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Is Mars' Soil Too Dry to Sustain Life?![]() Moffett Field CA (SPX) Jul 25, 2018 Life as we know it needs water to thrive. Even so, we see life persist in the driest environments on Earth. But how dry is too dry? At what point is an environment too extreme for even microorganisms, the smallest and often most resilient of lifeforms, to survive? These questions are important to scientists searching for life beyond Earth, including on the planet Mars. To help answer this question, a research team from NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley traveled to the driest pla ... read more |
Mars Express Detects Liquid Water Hidden Under Planet's South PoleNoordwijk, Netherlands (ESA) Jul 26, 2018 Evidence for the Red Planet's watery past is prevalent across its surface in the form of vast dried-out river valley networks and gigantic outflow channels clearly imaged by orbiting spacecraft. Orb ... more
Opportunity Continues in a Deep Sleep Beneath Raging Dust StormPasadena CA (JPL) Jul 25, 2018 The dust storm on Mars is continuing as a Planet-encircling Dust Event (PEDE). The storm has sustained high atmospheric opacity conditions over the Opportunity site for several weeks. The last ... more
Mars Passes Closest to Earth Since 2003 on July 31stBoston MA (SPX) Jul 26, 2018 After a slow crawl across the predawn darkness earlier this year, Mars is finally moving into the evening sky - just as it comes its closest to Earth in 15 years. According to Sky and Telescope maga ... more
Space experts worry US won't make it to Mars by 2030sTampa (AFP) July 26, 2018 The United States has vowed to send the first humans to Mars by the 2030s, but space experts and lawmakers on Wednesday expressed concern that poor planning and lack of funds will delay those plans. ... more |
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| Previous Issues | Jul 25 | Jul 24 | Jul 23 | Jul 20 | Jul 19 |
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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
NASA May Have Destroyed Evidence for Organics on Mars 40 Years AgoMoscow (Sputnik) Jul 13, 2018 While the existence of native carbon-based organic compounds on the Red Planet was confirmed only in 2014, some suggest that the discovery could have been made a long time ago. Back in 1976, N ... 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 |
![]() Seasonal 'spiders' emerge on Mars' surface
Scientists Discover "Ghost Dunes" On MarsWashington DC (SPX) Jul 12, 2018 Scientists have discovered hundreds of crescent-shaped pits on Mars where sand dunes the size of the US Capitol stood billions of years ago. The curves of these ancient dune impressions record the d ... more |
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NASA listens out for Opportunity everydayPasadena CA (JPL) Jul 09, 2018 The dust storm on Mars is continuing as a Planet-encircling Dust Event (PEDE) with no indication of receding at this time. Again, since the last contact with the rover on Sol 5111 (June 10, 20 ... more
Airbus wins two ESA studies for Mars Sample Return missionToulouse, France (SPX) Jul 09, 2018 Airbus has won two studies from the European Space Agency (ESA) to design a Sample Fetch Rover and an Earth Return Orbiter. These two elements will be critical parts of a mission to return samples o ... more
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 |
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Israel plans its first moon launch in December Yehud, Israel (AFP) July 10, 2018
An Israeli organisation announced plans Tuesday to launch the country's first spacecraft to the moon in December, with hopes of burnishing Israel's reputation as a small nation with otherworldly high-tech ambitions.
The unmanned spacecraft, shaped like a pod and weighing some 585 kilogrammes (1,300 pounds) at launch, will land on the moon on February 13, 2019 if all goes according to plan, o ... more |
PRSS-1 Satellite in Good Condition Jiuquan, China (SPX) Jul 23, 2018
China launched two satellites for Pakistan on a Long March-2C rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 11:56 a.m. Monday.
The PRSS-1 is China's first optical remote sensing satellite sold to Pakistan and the 17th satellite developed by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) for an overseas buyer.
After entering orbit, the PRSS-1 is in good condition ... more |
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China Focus: Capture an asteroid, bring it back to Earth? Beijing (XNA) Jul 24, 2018
Next time when your kids ask you to bring them a star from the sky, you don't have to shrug and walk away. Tell them to wait, instead.
A group of Chinese scientists are mulling a bold idea to capture a small near-Earth asteroid, which might be a potential threat, and bring it back to Earth to exploit its resources.
"Sounds like science-fiction, but I believe it can be realized," said ... more |
'Ribbon' wraps up mystery of Jupiter's magnetic equator Leicester UK (SPX) Jul 25, 2018
The discovery of a dark ribbon of weak hydrogen ion emissions that encircles Jupiter has overturned previous thinking about the giant planet's magnetic equator.
An international team of scientists led by the University of Leicester has identified the weakened ribbon of H3+ emissions near the jovigraphic equator using the NSFCam instrument at the NASA InfraRed Telescope Facility, the first ... 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 |
Preparing to fly the wind mission Aeolus Kourou, French Guiana (ESA) Jul 25, 2018
The launch of Aeolus - ESA's mission to map Earth's wind in real-time - is getting tantalisingly close, with the satellite due for lift-off on 21 August from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. With the wind in their sails, mission teams are busily preparing this unique satellite for its upcoming journey.
Aeolus will carry a sophisticated atmospheric laser Doppler instrument, dubb ... more |
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Sky's no limit: Japan firm to fly wedding plaques into space Tokyo (AFP) July 24, 2018
The sky is no longer the limit for lovers looking for unusual ways to commemorate their nuptials, with a Japanese company now offering to blast commemorative wedding plaques into space.
Warpspace, a start-up based in Tsukuba City outside Tokyo, is introducing the new service in partnership with a local hotel popular for wedding banquets.
For about 30,000 yen ($270), newly-weds marrying a ... more |
WSU researcher sees possibility of moon life Pullman WA (SPX) Jul 24, 2018
While the Moon is uninhabitable today, there could have been life on its surface in the distant past.
In fact, there may have been two early windows of habitability for Earth's Moon, according to a study online in the journal Astrobiology by Dirk Schulze-Makuch, an astrobiologist at Washington State University.
Schulze-Makuch and Ian Crawford, a professor of planetary science and ast ... more |
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Insitu awarded contract for RQ-21 unmanned aerial vehicles Washington (UPI) Jul 24, 2018
Insitu has received an $8.9 million order for spare parts and maintenance services for an existing contract for RQ-21A unmanned aerial vehicles.
Work on the contract, announced Monday by the Department of Defense, will be performed in Bingen, Wash., and is expected to be completed by March 2019. Marine Corps fiscal 2017 procurement funds in the amount of $8.9 million will be obligated a ... more |
Rare Red Moon and Mars in Evening Sky on 27 July London, UK (SPX) Jul 24, 2018
Skywatchers [in have a double treat in store on 27 July: the longest total lunar eclipse of the 21st century and Mars at its brightest for many years. The red planet and the (temporarily) red Moon will appear together in the same part of the sky after sunset.
Mars, the Earth, and the Sun will be roughly lined up on 27 July. Mars is on the opposite side of the Earth to the Sun, and hence th ... more |
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Russia's Khrunichev Center Develops Concept of Reusable Rocket Moscow (Sputnik) Jul 25, 2018
Russia's Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center has finished the development of a blueprint for Russia's reusable launch vehicle and sent the relevant materials to Roscosmos' Central Research Institute of Machine Building (TsNIIMash) for assessment, the Khrunichev center's press office told Sputnik.
"The materials on reusable subjects were sent to TsNIIMash. They should stud ... more |
Scientists develop new materials that move in response to light Medford MA (SPX) Jul 25, 2018
Researchers at Tufts University School of Engineering have developed magnetic elastomeric composites that move in different ways when exposed to light, raising the possibility that these materials could enable a wide range of products that perform simple to complex movements, from tiny engines and valves to solar arrays that bend toward the sunlight. The research is described in an article publi ... more |
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How to weigh stars with gravitational lensing Washington DC (SPX) Jul 24, 2018
Every star in the Milky Way is in motion. But because of the distances their changes in position, the so-called proper motions, are very small and can only be measured using large telescopes over long time periods. In very rare cases, a foreground star passes a star in the background, at close proximity as seen from Earth.
Light from this background star must cross the gravitational field ... more |
World's fastest man-made spinning object could help study quantum mechanics West Lafayette IN (SPX) Jul 23, 2018
Researchers have created the fastest man-made rotor in the world, which they believe will help them study quantum mechanics.
At more than 60 billion revolutions per minute, this machine is more than 100,000 times faster than a high-speed dental drill.
"This study has many applications, including material science," said Tongcang Li, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy, and ... more |
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Cell-sized robots can sense their environment Boston MA (SPX) Jul 25, 2018
Researchers at MIT have created what may be the smallest robots yet that can sense their environment, store data, and even carry out computational tasks. These devices, which are about the size of a human egg cell, consist of tiny electronic circuits made of two-dimensional materials, piggybacking on minuscule particles called colloids.
Colloids, which insoluble particles or molecules anyw ... more |
PRSS-1 Satellite in Good Condition Jiuquan, China (SPX) Jul 23, 2018
China launched two satellites for Pakistan on a Long March-2C rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 11:56 a.m. Monday.
The PRSS-1 is China's first optical remote sensing satellite sold to Pakistan and the 17th satellite developed by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) for an overseas buyer.
After entering orbit, the PRSS-1 is in good condition ... more |
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