The biggest space discoveries of the year
MYTHICAL planets, nearby Earth-like worlds and unprecedented missions to Jupiter and Saturn. We learned a lot about our universe in 2016.
Space
Accidental sale of priceless Moon bag
A BAG used in the Moon landing and embedded with lunar dust was accidentally sold to a woman during a criminal case. And now she won’t give it back.
Ice ‘lava’ coats Ceres craters
A NASA spacecraft has spotted eerie-blue ‘lava flows’ of ice in the darkest craters on the dwarf planet Ceres. But not as much as expected.
NASA: we may have to nuke asteroids
NASA says ‘there’s not a lot we can do’ in the event of an apocalyptic asteroid. But they do have a couple ideas.
Question hounding Star Wars fans
THE same question has been bothering Star Wars fans ever since the original film’s release decades ago. There may finally be an answer to it.
Another supermoon will be here tonight
THE third and final supermoon of 2016 is going to make an appearance tonight. Here is everything you need to know.
’Murdered’ star’s brilliant last gasp
THERE’s a dark explanation behind the biggest supernova ever seen. Last year, ASASSN-15lh flared brighter than 20 Milky Ways. Turns out it was being eaten alive.
‘They’ll own a piece of rocket’
A ROCKET carrying experiments by Australians students has been sent to the International Space Station, thanks to two clever entrepreneurs.
‘Godspeed’ as pioneering astronaut dies
HISTORY-making astronaut John Glenn — the first American to orbit the earth — has died, aged 95, after a long battle with illness.
‘It will destroy all human life’
EARTH will be decimated in a nightmarish inferno as the sun balloons to 100 times its normal size, scientists predict.
Saturn pics 20 years in making
NASA’s Saturn-skimming spacecraft has beamed back incredible images of the giant gas planet as it enters the final months before a suicide mission.
Huge event may have wiped out Martians
SCIENTISTS believe Mars was covered in ice roughly 3.8 billion years ago but it was melted by climate change, wiping out potential life.
Russia’s cargo space ship crashes
RUSSIA’S space agency said malfunction has caused an unmanned cargo ship to crash minutes after it blasted off.
NASA’s ‘unprecedented’ Saturn mission
CONSIDER Saturn’s amazing ring as a cosmic carousel with countless space rocks up for grabs — and NASA is on the way to get some.
Race to send rovers to Apollo 17 site
ROVING robots could soon be touring the Apollo 17 landing site on the Moon in a private space company’s bid to win a $27 million Google prize.
US would ‘lose’ an upcoming space race
SPACE has so far been a peaceful arena for nation states but that could change very soon, and the Americans wouldn’t be the victors.
Parallel dimensions are key to time travel
Time travellers could use parallel dimensions to visit the past, scientists claim
Was Einstein wrong about this theory?
SCIENTISTS claim they can now test a theory that predicts a varying speed of light, an idea that goes against one of Einstein’s core theories.
NASA’s ‘important’ space poop challenge
NASA doesn’t quite know what to with astronaut’s poo in space, but they’ll give you a lot of money if you’ve got any good ideas.
The glitch that broke Europe’s heart
PEGGED as a shot at redemption for European space exploration, the failure of last month’s Mars lander at least holds an important silver lining.
‘They think I’m a little nuts’
SONIA Van Meter doesn’t just want to live on Mars. She wants to die there. And she has some blunt words for her critics.
New neighbour galaxy discovered
ASTRONOMERS have detected a faint dwarf galaxy nearby which points to the existence of many more. And could help our understanding of dark matter.
Hawking: ‘Asteroids pose major threat’
PROFESSOR Stephen Hawking has issued a terrifying warning about the threat posed by apocalypse asteroids.
We’re about to see how fire acts in space
HOW does fire act in space? Researchers will soon find out, when they try to ignite nine different materials aboard an unmanned spaceship as it hurtles toward Earth.
Freshly-fallen meteorite older than Earth
SCIENTISTS have recovered a freshly fallen meteorite believed to be 4.56 billion years old from a farm north east of Perth, making it older than the Earth.
NASA’s ‘unprecedented’ weather satellite
THE US has launched the best weather satellite ever built in a bid to ‘revolutionise forecasting weather and save lives’.
‘Impossible’ engine passes major test
IT should be impossible, but a prototype space engine appears to produce energy from nothing — and it just passed a big test.
Scientist: Aliens are all around us
MIND-BOGGLING theory suggests hyper-intelligent life controls mysterious phenomena like dark matter.
Astronaut warns of aliens before suicide attempt
A SHOCKING video claims France’s first female astronaut screamed “Earth must be warned!” before she attempted suicide.
Evidence Pluto has huge hidden ocean
FRESH research shows Pluto likely has a giant ocean hidden beneath its surface, holding as much water as all Earth’s seas. Here’s what that means for science.
Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/technology/science/space/page/41