A radar device aboard ESA's Mars Express orbiter has allowed scientists to peek beneath the surface from afar, and the success with this research is now prompting them to think up other spots in the solar system that would be ideal for this sort of examination.

The days of lugging around and pulling out hefty guide books could be nearing an end: The eyePhone, a program currently being developed in Europe, uses a combination of satellite information, object-recognition software and Internet data to provide information on landmarks in a scene captured through a mobile phone's lens.

The European Space Agency's Automated Transfer Vehicle, Jules Verne, successfully linked up with the International Space Station yesterday. The ship's mission is to deliver cargo, fuel, water and oxygen. But yesterday's success is also a coup for ESA in that the space agency has finally joined "the club": Now Europe can get to the ISS on its own, without help from Russia or NASA.

Soon, NASA's shuttle won’t be the only workhorse servicing the International Space Station. In a little more than a week, it will be joined by the European Space Agency’s Automated Transfer Vehicle, the Jules Verne, which is entering the final preparations before launch. The Jules Verne is the first of a series of such supply ships that will lift food, air, water, science supplies and other equipment to the ISS roughly once a year. ESA likens the ATVs to tugboats or river barges, albeit incredibly advanced ones.

Finally. NASA astronauts installed the $2-billion science laboratory known as Columbus as a new wing of International Space Station on Monday. Yesterday morning, European astronauts officially opened the hatches, and began the process of bringing the computer, cooling and ventilation systems online.