The space shuttle may have to work past retirement age, after all.

The US Congress is currently trying to set NASA's future mission and goals by drafting a bill called the NASA Authorization Act. A version of the bill, obtained by New Scientist, has passed a Senate committee that would require the agency to look into the prospect of flying the shuttle past 2010. As this Senate press release states:

The bill includes a number of provisions to ensure the United States has uninterrupted human access...

I've just posted a news story on the latest results of the MESSENGER mission, announced in a telephone news conference held today. The timing may seem strange, as it's the day before a major holiday in the U.S., exactly the right time to hold a press conference if your goal is for people to ignore or overlook the news. However, the mission had no choice; the timing was dictated by the editors of Science magazine, who selected Independence Day ....

Go to Mang's Bat Page to check out the 61st Carnival of Space, a weekly tour around space-themed weblogs. And, while I'm linking, don't miss Amir Alexander's update on the status of funding for the Arecibo telescope; A. J. S. Rayl's monthly update on Spirit and Opportunity; and this week's Planetary Radio interview with space scientist and artist William Hartmann. Finally, I should mention that I am leaving tomorrow for a two-week trip to ....

The Astronomical Society of the Pacific — a non-profit educational group that does great work in getting the word out about astronomy — has just released a dozen free audio recordings of lectures from well-known astronomers. They include SETI scientists Frank Drake and Jill Tarter, planet finder Geoff Marcy, supernova guy Alex Filippenko, and many [...]

It’ll take a few days for the Canadian accent to fade away… anyway, here are some short things to be aware of.1) The new Carnival of Space is up at The Bat Page. It’s a good roundup, with a veritable explosion of Tunguska posts. Ha ha.2) There is a gravity simulator just put online called [...]

Mount Etna released plumes of ash and steam in late June and early July 2008.

First MESSENGER flyby confirms volcanism, gives data on Mercury's magnetic field.

NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander's next whiff of Martian dirt could be its last.

Einstein's theory of General Relativity has been around for 93 years, and it just keeps hanging in there. With advances in technology has come the ability to put the theory under some scrutiny. Recently, taking advantage of a unique cosmic coincidence, as well as a pretty darn good telescope, astronomers looked at the strong gravity from a pair of superdense neutron stars and measured an effect predicted by General Relativity. The theory came through with flying colors.

(...)Read the rest...

Data from the MESSENGER spacecraft's first flyby of Mercury in January of 2008 are now turning into science results. Several scientists discussed their findings at a press conference today highlighting the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging mission, the first spacecraft to visit Mercury since NASA's Mariner 10 made three flyby passes in 1974 and 1975. Among the findings, scientists discovered volcanism has played a more extensive role in shaping the surface of...

Dormant for more than 9,000 years, the Chaiten Volcano in southern Chile began to erupt on May 2, 2008, forcing thousands of residents from their homes. Several weeks later, the volcano remained active.

With amazing missions observing Mars, Venus and the Saturn system, itis all too easy to forget that the Earth has some pretty amazing features tosee too. Chris Brooke sent me a link to his blogpost about the 30 Most Incredible Abstract Satellite Images of

Earth. The images Chris uses were part of a NASA exhibitiontitled Earth As

Art which showcases amazing landscape, seascape and atmospheric patterns seen by Landsat 7. I

recognise a few of them but as always there are some new ones I...

I read Skepchick every day, and I have a pretty broad and bawdy sense of humor, but even I know that it’s not really appropriate for more tender ears (well, eyes). So whaddya do?You start Teen Skepchick. Well, if you’re Rebecca Watson, founder of Skepchick, that is.Branching off of Skepchick, the teen version will be [...]

Today I took a day off work to have some extra time to finish up the suspended ceiling over the long holiday weekend. Turns out that I really didn't need all that time. In less than 4 hours this morning I had all the grid installed and all the panels placed except for the perimeter panels that need trimmed. The Armstrong ceiling system is very easy to install as long as you take careful measurements and plan everything ahead. Once you have the first few pieces of grid squared up, the remaining...

I have had an awful lot going on this summer, and this week has been no exception, so there has not been much time for blogging.  So, to get your fix on the astronomy and space side of the blogosphere, you might want to check out the Carnival of Space.  The 61st edition of the carnival is being hosted this week at Mang’s Bat Page.   If you run out of things to read there, then here is an archive of past editions of the Carnival of Space.

Any of you who write space related blog postings...

My friend Emilie Drobnes is an astronomy education specialist, and she’s taking a survey related to the International Year of Astronomy 2009. She sent out an email to a bunch of other astronomers asking, "What was the first object you ever saw through a telescope?"Mine was Saturn. I’ve told the story here on the blog [...]

Until humans can actually set foot on the Red Planet, the next best thing would be a sample return mission, to bring Martian soil samples back to Earth. A sample return would exponentially increase our knowledge and understanding Mars and its environment. And in order to pull off a mission of this magnitude, international cooperation might be required, and in fact, may be preferred. The International Mars Exploration Working Group (IMEWG), organized an international committee to study an...

SPACE.com Image of the Day

A sequence shows the Orion capsule's Launch Abort System test.

Ever had a burning desire to hunt for black holes? See how well you score in this black hole hunter game, developed by researchers at Cardiff University, UK, as part of the 2008 Royal Society Summer Exhibition in London.

In the game, you listen to sound files of simulated waveforms that detectors on Earth could record when sensing gravitational waves from colliding black holes and neutron stars with various masses. The pitch of the sound rises quickly as the bodies spiral together and merge.

To...

Explosive bolts that help detach the Russian Soyuz capsule from the International Space Station may be the source of the problems the spacecraft has encountered during the last two landings. Investigative space journalist and Jim Oberg at MSNBC, who is one of the best experts on the inner workings of the Russian space program recently wrote a very interesting article detailing Russian engineers' plans to fix the problem: have two Russian cosmonauts conduct a spacewalk on July 10 to remove...

Phil Plait reports that the Gamma-ray Large Area Telescope, or GLAST, is now returning data to Earth! Phil's been kind enough to send traffic my way for my Phoenix coverage; I'm only too happy to send you guys his way for GLAST, since he used to work on the mission -- he knows what he's talking about, and promises to explain the likely strange-looking pictures that will come out later. Chalk up one more active space telescope. And ....

I haven’t written about the Mars Phoenix lander in some time — I figure y’all get your news from Emily — but just in case I think I’d better mention that the oven on board the lander may short out the next time it’s used. This is bad news. The main goal of the lander [...]

"Dry" thunderstorms triggered hundreds of fires in California on the first day of summer 2008. These images show dozens of active fires burning in the state.

I seem to spend most of my days sat in front of a computer. Although I tend to be reading a screen in one form or another I don't feel that I actually spend enough time sitting down with a good, eye-strain-free, book.

For many years in the UK we have had various national book weeks - this year running from October 6th to 12th - to encourage kids to read more. In fact, I remember taking part in one myself when I was at school. My class were even lucky enough to receive a personal letter from...

A new regular feature highlights research undertaken by SETI scientists.