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(photos at link) Amateur skywatchers and photographers from around the world – as well as the stargazing professionals – have sacrificed sleep to share spectacular images of the blood moon on social media. NASA put up a handy explainer (even though North and Central America were left out of the shade), and streamed the eclipse’s progress from a variety of planetariums across the world. Other space experts also made their contributions, including from the international space station. Meanwhile, earth-based photographers shared incredible shots...

The dust is finally beginning to clear on Mars, but it'll probably still be a while before NASA's sidelined Opportunity rover can phone home. A global dust storm has enshrouded Mars for more than a month, plunging the planet's surface into perpetual darkness. That's complicated life significantly for the solar-powered Opportunity, which has apparently put itself into a sort of hibernation; the rover hasn't contacted its controllers since June 10. Scientists studying the storm "say that, as of Monday, July 23, more dust is falling out than is being raised into the planet's thin air," agency officials added. "That means...

Chris Hadfield, who flew to the International Space Station as part of the Canadian Space Agency, told Business Insider that making it to Mars is going to take technology that has yet to be conceived. Put simply, he doesn’t believe the new rockets being worked on by NASA, SpaceX, or Blue Origin have much chance of fulfilling their stated goals. “Personally, I don’t think any of those three rockets is taking people to Mars,” Hadfield said regarding the SpaceX Big Falcon Rocket, Blue Origin’s New Glenn, and NASA’s Space Launch System being constructed by Boeing. “I don’t think those are...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA's seemingly unstoppable Mars rover Opportunity has been knocked out by a gigantic dust storm that is enveloping the red planet and blotting out the sun. Officials said Wednesday they're hopeful the rover will survive the storm, which already covers one-quarter of Mars and is expected to encircle the planet in another few days. It could be weeks or even months, though, until the sky clears enough for sunlight to reach the Martian surface and recharge Opportunity's batteries through its solar panels. For now, Mars' oldest working rover is stuck in the middle of the raging...

The Martian dust storm was first spotted from space by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, NASA officials said. "As soon as the orbiter team saw how close the storm was to Opportunity, they notified the rover's team to begin preparing contingency plans," NASA officials said in a statement. "In a matter of days, the storm had ballooned." As of Friday (June 8), the storm covers more than 7 million square miles of Mars (18 million square kilometers), according to NASA. That's an area larger than all of North America on Earth. "Full dust storms like this one are not surprising, but...

The robot, which has been exploring Mars for almost six years, discovered new organic compounds and cycles of methane that could point to life on Mars. _____________________________________________________________________________ Since 2012, the Curiosity rover has been exploring Mars near a place called Mount Sharp. The robot has found chemical traces that could indicate this place was watery billions of years ago—and could have supported life. NASA can't say whether there ever was life on Mars, but new evidence reinforces the idea that Mars was habitable. NASA's flagship Mars rover, Curiosity, has been combing the surface of Mars for signs of life for...

Day to day, it’s easy to lose sight of an astonishing fact: Since 2012, humankind has been driving a nuclear-powered sciencemobile the size of an SUV on another planet. This engineering marvel, NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity, has revolutionized our understanding of the red planet. And thanks to the intrepid rover, we now know that ancient Mars had carbon-based compounds called organic molecules—key raw materials for life as we know it. A new study published in Science on Thursday presents the first conclusive evidence for large organic molecules on the surface of Mars, a pursuit that began with NASA’s Viking landers...

NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover has been on the Red Planet for a long, long time. Back in March it tallied its 2,000th Martian day, which is 2,054 Earth days, and despite some drilling woes that have since been solved, the plucky little rover is still cruising along and conducting experiments in the name of science. Now, just days after NASA revealed that its new drilling technique works as planned, the agency is calling for a press conference to reveal something special. As always, the group is tight-lipped about what it has in store, but it will be holding its event...

Saturn will not be too far away. It will be just west of Mars and not as bright as the Red Planet. Mars is growing brighter every night. On July 27, Mars will reach opposition. This is when Earth will be directly between Mars and the sun. Therefore, Mars will look very bright and grace the sky all night. It will be brighter than Jupiter! Before Mars reaches opposition, the Earth passes directly between Saturn and the moon. This is a great time to view Saturn; it’s in the sky all night, and it is bright. Earthsky.com has a great...

Mars will be a hard place to raise the children necessary to sustain a permanent colony there. And according to a new paper published in the June issue of the journal Futures, conceiving kids on Mars will be even harder. ... The biological challenges of rearing Mars babies are easy enough to wrap one's head around. For starters, Mars' atmosphere is about 1 percent as thick as Earth's, meaning the planet is hit by a lot more solar radiation than humans are currently used to. NASA studies have shown that radiation exposure might damage astronauts' brain cells and increase their...

A tiny satellite on its way to Mars has opened its eyes and captured a view of home. One of NASA's two Mars Cube One (MarCO) cubesats, which launched toward the Red Planet along with the agency's InSight lander on May 5, took a photo on May 9 to help confirm that its high-gain antenna had deployed properly. The antenna is in the photo. And so are the moon and Earth, the latter of which appears as a pale blue dot, just as it did in a famous photo taken by NASA's Voyager 1 probe in 1990. ..." (snip) Despite...

NASA's Mars InSight rover is on its way to the red planet. The Atlas V rocket carrying the rover into space launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 4:05 a.m. on Saturday, May 5. Video http://www.ksby.com/story/38119490/rocket-carrying-mars-rover-launches-from-vandenberg-afb

NASA is headed back to Mars! The InSight spacecraft is scheduled to rocket away from Vandenberg Air Force Base early Saturday morning. Live coverage of the countdown and launch of an Atlas 5 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California with NASA’s InSight lander heading to Mars to study the red planet’s interior structure. Saturday’s launch is just the first step in InSight’s voyage to Mars. Launching a probe to another planet is not routine, but most scientists will have more butterflies when InSight approaches its destination late this year. Asked whether he will be more nervous during InSight’s...

NASA has two official sites from which the public can watch the launch along with NASA/InSight mission team members. There are also are several informal sites where you can gather with local residents to see InSight launch. The agency warns people to be careful of fog and cold in all viewing areas. ...InSight's launch window May 5 through June 8, 2018,"....lasts for 2 hours, until about 6:05 a.m. PDT (9:05 a.m. EDT/1305 GMT). Lompoc City Airport will open its tarmac to the public no earlier than 2:30 a.m. PDT, with launch commentary starting at 3:30 a.m. PDT.... St. Mary's Episcopal...

“The mission team is working to build a replacement heat shield structure. The situation will not affect the mission’s launch readiness date of July 17, 2020.” NASA said the structural test at Lockheed Martin, which built the heat shield, “was designed to subject the heat shield to forces up to 20 percent greater than those expected during entry into the Martian atmosphere.” “While the fracture was unexpected, it represents why spaceflight hardware is tested in advance so that design changes or fixes can be implemented prior to launch,” the NASA statement said. A NASA spokesperson did not respond to questions...

Summary: Curiosity’s exploration of Vera Rubin Ridge is extended, while an attempt by Opportunity to climb back up Perseverance Valley to reach an interesting rock outcrop fails.

Three countries have landed missions on the moon: the US, Russia and China. Israel hopes to be the fourth when it launches a spacecraft this December with an assist from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The unmanned mission is a joint effort between private company Israel Aerospace Industries and nonprofit organization SpaceIL. SpaceIL participated in the Google Lunar XPrize competition, which wrapped up earlier this year with no ultimate winner. The people at SpaceIL aren't letting that stop them from completing the lunar journey. On Tuesday, the team announced its goal of a Feb. 13, 2019, moon landing, but it has yet to...

Israel announced Tuesday that it will launch its first lunar mission in December 2018, hoping to become the fourth country to land on the moon, following the U.S., Russia and China. SpaceIL and the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries presented the new spacecraft, which took eight years of collaborative efforts, and $95 million to build the smallest aircraft to date. It is measured to be four-feet high, and 6 ½-feet in diameter, and it will be able to reach a maximum speed of 22,370 miles per hour. South African-Israeli billionaire Morris Kahn, president of SpaceIL, who has donated $27 million to...

The unmanned spacecraft, shaped like a pod and weighing some 585 kilogrammes (1,300 pounds) at launch, will land on the moon on February 13, 2019 if all goes according to plan, organisers SpaceIL told a news conference in Yehud, central Israel. The vessel will be launched via a rocket from American entrepreneur Elon Musk's SpaceX firm and its mission will include research on the moon's magnetic field. Its first task, however, will be to plant an Israeli flag on the moon, organisers said. The project began as part of the Google Lunar XPrize, which in 2010 offered $30 million (25...

Just released by NASA: striking close-ups of the mysterious world Ceres, taken by a robotic probe turned paparazzi. “These pictures are new to you and new to us too,” says Marc Rayman of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. “It’s a wonderful flood of data.” Every 27 hours, NASA’s Dawn spacecraft swoops near the surface of Ceres to grab the close-ups. At its lowest point, the probe is only 22 miles up. In outer space, that’s virtually skimming the ground. The photo shoot started June 9; so far, Dawn has taken “hundreds” of pictures, says Rayman, “exotic alien...