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InSight places its first instrument on Mars![]() Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 21, 2018 NASA's InSight lander has deployed its first instrument onto the surface of Mars, completing a major mission milestone. New images from the lander show the seismometer on the ground, its copper-colored covering faintly illuminated in the Martian dusk. It looks as if all is calm and all is bright for InSight, heading into the end of the year. "InSight's timetable of activities on Mars has gone better than we hoped," said InSight Project Manager Tom Hoffman, who is based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab ... read more |
Mars 2020 rover to capture sound on the Red PlanetAlleroed, Denmark (SPX) Dec 21, 2018 In February 2021, NASA's Mars 2020 Rover is scheduled to touch down on the Red Planet. The spacecraft will have the capability to capture imagery and sound as the Mars 2020 vehicle descends through ... more
Mars Express gets festive: A winter wonderland on MarsParis (ESA) Dec 21, 2018 This image shows what appears to be a large patch of fresh, untrodden snow - a dream for any lover of the holiday season. However, it's a little too distant for a last-minute winter getaway: this fe ... more
Finding ways to protect crews from the effects of space radiationHouston TX (SPX) Dec 21, 2018 In the near future, crews will embark on multi-month missions to the Moon, and eventually Mars and beyond. All incredible adventures, however, have their hazards, and a major one for crews on long-d ... more
InSight Engineers Have Made a Martian Rock GardenPasadena CA (JPL) Dec 19, 2018 NASA's InSight lander is due to set its first science instrument on Mars in the coming days. But engineers here on Earth already saw it happen - last week. Like NASA's Curiosity rover, InSight ... more |
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InSight's robotic arm ready for some lifting on MarsWashington (UPI) Dec 7, 2018 NASA's newest Mars lander InSight is slowly readying itself for its scientific mission. The newest images captured by the lander's camera, and shared by NASA, showcase the spacecraft's robotic arm. ... more
Mars 2020 rover mission camera system 'Mastcam-Z' testing begins at ASUTempe AZ (SPX) Dec 06, 2018 Arizona State University research technician and Mars 2020 Mastcam-Z calibration engineer Andy Winhold waited patiently on the loading dock of ASU's Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building ... more
Over Five Months Without Word From OpportunityPasadena CA (JPL) Dec 03, 2018 Mars atmospheric opacity (tau) over the rover site remains at a storm-free level of 0.8. Since loss of signal on Sol 5111 (June 10, 2018), 359 recovery commands have been radiated including on ... more
Life at home on Mars in a Big SandboxPasadena CA (JPL) Dec 03, 2018 With InSight safely on the surface of Mars, the mission team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, is busy learning more about the spacecraft's landing site. They knew when In ... more
Safely on Mars, InSight unfolds its arrays and snaps some picsWashington (AFP) Nov 29, 2018 After safely landing on Mars following its nearly seven month journey, NASA has released the first pictures taken by its InSight spacecraft, which has opened it solar arrays to charge batteries. ... more |
![]() SpaceBok robotic hopper being tested at ESA's Mars Yard
NASA Hears MarCO CubeSats Loud and Clear from MarsPasadena CA (JPL) Nov 28, 2018 NASA's MarCO mission was built to see whether two experimental, briefcase-sized spacecraft could survive the trip to deep space, and the two CubeSats proved more than able. After cruising along behi ... more |
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Mars Mole HP3 Arrives at the Red PlanetBonn, Germany (SPX) Nov 28, 2018 Just a few weeks from now, the German Aerospace Center's HP3 Mole will start hammering its way automatically into the subsoil of the Red Planet to measure its inner heat. "By participating in ... more
With InSight on Mars, Scientists Feel Earthly Relief, Get to WorkIthaca NY (SPX) Nov 28, 2018 After cruising for 205 days over 301 million miles, NASA's InSight spacecraft - a mission designed to probe beneath the surface of Mars - landed flawlessly Nov. 26 at Elysium Planitia. Cornell Unive ... more
InSight unfolds to catch some solar rays on MarsPasadena CA (JPL) Nov 27, 2018 NASA's InSight has sent signals to Earth indicating that its solar panels are open and collecting sunlight on the Martian surface. NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter relayed the signals, which were receive ... more
Shaping the surface of Mars with water, wind and iceParis (ESA) Nov 26, 2018 ESA's Mars Express has imaged an intriguing part of the Red Planet's surface: a rocky, fragmented, furrowed escarpment lying at the boundary of the northern and southern hemisphere. This region is ... more
Mars InSight lands on Red PlanetPasadena, United States (AFP) Nov 26, 2018 Cheers and applause erupted at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Monday as a $993 million unmanned lander, called InSight, touched down on the Red Planet and managed to send back its first picture. ... more |
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Getting a glimpse inside the moon Edmonton, Canada (SPX) Dec 21, 2018
New research from University of Alberta physicists provides the first-ever model of our Moon's rotational dynamics, taking into consideration its solid inner core. Their model helps to explain why, as seen from Earth, the Moon appears to wobble on its axis.
The answer, said physicist Mathieu Dumberry, lies in the complex geometry of the Moon's orbit, locked in what is known as a Cassini st ... more |
China's Chang'e-4 probe enters lunar orbit Beijing (XNA) Dec 13, 2018
China's Chang'e-4 probe decelerated and entered the lunar orbit Wednesday, completing a vital step on its way to make the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced.
After flying about 110 hours from earth, an engine on the probe was ignited when it was 129 km above the surface of the moon, in line with instructions sent fr ... more |
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Navigating NASA's first mission to the Trojan asteroids Greenbelt MD (SPX) Dec 21, 2018
In science fiction, explorers can hop in futuristic spaceships and traverse half the galaxy in the blink of a plot hole. However, this sidelines the navigational acrobatics required in order to guarantee real-life mission success.
In 2021, the feat of navigation that is the Lucy mission will launch. To steer Lucy towards its targets doesn't simply involve programming a map into a spacecraf ... more |
Ultima Thule's First Mystery: Lack of a 'Light Curve' Laurel MD (SPX) Dec 21, 2018
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is bearing down on Ultima Thule, its New Year's flyby target in the far away Kuiper Belt. Among its approach observations over the past three months, the spacecraft has been taking hundreds of images to measure Ultima's brightness and how it varies as the object rotates.
Those measurements have produced the mission's first mystery about Ultima. Even though sc ... more |
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NASA Research Reveals Saturn is Losing Its Rings at "Worst-Case-Scenario" Rate Greenbelt MD (SPX) Dec 18, 2018
New NASA research confirms that Saturn is losing its iconic rings at the maximum rate estimated from Voyager 1 and 2 observations made decades ago. The rings are being pulled into Saturn by gravity as a dusty rain of ice particles under the influence of Saturn's magnetic field.
"We estimate that this 'ring rain' drains an amount of water products that could fill an Olympic-sized swimming p ... more |
Atmospheric aerosol formation from biogenic vapors is strongly affected by air pollutants Helsinki, Finland (SPX) Dec 17, 2018
The formation of new aerosol particles is a complicated process. Researchers have only recently started to understand this process on a molecular level after instruments able to detect nanometer-scale particles became available.
The human population has altered the composition of atmospheric gas in several ways. Sulfur dioxide from industrial emissions, nitrogen oxides from traffic, and am ... more |
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NASA astronaut, crewmates return to Earth after 197-Day mission in space Houston TX (SPX) Dec 21, 2018
Three members of the International Space Station's Expedition 57 crew, including NASA astronaut Serena Aunon-Chancellor, returned to Earth Thursday, safely landing at 12:02 a.m. EST (11:02 a.m. local time) in Kazakhstan.
Aunon-Chancellor and her crewmates, Expedition 57 Commander Alexander Gerst of ESA (European Space Agency) and Soyuz Commander Sergey Prokopyev, launched June 6 and arrive ... more |
NASA study finds sugars, key ingredient for life, can form in space Washington DC (Sputnik) Dec 21, 2018
A new study by NASA scientists has proven that sugar molecules - one of the building blocks of life - can form in conditions similar to those in outer space. The find provides further grist to the mill of the argument that life on Earth got some sort of help from above in its formation.
A new paper published on Tuesday by scientists from the National Atmospheric and Space Administration's ... more |
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New foldable drone can navigate narrow holes Washington (UPI) Dec 12, 2018
Drones can be used to explore environs too difficult and dangerous for humans to navigate, like a burned out building or the rubble of a collapsed bridge. But often, entrances to and passageways through these environments are quite small - holes and cracks measuring just a few inches wide.
Engineers at the University of Zurich have developed a foldable drone that can shrink itself to f ... more |
Preparing for discovery with NASA's Parker Solar Probe Greenbelt MD (SPX) Dec 13, 2018
Weeks after Parker Solar Probe made the closest-ever approach to a star, the science data from the first solar encounter is just making its way into the hands of the mission's scientists. It's a moment many in the field have been anticipating for years, thinking about what they'll do with such never-before-seen data, which has the potential to shed new light on the physics of our star, the Sun. ... more |
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NZ-Dutch space startup raises 3M dollars Auckland NZ (SPX) Dec 21, 2018
Dawn Aerospace, a New Zealand-Dutch startup building 100% reusable rockets for satellite delivery, has this week raised $3.35m (NZD) of investment from Kiwi, American and Dutch investors.
The money will be used to commercialise its world-leading satellite propulsion systems and begin development of it's Mk-II Spaceplane.
The company makes reusable rockets designed to carry small sa ... more |
Webb Telescope wrapped in a mobile clean room Greenbelt MD (SPX) Dec 21, 2018
Before moving NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, and to assure that it's kept clean and safe, Webb got a very special wrapping treatment. The wrapping acts as a "mobile clean room," safeguarding the technological marvel from contaminants.
All satellites and observatories are created in clean rooms. Clean rooms filter out harmful contaminants, as even a speck of dust or a fingerprint could ... more |
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New squeezing record at GEO600 gravitational-wave detector Hannover, Germany (SPX) Dec 17, 2018
The detection of Einstein's gravitational waves relies on highly precise laser measurements of small length changes. The kilometer-size detectors of the international network (GEO600, LIGO, Virgo) are so sensitive that they are fundamentally limited by tiny quantum mechanical effects.
These cause a background noise which overlaps with gravitational-wave signals. This noise is always presen ... more |
Beyond the black hole singularity with loop quantum gravity University Park PA (SPX) Dec 21, 2018
Our first glimpses into the physics that exist near the center of a black hole are being made possible using "loop quantum gravity" - a theory that uses quantum mechanics to extend gravitational physics beyond Einstein's general theory of relativity.
Loop quantum gravity, originated at Penn State and subsequently developed by a large number of scientists worldwide, is opening up a new para ... more |
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Self-driving rovers tested in Mars-like Morocco Paris (ESA) Dec 21, 2018
Robots invaded the Sahara Desert for Europe's largest rover field test, taking place in a Mars-like part of Morocco. For two weeks three rovers and more than 40 engineers tested automated navigation systems at up to five different sites.
This marked the end of the first phase of the strategic research cluster on space robotics technologies, a scheme funded by the European Union's Horizon 2 ... more |
China's Chang'e-4 probe enters lunar orbit Beijing (XNA) Dec 13, 2018
China's Chang'e-4 probe decelerated and entered the lunar orbit Wednesday, completing a vital step on its way to make the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced.
After flying about 110 hours from earth, an engine on the probe was ignited when it was 129 km above the surface of the moon, in line with instructions sent fr ... more |
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