The artistic concept shows NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft operating in a new mission profile called K2. Using publicly available data, astronomers have confirmed K2’s first exoplanet discovery proving Kepler can still find planets. Image Credit: NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech/T Pyle Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–December 18, 2014. NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft makes a comeback with[Read More…]
Space
New NOAA Spacecraft Readies for Launch Next Month
DSCOVR will ensure high accuracy space weather warnings DSCOVR mission logo. (Credit: NOAA) Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–December 18, 2014. NOAA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR), scheduled to launch in five weeks, will give forecasters more reliable measurements of solar wind speed, improving their ability to monitor harmful solar activity, and replace an[Read More…]
Venus Express Goes Gently Into the Night
Visualisation of the Venus Express aerobraking manoeuvre EU–(ENEWSPF)–16 December 2014. ESA’s Venus Express has ended its eight-year mission after far exceeding its planned life. The spacecraft exhausted its propellant during a series of thruster burns to raise its orbit following the low-altitude aerobraking earlier this year. Since its arrival at[Read More…]
Bright Lights: Big Cities at Night
Liège EU–(ENEWSPF)–16 December 2014. As the days grow shorter and the temperatures drop in Europe, test your geography skills in the warmth of your home – while helping scientists to pinpoint light pollution. Naples Astronauts circling our planet on the International Space Station take wonderful pictures of Earth and many[Read More…]
NASA’s MAVEN Mission Identifies Links in Chain Leading to Atmospheric Loss
NASA’s MAVEN mission is observing the upper atmosphere of Mars to help understand climate change on the planet. MAVEN entered its science phase on Nov. 16, 2014. Image Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–December 15, 2014. Early discoveries by NASA’s newest Mars orbiter are starting to reveal key[Read More…]
Rosetta Fuels Debate on Origin of Earth’s Oceans
First measurements of comet’s water ratio EU–(ENEWSPF)–11 December 2014. ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft has found the water vapour from its target comet to be significantly different to that found on Earth. The discovery fuels the debate on the origin of our planet’s oceans. The measurements were made in the month following[Read More…]
NASA’s Curiosity Rover Finds Clues to How Water Helped Shape Martian Landscape
This illustration depicts a lake of water partially filling Mars’ Gale Crater, receiving runoff from snow melting on the crater’s northern rim. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA/DLR/FU Berlin/MSSS This evenly layered rock photographed by the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover on Aug. 7, 2014, shows a pattern typical[Read More…]
NASA’s New Orion Spacecraft Completes First Spaceflight Test
Major Milestone on Agency’s Journey to Mars Following a perfect launch and more than four hours in Earth’s orbit, NASA’s Orion spacecraft is seen from an unpiloted aircraft descending under three massive red and white main parachutes and then shortly after its bullseye splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, 600 miles[Read More…]
European Astronomers Spot Faint Asteroid
Asteroid EU–(ENEWSPF)–4 December 2014. European experts have spotted one of the faintest asteroids ever found – a chunk of space rock thought to be about 100 m in diameter beyond the orbit of Mars. Astronomers at the Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona, USA, spotted 2014 KC46 on the nights of[Read More…]
NASA’s Orion Flight Test and the Journey to Mars
The first future human mission to Mars and those that follow will require the ingenuity and dedication of an entire generation. We take the next step on that journey with the uncrewed, first flight test of Orion. Image Credit: NASA Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–December 1, 2014. In the not-too-distant future, astronauts destined[Read More…]
