Apollo 16 astronaut Charlie Duke collects lunar samples during EVA on April 23, 1972 (NASA)

New investigations of lunar samples collected during the Apollo missions have revealed origins from beyond the Earth-Moon system, supporting a hypothesis of ancient cataclysmic bombardment for both worlds.

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Read the rest of A New Look at Apollo Samples Supports Ancient Impact Theory (588 words)

© Jason Major for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: Apollo, chondrite, chondrules, Earth, impact, JSC, LPI, lunar, lunar cataclysm, Meteorites, rocks

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NASA recommends an artifact boundary extending 75 m from the Apollo 11 lunar module descent stage. Photo credit: NASA

Don’t say you haven’t been warned. NASA put out an official document today specifying how close any future spacecraft and astronauts visiting the Moon can come to the artifacts left on the Moon by all US space missions, including the Apollo landing sites, any robotic landing sites like Surveyor and impact sites like LCROSS.

While these recommendations are not mandatory (there’s obviously no way to enforce this yet) the document states, “rather, it is offered to inform lunar spacecraft mission planners interested in helping preserve and protect lunar historic artifacts and potential science opportunities for future missions.”
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Read the rest of Going to the Moon? Don’t Touch the Historical Artifacts, NASA Says (258 words)

© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | One comment |
Post tags: China, Google Lunar X PRIZE, Moon, NASA

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Early today, SpaceX’s Dragon capsule successfully flew near the International Space Station and completed two big tests of its in-space capabilities, all critical tests for tomorrow’s big event: the first berthing of a commercial spacecraft to the ISS. As Dragon approached, astronaut Don Pettit spied the spacecraft first. “I think I can see it now,” he said, and Mission Control in Houston radioed back, “Copy that. Tally ho Dragon!”

With the successes today, NASA has given SpaceX a “go” for berthing activities on Friday, May 25.
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Read the rest of Tally Ho Dragon! (521 words)

© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: Commercial Space, Dragon capsule, Space Station, SpaceX

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A montage of Venus images from January to May 2012. Credit: Efrain Morales

Wow! Take a look at how Venus has changed in the night sky the past five months!

“The Planet Venus, The Roman goddess of love and beauty and the closest planet to us — especially now just as it gets closest — will transit across the Sun soon,” said astrophotographer Efrain Morales. “This sequence is a five month transition showing its size continuing to grow and its crescent getting thinner as time progresses.” Venus’ transit of the Sun will be on June 5/6, 2012, depending on your location. This won’t happen again in your lifetime, so don’t miss this opportunity.

Click on the image for a larger version to see all the details. Check out Efrain’s website and Flickr page for more astrophotos.

Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Flickr group or send us your images by email (this means you’re giving us permission to post them). Please explain what’s in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.

© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: Astrophotos, Venus

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SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket lifts off, sending the Dragon capsule on the first commercial cargo flight to the International Space Station. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com).

© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: Commercial Space, Dragon capsule, Space Station, SpaceX

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An active region on the Sun, processed in an unusual -- and accidental -- process. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center.

Images and video from the Solar Dynamics Observatory have shown us that the fury of the Sun can be mesmerizingly beautiful. SDO has allowed us to see loops of plasma in various wavelengths, coils of magnetic fields that are invisible to human eyes, and so much more. And then, sometimes, happy accidents happen, creating beautiful images just for beauty’s sake. The teams at Goddard Space Flight Center’s Multimedia Center are wizards at honing SDO’s raw data into works of art, and video producer Scott Wiessinger sent a note today to say he accidentally happened across a “really neat Photoshop effect,” that while not really useful scientifically, is rather beautiful and fun to watch. “There isn’t any science behind this video, it’s just a nice ‘moment of zen,’” he said.

The video is below.
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Read the rest of The Zen of the Sun (110 words)

© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 2 comments |
Post tags: Goddard Space Flight Center, Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), sun

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ISS research finds plasma has killing power against some of the nastiest of critters

It might sound obvious to anyone who’s ever played a video game in the past thirty years, but plasma has been found to be very effective at destroying some truly dangerous beasts. Except in this case, the battlefields aren’t space bases, they’re hospitals… and the creatures aren’t CGI alien monsters, they’re very real — and very dangerous — bacteria right here on Earth.

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Read the rest of How Plasma Technology From Space Will Save Our Lives (374 words)

© Jason Major for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 8 comments |
Post tags: bacteria, DLR, Dr. Morfill, esa, health, ISS, Max Planck, MRSA, plasma, staph, sterilize, Technology

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Carnival of Space. Image by Jason Major.

This milestone Carnival of Space (#250!) is hosted by Amy Shira Teitel her blog, Vintage Space

Click here to read Carnival of Space #250.

And if you’re interested in looking back, here’s an archive to all the past Carnivals of Space. If you’ve got a space-related blog, you should really join the carnival. Just email an entry to carnivalofspace@gmail.com, and the next host will link to it. It will help get awareness out there about your writing, help you meet others in the space community – and community is what blogging is all about. And if you really want to help out, sign up to be a host. Send an email to the above address.

© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: Carnival of Space

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The Earth from SpaceX Dragon cargo vehicle after May 22, 2012 blast off. Credit: SpaceX

All systems are functioning nominally aboard the Earth orbiting Dragon cargo carrier launched yesterday, May 22, atop the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

SpaceX has released the picture above of the Earth as seen by a thermal imager that Dragon will use in its upcoming approach to the International Space Station. (...)
Read the rest of SpaceX Dragon Spies Earth (117 words)

© Ken Kremer for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 42 comments |
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Opportunity's shadow aims eastward to the rim of Endeavour crater

The rover Opportunity captured a view into Endeavour crater as a low Sun cast a long shadow in this image, acquired back on March 9.

Endeavour is a large crater — 14 miles (22 km) wide, it’s about the same area as the city of Seattle. Opportunity arrived at its edge in August of 2011 after several years of driving across the Meridiani Plains.

Opportunity is currently the only operational manmade object on the surface of Mars… or any other planet besides Earth, for that matter. It’s a distinction it will hold until the arrival of Mars Science Laboratory at Gale Crater this August.

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Read the rest of Opportunity Gets a View From The Edge (158 words)

© Jason Major for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 3 comments |
Post tags: Endeavour, JPL, Mars, NASA, Opportunity, Rover, shadow

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