http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/space_time/nasa/ NASA pictures and NASA news. Science articles on NASA programs. Latest images from Hubble Telescope and much more. en-us Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:05:02 EST Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:05:02 EST 60 http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/logosmall.gif http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/space_time/nasa/ For more science articles, visit ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091111110045.htm Contrary to preconceived notions, the atmosphere and the oceans were perhaps not formed from vapors emitted during intense volcanism at the dawning of our planet. Scientists now suggest that water was not part of the Earth's initial inventory but stems from the turbulence caused in the outer solar system by giant planets. Ice-covered asteroids thus reached the Earth around one hundred million years after the birth of the planets. Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091111110045.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091111123608.htm The SUNRISE telescope delivers spectacular pictures of the sun's surface. Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091111123608.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091110105404.htm While astronomers have studied lightweight and heavyweight black holes for decades, the evidence for black holes with intermediate masses has been much harder to come by. Now, astronomers find that an X-ray source in galaxy NGC 5408 represents one of the best cases for a middleweight black hole to date. Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091110105404.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091102110228.htm A new image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows channels to the southeast of Hale crater on southern Mars. Taken by the orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera, this view covers an area about 3 kilometers (2 miles) wide. Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091102110228.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091108215449.htm A NASA spacecraft gliding over the battered surface of Mercury for the second time this year has revealed more previously unseen real estate on the innermost planet. The probe also has produced several science firsts and is returning hundreds of new photos and measurements of the planet's surface, atmosphere and magnetic field. Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091108215449.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091110202849.htm The Universe's infant galaxies enjoyed rapid growth spurts forming stars like our sun at a rate of up to 50 stars a year, according to scientists at Durham University. Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091110202849.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091110141846.htm When NASA's space shuttle Atlantis launches for the International Space Station on Nov. 16 it will carry a butterfly experiment that will be monitored by thousands of K-12 students across the nation. Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091110141846.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091110070107.htm Winter images of NASA's Phoenix Lander showing the lander shrouded in dry-ice frost on Mars have been captured with the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE camera, aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091110070107.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091106145252.htm Astronomers, conducting the broadest survey to date of galaxies from about 800 million years after the Big Bang, have found 22 early galaxies and confirmed the age of one by its characteristic hydrogen signature at 787 million years post Big Bang. The finding is the first age-confirmation of a so-called dropout galaxy at that distant time and pinpoints when an era called the reionization epoch likely began. Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091106145252.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091108214924.htm Before our planets found their way to the stable orbits they circle in today, they wiggled and jostled about like unsettled children. Now, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has found a young star with evidence for the same kind of orbital hyperactivity. Young planets circling the star are thought to be disturbing smaller comet-like bodies, causing them to collide and kick up a huge halo of dust. Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091108214924.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091106195056.htm The spectacular new camera installed on NASA's Hubble Space Telescope during Servicing Mission 4 in May has delivered the most detailed view of star birth in the graceful, curving arms of the nearby spiral galaxy M83. Nicknamed the Southern Pinwheel, M83 is undergoing more rapid star formation than our own Milky Way galaxy, especially in its nucleus. Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091106195056.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091104122526.htm Is there such a thing as "weather" on Mars? There are some doubts, considering the planet's atmosphere is only 1 percent as dense as that of the Earth. Mars, however, definitely has clouds, drastically low temperatures and out-of-this-world dust storms. A professor of atmospheric sciences now hopes to analyze and forecast Martian weather. Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091104122526.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091102172245.htm Nearby galaxies undergoing a furious pace of star formation also emit lots of gamma rays, say astronomers using NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Two so-called "starburst" galaxies, plus a satellite of our own Milky Way galaxy, represent a new category of gamma-ray-emitting objects detected both by Fermi and ground-based observatories. Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091102172245.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091102110050.htm Until Oct. 24, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover had gone more than six months without an episode of amnesia-like symptoms like those that appeared on four occasions earlier this year. In these amnesia events, Spirit fails to record data from the day's activities onto the type of computer memory -- non-volatile "flash" memory -- that can retain the data when the rover powers down for its energy-conserving periods of "sleep." Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091102110050.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091029102425.htm The combination of images taken by three exceptional telescopes, the ESO Very Large Telescope on Cerro Paranal, the MPG/ESO 2.2-m telescope at ESO's La Silla observatory and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, has allowed the stunning Jewel Box star cluster to be seen in a whole new light. Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091029102425.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091029141251.htm Scientists argue that human missions to Mars, as well as all other long-term space flights might be compromised by microbial hitchhikers, such as bacteria. That's because long-term space travel packs a one-two punch to astronauts: first it appears to weaken their immune systems; and second, it increases the virulence and growth of microbes. Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091029141251.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091029134342.htm Many of us have been rescued from unfamiliar territory by directions from a Global Positioning System navigator. GPS satellites send signals to a receiver in your GPS navigator, which calculates your position based on the location of the satellites and your distance from them. The distance is determined by how long it took the signals from various satellites to reach your receiver. Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091029134342.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090924123310.htm During flights simulating the moon's low gravity, researchers find that sifters can separate soil particles and produce the best feedstock for an oxygen generator. Scientists are designing and testing components of the generator, which would provide oxygen needed for a lunar or Martian outpost. Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090924123310.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091028153447.htm A pair of gamma-ray photons -- one possessed of a million times the energy of the other -- arrived at virtually the same instant at NASA's orbiting Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, after a 7.3-billion-year race across the universe. Some proponents of alternatives to Einstein's theory of gravity would have predicted that the more energetic would have been much farther behind the less energetic one. They were wrong -- Einstein wins this round. Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091028153447.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091028125147.htm NASA's Ares I-X test rocket lifted off Wednesday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a two-minute powered flight. The test flight lasted about six minutes from its launch from the newly-modified Launch Complex 39B until splash down of the rocket's booster stage nearly 150 miles down range. The 327-foot tall Ares I-X test vehicle produced 2.6 million pounds of thrust to accelerate the rocket to nearly 3 g's and Mach 4.76, just shy of hypersonic speed. It capped its easterly flight at a sub-orbital altitude of 150,000 feet after the separation of its first stage, a four-segment solid rocket booster. Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091028125147.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091027195507.htm An armada of robots may one day fly above the mountain tops of Saturn's moon Titan, cross its vast dunes and sail in its liquid lakes. Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091027195507.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091026152942.htm A new "Roadrunner Universe" model requires a petascale computer because, like the universe, it's mind-bendingly large. The model's basic unit is a particle with a mass of approximately one billion suns (in order to sample galaxies with masses of about a trillion suns), and it includes 64 billion and more of those particles. The model is one of the largest simulations of the distribution of matter in the universe, and aims to look at galaxy-scale mass concentrations above and beyond quantities seen in state-of-the-art sky surveys. Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091026152942.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091023163519.htm As Saturn's rings orbit the planet, a section is typically in the planet's shadow, experiencing a brief night lasting from 6 to 14 hours. However, once approximately every 15 years, night falls over the entire visible ring system for about four days. Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091023163519.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091022114307.htm The most distant galaxy cluster yet has been discovered by combining data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and optical and infrared telescopes. The cluster is located about 10.2 billion light years away, and is observed as it was when the universe was only about a quarter of its present age. Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091022114307.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091022102338.htm A NASA chemist has developed a technology intended to rapidly assess any presence of microbial life on spacecraft. This new method may also help the military test for disease-causing bacteria, such as a causative agent for anthrax, and may also be useful in the medical, pharmaceutical and other fields. Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091022102338.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091021142925.htm Peering far beyond our solar system, NASA researchers have detected the basic chemistry for life in a second hot gas planet, advancing astronomers toward the goal of being able to characterize planets where life could exist. The planet is not habitable but it has the same chemistry that, if found around a rocky planet in the future, could indicate the presence of life. Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091021142925.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091029151322.htm Starting in 2010, an international crew of six will simulate a 520-day round-trip to Mars, including a 30-day stay on the martian surface. In reality, they will live and work in a sealed facility in Moscow, Russia, to investigate the psychological and medical aspects of a long-duration space mission. ESA is looking for European volunteers to take part. Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091029151322.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091015091605.htm The Moon is a big sponge that absorbs electrically charged particles given out by the Sun. These particles interact with the oxygen present in some dust grains on the lunar surface, producing water. This discovery, made by the ESA-ISRO instrument SARA onboard the Indian Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter, confirms how water is likely being created on the lunar surface. Mon, 19 Oct 2009 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091015091605.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091016101807.htm The solar system, as defined by the heliosphere, the region of the sun's influence, may have a quite different shape than scientists had thought. Sun, 18 Oct 2009 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091016101807.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091016112630.htm Galactic magnetic fields had a far greater impact on Earth's history than previously conceived, and the future of our planet and others may depend, in part, on how the galactic magnetic fields change with time. Sat, 17 Oct 2009 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091016112630.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091016094030.htm Direct communication between Earth and Mars can be strongly disturbed and even blocked by the Sun for weeks at a time, cutting off any future human mission to the Red Planet. An European Space Agency engineer working with engineers in the UK may have found a solution using a new type of orbit combined with continuous-thrust ion propulsion. Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091016094030.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091015144522.htm NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, spacecraft has made it possible for scientists to construct the first comprehensive sky map of our solar system and its location in the Milky Way galaxy. The new view will change the way researchers view and study the interaction between our galaxy and sun. Results include the discovery of a narrow ribbon of bright details or emissions not resembling any of the current theoretical models of the interstellar boundary region. Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091015144522.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091016143059.htm The invisible structures of space are becoming less so, as scientists look out to the far edges of the solar wind bubble that separates our solar system from the interstellar cloud through which it flies. Using the High Energy Neutral Atom Imager, the NASA Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission has sent back data that indicates a "noodle soup" of solar material has accumulated at the outer fringes of the heliosphere bubble. Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091016143059.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091016142056.htm The first all-sky maps developed by NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft, the first mission to examine the global interactions occurring at the edge of the solar system, reveal surprising and intense interactions between our home in the galaxy and interstellar space. Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091016142056.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091016141407.htm The first solar system energetic particle maps show an unexpected landmark occurring at the outer edge of the solar wind bubble surrounding the solar system. Scientists have now published these maps, based mostly on data collected from NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer satellite. Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091016141407.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091013104342.htm A recent NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image captures what appears to be one very bright and bizarre galaxy, but is actually the result of a pair of spiral galaxies that resemble our own Milky Way smashing together at breakneck speeds. The product of this dramatic collision, called NGC 2623, or Arp 243, is about 250 million light-years away in the constellation of Cancer. Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091013104342.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091013110050.htm Pallas is in the gray area between a small asteroid and a planet, researchers report. Pallas lies in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars and is about the size of Arizona. Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091013110050.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091009101945.htm NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, created twin impacts on the moon's surface early Friday in a search for water ice. Scientists will analyze data from the spacecraft's instruments to assess whether water ice is present. Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091009101945.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091008161908.htm At 7:30 a.m. EDT on Oct. 9, a two-ton rocket body will slam into a crater near the moon's south pole. By studying the resulting plume of gas and dust, scientists hope this grand experiment will confirm the presence of ice in permanently shadowed craters at the lunar poles. A NASA Goddard Space Flight Center visualization team previewed the lunar impact. Thu, 08 Oct 2009 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091008161908.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091007161127.htm Researchers are developing a new type of rocket propellant made of a frozen mixture of water and "nanoscale aluminum" powder that is more environmentally friendly than conventional propellants and could be manufactured on the moon, Mars and other water-bearing bodies. Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091007161127.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091007171926.htm Using updated information, NASA scientists have recalculated the path of a large asteroid. The refined path indicates a significantly reduced likelihood of a hazardous encounter with Earth in 2036. Initially, Apophis was thought to have a 2.7 percent chance of impacting Earth in 2029. Additional observations of the asteriod ruled out any possibility of an impact in 2029. However, the asteroid is expected to make a record-setting -- but harmless -- close approach to Earth on Friday, April 13, 2029, when it comes no closer than 29,450 kilometers (18,300 miles) above Earth's surface. Thu, 08 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091007171926.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091006205610.htm NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered an enormous ring around Saturn -- by far the largest of the giant planet's many rings. Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091006205610.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091006113003.htm Crashing a rocket into the Moon will create “one more dimple” on the lunar surface and could find water ice on Earth’s nearest neighbour, according to one expert. Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091006113003.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091004020806.htm NASA has made a series of critical strides toward the development of new nuclear reactors the size of a trash can that could power a human outpost on the moon or Mars. Three recent tests at different NASA centers and a national lab have successfully demonstrated key technologies required for compact fission-based nuclear power plants for human settlements on other worlds. Sun, 04 Oct 2009 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091004020806.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091001101333.htm An innovative technique called L.I.F.E. imaging used successfully to detect bacteria in frozen Antarctic lakes could have exciting implications for demonstrating signs of life in the polar regions of Mars, according to a new article. Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091001101333.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090930102519.htm A newly released set of Hubble Space Telescope images highlight the ongoing drama in two galaxies in the Virgo Cluster affected by a process known as "ram pressure stripping", which can result in peculiar-looking galaxies. An extremely hot X-ray emitting gas known as the intra-cluster medium lurks between galaxies within clusters. As galaxies move through this intra-cluster medium, strong winds rip through galaxies distorting their shape and even halting star formation. Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090930102519.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090915174339.htm NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is starting to come together. A major component of the telescope, the Integrated Science Instrument Module structure, recently arrived at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., for testing in the Spacecraft Systems Development and Integration Facility. Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090915174339.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090930102532.htm Completing an 18-month mission orbiting the Earth more than 6,000 times on-orbit the International Space Station (ISS), the Optical Reflector Material Experiment (ORMatE-1) returns to Washington, D.C., to NRL's Electronics Science and Technology Division to begin experiment testing and analysis. Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090930102532.htm