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December 09, 2015

New US space mining law to spark interplanetary gold rush
New York (AFP) Dec 8, 2015
Flashing some interplanetary gold bling and sipping "space water" might sound far-fetched, but both could soon be reality, thanks to a new US law that legalizes cosmic mining. In a first, President Barack Obama signed legislation at the end of November that allows commercial extraction of minerals and other materials, including water, from asteroids and the moon. That could kick off an extraterrestrial gold rush, backed by a private aeronautics industry that is growing quickly and cutting the pr ... read more

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Twin civilisations? How life on an exoplanet could spread to its neighbour Imagine two nearby exoplanets orbiting the same sun, each with its own indigenous civilisation. They're going through history either as companionable neighbours or deadly rivals. This is a familiar ... more		Prometheus up close about Saturn NASA's Cassini spacecraft spied details on the pockmarked surface of Saturn's moon Prometheus (86 kilometers, or 53 miles across) during a moderately close flyby on Dec. 6, 2015. This is one of Cass ... more		New Visualization of Space Environment at Pluto This video shows a simulation of the space environment all the way out to Pluto in the months surrounding New Horizons' July 2015 flyby. At the time, scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight ... more
				Robot arm simulates close approach of ESA's asteroid mission The final approach to an asteroid has been practised for ESA's proposed Asteroid Impact Mission using a real spacecraft camera mounted on a robot arm. The 2020 AIM mission would find its way a ... more		UW roboticists learn to teach robots from babies Babies learn about the world by exploring how their bodies move in space, grabbing toys, pushing things off tables and by watching and imitating what adults are doing. But when roboticists want to t ... more

Peering Through Titan's Haze This composite image shows an infrared view of Saturn's moon Titan from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, acquired during the mission's "T-114" flyby on Nov. 13, 2015. The spacecraft's visual and infrared ... more		Russia's Kanopus-ST Research Satellite Deorbited, Heading to Earth The deorbiting of the Russian Kanopus-ST remote sensing satellite for ocean and weather research is currently underway, a space industries source said Monday. The source said that the Kanopus- ... more		U.S. defense in free fall U.S. and Saudis conduct Middle East's largest counter-drone exercise Saudi Arabia and Pakistan sign mutual defense pact		New Horizons' catches a wandering Kuiper Belt Object not far off NASA's New Horizons spacecraft recently took the closest images ever of a distant Kuiper Belt object - demonstrating its ability to observe numerous such bodies over the next several years if NASA a ... more
				Mars Mission Team Addressing Vacuum Leak on Key Science Instrument A key science instrument that will be carried aboard NASA's Interior Exploration Using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) spacecraft being prepared for launch in March 2016 ... more		Pluto surface details revealed in best images yet NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has sent back the first few of a series of the sharpest views of Pluto it obtained during its July flyby - and this image sequence forms the best close-ups of Pluto th ... more

Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

British astronaut Tim Peake to run marathon from space On Friday, British astronaut Tim Peake announced his intention to compete in the London Marathon - from space. ... more		Dawn spiraling in towards Ceres An intrepid interplanetary explorer is now powering its way down through the gravity field of a distant alien world. Soaring on a blue-green beam of high-velocity xenon ions, Dawn is making excellen ... 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 team discover how water escapes from Saturn A University of Montana professor who studies astrophysics has discovered how water ions escape from Saturn's environment. His findings recently were published in the journal Nature Physics. UM Prof ... more
Rotational movies of Pluto and Charon It's amazing that we've come such a long way in our exploration of the Pluto system, and it's only been five months since the close flyby of New Horizons. From the exceptionally young ice-covered pl ... more		Space Debris - A Growth Industry? Early in 2015, an expired military weather satellite, Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Flight 13, exploded in a sun synchronous orbit. The official cause given by the Defense of Depar ... more		Swimming devices could deliver drugs inside the body Engineers at the University of Sheffield have discovered that tiny spherical bead-like devices can be guided by physical structures while swimming inside fluids. This opens up a wealth of future pos ... more		Robot adds new twist to NIST antenna measurements and calibrations The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been pioneering antenna measurement methods for decades, but a new robot may be the ultimate innovation, extending measurements to highe ... more

	Letter to Mars? Royal Mail works it out for British boy, 5 Britain's Royal Mail has turned to NASA for help after a five-year-old boy wrote in asking how much it would cost to post a letter to Mars. ... more		What kinds of stars form rocky planets As astronomers continue to find more and more planets around stars beyond our own Sun, they are trying to discover patterns and features that indicate what types of planets are likely to form around ... 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

Japan asteroid probe conducts 'Earth swing-by' in space quest		Half of Kepler's giant exoplanet candidates are false positives		These are the robots you're looking for		Japan shows off disaster-response robots at android fair		New law establishes ownership rights for space minerals
Looking back 3.8 billion years into the root of the 'Tree of Life'		Exiled exoplanet likely kicked out of star's neighborhood		Many Worlds, Subterranean Edition		New detector perfect for asteroid mining, planetary research		European payload selected for ExoMars 2018 surface platform

Cryogenic testing from 1964 to the James Webb Space Telescope

Identifying new sources of turbulence in spherical tokamaks

China's indigenous SatNav performing well after tests

High-tech Barbie stokes privacy fears

A row-bot that loves dirty water

China launches Yaogan-29 remote sensing satellite

Satellite Spectrum Is Central To Future Vision For Global Connectivity

Who owns space

Neptune-size exoplanet around a red dwarf star

ExoMars has historical, practical significance for Russia, Europe

Human reflexes may keep legged robots from tripping

SSL selected to provide new high throughput satellite to Telesat

New U.S. space mining law may violate international treaty

ExoMars prepares to leave Europe for launch site

China dreams of electric sheep at robot conference

President Obama signs bill recognizing asteroid resource property rights into law

Tracking down the 'missing' carbon from the Martian atmosphere

Mars to lose its largest moon, Phobos, but gain a ring

China's scientific satellites to enter uncharted territory

NASA selects Northeastern for humanoid robot research

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