Space Tourism, Space Transport and Space Exploration News
January 05, 2017
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IRON AND ICE
Psyche to offer unique look at early terrestrial planet formation



Tempe AZ (SPX) Jan 05, 2017
Arizona State University's Psyche Mission, a journey to a metal asteroid, has been selected for flight under NASA's Discovery Program, a series of lower-cost, highly focused robotic space missions that are exploring the solar system. The mission's spacecraft is expected to launch in 2023, arriving at the asteroid in 2030, where it will spend 20 months in orbit, mapping it and studying its properties. It is the first time ASU will lead a NASA space exploration mission. The project is capped a ... read more

OUTER PLANETS
York U research identifies icy ridges on Pluto
Using a model similar to what meteorologists use to forecast weather on Earth and a computer simulation of the physics of evaporating ices, a new study published in the journal, Nature by York Unive ... more
MARSDAILY
Hues in a Crater Slope
Impact craters expose the subsurface materials on the steep slopes of Mars. However, these slopes often experience rockfalls and debris avalanches that keep the surface clean of dust, revealing a va ... more
IRON AND ICE
ASU Spectrometer to Fly on New Nasa Mission to Distant 'Trojan' Asteroids
The Lucy mission to Jupiter's Trojan asteroids has been chosen by NASA for flight under the agency's Discovery Program. Lucy will carry an ASU-designed and -developed thermal emission spectrometer, ... more
IRON AND ICE
SwRI to lead NASA's Lucy mission to Jupiter's Trojans
NASA has selected Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) to lead Lucy, a landmark Discovery mission to perform the first reconnaissance of the Trojans, a population of primitive asteroids orbiting in t ... more
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IRON AND ICE
NASA Selects Two Missions to Explore the Early Solar System
NASA has selected two missions that have the potential to open new windows on one of the earliest eras in the history of our solar system - a time less than 10 million years after the birth of our s ... more
MARSDAILY
3-D images reveal features of Martian polar ice caps
Three-dimensional subsurface images are revealing structures within the Martian polar ice caps, including previously obscured layering, a larger volume of frozen carbon dioxide contained in the sout ... more
TECH SPACE
Russian static discharge measure unit to prolong satellite equipment lifespan
The Russian Space Systems holding, which belongs to the state-run Roscosmos space corporation, has created a new miniature electrostatic discharge measurement unit that can help extend the lifespan ... more
DRAGON SPACE
China Plans to Launch 1st Mars Probe by 2020 - State Council Information Office
China is planning to conduct the first orbiting and roving exploration of Mars by 2020, the country's State Council Information Office (SCIO) said Tuesday in a report. "China intends to execut ... more
DRAGON SPACE
China sees rapid development of space science and technology
China's space industry has witnessed rapid progress since 2011, said a white paper issued Tuesday by the State Council Information Office. The white paper, titled "China's Space Activities in ... more


China to expand int'l cooperation on space sciences

MARSDAILY
Odyssey recovering from precautionary pause in activity
NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter, which has been in service at Mars since October 2001, put itself into safe mode - a protective standby status - on Dec. 26, while remaining in communication with Earth. ... more
TIME AND SPACE
Timekeepers add 'leap second' to world clocks for new year
Clocks around the world will add a leap second to coordinate with a change in the speed of Earth's rotation. ... more


Russia to face strong competition from China in space launch market
In the decade to come Russia will face strong competition from China for the commercial launch of satellites for developing countries, according to Ivan Moiseev, director of the Institute of Space Policy."China is trying to expand its space launching services, developing new boosters for different segments of the market," Moiseev told RIA Novosti. "It has constructed a new spacecraft launc ... more
Vega And Gokturk-1A are present for next Arianespace lightweight mission

Antares Rides Again

Four Galileo satellites are "topped off" for Arianespace's milestone Ariane 5 launch from the Spaceport

Hues in a Crater Slope
Impact craters expose the subsurface materials on the steep slopes of Mars. However, these slopes often experience rockfalls and debris avalanches that keep the surface clean of dust, revealing a variety of hues, like in this enhanced-color image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, representing different rock types. The bright reddish material at the top of the crater rim is from a co ... more
Odyssey recovering from precautionary pause in activity

3-D images reveal features of Martian polar ice caps

Small Troughs Growing on Mars May Become 'Spiders'

China plans probes to far side, poles of Moon
China is planning missions to explore the far side of the Moon and to send robots to explore both lunar poles. Plans to send astronauts to the Moon are also being discussed, according to Wu Yanhua, vice director of the China National Space Administration. Wu told a press conference on Tuesday that work on the Chang'e-5 lunar mission, scheduled to make a soft landing on the Moon and r ... more
Lunar sonic booms

India Inc joins hands to bid for moon mission

TeamIndus signs contract with ISRO for lunar mission

York U research identifies icy ridges on Pluto
Using a model similar to what meteorologists use to forecast weather on Earth and a computer simulation of the physics of evaporating ices, a new study published in the journal, Nature by York University's Professor John Moores, Department of Earth and Space Science and Engineering at York's Lassonde School of Engineering, has found evidence that snow and ice features previously only seen on Ear ... more
Exploring Pluto and the Wild Back Yonder

Juno Captures Jupiter 'Pearl'

Juno Mission Prepares for December 11 Jupiter Flyby



The blob can learn and teach
It isn't an animal, a plant, or a fungus. The slime mold (Physarum polycephalum) is a strange, creeping, bloblike organism made up of one giant cell. Though it has no brain, it can learn from experience, as biologists at the Research Centre on Animal Cognition (CNRS, Universite Toulouse III-Paul Sabatier) previously demonstrated.1 Now the same team of scientists has gone a step further, pr ... more
Searching a sea of 'noise' to find exoplanets - using only data as a guide

Microlensing Study Suggests Most Common Outer Planets Likely Neptune-mass

Exciting new creatures discovered on ocean floor

SpaceX ready to launch again
SpaceX says it has determined the cause of a launchpad explosion that destroyed a satellite in September and is ready to start launches again as early as Sunday. An unmanned SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded September 1 in Cape Canaveral, destroying a satellite that Facebook planned to use to beam high-speed internet to Africa. That marked a setback for the California-based private space f ... more
Europe and Russia looking at Space Tug Project

India to develop large scale solid fuel mixer

Mission contracts secure Commercial Crew operations for coming years



China Plans to Launch 1st Mars Probe by 2020 - State Council Information Office
China is planning to conduct the first orbiting and roving exploration of Mars by 2020, the country's State Council Information Office (SCIO) said Tuesday in a report. "China intends to execute its first Mars exploration operation, and grasp key technologies for orbiting, landing and roving exploration. It plans to launch the first Mars probe by 2020 to carry out orbiting and roving explor ... more
China to expand int'l cooperation on space sciences

China sees rapid development of space science and technology

China Space Plan to Develop "Strength and Size"

Quadrantid meteor shower to peak this week in North America
A fireworks-type display of Quadrantid meteors will likely peak in North America on Tuesday or Wednesday. Astronomers disagree on the exact peak of the Quadrantid, whose bright fireballs are one of the most vibrant celestial shows of the year. Some say it will be pre-dawn Tuesday and others say late night Tuesday into early Wednesday is the best time to watch. At least some shootings st ... more
NASA Selects Two Missions to Explore the Early Solar System

NEOWISE mission spies one comet, maybe two

Psyche to offer unique look at early terrestrial planet formation



Northrop Grumman to develop next-gen fighter laser system
Northrop Grumman will help the U.S. Air Force to develop a directed energy laser system that will offer self-protection for the service's next-generation jets, the company announced Wednesday. The work, under an Air Force Research Laboratory contract, will see Northrop Grumman develop and produce the beam control piece of an airborne laser weapon demonstration array that the laboratory ... more
UK to start laser gun program

Russia's Ray Guns: The Military Capability of Moscow's Secret Laser Weapons

S. Korea vows US missile system as opposition lawmakers head to China
South Korea is committed to deploying an advanced US missile defense system this year despite opposition from China, a minister said Wednesday, even as opposition lawmakers headed to Beijing with a different message. Seoul and Washington agreed to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in the South after a string of North Korean nuclear and missile tests - prompting s ... more
US can defend itself from N.Korea missile attack: Pentagon

Unidentified country orders Patriot system upgrade

MBDA submits proposal for TLVS development in Germany



NASA image showcases Saturn's sun-soaked north pole
Cassini is now ring-grazing, but its orbital path earlier this year sent the NASA probe high above Saturn's north pole. In late September, the vantage revealed the pole fully illuminated by the sun's rays. The probe used the opportunity to photograph the sun-soaked north pole with its wide-angle camera. Recently, NASA shared the image online. The summer sun shining on Saturn's no ... more
Cassini offers a crash course in ring world orbital mechanics

Saturn's bulging core implies moons younger than thought

Cassini Makes First Ring-Grazing Plunge

The researchers created a tiny laser using nanoparticles
Researchers at Aalto University, Finland are the first to develop a plasmonic nanolaser that operates at visible light frequencies and uses so-called dark lattice modes. The laser works at length scales 1000 times smaller than the thickness of a human hair. The lifetimes of light captured in such small dimensions are so short that the light wave has time to wiggle up and down only a few te ... more
Nanoscale 'conversations' create complex, multi-layered structures

Going green with nanotechnology

Nanocubes simplify printing and imaging in color and infrared



MIT researchers reveal new technique for measuring gravity
Researchers have found a way to improve atom interferometers, the most common and precise tool for measuring gravity. Atom interferometers measure difference in wave characteristics between atomic matter. They rely on an exotic state of matter called Bose-Einstein condensates. Researchers in MIT have found a way to improve the precision of atom interferometers by augmenting the condensa ... more
A population of neutron stars can generate gravitational waves continuously

LISA Pathfinder's pioneering mission continues

Magnetic mirror could shed new light on gravitational waves

Venerable Radio Telescope Sets Standard for Universal Constant
About 150 hours of observing time on the 1,000-ft radio telescope at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico over the course of the last several years have been devoted to determining whether the most fundamental constant in physics really is constant. The target is the so-called fine structure constant, usually known as alpha, which describes the electromagnetic interaction between element ... more
ALPHA observes light spectrum of antimatter for first time

Existence of a short-lived tetraneutron predicted

First experimental proof of a 70 year old physics theory

Daily Newsletters - Space - Military - Environment - Energy

Driverless platoons
As driverless cars merge into our transportation system in the coming years, some researchers believe autonomous vehicles may save fuel by trailing each other in large platoons. Like birds and fighter jets flying in formation, or bikers and race car drivers drafting in packs, vehicles experience less aerodynamic drag when they drive close together. But assembling a vehicle platoon to deliv ... more
Avatar-style S. Korean manned robot takes first baby steps

Fractional calculus helps control systems hit their mark

Fractional disturbance observers could help machines stay on track

Tiny spy drones no match for Repellent-1 mobile anti-drone net
Russian engineers have completed development of a new mobile anti-drone warfare complex. Appropriately named the 'Repellent', the system is designed to suppress and destroy miniaturized enemy drones no larger than a few dozen centimeters and no heavier than a few kilograms.Russia's Izvestia newspaper reports that the system, first shown off at the Army-2016 expo in September, is now being consid ... more
General Atomics to perform Reaper, Predator support services

Britain, France continue drone development project

Ford studies using drones to guide self-driving cars



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