amnhnyc:

A key unknown in lunar science is to what extent the Moon is a melted, radially layered planet like Earth or a primordial unmelted relic of the early solar system, like many asteroids. A new era of lunar exploration is underway, offering major new insights into this decades-old question.

In this week’s podcast, planetary scientist Ben Weiss of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reviews current understanding of the lunar interior and shares new results from spacecraft observations and studies of Apollo samples. 

Image: NASA/JPL/Galileo Spacecraft

mothernaturenetwork:

Can you buy exoplanet naming rights?

According to the International Astronomical Union, the answer is ‘No. You cannot.’

mothernaturenetwork:

Nuclear fusion rocket could reach Mars in 30 days

Previous estimates have found that a roundtrip manned mission to Mars would require about 500 days of space travel.

(via stufftoblowyourmind)

mothernaturenetwork:

U.S. won’t head up new manned moon landings

NASA’s focus is on human missions to asteroids and to Mars

(via itsfullofstars)

npr:

It might make the astronaut wearing it look like a real-life Buzz Lightyear, but a new prototype spacesuit that NASA just finished testing represents the first major overhaul in spacesuit technology since 1998.

(via New NASA Spacesuit Looks like Buzz Lightyear’s | Z-1 Prototype Photos)

Photo: NASA

(via scinerds)

wired:

What might lurk beneath Antarctica’s 5 million square miles of ice was the subject of speculation by sci-fi writers in the 1930s. One of the icy products this subgenre of Antarctic Gothic horror spawned is HP Lovecraft’s novella, At the Mountains of Madness, in which scientists drill beneath Antarctica’s ice — only to discover horrid things preserved there. Now, scientists are finally enacting Lovecraft’s scenario: Over the next several weeks they are drilling into three subglacial lakes hidden beneath thousands of feet of ice in Antarctica.

What they will find as they sample the lakes and send cameras into their bellies remains to be seen. But one thing is already clear: Lovecraft was actually right about far more than his readers could have realized.

(Source: Wired)

mothernaturenetwork:

What’s next for NASA? Scope of next astronomy mission takes shape
Proposed projects for NASA are still under wraps, but the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope observatory is a likely contender.

How could a hotel orbit the Earth?

A new space race is on — who will be the first to build a space hotel? One company has already gathered $3 billion to do just that.

Read on…

THIS IS AN EXCITING TIME.

via xkcd