Robert Fuhrmann reassembles the seven-kilometer-long VLF dipole antenna during the summer at South Pole. The transmissions are received at Palmer Station. The system was out of commission for several years until the NSF approved funding to bring it back online. It is one of nine projects he oversees for grantees. Robert Fuhrmann offers a pretty concise definition of his job as a research associate at the South Pole over the winter: "We're customer field service engineers." Photo Credit: Mark Daniel

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE: GT) have developed an airless tire to transport large, long-range vehicles across the surface of the moon.

Johns Hopkins University: It's been five years since MESSENGER was launched atop a Delta II rocket on August 3, 2004, and they have been busy years. It has been a long journey, says MESSENGER Mission Operations Manager Andy Calloway, "not just in distance travelled - just over 3.5 billion miles so far - but also in terms of significant milestones and accomplishments."

IMAGE: This is the design of the second generation integrated microfluidic device.

Flasks, beakers and hot plates may soon be a thing of the past in chemistry labs. Instead of handling a few experiments on a bench top, scientists may simply pop a microchip into a computer and instantly run thousands of chemical reactions, with results -- literally shrinking the lab down to the size of a thumbnail.

Richard Garriott, private space explorer, salutes Challenger Center for Space Science Education from the International Space Station last year. Among other things, hementioned an educational program including a student art contest in which students created designs that symbolize the adventure and discovery of space exploration.