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Ancient Mars had right conditions for underground life![]() Providence RI (SPX) Sep 25, 2018 A new study shows evidence that ancient Mars probably had an ample supply of chemical energy for microbes to thrive underground. "We showed, based on basic physics and chemistry calculations, that the ancient Martian subsurface likely had enough dissolved hydrogen to power a global subsurface biosphere," said Jesse Tarnas, a graduate student at Brown University and lead author of a study published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters. "Conditions in this habitable zone would have been similar to ... read more |
First to red planet will become Martians: Canada astronautOttawa (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. ... 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 |
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| Previous Issues | Sep 24 | Sep 21 | Sep 20 | Sep 19 | Sep 18 |
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River basin provides evidence of ancient ocean on MarsWashington (UPI) Sep 14, 2018 Mars was once home to a giant ocean, new research suggests. ... more
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 Opportunity
Opportunity rover expected to call home as Martian dust storm clearsWashington (UPI) Aug 31, 2018 The weeks-long Martian dust storm is waning, and Opportunity rover can finally see clearly. NASA scientists think the rover will soon receive enough sunlight to recharge its batteries and resume its science mission. ... more |
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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 |
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India Aims to Establish Firmest Conclusion of Water, Minerals on Moon's Surface New Delhi (Sputnik) Sep 25, 2018
India's second moon mission, Chandrayaan-2, will begin its lunar studies in January-February 2019 with an orbiter that carries a wider range spectrometer that goes up to 5 microns to clearly provide a water signature.
In its second moon mission, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has chosen as landing site above 70-degrees latitude, a location no other country has gone before. T ... 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 |
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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 |
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Dust storms on Titan spotted by Cassini for the first time Paris (ESA) Sep 25, 2018
Data from the international Cassini spacecraft that explored Saturn and its moons between 2004 and 2017 has revealed what appear to be giant dust storms in equatorial regions of Titan.
The discovery, described in a paper published in Nature Geoscience, makes Titan the third body in the Solar System where dust storms have been observed - the other two are Earth and Mars.
The observati ... more |
Scientists locate parent lightning strokes of sprites Beijing, China (SPX) Sep 25, 2018 |
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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 |
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Self-flying glider 'learns' to soar like a bird Paris (AFP) Sept 19, 2018
Scientists have created a self-flying glider that uses machine learning to navigate rising air currents, in an experiment that could help our understanding of how birds migrate.
Soaring birds ride warm air passages known as thermals to fly and gain height without needing to flap their wings, although no one knows exactly how they do it.
To gain insight into what cues birds instinctively ... 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 |
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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 detects a shake in the Milky Way Barcelona, Spain (SPX) Sep 25, 2018
"We have observed shapes with different morphologies, such as a spiral similar to a snail's shell. The existence of these substructures has been observed for the first time thanks to the unprecedented precision of the data brought by Gaia satellite, from the European Space Agency (ESA)", says Teresa Antoja, researcher at ICCUB (IEEC-UB) and first signer of the article.
"These substructures ... more |
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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 |
How long does a quantum jump take? Vienna, Austria (SPX) Sep 25, 2018
It was one of the crucial experiments in quantum physics: when light falls on certain materials, electrons are released from the surface. Albert Einstein was the first to explain this phenomenon in 1905, when he spoke of "light quanta" - the smallest units of light that we call photons today.
In tiny fractions of a second, an electron of the material absorbs a photon, "jumps" into another ... more |
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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 |
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