nasa stories

Scorching hot Venus found to have intensely cold area

Amy Shira Teitel
Tuesday, October 2, 2012 - 11:40am
 
Venus is sometimes called the Earth's twin because of its similar size and orbital distance from the Sun, but it's more like a backwards, inside-out Earth. Venus rotates on its axis in the opposite direction from the solar system's other planets, and it's hot — surface temperatures average around 890°F. But it looks like Venus isn't hot all over.

Saturn's Titan experiences seasonal change like Earth

Amy Shira Teitel
Monday, October 1, 2012 - 11:38am
 
Titan is pretty Earth-like. It's got methane cycles akin to our planet's water cycle, and it's inclined by about 27 degrees, similar to the Earth. That incline means Titan has season like Earth does, and scientists have collected 30 years of data about the moon's seasons, the equivalent of a full year. Turns out, Titan's seasons are another similarity the moon has with our own planet.

Will NASA's next space station be beyond the moon?

Evan Ackerman
Wednesday, September 26, 2012 - 11:16am
 
The ISS is pretty cool and all, and it's got a sweet view of Earth, but you know what? We live on Earth. Let's do some exploring! The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that NASA may have its eye on a more exotic location for the successor to the ISS: out beyond the orbit of the Moon, serving as a gateway to Mars and beyond.

Gallery: Endeavour's final flight

Evan Ackerman
Saturday, September 22, 2012 - 10:59pm
 
On Friday, the space shuttle Endeavour made one last flight aboard the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, flying from Edwards Air Force Base and making a tour of California before landing in Los Angeles en route to her final resting place at the California Science Center. DVICE was at NASA's Ames Research Center taking pictures of the flyby, and we've also picked out a few of our favorite images from elsewhere along Endeavour's journey.

Opportunity discovers 'blueberries' on Mars

Eileen Marable
Friday, September 14, 2012 - 7:49am
 
In all the fuss about Curiosity, the new kid on the Martian block, it's been easy to forget about the Opportunity rover, and the work it has been doing for eight long years. Well, it seems Opportunity has made an interesting discovery worth looking at — small, round spherules which scientists are calling "blueberries."

Help map asteroid data via first-look images of Vesta

Eileen Marable
Thursday, September 13, 2012 - 8:55am
 
If you love space, and you love getting behind the scenes access then, the AsteroidMappers project is perfect for you. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory's spacecraft Dawn recently finished its orbit of the asteroid Vesta, and has delivered so much data that citizen scientists are being asked to help analyze what has been found.

NASA upgrading Crawler-Transporter to handle new launch system

Evan Ackerman
Friday, September 7, 2012 - 2:37pm
 
To move spacecraft from the Vehicle Assembly Building out to the launch pads at Kennedy Space Center, NASA has a pair of huge Crawler-Transporters. These 5.5 million pound tracked hauled 12 million pounds worth of space shuttle and launch pad around, but to handle the new Space Launch System, they'll be getting an upgrade.

20 awe-inspiring images of our solar system from Voyager 1

Evan Ackerman
Thursday, September 6, 2012 - 10:29am
 
35 years ago, the Voyager 1 spacecraft was launched from Earth and ventured out into the galaxy. It's the farthest man-made object from home, at over 11 billion miles from us. Voyager's mission is to just keep on heading out into the final frontier (at least until it's picked up and brought back in time for Star Trek: The Motion Picture in the mid-2270s), and it's currently in the process of exiting our solar system and entering intergalactic space. On its way out of the solar system, Voyager 1 passed Jupiter and Saturn, sending back spectacular high resolution pictures of the gas giants and their moons. In the gallery below, we've chosen some of our favorite pictures from Voyager's tour, along with a few snapshots of the spacecraft itself before it left Earth.

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