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UCF selling experimental Martian dirt - $20 a kilogram, plus shipping![]() Orlando FL (SPX) Oct 01, 2018 The University of Central Florida is selling Martian dirt, $20 a kilogram plus shipping. This is not fake news. A team of UCF astrophysicists has developed a scientifically based, standardized method for creating Martian and asteroid soil known as simulants. "The simulant is useful for research as we look to go to Mars," said Physics Professor Dan Britt, a member of UCF's Planetary Sciences Group. "If we are going to go, we'll need food, water and other essentials. As we are developing solut ... read more |
Opportunity Remains Silent For Over Three MonthsPasadena CA (JPL) Oct 01, 2018 No signal from Opportunity has been heard in over 115 sols, since Sol 5111 (June 10, 2018). It is expected that Opportunity has experienced a low-power fault. Perhaps, a mission clock fault an ... more
Software finds the best way to stick a Mars landingBoston MA (SPX) Oct 01, 2018 Selecting a landing site for a rover headed to Mars is a lengthy process that normally involves large committees of scientists and engineers. These committees typically spend several years weighing ... more
How a tiny Curiosity motor identified a massive Martian dust stormGreenbelt MD (SPX) Sep 27, 2018 There is no shortage of eyeballs, human and robotic, pointed at Mars. Scientists are constantly exploring the Red Planet from telescopes on Earth, plus the six spacecraft circling the planet from it ... more
Martian moon likely forged by ancient impact, study findsWashington (UPI) Sep 24, 2018 New research suggest Mars' largest moon, Phobos, was formed from Martian debris excised by an ancient impact. ... more |
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Ancient Mars had right conditions for underground lifeProvidence 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, ... 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
Hit-and-Run Heist of Water by Terrestrial Planets in the Early Solar SystemBerlin, Germany (SPX) Sep 20, 2018 A study simulating the final stages of terrestrial planet formation shows that 'hit-and-run' encounters play a significant role in the acquisition of water by large protoplanets, like those that gre ... 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 Mars
Recent tectonics on MarsParis (ESA) Sep 20, 2018 These prominent trenches were formed by faults that pulled the planet's surface apart less than 10 million years ago. The images were taken by ESA's Mars Express on 27 January, and capture par ... more |
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Attempting Contact With Opportunity Multiple Times A DayPasadena CA (JPL) Sep 19, 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
ExoMars orbiter highlights radiation risk for Mars astronautsBerlin, Germany (ESA) Sep 19, 2018 Astronauts on a mission to Mars would be exposed to at least 60% of the total radiation dose limit recommended for their career during the journey itself to and from the Red Planet, according to dat ... more
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 |
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China planning probes, manned missions, ultimately a base on moon - Space Chief Beijing (Sputnik) Oct 02, 2018
China's lunar program is setting ambitious goals, including exploring both lunar poles by 2030 and, further in the future, sending manned missions to the moon and establishing a permanent base there. The news comes as leaders of the US and Chinese space agencies said they were open to cooperation on research and missions.
Li Guoping, director of the Department of System Engineering of the ... more |
China launches Centispace-1-s1 satellite Jiuquan (XNA) Oct 01, 2018
China launched its Centispace-1-s1 satellite on a Kuaizhou-1A rocket from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 12:13 p.m. Saturday.
This is the second commercial launch by the Kuaizhou-1A rocket. The first launch in January 2017 sent three satellites into space.
The Kuaizhou-1A was developed by a rocket technology company under the China Aerospace Science and Industr ... more |
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NASA's OSIRIS-REx executes first asteroid approach maneuver Washington DC (SPX) Oct 02, 2018
NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft executed its first Asteroid Approach Maneuver (AAM-1) today putting it on course for its scheduled arrival at the asteroid Bennu in December.
The spacecraft's main engine thrusters fired in a braking maneuver designed to slow the spacecraft's speed relative to Bennu from approximately 1,100 mph (491 m/sec) to 313 mph (140 m/sec).
The mission team will con ... more |
New Horizons Team Rehearses For New Year's Flyby Laurel MD (SPX) Oct 01, 2018
You never know what you're going to see when you visit a world for the first time - particularly when it's on the solar system's most distant frontier - but you can get ready to see it.
NASA's New Horizons science team recently wrapped up a three-day rehearsal of the busiest days around the mission's Dec. 31- Jan. 1 flyby of Ultima Thule, a Kuiper Belt object orbiting a billion miles beyon ... 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 |
How Earth sheds heat into space Boston MA (SPX) Sep 25, 2018
Just as an oven gives off more heat to the surrounding kitchen as its internal temperature rises, the Earth sheds more heat into space as its surface warms up. Since the 1950s, scientists have observed a surprisingly straightforward, linear relationship between the Earth's surface temperature and its outgoing heat.
But the Earth is an incredibly messy system, with many complicated, interac ... more |
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Russia finds ISS hole made deliberately: space chief Moscow (AFP) Oct 2, 2018
Russian investigators looking into the origin of a hole that caused an oxygen leak on the International Space Station have said it was caused deliberately, the space agency chief said.
A first commission had delivered its report, Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the Russian space agency Roskosmos, said in televised remarks late Monday.
"It concluded that a manufacturing defect had been ruled ... more |
Plans for European Astrobiology Institute Announced Berlin, Germany (SPX) Sep 27, 2018
Astrobiology, the study of the origin, evolution and future of life on Earth and beyond, is a multidisciplinary field that has expanded rapidly over the last two decades. Now, a consortium of organisations has announced plans to establish a European Astrobiology Institute (EAI) to coordinate astrobiology research in Europe.
The new institute is being created in accordance with the recommen ... more |
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General Atomics to provide technical services for Gray Eagle drones Washington (UPI) Oct 1, 2018
General Atomics has received a $441.6 million contract for technical services for U.S. Army Gray Eagle Unmanned Aircraft Systems.
Work locations and funding for the contract, announced Friday by the Department of Defense, will be based on each order, with an estimated completion date of September 2023.
The Gray Eagle is a derivative of the Predator unmanned aerial drone designed ... 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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SLS chief engineer driven by 'challenge' of building rocket Huntsville AL (SPX) Oct 02, 2018
Space Launch System (SLS) Chief Engineer Garry Lyles received the 2018 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) George M. Low Award for Space Transportation. AIAA cited Lyles "visionary leadership" in the development of NASA's SLS rocket.
"Building the world's most powerful rocket has been challenging," Lyles said. "There is tremendous complexity in how all the pieces and ... more |
Neutron star jets shoot down theory Perth, Australia (SPX) Sep 28, 2018
Astronomers have detected radio jets belonging to a neutron star with a strong magnetic field - something not predicted by current theory, according to a new study published in Nature.
The team, led by researchers at the University of Amsterdam, observed the object known as Swift J0243.6+6124 using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array radio telescope in New Mexico and NASA's Swift space tel ... 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 |
A universe aglow: lyman-alpha emission across the entire sky Garching, Germany (SPX) Oct 02, 2018
Deep observations made with the MUSE spectrograph on ESO's Very Large Telescope have uncovered vast cosmic reservoirs of atomic hydrogen surrounding distant galaxies. The exquisite sensitivity of MUSE allowed for direct observations of dim clouds of hydrogen glowing with Lyman-alpha emission in the early Universe?-?revealing that almost the whole night sky is invisibly aglow.
An unexpected ... more |
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Amazon aims to make Alexa assistant bigger part of users' lives Seattle (AFP) Sept 21, 2018 From the kitchen to the car, Amazon on Thursday sought to make its Alexa digital assistant and online services a bigger part of people's lives with an array of new products and partnerships.
Updates to the internet giant's Alexa-infused Echo smart speakers will allow them to tend to microwave cooking and even have "hunches" regarding what users may want or have forgotten.
When Alexa is t ... more |
China launches Centispace-1-s1 satellite Jiuquan (XNA) Oct 01, 2018
China launched its Centispace-1-s1 satellite on a Kuaizhou-1A rocket from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 12:13 p.m. Saturday.
This is the second commercial launch by the Kuaizhou-1A rocket. The first launch in January 2017 sent three satellites into space.
The Kuaizhou-1A was developed by a rocket technology company under the China Aerospace Science and Industr ... more |
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