Deep Impact Gets Alien Glimpse of Earth
	NASA's comet chaser Deep Impact became famous on July 4, 2005 as the first spacecraft in the history of space exploration to collide an impactor into the nucleus of a comet in order to study its internal composition. As it turns out, Deep Impact provided recently two short films showing how our planet and its moon look like from a distance of about 50 million kilometers away, or 0.3 astronomical units, allowing us to see how our Earth ... [read more >>]
	18 July 2008, 07:03GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

August Will Start with a Total Solar Eclipse
	On August 1, in certain areas of Canada, Greenland, Russia and China broad daylight will suddenly turn to total darkness for a brief moment as the Moon aligns with the Earth and the Sun, casting its shadow on the surface of the planet. It will be yet another unforgettable and unique spectacle, which unfortunately only a handful of people will be able to witness. Partial eclipses will be available nonetheless in the Northeastern regions of ... [read more >>]
	16 July 2008, 07:55GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

The Chinese Could Beat the Americans in the Race to the Moon
	According to NASA administrator Michael Griffin, the next manned mission to set foot on the Moon by the end of the next century might not be coordinated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, but by China. Dr. Griffin further points out that if China wants to put a man on the Moon before the American space agency’s scheduled mission, then it is more than capable of doing so. China became the third nation in the world ever to ... [read more >>]
	15 July 2008, 09:53GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Water Discovered on the Moon
	Soil samples returned from the Moon during the Apollo missions were for the first time proven to contain trace amounts of water, although they cannot indicate how much water is currently present there nor can they be used to predict a method through which water could be extracted in the near future. The long expected discovery was made during the analysis of volcanic glass beads brought back from the Moon and may have significant importanc ... [read more >>]
	10 July 2008, 03:18GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

NASA Schedules Last 10 Missions for Space Shuttle
	The date of retirement for NASA's famous space orbiter draws ever closer by the day; thus, the US space agency has decided to publish the dates of launch for the last eight space shuttle missions expected to take place in 2009 and 2010. The other two flights that will be carried out by the space shuttle this year were previously scheduled and involve a maintenance and repair mission to the Hubble space telescope and a resupp ... [read more >>]
	09 July 2008, 09:23GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Finding Extrasolar Moons
	Until now, several hundred planets have been found orbiting around nearby stars while the number of moons remained at a constant zero. It’s not that they're not there, it’s just that we can't see them with today's technology. To put it even simpler, the smallest planet ever found was a terrestrial one, at least three times the mass of the Earth, but finding a moon today is more like finding a specific molecule of water insid ... [read more >>]
	09 June 2008, 09:59GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Subscribe Today, Send Your Name to the Moon
	Since most of us will probably never fly into space, NASA will provide you with the next best thing. A chance to send your name into space and have it spinning around that big chunk of rock orbiting Earth, we call the Moon. Until June 27, 2008 anyone willing to subscribe in the 'Name to the Moon' program can access the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter ... [read more >>]
	06 June 2008, 05:06GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Flashes on the Moon: 100 and Counting
	Only two and a half years ago, if you had claimed to have seen a flash of light on the surface of the Moon, you would have been quickly catalogued as a lunatic. I guess NASA has a lot of lunatics working for it, as it claims that since 2005, it has observed at least 100 flashes of light being produced on the surface of the Moon. "They're explosions caused by meteoroids hitting the Moon. A typical blast is about as p ... [read more >>]
	21 May 2008, 10:53GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Lunar Dust Could Affect Astronauts' Health
	Lunar dust is now probably one of the biggest issues considered in the event of a future manned mission to the surface of the Moon. It is a highly abrasive fine powder covering the whole surface of the Moon, it can easily get stuck to equipment and spacesuits and it can even get into tight spaces, such as joints, and interfere with their proper operation. But how harmful is it for astronauts? In the late 1960s and the early 1970s, the A ... [read more >>]
	14 May 2008, 04:44GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

NASA Considers Landing a Manned Mission on Near Asteroid
	2000SG344 is a Near Earth Object only 40 meters in diameter which passes periodically through the vicinity of our planet at speeds as high as 44,8 kilometers per hour. Astronomers estimate that in the next six decades or so, the asteroid will approach Earth considerably but it will not intersect the orbit of the planet. If it were to do so, the energy released during the impact would be equivalent to about 83 times that released ... [read more >>]
	08 May 2008, 10:21GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Where Are Earth's Moons?
	A planet roughly the size of Mars is on a collision course with the Earth. Eventually, the two planets collide and the Moon and the Earth are created in the outcome. Or at least that's what the Moon formation model says that happened some 4.5 billion years ago. But there is something missing. The Moon is here, the Earth is here, but where is the additional debris if there was any? A new model based on the current Moon for ... [read more >>]
	06 May 2008, 03:15GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Covering Half the Moon with Mirrors Should Draw ET's Attention
	Scientists have often wondered why the universe appears to be so 'quiet'. We're not yet sure if intelligent alien life exists in our galaxy, although our math puts it very simple and clear. We're not alone in the universe. So where is everybody then? There are two possible answers for this question. Either any intelligent being is too far away to make contact, or they're all in the neighborhood and they're doi ... [read more >>]
	29 April 2008, 09:19GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Rocket Launches Record Number of Satellites: 10
	The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle launched by the India Space Research Organization yesterday at 03:50 GMT from the Sriharikota space station put into orbit no less than 10 satellites in an attempt to overpower the other major competitors in the multi-billion-dollar space market. India benefits from a space program spanning over 45 years and has demonstrated that it is able to put a satellite into a precise orbit although the launcher was ... [read more >>]
	29 April 2008, 05:09GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

April 26, 1962, Ranger 4 Impacts the Moon's Surface
	On April 23, 1962, 20:50:00 UTC Ranger 4 lifts off into space with the help of an Atlas-Agena B rocket, for a three day journey to the Moon. Ranger 4 was amongst one of the first US missions sent to the Moon to study its surface. It was part of the Ranger program, involving other eight such spacecrafts built by NASA' Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. Ranger 4 carried on board four instruments including a vidicon tele ... [read more >>]
	24 April 2008, 09:36GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

When Going on the Moon, Remember to Take Duct Tape
	They say you can't build anything without it, and it is probably the best invention ever. I don't know about that, however duct tape saved the day during the Apollo 17 mission to the Moon. On 11 December 1972, the Apollo 17 mission landed on the Moon the lunar module Challenger, with astronauts Gene Cernan and Jack Schmitt on board. It was the first lunar mission ever to carry a geologist to the Moon in order to explore ... [read more >>]
	22 April 2008, 05:59GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

The Moon's Creation May Have Influenced the Way Earth Spins
	It is widely believed that the Earth and the Moon, the way we know them today, could have been created during an impact between a planet roughly the size of Mars and the 'original' Earth. The collision between the two bodies completely destroyed them both, however gravity eventually pulled the cloud of debris together again and coalesced two rocky spheres, the Earth and the Moon, some 4.6 billion years ago. Compute ... [read more >>]
	21 April 2008, 03:41GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Elusive Mercury
	Although it is one of the brightest planets in the solar system, Mercury is often referred to as the most difficult planet to spot, mostly because it orbits the Sun so closely. However, the truth is that Mercury is not that hard to locate in the night sky. People living in the northern hemisphere of the planet will have a great opportunity of viewing Mercury on the following days. Its orbital trajectory takes it in the same g ... [read more >>]
	19 April 2008, 06:44GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Effects of Earth's Magnetotail on the Moon
	Earth’s powerful magnetic field is shaped by the solar wind into a tear-like elongated structure, enveloping the planet. This so called magnetotail spans well beyond the orbit of the Moon, meaning that the Moon passes through it once a month, during the full moon phase, determining lunar dust storms and electrostatic discharges on the surface of our natural satellite. "If the Moon is full, it is inside the magnetotail. The Moon en ... [read more >>]
	18 April 2008, 08:33GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Kaguya Captures Stunning Earthrise from the Moon
	With the help of its high-definition video camera, JAXA's Kaguya lunar orbiter captured stunning video images of the Earth rising and setting on the Lunar horizon. The images were shot on April 5th and released to public view on April 13th along with a press statement. "This is the first time that a high-definition image of the 'Full Earth-rise' has been captured from space," said JAXA officials. In orde ... [read more >>]
	16 April 2008, 10:48GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Charging Moondust
	NASA plans to send a manned mission to the Moon by 2020, but in order to do that it must once again learn what the Moon is like. "Humans will return to the Moon in a few years and have to know what to expect. How do you live and work in a place filled with moondust? We're trying to find out," said James Spann from the University of Alabama. Good question. Imagine the amazement of the Apollo 11 crew when they saw themselv ... [read more >>]
	11 April 2008, 10:02GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

NASA Says to Have Solution for Ares I Vibrations
	The US space shuttles are supposed to retire in 2010 in order to give way to the Ares I rocket. However, it hasn't been a secret for awhile that NASA's new rocket design is fatally flawed and may shake itself to pieces during liftoff. NASA engineers believe they have found a solution to their problem, in the form of heavy-duty shock absorbers, as those used by pickup trucks. Vibrations from the solid rocket boosters of the la ... [read more >>]
	07 April 2008, 07:08GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Robots, the Spearhead of Space Exploration
	Why are we so fascinated with the Moon? I mean just look around you, the universe is more than the Earth and its large satellite. Mars, Venus and Mercury are just around the corner, why are we so reluctant at sending a manned mission to any of these planets? The truth is that space missions are extremely dangerous and very expensive, that’s why we prefer sending robots instead. And frankly, sending a manned mission to Mars won't make ... [read more >>]
	04 April 2008, 06:05GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Manned Mission to Mars Grounded. Radiation Risk too High
	On Earth, we are protected against radiation by the powerful magnetic field of the planet, however in space it’s an entirely different ballgame. Radiation can severely damage or even destroy living cells inside the human body. Even on the space station, which receives a fair share of protection from Earth's magnetic field, astronauts feel the damaging effect of radiation, such as white flashes of light in their eyes, caused by high-en ... [read more >>]
	01 April 2008, 07:38GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

See Saturn, the Moon and Pleiades on the Sky this Month
	The night sky will entertain us this month with a splendid combination of stars, complemented by the Moon and Saturn. Starting with 8 April, star gazers will be able to view the Pleiades star cluster rising above the western skies after the sunset, as the Moon passes through the first quarter, the full moon phase and third quarter. While the Moon is very bright in this year period, shadowing most of the bright stars in its vicinity, it pas ... [read more >>]
	01 April 2008, 06:04GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

First Lunar Orbiter: Luna 10
	More than 42 years ago, the Soviet Union launched what is now known as the first human-built spacecraft to enter the orbit of another celestial body except Earth. Luna 10 liftoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome launchpad – today in Kazakhstan – on 31 March 1966, and on 3 April 1966 at 18:44 UTC it entered in orbit around the Moon. The rocket carrying the orbiter was a four-stage Molniya 8K78M. Luna 10 along with the Molniya rock ... [read more >>]
	29 March 2008, 07:16GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Looking for Water on the Moon
	The surface of the Moon is covered with thousands of craters, some of which deeper than most of the mountains here on Earth and large enough to accommodate a few Grand Canyons. Nonetheless, NASA wants to send a manned mission back to the Moon by the end of 2020, but they hope the next trip to the Moon wouldn't be just a simple visit. Establishing a lunar base is amongst the priorities of the US space agency, however in order to do tha ... [read more >>]
	28 March 2008, 07:59GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Spread Your Ashes on The Moon for $10,000
	The Moon has became over the years the final resting place for a series of man-made objects such as robotic landers, disabled satellites and many other spacecrafts and debris. Albeit it can also became your final resting place for the price of only 10,000 US dollars. The provider of the unique services is a company pioneering the sending of cremated remains of human into suborbital space with its own rockets. Celestis Inc. is now ... [read more >>]
	28 March 2008, 05:56GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

NASA's Newest Concept Vehicle
	NASA's new lunar rover prototype is somehow different from the Martian rovers we are familiar with today. Unlike Spirit and Opportunity, NASA's Chariot will not conduct scientific missions. On the contrary, it will be used as a 'workhorse' on the lunar surface, building roads, trenches or as a drilling rig on the Moon. The build of the Chariot was completed in the month of September last year and has been into ... [read more >>]
	26 March 2008, 04:48GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Aldrin's Space Suit Patches on Auction
	Edwin Eugene Aldrin, or mostly known as Buzz Aldrin, is a former American astronaut famous for being the second man to put his feet on the surface of the Moon, after Mission Commander Neil Armstrong. He was the pilot of the Lunar Module on mission Apollo 11, the first ever manned spacecraft to the Moon. Previous to the Apollo 11 mission, Aldrin also participated in the Gemini 12 mission as pilot of the spacecraft. Heritage Auction Gall ... [read more >>]
	25 March 2008, 09:09GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Rocky Planets: Same Shape, Different Materials
	The model of planet formation in our solar system is currently very simple and easy to understand. All planets formed from the same materials inside the matter disk spinning around the Sun, thus spawning four most inner rocky planets and four gas giants. The raw material for the four inner planets is believed to have been mostly similar to that found inside chondrite meteorites and asteroids orbiting within the asteroid belt between Mars a ... [read more >>]
	20 March 2008, 04:42GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Saturn's Rings Are Vanishing
	Saturn is the second largest planet in the solar system and probably the most beautiful of all, aside Earth maybe. Its beautiful rings are simply breathtaking, thus even some of the most experienced astronomers cannot help themselves from taking a peek through the telescope from time to time to see its rings. However, something surprising is taking place now. It looks like Saturn's rings are slowly vanishing. The effect has been notic ... [read more >>]
	19 March 2008, 09:38GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Endeavor Mission Update: Dextre Assembled
	After two days of continuous work, NASA states that the Canadian robot Dextre assembly has been completed. Dextre put out quite a fight on the first spacewalk, when it suffered a power loss which stopped the crew of STS-123 from putting it together. Without power, Dextre was unable to heat the joints of its body, fact that could have resulted in a potential malfunction. Yesterday, while part of the crew was preparing for the sche ... [read more >>]
	17 March 2008, 04:34GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Lunar Telescope to View the Early Days of the Universe
	The Dark Ages, as we call the period of time between the Big Bang event and the birth of the first star in the universe, is one of the most debated topics in Cosmology, and one of the most unexplored periods in the history of the universe. All this will hopefully change in the near future with the design of the next-generation of telescopes, able to peer back into the past nearly 100 million years after the universe came to be. The Dark Ag ... [read more >>]
	12 March 2008, 10:25GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Saturn's Moon Rhea May Have Rings, Cassini Suggests
	The Saturn system is well known for its unique configuration. Being the second largest planet in the solar system, Saturn distinguishes itself from the other gas giants through a large ring of debris orbiting around it and the large number of moons – over 60 moons. Now Cassini promises to add yet another unique feature in the form of the first known moon to have its own ring system orbiting around it. The celestial body in questi ... [read more >>]
	07 March 2008, 02:45GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Chang'e 1 Followed By Chang'e 2 in 2009
	Following the successful launch of the Chang'e 1, the first Chinese lunar orbiter, Chang'e 2 is supposed to launch in the course of next year, only to become the second probe in the Chang'e program. The third, Chang'e 3, will most likely be a robotic lander that is expected to launch somewhere around 2011. After the launch on 24th of October 2007, the short trip to the Moon and an accusation of forgery, the Ch ... [read more >>]
	04 March 2008, 04:06GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Spiraling Costs Threaten Future Mars Missions
	Forget about sending a nuclear powered rover to the surface of the Red Planet, NASA officials say! The mission may stop right before it even stars due to related costs rising at an alarming rate. The mission is dead in the water since previous tests have shown that the current design of the vehicle, which is supposed to deliver it to the surface of the planet, does not have a protective shield good enough to survive the entry int ... [read more >>]
	29 February 2008, 06:44GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

NASA Presents the Ultimate Moon Rover
	NASA is finally talking business and is clearly determined to put a manned mission on the surface of the Moon within the next decade and, why not, to establish a lunar base on our only natural satellite. The new lunar rover demonstrated by the NASA team during the Space Exploration Conference, which took place between 26 and 28 February in Denver, will have the capability of searching for ice water and oxygen-rich soils on the arid surface ... [read more >>]
	28 February 2008, 09:12GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

NASA Creates the Highest Resolution Picture of the Moon
	The US are determined to put another manned mission on the surface of the Moon by 2020. The most likely landing location? The rim area of Shackleton Crater, near the South Pole. But, first, NASA has some probing to do with the help of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (which is due to launch in October this year) and ground based radar dishes. Yesterday, the US space agency released what is now the highest resolution image of the ... [read more >>]
	28 February 2008, 05:48GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

NASA Forced to Resort to Lunar Violence
	Ames Research Center principal investigator Tony Colaprete says that the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter which will be launched this year, at the end of October, will also carry a mission designed to study whether there is water on the Moon's poles. The so-called Lunar Crater and Observation Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, will release the Centaur impactor to crash into the Moon's surface, in a region close to the South Pole ... [read more >>]
	28 February 2008, 04:55GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Venus Created by a Planet Destroyer?
	Our large Moon is a testimony to the fact that Earth could have been created during a collision between two massive protoplanetary bodies. Could Venus have been created in the same way? Cardiff University scientist Dr Huw Davies believes so. This would be a first step into explaining why Venus, though relatively similar to Earth, having roughly the same size and density, is so dry and so hot. Venus' dense atmosphere is f ... [read more >>]
	28 February 2008, 03:23GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

NASA to Make Mobile Phones Functional on the Moon
	Almost 40 years ago, the Apollo 11 mission allowed the first humans to land on the Moon (Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, on July 20, 1969), after a four days space trip, marking one of the most important achievements in the history of mankind. Now NAS ... [read more >>]
	22 February 2008, 06:26GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

See the Last Night Total Moon Eclipse! Next in December, 2010
	If you have missed it, you will have to wait for the next one until 2010. The eclipse has been visible from all locations in the United States, but in the Oregon and northern California coasts it coincided with the moon rise. And no special equipment was required for seeing this spectacle. Total moon eclipses take place when the Earth and Moon are perfectly aligned with the Sun during the full moon, the Earth shadowing its sa ... [read more >>]
	21 February 2008, 05:05GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Don't Miss: Feb. 20 Total Moon Eclipse!
	Pray for good weather on February 20 and you might just observe the third total lunar eclipse of the year. The phenomenon will be seen without experiencing any difficulties in the North and South American continents, as the Moon will occupy an excellent position in the sky relative to those areas. If you don't live in the American continents, don't worry about it too much; Europe, Africa and some parts of the Western Asia will al ... [read more >>]
	07 February 2008, 10:18GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Greatest Space Mission Footages Receive Cosmetic Makeover
	The task for such a major operation fell in the hands of the Discovery Channel, and will have the role to commemorate half of century of U.S. space agency activity. When ready, it will be presented in the popular "Planet Earth" series, under the form of a miniseries called "When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions", it will include never-before-seen sequences of film extracted from more than 500 hours of footage from NASA& ... [read more >>]
	06 February 2008, 10:01GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

NASA Invents the Vertical Treadmill
	Extreme sports fanatics would really enjoy this new invention, as it turns a horizontally-standing running treadmill into a vertical one, or even a sideways one. Workouts will never be the same! Don't get to excited though, I don't think you will find this baby in any gyms any time soon. NASA has been developing the vertical treadmill, in order to solve one of the biggest problems related to weightlessness, while astronauts condu ... [read more >>]
	04 February 2008, 10:18GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Next Solar Eclipse: 7 February
	The first solar eclipse of the new year will take place on Thursday 7 February, will be a partial eclipse and unfortunately can only be seen by part of the residents of the southern hemisphere. Scientists predict that the shadow cast by the Moon will appear over the Antarctic continent and travel towards Australia and New Zealand before the eclipse ends, thus tourists visiting the respective countries should get a pretty good vie ... [read more >>]
	23 January 2008, 04:45GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Future Space Rocket Doomed!
	The next generation of rockets that are currently being designed by NASA, to launch vehicles into space during future manned lunar and Martian missions, are looking kind of shaky. Literally! They shake so violently in the launch process that the rocket will probably disintegrate long before getting into the Earth's orbit. Computer models of the launch of the Ares I rocket indicate that vibrations are caused by the engines a ... [read more >>]
	22 January 2008, 02:32GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Four Decades Since Apollo 5
	Apollo 5 represented NASA's first unmanned flight that had the purpose of testing the Lunar Module meant for use in the mission to take the first man on the Moon's surface. Built by the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, the Lunar Module had the task of successfully landing two men on the surface of the Moon and returning them safely into the Moon's orbit, for the scheduled trip towards the Earth. The sp ... [read more >>]
	15 January 2008, 06:11GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Chandrayaan-1, Europe's Next Lunar Orbiter
	Scheduled to launch on April 9th this year, Chandrayaan-1 will be the first Indian scientific mission to the Moon. The ESA will be providing three scientific instruments, which will be placed onboard the lunar orbiter. Chandra represents the name of a lunar deity in Hindi, while the name Chandrayaan means 'journey to the Moon'. You might think that by now we should know many things about the bodies orbiting the Earth, but the str ... [read more >>]
	14 January 2008, 10:42GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia