A newly unveiled company with some high-profile backers — including filmmaker James Cameron and Google co-founder Larry Page — is set to announce plans to mine near-Earth asteroids for resources such as precious metals and water. Continue reading
With President Barack Obama proposing a relatively flat budget for NASA in 2013, a group professional astronomers is urging the White House and Congress to find a better balance between the space agency’s planetary science and exploration needs. Continue reading
NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer, or Galex, was placed in standby mode Feb. 7, 2012 as engineers prepare to end mission operations, nearly nine years after the telescope’s launch. The spacecraft is scheduled to be decommissioned — taken out of service — later this year. Continue reading
The youngest planet yet discovered has been found orbiting within the disk of dust and gas surrounding the star Lk Ca 15. The planet is more than just young: it may still be in the process of formation. Continue reading
ESA’s Venus Express spacecraft has discovered an ozone layer high in the atmosphere of Venus. Comparing its properties with those of the equivalent layers on Earth and Mars will help astronomers refine their searches for life on other planets. Continue reading
An exoplanet that orbits around two stars, known as a circumbinary planet, has recently been discovered by astronomers using the Kepler space telescope. The planet dubbed Kepler-16b has been compared to the planet Tatooine from Star Wars, due to the … Continue reading
Move over Commander Data, there’s a real robot in space, now. The International Space Station got a new crewmember today, one made not of flesh and blood, but of gears and clockwork instead. Called Robonaut 2, the automaton astronaut was activated by human spaceflyers today. Continue reading
This week I recommend to follow @nasahqphoto for great space photos from NASA. For more Twitter follow suggestions see our astronomy list @TheAstroBlog/astronomy Weekly Stumbles: Space Junk Forces Astronauts to Take Shelter in Russian Spaceships A piece of space junk … Continue reading
This week I recommend to follow @SpaceRef for interesting tweets about current space news. For more Twitter follow suggestions see our astronomy list @TheAstroBlog/astronomy Weekly Stumbles: Bring home the sample Sample return is something of a holy grail to planetary … Continue reading
I didn’t have the time to post anything in the past few weeks due to the end of semester exams in college. Therefore, in the next few editions of the Follow Friday & Weekly Stumbles there will be more entries … Continue reading
