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'Storm Chasers' on Mars Searching for Dusty Secrets![]() Pasadena CA (JPL) Jul 23, 2018 In June, one of these dust events rapidly engulfed the planet. Scientists first observed a smaller-scale dust storm on May 30. By June 20, it had gone global. For the Opportunity rover, that meant a sudden drop in visibility from a clear, sunny day to that of an overcast one. Because Opportunity runs on solar energy, scientists had to suspend science activities to preserve the rover's batteries. As of July 18th, no response has been received from the rover. Luckily, all that dust acts as an ... read more |
Name Europe's robot to roam and search for life on MarsLondon, UK (ESA) Jul 23, 2018 The UK Space Agency has launched a competition to name a rover that is going to Mars to search for signs of life. Due to launch in 2020, the UK-built rover is part of ESA's ExoMars mission. It ... more
Martian Atmosphere Behaves as OneNoordwijk, The Netherlands (ESA) Jul 19, 2018 Understanding the Martian atmosphere is a key topic in planetary science, from its current status to its past history. Mars's atmosphere continuously leaks out to space and is a crucial factor in th ... more
Opportunity's Science Team Remains VigilantPasadena CA (JPL) Jul 19, 2018 The dust storm on Mars is continuing as a Planet-encircling Dust Event (PEDE) with no indication of receding at this time. The storm has sustained high atmospheric opacity conditions over the ... more
Undergrad Mines Data from Curiosity Rover in Search for LifeTucson AZ (SPX) Jul 18, 2018 An undergraduate student from the University of Arizona is part of a team of researchers from around the world working on the NASA Curiosity rover mission. Gordon Downs is the only undergradua ... more |
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| Previous Issues | Jul 20 | Jul 19 | Jul 18 | Jul 17 | Jul 16 |
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UK space sector set to benefit from new European Space Agency contractLondon, UK (SPX) Jul 09, 2018 A new rover set to visit Mars and collect the first ever samples from the planet to be brought back safely to Earth, will be designed in Stevenage by Airbus following the award of a 3.9 million poun ... more
Mars to Pamper Gazers With Stunning Sight Amid NASA's Dust Storm ConcernsWashington DC (Sputnik) Jul 06, 2018 On July 27 and several days afterwards, the Red Planet will become especially visible due to a so-called "opposition," with Earth coming equally close both to Mars and the sun, international media r ... more
Mars valleys traced back to precipitationZurich, Switzerland (SPX) Jul 02, 2018 The surface of Mars bears imprints of structures that resemble fluvial steam networks on Earth. Scientists therefore assume that there must have been once enough water on the red planet to feed wate ... more
Top 10 Teams Selected in Virtual Model Stage of NASA's 3D-Printed Habitat ChallengeHuntsville AL (SPX) Jul 03, 2018 NASA's 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge is challenging teams of citizen inventors to push the state of the art of additive construction to design and build sustainable shelters for humans to live on Mar ... more
The meteorite 'Black Beauty' expands the window for when life might have existed on MarsCopenhagen, Denmark (SPX) Jul 02, 2018 The Mars meteorite Black Beauty has literally brought crisp news to Earth. Crust formation is an important step in the development of terrestrial planets, and what makes Black Beauty special and exp ... more |
![]() Precipitation explains Mars' fluvial patterns, astronomers claim
Opportunity sleeps during a planet-encircling dust stormPasadena CA (JPL) Jun 25, 2018 The dust storm on Mars is now a Planet-encircling Dust Event (PEDE). It shows no indication of receding at this time. Since the last contact with the rover on Sol 5111 (June 10, 2018), it is l ... more |
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Martian Dust Storm Grows Global; Curiosity Captures Photos of Thickening HazeGreenbelt MD (SPX) Jun 21, 2018 A storm of tiny dust particles has engulfed much of Mars over the last two weeks and prompted NASA's Opportunity rover to suspend science operations. But across the planet, NASA's Curiosity rover, w ... more
Explosive volcanoes spawned mysterious Martian rock formationWashington DC (SPX) Jun 19, 2018 Explosive volcanic eruptions that shot jets of hot ash, rock and gas skyward are the likely source of a mysterious Martian rock formation, a new study finds. The new finding could add to scientists' ... more
Unique microbe could thrive on Mars, help future manned missionsWashington (UPI) Jun 18, 2018 New research suggests certain cyanobacteria could thrive on Mars. The microbes could even be used to provide future space colonies with oxygen. ... more
NASA spacecraft studying massive Martian dust stormWashington (UPI) Jun 14, 2018 A record dust storm has been swirling on Mars for nearly two weeks. While the weather has forced the Opportunity rover to bunker down and suspend all scientific activities, several other spacecraft are taking the opportunity to study the storm. ... more
Study could help humans colonise Mars and hunt for alien lifeCanberra, Australia (SPX) Jun 18, 2018 Scientists at The Australian National University (ANU) have contributed to an international study that will potentially help humans to colonise Mars and find life on other planets. The study o ... more |
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Russia may use ISS Modules in Lunar Gateway Project Moscow (Sputnik) Jul 18, 2018
Russia may decide to stop the construction of its segment of the International Space Station (ISS) and to use the ordered modules for the Lunar Orbital Platform - Gateway (LOP-G) project, a source in Russia's rocket and space industry told Sputnik on Wednesday.
"Due to the fact that the ISS operation is planned to be terminated in 2024, and the Russian segment is still not completed, there ... more |
China developing in-orbit satellite transport vehicle Beijing (XNA) Jul 23, 2018
China is developing a space vehicle to help transport orbiting satellites that have run out of fuel, Science and Technology Daily reported Thursday.
Fuel is a key factor limiting the life of satellites. Most satellites function for years after entering orbit, but eventually, they have to end their missions and burn up into the atmosphere due to fuel exhaustion.
The vehicle is being d ... more |
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NASA's Dawn spacecraft focused on Ceres as it nears end of mission Washington (UPI) Jul 17, 2018
Even as NASA's Dawn spacecraft approaches the end of its mission, the probe continues to collect valuable data.
According to NASA, Dawn's instruments continue to observe Ceres and its unique geological features in gamma ray, infrared and visible spectra. The spacecraft also continues to beam back gravity data to Earth.
Most of the probe's recent observations have focused on Ceres ... more |
Dozen new Jupiter moons declared Washington DC (SPX) Jul 17, 2018
Twelve new moons orbiting Jupiter have been found - 11 "normal" outer moons, and one that they're calling an "oddball." This brings Jupiter's total number of known moons to a whopping 79 - the most of any planet in our solar system.
A team led by Carnegie's Scott S. Sheppard first spotted the moons in the spring of 2017 while they were looking for very distant solar system objects as part ... more |
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Cassini data yields super sharp infrared images of Titan Washington (UPI) Jul 19, 2018
Cassini disappeared into Saturn's atmosphere late last year. But the spacecraft continues to yield impressive images.
This week, NASA shared a series of super sharp infrared images of Saturn's moon Titan, compiled using 13 years of data collected by the probe's Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer, or VIMS instrument.
The moon's hazy atmosphere prevents clear observations of ... more |
Billion-year-old lake deposit yields clues to Earth's ancient biosphere Montreal, Canada (SPX) Jul 20, 2018
A sample of ancient oxygen, teased out of a 1.4 billion-year-old evaporative lake deposit in Ontario, provides fresh evidence of what the Earth's atmosphere and biosphere were like during the interval leading up to the emergence of animal life.
The findings, published in the journal Nature, represent the oldest measurement of atmospheric oxygen isotopes by nearly a billion years. The resul ... more |
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Team Powers On AA-2 Orion Module, Preps for Flight Test Simulation Houston TX (SPX) Jul 23, 2018
The team of engineers outfitting the Orion test article for Ascent Abort-2 have had a busy summer. Since the arrival of the empty capsule in March, the team at Johnson Space Center in Houston has outfitted the mock crew module with all the components it needs for flight and powered it on for the first time the week of July 8.
Powering on the vehicle is a big milestone toward the flight tes ... more |
X-ray Data May Be First Evidence of a Star Devouring a Planet Boston MA (SPX) Jul 19, 2018
For nearly a century, astronomers have puzzled over the curious variability of young stars residing in the Taurus-Auriga constellation some 450 light-years from Earth. One star in particular has drawn astronomers' attention. Every few decades, the star's light has faded briefly before brightening again.
In recent years, astronomers have observed the star dimming more frequently, and for lo ... more |
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'New India by 2022': New Delhi Expects Drone Industry to Boost State Development New Delhi (Sputnik) Jul 16, 2018
Currently, non-government agencies, organizations and individuals are not allowed to launch drones for civilian purposes in India. The proposed policy that would pave way for drone operations also restricts the use of fully autonomous UAS.
With India set to soon begin operating drones for civilian purposes, the country's top bureaucrat has asked manufacturers to gear up for huge demand tha ... more |
Discovering Structure in the Outer Corona Greenbelt MD (SPX) Jul 19, 2018
In 1610, Galileo redesigned the telescope and discovered Jupiter's four largest moons. Nearly 400 years later, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope used its powerful optics to look deep into space - enabling scientists to pin down the age of the universe.
Suffice it to say that getting a better look at things produces major scientific advances.
In a paper published on July 18 in The Astroph ... more |
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Latest Blue Origin Launch Tests Technologies of Interest to Space Exploration Edwards AFB CA (SPX) Jul 23, 2018
On July 18, 2018, at 8:35 am PDT, Blue Origin successfully launched its New Shepard rocket from the company's West Texas launch site with five NASA-supported technologies onboard. For each of these payloads, this flight was one in a series of suborbital demonstrations to facilitate technology development.
The flight helped researchers collect critical data to help them confirm theories, re ... more |
UK Delivers Super-Cool Kit to USA for Dark Matter Experiment London, UK (SPX) Jul 18, 2018
A huge UK-built titanium chamber designed to keep its contents at a cool -100C and weighing as much as an SUV has been shipped to the United States, where it will soon become part of a next-generation dark matter detector to hunt for the long-theorised elusive dark matter particle called a WIMP (weakly interacting massive particle).
This hunt is important because the nature of dark matter, ... more |
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Could Gravitational Waves Reveal How Fast Our Universe Is Expanding? Boston MA (SPX) Jul 12, 2018
ince it first exploded into existence 13.8 billion years ago, the universe has been expanding, dragging along with it hundreds of billions of galaxies and stars, much like raisins in a rapidly rising dough.
Astronomers have pointed telescopes to certain stars and other cosmic sources to measure their distance from Earth and how fast they are moving away from us - two parameters that are es ... more |
Final Planck Data Strongly Supports Standard Cosmological Model Paris, France (SPX) Jul 18, 2018
In 2013, ESA's Planck mission unveiled a new image of the cosmos: an all-sky survey of the microwave radiation produced at the beginning of the universe. This first light emitted by the universe provides a wealth of information about its content, its rate of expansion, and the primordial fluctuations in density that were the precursors of the galaxies. The Planck consortium publishes the full an ... more |
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Russia Mulls Sending Two of Its FEDOR Humanoid Robots Into Space Next Year Moscow (Sputnik) Jul 23, 2018
The ambitious FEDOR project has received a number of upgrades in recent years, with plans to make the robots self-learning and even to use them to create colonies on the moon and fly solo space missions in the early 2020s.
A source in the Russian space and rocketry industry has told Sputnik that a team of two FEDOR (Russian acronym Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research) robots m ... more |
China developing in-orbit satellite transport vehicle Beijing (XNA) Jul 23, 2018
China is developing a space vehicle to help transport orbiting satellites that have run out of fuel, Science and Technology Daily reported Thursday.
Fuel is a key factor limiting the life of satellites. Most satellites function for years after entering orbit, but eventually, they have to end their missions and burn up into the atmosphere due to fuel exhaustion.
The vehicle is being d ... more |
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