The Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee will hold three public meetings July 28-30. The meetings are open to news media representatives. No registration is required, but seating is limited to location capacity.

Venus Express has charted the first map of Venus’s southern hemisphere at infrared wavelengths. The new map hints that our neighbouring world may once have been more Earth-like, with both, a plate tectonics system and an ocean of water.

The outcome of the bilateral meeting was an agreement to create a Mars Exploration Joint Initiative (MEJI) that will provide a framework for the two agencies to define and implement their scientific, programmatic and technological goals at Mars.

According to findings from the Phoenix Mars Lander mission, snow and water-ice clouds play a crucial role in the exchange of water between the atmosphere and surface of Mars, which suggests that Mars is even more like Earth than previously thought.

NASA astronaut Jose Hernandez, set to fly aboard space shuttle Discovery in August, is providing insights about his training on Twitter in both English and Spanish. It will be the agency’s first bilingual Twitter.

Favorable chemistry and episodes with thin films of liquid water during ongoing, long-term climate cycles may sometimes make the area where NASA’s Phoenix Mars mission landed last year a favorable environment for microbes.

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) were the beneficiary of an additional $110 million in funding over the next three years in yesterday’s budget but a closer look reveals that some of the new money will actually replenish a decreasing budget. The new funding comes at a time when the agency was actually taking a cut in its budget from $368.2 million in 2008-2009 to $348.3 …

Canada may soon have its own mission to the red planet SpaceRef has learned. An official announcement from Canadian Space Agency (CSA) President Dr. Marc Garneau for a feasibility study is expected soon. Garneau became president of CSA nearly 2 1/2 years ago. Throughout that time he’s been pushing for an increase in the CSA’s budget so that Canada could have a greater role in …

The Canadian government released its budget today. Contrary to the expectation of some, this budget did not include any new money for the Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA) plans for Mars. Nearly two years ago, at the 3rd Canadian Space Exploration Workshop, CSA president Marc Garneau announced his vision for the CSA’s next bold adventure: Mars. At that time he said, “We have the expertise, it’s …

Sheila Fraser, Auditor General of Canada, presented her report to the House of Commons this week in which she called in to question the Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA) ability to implement its programs due to funding problems. These problems at CSA are not necessarily of its own making. Indeed, many of them predate the formation of the CSA. According to the Auditor General, the situation …