China Invites Journalists To Space Complex

On Wednesday, journalists from 24 news organizations in seven different countries were given a tour of China's launch center.

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Spirit and Opportunity Continue Their Mission

The Mars Exploration Rovers (MERs) Spirit and Opportunity continue their extended mission on the surface of Mars. Opportunity's rock abrasion tool (RAT) has un-jammed itself. Both prepare for the solar conjunction on September 16th when the sun will block communications between Earth and Mars, probably for several days.

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MANTRA Research Balloon Successfully Launched Today

"Longueuil, September 1, 2004 - Scientists from the Canadian Space Agency, Environment Canada, the University of Toronto, York University and the University of Waterloo launched today a large research balloon in an intensive study of the ozone layer over Canada. The balloon, as tall as a 20-story building, is carrying one half tonne of scientific instruments 40 km high in the sky over Saskatchewan."

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Envisat Tracks Icebergs

The European Space Agency's (ESA's) Envisat earth observing satellite has been using its Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) instrument to track the flow of icebergs.

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Scientists Discover New Class of Extrasolar Planets

Astronomers recently discovered the first extrasolar planets of a new classification. These planets are on the order of 10-20 Earths (about the size of the planet Neptune) and are much smaller than previously discovered extrasolar planets.

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Genesis Returning With Solar Particles

NASA's Genesis spacecraft is on its way back to Earth with microscopic particles from the solar wind. Hollywood stunt pilots in Utah will use a helicopter to capture the returned capsule after it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere on September 8th. (Related press releases: 19-Aug-2004, 11-Aug-2004)

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Mars Express Photgraphs Eos Chasma

The European Space Agency (ESA) released spectacular images of the Eos Chasma (part of Valles Marineris) on Mars today. The images were created from photographs taken with the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) aboard Mars Express spacecraft currently orbiting Mars.

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ESA To Celebrate Cupola Module Completion

The European Space Agency (ESA) announced a ceremony scheduled for September 6th to celebrate the completion of the development phase completion of the Cupola observation module for the International Space Station (ISS).

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Smallest Exosolar Planet Discovered

Astronomers using the European Southern Observatory's (ESO's) High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) instrument have discovered the smallest exosolar planet found so far. It's mass is about 14 times that of Earth.

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ISS Status Report

Astronaut Mike Fincke and Cosmonaut Gennady Padalka accomplished a number of key tasks this past week aborad the International Space Station (ISS). They repaired a US spacesuit, prepared for their final spacewalk for their ISS rotation, repaired a piece of exercise equipment, boosted the ISS orbit, and even photographed Hurricane Frances in the Atlantic Ocean.

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