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Curiosity Says Farewell to Mars' Vera Rubin Ridge![]() Pasadena CA (JPL) Jan 29, 2019 NASA's Curiosity rover has taken its last selfie on Vera Rubin Ridge and descended toward a clay region of Mount Sharp. The twisting ridge on Mars has been the rover's home for more than a year, providing scientists with new samples - and new questions - to puzzle over. On Dec. 15, Curiosity drilled its 19th sample at a location on the ridge called Rock Hall. On Jan. 15, the spacecraft used its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on the end of its robotic arm to take a series of 57 pi ... read more |
NASA's Opportunity Rover Logs 15 Years on MarsPasadena CA (JPL) Jan 25, 2019 NASA's Opportunity rover begins its 16th year on the surface of Mars today. The rover landed in a region of the Red Planet called Meridiani Planum on Jan. 24, 2004, sending its first signal back to ... more
Prolonged spaceflight could weaken astronauts' immune systemsTucson AZ (SPX) Jan 24, 2019 NASA hopes to send humans to Mars by 2030 on a round-trip mission that could take up to three years - far longer than any human has ever traveled in space. Such long-term spaceflights could adversel ... more
ExoMars software passes ESA Mars Yard driving testNoordwijk, Netherlands (SPX) Jan 18, 2019 Navigation software destined for the ExoMars 2020 mission to the Red Planet has passed a rover-based driving test at ESA's 'Mars Yard'. ESA's ExoMars rover will drive to multiple locations and ... more
Dust storm activity appears to pick up south of OpportunityPasadena CA (JPL) Jan 18, 2019 Dust storm activity appears to have picked up again, with a regional storm tracking south about 124 miles (200 kilometers) to the west of Opportunity. The storm is expected to increase in opac ... more |
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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
Over Six Months Without Word From OpportunityPasadena CA (JPL) Dec 24, 2018 Mars atmospheric opacity (tau) over the rover site remains at a storm-free range around 1.0. No signal from Opportunity has been heard since Sol 5111 (June 10, 2018). Opportunity likely experi ... more
3D photogrammetric evidence for trace fossils at Vera Rubin Ridge, Gale Crater, MarsBuckingham UK (SPX) Dec 24, 2018 On sol 1922 and 1923, NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover (Curiosity) mission in Gale Crater, using its microscopic imager (MAHLI) returned over 84 images to Earth of enigmatic metallic dark- ... more
The C-Space Project Opens Mars Base as a Space Education FacilityJinchang, China (SPX) Dec 24, 2018 The C-Space Project recently unveiled its Mars Base set in the Gobi Desert, leaving many curious about its objectives. The C-Space Project, where the C stands for Community, Culture and Creativity, ... 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 |
![]() InSight places its first instrument on Mars
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 |
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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
Opportunity team performs more frequent communication attempts throughout each dayPasadena CA (JPL) Dec 17, 2018 Mars atmospheric opacity (tau) over the rover site remains at a storm-free range around 1.0. No signal from Opportunity has been heard since Sol 5111 (June 10, 2018). Opportunity likely experi ... more
Planetary scientists assist in capturing image of Insight from orbitLondon, Canada (SPX) Dec 14, 2018 Houston, there is no problem here. Eric Pilles assisted in capturing - for the first-time ever - extraordinary and highly significant scientific images of the NASA InSight robotic lander using HiRIS ... more
NASA's InSight takes its first selfiePasadena CA (JPL) Dec 12, 2018 NASA's InSight lander isn't camera-shy. The spacecraft used a camera on its robotic arm to take its first selfie - a mosaic made up of 11 images. This is the same imaging process used by NASA's Curi ... more
NASA's InSight lander 'hears' wind on MarsTampa (AFP) Dec 7, 2018 Humans can now hear the haunting, low rumble of wind on Mars for the first time, after NASA's InSight lander captured vibrations from the breeze on the Red Planet, the US space agency said Friday. ... more |
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Preparing astronaut lunar exploration Lanzarote, Spain (ESA) Jan 25, 2019
Developing the most efficient and safest way to return to the Moon starts on Earth. European astronauts and spacewalk experts are getting ready for the future of Moon exploration with electronic aids, upgraded geological tools from the Apollo era and improved scientific protocols.
In November, ESA conducted a moonwalk simulation in Lanzarote, Spain as part of Pangaea-X, a test campaign tha ... more |
China to deepen lunar exploration: space expert Beijing (XNA) Jan 14, 2019
As the Chang'e-4 probe made the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon, a senior Chinese space expert said China will deepen its lunar exploration and venture further into the unknown.
China's current lunar program includes three phases: orbiting, landing, and returning. The first two phases have been accomplished, and the next step is to launch the Chang'e-5 probe to collect ... more |
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Luxembourg and Belgium join forces to develop space resources Luxembourg (SPX) Jan 29, 2019
Didier Reynders, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence of the Kingdom of Belgium, and Etienne Schneider, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, signed a joint declaration at the Palais d'Egmont in Brussels on 23 January 2019 in which the two countries commit to collaborate on the development of an international framework for ... more |
New Horizons' Newest and Best-Yet View of Ultima Thule Laurel MD (SPX) Jan 25, 2019
The wonders - and mysteries - of Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69 continue to multiply as NASA's New Horizons spacecraft beams home new images of its New Year's Day 2019 flyby target.
This image, taken during the historic Jan. 1 flyby of what's informally known as Ultima Thule, is the clearest view yet of this remarkable, ancient object in the far reaches of the solar system - and the first sm ... more |
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Scientist sheds light on Titan's mysterious nitrogen atmosphere San Antonio TX (SPX) Jan 24, 2019
A new Southwest Research Institute study tackles one of the greatest mysteries about Titan, one of Saturn's moons: the origin of its thick, nitrogen-rich atmosphere. The study posits that one key to Titan's mysterious atmosphere is the "cooking" of organic material in the moon's interior.
"Titan is a very interesting moon because it has this very thick atmosphere, which makes it unique amo ... more |
Russia to launch Arctic weather satellite Moscow (Sputnik) Jan 21, 2019
The first Russian satellite for weather forecasting and monitoring climate and environment in the Arctic region, Arktika-M, is planned to be sent to near-earth orbit in June 2019, a source in the Russian space industry told Sputnik on Sunday.
"The launch of the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle from the Baikonur cosmodrome with Fregat booster and the first hydrometeorological satellite Arktika-M i ... more |
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Blue Origin to make 10th flight test of space tourist rocket Washington (AFP) Jan 22, 2019 Blue Origin, the rocket company headed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is poised to launch the 10th test flight of its unmanned New Shepard rocket on Wednesday as it competes with Virgin Galactic to become the first to carry tourists on brief visits to space.
The liftoff is scheduled for 8:50 am Central time (1450 GMT) from a Texas launchpad. The rocket will be carrying several science experim ... more |
Where Is Earth's Submoon? Washington DC (SPX) Jan 24, 2019
"Can moons have moons?" This simple question - asked by the four-year-old son of Carnegie's Juna Kollmeier - started it all. Not long after this initial bedtime query, Kollmeier was coordinating a program at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP) on the Milky Way while her one-time college classmate Sean Raymond of Universite de Bordeaux was attending a parallel KITP program on the d ... more |
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Taiwan unveils new drone as China tensions mount Pingtung, Taiwan (AFP) Jan 24, 2019
Taiwan's navy showed off its latest long-range surveillance drone Thursday as the island's outgunned armed forces push to counter China's increasingly muscular rhetoric and military exercises.
China still sees Taiwan as part of its territory to be reunified, despite the two sides being ruled separately since they split in 1949 after a civil war.
Beijing has said it will not hesitate to u ... more |
Surprising Explanation for Differences in Southern and Northern Lights Bergen, Norway (SPX) Jan 25, 2019
For many years, scientists assumed the aurora seen around the north pole was identical to the aurora seen around the south pole. The poles are connected by magnetic field lines, and auroral displays are caused by charged particles streaming along these field lines. Because the charged particles follow these field lines, it would make sense that the auroras would be mirror images of each other. ... more |
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Race for 'hypersonic' weapons heats up as France joins fray Paris (AFP) Jan 28, 2019
World powers are vying to develop so-called "hypersonic" weapons that travel several times the speed of sound, with France the latest to join a field led so far by Russia and China.
Hypersonics are like missiles that travel at over five times the speed of sound (Mach 5) but are able to manoeuvre in mid-flight, making them much harder to track and intercept than traditional projectiles.
F ... more |
Pan-STARRS Survey Issues Biggest Astronomical Data Release Ever Honolulu HI (SPX) Jan 29, 2019
The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, in conjunction with the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy (IfA), is releasing the second edition of data from Pan-STARRS - the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System - the world's largest digital sky survey.
This second release contains over 1.6 petabytes [1] of data, making it the largest volume ... 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 |
Active galaxies point to new physics of cosmic expansion Paris (ESA) Jan 29, 2019
Investigating the history of our cosmos with a large sample of distant 'active' galaxies observed by ESA's XMM-Newton, a team of astronomers found there might be more to the early expansion of the Universe than predicted by the standard model of cosmology.
According to the leading scenario, our Universe contains only a few percent of ordinary matter. One quarter of the cosmos is made of th ... more |
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Automation to hit most jobs, but overall impact 'muted': study Washington (AFP) Jan 24, 2019
Artificial intelligence and automation will lead to job losses in "virtually all occupational groups" over the coming decades in the United States, but the overall impact on employment will be "muted," a prominent think tank study said Thursday.
"Almost no occupation will be unaffected by the adoption of currently available technologies," said the Brookings Institution study.
The researc ... more |
China to deepen lunar exploration: space expert Beijing (XNA) Jan 14, 2019
As the Chang'e-4 probe made the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon, a senior Chinese space expert said China will deepen its lunar exploration and venture further into the unknown.
China's current lunar program includes three phases: orbiting, landing, and returning. The first two phases have been accomplished, and the next step is to launch the Chang'e-5 probe to collect ... more |
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