Squid-like amphibious rovers exploring Jupiter’s ocean-harbouring moon Europa. “Windbots” flying through the atmospheres of Saturn, drawing energy from the gas giant’s magnetic fields and powerful winds. Concentrated sunlight used to extract water from asteroids. Sound like crazy science fiction? Well, NASA thinks otherwise. Earlier this year, the American space agency announced it was ploughing around […]
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What’s That Space Rock?
[The Apollo astronauts who visited the Moon between 1969 and 1972 remain among the most travelled humans in history, but they didn’t exactly follow the environmentalists’ maxim of “take only memories, leave only footprints”. Between them, NASA’s six successful lunar missions brought back 2,415 samples of Moon rock – totalling 380.05 kg (837.87 lbs), or […]
Space Lab Antarctica
Antarctica may be the bottom of the world but – as the coldest, driest, highest continent on Earth – it’s proving ideal for observing the universe. “Wrap up warm” has long been a mantra among astronomers everywhere, given that so much observation of the cosmos necessarily has to take place out in the open, at […]
Asteroid Nets
NASA’s latest space fishing trip aims to capture an asteroid and bring it closer to Earth to study. In June 2010, the Japanese Hayabusa probe succeeded in returning to Earth some dust samples from a distant, stoney asteroid known as 25143 Itokawa. Up to now, however, such missions have rarely been successful, not least because […]
Preserving Our Space History
As we strive to explore and expand beyond the sphere of our own planet, we’re leavng a growing trail of artefacts with vital cultural significance along the way. Should we preserve our space history – and how? Few people—except for certain conspiracy theorists—are likely to dispute that genuine history was made on 21 July 1969 […]
