NASA Planning for Possible Landings on Europa

"All these worlds are yours except Europa, Attempt no landing there, Use them together use them in peace" That's the first thing I thought, apparently the author of the article too... dare we tempt the monolith?

Despite that famous cryptic warning in the film 2010: The Year We Make Contact, NASA is planning for a possible attempted landing on Jupiter’s moon Europa. This is a mission that many people have been hoping for, since Europa is believed to have a liquid water ocean beneath the icy surface (as well as lakes within the surface crust itself), making it a prime location in the search for life elsewhere in the solar system. Two landers are being proposed which would launch in 2020 and land about six years later.

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New operating system for space: High-tech tycoons

Awesome, this is what I've been saying all along, space needs to be handed over to the public and private industry, if the government has exclusive control then it will take us many many times longer to achieve anything worthwhile.

The tycoons of cyberspace are looking to bankroll America's resurgence in outer space, reviving "Star Trek" dreams that first interested them in science. The tycoons of cyberspace are looking to bankroll America's resurgence in outer space, reviving "Star Trek" dreams that first interested them in science.

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NASA's RXTE detect 'heartbeat' of smallest black hole candidate

Just go watch the video in the article. Awesome.

An international team of astronomers has identified a candidate for the smallest-known black hole using data from NASA's Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). The evidence comes from a specific type of X-ray pattern, nicknamed a "heartbeat" because of its resemblance to an electrocardiogram. The pattern until now has been recorded in only one other black hole system.

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Hubble serves up a holiday snow angel

Just my beautiful photo I usually try to include in each this week in space.

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope presents a festive holiday greeting that’s out of this world. The bipolar star-forming region, called Sharpless 2-106, looks like a soaring, celestial snow angel. The outstretched “wings” of the nebula record the contrasting imprint of heat and motion against the backdrop of a colder medium.

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Russia space agency 'bans foreign travel'

I wonder what the Russians have discovered...

They may be working to reach the final frontier, but employees of Russian space agency Roscosmos face going no further than Russia for their holidays.

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