In the Star Wars universe, everyone’s favourite furry aliens, the Ewoks, famously lived on the “forest moon of Endor”. In scientific terms, the Ewok’s home world would be referred to as an exomoon, which…
BICEP2 has spotted something pretty special from its South Pole base.
Steffen Richter (Harvard University)
The cosmological community is bubbling with the news that the BICEP2 experiment may have detected gravitational waves through measuring the radiation left over from the big bang. If the findings are correct…
Now whizzing through space, 1.5 million km from Earth.
ESA-CNES-Arianespace / Optique Vidéo du CSG - G. Barbaste
After its successful launch in December, European Space Agency’s (ESA) Gaia has now taken up its position in space and is ready to survey the skies. With the help of two onboard telescopes focused onto…
We know gravity waves exist but just haven’t detected any… yet.
www.shutterstock.com
Our unfolding understanding of the universe is marked by epic searches and we are now on the brink of discovering something that has escaped detection for many years. The search for gravity waves has been…
Lava-flooded craters and large expanses of smooth volcanic plains on Mercury’s surface.
NASA
Mercury has long been a mystery to scientists. Until recently, knowledge of the planet was limited to the grey, patchy landscape revealed by the Mariner 10 probe, NASA’s first mission to Mercury in the…
Next, we wait for Philae lander to touch down on the comet.
ESA–J. Huart
Out of hibernation, Rosetta stirs at last. As one of the scientists involved in the mission, news that the unmanned spacecraft has woken up and restored contact with Earth comes as a great relief. It contains…
A famous picture in the English edition of Newton’s “Principia” shows cannon balls being fired from the top of a mountain. If they go fast enough, their trajectory curves downward no more steeply than…
Clays and geysers! All we need is a regular flight and Europa will become a spa destination to rival Iceland. It’s been an exciting week for me at the annual American Geophysical Union conference in San…
Comets no longer have clear cut definitions.
johntewell
Comet ISON’s fate has left many sad. For the public, the comet could have made for a spectacular view in December. For scientists, it would have been a chance to learn more about these mysterious bodies…
Habitation of outer space needs solving air, water, energy and food supplies within a tight space. And this isn’t a problem of an apocalyptic, remote future. Developing this technology addresses some of…
Lunar heritage sites such as Tranquility Base – shown here with Buzz Aldrin in 1969 – must be protected … but a US bill is not appropriate.
NASA/Neil A. Armstrong
With India and China planning lunar surface missions, privately-funded space entrepreneurs competing for the US$40 million Google Lunar X Prize and discussions around lunar mining intensifying, working…
It seems like science fiction that 44 years ago Apollo 11 astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin traveled nearly a quarter of a million miles to walk on the surface of the Moon. When the crew of Apollo 17 returned…
MAVEN’s on its way to Mars … but look at what we’ve sent to our other neighbours.
NASA/Goddard
Following India’s maiden Mars probe launch earlier in the month, last week saw the successful launch of the Martian Atmospheres and Volatiles Evolution mission, or MAVEN for short. With the second spacecraft…
The Observer has published what it regards as the top 20 questions in Science. Number one on the list is the question of what the universe is made of. Specifically the 95% of the universe that we cannot…
Space is Big. Really Big. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy pretty much nailed space with those five words. And space is so really big that our earthly measures of distance struggle. The distance to…
It’s been decades since our last foray outside Earth’s orbit - but what’s next for humankind?
P.O. Arnäs
The United Nations’ Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space is meeting in Vienna this week, and representatives of 74 countries will discuss, among other things, how to ensure space is maintained…
Expedition 35 Commander Chris Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), left, Russian Flight Engineer Roman Romanenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), center, and NASA Flight Engineer Tom Marshburn sit in chairs outside the Soyuz Capsule just minutes after they landed in a remote area outside the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, on Tuesday, May 14, 2013. Hadfield, Romanenko and Marshburn are returning from five months onboard the International Space Station where they served as members of the Expedition 34 and 35 crews.
NASA/Carla Cioffi
Three astronauts from the International Space Station, including the singing Canadian Chris Hadfield, landed in Kazakhstan today after a journey of nearly 100 million kilometres. Commander Hadfield, an…
Measuring and monitoring Australia’s fresh water will become increasingly important.
EADS Astrium
Does Australia need space capabilities? Well, as Senator Kate Lundy said this month when announcing the government’s new space policy: “Australians, whether they know it or not, rely on satellites every…