Space Exploration News – Latest Headlines

'Mirage Earth' exoplanets may have burned away chances for life

Planets orbiting close to low-mass stars are prime targets in the search for extraterrestrial life. But new research indicates some such planets may have long since lost their chance at hosting life because of intense heat during their formative years.

December 3, 2014 Read more

Space travel is a bit safer than expected

Analysis of data from the MATROSHKA experiment, the first comprehensive measurements of long-term exposure of astronauts to cosmic radiation, has now been completed. This experiment, carried out on board and outside of the International Space Station, showed that the cosmos may be less hostile to space travelers than expected.

December 3, 2014 Read more

Observing small animals from space will soon be reality

The ambitious and globally unique ICARUS project receives funding from ROSKOSMOS.

December 3, 2014 Read more

Breakthrough in astroparticle physics

Physicists have developed a novel camera technology which for the first time allows sources of cosmic gamma radiation to be observed without interruption even when the moon is shining brightly.

December 3, 2014 Read more

Strange galaxy perplexes astronomers

With the help of citizen scientists, astronomers have found an important new example of a very rare type of galaxy that may provide valuable insight on galaxy evolution in the early Universe.

December 2, 2014 Read more

Traces of Martian biological activity could be locked inside a meteorite (w/video)

Did Mars ever have life? Does it still? A meteorite from Mars has reignited the old debate. An international team has published a paper, showing that martian life is more probable than previously thought.

December 2, 2014 Read more

Herschel observes Andromeda's past and future stars

Recently, the infrared Herschel Space Observatory, has taken a series of beautiful high-resolution infrared images of Andromeda. It is the first time we can see M31, at these wavelengths, at such a high resolution.

December 1, 2014 Read more

Ground-based detection of super-Earth transit paves way to remote sensing of exoplanets

Astronomers have measured the passing of a super-Earth in front of a bright, nearby Sun-like star using a ground-based telescope for the first time. The transit of the exoplanet 55 Cancri e is the shallowest detected from the ground yet. Since detecting a transit is the first step in analyzing a planet's atmosphere, this success bodes well for characterizing the many small planets that upcoming space missions are expected to discover in the next few years.

December 1, 2014 Read more

NASA's Van Allen Probes spot an impenetrable barrier in space

Two donuts of seething radiation that surround Earth, called the Van Allen radiation belts, have been found to contain a nearly impenetrable barrier that prevents the fastest, most energetic electrons from reaching Earth.

November 26, 2014 Read more

First harvest of research based on the final GOCE gravity model

Just four months after the final data package from the GOCE satellite mission was delivered, researchers are laying out a rich harvest of scientific results, with the promise of more to come.

November 26, 2014 Read more

Exo-Earths and the search for life elsewhere: a brief history

The criteria for life on other planets is the focus of the 4th Australian Exoplanet Workshop, hosted by the University of Southern Queensland this week. The first in this series on exoplanets looks at the story so far in the search for life elsewhere in the universe.

November 25, 2014 Read more

Gas cloud in the galactic centre

Researchers discover that two clouds belong to the same complex.

November 25, 2014 Read more

NASA opens Cube Quest Challenge for largest-ever prize of $5 million

Competitors have a shot at a share of $5 million in prize money and an opportunity to participate in space exploration and technology development, to include a chance at flying their very own CubeSat to the moon and beyond as secondary payload on the first integrated flight of NASA's Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket.

November 25, 2014 Read more

It's filamentary: How galaxies evolve in the cosmic web

How do galaxies like our Milky Way form, and just how do they evolve? Are galaxies affected by their surrounding environment? An international team of researchers proposes some answers. The researchers highlight the role of the 'cosmic web' on the evolution of galaxies that took place in the distant universe, a few billion years after the Big Bang.

November 21, 2014 Read more

Philae's triple play

A short but significant 'thud' was heard by the Cometary Acoustic Surface Sounding Experiment (CASSE) as Philae made its first touchdown on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The two-second recording from space is the very first of the contact between a man-made object with a comet upon landing.

November 21, 2014 Read more

How to estimate the magnetic field of an exoplanet?

Scientists developed a new method which allows to estimate the magnetic field of a distant exoplanet, i.e., a planet, which is located outside the Solar system and orbits a different star.

November 20, 2014 Read more

Unravelling the mystery of gamma-ray bursts

A team of scientists hope to trace the origins of gamma-ray bursts with the aid of giant space 'microphones.' Researchers are trying to work out the possible sounds scientists might expect to hear when the ultra-sensitive LIGO and Virgo detectors are switched on in 2015.

November 20, 2014 Read more

A jettisoned black hole?

Astronomers have discovered an object in space that might be a black hole catapulted out of a galaxy. Or, according to an alternative interpretation, it might be a giant star that is exploding over an exceptionally long period of several decades. In any case, one thing is certain: This mysterious object is something quite unique, a source of fascination for physicists the world over because of its potential to provide experimental confirmation of the much-discussed gravitational waves predicted by Albert Einstein.

November 19, 2014 Read more