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April 17, 2015

Robotic Arm Gets Busy on Rock Outcrop
Pasadena CA (JPL) Apr 17, 2015
Opportunity is on the west rim of Endeavour Crater near the entrance of "Marathon Valley," a putative location for abundant clay minerals. The rover is positioned on a light-toned outcrop next to the feature called "The Spirit of St. Louis" crater. The rover is continuing a campaign to investigate surface targets in this outcrop. On Sol 3984 (April 9, 2015), Opportunity examined the surface target called "Thermopylae" using the robotic arm to collect a Microscopic Imager (MI) mosaic and late ... read more

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NASA Mars Rover's Weather Data Bolster Case for Brine Martian weather and soil conditions that NASA's Curiosity rover has measured, together with a type of salt found in Martian soil, could put liquid brine in the soil at night. Perchlorate ident ... more		NASA's Curiosity Rover Making Tracks and Observations NASA's Curiosity Mars rover is continuing science observations while on the move this month. On April 16, the mission passed 10 kilometers (6.214 miles) of total driving since its 2012 landing, incl ... more		NASA-funded Study Explains Saturn's Epic Tantrums The long-standing mystery of why Saturn seethes with enormous storms every 30 years may have been solved by scientists working with data from NASA's Cassini mission. The tempests, which can grow int ... more
				Mars might have liquid water Researchers have long known that there is water in the form of ice on Mars. Now, new research from NASA's Mars rover Curiosity shows that it is possible that there is liquid water close to the surfa ... more		Dawn's Ceres Color Map Reveals Surface Diversity A new color map of dwarf planet Ceres, which NASA's Dawn spacecraft has been orbiting since March, reveals the diversity of the surface of this planetary body. Differences in morphology and color ac ... more

Space Tech Expo - Design - Build - Test - Long Beach CA - May 19-21, 2015

The World's Largest Commercial Drone Conference and Expo - Sept 9 - Las Vegas

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

Manned Moon Flight Planned For 2030 The lunar flight program for 2028-2029 will be unmanned, but putting a man on the moon is scheduled for 2029-2030, the head of Russia's space agency said Tuesday. "We need to begin working now ... more		NASA's New Horizons Nears Historic Encounter with Pluto NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is three months from returning to humanity the first-ever close up images and scientific observations of distant Pluto and its system of large and small moons. " ... more		U.S. defense in free fall Saudi Arabia and Pakistan sign mutual defense pact Brazil, Chile sign defense agreement		NASA Chief Scientist: We'll Find Proof of Alien Life by 2025 While scientists have long suspected that we may not be alone in the universe, they've never had concrete evidence. But top NASA officials say that may not be the case much longer. In less than a de ... more
				Altimeter Assists in MESSENGER's Low-Altitude Navigation As NASA's MESSENGER mission draws to a close, an on-board science instrument that mapped the surface of Mercury is helping the navigation team with the spacecraft's low-altitude passes. MESSEN ... more		Explaining Saturn's Great White Spots Every 20 to 30 years, Saturn's atmosphere roils with giant, planet-encircling thunderstorms that produce intense lightning and enormous cloud disturbances. The head of one of these storms - popularl ... more

Army Network Modernization 2015 - Washington DC June 23-25

Hot and Stormy at High Altitudes on Exoplanet HD 189733b Studying the atmosphere of an exoplanet, Swiss astronomers derived a temperature profile with unprecedented precision. Their results are based on data collected with a relatively small ground-based ... more		A glass fiber that brings light to a standstill Light is an extremely useful tool for quantum communication, but it has one major disadvantage: it usually travels at the speed of light and cannot be kept in place. A team of scientists at the Vien ... 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		Pluto, now blurry, will become clear with NASA flyby The best picture we have of Pluto is a blurry, pixelated blob, but that is about to change when a NASA spacecraft makes the first-ever flyby of the dwarf planet. ... more
NASA Experiments With 'Building Blocks' of Life in Lab A group of scientists from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are studying the origin of life on Earth, and they've made a major breakthrough, discovering that the building blo ... 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		Unravelling relativistic effects in the heaviest actinide element An international collaboration led by the research group of superheavy elements at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), Tokai, Japan has achieved the ionization potential measurement of lawrencium ... more		Inkjet-printed liquid metal could bring wearable tech, soft robotics New research shows how inkjet-printing technology can be used to mass-produce electronic circuits made of liquid-metal alloys for "soft robots" and flexible electronics. Elastic technologies c ... more

	Mars rover data boosts hope for liquid water on Mars Research from NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has strengthened hopes that liquid water may exist near the surface of Mars, astrophysicists said on Monday. ... more		'Dwarf planet' Ceres spawns giant mystery First classified a planet, then an asteroid and then a "dwarf planet" with some traits of a moon - the more scientists learn about Ceres, the weirder it becomes. ... 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

Examining Rock Outcrop at 'The Spirit of St. Louis' Crater		Correction Maneuver Puts MESSENGER Right on Course		Aliens Are Probably Huge 650-Pound Creatures		All dolled up: China sex toys play for real		Saucers, totes, cans, passion and dedication shape local students at JSC
ALMA captures Juno traveling through space		Comms system critical to delaying MESSENGER's Mercury impact		Mars has belts of glaciers consisting of frozen water		A new view of the moon's formation		Small solar eruptions can have profound effects on unprotected planets

DARPA Seeks to Create Software Systems That Could Last 100 Years

Home Away From Home: NASA Spider-Droids to Build in Space

NASA Extends Campaign for Public to Name Features on Pluto

Dawn in Excellent Shape One Month After Ceres Arrival

The Solar System and Beyond is Awash in Water

Mars' dust-covered glacial belts may contain tons of water

Team Returning Orbiter to Duty After Computer Swap

Dawn orbiting high over the night side of Ceres

More evidence for groundwater on Mars

Moon formed when young Earth and little sister collided

Ultra-realistic robot proves there's more than one way to scare a fish

Scars on Mars from 2012 Rover Landing Fade - Usually

Life Needs An Atmosphere, But How Much Is Too Much

Planned Maneuver Further Extends MESSENGER Orbital Operations

First ASU-built space instrument ready for final lab tests

Europa's Elusive Water Plume Paints Grim Picture For Life

NASA Releases Tool Enabling Citizen Scientists to Examine Asteroid Vesta

Modular brains help organisms learn new skills without forgetting old skills

Bill Nye and others discussing taking humans to Mars by 2033

Will the moon's first inhabitants live in giant lava tubes?

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