Astro Blog

Source:   NASA RELEASE: 10-029 Excerpt: WASHINGTON -- NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has observed a mysterious X-shaped debris pattern and trailing streamers of dust that suggest a head-on collision between two asteroids. Astronomers have long thought the asteroid belt is being ground down through collisions, but such a smashup has never been seen before.  Asteroid collisions are energetic, with an average impact speed of more than 11,000 miles per hour, or five times faster than a rifle bullet.... www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/feb/HQ_10-029_Hubble_asteroid.html

Source:   Kenneth Chang, New York Times Excerpt: The ambitious space initiative that President Obama unveiled for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on Monday calls for sweeping changes in mission and priorities for the 52-year-old agency, yet it omits two major details: where the agency will send its astronauts and a timetable for getting them there. If Mr. Obama’s proposed budget is implemented, NASA a few years from now would ...no longer operate its own spacecraft, but essentially buy tickets for its astronauts on commercially launched rockets. It would end its program to return to the moon and would pursue future missions to deep space by drawing more cooperation and financing from other nations…. www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/science/space/02nasa.html