In the last week we've detected a filament of elusive dark matter, NASA mourned tragic death of retired astronaut, and uncovered a dusty mystery. But which story comes out on top? <p>Root for your favorite space news story of the week here in our latest voting round!
Evidence of ancient life on Mars, if there is any to be found, could lie within reach of NASA's newest Mars rover Curiosity, a new study suggests. [<a href=www.space.com/16455-mars-life-search-curiosity-rover-msl.html>Full Story</a> <p>NEXT STOP: Huge Mars Rover One Month from Red Planet Landing
NASA's next Mars rover will make its daring, anxiety-inducing landing on the Red Planet in one month. [<a href=http://www.space.com/16465-mars-rover-curiosity-red-planet-landing.html>Full Story</a> <p>NEXT STOP: Higgs Boson Particle Discovery May Help Reveal Dark Matter Secrets
The discovery of a new elementary particle that is likely the long-sought Higgs boson that is thought to give all other matter its mass, could mark an important step toward understanding the existence of dark matter in the universe. [<a href=http://www.space.com/16444-higgs-boson-particle-dark-matter.html>Full Story</a> <p>NEXT STOP: E.T., Phone Earth! Giant Radio Telescope Could Listen for Alien Signals
Can the Square Kilometer Array – a network of thousands of radio antennas to be based in South Africa and Australia -- be used to hunt for extraterrestrial signals? [<a href=http://www.space.com/16443-seti-extraterrestrial-signals-ska-telescope.html>Full Story</a> <p>NEXT STOP: Why Doomsday Fears Will Survive 2012 'Apocalypse'
Astronomer sleuths have turned up a cosmic mystery: A dusty disk around a star that could be ripe for planet-making has suddenly disappeared, leaving scientists only to wonder why. [<a href=http://www.space.com/16426-star-dust-missing-disk-mystery.html>Full Story</a> <p>NEXT STOP: Giant Dark Matter Bridge Between Galaxy Clusters Discovered
Humanity will survive the supposed December 2012 apocalypse, but unfortunately so will irrational doomsday fears, scientists say. [<a href=http://www.space.com/16409-doomsday-fears-2012-mayan-calendar.html>Full Story</a> <p>NEXT STOP: Vanishing Dust Belt Around Star Baffles Scientists
Astronomers have for the first time detected a filament of elusive dark matter filament connecting two main components of a supercluster of galaxies. These dark matter filaments may hold more than half of all matter, but previous attempts to detect them have been unsuccessful. [<a href=http://www.space.com/16412-dark-matter-filament-galaxy-clusters.html>Full Story</a> <p>NEXT STOP: NASA Mourns Tragic Death of Retired Astronaut Alan Poindexter
NASA officials and astronauts around the world are mourning the death of retired space shuttle commander Alan Poindexter, a two-time space shuttle flier who died Sunday (July 1) in a tragic jet ski accident in Florida. [<a href=http://www.space.com/16403-astronaut-alan-poindexter-death-nasa-mourns.html>Full Story</a> <p>NEXT STOP: NASA Unveils Orion Space Capsule for 2014 Test Launch
NASA on Monday unveiled the first of its Orion capsules destined for space, a version of the deep-space capsule that will launch on a test flight in 2014. [<a href=http://www.space.com/16395-orion-space-capsule-nasa-unveiled.html>Full Story</a> <p>NEXT STOP: Space Station Astronauts Return to Earth Aboard Soyuz Capsule
Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, European astronaut Andre Kuipers and NASA astronaut Don Pettit returned to Earth today (July 1), touching down on the steppes of Kazakhstan at 4:14 a.m. EDT (0814 GMT). The spaceflyers spent six months aboard the International Space Station before landing aboard a Soyuz capsule. [<a href=http://www.space.com/16377-space-station-astronauts-land-soyuz-capsule.html>Full Story</a> <p>NEXT STOP: Leap Second Science: NASA Explains Earth's Longer Day Today
Today will be one second longer than usual, and we have the moon to thank for the extra time. [<a http://www.space.com/16380-leap-second-earth-rotation-moon.html>Full Story</a>
