After an failed first attempt, a second Falcon 1 rocket was launched this week and reached an altitude of 200 miles, just 50 miles below the International Space Station’s orbit. Falcon 1 is manufactured and launched privately by Space Exploration Technologies Corporation — or SpaceX — a company owned by businessman Elon Musk who had previously co-founded Paypal, the famous Internet banking system. The aim of the company is to lower the costs to put satellites in orbit, thus competing directly with established corporations like NASA and ESA.

The second test launch of Falcon 1 took place today at 6:10 pm California time. The launch was not perfect, but certainly pretty good. Given that the primary objectives were demonstrating responsive launch and gathering test data in advance of our first operational satellite launch later this year, the outcome was great.

Source: SpaceX

NASA’s Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), which is originally planned to ferry astronauts to and from the Moon, could also serve to explore nearby asteroids. While the craft, named Orion, would orbit the object, the crew could land on the surface and perform experiments that will help in the prevention of a potential collision with the Earth.

A Nasa scientist has proposed using the replacement to the space shuttle to land on a near-Earth asteroid.

Source: BBC News

Astronomers have found a field of over 1,000 super-massive black holes, gathering increasing information about how those anomalies occur and develop. Earth remains however pretty safe, as these “monsters” are between 6 and 11 billion light years away.

A new wide-field panorama reveals more than a thousand supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies, some up to several billion times more massive than the sun.

Source: Chandra X-Ray Observatory

Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, has recently been asserted as a good contender for harboring life — not water-based life like on Earth, but methane-based instead. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has brought back pictures of what seems to be a very large lake of liquid methane. It may take a while before we can determine if any life form is swimming in it, though.

A lake the size of the Caspian Sea may have been spotted on Saturn’s frigid moon, Titan. If it is indeed filled with liquid, the 1100-kilometre-long lake would be the largest yet found on the moon.

Source: New Scientist

Two extra-solar gas giant planets show no evidence of water in their atmosphere. One can’t help but think of Frank Herbert’s planet Arrakis in his space epic Dune.

Contrary to predictions, two planets orbiting distant stars show no signs of water and other simple compounds; dark clouds or haze may hide them.

Source: Scientific American