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March 23, 2015

Robotic SPACE Explorers Need Smarts to Survive
Moffett Field CA (SPX) Mar 23, 2015
If a robot plunges into the ocean of an icy moon, perhaps near Saturn or Jupiter, its main problem will be figuring out what to do next. Even at light speed, it takes hours for communications to pass back and forth to Earth. This means any robotic explorer would need to be smart enough to avoid danger, and sophisticated enough to figure out what information to send back. These were problems puzzling Yogesh Girdhar who, as a part of his doctorate dissertation at McGill University in Montreal, redid ... read more

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USAF funds sense-and-avoid technology development The U.S. Air Force reports it is providing nearly $1.5 million in SBIR funding for development and maturation of sense-and-avoid technology for remotely piloted aircraft. ... more		Titan's Atmosphere Created As Gases Escaped Core A decade ago, a tiny but mighty probe descended into the soupy atmosphere of Titan. This moon of Saturn is of great interest to astrobiologists because its chemistry and liquid cycle remind us of wh ... more		SOFIA Finds Missing Link Between Supernovae and Planet Formation Using NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), an international scientific team discovered that supernovae are capable of producing a substantial amount of the material from ... more
				ESA's CHEOPS Satellite: The Pharaoh of Exoplanet Hunting Just like the Pharaoh Cheops, who ruled the ancient Old Kingdom of Egypt, ESA's CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite (CHEOPS) could be someday ruling in the field of exoplanet hunting. It will be the ... more		Researchers Receive Grant to Send Worms into Space It is common knowledge that the longer humans spend in space, the longer it takes them to regain muscle strength upon their return to earth. The biggest question is, why. With the help of Caenorhabd ... more

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

Nuclear Decommissioning Conference Europe May 2015

Hover Campaign Promises Bird's-Eye View of Mercury's Surface MESSENGER will not go gentle into that good night. The mission will end sometime this spring, when the spacecraft runs out of propellant and the force of solar gravity causes it to impact the surfac ... 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		U.S. defense in free fall Saudi Arabia and Pakistan sign mutual defense pact Brazil, Chile sign defense agreement		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		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		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		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		NASA Running Out of Nuclear Fuel For Batteries 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 Ame ... more

	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

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

Detumbling a Spacecraft		Colorful life-form catalog will help discern if we're alone		Robotic materials: Changing with the world around them		Fusion researchers make breakthrough on ELMs mitigation		Soyuz Installed at Baikonur, Expected to Launch Wednesday
Milky Way may host billions of planets in 'habitable' zones: study		Moon crater named for aviator Amelia Earhart		Desktop App has potential to increase asteroid detection		Iron-oxidizing bacteria found along Mid-Atlantic Ridge		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

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