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February 17, 2015

Scientists fail to explain strange plumes spotted on Martian surface
Washington (UPI) Feb 16, 2015
In 2012, dozens of amateur astronomers spotted large plumes of dust rising off the surface of Mars. More than two years later, scientists still don't have a suitable explanation for the phenomenon. In a new study, published this week in the journal Nature, scientists recount the strange occurrence and survey the various attempts to illuminate the plumes' origins or cause. The phenomenon was observed twice, over the course of two ten-week long periods, in March and April of 2012. What beg ... read more

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NASA wants to send a submarine to Saturn's moon Titan The seas of Titan, Saturn's largest moon, are no place for astronauts. The frigid bodies of liquified natural gas are a study in inhabitability. But scientists suggest its possible some strange forms of life exist under the of icy surface of Kraken Mare, Titan's largest sea. ... more		The View from New Horizons: A Full Day on Pluto-Charon This time-lapse "movie" of Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, was recently shot at record-setting distances with the Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on NASA's New Horizons spacecraft. The ... more		A New Way to View Titan: 'Despeckle' It During 10 years of discovery, NASA's Cassini spacecraft has pulled back the smoggy veil that obscures the surface of Titan, Saturn's largest moon. Cassini's radar instrument has mapped almost half o ... more
				Application of laser microprobe technology to Apollo samples refines lunar impact history It's been more than 40 years since astronauts returned the last Apollo samples from the moon, and since then those samples have undergone some of the most extensive and comprehensive analysis of any ... more		DSCOVR: Mission Success for Moog Engines Over a Decade Later Moog Space and Defense Group supported NOAA's Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite that launched today from Cape Canaveral, F.L., atop a Falcon 9 launch vehicle. DSCOVR is a partn ... more

Nuclear Decommissioning Conference Europe May 2015

Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

Talking Japanese space robot back on Earth A pint-sized Japanese robot that became the first android to converse with an astronaut in space has returned to Earth after 18 months in orbit, project organisers said Thursday. ... more		NASA's Curiosity Analyzing Sample of Martian Mountain The second bite of a Martian mountain taken by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover hints at long-ago effects of water that was more acidic than any evidenced in the rover's first taste of Mount Sharp, a lay ... more		U.S. defense in free fall Saudi Arabia and Pakistan sign mutual defense pact Brazil, Chile sign defense agreement		Octopus robot makes waves with ultra-fast propulsion Scientists have developed an octopus-like robot, which can zoom through water with ultra-fast propulsion and acceleration never before seen in man-made underwater vehicles. Most fast aquatic a ... more
				Tiny robotic 'hands' could improve cancer diagnostics, drug delivery Many people imagine robots today as clunky, metal versions of humans, but scientists are forging new territory in the field of 'soft robotics.' One of the latest advances is a flexible, microscopic ... more		Human insights inspire solutions for household robots People typically consider doing the laundry to be a boring chore. But laundry is far from boring for artificial intelligence (AI) researchers like Siddharth Srivastava, a scientist at the United Tec ... 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		HAPTIX Starts Work to Provide Prosthetic Hands with Sense of Touch Despite recent advances in technology for upper-limb prostheses, artificial arms and hands are still unable to provide users with sensory feedback, such as the "feel" of things being touched or awar ... 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		Mars Rover Nearing Marathon Achievement NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is nearing a location on Mars at which its driving distance will surpass the length of a marathon race. A drive on Feb. 8, 2015, put the rover within 220 ya ... more
IBM brings Watson supercomputer to Japan via SoftBank IBM announced plans Tuesday to bring its Watson supercomputer to Japan with mobile telecom group SoftBank, in a deal aimed at developing new applications for robotics and other services. ... more		Number of Known Accessible Near-Earth Asteroids Doubles Since 2010 NASA performed the first Near-Earth Object Human Space Flight Accessible Targets Study (NHATS) in September/October of 2010, and 666 of the known near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) were identified as meeti ... more		NASA's Curiosity Analyzing Sample of Martian Mountain The second bite of a Martian mountain taken by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover hints at long-ago effects of water that was more acidic than any evidenced in the rover's first taste of Mount Sharp, a lay ... more		SSC expands at the Inuvik Satellite Station Facility The Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) is increasing its capacity at the Inuvik Satellite Station Facility in Inuvik, Canada, with the addition of a new multi-mission antenna. The expansion is driven b ... more

	Cool clocks pave the way to new measurements of the earth We all like to know our watches keep the time well, but Hidetoshi Katori, of RIKEN's Quantum Metrology Laboratory and the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Engineering, is taking precision to ... more		US Issuing Licenses for Mineral Mining on Moon The United States government is taking a new and early approach to spur commercial development of space. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has started issuing companies licenses to own land ... 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

NASA Spacecraft Completes 40,000 Mars Orbits		Researchers determine how the brain controls robotic grasping tools		NASA releases video of the far side of the Moon		Scientists predict earth-like planets around most stars		Dawn Gets Closer Views of Ceres
New Horizons snaps new images of Pluto en route to historic flyby		LRO finds lunar hydrogen more abundant on Moon's pole-facing slopes		Mars Orbiter Spies Curiosity Rover at Work		Fixed astronomical clock vital for galactic history		Spacecraft Power Systems

U.S. Navy unveils firefighting robot SAFFiR

SMAP Satellite utilizes Northrop Grumman's AstroMesh Reflector

Fajr satellite serves no military purpose

"Vulcan Planets" - Inside-Out Formation of Super-Earths

Meteorite may represent 'bulk background' of Mars' battered crust

Eyes In The Sky: Britain's GCHQ Sets Sights on Space

Robot acquires chef skills via YouTube instructional vids

Vanguard Delivers Advanced EHF Bus Structure Assembly

Smaller Gas Giants Could Support Life

Habitable Evaporated Cores

Cassini Catches Titan Naked in the Solar Wind

Dawn ahead!

Kepler astronomers discover ancient star with 5 Earth-size planets

Gully patterns document Martian climate cycles

Several Drives This Week Put Opportunity Near Marathon Distance

Will NASA's TESS Spacecraft Revolutionize Exoplanet Hunting?

Surface composition of BL86 studies during Earth flyby

The two faces of Mars

Ancient star system has Earth-sized planets forming near start of universe

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