Today's Reuters Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
|
|
Mars rover Curiosity on target for "eye of the needle" landing
Sat,4 Aug 2012 03:58 PM PDT
Reuters - PASADENA, California (Reuters) - The Mars rover Curiosity, the most sophisticated mobile science lab ever sent to another world, hurtled closer to the Red Planet on Saturday, on track "to fly through the eye of the needle" for a precise, safe landing on Sunday night, NASA officials said. Mission control engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Los Angeles acknowledge that delivering the one-ton, six-wheeled, nuclear-powered rover in one piece is a highly risky proposition under the best of circumstances. ... Full Story | Top |
Rover to probe whether Mars was life-friendly in the past
Sat,4 Aug 2012 01:19 PM PDT
Reuters -  PASADENA, California (Reuters) - NASA plans to follow up a decade-long search for Mars' lost water with a mission to learn whether the Red Planet once harbored other ingredients necessary for life. The astrobiological hunt begins once the $2.5 billion Mars Science Lab rover Curiosity lands itself beside a towering mountain that rises from the floor of a vast, ancient impact basin called Gale Crater. Touchdown, monitored from mission control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, is scheduled for 10:31 p.m. Sunday Pacific time (1:31 a.m. EDT on Monday). "It's a big science goal. ...
Full Story | Top |
Three firms share $1.1 billion of NASA space taxi work
Fri,3 Aug 2012 05:04 PM PDT
Reuters -  PASADENA, California (Reuters) - PASADENA, Calif. Aug 3 (Reuters) - NASA will pay more than $1 billion over the next 21 months to three companies to develop commercial spaceships capable of flying astronauts to the International Space Station, the agency said Friday. The lion's share of the $1.1 billion allotted for the next phase of NASA's so-called ""Commercial Crew" program will be split between Boeing and Space Exploration Technologies, a privately held firm run by Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk. ...
Full Story | Top |
Mars probe heads for complex, self-guided descent to planet surface
Fri,3 Aug 2012 01:50 PM PDT
Reuters -  PASADENA, California (Reuters) - By the time the robotic Mars laboratory dubbed Curiosity streaks into the thin Martian atmosphere at hypersonic speed on Sunday night, the spacecraft will be in charge of its own seven-minute final approach to the surface of the Red Planet. With a 14-minute delay in the time it takes for radio waves from Earth to reach Mars 154 million miles (248 million km) away, NASA engineers will already have given Curiosity the last commands of its eight-month voyage through space. ...
Full Story | Top |
Bat virus offers insight into deadly Nipah, Hendra
Fri,3 Aug 2012 09:18 AM PDT
Reuters -  HONG KONG (Reuters) - A virus that is very similar to the deadly Nipah and Hendra viruses has been discovered in fruit bats in Australia and researchers are hoping it can help them find ways to fight those highly dangerous cousins. The Nipah virus kills 40-75 percent of the people it infects while the Hendra virus, which normally affects horses, kills more than 50 percent of the people it infects. ...
Full Story | Top |
India plans space mission to send a satellite to Mars
Fri,3 Aug 2012 06:29 AM PDT
Reuters - NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India plans to send a satellite via an unmanned spacecraft to orbit Mars next year, joining a small group of nations already exploring the red planet, a government scientist said on Friday. A rocket will blast off from the southeastern coast of India, dropping the satellite into deep space, which will then travel onto Mars to achieve orbit, the senior scientist said, asking not to be named because the project is awaiting final approval. ... Full Story | Top |
History littered with failed Mars probes
Thu,2 Aug 2012 03:57 PM PDT
Reuters -  PASADENA, California (Reuters) - NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter was about a week away from wrapping up an 11-month journey to the Red Planet in 1999 when engineers noticed a problem - the spacecraft, designed to study Mars' environment, was not where it was supposed to be. The gap grew alarmingly over the next few days. On September 23, Climate Orbiter began the brake to enter Mars' orbit as planned, but disappeared behind the planet 49 seconds early, severing radio contact with Earth. It was never heard from again. Launching probes to Mars is not for the faint of heart. ...
Full Story | Top |
Study projects growing demand for commercial spaceflights
Wed,1 Aug 2012 05:20 PM PDT
Reuters -  CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Commercial suborbital spaceflights should bring in between $600 million and $1.6 billion in revenue in their first decade of operations, according to a study commissioned by the U.S. and Florida governments and released on Wednesday. Tourism drives about 80 percent of the demand for suborbital flights, which reach about 63 miles above the planet's surface before plunging back through the atmosphere. The thrill ride gives fliers a few minutes to float in microgravity and a view of the Earth set against the blackness of space. ...
Full Story | Top |
Scientists skeptical as athletes get all taped up
Wed,1 Aug 2012 10:16 AM PDT
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - German beach volleyball player Ilka Semmler wears it on her buttocks - in pink. Swedish handball player Johanna Wiberg prefers it in blue from her knee to her groin. British sprinter Dwain Chambers has even worn it with a Union Jack design. Athletic tape made in every color under the sun seems to be the latest must-have sports injury treatment at London 2012, where athletes may have been influenced by other big name tape fans such as Serena Williams and David Beckham. ...
Full Story | Top |
China aims to land probe on moon next year
Mon,30 Jul 2012 04:54 AM PDT
Reuters - BEIJING (Reuters) - China aims to land its first probe on the moon in the second half of next year, state media reported on Monday, the next step in an ambitious space progam which includes building a space station. In 2007, China launched its first moon orbiter, the Chang'e One orbiter, named after a lunar goddess, which took images of the surface and analyzed the distribution of elements. That launch marked the first step in China's three-stage moon mission, to be followed by an unmanned moon mission and then the retrieval of lunar soil and stone samples around 2017. ... Full Story | Top |
NASA rover closing in on Mars to hunt for life clues
Sun,29 Jul 2012 02:13 PM PDT
Reuters -  CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA's Mars rover was on its final approach to the red planet on Sunday, heading toward a mountain that may hold clues about whether life has ever existed on Mars, officials said. The rover, also known as Curiosity, has been careening toward Mars since its launch in November. The nuclear-powered rover the size of a compact car is expected to end its 352-million-mile (567-million-km) journey on August 6 at 1:31 a.m. EDT. ...
Full Story | Top |
Scientists unlock ocean CO2 secrets key to climate: study
Sun,29 Jul 2012 10:07 AM PDT
Reuters - SINGAPORE (Reuters) - From giant whirlpools to currents 1,000 km wide, scientists said on Monday they have uncovered how vast amounts of carbon are locked away in the depths of the Southern Ocean, boosting researchers ability to detect the impact of climate change. Oceans curb the pace of climate change by absorbing carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels. The Southern Ocean is the largest of these ocean carbon sinks, soaking up about 40 percent of mankind's CO2 absorbed by the seas. ... Full Story | Top |
Russian unmanned spacecraft docks on second try
Sun,29 Jul 2012 05:41 AM PDT
Reuters - MOSCOW (Reuters) - An upgraded Russian unmanned spacecraft successfully linked up with the International Space Station on Sunday on its second attempt to test a new docking system, Russia's space agency said. The docking set aside doubts over the new Kurs-NA rendezvous system that will deliver astronauts and future cargoes to the orbital station after a botched first test when the equipment malfunctioned due to low temperatures earlier this week. The operating system functioned properly after it was allowed to warm up, according to a statement from the U.S. space agency NASA. ... Full Story | Top |
Opening ceremony ends long road for volunteer actors
Fri,27 Jul 2012 02:47 PM PDT
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - The exuberant show that Britain put on for the world on Friday was the culmination of months of rainy rehearsals by thousands of volunteers. For some of the 7,500 amateur performers, preparing for the opening ceremony of the London Olympics demanded long, late commutes and personal expense - but it has generated memories expected to last a lifetime. "As soon as I found out in January that this is what I was going to be doing, I put my life on hold. ... Full Story | Top |
Danish mission to amass data for North Pole claim
Fri,27 Jul 2012 09:12 AM PDT
Reuters - COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Denmark will dispatch a scientific expedition to the Arctic Ocean at the end of the month to gather data before it submits a formal claim to a vast tract north of Greenland that includes the North Pole. Such a claim would be made under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), setting up a possible clash of interests with fellow Arctic coastal states Russia and Canada that are making their own claims. ... Full Story | Top |
| |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment