Latest and Breaking Space Science News

NASA satellites feed forecasters information as Bud becomes a hurricane
24 May 2012, 4:00 am
(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) Bud has now become the first hurricane of the eastern Pacific Hurricane Season, as NASA visible and infrared satellite imagery revealed an organized structure of spiraling thunderstorms around the eye. Watches and warnings are already in effect for southwestern Mexico as Bud nears.

Tiny planet-finding mirrors borrow from Webb Telescope playbook
24 May 2012, 4:00 am
(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) NASA's next flagship mission -- the James Webb Space Telescope -- will carry the largest primary mirror ever deployed. This segmented behemoth will unfold to 21.3 feet in diameter once the observatory reaches its orbit in 2018.

Science magazine prize awarded to course that brings biology and math worlds closer
24 May 2012, 4:00 am
(American Association for the Advancement of Science) An undergraduate course that allows students to build mathematical models of biological phenomena -- and to experience a convergence of disciplines with potential in areas ranging from cancer treatment to reforestation -- is the winner of the Science Prize for Inquiry-Based Instruction,

Asteroid nudged by sunlight: Most precise measurement of Yarkovsky effect
24 May 2012, 4:00 am
(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) Scientists on NASA's asteroid sample return mission, Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx), have measured the orbit of their destination asteroid, 1999 RQ36, with such accuracy they were able to directly measure the drift resulting from a subtle but important force called the Yarkovsky effect -- the slight push created when the asteroid absorbs sunlight and re-emits that energy as heat.

NASA's TRMM satellite sees some heavy rainfall in Typhoon Sanvu
24 May 2012, 4:00 am
(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) Tropical Storm Sanvu strengthened overnight as forecast and is now a Typhoon in the western North Pacific Ocean. NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite observed that most of the rainfall is falling in the eastern half of the storm.

Organic carbon from Mars, but not biological
24 May 2012, 4:00 am
(Carnegie Institution) Molecules containing large chains of carbon and hydrogen -- the building blocks of all life on Earth -- have been the targets of missions to Mars from Viking to the present day. While these molecules have previously been found in meteorites from Mars, scientists have disagreed about how this organic carbon was formed and whether or not it came from Mars. A new paper provides strong evidence that this carbon did originate on Mars, although it is not biological.

NASA sees Tropical Storm Sanvu continue to intensify
23 May 2012, 4:00 am
(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) Two NASA satellites have provided infrared and rainfall data that has shown Tropical Storm Sanvu continues to intensify as it heads toward Iwo To, Japan. NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite has scanned rainfall rates, and NASA's Aqua satellite has provided a look at cloud temperatures which indicates where the strongest thunderstorms and heaviest rainfall is occurring.

Study shows how to keep a Mars tumbleweed rover moving on rocky terrain
23 May 2012, 4:00 am
(North Carolina State University) New research from North Carolina State University shows that a wind-driven "tumbleweed" Mars rover would be capable of moving across rocky Martian terrain - findings that could also help the National Aeronautics and Space Administration design the best possible vehicle.

Lying in wait for WIMPs
23 May 2012, 4:00 am
(DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) With 350 kilograms of liquid xenon and the low background of the Sanford Underground Research Facility in the Black Hills, the Large Underground Xenon experiment, LUX, is the most sensitive search yet for weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs. Researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and their collaborators want to increase that sensitivity by orders of magnitude with the proposed LUX ZEPLIN.

Nomads of the galaxy
23 May 2012, 4:00 am
(The Kavli Foundation) A recent study proposes the galaxy is crowded with nomad planets adrift in space. If this is the case, nomad planets may play a dynamic role in the universe.