The space we travel through

When sea-faring nations began to explore new regions of the world, one of their biggest concerns in making the journey safely was how to cope with weather. They could harness the wind for power. They could rely on the Sun ...

A look back at NASA solar missions

Twenty years ago, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, a cooperative effort between NASA and the European Space Agency, launched into space and revolutionized our study of the sun and a scientific discipline called heliophysics ...

Building to begin on Solar Probe Plus spacecraft

NASA's Solar Probe Plus mission—which will fly closer to the sun than any spacecraft has before—reached a major milestone last month when it successfully completed its Critical Design Review, or CDR.

Suomi NPP satellite sees auroras over North America

(Phys.org)—Overnight on October 4-5, 2012, a mass of energetic particles from the atmosphere of the Sun were flung out into space, a phenomenon known as a coronal mass ejection. Three days later, the storm from the Sun ...

Next solar maximum may be safest time for manned missions to Mars

Humans have long dreamed of traveling to Mars, and several nations and private organizations are developing plans for crewed Mars missions in the coming decades. But a recent study looking at the risks for astronauts going ...

Sun delivered curveball of powerful radiation at Earth

A potent follow-up solar flare, which occurred Friday (Jan. 17, 2012), just days after the Sun launched the biggest coronal mass ejection (CME) seen in nearly a decade, delivered a powerful radiation punch to Earth's magnetic ...

Researchers find clues to how hazardous space radiation begins

Scientists at the University of New Hampshire have unlocked one of the mysteries of how particles from flares on the sun accumulate at early stages in the energization of hazardous radiation that is harmful to astronauts, ...

Heliophysics CubeSat to launch on NASA's SLS

Just a bit bigger than a box of cereal, one of the first CubeSats to travel in interplanetary space will be NASA's miniature space science station, dedicated to studying the dynamic particles and magnetic fields that stream ...

page 5 from 9