http://phys.org/space-news/space-exploration/ en-us Phys.Org provides the latest news on space, space exploration, space science and earth sciences. (Phys.org) —Earth watcher Proba-V is in good health following its launch last week. The Vegetation imager has been switched on and the first image has been captured over western France. http://phys.org/news288261383.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Mon, 20 May 2013 09:36:39 EST news288261383 A former army helicopter pilot was on Monday named as the first "home-grown" British astronaut to head to the International Space Station. http://phys.org/news288249232.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Mon, 20 May 2013 06:13:59 EST news288249232 A number of mice and eight gerbils sent into space in a Russian capsule destined to find out how well organisms can withstand extended flights perished during their journey, scientists said Sunday as the month-long mission touched back down on Earth. http://phys.org/news288173011.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Sun, 19 May 2013 09:03:47 EST news288173011 (Phys.org) —A team of researchers from the SETI Institute, the Mars Institute, NASA Ames Research Center, and the space robotics company Honeybee Robotics, has successfully completed a first series of field tests aimed at investigating how humans will explore and work on Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs) and eventually the two moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos. http://phys.org/news288076223.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Sat, 18 May 2013 07:00:01 EST news288076223 (Phys.org) —NASA's senior Mars rover, Opportunity, is driving to a new study area after a dramatic finish to 20 months on "Cape York" with examination of a rock intensely altered by water. http://phys.org/news288075812.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Sat, 18 May 2013 06:04:53 EST news288075812 On 5:24 a.m. EDT on May 17, 2013, the sun erupted with an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection or CME, a solar phenomenon that can send billions of tons of solar particles into space that can reach Earth one to three days later and affect electronic systems in satellites and on the ground. Experimental NASA research models, based on observations from NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory, show that the CME left the sun at speeds of around 745 miles per second. The solar material in CMEs cannot pass through the atmosphere to affect humans on Earth. http://phys.org/news288028329.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Fri, 17 May 2013 16:52:27 EST news288028329 While Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt visited Earth's moon for three days in December 1972, they drove their mission's Lunar Roving Vehicle 19.3 nautical miles (22.210 statute miles or 35.744 kilometers). That was the farthest total distance for any NASA vehicle driving on a world other than Earth until yesterday. http://phys.org/news287997302.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Fri, 17 May 2013 08:30:03 EST news287997302 For the past 8 years, NASA astronomers have been monitoring the Moon for signs of explosions caused by meteoroids hitting the lunar surface. "Lunar meteor showers" have turned out to be more common than anyone expected, with hundreds of detectable impacts occurring every year. http://phys.org/news287995775.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Fri, 17 May 2013 07:49:49 EST news287995775 (Phys.org) —NASA's first mission to sample an asteroid is moving ahead into development and testing in preparation for its launch in 2016. http://phys.org/news287939170.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Thu, 16 May 2013 16:07:13 EST news287939170 (Phys.org) —Scott Hubbard, a consulting professor of aeronautics and astronautics, helped guide the Kepler mission when he served as director of NASA Ames Research Center. He explains how NASA might bring the planet-hunting spacecraft back online. http://phys.org/news287938435.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Thu, 16 May 2013 15:54:04 EST news287938435 (Phys.org) —A team of scientists has won a berth on a tiny satellite to explore one of NASA's most important frontiers in climate studies: the imbalance in Earth's energy budget and the extent to which fast-changing phenomena, like clouds, contribute to that imbalance. http://phys.org/news287938274.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Thu, 16 May 2013 15:51:31 EST news287938274 A thud, dirt in the window of his capsule and the fresh smell of spring on the Kazakh steppe: Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield recalled Thursday his safe return from a five-month mission to space. http://phys.org/news287932185.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Thu, 16 May 2013 14:30:01 EST news287932185 An impromptu spacewalk over the weekend seems to have fixed a big ammonia leak at the International Space Station, NASA said Thursday. http://phys.org/news287929125.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Thu, 16 May 2013 13:19:01 EST news287929125 Navtronics, a Belgium ESA Business Incubation Centre start-up company, is tailoring intelligent guidance for agricultural machinery using advanced satnav. http://phys.org/news287911328.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Thu, 16 May 2013 08:22:15 EST news287911328 (Phys.org) —If your GPS navigation system goes on the fritz in the coming days, you might have the sun to blame. Early this week, the sun released four X-class solar flares, the strongest type of flare. Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predict a 40-percent chance of more X-class flares in the coming days, some possibly pointed toward the Earth. http://phys.org/news287909968.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Thu, 16 May 2013 07:59:36 EST news287909968 Missions to Mars have only scratched its surface. To go deeper, scientists are proposing a spacecraft that can drill into the Red Planet to potentially find signs of life. http://phys.org/news287907372.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Thu, 16 May 2013 07:16:56 EST news287907372 (Phys.org) —On May 31, 2013, asteroid 1998 QE2 will sail serenely past Earth, getting no closer than about 3.6 million miles (5.8 million kilometers), or about 15 times the distance between Earth and the moon. And while QE2 is not of much interest to those astronomers and scientists on the lookout for hazardous asteroids, it is of interest to those who dabble in radar astronomy and have a 230-foot (70-meter)—or larger—radar telescope at their disposal. http://phys.org/news287894072.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Thu, 16 May 2013 03:34:44 EST news287894072 A new GPS satellite has been launched into space. http://phys.org/news287860283.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Wed, 15 May 2013 18:11:28 EST news287860283 (Phys.org) —Scientists have created the first global topographic map of Saturn's moon Titan, giving researchers a valuable tool for learning more about one of the most Earth-like and interesting worlds in the solar system. The map was just published as part of a paper in the journal Icarus. http://phys.org/news287857267.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Wed, 15 May 2013 17:21:32 EST news287857267 (Phys.org) —Much like the inside of an operating room, in the clean room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., engineers worked meticulously to implant part of the eyes of the James Webb Space Telescope. They scrubbed up and suited up to perform one of the most delicate performances of their lives. That part of the eyes, the MIRI, or Mid-Infrared Instrument, will glimpse the formation of galaxies and see deeper into the universe than ever before. http://phys.org/news287853747.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Wed, 15 May 2013 16:22:55 EST news287853747 Scientists using images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, or MRO, have estimated that the planet is bombarded by more than 200 small asteroids or bits of comets per year forming craters at least 12.8 feet (3.9 meters) across. http://phys.org/news287853269.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Wed, 15 May 2013 16:15:41 EST news287853269 The crew of the International Space Station is boldly going where no one has gone before—to see the new "Star Trek" film. http://phys.org/news287851878.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Wed, 15 May 2013 15:51:45 EST news287851878 (Phys.org) —Solar activity continued on May 14, 2013, as the sun emitted a fourth X-class flare from its upper left limb, peaking at 9:48 p.m. EDT. http://phys.org/news287842105.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Wed, 15 May 2013 13:08:38 EST news287842105 The DoD Space Test Program STP-H4 payload complement, which includes three Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) experiments bound for the International Space Station, has been shipped to Japan for integration on the HTV-4 vehicle that is expected to launch from the Tanegashima Space Center in August 2013. http://phys.org/news287841478.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Wed, 15 May 2013 13:00:17 EST news287841478 Their project might not sound like much: The college students on Wednesday launched a tiny model of a satellite the size of a soda can on a big yellow balloon. http://phys.org/news287837273.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Wed, 15 May 2013 12:10:01 EST news287837273 In the last century humanity has taken gigantic leaps forward in the robotic exploration of the cosmos—not least in the search for habitable worlds and environments that could house life outside of the Earth. The next logical step is for humanity itself to leave the confines of our planet, and take on long-term human exploration of the Solar System. Mars in particular is a key target for future human planetary adventures even though on the face of it, it seems so hostile to human life. In fact Mars actually has the most clement environment of any planet in the Solar System outside of Earth and is known to have all of the resources necessary in some accessible form, to sustain life on the surface. So how might we survive on Mars? The crucial things for humans on Mars are the availability of oxygen, shelter, food and water, and not just endless consumables delivered to the planet from Earth. For humans to live long-term on Mars, they will need a self-sustaining habitat to be able to thrive in for generations. http://phys.org/news287827926.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Wed, 15 May 2013 09:30:03 EST news287827926 (Phys.org) —A truss design devised to help workers process space shuttles continues to find new uses as a space shuttle engineer-turned-entrepreneur adapts it to everything from a solar-powered electric generator to a mobile cellphone tower. http://phys.org/news287823021.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Wed, 15 May 2013 08:10:01 EST news287823021 For centuries, humans have pondered what life on other planets beyond our solar system might be like. With the launch of the Kepler Spacecraft in 2009 we now have evidence for the widespread existence of such planets. Kepler's discovery of hundreds of planet candidates around other stars has inspired a new book that combines both science and science fiction: A Kepler's Dozen: Thirteen Stories about Distant Worlds that Really Exist. This anthology is co-edited by David Lee Summers (author of The Pirates of Sufiro and editor of Space Pirates) and Dr. Steve Howell (Kepler Project Scientist). http://phys.org/news287773438.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Tue, 14 May 2013 18:04:04 EST news287773438 A Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) instrument designed to study the Earth's thermosphere is part of a satellite mission that NASA has selected to move forward into development (Phase B), with launch expected in 2017. The NRL Space Science Division (SSD) developed Michelson Interferometer for Global High-resolution Thermospheric Imaging (MIGHTI) satellite instrument is part of NASA's Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) mission. http://phys.org/news287769361.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Tue, 14 May 2013 16:56:11 EST news287769361 The sun emitted a third significant solar flare in under 24 hours, peaking at 9:11 p.m. EDT on May 13, 2013. This flare is classified as an X3.2 flare. This is the strongest X-class flare of 2013 so far, surpassing in strength the two X-class flares that occurred earlier in the 24-hour period. http://phys.org/news287752163.html Space & Earth - Space Exploration Tue, 14 May 2013 12:09:30 EST news287752163