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NASA spacecraft hurtles toward historic New Year's flyby![]() Tampa (AFP) Dec 24, 2018 A NASA spacecraft is hurtling toward a historic New Year's Day flyby of the most distant planetary object ever studied, a frozen relic of the early solar system called Ultima Thule. Four billion miles (6.4 billion kilometers) away, the unmanned spaceship, New Horizons, is poised to zoom by at 12:33 am (0533 GMT) on January 1, at a distance of just 2,200 miles (3,500 kilometers) from Ultima Thule. That's more than three times closer than New Horizons came to Pluto when it zipped by the dwarf plan ... read more |
New Horizons Notebook: On Ultima's DoorstepLaurel MD (SPX) Dec 24, 2018 New Horizons carried out its last trajectory correction maneuver on approach to Ultima Thule last week, a short thruster burst to direct the spacecraft closer to its precise flyby aim point just 2,2 ... more
Teledyne e2v has provided New Horizons with two specialist image sensorsChelmsford, UK (SPX) Dec 21, 2018 The American space agency's New Horizons probe remains on course for its daring flyby of Ultima Thule between 29th December 2018 and 4th January 2019. When the mission sweeps past the 30km wid ... more
China launches first Hongyun project satelliteBeijing (Sputnik) Dec 24, 2018 China on 22 December successfully launched the first satellite of its Hongyun project, which seeks to create a network of communication satellites on the low Earth orbit in order to provide stable i ... more
Getting a glimpse inside the moonEdmonton, Canada (SPX) Dec 21, 2018 New research from University of Alberta physicists provides the first-ever model of our Moon's rotational dynamics, taking into consideration its solid inner core. Their model helps to explain why, ... more |
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Navigating NASA's first mission to the Trojan asteroidsGreenbelt MD (SPX) Dec 21, 2018 In science fiction, explorers can hop in futuristic spaceships and traverse half the galaxy in the blink of a plot hole. However, this sidelines the navigational acrobatics required in order to guar ... more
The C-Space Project Opens Mars Base as a Space Education FacilityJinchang, China (SPX) Dec 24, 2018 The C-Space Project recently unveiled its Mars Base set in the Gobi Desert, leaving many curious about its objectives. The C-Space Project, where the C stands for Community, Culture and Creativity, ... more
Astronomers identify cycle of disturbances at Jupiter's equatorLeicester, UK (SPX) Dec 21, 2018 Scientists at the University of Leicester and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory predict next parting of Jupiter's veil of clouds for 2019. A regular pattern of unusual meteorological events at Jupite ... more
NASA study finds sugars, key ingredient for life, can form in spaceWashington DC (Sputnik) Dec 21, 2018 A new study by NASA scientists has proven that sugar molecules - one of the building blocks of life - can form in conditions similar to those in outer space. The find provides further grist to the m ... more
Baby Star's Fiery Tantrum Could Create Building Blocks of PlanetsWarwick UK (SPX) Dec 24, 2018 A massive stellar flare on a baby star has been spotted by University of Warwick astronomers, shedding light on the origins of potentially habitable exoplanets. One of the largest ever seen on ... more |
![]() NASA industry team creates and demonstrates first quantum sensor for satellite gravimetry
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 |
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Self-driving rovers tested in Mars-like MoroccoParis (ESA) Dec 21, 2018 Robots invaded the Sahara Desert for Europe's largest rover field test, taking place in a Mars-like part of Morocco. For two weeks three rovers and more than 40 engineers tested automated navigation ... more
Ultima Thule's First Mystery: Lack of a 'Light Curve'Laurel MD (SPX) Dec 21, 2018 NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is bearing down on Ultima Thule, its New Year's flyby target in the far away Kuiper Belt. Among its approach observations over the past three months, the spacecraft ha ... more
InSight places its first instrument on MarsPasadena CA (JPL) Dec 21, 2018 NASA's InSight lander has deployed its first instrument onto the surface of Mars, completing a major mission milestone. New images from the lander show the seismometer on the ground, its copper-colo ... more
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
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 |
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Over Six Months Without Word From Opportunity Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 24, 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 polari ... more |
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Getting a glimpse inside the moon Edmonton, Canada (SPX) Dec 21, 2018
New research from University of Alberta physicists provides the first-ever model of our Moon's rotational dynamics, taking into consideration its solid inner core. Their model helps to explain why, as seen from Earth, the Moon appears to wobble on its axis.
The answer, said physicist Mathieu Dumberry, lies in the complex geometry of the Moon's orbit, locked in what is known as a Cassini st ... more |
NASA spacecraft hurtles toward historic New Year's flyby Tampa (AFP) Dec 24, 2018
A NASA spacecraft is hurtling toward a historic New Year's Day flyby of the most distant planetary object ever studied, a frozen relic of the early solar system called Ultima Thule.
Four billion miles (6.4 billion kilometers) away, the unmanned spaceship, New Horizons, is poised to zoom by at 12:33 am (0533 GMT) on January 1, at a distance of just 2,200 miles (3,500 kilometers) from Ultima T ... more |
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Baby Star's Fiery Tantrum Could Create Building Blocks of Planets Warwick UK (SPX) Dec 24, 2018
A massive stellar flare on a baby star has been spotted by University of Warwick astronomers, shedding light on the origins of potentially habitable exoplanets.
One of the largest ever seen on a star of its type, the huge explosion of energy and plasma is around 10,000 times bigger than the largest solar flare ever recorded from our own Sun.
The discovery is detailed in a paper for t ... more |
Arianespace supports Drance and European defense with launch of CSO-1 Evry, France (SPX) Dec 24, 2018
For its 11th and final launch of the year - and the third in 2018 with the Soyuz medium-lift launcher - Arianespace successfully orbited the CSO-1 military Earth observation satellite for the French CNES (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales) space agency and the DGA (Direction generale de l'armement) defense procurement agency on behalf of the French Ministry of Defense.
The launch took pla ... more |
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China launches first Hongyun project satellite Beijing (Sputnik) Dec 24, 2018
China on 22 December successfully launched the first satellite of its Hongyun project, which seeks to create a network of communication satellites on the low Earth orbit in order to provide stable internet connection to the country's remote regions, the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) said.
The satellite was launched atop the Long March-11 rocket at 07: ... more |
Navigating NASA's first mission to the Trojan asteroids Greenbelt MD (SPX) Dec 21, 2018
In science fiction, explorers can hop in futuristic spaceships and traverse half the galaxy in the blink of a plot hole. However, this sidelines the navigational acrobatics required in order to guarantee real-life mission success.
In 2021, the feat of navigation that is the Lucy mission will launch. To steer Lucy towards its targets doesn't simply involve programming a map into a spacecraf ... 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 |
Missile Defense Agency awards Lockheed Martin contract to design, manufacture and construct defense radar station in Hawaii Moorestown NJ (SPX) Dec 21, 2018
Lockheed Martin was awarded a $585 million contract by the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) to design, develop and deliver its Homeland Defense Radar-Hawaii (HDR-H) in Oahu, Hawaii.
The HDR-H radar will provide autonomous acquisition and persistent precision tracking and discrimination to optimize the defensive capability of the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) and counter evolving thre ... 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 |
Pitt chemical engineers develop new theory to build improved nanomaterials Pittsburgh PA (SPX) Dec 17, 2018
Thanks in part to their distinct electronic, optical and chemical properties, nanomaterials are utilized in an array of diverse applications from chemical production to medicine and light-emitting devices.
But when introducing another metal in their structure, also known as "doping," researchers are unsure which position the metal will occupy and how it will affect the overall stability of ... 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 |
Beyond the black hole singularity with loop quantum gravity University Park PA (SPX) Dec 21, 2018
Our first glimpses into the physics that exist near the center of a black hole are being made possible using "loop quantum gravity" - a theory that uses quantum mechanics to extend gravitational physics beyond Einstein's general theory of relativity.
Loop quantum gravity, originated at Penn State and subsequently developed by a large number of scientists worldwide, is opening up a new para ... more |
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Self-driving rovers tested in Mars-like Morocco Paris (ESA) Dec 21, 2018
Robots invaded the Sahara Desert for Europe's largest rover field test, taking place in a Mars-like part of Morocco. For two weeks three rovers and more than 40 engineers tested automated navigation systems at up to five different sites.
This marked the end of the first phase of the strategic research cluster on space robotics technologies, a scheme funded by the European Union's Horizon 2 ... more |
General Atomics, Raytheon contracted for Reaper drone support Washington (UPI) Dec 24, 2018
General Atomics and Raytheon have each been awarded contracts for support of the MQ-9 Reaper, one for sensors and the other for overall program support, that come to a total of more than $350 million.
The contracts, announced Friday by the Department of Defense, cover separate areas of sustainment for the unmanned aerial system used for surveillance and support of ground troops, though ... more |
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