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NASA engineers teach Mars rover Curiosity to drill again![]() Washington (UPI) May 18, 2018 Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory are preparing to add percussion to an improvised drill technique already being used by the Curiosity rover on Mars. Curiosity and its drill haven't had a full range of motion since 2016 when one of the drill's motors short circuited. Over the last year, engineers have developed a workaround drilling technique called Feed Extended Drilling, or FED, which uses the rover's robotic arm to direct and push the drill into the ground as the drill bit spins. ... read more |
NASA's Curiosity Rover Aims to Get Its Rhythm BackPasadena CA (JPL) May 18, 2018 NASA's Curiosity rover could soon be drilling rocks on Mars again. Engineers have been working for the past year to restore the rover's full drilling capabilities, which were hampered in 2016 due to ... more
Dorset as model to help find traces of life on MarsLondon, UK (SPX) May 16, 2018 Imperial College London scientists have found traces of fatty acids - key building blocks of biological cells - in Dorset's acidic streams. They say that because of the similarity of acidic streams ... more
Sierra Nevada Corporation Hardware on NASA's Mars InSight MissionSparks NV (SPX) May 15, 2018 Sierra Nevada Corporation's (SNC) hardware is once again on its way to Mars, this time aboard NASA's InSight Mars lander. SNC's actuators are a critical component on the robotic arm of the vehicle t ... more
Mars Helicopter to Fly on NASA's Next Red Planet Rover MissionPasadena CA (JPL) May 11, 2018 NASA is sending a helicopter to Mars. The Mars Helicopter, a small, autonomous rotorcraft, will travel with the agency's Mars 2020 rover mission, currently scheduled to launch in July 2020, to demon ... more |
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Mars-bound CubeSats send first signals from spaceWashington (UPI) May 7, 2018 The first messages from NASA's Mars Cube One, MarCO, have been received by the space agency. The two CubeSats, the first to be sent on a deep-space mission, beamed back radio signals to confirm all is well. ... more
Mars growth stunted by early giant planetary instabilityNorman OK (SPX) May 08, 2018 A University of Oklahoma astrophysics team explains why the growth of Mars was stunted by an orbital instability among the outer solar system's giant planets in a new study on the evolution of the y ... more
Demonstration proves nuclear fission system can provide space exploration powerCleveland OH (SPX) May 03, 2018 NASA and the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) have successfully demonstrated a new nuclear reactor power system that could enable long-duration crewed missions ... more
One scientist's 30-year quest to get under Mars' skinParis (AFP) May 5, 2018 Philippe Lognonne has waited three decades to hear the heartbeat of Mars. ... more
InSight probe to survey Mars for secrets inside the planetWashington DC (UPI) May 04, 2018 As NASA's Insight probe begins its trip to Mars on Saturday, the spacecraft is tasked with studying Mars' insides. But the probe's observations could offer insights into the formation and evolution of all rocky planets, including Earth. ... more |
![]() NASA blasts off Mars-bound spaceship, InSight, to study quakes
Surviving the Inferno of Entry, Descent and LandingHampton VA (SPX) May 04, 2018 Anticipation is building as preparations are well underway for the launch of NASA's next Mars mission, InSight. But before the roar of the rocket lifting off from Vandenberg Air Force Base has subsi ... more |
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Microbes living in a toxic volcanic lake could hold clues to life on MarsBoulder CO (SPX) May 03, 2018 Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have discovered microbes living in a toxic volcanic lake that may rank as one of the harshest environments on Earth. Their findings, published recen ... more
NASA's newest Mars lander to study quakes on Red PlanetTampa (AFP) May 3, 2018 NASA is poised to launch its first lander to Mars since 2012, an unmanned spacecraft called InSight that aims to listen for quakes and unravel the mystery of how rocky planets like Earth form. ... more
Early Mars may have been a warm desert with occasional rainTokyo, Japan (SPX) May 03, 2018 The climate of early Mars is a subject of debate. While it has been thought that Mars had a warm and wet climate, like Earth, other researchers suggested early Mars might have been largely glaciated ... more
Results of Mars 2020 heat shield testingPasadena CA (JPL) Apr 30, 2018 A post-test inspection of the composite structure for a heat shield to be used on the Mars 2020 mission revealed that a fracture occurred during structural testing. The mission team is working to bu ... more
Bernese Mars camera CaSSIS sends first colour images from MarsBern, Switzerland (SPX) Apr 27, 2018 The Mars camera CaSSIS on the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter has returned its first colour images of the red planet. The camera system, which was developed at the University of Bern, is now ready for the ... more |
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Chinese volunteers emerge from virtual moon base Beijing (AFP) May 15, 2018
A group of Chinese volunteers has emerged from 110 days of isolation in a virtual "lunar lab", state media reported Tuesday, as the country pursues its ambition to put people on the moon.
The official Xinhua news service streamed images on its website of the would-be astronauts emerging from their temporary home, a self-contained environment simulating conditions which future explorers will ... more |
Chinese rewrite record, live 370 days in self-contained moon lab Beijing (XNA) May 16, 2018
Chinese volunteers have completed a one-year test living in a simulated space lab in Beijing, setting a new record for the longest stay in a self-contained cabin.
Four students, two males and two females, emerged from the Yuegong-1, or Lunar Palace 1, at Beihang University to the applause of academicians, researchers and fellow students Tuesday.
The total length of the test, which st ... more |
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Football field-sized asteroid to shave by Earth Tampa (AFP) May 15, 2018
An asteroid around the size of a football field is expected to zoom by Earth on Tuesday, but at a safe distance, the US space agency said.
The space rock was discovered in 2010, but only recently did astronomers determine it would not collide with our planet, instead passing at a distance about halfway between the Earth and Moon.
Asteroid 2010 WC9 will make a "close approach" to Earth at ... more |
Study co-authored by UCLA scientists shows evidence of water vapor plumes on Jupiter moon Los Angeles CA (SPX) May 18, 2018
Using new modeling techniques to analyze data gathered in 1997 by the NASA Galileo spacecraft, astronomers have discovered surprising new details about one of Jupiter's moons.
A paper published in Nature Astronomy offers the clearest evidence to date that there are "plumes" - eruptions of water vapor - venting from the surface of on an icy moon called Europa. Two UCLA scientists are co-aut ... 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 |
UAE Space Agency conducts MeznSat preliminary design review Abu Dhabi (UAE) May 21, 2018
The UAE Space Agency, working in partnership with Khalifa University of Science and Technology and the American University of Ras Al Khaimah (AURAK), has reviewed the preliminary design of the MeznSat 3U CubeSat, which is being developed to monitor and study the Earth's atmosphere.
The Preliminary Design Review (PDR) was held during a meeting at Masdar Institute, and Chaired by Khaled Al H ... more |
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US spacewalkers swap, check coolers 'Leaky' and 'Frosty' Tampa (AFP) May 16, 2018
A pair of American astronauts completed a successful spacewalk outside the International Space Station Wednesday to swap and check on two external cooling boxes, nicknamed "Leaky" and "Frosty," NASA said.
The boxes, each about the size of a mini-refrigerator or window AC unit, are crucial to keeping the batteries cool aboard the orbiting lab.
Since they operate using highly toxic ammonia ... more |
Amateur astronomer's data helps scientists discover a new exoplanet Yekaterinburg, Russia (SPX) May 18, 2018
One of the candidates previously found by the Kourovka Planet Search (KPS) project turned out to be the so-called hot Jupiter. The exoplanet, known as KPS-1b, orbits a star similar to the Sun with a period of 40 hours.
The mass and size of the exoplanet KPS-1b are close to the characteristics of Jupiter, but it is located very close to its parent star. Due to such proximity to the star, th ... more |
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Autonomous glider can fly like an albatross, cruise like a sailboat Boston MA (SPX) May 18, 2018
MIT engineers have designed a robotic glider that can skim along the water's surface, riding the wind like an albatross while also surfing the waves like a sailboat.
In regions of high wind, the robot is designed to stay aloft, much like its avian counterpart. Where there are calmer winds, the robot can dip a keel into the water to ride like a highly efficient sailboat instead.
The r ... more |
Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter set to soar high Greenbelt MD (SPX) May 17, 2018
As we develop more and more powerful tools to peer beyond our solar system, we learn more about the seemingly endless sea of faraway stars and their curious casts of orbiting planets. But there's only one star we can travel to directly and observe up close - and that's our own: the Sun.
Two upcoming missions will soon take us closer to the Sun than we've ever been before, providing our bes ... more |
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US indirectly confirms existence of Russia's hypersonic weapons Washington DC (Sputnik) May 17, 2018
Sources with direct knowledge of US intelligence reports say Russia is on the brink of developing a maneuverable, hypersonic nuclear-capable glider warhead that no US system can defeat.
The sources, speaking to CNBC on condition of anonymity, reported that Russia tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic glide vehicle (presumably the Avangard) twice in 2016, and again in 2017. The 2017 test was ... more |
A laser from a space ant Manchester UK (SPX) May 17, 2018
An international team of astronomers have discovered an unusual laser emission that suggests the presence of a double star system hidden at the heart of the "spectacular" Ant Nebula.
The extremely rare phenomenon is connected to the death of a star and was discovered in observations made by European Space Agency's (ESA) Herschel space observatory.
When low- to middleweight stars like ... more |
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Just Five Things About GRACE Follow-On Pasadena CA (JPL) May 21, 2018
Scheduled to launch no earlier than May 22, the twin satellites of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) mission, a collaboration between NASA and the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), will continue the work of monitoring changes in the world's water cycle and surface mass, which was so well performed by the original GRACE mission. There are far more than f ... more |
ALMA and VLT find evidence for stars forming soon after Big Bang Munich, Germany (SPX) May 17, 2018
An international team of astronomers used ALMA to observe a distant galaxy called MACS1149-JD1. They detected a very faint glow emitted by ionised oxygen in the galaxy. As this infrared light travelled across space, the expansion of the Universe stretched it to wavelengths more than ten times longer by the time it reached Earth and was detected by ALMA.
The team inferred that the signal wa ... more |
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Robot teaches itself how to dress people Atlanta GA (SPX) May 15, 2018
More than 1 million Americans require daily physical assistance to get dressed because of injury, disease and advanced age. Robots could potentially help, but cloth and the human body are complex.
To help address this need, a robot at the Georgia Institute of Technology is successfully sliding hospital gowns on people's arms. The machine doesn't use its eyes as it pulls the cloth. Instead, ... more |
Chinese rewrite record, live 370 days in self-contained moon lab Beijing (XNA) May 16, 2018
Chinese volunteers have completed a one-year test living in a simulated space lab in Beijing, setting a new record for the longest stay in a self-contained cabin.
Four students, two males and two females, emerged from the Yuegong-1, or Lunar Palace 1, at Beihang University to the applause of academicians, researchers and fellow students Tuesday.
The total length of the test, which st ... more |
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