http://cache.io9.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png http://io9.com/tag/space exploration http://io9.com/tag/space exploration

While most proposals for future space exploration involve trips to the Moon or Mars, we don't actually have to land anywhere to break new ground. This plan would establish an outpost further from Earth than any human has ever gone. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5884475&view=rss&microfeed=true

Two months before Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon, Apollo 10 completed the final test mission, doing everything except land on the Moon. Now amateur astronomers are looking for Apollo 10's long-lost lunar module... which is, rather adorably, named "Snoopy." More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5841869&view=rss&microfeed=true

It's decently likely that, sometime in the future, a major solar storm will hit Earth, wreaking havoc on our infrastructure and crippling our satellites. But there's a more long-term danger: space could become too dangerously radioactive to stay there. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5839967&view=rss&microfeed=true

NASA's next Mars rover, the Curiosity Mars Science Laboratory, will soon embark on a quantum leap in humankind's scientific exploration of the Martian surface. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5815547&view=rss&microfeed=true

Our best chance to send humans to Mars will be in the mid-2030s, but the Red Planet might not be our final destination. It might actually be much easier and just as effective to land on Mars's moon tiny Deimos. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5794244&view=rss&microfeed=true

Here's one more unexpected challenge for space travel: drugs crucial for treating everything from a mild headache to a serious infection don't work properly in the radically different environment away from Earth...and yes, radiation might be part of the problem. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5792860&view=rss&microfeed=true

In the early 1960s, some twenty-something enthusiasts in Lebanon started building remarkably sophisticated rockets. These rockets made it as far up as the International Space Station is today, and even the United States and Soviet Union had to pay attention. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5782250&view=rss&microfeed=true

That streak of light breaking out of the "space barrier" around the Earth is the Space Shuttle Discovery, photographed by Droid 1, an Android phone lifted into space by a weather balloon. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5771224&view=rss&microfeed=true

Fossil fuels aren't the only vital resource we're running out of - our once mighty helium reserves are dwindling, and the price of the gas has already skyrocketed. The US reserves could be depleted in less than 20 years, and the entire Earth could run out helium by the end of this century, which could cripple industry. Thankfully, the Sun gives off an endless supply of the stuff - and the Moon is the best place to go get it. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5766927&view=rss&microfeed=true

It's an awesome solution to a simple problem: you need ridiculous amounts of fuel to get a rocket into orbit. However, if the rocket fuel was considerably hotter, it would be more energetic, and you'd need way less fuel to launch the rocket. So why don't we just shoot powerful lasers at rockets? It's so insane that it just might work. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5761222&view=rss&microfeed=true

At 1 PM yesterday in Moscow, three astronauts from the European Space Agency's 520-day simulated trip to Mars finally touched down on a 10 meter by 6 meter recreation of the planet's Gusev Crater. From the ESA: More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5761065&view=rss&microfeed=true

This is the concept design for the Nautilus-X, one of NASA's ideas for crewed deep space explorer. This craft would be launched from the International Space Station (or some other orbital platform) and could take six astronauts on long missions ranging anywhere from one to twenty-four months. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5759368&view=rss&microfeed=true

Even if humanity never returns to the Moon, veterans of the lunar missions will still be around for hundreds, maybe even thousands of years. That's because the Apollo 14 astronaut Stuart Roosa brought hundreds of seeds with him to the Moon, and many of these were later planted to create the so-called Moon trees. The only problem? No one is exactly sure where they are anymore. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5756481&view=rss&microfeed=true

Every time we send spacecraft to explore the solar system, we send along lots of tiny microbes. In fact, we may have deposited a trillion microbial spores on Mars. How will we ever discover alien life through all that haze? More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5719877&view=rss&microfeed=true

The idea of a 'space elevator' has been around since the late 1800s. Until now, there wasn't a material strong enough to build it. Then carbon nanotubes stepped in. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5719258&view=rss&microfeed=true

The craggy Martian terrain is daunting for wheeled probes, and Mars' distance from Earth makes refueling rovers impossible. English scientists are exploring the possibility of harnessing radioactive isotopes and Mars' abundant carbon dioxide to launch probes across the Martian landscape. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5692647&view=rss&microfeed=true

All current plans to send human explorers to Mars suggest the first mission is 25 years away. But a one-way journey could actually be possible very soon, and it might be just what we need to kick-start human space exploration. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5690489&view=rss&microfeed=true

Space travel is always expensive - especially having to build satellites on the ground and then drag them up into orbit. Why not use 3D printers to build those satellites in orbit? More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5688164&view=rss&microfeed=true

Using our current technology, it would take 180,000 years to reach Zarmina. But our resident physicist Dave Goldberg has a more optimistic estimate - thanks to antimatter and time dilation, astronauts could get there in just a few years. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5656375&view=rss&microfeed=true Excited by the success of the "big idea" movie Inception, Warner Bros. has given the green light to Expulsion, a spec script from bestselling novelist Gregg Hurwitz. An act of terror destroys the Earth, leaving a handful of human survivors to escape to a planet beyond our solar system. (And how a ruined Earth furnishes the technology and resources to travel all the way outside the solar system is something we'll have to wait and see, I guess.) [Deadline] More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5646306&view=rss&microfeed=true

Humans are built to thrive on Earth, but even a yearlong round-trip mission to Mars could pose major medical risks. If we want humans to colonize the solar system, we may have to fundamentally alter our biology and become cyborgs. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5640444&view=rss&microfeed=true

The goal is to get humans to Mars by the mid-2030s, but what are the stepping stones that will get us there? Returning to the Moon gets a lot of publicity, but the better test might be a near-Earth asteroid. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5626731&view=rss&microfeed=true Speaking of rapid aging, a new study found that just six months on the International Space Station caused super-fast deterioration in astronauts' muscles, leaving them as weak as people twice their age. According to the Associated Press, "the accelerated space aging is temporary: Astronauts' muscles recover after a few months back on Earth." But the findings, based on calf-muscle biopsies on Russian astronauts who were living on the ISS from 2002 to 2005, are worrying for the future of deep-space exploration in general. The worst deterioriation happened in the slow-twitch muscle fibers, which are crucial for balance and posture, and the strongest weightlifting astronauts were the hardest hit. [Associated Press] More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5618214&view=rss&microfeed=true

President Obama's 2011 budget cut NASA's Constellation program, his predecessor's plan to return humans to the Moon, en route to Mars. With the US government apparently out of the race to return to the Moon, who will now be next? More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5463846&view=rss&microfeed=true

Monkeys made it into space before humans ever broke the atmosphere, and now they might beat us to Mars. Russia is considering a program to train monkeys to work with robots for the long flight to Mars. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5432413&view=rss&microfeed=true

Have trouble keeping track of the nearly 200 past and current missions to explore our solar system and beyond? National Geographic's elegant infographic displays 50 years of space exploration in a colorful map of our planetary neighbors. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5379374&view=rss&microfeed=true

While other space programs are sending probes to explore the surface of Mars or the moon, Russian scientists have their eyes on another target: Venus, a planet last explored by Soviet scientists over two decades ago. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5376506&view=rss&microfeed=true

A six-month space journey away, Mars often seems an almost impossible planet to reach. But engineers are developing a new engine that could turn six months to six weeks, bringing the Red Planet much, much closer than ever before. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5323516&view=rss&microfeed=true

Last friday, at the National Museum of the USAF, the Apollo 11 astronauts participated in a panel discussion about their historic Moon landing. They spent a good portion of the discussion, however, not on the Moon — but Mars. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5318804&view=rss&microfeed=true The good news is, Italian physicists think it's possible we could travel faster than light by creating a kind of "warp drive," encasing a spaceship in a bubble and warping space, so that space itself travels faster than the speed of light. And the spaceship, safe in its bubble, could "surf" that wave of space. The bad news? The warp drive could turn into a black hole that would incinerate the ship, and suck Earth inside. That's according to physicist Stefano Finazzi of Italy's International School For Advanced Studies: More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5288860&view=rss&microfeed=true

Today is the 12th Annual Space Day, an event that's jointly hosted by NASA and Lockheed Martin, held each year on the first of May. This year's theme is titled : 'Celebrating Human Space Flight: Past, Present and Future'. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5236168&view=rss&microfeed=true

We're sending not one, but two probes to the sun in the next few years. Hopefully making first contact with the super-hot aliens who have been watching us from inside the solar coronas. Gallery below. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5233089&view=rss&microfeed=true

39 years ago today, the world let loose a collective sigh of relief, as the Apollo 13 Odyssey Command Module splashed down in the Pacific Ocean. This followed a tense week, as the world watched after an on-board explosion nearly cost the lives of astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise on the way to the moon. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5216542&view=rss&microfeed=true

Those were the words of Charlie Duke, the Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 16, which launched 37 years ago today. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5214914&view=rss&microfeed=true

On Sunday, the Chinese space program announced that their satellite, Chang'e-I, ended its 16 month mapping mission with a planned crash on the lunar surface, destroying the craft. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5162932&view=rss&microfeed=true

Pessimism about our spacefaring future has become fashionable these days — people point to our limited lifespans and energy resources. But the World Of Technology blog just posted an argument I haven't seen before. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5133363&view=rss&microfeed=true

NASA's Messenger space capsule is aiming to photograph Mercury as it swings by, a prelude to putting the first spacecraft in orbit with the planet in 2011. The Messenger will fly 124 miles above the planet's surface to grab snapshots of an un-photographed part of Mercury the size of South America. The astrological community has long had problems with Mercury constantly going in retrograde, blaming it for taking down the Large Hadron Collider among other things, so hopefully the NASA capsule gets to the bottom of this mystery. We detail Mercury's various issues with our superior planet, and what NASA hopes to accomplish by photographing it, after the jump. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5058802&view=rss&microfeed=true

It's hard to imagine anything more unpleasant than being stuck in a metal can millions of miles from home with a crazy person. Space missions to Mars and beyond will need a way to deal with the boredom, isolation and close quarters of long-term space travel, or some unlucky astronauts could find out just how bad space madness gets. The American Psychological Association is on top of the problem, though. They've got three ideas that could help keep our space explorers from going all "Major Tom" on us. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5037355&view=rss&microfeed=true

Being a member of the US military in Afghanistan takes it's toll after a few years. So last week, Sergeant First Class William Ruth of the Army's 101st Airborne Division proposed an alternative mission for his soldiers: let them be the first humans to colonize another planet. In his letter (below) to an editor at LiveScience, Ruth says his unit's role as advanced scouts and reconnaissance soldiers makes them ideally suited to the rough, lonely life in the cold, barren wastes that await them on Mars, the Moon, or elsewhere. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=385007&view=rss&microfeed=true

Black smoke belches out of a grinding old engine as it hauls Russia's latest Soyuz space capsule across a Kazakh wasteland, while armed guards keep watch. This mixture of high and low technology is probably the future of space exploration, as resources get scarcer and more small governments and independent operators get into the space game. More images of Soyuz in the wasteland, and its launch to the International Space Station, below. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=378050&view=rss&microfeed=true