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July 31, 2014

US aerospace firm outlines New Zealand-based space program
Wellington, New Zealand (XNA) Jul 31, 2014
A United States aerospace company is aiming to make New Zealand one of the exclusive group of countries with a space program by promising a revolutionary new satellite-carrying rocket for a fraction of the current satellite launch costs. Rocket Lab announced Tuesday that it had developed a light- weight, carbon-composite rocket, named Electron, at its Auckland plant and hoped to offer small satellite launches for less than 5 million U.S. dollars, compared with a current average price of 133 millio ... read more

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Riddle of bulging Moon solved at last Far from being perfectly round, the Moon has a weird shape, with a highland bulge on the side facing the Earth and another bulge on its far side - a riddle that has fascinated scientists for decades. ... more		United Launch Alliance Marks 85th Successful Launch A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV rocket successfully launched the AFSPC-4 mission for the U.S. Air Force on July 28 at 7:28 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex-37. This is ULA's eighth launch ... more		Europe's Fifth and Final Resupply Ship Launches to Station The European Space Agency's (ESA) fifth and final Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-5) launched Tuesday atop an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana, at 7:47 p.m. EDT. The ATV-5 will take a two ... more
				US Launches Two Surveillance Satellites From Cape Canaveral A Delta 4 rocket mounted with two GSSAP surveillance satellites to monitor space debris and other space activities was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida Monday, CBS News reported. "We wi ... more		Titan Offers Clues to Atmospheres of Hazy Planets When hazy planets pass across the face of their star, a curious thing happens. Astronomers are not able to see any changes in the range of light coming from the star and planet system. This pr ... more

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Magnets for fusion energy The National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS), of the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) in Japan, has achieved an electrical current of 100,000 amperes, which is by far the highest i ... more		Science and Spacesuit Work While ATV-5 Preps for Launch The six-member Expedition 40 crew spent Monday on science work and spacesuit maintenance on the International Space Station. Meanwhile, on the ground in Kourou, French Guiana, the European Space Age ... more				NASA's Mars Spacecraft Maneuvers to Prepare for Close Comet Flyby NASA is taking steps to protect its Mars orbiters, while preserving opportunities to gather valuable scientific data, as Comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring heads toward a close flyby of Mars on Oct. 19. ... more
				Bepicolombo Integration Testing Completed At Thales Integration and functional testing activities for the protoflight models of the BepiColombo Mercury Planetary Orbiter, Mercury Transfer Module, and Magnetospheric Orbiter Sunshield and Interface Str ... more		Hubble Finds Three Surprisingly Dry Exoplanets Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have gone looking for water vapor in the atmospheres of three planets orbiting stars similar to the sun - and have come up nearly dry. The thre ... more

NASA Long-Lived Mars Opportunity Rover Passes 25 Miles of Driving NASA's Opportunity Mars rover, which landed on the Red Planet in 2004, now holds the off-Earth roving distance record after accruing 25 miles (40 kilometers) of driving. The previous record was held ... more		Putting It All Together The New Horizons mission will provide the first in situ investigation of objects in the Kuiper belt, making it a unique voyage of discovery. And it's unlikely we'll see a similar venture into the so ... more				Timely arrival of Pharao space clock ESA has welcomed the arrival of Pharao, an important part of ESA's atomic clock experiment that will be attached to the International Space Station in 2016. Delivered by France's CNES space ag ... more
Virgin Galactic Announces Todd Ericson As Space Pilot Virgin Galactic, the privately-funded space company owned by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and Abu Dhabi's aabar Investments PJS, has announced that Todd 'Leif' Ericson, former Operations and M ... more		Alien Atmospheres - Methane, CFCs and other signs of smart ETs Sometimes we get lucky: an exoplanet many light-years away passes in front of its star at the perfect angle. This transit allows us to read certain features of that planet's atmosphere. The resultin ... more		A New Approach to SETI: Targeting Alien Polluters Humanity is on the threshold of being able to detect signs of alien life on other worlds. By studying exoplanet atmospheres, we can look for gases like oxygen and methane that only coexist if replen ... more		Biomarkers of the Deep Tucked away in the southwest corner of Spain is a unique geological site that has fascinated astrobiologists for decades. The Iberian Pyrite Belt (IPB) in Spain's Rio Tinto area is the largest known ... more

	Astronomers come up dry in search for water on exoplanets A team of astronomers has made the most precise measurements yet of water vapour in the atmospheres of Jupiter-like planets beyond our Solar System and found them to be much drier worlds than expect ... more		Hubble Finds Three Surprisingly Dry Exoplanets Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have gone looking for water vapor in the atmospheres of three planets orbiting stars similar to the sun - and have come up nearly dry. The thre ... more

NASA Awards Construction Contract at Kennedy Space Center		The Most Precise Measurement of an Alien World's Size		MIPT-based researcher models Titan's atmosphere		NASA Explores Additional Undersea Missions With NEEMO Projects 18 and 19		Japanese leader proposes first-ever 'Robot Olympics'
NASA Seeks Proposals for Commercial Mars Data Relay Satellites		'Challenges' in quest to find water on Earth-like worlds: study		Russian Cargo Craft Launches for 6-Hour Trek to ISS		Sierra Nevada Completes Major Dream Chaser NASA CCiCap Milestone		Emirates paves way for Middle East space program with mission to Mars

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SpaceX releases video of rocket splashing into the ocean

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Astronauts to Test Free-Flying "Housekeeper" Robots

ATV-5: loaded and locked

Federal auditors say NASA doesn't have funds for big rocket

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