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December 10, 2015

New clues to Ceres' bright spots and origins
Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 10, 2015
Ceres reveals some of its well-kept secrets in two new studies in the journal Nature, thanks to data from NASA's Dawn spacecraft. They include highly anticipated insights about mysterious bright features found all over the dwarf planet's surface. In one study, scientists identify this bright material as a kind of salt. The second study suggests the detection of ammonia-rich clays, raising questions about how Ceres formed. Ceres has more than 130 bright areas, and most of them are associated with i ... read more

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				XPRIZE verifies moon express launch contract, kicking off new space race Moon Express has received official verification of their launch contract from XPRIZE as part of the $30M Google Lunar XPRIZE, a global competition for privately funded teams to land an unmanned spac ... more		Student helps discover new planet, calculates frequency of Jupiter-like planets High school senior Dominick Rowan of Armonk, New York, is making discoveries about other worlds. Working with University of Texas at Austin astronomer Stefano Meschiari, Rowan has helped to find a J ... 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		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		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		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

Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

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New US space mining law to spark interplanetary gold rush 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. ... 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		Huge organs defy austerity for tiny cave snails in the subterranean realm While most of the knowledge about tiny snails comes from studying empty shells sifted out from piles of dust and sand, the present research is the first contemporary microscopic exploration of organ ... 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

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EU split on 2040 climate goal ahead of UN summit

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Dawn spiraling in towards Ceres		NASA team discover how water escapes from Saturn		Rotational movies of Pluto and Charon		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

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