Thomas Harriot produced remarkable drawings showing the locations of the moon’s craters, and his cartography was not bettered for decades. So why does Galileo enjoy lasting fame while Harriot has been forgotten? Oxford professor Allan Chapman says “Harriot had no one to protect him, because his patrons were worried about having their heads chopped off.”

Several small space rocks that hit Mars in 2008 blasted away topsoil to reveal a layer of water ice lying just below the planet’s surfaceimg width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/424056/s/39cfa17/mf.gif’ border=’0′/div class=’mf-viral’table border=’0′trtd valign=’middle’a href=”http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Subsurface ice on Mars exposed by recent impactslink=http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16867-subsurface-ice-on-mars-exposed-by-recent-impacts.html?DCMP=OTC-rssnsref=exploring-mars” target=”_blank”img src=”http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif” border=”0″ //a/tdtd valign=’middle’a href=”http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Subsurface ice on Mars exposed by recent impactslink=http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16867-subsurface-ice-on-mars-exposed-by-recent-impacts.html?DCMP=OTC-rssnsref=exploring-mars” target=”_blank”img src=”http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif” border=”0″ //a/td/tr/table/divbr/br/a href=”http://da.feedsportal.com/r/35757131369/u/0/f/424056/c/749/s/60619287/a2.htm”img src=”http://da.feedsportal.com/r/35757131369/u/0/f/424056/c/749/s/60619287/a2.img” border=”0″//a

A competitor in Google’s $30 million Lunar X Prize aims to grow mustard plants on the moon in a mini-greenhouseimg width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/424063/s/395d5d5/mf.gif’ border=’0′/div class=’mf-viral’table border=’0′trtd valign=’middle’a href=”http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Firm vows to grow first flowers on the moonlink=http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16858-firm-vows-to-grow-first-flowers-on-the-moon.html?DCMP=OTC-rssnsref=spaceflight” target=”_blank”img src=”http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif” border=”0″ //a/tdtd valign=’middle’a href=”http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Firm vows to grow first flowers on the moonlink=http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16858-firm-vows-to-grow-first-flowers-on-the-moon.html?DCMP=OTC-rssnsref=spaceflight” target=”_blank”img src=”http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif” border=”0″ //a/td/tr/table/divbr/br/a href=”http://da.feedsportal.com/r/35756916338/u/0/f/424063/c/749/s/60151253/a2.htm”img src=”http://da.feedsportal.com/r/35756916338/u/0/f/424063/c/749/s/60151253/a2.img” border=”0″//a

Get out your 3D glasses ndash; the most powerful camera ever sent to another planet has released new anaglyph images of Marsimg width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/424056/s/3936ba2/mf.gif’ border=’0′/div class=’mf-viral’table border=’0′trtd valign=’middle’a href=”http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Zooming in on Mars in glorious 3Dlink=http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16852-zooming-in-on-mars-in-glorious-3d.html?DCMP=OTC-rssnsref=exploring-mars” target=”_blank”img src=”http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif” border=”0″ //a/tdtd valign=’middle’a href=”http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Zooming in on Mars in glorious 3Dlink=http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16852-zooming-in-on-mars-in-glorious-3d.html?DCMP=OTC-rssnsref=exploring-mars” target=”_blank”img src=”http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif” border=”0″ //a/td/tr/table/divbr/br/a href=”http://da.feedsportal.com/r/35251002816/u/0/f/424056/c/749/s/59992994/a2.htm”img src=”http://da.feedsportal.com/r/35251002816/u/0/f/424056/c/749/s/59992994/a2.img” border=”0″//a

Lighting up the universe is a rough-and-tumble business.

Using a camera worth less than $80 and a latex balloon, a group of Spanish students has captured a series of beautiful photographs of the planet and the stratosphere. bNew Scientist/b speaks to one of the team about the achievementimg width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/424063/s/38e997b/mf.gif’ border=’0′/div class=’mf-viral’table border=’0′trtd valign=’middle’a href=”http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Student project captures images of Earth from spacelink=http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16805-student-project-captures-images-of-earth-from-space.html?DCMP=OTC-rssnsref=spaceflight” target=”_blank”img src=”http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif” border=”0″ //a/tdtd valign=’middle’a href=”http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Student project captures images of Earth from spacelink=http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16805-student-project-captures-images-of-earth-from-space.html?DCMP=OTC-rssnsref=spaceflight” target=”_blank”img src=”http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif” border=”0″ //a/td/tr/table/divbr/br/a href=”http://da.feedsportal.com/r/35250817019/u/0/f/424063/c/749/s/59677051/a2.htm”img src=”http://da.feedsportal.com/r/35250817019/u/0/f/424063/c/749/s/59677051/a2.img” border=”0″//a

Fossilised microbes could be strewn across the surface of Mars after hitching a ride in mud plumes from deep undergroundimg width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/424056/s/3832272/mf.gif’ border=’0′/div class=’mf-viral’table border=’0′trtd valign=’middle’a href=”http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Is life bubbling up in Mars mud?link=http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20127005.000-is-life-bubbling-up-in-mars-mud.html?DCMP=OTC-rssnsref=exploring-mars” target=”_blank”img src=”http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif” border=”0″ //a/tdtd valign=’middle’a href=”http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Is life bubbling up in Mars mud?link=http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20127005.000-is-life-bubbling-up-in-mars-mud.html?DCMP=OTC-rssnsref=exploring-mars” target=”_blank”img src=”http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif” border=”0″ //a/td/tr/table/divbr/br/a href=”http://da.feedsportal.com/r/35153490531/u/0/f/424056/c/749/s/58925682/a2.htm”img src=”http://da.feedsportal.com/r/35153490531/u/0/f/424056/c/749/s/58925682/a2.img” border=”0″//a

Fossilised microbes could be strewn across the surface of Mars after hitching a ride in mud plumes from deep underground (full text available to subscribers)img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/424056/s/38eb9ff/mf.gif’ border=’0′/div class=’mf-viral’table border=’0′trtd valign=’middle’a href=”http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Is life bubbling up in Mars mud?link=http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20127005.000″ target=”_blank”img src=”http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif” border=”0″ //a/tdtd valign=’middle’a href=”http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Is life bubbling up in Mars mud?link=http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20127005.000″ target=”_blank”img src=”http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif” border=”0″ //a/td/tr/table/divbr/br/a href=”http://da.feedsportal.com/r/35250822110/u/0/f/424056/c/749/s/59685375/a2.htm”img src=”http://da.feedsportal.com/r/35250822110/u/0/f/424056/c/749/s/59685375/a2.img” border=”0″//a

A current spike in one of the rover’s six wheels may be a sign of the wheel’s imminent failure, which could limit its driving rangeimg width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/424056/s/381484d/mf.gif’ border=’0′/div class=’mf-viral’table border=’0′trtd valign=’middle’a href=”http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Mars rover Opportunity experiences wheel troublelink=http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16803-mars-rover-opportunity-experiences-wheel-trouble.html?DCMP=OTC-rssnsref=exploring-mars” target=”_blank”img src=”http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif” border=”0″ //a/tdtd valign=’middle’a href=”http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Mars rover Opportunity experiences wheel troublelink=http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16803-mars-rover-opportunity-experiences-wheel-trouble.html?DCMP=OTC-rssnsref=exploring-mars” target=”_blank”img src=”http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif” border=”0″ //a/td/tr/table/divbr/br/a href=”http://da.feedsportal.com/r/35080070607/u/0/f/424056/c/749/s/58804301/a2.htm”img src=”http://da.feedsportal.com/r/35080070607/u/0/f/424056/c/749/s/58804301/a2.img” border=”0″//a

A current spike in one of the rover’s six wheels may be a sign of the wheel’s imminent failure, which could limit its driving rangeimg width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/424056/s/38eba00/mf.gif’ border=’0′/div class=’mf-viral’table border=’0′trtd valign=’middle’a href=”http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Mars rover Opportunity experiences wheel troublelink=http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16803-mars-rover-opportunity-experiences-wheel-trouble.html?DCMP=OTC-rssnsref=exploring-mars” target=”_blank”img src=”http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif” border=”0″ //a/tdtd valign=’middle’a href=”http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Mars rover Opportunity experiences wheel troublelink=http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16803-mars-rover-opportunity-experiences-wheel-trouble.html?DCMP=OTC-rssnsref=exploring-mars” target=”_blank”img src=”http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif” border=”0″ //a/td/tr/table/div