Rosetta Success

After ten years in space, Europe's Rosetta probe has rendezvoused with a comet, beaming back wonderful, close-up pictures of the comet's head.

In November, a lander from Rosetta is scheduled to touch down on the comet.

Life May Take Two

A new study argues that having other planets outside a planet in the habitable zone of a red dwarf star can lengthen the time such a world can support life.  Red dwarfs are the most common and longest-lived stars in the universe.

Outer planets would gravitationally interact with the one in the habitable zone, heating it with internal friction and keeping it geologically active.  That's important, as geologically dead worlds cannot support life.

SpaceX To Brownsville

SpaceX will build the world's first private, commercial space launch facility near Brownsville, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley.

Along with Florida's Atlantic Coast and South Point on the Big Island of Hawaii, the Texas Gulf Coast is among the prime locations for spaceports in the United States.  They are all about as close to the equator as you can get in America, and all allow for launches to the east-- with the Earth's rotation-- over open water, so if there's a problem during launch, the rocket can be safely ditched.

Io's Volcanoes

A year ago this month, Jupiter's moon Io was rocked by three huge volcanic eruptions, among the most powerful yet observed on Io.  They didn't explode from mountains, but rather up through miles long cracks in the surface, creating what would have been a truly hellish scene.

The study detailing those events is currently being published.

Ranger 7

Fifty years ago, NASA's Ranger 7 crashed into the Moon after transmitting back to Earth the best pictures yet of the lunar surface.

The Ranger series was designed to be the scouts for Apollo, photographing the lunar surface and identifying possible sites for manned landings.

Riding On Quantum Physics?

Research teams in China and within NASA seemingly have supported a British researcher who says he has built a space propulsion system that doesn't use propellants.  Such a space drive could open not interplanetary but interstellar flight to humanity.

Scientists aren't sure yet exactly how the system works, but the radio frequency of the electric pulse used may somehow interact with particles at the quantum level.

Mining Oxygen

NASA's next Mars rover will study rocks and cache rock samples for eventual transport to Earth, but it will also attempt to distill oxygen from the Martian atmosphere.

Demonstrating that capability would be a major step towards putting humans on Mars.