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January 30, 2017
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IRON AND ICE
New research shows Ceres may have vanishing ice volcanoes



Washington DC (SPX) Feb 03, 2017
A recently discovered solitary ice volcano on the dwarf planet Ceres may have some hidden older siblings, say scientists who have tested a likely way such mountains of icy rock - called cryovolcanoes - might disappear over millions of years. NASA's Dawn spacecraft discovered Ceres's 4-kilometer (2.5-mile) tall Ahuna Mons cryovolcano in 2015. Other icy worlds in our solar system, like Pluto, Europa, Triton, Charon and Titan, may also have cryovolcanoes, but Ahuna Mons is conspicuously alone on Cere ... read more

TECH SPACE
Anatomy of a debris incident
A space debris avoidance manoeuvre planned for ESA's Swarm mission proved unnecessary last week, but the close encounter highlighted the growing risk from space debris. It's an increasingly common o ... more
EXO WORLDS
Dedicated Planet Imager Opens Its Eyes to Other Worlds
An astronomical instrument on Maunakea specifically designed to see planets around other stars has been successfully commissioned and has started to reveal stunning images of other worlds after almo ... more
SPACE MEDICINE
One-year mission investigators debut preliminary results at NASA work
Preliminary research results for the NASA One-Year Mission debuted last week at an annual NASA conference. Last March, two men landed back on Earth after having spent nearly one year in space. NASA ... more
MOON DAILY
Private Space Race Heats Up, Moon Landing Expected in Late 2017
Moon Express, the first private company to receive government approval for a space mission, has announced an additional $20 million raised for a lunar voyage in late 2017. A front-runner to wi ... more
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IRON AND ICE
Earth Narrowly Dodges Three Large Asteroids
A car-sized asteroid narrowly missed the Earth on Monday, January 30, six days after another asteroid the size of a house had a similar near-miss, and ten days after a third passed by that was about ... more
MARSDAILY
Meteorite reveals 2 billion years of volcanic activity on Mars
Mars may be home to some of the oldest volcanoes in the solar system. New evidence suggests the Red Planet has been home to volcanic activity for at least 2 billion years. ... more
SPACE MEDICINE
Spaceflight changes the shape of astronauts' brains
When astronauts come back from a stint aboard the International Space Station, their brains are not as they were when they left Earth. ... more
TECH SPACE
NASA's New Shape-Shifting Radiator Inspired by Origami
Japan's ancient art of paper folding has inspired the design of a potentially trailblazing "smart" radiator that a NASA technologist is now developing to remove or retain heat on small satellites. ... more
TECH SPACE
Space Traffic Management
Those familiar with air traffic management architectures understand the constraints of aircraft flying in the atmosphere, vehicle dynamics and command and control techniques. Unfortunately, space tr ... more
SPACE MEDICINE
Have a Peek Into What the NASA Twins Study Will Reveal
Preliminary research results for the NASA Twins Study debuted at NASA's Human Research Program's annual Investigators' Workshop in Galveston, Texas the week of January 23. NASA astronaut Scott Kelly ... more


LunaH-Map CubeSat to map the Moon's water deposits

TECH SPACE
Japan 'space junk' collector in trouble
An experimental 'space junk' collector designed to pull rubbish from the Earth's orbit has run into trouble, Japanese scientists said Tuesday, potentially a new embarrassment for Tokyo's high-tech programme. ... more
EXO WORLDS
New planet imager delivers first science at Keck
A new device on the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii has delivered its first images, showing a ring of planet-forming dust around a star, and separately, a cool, star-like body, called a brown dwarf, ... more
SATURN DAILY
Close views show Saturn's Rings in unprecedented detail
Newly released images showcase the incredible closeness with which NASA's Cassini spacecraft, now in its "Ring-Grazing" orbits phase, is observing Saturn's dazzling rings of icy debris. The vi ... more
DRAGON SPACE
China looks to Mars, Jupiter exploration
China's plans for deep-space exploration included two Mars missions and one Jupiter probe. China plans its first Mars probe by 2020, said Wu Yanhua, vice director of the China National Space A ... more

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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

Meteorite reveals 2 billion years of volcanic activity on Mars
Mars may be home to some of the oldest volcanoes in the solar system. New evidence suggests the Red Planet has been home to volcanic activity for at least 2 billion years. The evidence is a small Martian meteorite discovered in Africa in 2012. The rock was named Northwest Africa 7635. Scientists has studied many Martian meteorites over the years. Most arrived on Earth's surface r ... more
Opportunity marks 13 years of ground operations on Mars

Similar-Looking Ridges on Mars Have Diverse Origins

Commercial Crew's Role in Path to Mars



Private Space Race Heats Up, Moon Landing Expected in Late 2017
Moon Express, the first private company to receive government approval for a space mission, has announced an additional $20 million raised for a lunar voyage in late 2017. A front-runner to win Google's Lunar XPrize, the $20-million grant for the first "privately funded team" to "successfully place a spacecraft on the moon's surface," "travel 500 meters,"and "transmit high-definition video ... more
LunaH-Map CubeSat to map the Moon's water deposits

India, Israel among five teams fighting for first private Moon landing

China schedules Chang'e-5 lunar probe launch

Public to Choose Jupiter Picture Sites for NASA Juno
Where should NASA's Juno spacecraft aim its camera during its next close pass of Jupiter on Feb. 2? You can now play a part in the decision. For the first time, members of the public can vote to participate in selecting all pictures to be taken of Jupiter during a Juno flyby. Voting begins Thursday, Jan. 19 at 11 a.m. PST (2 p.m. EST) and concludes on Jan. 23 at 9 a.m. PST (noon EST). "We ... more
Experiment resolves mystery about wind flows on Jupiter

Pluto Global Color Map

Lowell Observatory to renovate Pluto discovery telescope

New planet imager delivers first science at Keck
A new device on the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii has delivered its first images, showing a ring of planet-forming dust around a star, and separately, a cool, star-like body, called a brown dwarf, lying near its companion star. The device, called a vortex coronagraph, was recently installed inside NIRC2 (Near Infrared Camera 2), the workhorse infrared imaging camera at Keck. It has the potenti ... more
Dedicated Planet Imager Opens Its Eyes to Other Worlds

First footage of a living stylodactylid shrimp filter-feeding at depth of 4826m

SF State astronomer searches for signs of life on Wolf 1061 exoplanet

ISRO tests C25 Cryogenic Upper Stage of GSLV MkIII
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully ground tested its indigenously developed Cryogenic Upper Stage for GSLV MkIII on January 25, 2017. The cryogenic stage designated as C25 was tested for a duration of 50 seconds at ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC) in Mahendragiri demonstrating all the stage operations. The performance of the Stage during the test was as predicted. This is the f ... more
NASA sounding rocket launches into Alaskan night

SmallGEO's first flight reaches orbit

Russia to check space flight engines over faulty parts



China looks to Mars, Jupiter exploration
China's plans for deep-space exploration included two Mars missions and one Jupiter probe. China plans its first Mars probe by 2020, said Wu Yanhua, vice director of the China National Space Administration. A second Mars probe will bring back samples and conduct research on the planet's structure, composition and environment, Wu said. Also on the agenda are an asteroid explorat ... more
China's first cargo spacecraft to leave factory

China launches commercial rocket mission Kuaizhou-1A

China Space Plan to Develop "Strength and Size"

New research shows Ceres may have vanishing ice volcanoes
A recently discovered solitary ice volcano on the dwarf planet Ceres may have some hidden older siblings, say scientists who have tested a likely way such mountains of icy rock - called cryovolcanoes - might disappear over millions of years. NASA's Dawn spacecraft discovered Ceres's 4-kilometer (2.5-mile) tall Ahuna Mons cryovolcano in 2015. Other icy worlds in our solar system, like Pluto ... more
Earth Narrowly Dodges Three Large Asteroids

Objective: To deflect asteroids, thus preventing their collision with Earth

Gaia turns its eyes to asteroid hunting



U.K. Defense Ministry finalizes laser weapon system contract
Britain's Ministry of Defense has awarded MBDA and other industry partners a $36 million contract to produce a Laser Directed Energy Weapon demonstrator. The contract, which aims to allow Britain's first laser weapon to enter service by the mid-2020s, will task contractors to assess the technology's capabilities. Project leaders hope to demonstrate the system in 2019. "The U.K. h ... more
U.S. Air Force issues RFP for aircraft laser weapons

Northrop Grumman to develop next-gen fighter laser system

UK to start laser gun program

MEADS team submits updated proposal for Poland's Wilsa program
The Polish government received an updated offer for its medium-range air defense program from MEADS International. The offer updates the company's proposal alongside Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa in September, intensifying the competition between Raytheon and Lockheed Martin for the contract. Included in the proposal for Poland's missile defense project, known as Wilsa, is MEADS Inter ... more
Raytheon contracted for Patriot missile support

Lockheed Martin to perform additional THAAD development

S. Korea, US defence chiefs back anti-missile system



Close views show Saturn's Rings in unprecedented detail
Newly released images showcase the incredible closeness with which NASA's Cassini spacecraft, now in its "Ring-Grazing" orbits phase, is observing Saturn's dazzling rings of icy debris. The views are some of the closest-ever images of the outer parts of the main rings, giving scientists an eagerly awaited opportunity to observe features with names like "straw" and "propellers." Altho ... more
Cassini captures stunning view of Saturn moon Daphnis

Catching Cassini's call

Huygens: 'Ground Truth' From an Alien Moon

Scientists determine precise 3-D location 23,000 atoms in a nanoparticle
Scientists used one of the world's most powerful electron microscopes to map the precise location and chemical type of 23,000 atoms in an extremely small particle made of iron and platinum. The 3-D reconstruction reveals the arrangement of atoms in unprecedented detail, enabling the scientists to measure chemical order and disorder in individual grains, which sheds light on the material's ... more
NIST updates 'sweet' 1950s separation method to clean nanoparticles from organisms

Nanocavity and atomically thin materials advance tech for chip-scale light sources

Ultra-precise chip-scale sensor detects unprecedentedly small changes at the nanoscale



Cosmologists a step closer to understanding quantum gravity
Cosmologists trying to understand how to unite the two pillars of modern science - quantum physics and gravity - have found a new way to make robust predictions about the effect of quantum fluctuations on primordial density waves, ripples in the fabric of space and time. Researchers from the University of Portsmouth have revealed quantum imprints left on cosmological structures in the very ... more
China to set up gravitational wave telescopes in Tibet

MIT researchers reveal new technique for measuring gravity

A population of neutron stars can generate gravitational waves continuously

Toward a practical nuclear pendulum
Researchers from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) Munich have, for the first time, measured the lifetime of an excited state in the nucleus of an unstable element. This is a major step toward a nuclear clock that could keep even better time than today's best atomic timekeepers. Atomic clocks are the most precise chronometers we now have. These timekeepers are based on precise knowledg ... more
Study reveals substantial evidence of holographic universe

'Ghost particles' could improve understanding the universe

PPPL scientist uncovers physics behind plasma-etching process



Apple joins group devoted to keeping AI nice
A technology industry alliance devoted to making sure smart machines don't turn against humanity said Friday that Apple has signed on and will have a seat on the board. Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Facebook, IBM, and Google-owned British AI firm DeepMind last year established the non-profit organization, called "Partnership on AI," which will have its inaugural board meeting in San Francisco o ... more
New wave of robots set to deliver the goods

MIT's wearable AI system can detect a conversation's tone

Over to you, automation

NAVAIR completes spike missile test with UAV target
The U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division recently completed a demonstration of its developing Spike missile. During the demonstration, conducted by the Spike team in China Lake, Calif., testers were able to shoot down an "outlaw" unmanned aerial vehicle in one shot in December 2016. "The team worked really hard to get us to the point where everything was smooth," Spike ... more
New SkyGuardian variant of Predator B drone announced

Germany extends Heron drone lease contract

AUDS counter-UAV system achieves TRL-9 status

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