts 'irrational' says former NASA science chief

NASA faces deep budget cuts, forcing it to eliminate some missions to explore Mars. The cuts will allow the agency to continue its plans to build a successor to the Hubble Space Telescope.
Red Planet meets red ink: budget ax could chop two NASA Mars missions

The budget to be released by President Obama Monday is expected to include a one-third cut in NASA's Mars program, in part to pay for other cost overruns within the agency.
Mars missions cancelled? NASA budget could prompt deep cuts.

While exactly how much money is allocated to NASA is unknown, insiders expect a significant reduction in the portion slotted for robotic exploration of Mars and other solar system bodies.
Why is NASA sending a penny to Mars?

A US penny is on-board NASA's Curiosity rover that is scheduled to land on Mars in August. The 1909 penny commemorating the centennial of President Lincoln's birth will act as a calibration target to help scientists and the public to gauge the size of objects on Mars.
ESA Mars probe finds evidence of ancient Martian ocean

The European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft detected sediments on Mars' northern plains that are reminiscent of an ocean floor, in a region that has also previously been identified as the site of ancient Martian shorelines, the researchers said.
Does the Milky Way galaxy have an evil twin?

The Hubble Space Telescope has detected a galaxy that is strikingly similar to our own Milky Way, but there's no reason to believe that it's evil.