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Naturally occurring 'batteries' fueled organic carbon synthesis on Mars![]() Washington DC (SPX) Nov 01, 2018 Mars' organic carbon may have originated from a series of electrochemical reactions between briny liquids and volcanic minerals, according to new analyses of three Martian meteorites from a team led by Carnegie's Andrew Steele published in Science Advances. The group's analysis of a trio of Martian meteorites that fell to Earth - Tissint, Nakhla, and NWA 1950 - showed that they contain an inventory of organic carbon that is remarkably consistent with the organic carbon compounds detected by the Ma ... read more |
Five things to know about InSight's Mars landingPasadena CA (JPL) Nov 01, 2018 Every Mars landing is a knuckle-whitening feat of engineering. But each attempt has its own quirks based on where a spacecraft is going and what kind of science the mission intends to gather. ... more
NASA launches a new podcast to MarsPasadena CA (JPL) Oct 31, 2018 NASA has a new mission to Mars, and it's taking podcast listeners along for the ride. Launching this week, the eight-episode series "On a Mission" follows the InSight lander as it travels hund ... more
NASA will keep trying to contact stalled Mars rover OpportunityWashington (AFP) Oct 30, 2018 NASA has changed its mind about how long it will continue to seek contact with an aging robotic vehicle that was blanketed in a dust storm on Mars back in June and has been stalled ever since. ... more
Third ASPIRE test confirms Mars 2020 parachute a goWallops Island, VA (SPX) Oct 29, 2018 In the early hours of Sept. 7, NASA broke a world record. Less than 2 minutes after the launch of a 58-foot-tall (17.7-meter) Black Brant IX sounding rocket, a payload separated and began its dive b ... more |
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| Previous Issues | Oct 31 | Oct 30 | Oct 29 | Oct 28 | Oct 27 |
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Mars likely to have enough oxygen to support life: studyParis (AFP) Oct 22, 2018 Salty water just below the surface of Mars could hold enough oxygen to support the kind of microbial life that emerged and flourished on Earth billions of years ago, researchers reported Monday. ... more
Minerals of the world, uniteParis (ESA) Oct 22, 2018 Imagine you are on Mars and you stumble upon an interesting rock. The colours, the shape of the crystals and the place where you find it all tell you: there is more to it than meets the eye. Tool in ... more
The claw game on Mars: NASA InSight plays to winPasadena CA (JPL) Oct 19, 2018 If you've ever played the claw machine at an arcade, you know how hard it can be to maneuver the metal "hand" to pick up a prize. Imagine trying to play that game when the claw is on Mars, the objec ... more
Scientists to debate landing site for next Mars roverPasadena CA (JPL) Oct 16, 2018 Hundreds of scientists and Mars-exploration enthusiasts will convene in a hotel ballroom just north of Los Angeles later this week to present, discuss and deliberate the future landing site for NASA ... more
Efforts to communicate with Opportunity continuePasadena CA (JPL) Oct 15, 2018 The dust storm on Mars has effectively ended with atmospheric opacity (tau) over the rover site down to around 1.0 to 1.1, values are typical for storm-free conditions this time of year. No si ... more |
![]() Painting cars for Mars
Novel Technique Quickly Maps Young Ice Deposits and Formations on MarsTucson AZ (SPX) Oct 09, 2018 A new investigative technique has shown the latitudinal distribution of ice-rich landforms on Mars. This large-scale study enables future, more detailed investigations to study several young deposit ... more |
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ASU researcher innovates solar energy technology in spaceTempe AZ (SPX) Oct 08, 2018 Experts predict that by 2050 we're going to have global broadband internet satellite networks, in-orbit manufacturing, space tourism, asteroid mining and lunar and Mars bases. More than a giga ... more
Curiosity rover operating on backup computer during repairs to main processorWashington (UPI) Oct 4, 2018 NASA engineers have switched the Curiosity rover's brains, ceding control of the spacecraft to a backup computer. The move will allow engineers to analyze Curiosity's main processor, which has been unable to function properly for a few weeks. ... more
Curiosity Rover to Temporarily Switch 'Brains'Pasadena CA (JPL) Oct 04, 2018 Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, this week commanded the agency's Curiosity rover to switch to its second computer. The switch will enable engineers to do a det ... more
Lockheed Martin Reveals New Human Lunar Lander ConceptDenver CO (SPX) Oct 04, 2018 At this week's International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Bremen, Germany, Lockheed Martin experts revealed the company's crewed lunar lander concept and showed how the reusable lander aligns wit ... 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 |
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Neil Armstrong's huge souvenir collection to be auctioned New York (AFP) Oct 31, 2018 Talk about a pack rat: thousands of things that Neil Armstrong saved over the course of a career that saw him become the first man to walk on the moon will be auctioned off this week.
Nobody really knew the extent of the stuff Armstrong amassed during his 82 years on earth, not even the children of the man who made history with his feat on July 20, 1969. Some of the mementos are from his spa ... more |
China's space programs open up to world Beijing (XNA) Oct 24, 2018
When German scientists were conducting micro-gravity experiments on China's recoverable satellite in the 1980s, Chinese space engineer Tang Bochang was busy solving technical problems, while carefully keeping Chinese secrets.
Tang joined the China Academy of Space Technology in 1970, the same year China launched its first satellite. He has participated in the development of returnable sate ... more |
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OSIRIS-REx captures 'super-resolution' view of Bennu Tucson AZ (SPX) Oct 31, 2018
This "super-resolution" view of asteroid Bennu was created using eight images obtained by NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on Oct. 29, 2018, from a distance of about 205 miles (330 km).
The spacecraft was moving as it captured the images with the PolyCam camera, and Bennu rotated 1.2 degrees during the nearly one minute that elapsed between the first and the last snapshot.
The team used ... more |
SwRI team makes breakthroughs studying Pluto orbiter mission San Antonio TX (SPX) Oct 25, 2018
A Southwest Research Institute team using internal research funds has made several discoveries that expand the range and value of a future Pluto orbiter mission. The breakthroughs define a fuel-saving orbital tour and demonstrate that an orbiter can continue exploration in the Kuiper Belt after surveying Pluto. These and other results from the study will be reported this week at a workshop on fu ... more |
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Saturn's Moon Dione Covered by Mysterious Stripes Tucson AZ (SPX) Oct 25, 2018
Mysterious straight bright stripes have been discovered on Saturn's moon Dione, says research by Planetary Science Institute Associate Research Scientist Alex Patthoff.
The origins of these linear virgae (virgae meaning a stripe or streak of color) are most likely caused by the draping of surface materials like material from Saturn's rings, passing comets, or co-orbital moons Helene and Po ... more |
Counting down to MetOp-C Paris (ESA) Nov 01, 2018
Teams at ESA's European Space Operations Centre in Germany have been training for months in preparation for next week's launch of MetOp-C - the last in the current series of meteorological satellites that provide high-quality data for weather forecasting and climate monitoring from polar orbit.
As a collaborative undertaking between ESA and Eumetsat, the European Organisation for the Explo ... more |
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Thrusters with additively manufactured components qualified to fly humans on Orion spacecraft Redmond WA (SPX) Oct 30, 2018
Aerojet Rocketdyne recently completed qualification testing for the enhanced reaction control thruster system for NASA's Orion crew vehicle, helping to clear the way for the Lockheed Martin-built spacecraft's second test flight, and first mission to cislunar space, called Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1).
The reaction control system, or RCS, is the only means of guiding the Orion crew module a ... more |
NASA retires Kepler Space Telescope, passes planet-hunting torch Moffett Field CA (SPX) Oct 31, 2018
After nine years in deep space collecting data that indicate our sky to be filled with billions of hidden planets - more planets even than stars - NASA's Kepler space telescope has run out of fuel needed for further science operations. NASA has decided to retire the spacecraft within its current, safe orbit, away from Earth. Kepler leaves a legacy of more than 2,600 planet discoveries from outsi ... more |
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US Army tests DARPA autonomous flight system, pursuing integration with Black Hawk Washington DC (SPX) Oct 31, 2018
An S-76B commercial helicopter flew over a small crowd gathered at Fort Eustis, Virginia, landed in an adjacent field after adjusting to miss a vehicle, and rose up to hover perfectly motionless for several minutes. The mid-October demonstration was remarkable because the pilot carried out the maneuvers using supervised autonomy in an aircraft equipped with DARPA's Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Autom ... more |
Parker Solar Probe breaks record, becomes closest spacecraft to Sun Greenbelt MD (SPX) Oct 30, 2018
Parker Solar Probe now holds the record for closest approach to the Sun by a human-made object. The spacecraft passed the current record of 26.55 million miles from the Sun's surface on Oct. 29, 2018, at about 1:04 p.m. EDT, as calculated by the Parker Solar Probe team.
The previous record for closest solar approach was set by the German-American Helios 2 spacecraft in April 1976. As the P ... more |
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Rocket Lab enters high frequency launch operations Huntington Beach CA (SPX) Nov 01, 2018
US orbital launch provider Rocket Lab has confirmed the launch window for the upcoming 'It's Business Time' mission. The nine-day launch window will open from 11 to 19 November (NZDT), with daily launch opportunities between 16:00 - 20:00 NZDT (03:00 - 07:00 UTC).
The Electron launch vehicle is on site at Launch Complex 1 undergoing final pre-launch checkouts, following a final successful ... more |
Galactic ghosts: Gaia uncovers major event in the formation of the Milky Way Paris (ESA) Nov 01, 2018
ESA's Gaia mission has made a major breakthrough in unravelling the formation history of the Milky Way.
Instead of forming alone, our Galaxy merged with another large galaxy early in its life, around 10 billion years ago. The evidence is littered across the sky all around us, but it has taken Gaia and its extraordinary precision to show us what has been hiding in plain sight all along.
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Gravitational waves could shed light on dark matter Zurich, Switzerland (SPX) Oct 24, 2018
The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) will enable astrophysicists to observe gravitational waves emitted by black holes as they collide with or capture other black holes. LISA will consist of three spacecraft orbiting the sun in a constant triangle formation.
Gravitational waves passing through will distort the sides of the triangle slightly, and these minimal distortions can be de ... more |
Most detailed observations of material orbiting close to a black hole Munich, Germany (SPX) Nov 01, 2018
ESO's exquisitely sensitive GRAVITY instrument has added further evidence to the long-standing assumption that a supermassive black hole lurks in the centre of the Milky Way. New observations show clumps of gas swirling around at about 30% of the speed of light on a circular orbit just outside its event horizon - the first time material has been observed orbiting close to the point of no return, ... more |
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Shape-shifting robots perceive surroundings, make decisions for first time Ithaca NY (SPX) Nov 01, 2018
General-purpose robots have plenty of limitations. They can be expensive and cumbersome. They often accomplish only a single type of task.
But modular robots - composed of several interchangeable parts, or modules - are far more flexible. If one part breaks, it can be removed and replaced. Components can be rearranged as needed - or better yet, the robots can figure out how to reconfigure ... more |
China's space programs open up to world Beijing (XNA) Oct 24, 2018
When German scientists were conducting micro-gravity experiments on China's recoverable satellite in the 1980s, Chinese space engineer Tang Bochang was busy solving technical problems, while carefully keeping Chinese secrets.
Tang joined the China Academy of Space Technology in 1970, the same year China launched its first satellite. He has participated in the development of returnable sate ... more |
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