No methane, but evidence for a far thicker Martian atmosphere
Isotope ratios suggest that lots of Mars' atmosphere escaped into space.
Space / Ars Disciplines
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Martian methane mystery set to be cleared up by Curiosity
Later today, the rover's science team will tell us if something's in the air.
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Curiosity's first chem test: Sands of Mars taste a lot like volcano
Rover samples the rock garden, finds materials similar to those in Hawaii.
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Feature Story
Going boldly: Behind the scenes at NASA's hallowed Mission Control Center
Apollo vet Sy Liebergot shows Ars how NASA got men safely to the Moon and back.
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Apollo Flight Controller 101: Every console explained
Your handy reference to each station in the Apollo Mission Control room.
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Superluminous supernovae spotted in the early Universe
Explosions triggered by light being converted into matter/antimatter particles.
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A quick 6hr trip from space
Welcome back: SpaceX Dragon capsule splashes down in the Pacific
SpaceX's first operational mission to ISS—part of its NASA agreement—concludes.
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More than one way to smash the Earth and build our Moon
Scientists try to identify a way to form the Moon, and find two.
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X-rays highlight the power source produced by a supernova
Radioactivity from unstable titanium powers the afterglow of supernova 1987a.
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Exoplanet found right next door in Alpha Centauri
May be roughly Earth-sized, but blazingly hot.
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LEAP OF FAITH
Skydiver breaks speed of sound after jumping from edge of space
Jumping 24 miles above earth, daredevil reaches speed of 833 mph, both potential records.
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Large asteroid Vesta once had molten core, magnetic field
Meteor from Vesta's surface shows a protoplanet with magnetic history.
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New telescope array reveals death spiral of old star
ALMA telescopes found unexpected structures in the gas shed by a dying star.
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SpaceX Dragon capsule berths with space station
Dragon spacecraft will remain docked for a few weeks before bringing back cargo.
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Flight Patterns
SpaceX's Dragon approaches the ISS tomorrow morning
The commercial craft will do a delicate tango with the Space Station.
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UPDATED 1:45 Eastern
That smooth SpaceX launch? Turns out one of the engines came apart
Video shows craft continuing to orbit after burst of flame, falling debris.
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Blast-off
SpaceX launch goes smoothly, first operational station flight reaches orbit
It's the first of 12 potential cargo missions under a $1.6B contract with NASA.
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Space junk could be hunted down by harpoon-firing satellites
Shot from dedicated "chaser satellites" would patrol orbits around the Earth.
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Engine in development could cut Mars travel time to three months
Fusion reactor would use deuterium and lithium-6 crystals.
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Fast-moving star is the closest yet to the Milky Way's black hole
Motion of stars could provide new test regime for general relativity.
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Inbound OOrtling
Recently spotted comet may provide once-in-a-lifetime show
Will come within 1.4 million kilometers of the surface of the Sun.
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Curiosity finds ancient stream bed on Mars
Water was "somewhere between ankle and hip deep."
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First images of particle jets at edge of a supermassive black hole
Thanks to the Event Horizon Telescope, see matter being swallowed in the M87 galaxy.
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Staff Blog
Presidents—and would-be presidents—can't resist meddling with NASA
Romney would be latest in long tradition of misusing NASA for political gain.
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Evidence for hydrogen and water on Vesta hints at planetoid's past
Surface features similar to some on Mars bolster Vesta's planet-like nature
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