Space Tourism, Space Transport and Space Exploration News

February 21, 2013

NASA Rover Confirms First Drilled Mars Rock Sample
Pasadena CA (JPL) Feb 21, 2013
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has relayed new images that confirm it has successfully obtained the first sample ever collected from the interior of a rock on another planet. No rover has ever drilled into a rock beyond Earth and collected a sample from its interior. Transfer of the powdered-rock sample into an open scoop was visible for the first time in images received Wednesday at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Seeing the powder from the drill in the scoop allows us to veri ... read more

Previous Issues

Feb 20

Feb 19

Feb 18

Feb 15

Feb 14

Space likely for rare earths search, scientists say The quest for rare earths vital to some of modern life's most indispensable technologies may see mining robots jet to the stars within decades, a world-first conference in Australia was told Wednesday. ... more		Searching for a Pale Blue SPHERE in the Universe The Planetary Habitability Laboratory (PHL) is now searching for Earth-like worlds. The PHL maintains the Habitable Exoplanets Catalog (HEC) in which exoplanets discoveries are classified and compar ... more		NASA Seeks University Participants for Summer Rocket Workshop University faculty and students interested in learning how to build scientific experiments for spaceflight are invited to join RockOn 2013 from June 15-20 at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virgin ... more
				Cassini Sheds Light On Cosmic Particle Accelerators During a chance encounter with an unusually strong blast of solar wind arriving at Saturn, the international Cassini spacecraft detected particles being accelerated to ultra-high energies, similar t ... more		Start Me Up! NASA engineers conducted the first in a new round of tests on the next-generation J-2X rocket engine Feb. 15 at Stennis Space Center. The 35-second test continued progress in development of the engi ... more

CubeSats, SmallSats and MicroSats

NASA Awards Final Space Launch System Advanced Booster Contract NASA has selected Aerojet of Sacramento, Calif., for a $23.3 million contract to develop engineering demonstrations and risk reduction concepts for future advanced boosters for the agency's Space La ... more		NASA plant study headed to space station NASA engineers say they're working on a habitat to learn the effects on plants of long-duration microgravity exposure in space. ... more		India signs $7 bn deal for 97 domestically made fighter jets France doubles down on threat to build future fighter jet alone US approves $1.2 bn missile sale to Germany		Rover finds gray rock beneath Red Planet's surface So much for Mars being "The Red Planet." ... more
				Asteroid Steins' hidden gems ESA's Rosetta spacecraft snapped images of asteroid Steins as it flew by the diamond-shaped asteroid on 5 September 2008 revealing a tiny world with a big history of collisions. The images wer ... more		Temporary Comm Loss Interrupts Crew's Day The Expedition 34 crew completed a bevy of science and maintenance tasks Tuesday despite a temporary loss of communications between the International Space Station and the ground. Communicatio ... more

Solar systems for home and business installations

..

And it's 3... 2... 1... blastoff! Discover the thrill of a real-life rocket launch.

Visit The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex

Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

Radar Movie of Asteroid 2012 DA14 An initial sequence of radar images of asteroid 2012 DA14 was obtained on the night of Feb. 15/16, 2013, by NASA scientists using the 230-foot (70-meter) Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, Cal ... more		Asteroid 2012 DA14 Speeds Away From Earth On February 15, asteroid 2012 DA14 passed extraordinarily close to the Earth. Unlike the unexpected asteroid collision over Russia that day, this encounter never presented any danger, but astronomer ... more		Simulations of Exoplanet Formation May Help Inform Search for Extraterrestrial Life Ancient hot springs reveal how microbes thrived before Earth gained oxygen Framework proposed to study planetary scale impact of life		How Do We Know the Russian Meteor and 2012 DA14 Aren't Related? So how can we tell that the Russian meteor isn't related to asteroid 2012 DA14? One way is to look at meteor showers - the Orionids all have similar orbits to their parent comet, Halley. Simi ... more
				NASA briefly loses contact with space station The International Space Station briefly lost contact with ground controllers on Tuesday because of a computer problem, but its commander said the crew was fine, NASA said. ... more		Bleach could hamper Mars life search A martian meteorite frozen in antarctic ice suggests we may need to dig deeper into Mars to search for traces of past life, U.S. researchers say. ... more

NASA Seeks University Participants for Summer Rocket Workshop

Another Sea Launch Failure

ILS Concludes Yamal 402 Proton Launch Investigation

NASA Rover Confirms First Drilled Mars Rock Sample

Rover finds gray rock beneath Red Planet's surface

Bleach could hamper Mars life search

Building a lunar base with 3D printing

US, Europe team up for moon fly-by

Russia to Launch Lunar Mission in 2015

Public to vote on names for Pluto moons

The PI's Perspective: The Seven-Year Itch

New Horizons Gets a New Year's Workout

	Russia to launch bioscience satellite A Russian satellite that will conduct biological experiments in space and its launch rocket have been delivered to the Baikonur space center, officials said. ... more		At the mouth of the red valley ESA's Mars Express took a high-resolution stereo image on 13 January of the southeast corner of the Amenthes Planum region on Mars, near to Palos crater and the mouth of a well-known sinuous valley, ... more		NASA Spinoff 2012 Features New Space Tech Bettering Your Life Today A plant texts a farmer to say it needs more water. An invisible coating scrubs pollutants from the air. A robot roams a hospital's halls, aiding doctors and nurses by recording vital signs and regis ... more		Antares Engine Test Aborted; New Date TBD The planned first stage propulsion system "hot fire" test of Orbital's new Antares medium-class rocket was halted in the final seconds of the countdown by the rocket's flight computer, which detecte ... more

Uranium enrichment: Why Iran refuses to step back

Redwire to Deliver Solar Array Wings for Axiom Station's First Module

Germany's Merz rejects claims he is slowing green shift

Scientists turn eyes toward Europa in search for life		The quest for a better bionic hand		Brain prostheses create a sense of touch		Robots with lift		NASA's MAVEN Mission Completes Assembly
Asteroid whizzes safely past Earth		Welcome Aboard Shenzhou 10		Telescopes Could Detect ET Life Signs Within 25 Years		Magnetic shielding of ion beam thruster walls		Orion Lands Safely on Two of Three Parachutes in Test

Getting the Right Spin on a Close-Passing Asteroid

Comet dust seeding life to Jupiter moons?

Low-Gravity Flights Will Aid ISS Fluids and Combustion Experiments

Humans and robots work better together following cross-training

Dry ice vacuum cleaner robot bound for Fukushima

Gas explosions enable soft robot to jump

ILS Concludes Yamal 402 Proton Launch Investigation

NASA Set for New Round Of J-2X Testing at Stennis Space Center

Mars Rock Takes Unusual Form

Rover Walkabout Continues at Cape York

Another Sea Launch Failure

Insect drives robot to track down smells

Earth-like planets are right next door

Satellite undergoes extreme testing

In milestone, Mars rover collects first bedrock sample

Ariane 5 delivers record payload off back-to-back launches this week

Can we live farther away from the Sun

Eutelsat and Arianespace sign new multi-year multiple launch services agreement

No asteroid risk in foreseeable future

Alphasat experiences heaven on Earth

Free Newsletters - Space - Defense - Environment - Energy

Buy Advertising

Media Advertising Kit

Editorial & Other Enquiries

Privacy statement

The contents herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2013 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy statement