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InSight Engineers Have Made a Martian Rock Garden![]() Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 19, 2018 NASA's InSight lander is due to set its first science instrument on Mars in the coming days. But engineers here on Earth already saw it happen - last week. Like NASA's Curiosity rover, InSight has a full-scale working model at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. This sister lander, aptly named ForeSight, lets the team test all operations before they happen on Mars. To practice how InSight will place its instruments, JPL engineers built a Martian rock garden modele ... read more |
New Horizons Takes the Inside Course to Ultima ThuleLaurel MD (SPX) Dec 19, 2018 With no apparent hazards in its way, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has been given a "go" to stay on its optimal path to Ultima Thule as it speeds closer to a Jan. 1 flyby of the Kuiper Belt object ... more
Celestia wins major ESA contract for UKLondon, UK (SPX) Dec 19, 2018 Harwell based Celestia Technologies Group UK Ltd (CTG UK) has signed an 8m euro contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) for the development of the next generation of Gateway ground stations. ... more
BepiColombo's first routine firing in spaceParis (ESA) Dec 19, 2018 On Monday this week, BepiColombo began its very first routine electric propulsion firing. After meticulous testing of the spacecraft's four high-tech ion thrusters, the mission team have now f ... more
Israeli spacecraft gets special passenger before moon journeyYehud, Israel (AFP) Dec 17, 2018 Israeli scientists making final preparations to launch the country's first spacecraft to the moon added a special passenger on Monday that will accompany the journey. ... more |
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| Previous Issues | Dec 18 | Dec 17 | Dec 14 | Dec 13 | Dec 12 |
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Narrowing the universe in the search for lifeColumbus OH (SPX) Dec 18, 2018 Humankind's exploration of space has for years pondered one central question: Is there another world somewhere in the universe where human beings could survive? And as astrophysicists and astr ... more
NASA Research Reveals Saturn is Losing Its Rings at "Worst-Case-Scenario" RateGreenbelt MD (SPX) Dec 18, 2018 New NASA research confirms that Saturn is losing its iconic rings at the maximum rate estimated from Voyager 1 and 2 observations made decades ago. The rings are being pulled into Saturn by gravity ... more
Opportunity team performs more frequent communication attempts throughout each dayPasadena CA (JPL) Dec 17, 2018 Mars atmospheric opacity (tau) over the rover site remains at a storm-free range around 1.0. No signal from Opportunity has been heard since Sol 5111 (June 10, 2018). Opportunity likely experi ... more
Where did the hot Neptunes goGeneva, Switzerland (SPX) Dec 17, 2018 "But where did the hot Neptunes go?" This is the question astronomers have been asking for a long time, faced with the mysterious absence of planets the size of Neptunes very close to their star. A ... more
In search of missing worlds, Hubble finds a fast-evaporating exoplanetBaltimore MD (SPX) Dec 17, 2018 Fishermen would be puzzled if they netted only big and little fish, but few medium-sized fish. Astronomers likewise have been perplexed in conducting a census of star-hugging extrasolar planets. The ... more |
![]() Dancing with the enemy
Scientists design new material to harness power of lightLowell MA (SPX) Dec 19, 2018 Scientists have long known that synthetic materials - called metamaterials - can manipulate electromagnetic waves such as visible light to make them behave in ways that cannot be found in nature. Th ... more |
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New models sense human trust in smart machinesWest Lafayette IN (SPX) Dec 17, 2018 New "classification models" sense how well humans trust intelligent machines they collaborate with, a step toward improving the quality of interactions and teamwork. The long-term goal of the ... more
NASA seeks US partners to develop reusable systems to land astronauts on MoonWashington DC (SPX) Dec 14, 2018 As the next major step to return astronauts to the Moon under Space Policy Directive-1, NASA announced plans on Dec. 13 to work with American companies to design and develop new reusable systems for ... more
Planetary scientists assist in capturing image of Insight from orbitLondon, Canada (SPX) Dec 14, 2018 Houston, there is no problem here. Eric Pilles assisted in capturing - for the first-time ever - extraordinary and highly significant scientific images of the NASA InSight robotic lander using HiRIS ... more
Hubble finds faraway planet vanishing at record speedBaltimore MD (SPX) Dec 14, 2018 The speed and distance at which planets orbit their respective blazing stars can determine each planet's fate - whether the planet remains a longstanding part of its solar system or evaporates into ... more
UNLV study unlocks clues to how planets formLas Vegas NV (SPX) Dec 13, 2018 Astronomers have cataloged nearly 4,000 exoplanets in orbit around distant stars. Though the discovery of these newfound worlds has taught us much, there is still a great deal we do not know about t ... more |
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Opportunity team performs more frequent communication attempts throughout each day Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 17, 2018
Mars atmospheric opacity (tau) over the rover site remains at a storm-free range around 1.0.
No signal from Opportunity has been heard since Sol 5111 (June 10, 2018). Opportunity likely experienced a low-power fault, a mission clock fault and an up-loss timer fault. Since the loss of signal, the team has been listening for the rover over a broad range of times, frequencies and polarization ... more |
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Israeli spacecraft gets special passenger before moon journey Yehud, Israel (AFP) Dec 17, 2018
Israeli scientists making final preparations to launch the country's first spacecraft to the moon added a special passenger on Monday that will accompany the journey.
A time capsule of three digital discs containing thousands of files was ceremoniously placed within the space pod by organisers wearing white dust coats at the plant where it is being constructed and tested.
They included d ... more |
Most Distant Solar System Object Ever Observed Washington DC (SPX) Dec 18, 2018
A team of astronomers has discovered the most distant body ever observed in our solar system. It is the first known solar system object that has been detected at a distance that is more than 100 times farther than Earth is from the Sun.
The new object was announced on Monday, December 17, 2018, by the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center [https://www.minorplanetcenter.net ... more |
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Where did the hot Neptunes go Geneva, Switzerland (SPX) Dec 17, 2018
"But where did the hot Neptunes go?" This is the question astronomers have been asking for a long time, faced with the mysterious absence of planets the size of Neptunes very close to their star. A team of researchers, led by astronomers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, has just discovered that one of these planets is losing its atmosphere at a frantic pace.
This observa ... more |
Largest piece of SLS rocket test hardware moved for testing New Orleans LA (SPX) Dec 17, 2018
Technicians at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, moved the largest piece of structural test hardware for America's new deep space rocket, the Space Launch System, from the factory to the dock where it was loaded onto NASA's barge Pegasus Dec. 14, 2018.
The liquid hydrogen tank test article will make its way up the river to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, A ... more |
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China's Chang'e-4 probe enters lunar orbit Beijing (XNA) Dec 13, 2018
China's Chang'e-4 probe decelerated and entered the lunar orbit Wednesday, completing a vital step on its way to make the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced.
After flying about 110 hours from earth, an engine on the probe was ignited when it was 129 km above the surface of the moon, in line with instructions sent fr ... more |
Space telescope detects water in a number of asteroids Kobe, Japan (SPX) Dec 19, 2018
Using the infrared satellite AKARI, a Japanese research team has detected the existence of water in the form of hydrated minerals in a number of asteroids for the first time. This discovery will contribute to our understanding of the distribution of water in our solar system, the evolution of asteroids, and the origin of water on Earth.
The findings were made by the team led by the Project ... more |
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Radiance Technologies tapped for U.S. Army laser research Washington (UPI) Nov 30, 2018
The U.S. Army is contracting Radiance Technologies for high energy laser lethality research, assessment and support in the amount of $28.2 million.
Work on the contract, announced Thursday by the Department of Defense, will be performed in Huntsville, Ala., and is expected to be completed by November 2023.
It falls under a small business contract under acquisition rules, though R ... more |
Pentagon conducts latest successful test of US-Japan interceptor Washington (AFP) Dec 11, 2018
The US military on Tuesday successfully conducted a test of a new ballistic-missile interceptor system, which is being co-developed with Japan.
The launch marks the second successful test in less than two months for the SM-3 Block IIA missile and its associated technologies, which had previously experienced failures.
According to the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), sailors at the Aegis As ... more |
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NASA Research Reveals Saturn is Losing Its Rings at "Worst-Case-Scenario" Rate Greenbelt MD (SPX) Dec 18, 2018
New NASA research confirms that Saturn is losing its iconic rings at the maximum rate estimated from Voyager 1 and 2 observations made decades ago. The rings are being pulled into Saturn by gravity as a dusty rain of ice particles under the influence of Saturn's magnetic field.
"We estimate that this 'ring rain' drains an amount of water products that could fill an Olympic-sized swimming p ... more |
MIT team invents method to shrink objects to the nanoscale Boston MA (SPX) Dec 14, 2018
MIT researchers have invented a way to fabricate nanoscale 3-D objects of nearly any shape. They can also pattern the objects with a variety of useful materials, including metals, quantum dots, and DNA.
"It's a way of putting nearly any kind of material into a 3-D pattern with nanoscale precision," says Edward Boyden, an associate professor of biological engineering and of brain and cognit ... more |
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New squeezing record at GEO600 gravitational-wave detector Hannover, Germany (SPX) Dec 17, 2018
The detection of Einstein's gravitational waves relies on highly precise laser measurements of small length changes. The kilometer-size detectors of the international network (GEO600, LIGO, Virgo) are so sensitive that they are fundamentally limited by tiny quantum mechanical effects.
These cause a background noise which overlaps with gravitational-wave signals. This noise is always presen ... more |
Cosmic fountain powered by giant black hole Huntsville AL (SPX) Dec 17, 2018
Before electrical power became available, water fountains worked by relying on gravity to channel water from a higher elevation to a lower one. This water could then be redirected to shoot out of the fountain and create a centerpiece for people to admire.
In space, awesome gaseous fountains have been discovered in the centers of galaxy clusters. One such fountain is in the cluster Abell 25 ... more |
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New models sense human trust in smart machines West Lafayette IN (SPX) Dec 17, 2018
New "classification models" sense how well humans trust intelligent machines they collaborate with, a step toward improving the quality of interactions and teamwork.
The long-term goal of the overall field of research is to design intelligent machines capable of changing their behavior to enhance human trust in them. The new models were developed in research led by assistant professor Neer ... more |
General Atomics receives $40 million for Gray Eagle drone services Washington (UPI) Dec 14, 2018
General Atomics has been awarded $40 million by the U.S. Army for services on the Gray Eagle unmanned aerial vehicle.
The contract modification, announced Thursday by the Department of Defense, falls under Army fiscal operations and maintenance funding as is expected to be completed by June 2019.
The Gray Eagle is a development of the Predator drone designed for intelligence, sur ... more |
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