If you like space exploration, you'll want to get used to these eight faces -- odds are that you'll see at least some of them again. They represent NASA's 2013 astronaut candidate class, and they'll start training in August for a chance at going on missions to the International Space Station, asteroids and even Mars. The trainee pool is more eclectic than usual this time around. Half the picks are women, while three of the candidates come from non-military outfits such as Harvard Medical School and NOAA. Check out the full roster after the break.

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Via: Space Travel

Source: NASA

Witness now the death of a star in glorious 3D. It's not quite as exciting as all that, but astronomers have managed to map the eruptions of the nova using footage from the Hubble telescope. Above are three images of T Pyxidis (that's T Pyx to its friends), a double star system located some 15,600 light-years away -- the white globular bit in the middle is the star. The researchers reported to their surprise that the ejected matter has largely stayed in the area of the star, creating a disk of debris, likely expanding but not leaving the orbit. The findings suggest that the companion in the star system helps dictate where that material goes. More info on the research can be found after the break.

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NASA is determined to bring the final frontier closer than ever -- or at least a small, photographic slice of it. Using NASA's Swift satellite, astrophysicists at Goddard Space Flight Center and Pennsylvania State University were able to create a stunningly detailed survey of the two galaxies closest to us: the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds. The 160-megapixel image was painstakingly stitched together using thousands of smaller photographs captured with Swift's Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope. Rendering the galaxies in UV wavelengths allows researchers to study details unseen in visible light images, like individual stars surrounding the Tarantula Nebula in the LMC (the large pink cluster in the photo above). This high-res mosaic provides ample opportunity to study the life cycles of stars, from birth to death, in detail astrophysicists could previously only dream about. Fancy a tour? Check out the video after the break -- or journey on past the source link to download the 457MB TIFF.

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Source: NASA

Scientists already had an inkling that water helped form the landscape on Mars, but they're now ready to confirm that claim. In a report written for Science, researchers state that the smooth, rounded shape of the Red Planet's pebbles and the way they overlap is identical to the gravel formation found in Earth's rivers. They appear to be too large to be blown by wind, and their varied shades indicate they were transported from various locations -- telltale signs of a former stream. "For decades, we have speculated and hypothesized that the surface of Mars was carved by water, but this is the first time where you can see the remnants of stream flow with what are absolutely tell-tale signs," said Rebecca Williams to the BBC. This isn't the first time we've heard of water on Mars, but the idea of a Martian river does make us wonder if Marvin had a favorite fishing hole.

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Source: BBC, Science

Ever since joining Google+ early last year, The White House has become more and more involved with the social network. And with word spreading amongst Earthlings about an asteroid (with its own moon, no less) zipping past the planet sometime around 5:00PM ET, the executive mansion of the US couldn't have chosen a better day to discuss the topic. As part of its ongoing "We the Geeks" series on Google+, The White House will be hosting a Hangout today where it plans to talk about asteroid characterization, identification, resource utilization and more. As you'd expect, there will be a some knowledgeable people present to spark the conversation, including NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, former astronaut Ed Lu and, of course, Bill Nye. So, if you plan to fly swing by later, be sure to set a reminder for 2:00PM ET, as that's when the Hangout is expected to begin.

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Source: The White House

While we've learned that radiation levels on Mars are safe for humans, actually getting there in the first place remains a problem. Recent results from Curiosity's Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) reveal that exposure even while safely ensconced inside a protected spacecraft is dangerously high. Explorers would be bombarded with 466 milliSieverts of high-energy galactic cosmic rays and solar particles during the 253-day transit and the same coming back, with total levels that could exceed NASA's career radiation limit for astronauts. "In terms of accumulated dose, it's like getting a whole-body CT scan once every five or six days," said Cary Zeitlin, a principal scientist from the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) who's the lead author of the findings. A manned Mars voyage isn't completely out of the question, but it does mean better shielding is necessary before such a trip -- much less a future colony -- becomes a reality.

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Source: NASA

It hasn't even been a year from the time NASA's Curiosity rover landed on Mars, yet it already boasts a number of accomplishments. All the while, Opportunity's successor has been sending images back to Earth documenting its numerous great deeds, and a fan of the rover's work has compiled many of the them into the video you can find after the break. So, now you can get a glimpse of Curiosity capturing awe-inspiring shots of Mount Sharp, unearthing evidence of liquid water, determining the alien soil's chemical composition, and discovering conditions that could've allowed microbes to thrive on the red planet, all in the span of a minute. Hit play to check out what Curiosity's been up to from its first through its 281st Sol -- or Martian day -- as well as to see the extraterrestrial lands our grandchildren might occupy in the future.

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Source: YouTube

Scientists observing Saturn's moon Titan with NASA's Cassini spacecraft have boldly gone where no man has gone before -- visually, anyway. Using radar imagery collected from nine years of Cassini flybys, researchers were able to patch together the first global topographic map of Titan, published in the July 2013 issue of Icarus. Ralph Lorenz, a member of the Cassini radar team at Johns Hopkins, said, "Titan has so much interesting activity -- like flowing liquids and moving sand dunes -- but to understand these processes it's useful to know how the terrain slopes." In particular, understanding the moon's terrain can reveal a lot about its dynamic climate system. Like Earth, Titan's atmosphere is composed primarily of nitrogen, but the liquids and vapors on the moon's surface are made of methane and other organic chemicals integral to the creation of complex life. By studying the relationship between atmosphere and terrain, researchers hope to learn more about the evolution of life in its earliest stages, and inspire curious minds to turn their eyes toward Titan.

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Via: Space

Source: Icarus

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

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Every week, a new and interesting human being tackles our decidedly geeky take on the Proustian Q&A. This is the Engadget Questionnaire.

In our latest round of gadget-related queries, Astrophysicist and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Principle Scientist Amy Mainzer discusses the fully-body typing experience and planetary preservation. Join us after the jump for her responses to our full barrage of questions.

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Source: Distro Issue 92

Last week we had lab-grown burgers; this week it's powdered pizza. NASA's gotten in on the synthesized food action by awarding a $125,000 grant to Anjan Contractor, head of Systems & Materials Research Corporation, to develop a 3D food printer. The first device Contractor plans to build under the six-month grant is based on RepRap's open-source hardware and will be designed to print a pizza comprised of three layers of nutritional powders mixed with water and oil. As the final frontier gets further and further away, NASA's need for a nutritious, long-lasting food supply suitable for space travel grows. Since the powders used in Contractor's design -- potentially sourced from insects, grass and algae -- have a shelf life of about 30 years, his 3D food printer would be well-suited to the task. If your appetite's survived the idea of snacks made from pulverized insects, you can watch the grant-winning prototype print some synthesized chocolate after the break.

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Via: Business Insider

If you thought current media-darling Curiosity is where all the martian action is right now, think again. Its elder sibling, Opportunity, is still rolling up there too. In fact, it's just wheeled its way into a little page of NASA history: the longest distance one of its vehicles has traveled on a body beyond Earth. A recent short (by our standards) trip of 263 feet took its total to 22.22 miles covered on Mars' surface since landing in January 2004. The previous title holder was a Lunar Rover, part of the Apollo 17 mission over 40 years ago, that covered (if you hadn't guessed) 22.21 miles. Opportunity's not beat the world galaxy record though. That honor goes to the Soviet Lunokhod rover, which totted up a total of 23 lunar-based miles back in 1973. In relative terms, Curiosity's barely stretched its legs.

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Via: CNET

Source: NASA

Google. NASA. Quantum computers. Seriously, everything about the new Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab at the Ames Research Center is exciting. The joint effort between Mountain View and America's space agency will put a 512 qubit machine from D-Wave at the disposal of researchers from around the globe, with the USRA (Universities Space Research Association) inviting teams of scientists and engineers to share time on the unique super computer. The goal is to study how quantum computing might be leveraged to advance machine learning, a branch of AI that has proven crucial to Google's success. The internet giant has already done some work with quantum computing before, now the goal is to see if its experimentation can translate into real world results. The idea, for Google at least, is to combine the extreme (but highly-specialized) power of the quantum bit with its oceans of traditional data centers to build more accurate models for everything from speech recognition to web search. And maybe, just maybe, with the help of quantum computers your phone will finally realize you didn't mean to say "duck."

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Via: New York Times

Source: Google Research Blog

Yesterday NASA reported that an ammonia leak had been discovered on the ISS. Astronauts Tom Marshburn and Chris Cassidy are embarking on an emergency spacewalk to fix the problem. NASA TV is broadcasting the walk live, and you can follow along on the somewhat safer journey past the break.

Update (3:54PM ET): Nasa has reported within the last or so that the faulty pump has been successfully replaced. The entire spacewalk took about six and half hours to complete, according to NASA's Twitter.

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Source: Space.com, NASA (Twitter)

The International Space Station has been a font of good news and scientific progress since it received its first human residents at the start of the millennium, but now it may be starting to show its age. The current crew reported seeing damage to the vessel's truss structure yesterday and NASA has since confirmed there's been a leak of ammonia from the station's cooling system. The Agency says the problem isn't dangerous and that regular ISS-style activities are continuing as normal while earth-bound helpers figure out a way of re-routing power channels before part of the cooling system shuts down. If you want to hear what unflustered voices sound like at an altitude of over 200 miles, check out the audio of Commander Hadfield's initial report of the leak at the source link below.

Update: Commander Hadfield has also confirmed on Twitter that there's been a "big change in plans," and that astronauts Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn will perform a spacewalk today to fix the leak.

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Via: SlashGear, Spaceflight Now, CBC News

Source: NASA

Ideally, Astronauts want to return to Earth in fully functional space capsules, but sometimes things can go awry. That's why NASA is making a point of testing the Orion spacecraft's parachute deployment system for failures. The team's latest parachute test saw a test capsule falling from 25,000 feet with two of three drogue chutes rigged to fail and for one of two main parachutes to skip its inflation stage -- despite the handicap, the empty craft landed safely. "Parachute deployment is inherently chaotic and not easily predictable," Explains the Orion's landing and recovery system manager, Stu McClung. "The end result can be very unforgiving. That's why we test. If we have problems with the system, we want to know about them now." NASA plans to perform additional parachute tests at higher altitudes in July to help balance and reduce risk for Orion's crew. Check out NASA's official press release and a brief video of the test after the break.

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The launch of NASA's PhoneSat mission last year was loaded with promise: finally, proof that mobile technology could power nanosatellites and stick it to The Man. The photos have returned, and... well, Lockheed won't be scrapping its big satellites just yet. While we're impressed that the Nexus Ones onboard the three PhoneSats delivered images from orbit through amateur radio waves, the transmission artifacts are more like those from 15-year-old online videos than what we see on the ground today. Don't think that the effort was in vain, however -- far from it. While the inaugural PhoneSats have burned up in reentry, as expected, future iterations should build on the experience and make a better case for small-scale spacecraft.

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Via: The Verge

Source: NASA (1), (2), PhoneSat

NASA wants your words,

preferably a haiku.

It might go to Mars!

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Via: NPR

Source: NASA

It may be fun, but sending NASA scientists on snowmobiles to survey ice floes isn't the most productive use of their time. That's why the agency has sent GROVER to do the job instead. The solar-powered Greenland Rover is an autonomous vehicle with ground penetrating radar that's been designed to examine how the ice flow has changed over time. As the Arctic sun will never drop below the horizon, GROVER will be able to work 24 hours a day, give or take the odd social media break.

[Image Credit: Gabriel Trisca, Boise State University]

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Via: The Register

Source: NASA

If the crashing sound of lightning striking Saturn wasn't enough to excite your inner-meteorologist, then perhaps footage of a raging extraterrestrial hurricane will win you over. After orbiting the ringed planet for nine years, NASA's Cassini probe has managed to snag video of a super storm on the celestial body's north pole. Cloaked by the darkness of winter, the hurricane's eye became visible as Saturn's northern hemisphere transitioned into spring. Unlike the tropical cyclones of Earth (see: Hurricane Katrina, Sandy and Irene), this furious typhoon has been spinning for several years and has winds that flow at speeds exceeding 300MPH. Further differentiating itself from our world's whirlwinds, this alien cyclone is locked to its planet's north pole and is fueled by small amounts of water vapor instead of an actual ocean. Completely in a category of its own, the hurricane's eye measures about 1,250 miles wide and is surrounded by fluffy white clouds the size of Texas. To see this Saturnian fury in all its glory, check out the video after the break and feel free to leave your gratuitous hurricane names in the comments below.

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Source: NASA

No, you're not looking at an early preview of Star Wars Episode VII -- it just might represent the future of air transport, though. Boeing has spent years developing a truly quiet supersonic airliner concept, the Icon II, and what you see is an aerodynamics test of a mockup in a vaguely Death Star-like wind tunnel at NASA's Glenn Research Center. The starfighter design is for more than just show, as you'd suspect. Its V-tail design moves sonic booms further back, reducing the chance that shockwaves will reach the ground (and our ears) intact, while the top-mounted engines isolate engine noise. Boeing and NASA are ultimately hoping for production passenger aircraft discreet enough to fly over land at supersonic speeds, although we can't help but think that the sci-fi look is a convenient bonus.

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Source: New Scientist

SpaceX may be the only private outfit currently shepherding cargo to the International Space Station, but Orbital Sciences, which is the second party in NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services effort, is taking a step towards its own ISS resupply missions. Today, the firm's Antares rocket will undergo its very first test flight, taking off from the space agency's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia. Liftoff is slated for sometime between 5PM and 7PM, with an 80 percent chance of favorable weather, as opposed to the 45 percent odds and high-altitude winds that foiled its initial attempt yesterday. To watch Antares embark on its maiden voyage, hit the jump for a live video feed.

Update: Antares blasted off at a hair past 5PM and successfully separated from its mock payload. The live stream has wrapped up, but we'll slot in a video of the launch as soon as we get ahold of one.

Update 2: NASA just posted its footage of the rocket taking off, and we've placed the video after the break for your viewing pleasure.

[Image credit: NASA, Flickr]

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Source: NASA (1), (2), Orbital Sciences

NASA's Kepler telescope has discovered three "super-Earth-size" exoplanets that are close enough to their stars to make them possibly suitable for water. Two of the planets (Kepler-62e and Kepler-62f) orbit a K2 dwarf estimated to be around 7 billion years old. Measuring at two-thirds the size of our sun, this cosmic lantern is orbited by a total of five planets, three of which are too close to be habitable for life. Kepler-69c, the biggest of this newly discovered trio is estimated to be 70 percent larger than Earth and takes 242 days to revolve around its sun-like star Kepler-69. While there's great excitement surrounding these new findings, this isn't the first time we've spotted a potentially habitable planet. A little over a year ago Kepler discovered Kepler-22b, an exoplanet about 600 light-years away from Earth believed to be covered in liquid. Like their predecessor, NASA has yet to determine if these newfound planets actually have water or a rocky composition. Until then, Ridley Scott might want to hold off on naming them as locations for his sequel to Prometheus.

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Via: Wired

Source: NASA

Many have lamented the seeming decline of the US space program. While we're not expecting an immediate return to the halcyon days, the President's proposed federal budget for fiscal 2014 could see some renewed ambition. NASA's slice of the pie includes a plan that would improve detection of near-Earth asteroids, send a solar-powered robot ship (like the NASA concept above) to capture one of the space rocks and tow it back to a stable orbit near Earth, where researchers could study it up close. The agency would have humans setting foot on the asteroid by 2025, or even as soon as 2021. It's a grand goal to say the least, but we'd potentially learn more about solar propulsion and defenses against asteroid collisions.

If NASA's plans mostly involve the future, the US Air Force budget is looking into the past. It's setting aside $35 million for a long-discussed resurrection of the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite, also known as DSCOVR -- a vehicle that was scuppered in 2001 due to cost overruns, among other factors. Run by NOAA once aloft, the modernized satellite would focus on warning the Earth about incoming solar winds. That's just one of the satellite's original missions, but the November 2014 launch target is relatively realistic -- and we'll need it when the satellite currently fulfilling the role is overdue for a replacement.

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Via: Space.com

Source: NASA, AP (Yahoo)

NASA's Kepler space telescope hasn't exactly been a slouch when it comes to planet hunting, but that effort will soon be getting a considerable boost courtesy of a new mission selected by NASA as part of its Explorer program. Dubbed the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (or TESS), this new space telescope will one-up Kepler with the ability to perform an all-sky survey (an area 400 times larger than previous missions) to search for transiting exoplanets, with an eye towards planets comparable to Earth in size. TESS was developed by an MIT-led team, and will be placed in what they describe as a new "Goldilocks" orbit, allowing it to travel close enough to the Earth every two weeks for a high-speed data downlink while still remaining safely beyond the harmful radiation belts. It's now set for launch in 2017, when it will be joined by the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER), an addition to the International Space Station also selected as part of the Explorer program last week that will use a process called X-ray timing to study neutron stars.

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Via: New Scientist

Source: NASA, MIT