|
|
First to red planet will become Martians: Canada astronaut![]() Ottawa (AFP) Sept 21, 2018 Astronauts traveling through space on the long trip to Mars will not have the usual backup from mission control on Earth and will need to think of themselves as Martians to survive, Canada's most famous spaceman half-jokingly said Friday. Current predictions are that humans will reach Mars - up to 400 million kilometers (250 million miles) from Earth - in the coming decades. But the vast distance means communications with mission control would be delayed by up to 22 minutes. As a result, ... read more |
NASA's MAVEN Selfie Marks Four Years in Orbit at MarsGreenbelt MD (SPX) Sep 24, 2018 Today, NASA's MAVEN spacecraft celebrates four years in orbit studying the upper atmosphere of the Red Planet and how it interacts with the Sun and the solar wind. To mark the occasion, the team has ... more
ScanMars demonstrates water detection device for astronauts on MarsBerlin, Germany (SPX) Sep 21, 2018 Analogue astronauts have successfully trialed a radar that could help future Mars explorers identify where to dig for water. ScanMars is an Italian experiment that was used to identify subsurface wa ... more
Opportunity silent since June 10Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 21, 2018 The Opportunity team is increasing the frequency of commands it beams to the rover via the dishes of NASA's Deep Space Network from three times a week to multiple times per day. No signal from ... more
Candy-Pink lagoon serves up salt-rich diet for potential life on MarsBerlin, Germany (SPX) Sep 21, 2018 The discovery of a microorganism that gives a candy-pink lagoon in central Spain its startling colour is providing new evidence for how life could survive on a high-salt diet on Mars or Europa. ... more |
|
| Previous Issues | Sep 21 | Sep 20 | Sep 19 | Sep 18 | Sep 17 |
|
|
|
|
Curiosity Surveys a Mystery Under Dusty SkiesPasadena CA (JPL) Sep 07, 2018 After snagging a new rock sample on Aug. 9, NASA's Curiosity rover surveyed its surroundings on Mars, producing a 360-degree panorama of its current location on Vera Rubin Ridge. The panorama ... more
Making space exploration real on EarthParis (ESA) Sep 05, 2018 You are on a rock speeding through space. On this rock called Earth every single mineral tells you something about planetary formation. This week astronauts and space engineers will unlock the myste ... more
A new listening plan for Mars Opportunity roverPasadena CA (JPL) Sep 12, 2018 No signal from Opportunity has been heard since Sol 5111 (June 10, 2018), though NASA has approved a strategy for listening for the rover through January of 2019. It is expected that Opportuni ... more
NASA Launching Mars Lander Parachute Test from Wallops Sep 7Wallops Island, VA (SPX) Sep 03, 2018 NASA will conduct the third in a series of parachute tests for possible future missions to Mars during the flight of a Terrier-Black Brant IX suborbital sounding rocket in the morning on Sep. 7, 201 ... more
Team Continues to Listen for OpportunityPasadena CA (JPL) Sep 03, 2018 No signal from Opportunity has been heard since Sol 5111 (June 10, 2018). The dust storm on Mars continues its decay with atmospheric opacity (tau) over the rover site decreasing. It is expect ... more |
![]() Opportunity rover expected to call home as Martian dust storm clears
Martian skies clearing over Opportunity RoverPasadena CA (JPL) Aug 31, 2018 A planet-encircling dust storm on Mars, which was first detected May 30 and halted operations for the Opportunity rover, continues to abate. With clearing skies over Opportunity's resting spot ... more |
|
|
NASA competition aims to convert carbon dioxide on Mars into useful productsHuntsville AL (SPX) Aug 31, 2018 When astronauts begin exploring Mars, they'll need to use local resources, freeing up launch cargo space for other mission-critical supplies. Carbon dioxide is one resource readily abundant within t ... more
NASA's InSight has a thermometer for MarsPasadena CA (JPL) Aug 31, 2018 Ambitious climbers, forget Mt. Everest. Dream about Mars. The Red Planet has some of the tallest mountains in the solar system. They include Olympus Mons, a volcano nearly three times the height of ... more
Mars dust storm clears, raising hope for stalled NASA roverTampa (AFP) Aug 31, 2018 One of the biggest Martian dust storms on record is clearing up after nearly three months, raising hope that NASA's stranded, solar-powered robotic vehicle, Opportunity, will soon come back to life. ... more
No word from Opportunity as skies begin to clearPasadena CA (JPL) Aug 30, 2018 No signal from Opportunity has been heard. The dust storm on Mars continues to decay. There has been no new storm activity within ~1,864 miles (3,000 kilometers) of the rover site. The atmosph ... more
Technologies for deep space survivalBethesda, MD (SPX) Aug 22, 2018 Recently, there has been a great deal of discussion concerning human space travel beyond the near-Earth zone. Mars colonization has been a favorite topic for quite some time. However, getting to Mar ... more |
|
|
Russia's Roscosmos Says to Remain Participant of 1st Moon Orbit Station Project Moscow (Sputnik) Sep 24, 2018
Russian space agency Roscosmos told Sputnik on Friday that the corporation will continue participating in the international Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway project.
Russia was offered to build an airlock module for discharging cosmonauts on the platform. In April, a source told Sputnik that the Russian side was forced to build the unit under the US standards that ensure the use of only US s ... more |
China tests propulsion system of space station's lab capsules Beijing, China (SPX) Aug 30, 2018
Engineers have successfully tested the propulsion system of China's planned space station lab capsules, a key step in its space station program.
Weighing 66 tonnes, the space station will comprise a core module and two lab capsules. The propulsion system will determine whether lab capsules can move in space.
Engineers designed 36 engines for the propulsion system with four to adjust ... more |
|
|
Japanese robot Hayabusa2 lands on Asteroid Ryugu Tokyo, Japan (Sputnik) Sep 24, 2018
After patiently waiting for their target asteroid to complete its rotation scientists monitoring the progress of a Japanese spacecraft confirmed that two small robots have successfully reached the surface of asteroid Ryugu and are now sending back images of their new home.
Japan's Hayabusa 2 probe was launched in December 2014, and arrived in orbit around asteroid 162173 'Ryugu' in June. T ... more |
Juno image showcases Jupiter's brown barge Washington (UPI) Sep 19, 2018
Jupiter's "brown barge" feature is the subject of a new photograph snapped by Juno's camera.
Like Jupiter's Great Red Spot, the brown barge is shaped by cyclone-like weather patterns in the gas giant's atmosphere. But unlike the red spot, which is round, the barge is longer and boxier.
The brown barge isn't always easy to pick out. Its colors often blend relatively seamlessly wit ... more |
|
|
Cassini's final view of Titan's northern lakes and seas Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 17, 2018
During NASA's Cassini mission's final distant encounter with Saturn's giant moon Titan, the spacecraft captured the enigmatic moon's north polar landscape of lakes and seas, which are filled with liquid methane and ethane.
They were captured on Sept. 11, 2017. Four days later, Cassini was deliberately plunged into the atmosphere of Saturn.
Punga Mare (240 miles, or 390 kilometers, ac ... more |
ECOSTRESS Maps LA's Hot Spots Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 19, 2018
NASA's ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) captured new imagery of variations in surface-temperature patterns in Los Angeles County. The first of its kind to be taken by the agency's newest Earth-observing mission, it is more detailed than previous imagery and, unlike prior imagery, was acquired at different times of the day.
ECOSTRESS measures s ... more |
|
|
Japanese Rocket Blasts Off to Resupply Station Tanegashima, Japan (SPX) Sep 22, 2018
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)'s H-IIB rocket launched at 1:52 p.m. EDT on Friday, Sept. 22 (2:52 a.m. Sept. 23 Japan standard time) from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan. At the time of launch, the space station was 254 miles over the southwest Pacific, west of Chile.
A little more than 15 minutes after launch, the unpiloted H-II Transfer Vehicle-7 (HTV-7) car ... more |
What Recipes Produce a Habitable Planet Houston TX (SPX) Sep 20, 2018
NASA's interdisciplinary Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS) project has awarded Rice University $7.7 million for a multidisciplinary, multi-institutional research program aimed at finding many different recipes nature might follow to produce rocky planets capable of supporting life.
As any cook knows, it takes the right recipe and getting the right ingredients to make a tasty dish, ... more |
|
|
General Atomics contracted for Reaper drone ground control work Washington (UPI) Sep 17, 2018
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has received a $92.2 million contract for MQ-9 Block 30 Ground Control Station retrofits for the U.S. Air Force.
The contract, announced Friday by the Department of Defense, will provide for MD-1A Block 15 GCS to MD-1A Block 30 GCS retrofits. Work will be performed in Poway, Calif., and is expected to be completed by May 2020.
Air Force fiscal ... more |
Illuminating First Light Data from Parker Solar Probe Greenbelt MD (SPX) Sep 20, 2018
Just over a month into its mission, Parker Solar Probe has returned first-light data from each of its four instrument suites. These early observations - while not yet examples of the key science observations Parker Solar Probe will take closer to the Sun - show that each of the instruments is working well. The instruments work in tandem to measure the Sun's electric and magnetic fields, particle ... more |
|
|
China to launch Long March-9 rocket in 2028 Beijing (XNA) Sep 21, 2018
China plans to launch the heavy-lift carrier rocket Long March-9 in 2028, said an official of China National Space Administration (CNSA) at the World Conference on Science Literacy 2018 on Tuesday.
Li Guoping, director of the Department of System Engineering of the CNSA, said that the length of the Long March-9 will exceed 90 meters, and the rocket would have a core stage with a diameter o ... more |
Gaia hints at our Galaxy's turbulent life Paris (ESA) Sep 20, 2018
ESA's star mapping mission, Gaia, has shown our Milky Way galaxy is still enduring the effects of a near collision that set millions of stars moving like ripples on a pond.
The close encounter likely took place sometime in the past 300-900 million years. It was discovered because of the pattern of movement it has given to stars in the Milky Way disc - one of the major components of our Gal ... more |
|
|
GRACE-FO Satellite Switching to Backup Instrument Processing Unit Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 17, 2018
The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) mission team plans to switch to a backup system in the Microwave Instrument (MWI) on one of the twin spacecraft this month. Following the switch-over, GRACE-FO is expected to quickly resume science data collection.
A month after launching this past May, GRACE-FO produced its first preliminary gravity field map. The mission ha ... more |
Wave-particle interactions allow collision-free energy transfer in space plasma Nagoya, Japan (SPX) Sep 20, 2018
The Earth's magnetosphere contains plasma, an ionized gas composed of positive ions and negative electrons. The motion of these charged plasma particles is controlled by electromagnetic fields. The energy transfer processes that occur in this collisionless space plasma are believed to be based on wave-particle interactions such as particle acceleration by plasma waves and spontaneous wave genera ... more |
|
|
Russian scientists send FEDOR robot to Roscosmos for launch Moscow (Sputnik) Sep 21, 2018
The demonstration model of Russia's humanoid robot FEDOR will be transferred to the Roscosmos state space corporation, which plans to send it into space on the new Federation spacecraft, Russia's Foundation for Advanced Research (FPI) said Wednesday.
"The board of trustees decided to transfer scientific and technical products created within the framework of the fund's projects for their fu ... more |
China tests propulsion system of space station's lab capsules Beijing, China (SPX) Aug 30, 2018
Engineers have successfully tested the propulsion system of China's planned space station lab capsules, a key step in its space station program.
Weighing 66 tonnes, the space station will comprise a core module and two lab capsules. The propulsion system will determine whether lab capsules can move in space.
Engineers designed 36 engines for the propulsion system with four to adjust ... more |
|
| 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 |