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March 20, 2015

NASA Running Out of Nuclear Fuel For Batteries
Moscow (Sputnik) Mar 20, 2015
The radioactive material NASA uses to power spacecraft for its deep space missions is now in short supply. The Agency says it only has enough to power three more batteries, leaving the future of American space exploration in jeopardy. Plutonium-238 (Pu-238), a hot radioactive isotope that's a byproduct of the process of making nuclear weapons, is in short supply. NASA has access to only about 77 pounds of the material, with only 37 pounds of that being of a high enough grade to be useful in its Mu ... read more

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Could Water Have Carved Channels On Mars Half A Million Years Ago? Could water have carved channels on Mars as recently as 500,000 years ago? If that's the case, it would boost the case for relatively recent life on the Red Planet. There's abundant evidence s ... more		Irish Mars trip finalist casts doubt on project An Irish finalist for the audacious Mars One project to start a human colony on the red planet predicted the plan would fall "on its face" on Tuesday. ... more		MARSDROP Microprobes Could Expand Spacecraft Mission Capabilities Microprobes that piggyback on Mars-bound spacecraft could investigate areas currently unavailable to surface instruments, a Planetary Science Institute researcher said. The payload could be st ... more
				NASA's LRO Spacecraft Finds March 17, 2013 Impact Crater and More NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) acquired images of the lunar surface before and after the largest recorded explosion occurred on the surface. On March 17, 2013, an object the size of ... more		Extent of moon's giant volcanic eruption is revealed Scientists have produced a new map of the Moon's most unusual volcano showing that its explosive eruption spread debris over an area much greater than previously thought. A team of astronomers ... more

Human 2 Mars Conference Mat 5-7 2015 - Washington DC

Nuclear Decommissioning Conference Europe May 2015

Yutu Changes Everything We Thought We Knew About Our Moon The "Jade Rabbit" discovered at least 9 subterranean layers beneath the lunar surface, 5 more than was previously thought. Scientists believe the layers are a result of ancient lava flow between str ... more		Private companies asked to join moon program China will open its lunar exploration program to private enterprises in an attempt to boost technological innovation and break State-owned companies' monopoly in the space field, according to the co ... more		U.S. defense in free fall Saudi Arabia and Pakistan sign mutual defense pact Brazil, Chile sign defense agreement		NASA Spacecraft Detects Aurora and Mysterious Dust Cloud around Mars NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft has observed two unexpected phenomena in the Martian atmosphere: an unexplained high-altitude dust cloud and aurora that reaches deep ... more
				Other Asteroids Contributed Elusive Olivine to Vesta Olivine should be one of the most abundant minerals on asteroid Vesta, but it remains elusive. Scientists working on NASA's Dawn mission to Vesta were initially thrilled to find few scattered remain ... more		Milky Way may host billions of planets in 'habitable' zones: study The Milky Way galaxy may be home to billions of planets orbiting their host stars in a "habitable zone" where life could theoretically exist, researchers said Wednesday. ... more

Moon crater named for aviator Amelia Earhart One of the largest craters on the moon was only recently discovered, thanks to the hard work of scientists at Purdue University. The crater's discovery was announced on Monday at the annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Texas. ... more		Desktop App has potential to increase asteroid detection A software application based on an algorithm created by a NASA challenge has the potential to increase the number of new asteroid discoveries by amateur astronomers. Analysis of images taken of our ... 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		Taking cable to new heights Global connectivity supplier HUBER+SUHNER is setting its sights high at Satellite 2015 in Washington DC next week with the launch of two new cable assemblies designed for the space and defense marke ... more
Anti-robot march held at SXSW At South by Southwest this weekend, the week-long event commonly known as SXSW featured an outburst of dissent. The target wasn't what one might expect - police brutality or border security. The demonstrators gathered to shout down robots. ... more		Detumbling a Spacecraft Uncontrolled tumbling of a spacecraft may result from collision, malfunction or other disabling event associated with the application of a large disturbing torque or breakup of a vehicle. Since ther ... more		Colorful life-form catalog will help discern if we're alone While looking for life on planets beyond our own solar system, a group of international scientists has created a colorful catalog containing reflection signatures of Earth life forms that might be f ... more		Fusion researchers make breakthrough on ELMs mitigation Researchers from General Atomics and the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have made a major breakthrough in understanding how potentially damaging heat bursts i ... 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		Iron-oxidizing bacteria found along Mid-Atlantic Ridge Bacteria that live on iron were found for the first time at three well-known vent sites along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, one of the longest undersea mountain ranges in the world. Scientists repor ... 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

Scientists fly kites on Earth to study Mars		A second minor planet may possess Saturn-like rings		New Mercury surface composition maps illuminate the planet's history		Curiosity Rover Arm Delivers Rock Powder Sample		Opportunity sampling continues at Marathon Valley
Some habitable exoplanets could experience wildly unpredictable climates		Researchers study methane-rich plumes from Saturn's icy moon Enceladus		Crossing the boundary from high to low on Mars		Roscosmos: Manned Flight to Mars Will Be Impossible Without Russia's Help		Russia Plans to Start Moon Exploration Jointly With Partners

China's Yutu rover reveals Moon's "complex" geological history

Russia Plans to Adapt New Angara-5 Rocket for Flights to the Moon

Scientists make breakthrough in understanding nuclear fusion

Quantum mechanic frequency filter for atomic clocks

Exploring the Depths of Titan's Seas

Liquid Metal Robots Are Almost Here

Saturn moon's ocean may have hydrothermal activity

Hot water activity on icy moon's seafloor

NASA Challenge Invites Students to Help Design Journey to Mars Systems

NASA Goddard Provides Superfast Sensors for New MMS Mission

Taking a Closer Look at Purple-Bluish Rock Formation

Rocky grains stir theories of life on Saturn moon

Billionaire Teams Up with NASA to Mine the Moon

Spaceflight Industries Raises $20 Million to Accelerate Growth

China's Space Laboratory Still Cloaked

Mystery Giant Mars Plumes Still Unexplained

Latest MESSENGER data includes new targeted mosaics of Mercury

Understanding The Electromagnetic Environmental Effects On Space Systems

Scientists: Nearby Earth-like planet isn't just 'noise'

China Gets One Step Closer to Completing its Ambitious Lunar Mission

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