nasa

NASA hacker won't face prosecution in U.K.

NASA hacker Gary McKinnon will face no legal action in the U.K.

The Crown Prosecution Service has decided the appropriate jurisdiction for the McKinnon case is the U.S., after discussing the case with the U.S. Department of Justice and the police.

U.S. authorities started their bid to extradite McKinnon in 2005, accusing him of causing hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage by hacking into NASA and military systems. McKinnon admitted to the intrusion in 2002 but claimed he was looking for evidence of UFO activity.

But U.S. requests for his extradition were formally turned down … Read more

NASA releases Mayan calendar 'told ya so' video 10 days early

NASA is pretty confident the world is not going to end in the next 10 days, regardless of what the Mayan calendar or alleged rogue planet Nibiru might have to say about it.

Recently, NASA scientists gathered for a Google Hangout to debunk the multiple end-of-world theories alleged to transpire later this month. NASA even put together a YouTube video titled "Why the World Didn't End Yesterday" clearly meant to be released on December 22, after the winter solstice doomsday the day before. … Read more

Where to watch the huge Toutatis asteroid cruise by

We're coming close to the doomsday of Mayan calendar/Nibiru lore and there's a huge, mountain-size asteroid in the neighborhood of Earth this week. Coincidence?

Of course it is. Sorry, apocalypse fans. The 3.4-mile-long asteroid known as 4179 Toutatis will pass within 18 lunar distances of Earth on Wednesday, December 12, but won't require sending Steve Buscemi, Ben Affleck and friends to take it out. … Read more

Google Maps lets users explore NASA's 'Black Marble'

Google Maps is now letting users explore Earth's far-reaching lands filled with flickering lights using imagery from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's "Black Marble."

The Web giant announced the launch of its own Earth at Night today, which is a global view and animation of the images taken from NASA and NOAA's jointly operated Suomi NPP satellite. These series of images show what the Earth looks like from space once the sun sets.

"It took 312 orbits to get a clear shot of every parcel of Earth's land surface and … Read more

Moon to become next hot vacation destination?

I feel sorry for all those suckers who blew $20 million and only got a lousy trip to the International Space Station. If they had held out, they might have had an opportunity to invest many more millions on a trip to the moon.

Golden Spike Company announced yesterday a venture to launch commercial voyages to the moon by 2020. Of course, this sort of experience doesn't come cheap. Golden Spike is expecting a trip to cost $1.5 billion per flight. … Read more

Bask in Earth's nighttime glow as seen from space

When the skies darken and the lights flicker on, the areas of Earth we populate gain a surreal glow that traces our existence in a breathtaking way.

A new series of photos released by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's jointly-operated Suomi NPP satellite gives us a clearer view than ever before at our illuminated world during nighttime. Perhaps you could compare the view to a series of electrified blood vessels and arteries. … Read more

Year in space challenging but doable, astronaut says

When astronaut Scott Kelly told his 9-year-old daughter he was going to spend a full year aboard the International Space Station, she exclaimed "awesome!"

When cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko told his wife the same thing, "she started crying."

But both men said Wednesday they were looking forward to blasting off in March 2015 and spending a full year in orbit, serving as medical guinea pigs to help scientists learn more about the long-term physical and psychological impacts of extended, confined flights in the weightless environment of space.

"I personally think our ultimate destination, at least for … Read more

NASA announces plans for new $1.5 billion Mars rover

In an ongoing effort to restructure its Mars exploration program in the wake of deep budget cuts announced earlier this year, NASA announced plans Tuesday to send a new $1.5 billion rover to the red planet in 2020 based on the design of the agency's hugely successful Curiosity.

The as-yet-unnamed rover is the second new Mars mission announced in the wake of the budget cuts that will be built using already-existing designs, a money-saving architecture agency officials say is more in line with current funding reality.

"The challenge to restructure the Mars Exploration Program has turned from … Read more

11 billion miles out, Voyager 1 nears interstellar space

NASA's aging Voyager 1 probe, 35 years and 11 billion miles outbound from Earth, has crossed into an unexpected, exceedingly remote region of the solar system that may represent the spacecraft's final step before leaving the sun's influence and moving into the vast realm of interstellar space.

The region is believed to be a sort of "magnetic highway" allowing high-energy charged particles from ancient supernova explosions to move into the sun's sphere of influence and for lower-energy particles to move out into deep space.

"This is really another exciting step in the Voyager … Read more

Mars rover finds simple organics, but results not yet conclusive

Despite widespread speculation about a potentially significant discovery on Mars, the Curiosity rover's first detailed look at a Martian soil sample with an instrument capable of detecting organic compounds hasn't found any "definitive" signs of materials that play key roles in biological processes on Earth, scientists said Monday.

While the rover's Sample Analysis at Mars, or SAM, instrument detected signs of an oxygen-chlorine compound -- perchlorate -- and trace amounts of chlorinated methane compounds, which contain carbon, researchers say more tests are needed to make sure the carbon originated with the sample and was not … Read more