The agency’s acting chief says NASA will probably not build a permanent lunar base, hinting it may put more emphasis on missions to Mars or an asteroidimg width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/424063/s/4091812/mf.gif’ border=’0′/div class=’mf-viral’table border=’0′trtd valign=’middle’a href=”http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=NASA may abandon plans for moon baselink=http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17052-nasa-may-abandon-plans-for-moon-base.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=NASA may abandon plans for moon baselink=http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17052-nasa-may-abandon-plans-for-moon-base.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/38124227270/u/0/f/424063/c/749/s/67704850/a2.htm”img src=”http://da.feedsportal.com/r/38124227270/u/0/f/424063/c/749/s/67704850/a2.img” border=”0″//a

The US government’s reluctance thus far to share data about the satellites it is tracking is hampering efforts to prevent collisions in spaceimg width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/424063/s/405a55c/mf.gif’ border=’0′/div class=’mf-viral’table border=’0′trtd valign=’middle’a href=”http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Experts urge US to share data on satellite orbitslink=http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17045-experts-urge-us-to-share-data-on-satellite-orbits.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=Experts urge US to share data on satellite orbitslink=http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17045-experts-urge-us-to-share-data-on-satellite-orbits.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/38124082819/u/0/f/424063/c/749/s/67478876/a2.htm”img src=”http://da.feedsportal.com/r/38124082819/u/0/f/424063/c/749/s/67478876/a2.img” border=”0″//a

If all goes well, the shuttle Atlantis will lift off on 11 May to fix Hubble ndash; it will fly backwards and upside down to shield itself from space junkimg width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/434750/s/3f82553/mf.gif’ border=’0′/div class=’mf-viral’table border=’0′trtd valign=’middle’a href=”http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=NASA gears up for its last mission to Hubblelink=http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17014-nasa-gears-up-for-its-last-mission-to-hubble.html?DCMP=OTC-rssnsref=space-shuttle” 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=NASA gears up for its last mission to Hubblelink=http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17014-nasa-gears-up-for-its-last-mission-to-hubble.html?DCMP=OTC-rssnsref=space-shuttle” 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/38123548473/u/0/f/434750/c/749/s/66594131/a2.htm”img src=”http://da.feedsportal.com/r/38123548473/u/0/f/434750/c/749/s/66594131/a2.img” border=”0″//a

The US space program is at a cross-roads: at stake is the future of the shuttle, plans to go back to the Moon and on to Mars, and moreimg width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/424063/s/3f4785b/mf.gif’ border=’0′/div class=’mf-viral’table border=’0′trtd valign=’middle’a href=”http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Where next for NASA?link=http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227054.100″ 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=Where next for NASA?link=http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227054.100″ 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/37957012311/u/0/f/424063/c/749/s/66353243/a2.htm”img src=”http://da.feedsportal.com/r/37957012311/u/0/f/424063/c/749/s/66353243/a2.img” border=”0″//a

On Friday, the rover suffered a bout of amnesia and a day later rebooted its computer ndash; problems it has had repeatedly in recent weeksimg width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/424056/s/3f15baa/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 Spirit suffers another round of glitcheslink=http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16998-mars-rover-spirit-suffers-another-round-of-glitches.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 Spirit suffers another round of glitcheslink=http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16998-mars-rover-spirit-suffers-another-round-of-glitches.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/37871657321/u/0/f/424056/c/749/s/66149290/a2.htm”img src=”http://da.feedsportal.com/r/37871657321/u/0/f/424056/c/749/s/66149290/a2.img” border=”0″//a

Sending astronauts to the moon by 2020 may require much more cash or significant cuts to science, a new government report saysimg width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/434750/s/3e8eea9/mf.gif’ border=’0′/div class=’mf-viral’table border=’0′trtd valign=’middle’a href=”http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=NASA may need extra $30b to stay on schedule to moonlink=http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16978″ 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=NASA may need extra $30b to stay on schedule to moonlink=http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16978″ 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/37440455952/u/0/f/434750/c/749/s/65597097/a2.htm”img src=”http://da.feedsportal.com/r/37440455952/u/0/f/434750/c/749/s/65597097/a2.img” border=”0″//a

A sail that increases atmospheric drag could force rocket stages out of orbit more quickly, reducing the problem of space debrisimg width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/424063/s/3e31d6f/mf.gif’ border=’0′/div class=’mf-viral’table border=’0′trtd valign=’middle’a href=”http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Space sail could bring used rockets back to Earthlink=http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227045.900″ 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=Space sail could bring used rockets back to Earthlink=http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227045.900″ 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/36965170412/u/0/f/424063/c/749/s/65215855/a2.htm”img src=”http://da.feedsportal.com/r/36965170412/u/0/f/424063/c/749/s/65215855/a2.img” border=”0″//a

The International Space Station may continue operating until at least 2020, saving planned research from the axeimg width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/424063/s/3e31d6d/mf.gif’ border=’0′/div class=’mf-viral’table border=’0′trtd valign=’middle’a href=”http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Space station may win a new lease of lifelink=http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227043.600″ 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=Space station may win a new lease of lifelink=http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227043.600″ 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/36965170410/u/0/f/424063/c/749/s/65215853/a2.htm”img src=”http://da.feedsportal.com/r/36965170410/u/0/f/424063/c/749/s/65215853/a2.img” border=”0″//a

The private company aiming to slash the cost of access to space is preparing to launch its first satellite into orbitimg width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/424063/s/3e31d6e/mf.gif’ border=’0′/div class=’mf-viral’table border=’0′trtd valign=’middle’a href=”http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=SpaceX readies for first commercial launchlink=http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227045.600″ 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=SpaceX readies for first commercial launchlink=http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227045.600″ 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/36965170411/u/0/f/424063/c/749/s/65215854/a2.htm”img src=”http://da.feedsportal.com/r/36965170411/u/0/f/424063/c/749/s/65215854/a2.img” border=”0″//a

Imaging from a pair of satellites means space weather forecasters can predict dangerous solar plasma “burps” 24 hours before they hit Earthimg width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/424063/s/3d6bd16/mf.gif’ border=’0′/div class=’mf-viral’table border=’0′trtd valign=’middle’a href=”http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Solar ‘double vision’ aids space weather warningslink=http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227033.900″ 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=Solar ‘double vision’ aids space weather warningslink=http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227033.900″ 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/36840672568/u/0/f/424063/c/749/s/64404758/a2.htm”img src=”http://da.feedsportal.com/r/36840672568/u/0/f/424063/c/749/s/64404758/a2.img” border=”0″//a