NASA

Journey To Mars (Image NASA)

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NASA announced Journey to Mars, a challenge in which the public was invited to submit ideas to develop the elements needed to establish a permanent presence of humans on the planet Mars. There are the basic elements to sustain human life, meaning shelter, food, water, breathable air but also communications, exercise, social interaction, and medicine. Other elements can be considered as well because a true colony must be able to go beyond basic needs to thrive.

Images of the April 28-29, 2015 solar filament captured by the SOHO space probe's coronographs (Image ESA/NASA/SOHO)

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Between April 28 and 29, 2015 a solar flare produced a filament that spread to a really huge distance. The result is that the images of the space probe SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) that captured the filament, to include it cover a wide area of ​​45 million kilometers (about 30 million miles).

The region on the planet Mercury where the Messenger space probe crashed (Image NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington)

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NASA has confirmed that a few hours ago the Messenger (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging) space probe ended its mission by crashing on the surface of the planet Mercury. Messenger ran out of fuel and some maneuvers were recently programmed to prolong its life of a few more days. Eventually, even the helium normally used to pressurize the propellant was released in a jet that gave the probe one last push. It was a very successful mission that allowed us to discover many things about Mercury.

The Hubble Space Telescope (Photo NASA)

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On April 24, 1990, the Space Shuttle Discovery was launched in its STS-31 mission. In its cargo bay, it carried a really special payload, the Hubble Space Telescope. The day after it was deployed in its orbit, just over 550 km (about 342 miles) altitude. On June 25, Hubble sent its first images, which revealed a flaw in its primary mirror that reduced its usefulness. The first of a series of service missions turned what had threatened to turn into a terrible failure into a symbol for science and technology that goes far beyond astronomy.