A tiny Canadian satellite is gearing up for a mission to hunt wayward space rocks that may pose a threat to Earth.

Science editor Alan Boyle's Weblog: Do rocket planes and men's fashions mix? The Rocket Racing League and DKNY, which have just struck a sponsorship deal, certainly hope so.

Mission controllers extended the Phoenix Mars Lander's schedule to keep it awake during the Martian night so the lander could coordinate with observations made by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as it flew over Phoenix.

An orbiting X-ray observatory has discovered an exploding star in the Milky Way which somehow escaped notice by the usual crowd of star gazers.

As humans look farther into the universe and discover more and more planets beyond the sun, many wonder how typical our own solar system is. Often astronomers in the planet-hunting business say discoveries of Earth-like worlds are just around the corner. But a new study indicates our setup may be rare indeed.

NLSI Lunar Science Conference, 20- 23 Jul NASA ARC

Rob Ferl - Plants in Lunar Exploration. Not your grandfather's garden we are talking about here. Plants complete the habitation environment in space - life support, food etc. Use of small plants - Arabidopsis - as reporter plants to understand adaptation to environments such as space.

Larry Young - NASA Bioastronautics Roadmap 1997-2005 identified 55 risks and risk factors and 250 enabling resources needed for long term human exploration. We are going to the Moon as a stepping stone to Mars - we should therefore learn as much as we can along the way - while doing science that can only be done on the Moon. Issues - bone and muscle loss, response to fractional gravity, space radiation, lunar dust. Need to consier all of these issues before human go to the moon. I am heartbroken that the Centrifuge Accommodation Module is not flying on the ISS where we can look at the region between zero and 1 G but the moon, at least, gives us a shot at looking at 1/6th G.

John Charles NASA JSC - Stay times on the moon during Apollo provided valuable but limited data. Working on plans for longer term stays on the lunar surface in connection with commensurate stays on the ISS.

Chris McKay - Humans in Long Duration Lunar Exploration

The Science included in the CAN (Cooperative Agreement Notice) is broad. It includes humans, plants, sustainability. This is how issues on Earth, Moon, and Mars can be tied together - sustainability.

Are we driven to explore?, Space Review

"That squirmy disruptive kid who we're putting on Ritalin today might be tomorrow's Neil Armstrong. At least, that is, if we don't overmedicate or "feminize" him to the point that he can't get the education and experience he needs to be a space explorer. ... It certainly seems empirically obvious that most people have little interest in exploring."

Editor's note: The author of this article makes some odd, borderline misogynist, and mostly unsupportable claims (mixed with some valid points) as he rambles along trying to explain why people do or not explore. "Empirically obvious"? - Where's the data to support this?

NASA/Ames scientists map our return to the moon, SJ Mercury News

"For the next three days, Silicon Valley will be the base for planning humankind's return to the moon, as more than 400 scientists from around the world assemble at NASA/Ames Research Center for a conference on what type of science should be done when astronauts revisit Earth's nearest neighbor."

Scientists swap moon, Mars exploration plans, SF Chronicle

"At the lunar science conference Thursday, NASA scientists will join scientists from Canada, Korea, Japan, Italy and Britain to create an International Lunar Network to help them work together on major projects, said David Morrison, director of the new NASA Lunar Science Institute at Ames. He was joined by Stephen Mackwell, director of the independent Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, whose $7 million budget is financed by NASA grants."

Speaking Up About a Silent Killer, Washington Post

"Three times a week, in a plain red-brick building near the Pentagon City mall in Arlington, a machine keeps me alive. ... Between the time spent on dialysis and other hours devoted to related testing, I reckon I've lost about a third of my life. My focus, though, is on the 65 percent that's left."

Editor's note: The author of this article, Frank Sietzen, co-authored the book "New Moon Rising" with me back in 2004 and is the author of the forthcoming book "The Astronaut and the Fireman".

NLSI Lunar Science Conference, 20- 23 Jul NASA ARC

Editor's Note: I was going to try and live blog and make Twitter posts from this conference but the free WiFi never works and the building where the meeting is held seems to block commercial EVDO signals. I might try again tomorrow.Andy Chaikin: Talking about larger social ramifications of Apollo program. The effect that live TV had on the people of Earth. The moon is a wtiness to the early history of the solar system and it is right in our own back yard. Impact events may well have affected the origin and evolution of life on Earth. The moon was revealed by exploration to be a place of spectacular beauty. It is the ony world in the solar system where we can stand and look back at our own place in the solar system. When we do go back I want us to remember what we got the first time and that when we look back at our world we see it for what it is. The moon, as a magnet for exploration, has shown us what we can become.

Imagination takes a flight to Mars, USA Today

"This could be the Indian summer of Mars exploration. The success of NASA's Phoenix lander has capped a decade of robotic derring-do and discoveries by uncovering chips of ice on the barren surface of the Red Planet's north pole. The find proves the existence of water, a key ingredient of life."

NASA eyes buying Japan's cargo spacecraft, Reuters

NASA eyes purchasing Japan's HTV spacecraft, Daily Yomiuri

"In April, NASA started a project to assist U.S. companies' development of a spacecraft to succeed the space shuttle. However, it is uncertain whether it will be possible for the successor vehicle to be developed in the two years left before the space shuttle is to be scrapped, prompting NASA to discuss buying foreign spacecraft. The U.S. Congress has a psychological resistance to buying Russian spacecraft, and the ATV's transport capacity is smaller than that of the HTV. NASA, therefore, is considering ordering HTVs."

Editor's note: If this is true, it is clear that Mike Griffin is going out of his way to undermine COTS and the American companies that seek to provide these services to the ISS. And where is the money going to come from to buy these flights? I guess we can just call this J-COTS from now on.

Editor's Update: NASA released the following statement;

NASA Statement on Inaccurate Reports About Japanese Cargo Services

"Contrary to news reports, NASA has not officially or unofficially been discussing the purchase of H-II Transfer Vehicles (HTV) -- uninhabited resupply cargo ships for the space station -- from the Japanese Space Agency, or JAXA."

International Lunar Observatory Dual Function Instrument Bound for the Moon Aboard Odyssey Moon's Google Lunar X PRIZE Mission

"The world's first astronomical observatory bound for the Moon was announced today as a joint venture between the International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA) and Google Lunar X PRIZE contender Odyssey Moon Limited. A dual function ILO precursor instrument demonstrating observation and communication techniques will be part of the scientific and commercial payloads aboard Odyssey Moon's inaugural "MoonOne" lander mission, planned for 2011, and destined for the lunar equator in pursuit of the Google Lunar X PRIZE."

Murcer's Jersey Made a Journey to Outer Space, NY Times

"A friendship of a lifetime began through static. Doug Wheelock loved the Yankees and listened to every game while growing up in the 1960s in Windsor, N.Y., a small town upstate. He would sneak a radio into bed for late games, his mother saying, "That radio better not be on!"

NASA Solicitation: Scale Models on International Space Station With Logistic Vehicles

"Elements to be included in the Configuration: ... Centrifuge Accommodations Module ... Science Power Module"

Editor's note: I do not see these large, expensive ISS components listed on the Consolidated Launch Manifest for the ISS. Why include things on these models that have been cancelled and will never be placed on the ISS? Why do so for models that you are ordering that serve represent the "Assembly Complete Configuration as identified July, 2008, including changes identified at that time"- a configuration where the "Assembly Complete Configuration" is determined by the publicly issued final manifest for station assembly missions?

NASA's Use of Human Cadavers In Testing the Design of the Orion Spacecraft, SpaceRef

"I recently learned that NASA has made some limited use of human cadavers in testing during the development of the Orion spacecraft. Now, on first blush, this might sound somewhat macabre. In fact, it is more common than you might expect. There is also a practical reason for using this approach.

Let me start by providing the statement that the NASA Public Affairs Office provided me with today in response to an inquiry I made regarding the use of human cadavers in the Orion program: ..."

NASA used cadavers in Orion landing tests, Houston Chronicle

"Personnel working under contract for NASA used cadavers in tests to develop landing systems, spacesuits and seats in the new Orion moonship, space agency officials said Friday. Three human bodies were used in the tests at Ohio State University Medical Center last summer and fall."

NASA: getting more macabre, Nature

"Yesterday it was wee, well today the testing phase for the Orion spacecraft, that will take the place of the space shuttle, has taken a more sinister turn."

Satellite radio saga takes unexpected turn, AP

"Adelstein, the potential deciding vote, told The Associated Press on Thursday that he would support Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.'s $3.1 billion buyout of XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. if the companies agree to a six-year price cap and make one-quarter of their satellite capacity available for public interest and minority programming, plus other conditions."

NASA's Deep Impact Films Earth as an Alien World

"NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft has created a video of the moon transiting (passing in front of) Earth as seen from the spacecraft's point of view 31 million miles away. Scientists are using the video to develop techniques to study alien worlds. "Making a video of Earth from so far away helps the search for other life-bearing planets in the Universe by giving insights into how a distant, Earth-like alien world would appear to us," said University of Maryland astronomer Michael A'Hearn, principal investigator for the Deep Impact extended mission, called EPOXI."#et#lt;/em>

Video below