Stories tagged "space"

When the Mars rovers were deployed to the red planet in 2003, they were only expected to last three months. But here we are, five years later celebrating Spirit and Opportunity's anniversary. During their adventure, what have the Rovers discovered? How much longer can we expect Spirit and Opportunity to be with us? Ray Arvidson, Deputy Principal Investigator on the Mars Exploration Rover Mission, joins us as we look back at the last five years and forward into the next.

Comments [0] Listen Add to Playlist

It's a good thing astronauts are rocket scientists, because President-elect Barack Obama has sent some some very puzzling messages about the future of NASA under his administration. First he was for cutting the space budget, then he was on record supporting NASA. Joining The Takeaway to discuss what NASA may be in for is Phil Plait an astronomer and writer of the blog, Bad Astronomy.

Explore the pages of America's Briefing Book, a set of audio primers from experts on important issues President-elect Barack Obama will face when he takes office in January 2009.

Comments [3] Listen Add to Playlist

In 2003, the Columbia space shuttle disintegrated in the skies above Texas. All seven astronauts were lost. A 400-page NASA report released yesterday investigates the equipment failures during the final moments aboard the shuttle. New York Times science journalist John Schwartz joins The Takeaway to discuss.

For more John Schwartz, read his article in today's New York Times. He also has an article covering the future of NASA.

Comments [0] Listen Add to Playlist

Comments [0] Listen Add to Playlist

Comments [0] Listen Add to Playlist

It's official: Indians are members of the Outer Space Club. A rocket carrying an unmanned satellite lifted off from the Sriharikota space centre in southern India. The satellite Chandrayaan-1, which means "lunar craft" in Sanskrit, is scheduled to orbit the moon for two years. The mission is to study the moon's mineral composition.

Comments [0] Listen Add to Playlist

Space exploration is as American as baseball. Or is it? For the last 15 years, American astronauts have been living and working quietly out of Star City, Russia. They speak Russian, they learn from Russian cosmonauts, and in two years, the only way Americans will be able to get into space is by buying seats on Russian Soyuz spacecraft. John Schwartz, a science reporter from the New York Times, joins the Takeaway to tell the story of American astronauts with Russian lives, and how politicians could spell the end of this harmonious relationship

Comments [1] Listen Add to Playlist

It's one small step for — no, scratch that. It's one giant step for the Mars rover Opportunity, which is about to set out on a two-year, seven-mile mission to the largest Martian crater ever investigated. Opportunity is wobbling along with some minor damage to its right front wheel and can only travel about 110 yards per day. Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory say the rover may never even make it to its destination. But there are enticing possibilities if it does.

Comments [0] Listen Add to Playlist

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the legislation that launched NASA and, subsequently, the human race into the great beyond. But have we really pushed our boundaries as far as space exploration can go? Or is NASA suffering a mid-life crisis?

Comments [0] Listen Add to Playlist

It's the 50th anniversary of a great proxy battle fought in outer space. In 1958, President Eisenhower created NASA so the United States could compete with the USSR in space technology. Today, there’s a new space race on — between China and America. The finish line, 50 years later, is still the moon.

Comments [0] Listen Add to Playlist

Comments [0] Listen Add to Playlist

Dark matter, one of cosmology’s most curious mysteries, has yet to be seen. But theorists have good reason to believe that it exists, and that galaxies, stars, and planets could never have formed without the gravitational attraction that dark matter exerts.

Comments [0] Listen Add to Playlist

Comments [0] Listen Add to Playlist

This was a busy week for space news watchers. The GLAST gamma-ray space observatory blasted off, the International Astronomical Union dubbed dwarf planets "plutoids" in honor of the once-planet Pluto, and the Phoenix Mars Lander scooped up Martian dirt. The Takeaway goes behind these headlines with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium and host of NOVA ScienceNOW.

Comments [0] Listen Add to Playlist

The Phoenix Mars Lander launched Aug. 4, 2007, in a quest to find life on Mars. After a 10-month journey, the lander successfully touched down on the planet's northern polar surface last night. CNN's technology and environment correspondent Miles O'Brien has been at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory since Friday. He joins us live from Pasadena, Calif.

Pictured: The Phoenix Lander's Delta 2 launch vehicle taking off; an artist's rendering of the lander itself, and one of the very first images sent back from the lander this morning after its successful touchdown last night.

Comments [0] Listen Add to Playlist

For the first time, scientists have witnessed the birth of a supernova. Heidi Hammel with the Space Science Institute tells us more.

On the left: 'Before' images show a previously known supernova, SN 2007uy, in galaxy NGC 2770.

On the right: An X-ray image taken on January 9, 2008, captures a moment of a 5-minute-long burst, indicating the creation of a new supernova, SN 2008D. The exploded star became visible to regular photography a few days later.

Image credit: NASA/Swift Science Team/Stefan Immler

Comments [0] Listen Add to Playlist