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Sorry Elon Musk, but it's now clear that colonising Mars is unlikely![]() London, UK (The Conversation) Aug 06, 2018 Space X and Tesla founder Elon Musk has a vision for colonising Mars, based on a big rocket, nuclear explosions and an infrastructure to transport millions of people there. This was seen as highly ambitious but technically challenging in several ways. Planetary protection rules and the difficulties of terraforming (making the planet hospitable by, for example, warming it up) and dealing with the harsh radiation were quoted as severe obstacles. Undeterred, Musk took a first step towards his aim in ... read more |
Russia Plans to Send Capsule With Microorganisms to MarsMoscow (Sputnik) Aug 06, 2018 Russian scientists plan to send a capsule containing microorganisms to Mars' natural satellite Phobos and then get it back to Earth in order to study the possible mutations during the space flight, ... more
Mars Dust Storm May Have PeakedPasadena 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 vi ... 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 |
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| Previous Issues | Aug 06 | Aug 03 | Aug 02 | Aug 01 | Jul 31 |
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Life on Mars: Japan astronaut dreams after lake discoveryTokyo (AFP) July 27, 2018 Japanese astronaut Norishige Kanai came back to earth last month but is still dreaming of space, especially after the discovery of an underground lake brought mankind one step closer to unravelling the mystery of life on Mars. ... more
What Looks Like Ceres on EarthPasadena 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 ... more
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 Storm
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 |
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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
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 |
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At 60, NASA shoots for revival of moon glory days Tampa (AFP) July 27, 2018
Sixty years ago, spurred by competition with the Soviet Union, the United States created NASA, launching a journey that would take Americans to the moon within a decade.
Since then, the US space agency has seen glorious achievements and crushing failures in its drive to push the frontiers of space exploration, including a fatal launch pad fire in 1967 that killed three and two deadly shuttle ... more |
Growing US unease with China's new deep space facility in Argentina Moscow (Sputnik) Aug 01, 2018 |
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"Great Show" predicted for Perseid meteor peak on August 12-13 Boston MA (SPX) Aug 07, 2018
The Perseid meteor shower, an annual celestial event beloved by millions of skywatchers around the world, is about to make its annual return to the night sky. And thanks to a new Moon, there'll be no bright moonlight to hinder the view.
Sky and Telescope magazine predicts that this year's Perseid shower will reach its peak on Sunday night, August 12th, and early morning on the 13th. You wi ... 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 |
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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 |
Radar better than weather balloon for measuring boundary layer University Park PA (SPX) Aug 07, 2018
Improving forecasting for a host of severe weather events may be possible thanks to a more comprehensive method for measuring the Earth's boundary layer depth, developed by Penn State researchers.
The boundary layer is the layer of atmosphere that is closest to the Earth, less than one mile from the surface. Because it is the layer that is most affected by the convective heat from the Eart ... more |
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Blend of novices, veterans to fly on first private US spaceships Tampa (AFP) Aug 4, 2018
NASA on Friday named the first nine astronauts who will fly to space on Boeing and SpaceX vehicles in 2019 - a mix of novices and veterans who are tasked with restoring America's ability to send humans into orbit.
These pioneering flights to the International Space Station aboard commercially built crew capsules will be the first leaving US soil to put people into orbit since the iconic spa ... more |
VLA Detects Possible Extrasolar Planetary-Mass Magnetic Powerhouse Charlottesville VA (SPX) Aug 06, 2018
Astronomers using the National Science Foundation's Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) have made the first radio-telescope detection of a planetary-mass object beyond our Solar System. The object, about a dozen times more massive than Jupiter, is a surprisingly strong magnetic powerhouse and a "rogue," traveling through space unaccompanied by any parent star.
"This object is right at th ... more |
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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 |
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Aerojet Rocketdyne boosters complete simulated air-launch tests Huntsville AL (SPX) Aug 07, 2018
Aerojet Rocketdyne's advanced tactical booster program recently completed two successful hot-fire tests of a motor that had been conditioned to mimic extreme cold- and hot-soak conditions for air-launch application. The tests took place at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
"Aerojet Rocketdyne has been the leading supplier of missile technolog ... 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 |
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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 |
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Chip labour: Robots replace waiters in China restaurant Shanghai (AFP) Aug 5, 2018 The little robotic waiter wheels up to the table, raises its glass lid to reveal a steaming plate of local Shanghai-style crayfish and announces in low, mechanical tones, "Enjoy your meal."
The futuristic restaurant concept is the latest initiative in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba's push to modernise service and retail in a country where robotics and artificial intelligence are increasing ... more |
Growing US unease with China's new deep space facility in Argentina Moscow (Sputnik) Aug 01, 2018 |
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