Space & Astronomy News

WASHINGTON - A space-age version of the rusty springs under old pickup trucks will help NASA fix the most pressing technical problem with its high-tech new rocket to send astronauts back to the moon.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran's attempted satellite launch was a failure that fell far short of claimed successes, U.S. security officials said on Tuesday, but an analyst said the test still marked progress toward a potential weapon.

NASA engineers have come up with a dual shock absorber solution to the problem of excessive vibrations with the new Ares I rocket that will launch the agency's Orion space shuttle replacement.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - An Iranian missile test aimed at putting a dummy satellite into orbit failed, a US defense official said Tuesday.

PONTE VEDRA, Fla. - The third and last Inmarsat 4 mobile-broadband satellite was successfully placed into orbit Tuesday by an International Launch Services (ILS) Proton Breeze M rocket, ILS and Inmarsat announced.

NASA closed its Florida spaceport early Monday to protect its space shuttle fleet and other vital hardware from severe weather associated with Tropical Storm Fay.

Fleets of miniature spacecraft may now be closer to liftoff.

NASA's space shuttle Atlantis will have to wait a few more days before leaving its Florida spaceport hangar in order to avoid severe weather expected from Tropical Storm Fay.

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran said on Monday that a home-built rocket sent into space in a move that triggered US concern over possible military use will be able to take a satellite into low orbit around the earth.

A huge comet-like object has been spotted inside the orbit of Neptune. The object, at least 30 miles wide, is on the return leg of a 22,500-year journey around the sun, astronomers announced today.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A newly discovered "minor planet" with an elongated orbit around the Sun may help explain the origin of comets, researchers said on Monday.

Something beneath the surface is changing Earth's protective magnetic field, which may leave satellites and other space assets vulnerable to high-energy radiation.

PONTE VEDRA, Fla. — Europe's Ariane 5 ECA rocket successfully launched Japanese and U.S. telecommunications satellites Aug. 14 in the fifth of a planned seven launches in 2008, and was the vehicle's 27th consecutive success.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran said on Monday it was ready to help fellow Muslim states launch satellites into orbit after it successfully put a dummy satellite into orbit -- a move that may increase Western suspicions over its atomic ambitions.

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran has test launched a rocket it plans to use to carry a research satellite into orbit, state television reported Sunday.

JERUSALEM, (AFP) - The head of Israel's space agency on Monday played down concerns over Iran's announcement it sent a rocket into space, saying the real threat came from Tehran's nuclear programme.

CARACAS (Reuters) - Washington-foe Venezuela plans to launch an observation satellite within five years to map its territory, President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran said it had put a dummy satellite into orbit on a home-grown rocket for the first time on Sunday -- a move likely to increase Western concerns about its nuclear ambitions.

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran said it had launched a rocket carrying a test-satellite into space on Sunday, in a move that could further exacerbate tensions with the West over its nuclear drive.

The Cassini probe has pinpointed exact locations where icy jets erupt from Saturn's icy moon Enceladus.

Eclipses of the sun and moon usually come in pairs. A solar eclipse is almost always accompanied by a lunar eclipse two weeks before or after it, since in two weeks the moon travels halfway around its orbit and is likely to form another almost-straight line with the Earth and sun.

BEIJING (AFP) - China's first lunar satellite, which has been turning around the moon for nearly nine months, will be stripped of its solar energy supply Sunday when the earth eclipses the sun, state media said Friday.

LOS ANGELES - NASA has delayed the launch of an unmanned spacecraft to the moon to scout for potential landing sites for astronauts.

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has taken its first-ever picture of a single particle of rusty Martian dust with one of its microscopes.

NASA mission managers decided Thursday not to push for earlier launch dates for two space shuttle missions set to blast off this fall.

PARIS (AFP) - People across the world will have the chance to see a partial eclipse of the Moon on Saturday.

Seven NASA astronauts are eagerly looking forward to a risky, but pivotal, shuttle flight to the Hubble Space Telescope this fall.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - NASA announced it has pushed back the launch of the Orion, the spacecraft designed to replace the agency's aging space shuttle fleet, by one year to 2014.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla (Reuters) - NASA has abandoned plans to get its replacement for the retiring U.S. space shuttles into service by 2013 because of a lack of additional funds and technical issues, officials said on Monday.