This sounds pretty cool:

According to a report prepared by NASA and California Institute of Technology (Caltech) scientists, an, 'asteroid capture capsule' would be attached to an old Atlas V rocket and directed towards the asteroid between the earth and the moon. Once close, the asteroid capsule would release a 50ft diameter bag that would wrap ( Read more... )

via slashdot, Dutch company Mars One is organizing a series of one-way missions to colonize Mars 4 people at a time. "Since the launch of its website in June 2012, Mars One has enjoyed a profound, international following. With more than 850,000 unique visitors to the website, Mars One has received thousands of emails. Among those emails were more ( Read more... )

5:46 to the end:



From the actual coverage tonight, I loved that one of the NASA people's names is Fuk Li.

Simulated Mars Mission 'Returns' After 520 Days

On June 3, 2010, a team of six volunteers began the Mars500 experiment: they were locked into a cluster of hermetically sealed habitat modules for the duration of a simulated mission to Mars lasting 520 days. "During the ‘flight,' the crew performed more than 100 experiments, all linked to the ( Read more... )

via badastronomy, click here. Now.

MARS, BITCHES!

sciencedaily:

The team found methane in the Martian atmosphere by carefully observing the planet throughout several Mars years with NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility and the W.M. Keck telescope, both at Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The team used spectrometers on the telescopes to spread the light into its component colors, as a prism separates white light ( Read more... )

Venus will be passing very close to Mars (less than half a degree, it looks like) over the next few days, with the closest approach on Thursday the 11th. Look more or less due west soon after sunset. Venus will be the obviously brightest star-like object in that direction; Mars will be a bit below it and to the left the first few days and look ( Read more... )

It'll be worth getting up early on Sunday:

http://www.pa.msu.edu/abrams/SWD/Diary.html

The most compact gathering of three naked-eye planets between 1925 and 2053 will take place Sunday morning December 10, with prime viewing beginning one hour before sunrise. Jupiter, the brightest and still the lowest member of the trio, has already risen above ( Read more... )