|
|
Mars Dust Storm May Have Peaked![]() Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 03, 2018 The planet-encircling dust storm on Mars is showing indications of peaking and perhaps decaying. Dust lifting sites have decreased in extent and some surface features are starting to become visible. The storm has sustained high atmospheric opacity conditions over the Opportunity site, although there are some preliminary indications that the opacity might be decreasing there. Since the last contact with the rover on Sol 5111 (June 10, 2018), Opportunity has likely experienced a low-power faul ... read more |
Mars terraforming not possible using present-day technologyGreenbelt MD (SPX) Jul 31, 2018 Science fiction writers have long featured terraforming, the process of creating an Earth-like or habitable environment on another planet, in their stories. Scientists themselves have proposed terra ... more
Students can now build their own rover modelPasadena CA (JPL) Aug 02, 2018 Have you ever wondered what it takes to build a machine like NASA's Curiosity rover, part of the Mars Science Laboratory project? Now students, hobbyists and enthusiasts can get a taste of what it i ... more
First SLS Core Stage flight hardware complete, ready for joiningHuntsville AL (SPX) Aug 01, 2018 The first major piece of core stage hardware for NASA's Space Launch System rocket has been assembled and is ready to be joined with other hardware for Exploration Mission-1, the first integrated fl ... more
Scientists looking for ways to grow crops on Red PlanetMoscow (Sputnik) Jul 31, 2018 While humans prepare to land on Mars and eventually colonize it, the question about what people will eat on the Red Planet looms large. Indeed, generating a stable supply of food poses a major ... more |
|
| Previous Issues | Aug 02 | Aug 01 | Jul 31 | Jul 30 | Jul 29 |
|
|
|
|
New family photos of Mars and Saturn from HubbleMunich, Germany (SPX) Jul 27, 2018 In summer 2018 the planets Mars and Saturn are, one after the other, in opposition to Earth. During this event the planets are relatively close to Earth, allowing astronomers to observe them in grea ... more
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 microorganism ... 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 2030s
Liquid water lake discovered on MarsTampa (AFP) July 26, 2018 A massive underground lake has been detected for the first time on Mars, raising hopes that more water - and maybe even life - exists there, international astronomers said Wednesday. ... more |
|
|
'Storm Chasers' on Mars Searching for Dusty SecretsPasadena 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 m ... more
Scientists at Johns Hopkins Discover Why Mars Is So DustyBaltimore MD (SPX) Jul 25, 2018 The dust that coats much of the surface of Mars originates largely from a single thousand-kilometer-long geological formation near the Red Planet's equator, scientists have found. A study publ ... more
Rare Red Moon and Mars in Evening Sky on 27 JulyLondon, 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 w ... more
NASA's MAVEN Spacecraft Finds That "Stolen" Electrons Enable Unusual Aurora on MarsGreenbelt MD (SPX) Jul 24, 2018 Auroras appear on Earth as ghostly displays of colorful light in the night sky, usually near the poles. Our rocky neighbor Mars has auroras too, and NASA's MAVEN spacecraft just found a new type of ... 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 |
|
|
MIDAS cameras spot pair of lunar flashes caused by meteoroid impacts Washington (UPI) Jul 30, 2018
New images from the European Space Agency showcased a pair of recent lunar flashes.
Photographs of the flashes were captured using CCD cameras at a trio of observatories in Spain, which make up the MIDAS project. CCD stands for "charge coupled device."
Lunar flashes occur when space rocks collide with parts of the moon facing away from the sun. Because these parts of the moon are ... more |
Growing US unease with China's new deep space facility in Argentina Moscow (Sputnik) Aug 01, 2018 |
|
|
What Looks Like Ceres on Earth Pasadena CA (JPL) Jul 30, 2018
With its dark, heavily cratered surface interrupted by tantalizing bright spots, Ceres may not remind you of our home planet Earth at first glance. The dwarf planet, which orbits the Sun in the vast asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, is also far smaller than Earth (in both mass and diameter). With its frigid temperature and lack of atmosphere, we're pretty sure Ceres can't support life as w ... more |
New Horizons team prepares for stellar occultation ahead of Ultima Thule flyby Washington DC (SPX) Aug 02, 2018
Successfully observing an object from more than four billion miles away is difficult, yet NASA's New Horizons mission team is banking that they can do that-again.
Preparations are on track for a final set of stellar occultation observations to gather as much information about the size, shape, environment, and other conditions around New Horizons' next flyby target, the ancient Kuiper Belt ... more |
|
|
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 |
China launches high-resolution Earth observation satellite Taiyuan, China (SPX) Aug 03, 2018
China on Tuesday launched Gaofen-11, an optical remote sensing satellite, as part of the country's high-resolution Earth observation project.
The Gaofen-11 satellite was launched on a Long March 4B rocket at 11 am Beijing Time from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern Shanxi Province. It was the 282nd flight mission by a Long March carrier rocket.
The satellite can be used ... more |
|
|
NASA, Commercial Partners Progress to Human Spaceflight Home Stretch Kennedy Space Center FL (SPX) Aug 01, 2018
NASA and commercial industry partners Boeing and SpaceX are making significant advances in preparing to launch astronauts from U.S. soil for the first time since the space shuttle's retirement in 2011. As part of the Commercial Crew Program's public-private partnership, both companies are fine-tuning their designs, integrating hardware, and testing their crew spacecraft and rockets to prepare fo ... more |
Exoplanets where life could develop as on Earth Cambridge UK (SPX) Aug 03, 2018
Scientists have identified a group of planets outside our solar system where the same chemical conditions that may have led to life on Earth exist.
The researchers, from the University of Cambridge and the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology (MRC LMB), found that the chances for life to develop on the surface of a rocky planet like Earth are connected to the type and s ... more |
|
|
An insect-inspired drone deforms upon impact Lausanne, Switzerland (SPX) Jul 26, 2018
In recent years, robotics experts have taken a page from the traditional Japanese practice of origami and come up with light and flexible - and highly innovative - robots and drones. Two types of origami-inspired structures have emerged: rigid structures that have a certain weight-bearing capacity but that break if that capacity is exceeded, and flexible yet resilient structures that cannot carr ... more |
NASA's Parker Solar Probe and the curious case of the hot corona Greenbelt MD (SPX) Jul 30, 2018
Something mysterious is going on at the Sun. In defiance of all logic, its atmosphere gets much, much hotter the farther it stretches from the Sun's blazing surface.
Temperatures in the corona - the tenuous, outermost layer of the solar atmosphere - spike upwards of 2 million degrees Fahrenheit, while just 1,000 miles below, the underlying surface simmers at a balmy 10,000 F. How the Sun m ... more |
|
|
First SLS Core Stage flight hardware complete, ready for joining Huntsville AL (SPX) Aug 01, 2018
The first major piece of core stage hardware for NASA's Space Launch System rocket has been assembled and is ready to be joined with other hardware for Exploration Mission-1, the first integrated flight of SLS and the Orion spacecraft. SLS will enable a new era of exploration beyond low-Earth orbit, launching crew and cargo on deep space exploration missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond.
T ... more |
Colliding stars spill radioactive molecules into space Charlottesville VA (SPX) Jul 31, 2018
When two Sun-like stars collide, the result can be a spectacular explosion and the formation of an entirely new star. One such event was seen from Earth in 1670. It appeared to observers as a bright, red "new star."
Though initially visible with the naked eye, this burst of cosmic light quickly faded and now requires powerful telescopes to see the remains of this merger: a dim central star ... more |
|
|
GRAVITY Confirms Predictions of General Relativity Near Galactic Center Paris, France (SPX) Jul 27, 2018
Observations made with the Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) have, for the first time, detected the effects of general relativity predicted by Einstein, in the movement of a star passing into the intense gravitational field of Sagittarius A*, a massive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way.
These results were obtained by the GRAVITY consortium, led b ... more |
Black holes are fuzzy balls of string with an endless appetite for matter Washington (UPI) Jul 31, 2018
A trio of physicists at Ohio State University believe black holes are like "fuzzballs" with an insatiable appetite for matter. And according to their latest research, these fuzzballs are not surrounded by a "firewall."
Classical general relativity presents the black hole as an object with a horizon, beyond which nothing can escape. This dichotomy between something and nothing is referre ... more |
|
|
Research identifies key weakness in modern computer vision systems Providence RI (SPX) Aug 03, 2018
Computer vision algorithms have come a long way in the past decade. They've been shown to be as good or better than people at tasks like categorizing dog or cat breeds, and they have the remarkable ability to identify specific faces out of a sea of millions.
But research by Brown University scientists shows that computers fail miserably at a class of tasks that even young children have no ... more |
Growing US unease with China's new deep space facility in Argentina Moscow (Sputnik) Aug 01, 2018 |
|
| Buy Advertising | Media Advertising Kit | Editorial & Other Enquiries | Privacy statement |
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2018 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement |