Mars is a very harsh and hostile environment for future human explorers and like any other known planet it has no breathable air. That could change someday, and it may be soon enough for our…

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is the audit, evaluation, and investigative arm of Congress, which exists to support Congress in meeting its constitutional responsibilities and to help…

Auroras are the most visible manifestation of the sun's effect on Earth, but many aspects of these spectacular displays are still poorly understood. One particular type of very high-latitude aurora…

In 2009, researchers detected methane on Mars, suggesting the planet may be biologically or geologically active.  Now NASA's Mars Curiosity rover has measured a tenfold spike in methane in the…

With just under 4 years until its planned launch in October 2018, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) project reports it remains on schedule and budget. However, technical challenges with JWST…

"Watch therefore, for ye know not the day nor the hour," could be still an actual description of our ability to predict asteroid threats to Earth. The sentence from the Bible (Matthew 25:13) sound…

Researchers from Imperial College London and the University of Barcelona have used data from astronomical surveys to measure a standard distance that is central to our understanding of the expansion…

Titan is Saturn's largest moon and the only planetary body outside Venus, Earth and Mars to have fields of wind-blown dunes on its surface. Saturn and Titan orbit about ten times farther from the sun…

Undiscovered Worlds and Pale Blue Dots May 9th 2015 will see the inauguration of Cornell University's new Institute for Pale Blue Dots.  Details here. The first image of a "pale blue dot" was…

Why does the new space craft look like a capsule?  The simple fact is that between a capsule and a space plane like the shuttle, a capsule is the better vehicle for a direct return trip from…