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Mars' oceans formed early, possibly aided by massive volcanic eruptions![]() Berkeley CA (SPX) Mar 20, 2018 A new scenario seeking to explain how Mars' putative oceans came and went over the last 4 billion years implies that the oceans formed several hundred million years earlier and were not as deep as once thought. The proposal by geophysicists at the University of California, Berkeley, links the existence of oceans early in Mars history to the rise of the solar system's largest volcanic system, Tharsis, and highlights the key role played by global warming in allowing liquid water to exist on Mars. ... read more |
Opportunity Mars Rover brushes a new rock targetPasadena CA (JPL) Mar 20, 2018 Opportunity is continuing the exploration of "Perseverance Valley" on the west rim of Endeavour Crater. The rover is positioned about halfway down the approximately 656 feet (200 meter) valley ... more
CosmoQuest releases Mappers 2.0 for crater mappingSan Francisco CA (SPX) Mar 14, 2018 The CosmoQuest Citizen Science facility released a major update to its Mappers software. This software previously demonstrated that everyday people can map craters as effectively as a group of profe ... more
360 Video: Tour a Mars Robot Test LabPasadena CA (JPL) Mar 12, 2018 NASA's InSight lander looks a bit like an oversized crane game: when it lands on Mars this November, its robotic arm will be used to grasp and move objects on another planet for the first time. ... more
Elon Musk plans to launch spacecraft for Mars in 2019Washington (UPI) Mar 11, 2018 Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk said Sunday that he is on track to launch a spacecraft for Mars by next year. ... more |
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The Case of the Martian Boulder PilesPasadena CA (JPL) Mar 07, 2018 This image was originally meant to track the movement of sand dunes near the North Pole of Mars, but what's on the ground in between the dunes is just as interesting! The ground has parallel d ... more
NASA InSight mission to Mars arrives at launch siteVandenberg AFB CA (JPL) Feb 28, 2018 NASA's InSight spacecraft has arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base in central California to begin final preparations for a launch this May. The spacecraft was shipped from Lockheed Martin Space, Den ... more
Mars Express views moons set against Saturn's ringsParis (ESA) Mar 02, 2018 New images and video from ESA's Mars Express show Phobos and Deimos drifting in front of Saturn and background stars, revealing more about the positioning and surfaces of the Red Planet's mysterious ... more
Curiosity tests a new way to drill on MarsPasadena CA (JPL) Mar 01, 2018 NASA's Mars Curiosity rover has conducted the first test of a new drilling technique on the Red Planet since its drill stopped working reliably. This early test produced a hole about a half-in ... more
Dyes for 'live' extremophile labeling will help discover life on MarsMoscow, Russia (SPX) Mar 02, 2018 Researchers from MIPT and their colleagues from Research Center Juelich (Germany) and Dmitry Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia have described a new method for studying microorgan ... more |
![]() Atacama Desert study offers glimpse of what life on Mars could look like
Mars Odyssey Observes Martian MoonsPasadena CA (JPL) Feb 26, 2018 Phobos and Deimos, the moons of Mars, are seen in this movie put together from 19 images taken by the Mars Odyssey orbiter's Thermal Emission Imaging System, or THEMIS, camera. The images were ... more |
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Life in world's driest desert seen as sign of potential life on MarsPullman WA (SPX) Feb 27, 2018 For the first time, researchers have seen life rebounding in the world's driest desert, demonstrating that it could also be lurking in the soils of Mars. Led by Washington State University planetary ... more
Dormant desert life hints at possibilities on MarsMiami (AFP) Feb 26, 2018 It may rain once a decade or less in South America's Atacama Desert, but tiny bacteria and microorganisms survive there, hinting at the possibility of similar life on Mars, researchers said Monday. ... more
A brief history of Martian exploration - as the InSight Lander prepares to launchSydney, Australia (SPX) Feb 26, 2018 Roughly every two years Mars and Earth wander a bit closer to each other, making the leap between these two planets a little easier. In July this year, Mars will only be about 58 million kilometres ... more
Opportunity Celebrates 5,000 Days on Mars, Snaps First 'Selfie'Pasadena CA (JPL) Feb 26, 2018 Opportunity is continuing the exploration of "Perseverance Valley" on the west rim of Endeavour Crater. The rover is positioned about half way down the valley. This past week the rover exceede ... more
Seven ways Mars InSight is differentPasadena CA (JPL) Feb 23, 2018 NASA's Mars InSight lander team is preparing to ship the spacecraft from Lockheed Martin Space in Denver, where it was built and tested, to Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, where it will bec ... more |
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New AI mapping algorithm discovers 6,000 new craters on the Moon Toronto, Canada (SPX) Mar 20, 2018
Wanting to make their job a little easier, researchers at the University of Toronto developed a new artificial intelligence algorithm that helped them identify 6,000 previously unseen craters on Earth's moon.
Researchers first trained the neural network on 90,000 images that covered two-thirds of the moon's surface before testing its ability to detect craters on the remaining third portion ... more |
China plans to develop a multipurpose, reusable space plane Beijing (XNA) Mar 18, 2018
China is developing its homegrown reusable space plane, which observers said could be used to attack foreign aircraft, space stations and even intercept missiles if used for military purposes.
The reusable spacecraft can transport people or payloads in orbit from any airport and return to earth, CCTV reported.
Unlike rockets which have to be recycled, the space plane will revolutioni ... more |
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NASA plans giant spacecraft to defend Earth by nuking deadly asteroids Livermore CA (SPX) Mar 18, 2018
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists are part of a national planetary defense team that designed a conceptual spacecraft to deflect Earth-bound asteroids and evaluated whether it would be able to nudge a massive asteroid - which has a remote chance to hitting Earth in 2135 - off course. The design and case study are outlined in a paper published recently in Acta Astronautica ... more |
Jupiter's turmoil more than skin deep: researchers Paris (AFP) March 7, 2018
Jupiter's tempestuous, gassy atmosphere stretches some 3,000 kilometres (1,860 miles) deep and comprises a hundredth of the planet's mass, studies based on observations by NASA's Juno spacecraft revealed Wednesday.
The measurements shed the first light on what goes on beneath the surface of the largest planet in the Solar System, which from a distance resembles a colourful, striped glass mar ... more |
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Titan topographic map unearths cookie-cutter holes in moon's surface Ithaca NY (SPX) Jan 19, 2018
Using the now-complete Cassini data set, Cornell University astronomers have created a new global topographic map of Saturn's moon Titan that has opened new windows into understanding its liquid flows and terrain. Two papers, recently published in Geophysical Review Letters, describe the map and discoveries arising from it.
Creating the map took about a year, according to doctoral student ... more |
ESA testing detection of floating plastic litter from orbit Paris (ESA) Mar 20, 2018
The millions of tonnes of plastic ending up in the oceans every year are a global challenge. ESA is responding by looking at the detection of marine plastic litter from space, potentially charting its highest concentrations and understanding the gigantic scale of the problem.
We dump around 10 million tonnes of plastic in the oceans annually. Though most conspicuous along coastlines, plast ... more |
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NASA science heading to space ranges from the upper atmosphere to microbes Houston TX (SPX) Mar 18, 2018
A Dragon spacecraft scheduled to launch into orbit no earlier than April 2, carries the 14th SpaceX commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station for NASA. Lifted into orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, Dragon takes supplies, equipment and scientific research to crew members living and working aboard the station.
This flight deli ... more |
Yale's Expres Instrument ready to find the next Earth Analog New Haven, CT (SPX) Mar 14, 2018
A new, ground-based spectrometer designed and built at Yale represents the most powerful step yet in the effort to identify Earth-sized planets in neighboring solar systems.
The new instrument, the Extreme Precision Spectrometer (EXPRES), is now operational and collecting data at the Lowell Observatory Discovery Channel Telescope in Arizona. EXPRES will improve measurement precision by a f ... more |
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Bell tapped for services to support MQ-8 Fire Scout Washington (UPI) Mar 19, 2018
Bell Helicopter has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Navy for three Bell 407 variant commercial airframes in support of the MQ-8 Fire Scout unmanned aerial system.
The deal, announced Friday by the Department of Defense, is valued at more than $9.8 million under the terms of an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract.
The agreement between Naval Air Systems Command a ... more |
New 3-D measurements improve understanding of geomagnetic storm hazards Washington DC (SPX) Mar 14, 2018
Measurements of the three-dimensional structure of the earth, as opposed to the one-dimensional models typically used, can help scientists more accurately determine which areas of the United States are most vulnerable to blackouts during hazardous geomagnetic storms.
Space weather events such as geomagnetic storms can disturb the earth's magnetic field, interfering with electric power grid ... more |
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Aerojet Rocketdyne Ships Starliner Re-entry Thrusters Redmond WA (SPX) Mar 18, 2018
Aerojet Rocketdyne recently completed delivery of all of the crew module engines for Boeing's Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 Starliner spacecraft. Boeing will integrate the engines into the Starliner crew module at its Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The Starliner crew module is designed to transport up to seven passengers or a ... more |
Radio telescope array to build surrounding Guiyang, China (XNA) Mar 13, 2018
Chinese scientists are considering setting up smaller radio telescopes surrounding FAST to increase array resolution, authorities said.
According to the FAST observation station with the National Astronomical Observatories, two to 10 radio telescopes measuring 30 meters in diameter may be set up around FAST, the world's largest single-dish radio telescope.
The resolution of the array ... more |
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Astronomers discover galaxies spin like clockwork Perth, Australia (SPX) Mar 14, 2018
Astronomers have discovered that all galaxies rotate once every billion years, no matter how big they are.
The Earth spinning around on its axis once gives us the length of a day, and a complete orbit of the Earth around the Sun gives us a year.
"It's not Swiss watch precision," said Professor Gerhardt Meurer from the UWA node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research ... more |
Scientists detect radio echoes of a black hole feeding on a star Boston MA (SPX) Mar 20, 2018
On Nov. 11, 2014, a global network of telescopes picked up signals from 300 million light years away that were created by a tidal disruption flare - an explosion of electromagnetic energy that occurs when a black hole rips apart a passing star. Since this discovery, astronomers have trained other telescopes on this very rare event to learn more about how black holes devour matter and regulate th ... more |
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Robotic spiders and bees: The rise of bioinspired microrobots Manchester UK (SPX) Mar 06, 2018
Jumping robot spiders and swarms of robotic bees sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but researchers at The University of Manchester are already working on such projects and aiming to lead the world in micro robotics.
But what will these kinds of robots be used for and is it something we should be worried? Dr Mostafa Nabawy is the Microsystems Research Theme Leader at The University ... more |
China plans to develop a multipurpose, reusable space plane Beijing (XNA) Mar 18, 2018
China is developing its homegrown reusable space plane, which observers said could be used to attack foreign aircraft, space stations and even intercept missiles if used for military purposes.
The reusable spacecraft can transport people or payloads in orbit from any airport and return to earth, CCTV reported.
Unlike rockets which have to be recycled, the space plane will revolutioni ... more |
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