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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter plays crucial role in search for landing sites![]() Pasadena CA (JPL) Feb 10, 2017 At an international workshop this week about where NASA's next Mars rover should land, most of the information comes from a prolific spacecraft that's been orbiting Mars since 2006. Observations by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) provide the basis for evaluating eight candidate landing sites for the Mars 2020 rover mission. The landing site workshop this week in Monrovia, California, will narrow the Mars 2020 candidate list to four or fewer sites. MRO observations have been used to identi ... read more |
ISRO saves its Mars mission spacecraft from eclipseScientists from Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) have successfully executed crucial orbital maneuvering on Mars spacecraft to give it another lease of life. The Mission was facing imm ... more
Angling up for Mars scienceESA's latest Mars orbiter has moved itself into a new path on its way to achieving the final orbit for probing the Red Planet. The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter arrived last October on a multiyear missi ... more
Curiosity rover sharpens paradox of ancient MarsMars scientists are wrestling with a problem. Ample evidence says ancient Mars was sometimes wet, with water flowing and pooling on the planet's surface. Yet, the ancient sun was about one-third les ... more
Opportunity Takes Advantage of her Location to do a Mini Science CampaignOpportunity is located on the rim of Endeavour Crater, heading south. The rover is trying to make progress towards the next major scientific objective, the gully about a kilometer south of the ... more |
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'Curiosity' exposes low CO2 level in Mars' primitive atmosphereThe CO2 level in Mars' primitive atmosphere 3.5 billion years ago was too low for sediments, such as those found by NASA's Curiosity exploration vehicle in areas like the Gale Crater on the planet's ... more
UAE Aims to Launch Its First Ever Mars Mission in 2020The United Arab Emirates has set an ambitious goal of sending nation's first mission to Mars in 2020, launching its unmanned orbiter from Japan's space center. The unmanned orbiter Hope, desig ... more
UH research finds evidence of 2 billion years of volcanic activity on MarsAnalysis of a Martian meteorite found in Africa in 2012 has uncovered evidence of at least 2 billion years of volcanic activity on Mars. This confirms that some of the longest-lived volcanoes in the ... more
Swirling spirals at the north pole of MarsA new mosaic from ESA's Mars Express shows off the Red Planet's north polar ice cap and its distinctive dark spiralling troughs. The mosaic was generated from 32 individual orbit 'strips' captured b ... more
Similar-Looking Ridges on Mars Have Diverse OriginsThin, blade-like walls, some as tall as a 16-story building, dominate a previously undocumented network of intersecting ridges on Mars, found in images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The s ... more
Meteorite reveals 2 billion years of volcanic activity on MarsMars 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 |
![]() Commercial Crew's Role in Path to Mars
China looks to Mars, Jupiter explorationChina'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
Bursts of methane may have warmed early MarsThe presence of water on ancient Mars is a paradox. There's plenty of geographical evidence that rivers periodically flowed across the planet's surface. Yet in the time period when these waters are ... more
Opportunity marks 13 years of ground operations on MarsOpportunity celebrated her 13th birthday on Sol 4623 (January 24, 2017 PST). She spent it as she has most recent sols - heading south along the rim of Endeavour Crater. The rover is currently ... more
Long Eclipse Avoidance Manoeuvres Performed Successfully on MOM SpacecraftAn orbital manoeuvres was performed on Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft to avoid the impending long eclipse duration for the satellite. The duration of the eclipse would have been as long as 8 ... more |

The Moon may be peppered with oxygen transmitted by life on Earth, according to a scientific study, opening up the possibility that the Earth's atmosphere of billions of years ago may be preserved on the present-day lunar surface.
It has long been speculated that the Moon has been intermittently sprayed with the Earth's oxygen, with some researchers suggesting the nitrogen and noble gases ... more Private Space Race Heats Up, Moon Landing Expected in Late 2017 LunaH-Map CubeSat to map the Moon's water deposits India, Israel among five teams fighting for first private Moon landing |
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" |
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This week, astronauts are unloading more than 5,000 pounds of cargo and crew supplies from the Cygnus spacecraft to support dozens of science and research investigations. However, this shipment has special significance. This shipment arrived via an Antares rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport's pad 0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility.
Rocket launches to the International Space ... more Orbital cargo ship arrives at space station New Instrument on ISS to Study Ultra-Cold Quantum Gases Two Russians, one American blast off to ISS |
A report on the potential science value of a lander on the surface of Jupiter's icy moon Europa has been delivered to NASA, and the agency is now engaging the broader science community to open a discussion about its findings.
In early 2016, in response to a congressional directive, NASA's Planetary Science Division began a pre-Phase A study to assess the science value and engineering desig ... more New Horizons Refines Course for Next Flyby It's Never 'Groundhog Day' at Jupiter Public to Choose Jupiter Picture Sites for NASA Juno |
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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 |
SpaceKnow has announced the company has raised $4 million in Series A financing led by BlueYard Capital and previously existing investor Reflex Capital. This investment brings the company's total funds raised to approximately $5.5 million.
Jason Whitmire, Partner at BlueYard, will join the Board of Directors. The funding will be used to further develop the SpaceKnow Artificial Intelligence ... more NASA Taking Stock of Phytoplankton Populations in the Pacific Why the Earth's magnetic poles could be about to swap places An application of astronomy to save endangered species |
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NASA may have to book seats for American astronauts on Russian Soyuz spaceships in 2018. Radio Sputnik discussed the issue with John Logsdon, Professor Emeritus of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University.
"The relationship between NASA and the former Soviet Union goes back a long way with the highlight being the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz project. But with Russia ... more A new recruit for ESA's astronaut corps The Outer Space Treaty has been remarkably successful - but is it fit for the modern age? Full Braking at Alpha Centauri |
The search for life beyond Earth starts in habitable zones, the regions around stars where conditions could potentially allow liquid water - which is essential for life as we know it - to pool on a planet's surface. New NASA research suggests some of these zones might not actually be able to support life due to frequent stellar eruptions - which spew huge amounts of stellar material and radiatio ... more Santa Fe Institute researchers look for life's lower limits Dedicated Planet Imager Opens Its Eyes to Other Worlds New planet imager delivers first science at Keck |
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Scheibel Group has been contracted to supply its S-100 unmanned air system and three years of logistics support for Australia's navy.
The S-100 Camcopter is an unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, with military and civilian applications. The aircraft is capable of navigating automatically using pre-programmed GPS checkpoints during missions.
For military customers, the product is des ... more U.S. Army orders counter-drone systems SideArm prototype catches full-size unmanned aerial system flying at full speed Unmanned Underwater Vehicle turns into Unmanned Aerial Vehicle |
An international team led by researchers at Nagoya University, along with US and Swiss colleagues, has identified a new type of solar event and dated it to the year 5480 BC; they did this by measuring carbon-14 levels in tree rings, which reflect the effects of cosmic radiation on the atmosphere at the time. They have also proposed causes of this event, thereby extending knowledge of how the sun ... more Friday Night's Deep Penumbral Lunar Eclipse Eclipse 2017: NASA Supports a Unique Opportunity for Science in the Shadow NASA Scientist Studies Whether Solar Storms Cause Animal Beachings |
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Russia's Roscosmos has developed a special program to improve the Soyuz carrier rockets' quality amid an accident with the Progress cargo spacecraft two months ago.
Russia's state space agency Roscosmos chief said Friday the agency has developed a special program to improve the assembly quality of Soyuz carrier rockets in wake of an accident with the Progress cargo spacecraft two months ago. ... more Commercial Launch of Proton-M Carrier Rocket Planned For Early April - Roscosmos India to launch record 104 satellites next week ISRO tests C25 Cryogenic Upper Stage of GSLV MkIII |
Why do the majority of astronomers believe in dark matter: matter whose composition is unknown but which seems to make up 80% of the mass of the galaxies? The concept was invented in the 1930's by Fritz Zwicky who used it to explain why the galaxies in the Coma cluster are moving much more quickly than can be explained in terms of their known masses.
The most decisive step was taken in the ... more Pure iron grains are rare in the universe Tracing the Cosmic Web with Remote Star-Forming Galaxies Mind the Gap: Rapid Burster behaviour explained |
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One year ago, the first direct detection of gravitational waves was announced. Laser experts from the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute; AEI), from the Leibniz Universitat Hannover, and from the Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH) played leading roles in this discovery, because their super-precise laser technology at the heart of the LIGO instruments in the ... more Cosmologists a step closer to understanding quantum gravity China to set up gravitational wave telescopes in Tibet MIT researchers reveal new technique for measuring gravity |
All known black holes fall into two categories: small, stellar-mass black holes weighing a few Suns, and supermassive black holes weighing millions or billions of Suns. Astronomers expect that intermediate-mass black holes weighing 100 - 10,000 Suns also exist, but so far no conclusive proof of such middleweights has been found. Today, astronomers are announcing new evidence that an intermediate ... more Stars align in test supporting 'spooky action at a distance' Research pushes concept of entropy out of kilter Black Hole Meal Sets Record for Duration and Size |
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NASA, in partnership with Space Center Houston - the official visitor center of NASA Johnson Space Center, and NineSigma, a global innovation consultant organization, has selected the top 20 teams in the Space Robotics Challenge. Eligible teams will be awarded $15,000 and advance to the final Virtual Competition, which will take place in June.
The Space Robotics Challenge, part of NASA's C ... more 500 years of robots go on show in London Pentagon's robot satellite repair system sued by aerospace company Switzerland orders Protector remote weapon stations |
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" |
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