http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Landing astronauts safely on Mars is one of the biggest technological hurdles for any future manned mission to the Red Planet, even more complicated than last year's daring rover touchdown. http://phys.org/news287206500.html Space & Earth Wed, 08 May 2013 04:35:35 EST news287206500 NASA's Curiosity rover, which has been exploring Mars since it landed to much fanfare last August, should be running at full capacity next week, after a memory glitch set the robot back. http://phys.org/news281729210.html Space & Earth Tue, 05 Mar 2013 18:06:57 EST news281729210 NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has been temporarily put into "safe mode," as scientists monitoring from Earth try to fix a computer glitch, the US space agency said. http://phys.org/news281466059.html Space & Earth Sat, 02 Mar 2013 17:01:21 EST news281466059 India said on Thursday it will send a $70 million space mission to Mars this year to study the red planet's atmosphere. http://phys.org/news280663406.html Space & Earth Thu, 21 Feb 2013 10:03:43 EST news280663406 NASA is teaming up with the European Space Agency to get astronauts beyond Earth's orbit. http://phys.org/news277565860.html Space & Earth Wed, 16 Jan 2013 13:37:51 EST news277565860 (Phys.org)—Researchers at the Keck Institute for Space Studies have released a paper outlining a proposal to send an unmanned spacecraft into deep space to capture an asteroid and return it as a Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) orbiting the moon. In putting together the paper, the team at Keck worked with several NASA agencies, universities and private groups with the aim of discerning the feasibility of such a project and then outlining how it might come about. http://phys.org/news276415557.html Space & Earth Thu, 03 Jan 2013 06:20:02 EST news276415557 A Russian rocket carrying two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut blasted off successfully on Tuesday for the International Space Station. http://phys.org/news270201502.html Space & Earth Tue, 23 Oct 2012 08:58:35 EST news270201502 India plans to launch a space probe that will orbit Mars in November 2013, a senior official from the country's space research establishment said on Monday. http://phys.org/news267095924.html Space & Earth Mon, 17 Sep 2012 10:18:55 EST news267095924 Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday defended spending millions of dollars on space exploration despite many people in the country living in grinding poverty. http://phys.org/news266384207.html Space & Earth Sun, 09 Sep 2012 04:36:58 EST news266384207 Neil Armstrong's 1969 lunar landing marked a pinnacle of US technological achievement, defining what many saw as the American century, but the next person to set foot on the moon will likely be Chinese. http://phys.org/news265273956.html Space & Earth Mon, 27 Aug 2012 08:12:45 EST news265273956 India plans to launch a space probe that will orbit Mars, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh confirmed on Wednesday after press reports that the mission was scheduled to begin late next year. http://phys.org/news264226845.html Space & Earth Wed, 15 Aug 2012 05:20:56 EST news264226845 India's government has cleared plans to put an orbital probe around Mars next year to study the red planet's climate and geology, a report said Saturday. http://phys.org/news263303960.html Space & Earth Sat, 04 Aug 2012 12:59:27 EST news263303960 India plans to launch a mission to Mars next year, putting an orbital probe around the red planet to study its climate and geology, top space department officials said on Thursday. http://phys.org/news263119096.html Space & Earth Thu, 02 Aug 2012 09:38:22 EST news263119096 In December 1972 the astronauts of Apollo 17-the last manned mission to the moon-deployed the Lunar Atmospheric Composition Experiment (LACE), a spectrometer designed to measure and characterize the thin lunar atmosphere. Forty years later, Stern et al. built upon those initial measurements, providing the first remotely-sensed measurement of the Moon's gaseous environment from lunar orbit. Using the Lyman Alpha Mapping Project's (LAMP's) far ultraviolet spectrograph aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the authors determined the atmospheric concentration of helium. http://phys.org/news261821842.html Space & Earth Wed, 18 Jul 2012 09:40:01 EST news261821842 China, which sent three astronauts into orbit a week ago, said they would conduct the nation's first manual space docking on Sunday -- a key step to building a space station. http://phys.org/news259675255.html Space & Earth Sat, 23 Jun 2012 13:01:00 EST news259675255 Three Chinese astronauts on Monday entered an orbiting module for the first time, in a move broadcast live on China's state television network and a key step towards the nation's first space station. http://phys.org/news259220544.html Space & Earth Mon, 18 Jun 2012 06:42:36 EST news259220544 China completed its first automatic space docking on a manned mission Monday, before the three astronauts on board enter an orbiting module -- a key step towards the nation's first space station. http://phys.org/news259210016.html Space & Earth Mon, 18 Jun 2012 03:47:04 EST news259210016 Two Russians and an American joined three colleagues aboard the International Space Station Thursday for a mission that should include receiving the orbiter's first visit from a private spacecraft. http://phys.org/news256448376.html Space & Earth Thu, 17 May 2012 05:00:02 EST news256448376 Russia's crisis-hit space agency intends to send its first manned mission to the Moon and deploy research stations on Mars under an ambitious plan presented to the government this month. http://phys.org/news250831485.html Space & Earth Tue, 13 Mar 2012 04:24:53 EST news250831485 Russia said Thursday that its delayed next manned mission to the International Space Station (ISS) would blast off May 15, 45 days later than its scheduled date, after a problem was found in testing. http://phys.org/news247409864.html Space & Earth Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:57:57 EST news247409864 You may have heard by now about the 100 Year Starship project, a new research initiative to develop the technology required to send a manned mission to another star. The project is jointly sponsored by NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). It will take that long just to make such a trip feasible, hence the name. So we’re a long ways off from naming any crew members or a starship captain, but the project itself does have a new leader, a former astronaut. http://phys.org/news245574991.html Space & Earth Thu, 12 Jan 2012 07:30:01 EST news245574991 A checklist used to guide the wounded Apollo 13 spacecraft home after the explosion that led to the famed "Houston, we've had a problem" call sold at auction in Texas Wednesday for just under $390,000. http://phys.org/news241898597.html Space & Earth Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:03:24 EST news241898597 The US Congress on Wednesday bestowed its highest civilian honor on four American space pioneers of the 1960s, marking the first time the Congressional Gold Medal has been awarded to astronauts. http://phys.org/news240670939.html Space & Earth Wed, 16 Nov 2011 13:02:29 EST news240670939 A spacecraft carrying two Russians and an American docked Wednesday with the International Space Station in the first Russian manned mission for five months after a spate of technical failures. http://phys.org/news240642605.html Space & Earth Wed, 16 Nov 2011 05:10:23 EST news240642605 The US Congress on Wednesday will award the nation's highest civilian honor, the Congressional Gold Medal, to four American astronauts including the first man to walk on the Moon, 81-year-old Neil Armstrong. http://phys.org/news240595940.html Space & Earth Tue, 15 Nov 2011 16:40:01 EST news240595940 A Russian cargo ship was launched successfully to the International Space Station on Sunday, clearing the way for the next manned mission and easing concerns about the station's future after a previous failed launch. http://phys.org/news239193776.html Space & Earth Sun, 30 Oct 2011 11:43:08 EST news239193776 (PhysOrg.com) -- One of the most accessible goals for human spaceflight is a rendezvous with a Near Earth Object (NEO). NEOs are asteroids or comets whose orbits take them close to the earth's orbit. An NEO might someday collide with the earth -- and there are almost 6000 larger in diameter than about 100 meters known, with predictions that over ten times as many could exist. The impact of even a one-kilometer-sized NEO would probably destroy an average state, and this is certainly one reason to study them. From the perspective of pure science, NEOs are important nearby representatives of the early Solar System. http://phys.org/news238751430.html Space & Earth Tue, 25 Oct 2011 08:50:37 EST news238751430 (AP) -- The elaborate mission to recover a moon rock led NASA agents to one of the most down-to-earth places: a Denny's restaurant in Riverside County. http://phys.org/news238649417.html Space & Earth Mon, 24 Oct 2011 04:30:28 EST news238649417 Russia on Tuesday set its next manned space flight to the International Space Station for November and said it will not let the orbiter be abandoned despite a recent accident involving its workhorse Soyuz rocket. http://phys.org/news235132129.html Space & Earth Tue, 13 Sep 2011 11:50:01 EST news235132129 Russia said Monday it would return three of the six international crew members on board the International Space Station to Earth later this week despite no immediate plans to send up their replacement. http://phys.org/news235062627.html Space & Earth Mon, 12 Sep 2011 16:11:30 EST news235062627