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Mars 2020 Rover Gets a Super Instrument![]() Pasadena CA (JPL) Jul 03, 2019 Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, have installed the SuperCam Mast Unit onto the Mars 2020 rover. The instrument's camera, laser and spectrometers can identify the chemical and mineral makeup of targets as small as a pencil point from a distance of more than 20 feet (6 meters). SuperCam is a next-generation version of the ChemCam instrument operating on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover. It has been developed jointly in the U.S., France and Spain. Once France deliver ... read more |
Inflatable Decelerator Will Hitch a Ride on the JPSS-2 SatelliteGreenbelt MD (SPX) Jul 02, 2019 An inflatable decelerator technology that could one day help humans land on Mars will fly on the same Atlas V rocket as the JPSS-2 satellite. The Apollo lunar landers fired retro rockets to la ... more
Mars 2020 Rover's 7-Foot-Long Robotic Arm InstalledPasadena CA (JPL) Jul 01, 2019 In this image, taken on June 21, 2019, engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, install the main robotic arm on the Mars 2020 rover. (A smaller arm to handle Mars sampl ... more
Paragon Space Development Corp awarded NASA contract for ISRU technologyTucson AZ (SPX) Jun 28, 2019 Paragon Space Development Corporation (Paragon), and its partner Giner Inc., are proud to announce that they are now under contract for the development and testing of the ISRU-derived water purifica ... more
A Martian methane belch melts awayWashington (AFP) June 25, 2019 The mystery of the Martian methane continues. ... more |
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| Previous Issues | Jul 03 | Jul 02 | Jul 01 | Jun 28 | Jun 27 |
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Experiments with salt-tolerant bacteria in brine have implications for life on MarsSan Francisco CA (SPX) Jun 24, 2019 Salt-tolerant bacteria grown in brine were able to revive after the brine was put through a cycle of drying and rewetting. The research has implications for the possibility of life on Mars, as well ... more
A Rover for Phobos and DeimosLe Bourget, France (SPX) Jun 21, 2019 Mars has two small moons, Phobos and Deimos. These are the target of the Japanese Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission, which also involves international partners. Scheduled for launch in 2024. i ... more
Curiosity detects unusually high methane levelsPasadena CA (JPL) Jun 24, 2019 This week, NASA's Curiosity Mars rover found a surprising result: the largest amount of methane ever measured during the mission - about 21 parts per billion units by volume (ppbv). One ppbv means t ... more
Mars 2020 Rover Gets Its WheelsPasadena CA (JPL) Jun 21, 2019 In this image, taken on June 13, 2019, engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, install the starboard legs and wheels - otherwise known as the mobility suspension - on ... more
NASA Invests $45M in US Small Businesses for Space Tech DevelopmentWashington DC (SPX) Jun 19, 2019 American businesses will help NASA land astronauts on the Moon in five years and establish a sustainable presence there, as part of the agency's larger Moon to Mars exploration approach. NASA has se ... more |
![]() NASA scientists find Sun's history buried in lunar crust
The Mast is raised for NASA's Mars 2020 roverPasadena CA (JPL) Jun 17, 2019 In this image, taken on June 5, 2019, engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, take a moment after attaching the remote sensing mast to the Mars 2020 rover in the Space ... more |
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Meteors explain Mars' cloud coverWashington (UPI) Jun 17, 2019 New research suggests the wispy clouds found 18 miles above the Marian surface are made of icy dust produced by meteors hitting the Red Planet's atmosphere. ... more
Robotic arm will raise the support structure and help the Mole hammerBerlin, Germany (SPX) Jun 11, 2019 There is a new plan to support the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) Mars 'Mole' that is part of NASA's InSight mission. The Heat Flow and Physical Properties ... more
Johnson-built device to help Mars 2020 rover search for signs of lifeHouston TX (SPX) Jun 13, 2019 Next summer, NASA is launching the Mars 2020 robotic rover to the Red Planet, loaded with equipment to search for signs that there once was life on Mars. One device, called the Scanning Habitable En ... more
Mars 2020 will blaze a trail for humansPasadena CA (JPL) Jun 13, 2019 When a female astronaut first sets foot on the Moon in 2024, the historic moment will represent a step toward another NASA first: eventually putting humans on Mars. NASA's latest robotic mission to ... more
Mars Helicopter Testing Enters Final PhasePasadena CA (JPL) Jun 10, 2019 NASA's Mars Helicopter flight demonstration project has passed a number of key tests with flying colors. In 2021, the small, autonomous helicopter will be the first vehicle in history to attempt to ... more |
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Centuries of Moon depictions on display in New York New York (AFP) July 1, 2019
Some 400 years of depictions of the Moon, particularly via photography, are going on display at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art ahead of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing.
The Met will unveil its "Apollo's Muse: The Moon in the Age of Photography" on Wednesday, approximately two weeks before of the five-decade mark since the 1969 space trip that landed the first two people ... more |
China plans to deploy almost 200 AU-controlled satellites into orbit Beijing (Sputnik) Jul 02, 2019
The satellites, which will reportedly include Yaogan-class remote sensing vehicles and named after the Leo constellation, are expected to be equipped with a self-piloting system.
Beijing plans to deploy 192 artificial intelligence satellites into orbit to observe the Earth's surface by 2021, China Central Television (CCTV) reports.
"It is safe to say that the satellites still remain ... more |
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How Historic Jupiter Comet Impact Led to Planetary Defense Washington DC (SPX) Jul 02, 2019
Twenty-five years ago, humanity first witnessed a collision between a comet and a planet. From July 16 to 22, 1994, enormous pieces of the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL9), discovered just a year prior, crashed into Jupiter over several days, creating huge, dark scars in the planet's atmosphere and lofting superheated plumes into its stratosphere.
The SL9 impact gave scientists the opportunity ... more |
Kuiper Belt Binary Orientations Support Streaming Instability Hypothesis San Antonio TX (SPX) Jun 27, 2019
A Southwest Research Institute-led team studied the orientation of distant solar system bodies to bolster the "streaming instability" theory of planet formation.
"One of the least understood steps in planet growth is the formation of planetesimals, bodies more than a kilometer across, which are just large enough to be held together by gravity," said SwRI scientist Dr. David Nesvorny, the l ... more |
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Dragonfly Mission to Study Titan for Origins, Signs of Life Tucson AZ (SPX) Jul 02, 2019
NASA has announced funding for the Dragonfly mission, featuring a drone-like rotorcraft lander that would explore the prebiotic chemistry and habitability of dozens of sites on Saturn's moon Titan.
The Dragonfly mission, part of NASA's New Frontiers program, will sample materials and determine surface composition to investigate Titan's organic chemistry and habitability, monitor atmospheri ... more |
SSTL expertise enables new space mission for the FORMOSAT-7 weather constellation Guildford UK (SPX) Jul 01, 2019
The successful launch on 24 June 2019 (EST) of 6 satellites for the FORMOSAT-7 joint US-Taiwanese weather forecasting constellation marks the start of another SSTL-enabled space mission, a cause for celebration at SSTL's UK HQ.
The launch on the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from the Kennedy Space Centre was attended by SSTL staff including Managing Director, Sarah Parker who said "We are ver ... more |
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What a Space Vacation Deal Bethesda, MD (SPX) Jul 02, 2019
Three weeks ago, NASA announced a new program to entice more commercial activities on the US side of the International Space Station (ISS). Starting in 2020, the station will be open to vacationers and others at a per-night-rate of $35,000.
While this is the first time the American side of the ISS has been promoted as a high-flying hotel, there have been five tourists who have visited the ... more |
Planet Seeding and Panspermia Haifa, Israel (SPX) Jun 27, 2019
The first detection of an interstellar asteroid/comet-like object visiting the solar system two years ago has sparked the ideas about the possibility of interstellar travel. New research from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology suggests that such objects also raise far reaching implications about the origins of planets across the galaxy, and possibly even the initial formation of the sol ... more |
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The RoboBee flies solo Boston MA (SPX) Jul 01, 2019
In the Harvard Microrobotics Lab, on a late afternoon in August, decades of research culminated in a moment of stress as the tiny, groundbreaking Robobee made its first solo flight.
Graduate student Elizabeth Farrell Helbling, PhD '19, and postdoctoral fellow Noah T. Jafferis from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), the Graduate School of Arts and ... more |
Research details response of sagebrush to 2017 solar eclipse Laramie WY (SPX) Jun 24, 2019
The total solar eclipse's swath across Wyoming and the United States in August 2017 provided an opportunity for scientists to study a variety of celestial and earthly phenomena, from learning more about the Sun's corona to the behavior of animals and plants.
University of Wyoming botany and hydrology doctoral student Daniel Beverly used the eclipse to examine the impact of the Moon's shado ... more |
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ULA says malfunction of Russian RD-180 rocket engine occurred in 2018 during Atlas V launch Moscow (Sputnik) Jul 02, 2019
The US United Launch Alliance (ULA) spokeswoman Julie Arnold said that there was an emergency situation with Russian-made RD-180 rocket engine in 2018 during a launch of Atlas V carrier rocket, noting that the incident did not affect the flight.
In June, the US Government Accountability Office released a report on NASA's Commercial Crew Program that noted an emergency situation with an eng ... more |
Hubble, Spitzer telescopes conduct chemical survey of mid-size exoplanet Washington (UPI) Jul 2, 2019
For the first time, scientists, with the help of a pair of NASA space telescopes, have identified the chemical signature of the atmosphere surrounding a mid-sized exoplanet.
In size, mass and composition, Gliese 3470 b is like a cross between Earth and Neptune - a rocky core surrounded by a thick layer of gas. The exoplanet weighs 12.6 Earth masses. Neptune by comparison, weighs 17 Ear ... more |
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Researchers find quantum gravity has no symmetry Kashiwa, Japan (SPX) Jun 21, 2019
A new study by a pair of researchers in the US and Japan has found that, when gravity is combined with quantum mechanics, symmetry is not possible.
"Many physicists believe that there must a beautiful set of laws in Nature and that one way to quantify the beauty is by symmetry. Some of the symmetries may be hidden in our world, but they should manifest themselves if we look at Nature at a ... more |
Scientists capture atomic motion in four dimensions for the first time Washington (UPI) Jun 27, 2019
Scientists have for the first time captured atomic nucleation in 4D, the movement of atoms across space and time.
Nucleation is the coalescence of atoms and molecules that happens as matter changes states - during freezing, melting or evaporation. Using a new high-tech imaging technique, scientists were able observe the movement of atoms during nucleation in four dimensions.
"Th ... more |
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Safe, low-cost, modular, self-programming robots Munich, Germany (SPX) Jul 01, 2019
Many work processes would be almost unthinkable today without robots. But robots operating in manufacturing facilities have often posed risks to workers because they are not responsive enough to their surroundings. To make it easier for people and robots to work in close proximity in the future, Prof. Matthias Althoff of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has developed a new system: IMPROV ... more |
China plans to deploy almost 200 AU-controlled satellites into orbit Beijing (Sputnik) Jul 02, 2019
The satellites, which will reportedly include Yaogan-class remote sensing vehicles and named after the Leo constellation, are expected to be equipped with a self-piloting system.
Beijing plans to deploy 192 artificial intelligence satellites into orbit to observe the Earth's surface by 2021, China Central Television (CCTV) reports.
"It is safe to say that the satellites still remain ... more |
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