Test of spare wheel puts Orbiter on path to recovery

(Phys.org) -- In a step toward returning NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter to full service, mission controllers have tested a spare reaction wheel on the spacecraft for potential use with two other reaction wheels in adjusting ...

New materials turn heat into electricity

Most of today's power plants--from some of the largest solar arrays to nuclear energy facilities--rely on the boiling and condensing of water to produce energy.

Daunting space task -- send astronauts to asteroid

With the space shuttle now history, NASA's next great mission is so audacious, the agency's best minds are wrestling with how to pull it off: Send astronauts to an asteroid in less than 15 years.

High-efficiency solar power that floats in water

Sometimes you encounter an idea so seemingly brilliant you wonder why you didn't think of it yourself. OK, here goes: Utility-grade "concentrating" solar power ... in water. You're not applauding - what's going on?

Alternatives have begun in bid to hear from Spirit

(PhysOrg.com) -- Hopes for reviving NASA's Spirit Mars rover dimmed further with passage last week of the point at which the rover's locale received its maximum sunshine for the Martian year.

How Capt. Kirk Changed the World

"Standard orbit, Mr. Sulu." Captain Kirk barks out the order with such confidence. He knows the USS Enterprise can slip in and out of planetary orbits with ease. But it's only easy in the realm of science fiction. In the ...

Spirit Rover Switches to Backward Drives

(PhysOrg.com) -- The rover team has begun driving Spirit backward as next technique for attempting to extricate the rover from the sand trap where it is embedded. The first two backward drives produced about 6.5 centimeters ...

Spirit Rover: Rear Wheel Trouble Continues

(PhysOrg.com) -- Results of diagnostic tests on Spirit's right-rear wheel on Sol 2109 (Dec. 8, 2009) continue to indicate a troubled wheel, which may leave the rover with only four operable wheels.

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