Capturing an Asteroid: How NASA Could Do It

NASA’s bold plan to drag an asteroid into orbit around the moon may sound like science fiction, but it’s achievable with current technology, experts say. President Barack Obama’s 2014 federal budget request, which will be unveiled today (April 10), likely includes about $100 million for NASA to jump-start an asteroid-capture mission, U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) said last week. Continue reading

US Won't Lead New Manned Moon Landings, NASA Chief Says

NASA chief Charles Bolden says the space agency won’t be sending astronauts to land on the moon any time soon, according to press reports. The U.S. space agency won’t lead the way back to the moon in the foreseeable future in order to maintain its focus on manned missions to an asteroid, and eventually Mars, Bolden said during a joint meeting of the Space Studies Board and the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board last Thursday (April 4), according to aSpacePolitics.com report by Jeff Foust. Continue reading

NASA to get $100 million for asteroid mission, senator says

Rick Sternbach / Keck Institute for Space Studies An artist’s illustration of an asteroid retrieval spacecraft capturing a 500-ton asteroid that’s 7 meters wide. By Mike WallSpace.com NASA will likely get $100 million next year to jump-start an audacious program to drag an asteroid into orbit around the moon for research and exploration purposes, U.S. Sen. Continue reading

NASA climate data indicates that the long-term global warming trend is continuing

New measurements by NASAs Goddard Institute for Space Studies indicate that 2012 was the ninth warmest year since 1880, and that the past decade or so has seen some of the warmest years in the last 132 years. One way to illustrate changes in global atmospheric temperatures is by looking at how far temperatures stray from normal, or a baseline. For the following map, NASA picked a baseline period using temperatures between 1951 and 1980, and compared temperature global temperature readings from 2012 Continue reading

Human Fingerprints on Superstorm Sandy? – Video




Human Fingerprints on Superstorm Sandy? Climate One host Greg Dalton asks NASA scientist James Hansen what effect — if any — did humans have on Superstorm Sandy, which devastated areas from Eastern Canada to as far south as the Caribbeans. Continue reading

NASA Invites Media to Astronaut Panel Session July 11

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Media are invited to attend a panel session featuring current and former NASA and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronauts at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 8 p.m. EDT on July 11 Continue reading