June 16, 2008 -- European astronomers on Monday said they had located dozens of giant planets in three distant solar systems.

The discovery suggests that at least one third of stars similar to our own sun harbor such planets, multiplying previous estimates by five.

A trio of these 'super-Earths' -- so-called because they are several times the mass of our own planet -- were detected orbiting a star known as HD 40307 some 42 light-years away.

June 14, 2008 -- The Phoenix Lander sent back the most detailed view of the Martian soil to date, showing clumps of fine grains mixed with possible minerals, scientists said Friday.

Much of the dirt that Phoenix scooped up and sprinkled on its microscope appeared as a reddish-orange hue that's typical of the Martian landscape.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida- Astronauts bound for orbit this week will dabble in science fiction, assembling a "monstrous" two-armed space station robot that will rise like Frankenstein from its transport bed.

Putting together Dextre, the robot, will be one of the main jobs for the seven Endeavour astronauts, who are scheduled to blast off in the wee hours of Tuesday the 11th of March 2008, less than three weeks after the last shuttle flight.

PASADENA, California - The Mars rover Spirit has uncovered the strongest evidence yet that the planet used to be wetter than previously thought, scientists reported Monday.

The robot analyzed a patch of soil in Gusev Crater and found it unusually rich in silica. The presence of water would have been necessary to produce such a large silica deposit, scientists said.

EL ZACATON, Mexico - NASA is testing an underwater robot in one of Earth's deepest sinkholes in a first step toward searching for life on Jupiter's icy moon, Europa.

El Zacaton, near the Gulf coast of northeastern Mexico, is about 328 feet wide and more than 3,280 feet deep. It could easily hold the Eiffel Tower.

Scientists plan to map and take samples in the dark, water-filled fissure with the 1.5 ton DEPTHX robot over the next two weeks as a prelude to the proposed navigation of Europa's ice-capped oceans in about 20 years.

WASHINGTON - Vast areas of snow in Antarctica melted in 2005 when temperatures warmed up for a week in the summer in a process that may accelerate invisible melting deep beneath the surface, NASA said on Tuesday.

A new analysis of satellite data showed that an area the size of California melted and then re-froze -- the most significant thawing in 30 years, the U.S. space agency said.

WASHINGTON - An odd planet the size of Neptune, made mostly of hot, solid water, has been discovered not far from Earth and offers evidence that other planets may be covered with oceans, European astronomers reported Wednesday.

Called GJ 436b, the planet orbits quickly around a cool, red star just 30 light-years away, the team at the Geneva Observatory said.

WASHINGTON - A hazy ring of dark matter spawned by a colossal cosmic crash eons ago offers the best evidence to date that vast amounts of this mysterious stuff reside in the universe, scientists said Tuesday.

Images taken by NASA's orbiting Hubble Space Telescope allowed astronomers to detect this ring of dark matter created by the collision of two galaxy clusters 5 billion light-years from Earth.

WASHINGTON - The James Webb Space Telescope, intended to peer deep into the cosmos from beyond the moon, is progressing well in development and is on track for a planned June 2013 launch, officials said on Thursday.

Edward Weiler, head of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, said after cost overruns a couple of years ago, the project has met every technical, cost and schedule milestone for the past 20 months. The launch date already has slipped from 2011.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida - A robotic probe designed to touch and analyze Martian water for the first time is being prepared for launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, officials said on Tuesday.

The craft, known as Phoenix, is expected to land in the northern polar region of Mars and dig beneath the soil. Launch is scheduled for August 3 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.