A look at the solar wind – charged particles whipping off our nearest star – and what they do to the second planet out, Venus.
From a NASA technical document, a translation of a Russian overview of observatons from Venus probes. “Hey guys!” it starts. “Not so hospitable down there as we thought!”
Discovery News gets all excited by NASA-JPL’s announcement that they’re budgeting for a robotic mission to seek life on Jupiter’s moon Europa:
In response to this news, and after 15 years exploring Europa mission concepts, JPL senior research scientist Robert Pappalardo said that most mission concepts have either been too small, too big or […]
Science Daily explains how an orbital camera solved a decade-old Martian mystery:
Images taken by the HiRISE camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, or MRO, and initially searched by Michael Croon of Trier, Germany, a former member of the European Space Agency’s Mars Express operations team at the European Space Operations Centre, have identified […]
A vision of futures past from NASA’s Glenn Research Center Collection, part of the Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System.
This was what they planned the Space Shuttle to be. Very optimistic colors, aren’t they? And a brilliant sky.
[via Humanoid History]
New Scientist watches the Messenger probe prepare to take a final spin around the hottest planet – with one last firing of its engines:
Engineers expect the 120-second engine burn to give the craft an 80-kilometre lift that will keep it aloft until March. But before then, as Messenger swoops low over the planet, […]
Performing delicate procedures in space: a zero-G haircut for New Year’s.
From Italian astronaut @AstroSamantha’s Twitter feed.
The process starts here, if you want to follow along.
This might seem a little trivial and flippant (and there’s plenty of laughing in the photos), but if people are going to live in space for long […]
Nature profiles the amazing new high-atmosphere vehicle for exploring space from Antarctica:
If all continues smoothly, experts expect the flight to last for 100 days or longer. The current record for the longest NASA scientific ballooning flight is 55 days, using a traditional balloon. The record for a super-pressure balloon is just a day […]
Popular Science charts a course to Mars that’s easier and cheaper… in a roundabout way:
Spacecraft usually enter orbit around planets via Hohmann transfer, which requires engineers to send the craft to its target just when the target (that’s the moon, Mars, or any other planet) is coming by. Once the craft meets its target, […]
In 1984, astronauts had to ride out in the Space Shuttle Discovery to retrieve two broken-down satellites, and decided to have a little fun with their mission.
I found this snapshot on NASA’s Marshall Image Exchange (MIX) galleries.
. 
