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News Archive: April 1-15 |
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Controllers working to keep Ulysses sun orbiter alive
Scientists continue to extract bits of data trickling to Earth from the Ulysses solar probe as ground controllers employ new strategies to extend the life of the 17-year-old spacecraft, including a "long shot" plan to put the observatory in hibernation until the sun's activity reaches its
next peak in 2013.
 FULL STORY
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The drifting star
By examining the "ringing" of a planet-harboring star, a team of astronomers has shown that it has drifted away from its original birthplace, providing important information about the dynamics of our Milky Way and theories of star and planet formation.
FULL STORY
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The coolest brown dwarf
An international team of astronomers has discovered the coldest brown dwarf ever observed, bringing scientists one step closer to bridging the gap between stars and planets.
FULL STORY
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Atlas 5 rocket puts up mobile services satellite
Thundering out of Cape Canaveral on its first commercial flight in two years and carrying its heaviest payload ever, an Atlas 5 rocket on Monday afternoon successfully launched a mobile communications satellite to assist and entertain Americans on the go.
FULL STORY
MISSION STATUS CENTER - live updates!
LAUNCH EVENTS TIMELINE
GROUND TRACK MAP
IMAGES: LAUNCH AS SEEN FROM PAD CAMERAS
IMAGES: LAUNCH AS SEEN FROM PRESS SITE
IMAGES: SUNDAY'S ROLLOUT TO LAUNCH PAD
IMAGES: ROCKET ASSEMBLY PHOTOS
IMAGES: ICO G1 SATELLITE
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Additional coverage for subscribers:
 VIDEO:
ATLAS 5 LAUNCHES ICO G1 AS SEEN FROM PRESS SITE PLAY
VIDEO:
SPECTATORS AT PRESS SITE VIEW THE LAUNCH PLAY
VIDEO:
WIDE VIEW OF LAUNCH PLAY
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Milky Way's giant black hole awoke 300 years ago
A team of Japanese astronomers using NASA, ESA and Japanese X-ray satellites has discovered that our galaxy's central black hole let loose a powerful flare three centuries ago.
FULL STORY
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NASA extends Cassini's grand tour of Saturn
NASA is extending the international Cassini-Huygens mission by two years. The historic spacecraft's stunning discoveries and images have revolutionized our knowledge of Saturn and its moons.
FULL STORY
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No hope of saving wayward DISH Network satellite
The owners of a television broadcasting satellite stranded in a lower-than-planned orbit during last month's failed Proton rocket launch announced Friday they have declared the craft a total loss.
FULL STORY
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Mars-bound spacecraft fine turns course for landing
NASA engineers have adjusted the flight path of the Phoenix Mars Lander, setting the spacecraft on course for its May 25 landing on the Red Planet. It was the first trajectory maneuver targeting a specific location in the northern polar region for the touchdown.
FULL STORY
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Hubble pinpoints record-breaking explosion
Peering across 7.5 billion light-years and halfway back to the Big Bang, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has photographed the fading optical counterpart of a powerful gamma ray burst that holds the record for being the intrinsically brightest naked-eye object ever seen from Earth. For nearly a minute this single star was as bright as 10 million galaxies.
FULL STORY
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Delta 4-Heavy rocket on the pad for late July blastoff
Preparations for the next launch of America's largest unmanned rocket are underway at Cape Canaveral's Complex 37 following the recent rollout of the Delta 4-Heavy vehicle from its assembly hangar.
FULL STORY
PANORAMAS: INSIDE THE DELTA HANGAR
IMAGES: ROCKET READIED TO MOVE
IMAGES: ROLLOUT TO LAUNCH PAD
IMAGES: ROCKET RAISED UPRIGHT
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New crew arrives at station after smooth docking
Commander Sergei Volkov, son of a famed Russian cosmonaut, deftly guided the Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft to a successful docking with the international space station Thursday to complete a two-day chase that started with blastoff Tuesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
FULL STORY
MISSION STATUS CENTER
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Spacecraft images Mars moon in color and in 3D
A new stereo view of Phobos, the larger and inner of Mars' two tiny moons, has been captured by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft.
FULL STORY
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NASA sets sights on lunar dust exploration mission
NASA is preparing to send a small spacecraft to the moon in 2011 to assess the lunar atmosphere and the nature of dust lofted above the surface.
FULL STORY
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New laser technology could find first Earth-like planets
The leading method of finding planets orbiting distant stars spots mostly Jupiter-sized worlds. Technology limitations make it difficult to detect smaller planets. But that is about to change.
FULL STORY
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Station's next resident crew launches into orbit
Two rookie Russian cosmonauts and South Korea's first astronaut rocketed into space Tuesday, riding aboard a Soyuz capsule in pursuit of the international space station. Liftoff from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan occurred on schedule at 7:16 a.m. EDT (1116 GMT).
FULL STORY
MISSION STATUS CENTER
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Additional coverage for subscribers:
VIDEO:
FULL LENGTH EXPEDITION 17 LAUNCH MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO:
LAUNCH OF EXPEDITION 17 ABOARD THE SOYUZ ROCKET PLAY
VIDEO:
HIGHLIGHTS OF CREW'S LAUNCH DAY PREPS PLAY
VIDEO:
VIEW OF PROGRESS 28P'S REENTRY ON MONDAY PLAY
VIDEO:
PROGRESS 28P SUPPLY SHIP UNDOCKS FROM STATION PLAY
VIDEO:
GANTRY TOWERS ENCLOSE SOYUZ ROCKET AT THE PAD PLAY
VIDEO:
SOYUZ ROCKET ROLLED OUT TO BAIKONUR LAUNCH PAD PLAY
VIDEO:
ASSEMBLY OF THE SOYUZ LAUNCH VEHICLE COMPLETED PLAY
VIDEO:
CREW'S ACTIVITIES AT BAIKONUR PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3
VIDEO:
EXPEDITION 17 MISSION PREVIEW BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO:
EXPEDITION 17 CREW PRE-FLIGHT NEWS BRIEFING PLAY
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Laplace & Tandem vie for Cosmic Visions top-spot
Two missions to the outer Solar System, Laplace (Europa and Jupiter Mission) and Tandem (Titan and Enceladus Mission), are competing against each other for selection later this year; Emily Baldwin summarises the key goals of each ambitious mission.
FULL STORY
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Craft reboots the search for active volcanoes on Venus
ESA's Venus Express has measured a highly variable quantity of the volcanic gas sulphur dioxide in the atmosphere of Venus. Scientists must now decide whether this is evidence for active volcanoes on Venus, or linked to a hitherto unknown mechanism affecting the upper atmosphere.
FULL STORY
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Hubble sees exploding star
The latest image from the Hubble Space Telescope reveals a sharp view of the spiral galaxy NGC 2397. This image also shows a rare Hubble view of the late stages of a supernova - SN 2006bc, discovered in March 2006.
FULL STORY
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'Focused' solar flares get millions of degrees hotter
A NASA-funded researcher has discovered that solar flares -- explosions in the atmosphere of the sun -- get much hotter when they stay "focused" and devote all their energy to heating, allowing them to become millions of degrees hotter.
FULL STORY
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Black hole found in enigmatic Omega Centauri
Omega Centauri has been known as an unusual globular cluster for a long time. A new result obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope and the Gemini Observatory reveals that the explanation behind Omega Centauri's peculiarities may be a black hole hidden in its center. One implication of the discovery is that it is very likely that Omega Centauri is not a globular cluster at all.
FULL STORY
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New cargo freighter safely docks to space station
Europe's Jules Verne spaceship glided into port at the international space station Thursday, delivering more than 10,000 pounds of supplies to the complex and completing nearly a month of testing to prove the craft's revolutionary navigation system worked.
FULL STORY - updated
PREVIEW STORY
DOCKING TIMELINE
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Additional coverage for subscribers:
VIDEO:
NARRATED PREVIEW OF THE RENDEZVOUS AND DOCKING PLAY
VIDEO:
RENDEZVOUS BRINGS SHIP TO POINT 820 FEET AWAY PLAY
VIDEO:
JULES VERNE APPROACHES TO 62 FEET FROM STATION PLAY
VIDEO:
FREIGHTER FLIES TO FINAL HOLD POINT AT 36 FEET PLAY
VIDEO:
SPACECRAFT SUCCESSFULLY DOCKS TO SPACE STATION PLAY
VIDEO:
POST-DOCKING NEWS CONFERENCE FROM HOUSTON PLAY
MORE:
VIDEO COVERAGE OF JULES VERNE
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Next GPS satellite arrives at Florida spaceport for launch
The penultimate satellite in the current generation of Global Positioning System spacecraft was airborne Thursday morning, jetting from its Lockheed Martin factory in Pennsylvania to the Florida launch site.
FULL STORY
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Meteor showers observed in the Martian atmosphere
A storm of shooting stars has, for the first time, been detected in the Martian atmosphere by a team of scientists based at the Armagh Observatory using data from the Mars Global Surveyor probe.
FULL STORY
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Spinning stars make astronomers dizzy
Fast spinning, massive stars have shown that the way in which gases are mixed inside them isn't as simple as had been assumed, according to a new study involving the Very Large Telescope at the European Southern Observatory in Chile, and presented at the RAS National Astronomy Meeting.
FULL STORY
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Embryonic planet imaged around young star
The youngest planet ever to be seen has been captured in its earliest stage of formation in a disc of gas and rocky debris around a star 520 light years away.
FULL STORY
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10 new planets discovered outside our solar system
An international team of astronomers has found 10 new "extra solar" planets, planets that orbit stars other than our sun. The team used a system of robotic cameras that yield a great deal of information about these other worlds, some of which are quite exotic.
FULL STORY
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NASA scientists identify smallest known black hole
Using a new technique, two NASA scientists have identified the lightest known black hole. With a mass only about 3.8 times greater than our Sun and a diameter of only about 15 miles, the black hole lies very close to the minimum size predicted for black holes that originate from dying stars.
FULL STORY
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Two new star systems are first of their kind ever found
Astronomers have spied a faraway star system that is so unusual, it was one of a kind -- until its discovery helped them pinpoint a second one that was much closer to home.
FULL STORY
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Read our earlier news archive page.
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