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May 20, 2015

The First Martian Marathon
Huntsville AL (SPX) May 20, 2015
On Earth, the fastest runners can finish a marathon in hours. On Mars it takes about 11 years. On Tuesday, March 24th 2015, NASA's Mars rover Opportunity completed its first Red Planet marathon-- 26.219 miles - with a finish time of roughly 11 years and two months "This mission isn't about setting distance records; it's about making scientific discoveries," says Steve Squyres, Opportunity principal investigator at Cornell University. "Still, running a marathon on Mars feels pretty cool." Runner-au ... read more

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Driest Place on Earth Hosts Life Researchers have pinpointed the driest location on Earth in the Atacama Desert, a region in Chile already recognised as the most arid in the world. They have also found evidence of life at the site, ... more		UK-built technology brings Europe's Mercury mission closer to launch A UK-built instrument, designed to unlock the secrets of Mercury's surface, has been shipped from the University of Leicester's Space Research Centre to the European Space Agency where it will be in ... more		Exploring the 'Spirit of St. Louis' Crater Opportunity is on the west rim of Endeavour Crater at the 'Spirit of St. Louis' crater near the entrance of 'Marathon Valley.' The rover had been exploring the outcrops inside the Spirit of St. Loui ... more
				Fast Track Program invites non-traditional Roboticists to bolster security The past 10 years have seen an explosion of robotics advances from small businesses and individuals, thanks in part to lower manufacturing costs and the global rise of community workshops such as ma ... more		NASA asks for new ideas to bolster asteroid redirect mission NASA is asking American tech, engineering and aerospace firms for fresh ideas on how best to maneuver an asteroid. ... more

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

Next Generation Integrated ISR 2015 - Washington DC - July 27-29

Robot pets to rise in an overpopulated world University of Melbourne animal welfare researcher Dr Jean-Loup Rault says the prospect of robopets and virtual pets is not as far-fetched as we may think. His paper in the latest edition of Frontier ... more		ESA Works Up A Space Fever It started with a simple question that ended with a surprising answer and new technology that is being used in cutting-edge heart surgery and could save millions of euros in hospital bills. Hanns-Ch ... more		Russia launches dozens of drones as Ukraine claims 'important success' Russian jets violate Estonian air space in 'brazen intrusion' U.S. defense in free fall		Technique for finding signs of life on the Red Planet For centuries, people have imagined the possibility of life on Mars. But long-held dreams that Martians could be invaders of Earth, or little green men, or civilized superbeings, all have been under ... more
				Circular orbits for small extrasolar planets Researchers based at Aarhus University have measured the orbital eccentricity of 74 small extrasolar planets and found their orbits to be close to circular, similar to the planets in the solar syste ... more		OPALS Boosts Space-to-Ground Optical Communications Research Ever wonder why stars seem to twinkle? This effect is caused by variations in the density of our atmosphere that cause blurring in light coming from space. It's pretty for stargazing, but a challeng ... more

Army Network Modernization 2015 - Washington DC June 23-25

Telescope-Laser Cannons to Clean Up Dangerous Space Junk The low Earth orbit is filled with what amounts to an outer space junk yard, left behind by decades of discarded satellites, collisions, and debris. And now Operation Orbital Clean House is aiming t ... more		Toward a squishier robot For decades, robots have advanced the efficiency of human activity. Typically, however, robots are formed from bulky, stiff materials and require connections to external power sources; these feature ... more		Fossil fuels harm health from 'cradle to grave': report Trash, mulch and security: All jobs for troops in Washington Rising oceans to threaten 1.5 million Australians by 2050: report		NASA Awards Study Contract To Deep Space Industries NASA has selected Deep Space Industries (DSI) for two contracts devoted to developing critical technologies for utilizing asteroid resources. One will support the development of asteroid regolith si ... more
Mystery Methane on Mars: The Saga Continues A scientist has raised questions about the latest detection of methane on Mars, suggesting that NASA's rover could be responsible for the mysterious burp. Highly unlikely, but not impossible, says t ... more		Quick Detour by NASA Mars Rover Checks Ancient Valley Researchers slightly detoured NASA's Curiosity Mars rover from the mission's planned path in recent days for a closer look at a hillside site where an ancient valley had been carved out and refilled ... more		Ether Compounds Could Work like DNA On Oily Worlds In the search for life beyond Earth, scientists have justifiably focused on water because all biology as we know it requires this fluid. A wild card, however, is whether alternative liquids can also ... more		Curiosity tracks sundown on Mars The sun dips to a Martian horizon in a blue-tinged sky in images sent home to Earth this week from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover. Curiosity used its Mast Camera (Mastcam) to record the sunset during a ... more

	Asteroid Distant 'Flyby' Thursday An asteroid, designated 1999 FN53, will safely pass more than 26 times the distance of Earth to the moon on May 14. To put it another way, at its closest point, the asteroid will get no closer than ... more		Mercury's core dynamo present early in planet's history The Messenger spacecraft, which crash-landed into Mercury just a few days ago, found traces of magnetization in Mercury's crust, a new study reports. The presence of residual magnetization pro ... more

EU to fast-track review of 2035 combustion-engine ban

Norway sovereign wealth fund drops French miner over environmental fears

EU split on 2040 climate goal ahead of UN summit

Auroras on Mars		Patria Space unit now part of RUAG		Robot rodeo: Remote-control bomb squads compete at Sandia labs		Russian Scientist Gets Patent on Transfiguring Martian Atmosphere		An important step in artificial intelligence
Will a soft robot be first to explore Europa's oceans?		Controlling swarms of robots with a finger		Device could greatly improve speech and image recognition		NASA's New Horizons Spots Pluto's Faintest Known Moons		NASA funds SwRI instrument to date Moon and Mars rocks

MESSENGER reveals Mercury's magnetic field secrets

Weather forecasts for planets beyond our solar system

IBM's Watson strives to be jack of all trades

Watch a simple tablet control robot swarm

DARPA developing zoom lens to spot distant space objects more clearly

Galactic Gold Rush: Asteroid Mining to Start This Summer

Ceres Animation Showcases Bright Spots

Getting Down to Science at Ceres

Space debris from satellite explosion increases collision risk for space craft

NASA's LRO Moves Closer to the Lunar Surface

Astronomers detect drastic atmospheric change in super Earth

Saturn Moon's Activity Could Be 'Curtain Eruptions'

Astrophysicists offer proof that famous image shows forming planets

3D printer making Chinese space suit parts

A hot start to the origin of life

Geochemical process on Saturn's moon linked to life's origin

European Space Agency Director Wants to Set Up a Moon Base

NASA Announces Journey to Mars Challenge

Student Mars Rover team will compete in Utah desert

Ancient Star Raises Prospects of Intelligent Life

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