Scienceonline - Scientific News

The ESA-selected participants Oliver Knickel and Cyrille Fournier sent a diary entry before they embark on the simulated Mars mission tomorrow

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 12:50:00 +0200

As the start of their 105-day stay in the special isolation facility nears, the six Mars500 crewmembers participated in a short trial run.

Mars' South Pole Ice Deep and Wide

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 01:40:00 +0100

Pasadena, Calif. -- New measurements of Mars' south polar region indicate extensive frozen water. The polar region contains enough frozen water to cover the whole planet in a liquid layer approximately 11 meters (36 feet) deep. A joint NASA-Italian Space Agency instrument on the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft provided these data.

Spacecraft Set to Reach Milestone, Reports Technical Glitches

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 01:30:00 +0100

Information about the builders of two instruments has been addded in the last paragraph.

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft this month is set to surpass the record for the most science data returned by any Mars spacecraft. While the mission continues to produce data at record levels, engineers are examining why two instruments are intermittently not performing entirely as planned. All other spacecraft instruments are operating normally and continue to return science data.

Integral catches a new erupting black hole

Mon, 27 Nov 2006 01:20:00 +0100

Integral catches a new erupting black hole

27 November 2006

ESA's gamma-ray observatory, Integral, has spotted a rare kind of gamma-ray outburst. The vast explosion of energy allowed astronomers to pinpoint a possible black hole in our Galaxy.

The outburst was discovered on 17 September 2006 by staff at the Integral Science Data Centre (ISDC), Versoix, Switzerland. Inside the ISDC, astronomers constantly monitor the data coming down from Integral because they know the sky at gamma-ray wavelengths can be a swiftly changing place.