Science and reality
An engine that will help propel NASA's Orion spacecraft toward its deep-space missions underwent a test today.
The post NASA Successfully Tests Engine For Future Mars Mission appeared first on WIRED.
Three Japanese satellites saw the Chinese port explosion happen from space.
The post What China’s Huge Tianjin Explosion Looked Like From Space appeared first on WIRED.
The universe, they say, is dying. And when it goes away, it will take time and space with it.
The post The End of the Universe: A (Slightly Premature) Lament appeared first on WIRED.
Yesterday on the ISS, Expedition 44 crew members dined on their first meal of space-grown romaine lettuce.
The post Those Veggies Grown on the ISS Get Humans Closer to Mars appeared first on WIRED.
Even with the best view in the solar system, some people can't help doing a little bit of science.
The post The Satellite That Took This Incredible Photo Almost Didn’t Leave Earth appeared first on WIRED.
Space photos of the week, August 2–8.
The post Space Photos of the Week: Big Ol’ Bubbles of Color appeared first on WIRED.
Space photos of the week, July 26 – August 1.
The post Space Photos of the Week: This Nebula Doesn’t Come in Peace appeared first on WIRED.
Philae's bumpy landing has importance for asteroid mining companies eager to excavate small bodies in space.
The post Asteroid Miners Can Learn a Lot From Philae’s Bumpy Landing appeared first on WIRED.
The Dawn probe is circling in on Ceres and returning new topographic images of its pockmarked surface.
The post Watch: The Mysterious Craters on Ceres Get New Names appeared first on WIRED.
This artist’s concept compares Earth (left) to the new planet, called Kepler-452b, which is about 60 percent larger in diameter (credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle)
NASA’s Kepler mission has discovered the first near-Earth-size planet in the “habitable zone” around a Sun-like star. This discovery joins 11 other new small habitable zone candidate planets, marking another milestone in the journey to find another “Earth.”
The newly discovered Kepler-452b, located 1,400 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus, is the smallest planet to date discovered orbiting in the habitable zone — the area around a star where liquid water could pool on the surface of an orbiting planet — of a G2-type star, like our sun. The confirmation of Kepler-452b brings the total number of confirmed planets to 1,030.
“It’s awe-inspiring to consider that this planet has spent 6 billion years in the habitable zone of its star; longer than Earth,” said Jon Jenkins, Kepler data analysis lead at NASA’s Ames Research Center, who led the team that discovered Kepler-452b. ” That’s substantial opportunity for life to arise, should all the necessary ingredients and conditions for life exist on this planet.”