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Focus: Space Robotics 
Some people's driving is just out of this world – take the men and women that drive NASA's Mars rovers. What is it like to remotely control a robotic explorer millions of miles away? 
Robots are designed to be our interplanetary servants, doing our bidding, but the quest is on for greater robotic autonomy. 
It is the age old debate: should we spend money on humans or robots to go into space? it seems though that the debate is converging on an answer: both should go. Features 
Will rocky exoplanets with several times the mass of Earth have plate tectonics - the movement of continental plates - that are essential for habitability on Earth? Michael Chorost investigates. 
Think you need to have an observatory like Jodrell Bank to do radio astronomy? Think again; Paul Hyde of the BAA's Radio Astronomy Group shows how amateur astronomers can get in on the act. 
Ian Welland looks back on the distinguished career of Sir Arthur Eddington, who found fame through his work validating Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. 
For its twenty-third anniversary since its launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has provided possibly its best picture yet: a stunning view of the Horsehead Nebula. 
A nearby galaxy is showing us that stars have formed in pretty much the same way since the cosmos began. 
Regulars 
Making news this month: Kepler finds potentially habitable planets • Herschel solves water mystery on Jupiter • Why did a retired star retain its dust disc? • Dark matter's 99.8 percent probability • Obese stars produce the longest bangs 
In The Night Sky section this month: A plethora of planetary goings on this June, including a 'Mega Moon' - an optical illusion where the rising full Moon seems abnormally large. 
Neil English takes readers on a tour of the stars and deep sky objects in the constellation of Lyra, at one of the corners of the Summer Triangle. 
In the Shops: Ninian Boyle captures the whole sky with Starlight Xpress' fish-eye lens Oculus camera. BUY ONLINE Free First Class delivery in the UK! DOWNLOAD The iPad and iPhone edition |
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