NASA's Curiosity Rover Drills Into 2nd Mars Rock

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity has broken out its trusty drill again, pulling samples from deep within a Red Planet rock for the second time ever. The 1-ton Curiosity rover bored 2.6 inches (6.6 centimeters) into a rock dubbed “Cumberland” on Sunday (May 19), NASA officials said. The resulting powdered sample will be delivered to the robot’s onboard science instruments in the coming days. Continue reading

Opportunity rover breaks 40-year-old NASA record for off-world driving

NASA / JPL-Caltech On May 15, the 3,309th Martian day of its Red Planet mission, NASA’s Opportunity rover drove 263 feet (80 meters) southward along the western rim of Endeavour Crater. By Mike Wall, Space.com NASA’s long-lived Opportunity Mars rover is the new American champion of off-planet driving, breaking a distance record set more than 40 years ago by an Apollo moon buggy Continue reading

Spacewalkers set to troubleshoot space station's ammonia coolant leak

On Saturday NASA will try to fix the leak that released a stream of white frozen flakes into space. The crew on the International Space Station is not in danger and the space station is continuing to operate normally. NBC’s Brian Williams reports Continue reading

Russian Cargo Spacecraft Successfully Docks to Space Station

An unmanned cargo-carrying spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station Friday morning (April 26), despite a glitch in the capsule’s navigation system. After its launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, the RussianProgress 51 spacecraft failed to deploy one of the two antennas used for the Kurs automated docking system. Russian ground controllers were able to reposition the antenna, allowing the automated docking to go ahead as planned Continue reading

Dozens of earthquakes strike Japanese islands

TOKYO, April 18 (UPI) — The Miyakejima Islands were rattled by about 40 noticeable earthquakes, including at least two Thursday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The strongest of earthquakes, which began rumbling Wednesday, registered a magnitude of 6.2 and was in waters near the island in Tokyo’s Izu island chain, Yomiuri Shimbun reported. The earthquakes began Wednesday morning and extended into Thursday Continue reading

NASA's Monster Mars Rocket Ahead of Schedule

The development of NASA’s biggest, most powerful rocket yet is running ahead of schedule and on budget, its primary contractor said Wednesday (April 10). The towering Space Launch System (SLS) is a 384-foot (117 meters) behemoth intended to launch astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit to deep-space asteroids and Mars. The vehicle is slated to make its first test flight in 2017, when it will launch an unmanned Orion capsule (also in development) beyond the moon. Continue reading

Sea lion pups washing up on SoCal beaches at alarming rate

CAPTIONS Stranded sea lion A juvenile sea lion sits on shore near the Huntington Beach Pier. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times /March 31, 2013) April 1, 2013, 2:32 p.m. Federal marine wildlife officials said that a mass stranding of malnourished sea lion pups along the Southern California coast since January has intensified in recent weeks and researchers remain unsure of the cause. Continue reading

NASA unpacks ‘trunk’ of SpaceX’s cargo craft

NASA TV The International Space Station’s robotic arm unloads grapple-bar assemblies from the unpressurized “trunk” of SpaceX’s Dragon cargo capsule on Wednesday. By Miriam Kramer Space.com NASA engineers used a robotic arm on Wednesday to unpack the first exterior cargo ever delivered to the International Space Station by an American-built commercial supply ship. Continue reading

NASA Turns Astronaut Trash Into Space Radiation Shield

Humans produce trash just about everywhere they go, including space, which will pose a problem for astronauts on long voyages to other planets. But scientists have found a way to transform this space detritus into something useful: a radiation shield. Since flinging garbage out the door is not an option, engineers at NASA are testing how a novel on-board trash compactor could give new life to discarded water bottles, clothing scraps, duct tape and other waste on deep-space missions Continue reading

Twin NASA Probes Readying for Monday Moon Crash

Two NASA moon probes will end their gravity-mapping mission in spectacular fashion Monday (Dec. 17), crashing intentionally into a cliff near the lunar north pole. The twin Grail spacecraft, known as Ebb and Flow, will slam into the raised rim of a moon crater at 5:28 p.m Continue reading

Med-flight from Lynn school for medical purposes

LYNN — Police and hospital officials said emergency personnel and a medical helicopter landing at Breed Middle School Tuesday evening was not due to any incident at the school but because Union Hospital needed to transport a patient. Continue reading

Twin NASA Probes to Crash into Moon Next Week

NASA’s twin Grail spacecraft will crash into the lunar surface intentionally next week, bringing their gravity-mapping mission to a spectacular end. The probes, known as Ebb and Flow, will be commanded to slam into the moon on Dec. 17, NASA officials said Monday (Dec. Continue reading