Space & Astronomy News

LOS ANGELES - A Seattle team has collected a $900,000 prize in a NASA-backed competition to develop the concept of an elevator to space — an idea spurred by science fiction novels. Full Story »

A small chunk of space trash made an uncomfortably close pass by the International Space Station late Friday, but not close enough to force the astronauts aboard to take shelter in their Russian lifeboats. Full Story »

A Seattle-based team has won $900,000 in this year's Space Elevator Games, a NASA-sponsored contest to build machines powered by laser beams that can climb a cable in the sky. Full Story »

When a NASA spacecraft rammed into the moon in October, it tossed up a hard-to-see plume of lunar material. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US space probe MESSENGER's third and final fly-by of the planet Mercury in September revealed an almost complete view of the solar system's smallest planet, leaving only the polar regions to be surveyed, NASA said. Full Story »

A small piece of space junk will fly uncomfortably close to the International Space Station late Friday and may force astronauts aboard the outpost to take shelter in their Russian lifeboats. Full Story »

WASHINGTON - A former top NASA official was sentenced Friday to three years probation, six months of electronic monitoring and a $2,500 fine for steering contract money to a private client. Full Story »

Pull me up, Scotty. At least one team has qualified for part of a $2 million prize up for grabs in this year's Space Elevator Games, a NASA-sponsored contest to build machines that can climb a cable in the sky � precursors for a futuristic transit system to space. Full Story »

One of the greatest mysteries of astronomy is the problem of the missing mass: All of the matter scientists can see in the universe accounts for only a small percent of the observed gravity. Full Story »

Space explorers have yet to get their hands on the replicator of "Star Trek" to create anything they might require. But NASA has developed a technology that could enable lunar colonists to carry out on-site manufacturing on the moon, or allow future astronauts to create critical spare parts during the long trip to Mars. Full Story »

The supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, one of the youngest in our galaxy and one that has long puzzled astronomers, is likely a dense type of star called a neutron star swathed in a carbon atmosphere, a new study finds. Full Story »

Striking new photos of water-vapor geysers erupting from Saturn's moon Enceladus were beamed to Earth this week by NASA's Cassini spacecraft in orbit around the ringed planet. Full Story »

LONDON (AFP) - The X-ray was on Wednesday named the most important modern scientific achievement in a poll conducted for the Science Museum, beating Apollo spacecraft and DNA. Full Story »

SANTIAGO (AFP) - Astronomers in Chile and Japan have for the first time seen part of the "cosmic web" of galaxies that permeates the known universe in a gigantic assembly some seven billion light-years from Earth. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Tuesday it is now tracking 800 maneuverable satellites on a daily basis for possible collisions and expects to add 500 more non-maneuvering satellites by year's end. Full Story »

PARIS (AFP) - A satellite sent into orbit to study the effects of global warming has successfully deployed three antenna arms that will track the oceans, the European Space Agency said Tuesday. Full Story »

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - A California-based firm was named winner of a one-million-dollar prize backed by US space agency NASA to design a craft capable of a lunar landing, a statement said Tuesday. Full Story »

A NASA spacecraft has spotted what appears to be changing seasons on Mercury and found much more iron on the surface of the small, rocky planet than previously thought. Full Story »