Space

Australia's giant Parkes radio telescope detected a "fast radio burst," or FRB, last May. Researchers call FRBs, whose origins haven't been explained, "tantalizing mysteries of the radio sky."

Science

Origin Unknown: Study Says Blast Of Radio Waves Came From Outside Our Galaxy

9:52am January 20, 2015

by Bill Chappell

Scientists call them "fast radio bursts," or FRBs: mysterious pulses of radio waves coming from far, far away. Researchers in Australia say they've observed one in real time.

Science

WATCH: SpaceX Booster Crashes On Barge

5:25pm January 16, 2015

by Scott Neuman

The company's resupply mission to the International Space Station went off without a hitch last week, but an attempt to land the spent booster on a floating platform didn't go as well.

An image sent by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Scientists have concluded that it shows the Beagle 2 Mars lander, which went missing in 2003.

Science

Long-Lost European Spacecraft Spotted On Mars By NASA Probe

10:30am January 16, 2015

by Eyder Peralta

The Beagle 2 Mars lander was lost in December 2003. Today, scientists confirmed their spacecraft was found partially deployed on the surface of the Red Planet.

Science

Stars Shine Bright In Ireland's Dark Sky Reserve

6:45pm January 13, 2015

by Ari Shapiro

The International Dark-Sky Association has named only three "gold-tier reserves" on Earth where a "full array of visible sky phenomena can be viewed." There's only one in the Northern Hemisphere — at the the Kerry International Dark Sky Reserve in far Southwestern Ireland.

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The Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Saturday.

SpaceX Launch Successful; Recovery Attempt 'Close, But No Cigar'

6:46pm January 10, 2015

by Scott Neuman

The private launch contractor resupplying the ISS said a plan to recover the rocket's spent first stage at sea hit a snag.

Rocket Landing At Sea Was 'Close But No Cigar'

11:31am January 10, 2015

An experimental rocket launched by SpaceX Saturday was a partial success. A cargo capsule will reach the International Space Station, but the spent rocket failed to land on a barge in the Atlantic.

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The massive first stage of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket is designed to return to earth.

Science

SpaceX Plans A Perfect Landing

8:09am January 06, 2015

by Geoff Brumfiel

The space firm will send a supply capsule into orbit, and then try a new way to recover the part of the rocket that carried it. If it works, the cost of going to space could be reduced dramatically.

NASA Hopes A Hack Will Overcome Mars Rover's Memory Gap

11:59am January 03, 2015

by Eric Westervelt

The Mars rover Opportunity is getting on in years. It has been on Mars' surface for over a decade, and now it's having memory problems. NASA has come up with a plan to fix it.

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Beemer, shown at the Mars Society's Mars Desert Research Station in Utah in 2011, is a candidate for both Mars One and the Mars Arctic 365 program.

Science

An Aspiring Martian Continues To Pursue The Red Planet

6:54pm December 27, 2014

by NPR Staff

Heidi Beemer has dreamed of going to Mars since she was 8 years old. In January, NPR talked to her about her application to Mars One, which is still pending — now she explains she has a plan B, too.

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A negative image of Kks3, made using the Advanced Camera for Surveys on the Hubble Space Telescope. The core of the galaxy is the right hand dark object at the top center of the image.

Dwarf Galaxy, Long Overlooked, Discovered In Our 'Hood

2:48pm December 27, 2014

by Scott Neuman

Tiny Kks3, 7 million light years distant, is made up mostly of star stuff that's just a billion or so years younger than the Big Bang.