»» First Vega rocket assembled on launch pad

Friday, January 27, 2012 - ESA's new Vega rocket is now fully assembled on its launch pad. Final preparations are in full swing for the rocket's inaugural flight from Europe's Spaceport. The launch window opens on 9 February.

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»» Concordia - Voyage to the most isolated base on Earth

Friday, January 27, 2012 - Alexander Kumar, the next ESA-sponsored crewmember to stay in Concordia, has arrived safely at the research base in Antarctica. The voyage to one of the remotest places on Earth takes even longer than the voyage to the International Space Station.

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»» NASA's Kepler Announces 11 Planetary Systems Hosting 26 Planets

Thursday, January 26, 2012 - These discoveries nearly double the number of verified planets and triple the number of stars known to have more than one planet that transits, or passes in front of, the star. Such systems will help astronomers better understand how planets form.

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»» Students Across the US Write Code to Control Zero Gravity Satellites on ISS

Thursday, January 26, 2012 - Twenty seven teams of high school students from across the United States competed in the Zero Robotics SPHERES Challenge which took place at MIT in Cambridge, MA and aboard the International Space Station (ISS) this week.

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»» Statement by the Charles Bolden on NASA Day of Remembrance

Thursday, January 26, 2012 - This last week of January, as we do every year, the NASA family honors those who have lost their lives carrying out our missions and pays tribute to their lives and memories.

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»» Statement by the President on NASA Day of Remembrance

Thursday, January 26, 2012 - On this solemn day, we join the NASA family and all Americans in honoring the brave men and women who gave their lives in the pursuit of space exploration.

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»» Image: Suomi NPP's View of North America

Thursday, January 26, 2012 - Suomi NPP's VIIRS instrument returned this hi-resolution full-disc image of the Earth from several passes made Jan. 4, 2012.

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»» Vesta Likely Cold & Dark Enough for Ice

Wednesday, January 25, 2012 - Though generally thought to be quite dry, roughly half of the giant asteroid Vesta is expected to be so cold and to receive so little sunlight that water ice could have survived there for billions of years.

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»» Opportunity's Eighth Anniversary View From 'Greeley Haven' (False Color)

Wednesday, January 25, 2012 - This mosaic of images taken in mid-January 2012 shows the windswept vista northward from the location where NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is spending its fifth Martian winter, an outcrop informally named "Greeley Haven."

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»» Greenhouse in space results and conclusions

Wednesday, January 25, 2012 - During the MagISStra mission, ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli attempted to grow plants in space using a miniature greenhouse. Simultaneously, schoolchildren and the crew of Mars500 ran the same educational experiment to compare plant growth.

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»» Spheres Final Robot competition in Zero-gravity

Wednesday, January 25, 2012 - School teams from Europe and America have been commanding robots competing in the Spheres ZeroRobotics tournament in space. The arena: 400 km above Earth on the International Space Station.

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»» The Wild Early Lives of Today's Most Massive Galaxies

Wednesday, January 25, 2012 - Using the APEX telescope, a team of astronomers has found the strongest link so far between the most powerful bursts of star formation in the early Universe, and the most massive galaxies found today.

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»» NASA Renames Earth-Observing Mission in Honor of Satellite Pioneer

Wednesday, January 25, 2012 - NASA has renamed its newest Earth-observing satellite in honor of the late Verner E. Suomi, a meteorologist at the University of Wisconsin who is recognized widely as "the father of satellite meteorology."

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»» First laser measurements of Europe's Galileo satellites made from Chile

Wednesday, January 25, 2012 - The first laser ranging of Europe's new Galileo navigation satellites has been achieved from Concepcion in Chile. Laser contact with the satellites at an altitude of 23 230 km has provided distance measurements with subcentimetre accuracy.

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»» Scientists discover new clue to the chemical origins of life

Wednesday, January 25, 2012 - Organic chemists at the University of York have made a significant advance towards establishing the origin of the carbohydrates (sugars) that form the building blocks of life.

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»» Ball Aerospace-Built OMPS Instrument Onboard NPP Satellite Returns First Data

Wednesday, January 25, 2012 - Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.'s Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) onboard the NPP satellite began collecting Earthview image science and solar calibration data on January 24, 2012.

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»» Massive Solar Storm Heads for Earth

Tuesday, January 24, 2012 - A large solar flare yesterday triggered a coronal mass ejection travelling at 1400 km/s that will reach Earth today. An energetic eruption of this level can disrupt satellites, so operation teams at ESA and other organisations are closely monitoring the s

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   »» More top stories from January, other months.