ScienceDaily: Space & Time News

Mars: The planet that lost an ocean's worth of water Posted: 05 Mar 2015 11:04 AM PST A primitive ocean on Mars held more water than Earth's Arctic Ocean, and covered a greater portion of the planet's surface than the Atlantic Ocean does on Earth, according to new results published today. An international team of scientists used ESO's Very Large Telescope, along with instruments at the W. M. Keck Observatory and the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility, to monitor the atmosphere of the planet and map out the properties of the water in different parts of Mars's atmosphere over a six-year period. These new maps are the first of their kind.

Hubble sees supernova split into four images by cosmic lens Posted: 05 Mar 2015 11:04 AM PST Astronomers have spotted for the first time a distant supernova split into four images. The multiple images of the exploding star are caused by the powerful gravity of a foreground elliptical galaxy embedded in a massive cluster of galaxies.

Single site on Mars advanced for 2016 NASA lander Posted: 04 Mar 2015 08:11 AM PST NASA's next mission to Mars, scheduled to launch one year from today to examine the Red Planet's deep interior and investigate how rocky planets like Earth evolved, now has one specific site under evaluation as the best place to land and deploy its science instruments.

Einstein put to the test: Satellite mission on dark energy and theory of gravitation Posted: 05 Mar 2015 08:03 AM PST Physicists have gained new insights into dark energy and the theory of gravitation by analyzing data from the "Planck" satellite mission of the European Space Agency (ESA). Their results demonstrate that the standard model of cosmology remains an excellent description of the universe. Yet when the Planck data is combined with other astronomical observations, several deviations emerge. Further studies must determine whether these anomalies are due to measurement uncertainties or undiscovered physical correlations, which would also challenge Einstein's theory of gravitation. Thus, the analysis of the Planck data gives major impetus for research during future space missions.

Space technology investigates large-scale changes to Africa's climate Posted: 05 Mar 2015 05:11 AM PST Researchers have mapped climate and human impacts on Africa's land resources using satellite mapping technology.

Breakthrough in energy harvesting could power 'life on Mars' Posted: 05 Mar 2015 05:11 AM PST Martian colonists could use an innovative new technique to harvest energy from carbon dioxide thanks to new research. The research proposes a new kind of engine for producing energy based on the Leidenfrost effect -- a phenomenon which happens when a liquid comes into near contact with a surface much hotter than its boiling point. This effect is commonly seen in the way water appears to skitter across the surface of a hot pan, but it also applies to solid carbon dioxide, commonly known as dry ice.

Rapid changes observed in a comet’s plasma tail Posted: 05 Mar 2015 05:06 AM PST Images from a December 2013 observation of the comet C/2013 R1 (Lovejoy) reveal clear details about rapidly changing activity in that comet’s plasma tail. Astronomers zoomed in to within 0.8 million kilometers of the comet’s plasma tail, resulted in gaining precious knowledge regarding the extreme activity in that tail as the comet neared the Sun.