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January 01, 2015

Mars rover Opportunity suffering from 'amnesia' says NASA
Washington (UPI) Dec 31, 2014
Researchers at NASA are working to improve the memory of the Mars exploration rover Opportunity after a series of glitches in recent weeks led to what officials are describing as "amnesia" within the its memory banks. The rover relies on orbital passes from the Mars Odyssey satellite to relay communications and commands to and from NASA, but when a pass does not occur between the rover's power cycles - a relatively frequent occurrence - the rover fails to transfer information from its tempora ... read more

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U.K. researchers plan to grow lettuce on Mars A group of students at Southampton University in England are looking to grow lettuce on Mars. The researchers - a combination of undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral students - are currently lobbying for their lettuce-growing experiment to be included on the Mars One lander payload. ... more		Tiny 'life detector' could sense alien movement: study European researchers said Monday they have devised the first tiny motion detector that could help find microscopic life forms on distant planets. ... more		Dawn Spacecraft Begins Approach to Dwarf Planet Ceres NASA's Dawn spacecraft has entered an approach phase in which it will continue to close in on Ceres, a Texas-sized dwarf planet never before visited by a spacecraft. Dawn launched in 2007 and is sch ... more
				I, Tormentum Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics and Zeroth Law from his 1950 novel "I, Robot" concern helping humans and not hurting them, but they do not cover robots playing basketball. To Megan Meehan, ins ... more		Gecko Grippers Get a Microgravity Test Flight There are no garbage trucks equipped to leave the atmosphere and pick up debris floating around the Earth. But what if we could send a robot to do the job? Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion ... more

Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

Innovative use of Pressurant Extends Messenger's Mission The MESSENGER spacecraft will soon run literally on fumes. After more than 10 years traveling in space, nearly four of those orbiting Mercury, the spacecraft has expended most of its propellant and ... more		Mars mission boost welcomed by scientists University of Leicester scientists, who are closely involved in the European mission to Mars -ExoMars- have welcomed support from the Government for the project. Following the Chancellor's Aut ... more		U.S. defense in free fall Saudi Arabia and Pakistan sign mutual defense pact Brazil, Chile sign defense agreement		Risky Business In April 2013, NASA announced that it was in the early phases of planning a robotic mission to snag an asteroid and haul it into lunar orbit for study. At the time, NASA chief Charles Bolden said th ... more
				Stretched-out solid exoplanets Astronomers could soon be able to find rocky planets stretched out by the gravity of the stars they orbit, according to a group of researchers in the United States. The team, led by Prabal Saxena of ... more		Tales from a Martian Rock A new analysis of a Martian rock that meteorite hunters plucked from an Antarctic ice field 30 years ago this month reveals a record of the planet's climate billions of years ago, back when water li ... more

Startup in the Land of the Rising Sun; A Japanese Solar Venture - by Bradley L. Bartz

Revellers welcome 2015 but celebrations turn deadly in China Millions of revellers took to the streets around the world from Sydney to New York to usher in 2015 on Thursday, but in China celebrations turned to tragedy when 35 people were killed in a stampede in central Shanghai. ... more		Barren Deserts Can Host Complex Ecosystems in Their Soils "Biological soil crusts" don't look like much. In fact, people often trample right over these dark, or green-tinted, sometimes raised patches in the desert soil. But these scruffy stretches can hous ... more		GUARDIAN Tsunami Detection Tech Catches Wave in Real Time Galileo daughter mission named Celeste to strengthen navigation resilience How quantum computers can be validated when solving unsolvable problems		Scientists create human primordial cells in the lab The first time in history, researchers have successfully used human embryonic stem cells to create primordial germ cells, cells that divide and mature into egg and sperm. Previously, the feat had been accomplished using rodent stem cells - not those from a human embryo. ... more
Pitt team publishes new findings from mind-controlled robot arm project In another demonstration that brain-computer interface technology has the potential to improve the function and quality of life of those unable to use their own arms, a woman with quadriplegia shape ... more		Soyuz Installed at Baikonur, Expected to Launch Wednesday The Soyuz-2.1A carrier rocket has been successfully installed at the launch site at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and is scheduled for launch on October 29, the press service of the Russian ... more		QinetiQ North America refurbishing, modernizing Talon robots used by the military Robots used by U.S. military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan are being refurbished and modernized by QinetiQ North America under U.S. Army and Navy contracts. ... more		Russian scientists 'map' water vapor in Martian atmosphere Russian scientists from the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), together with their French and American colleagues, ... more

	Flying over Becquerel This latest release from the camera on ESA's Mars Express is a simulated flight over the Becquerel crater, showing large-scale deposits of sedimentary material. The 167 km-diameter Becquerel c ... more		'Shooting the Moon' with Satellite Laser Ranging Laser ranging from Earth to NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) was a milestone in the 50-year history of satellite laser ranging. Launched in 2009 and still orbiting the moon in 2014, LRO was ... more

Ohio State scientists advance focus on nuclear propulsion

Mixing neutrinos of colliding neutron stars changes how merger unfolds

China launches experimental satellites to enhance mobile space internet

New idea for transporting spacecraft could ease trip to Mars		Young Red Dwarf Stars could Host Habitable Worlds		Sunday night the longest since 1912, here's why		Kepler Proves It Can Still Find Planets		NASA, Planetary Scientists Find Meteoritic Evidence of Mars Water Reservoir
Inmarsat-2 F2 satellite retired after more than 23.5 years of GEO operations		Robot named 'Athena' becomes first humanoid robot to pay for a seat on a flight		NASA's Kepler Reborn, Makes First Exoplanet Find of New Mission		Signs of Europa Plumes Remain Elusive in Search of Cassini Data		Opportunity drives on in no-flash mode

Australian university students aim to generate first 'breathable' air on Mars

First steps for Hector the robot stick insect

Goddard instrument makes first detection of organic matter on Mars

NASA Rover Finds Active and Ancient Organic Chemistry on Mars

Super-Earth spotted by ground-based telescope, a first

NASA is letting people name the craters of Mercury

Spike seen in methane on Mars, but source unknown

Tag Heuer changes tune, now looking at smartwatches

Moon Express testing compact lunar lander at Kennedy

Mars Mountain was All Wet

MAVEN Identifies Links in Chain Leading to Mars Atmospheric Loss

Opportunity Flash-Memory Resets Continue

Oil-dwelling bacteria are social creatures in Earth's deep biosphere

Opportunity In No-Flash Mode: Kludge Ready To Radiate

Signs of Ancient Mars Lakes and Quakes Seen in New Map

Observing Solar System Worlds as if They Were Distant Exoplanets

ESA and Omega: a watch for astronauts

MESSENGER Data Suggest Recurring Meteor Shower on Mercury

Building a Worldwide Genetic Library BRIC-by-BRIC

Astronomers spot Pluto-size objects swarming about young sun

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