Mars News, Science, Technology at MarsDaily.com

August 15, 2019

NASA descends on Icelandic lava field to prepare for Mars

The Lambahraun Lava Field, Islande (AFP) Aug 14, 2019
To prepare for the next mission to Mars in 2020, NASA has taken to the lava fields of Iceland to get its new robotic space explorer ready for the job. With its black basalt sand, wind-swept dunes and craggy peaks, the Lambahraun lava field at the foot of Iceland's second biggest glacier, Langjokull, was chosen as a stand-in for the Red Planet's surface. For three weeks, 15 scientists and engineers sent by the US space agency descended on the site, 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the capital, Reyk ... read more

NASA's portable trash bin-sized nuclear power module to be ready by 2022
Washington DC (Sputnik) Aug 14, 2019
The reactor is expected to fulfil a variety of tasks on the red planet, ranging from supplying astronauts with heat and air, to powering 3D printers that will be used for constructing buildings. ... more

Methane not released by wind on Mars, experts find
Newcastle UK (SPX) Aug 13, 2019
Wind erosion has been ruled out as the primary cause of methane gas release on Mars, Newcastle University academics have shown. Methane can be produced over time through both geological and bi ... more

Optometrists verify Mars 2020 rover's perfect vision
Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 07, 2019
Equipped with visionary science instruments, the Mars 2020 rover (https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020) underwent an "eye" exam after several cameras were installed on it. The rover contains an armada of ... more

Dark meets light on Mars
Paris (ESA) Aug 09, 2019
ESA's Mars Express has captured the cosmic contrast of Terra Cimmeria, a region in the southern highlands of Mars marked by impact craters, water-carved valleys, and sand and dust in numerous chocol ... more

Previous Issues

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Aug 12

Aug 11

Aug 09

Aug 08

New finds for Mars rover, seven years after landing
Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 07, 2019
NASA's Curiosity rover has come a long way since touching down on Mars seven years ago. It has traveled a total of 13 miles (21 kilometers) and ascended 1,207 feet (368 meters) to its current locati ... more

MEDLI2 installation on Mars 2020 aeroshell begins
Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 05, 2019
Hardware installed onto NASA's Mars 2020 entry vehicle this week will help to increase the safety of future Mars landings. Charged with returning astronauts to the Moon by 2024, NASA's Artemis ... more

World first as kits designed to extract metals from the Moon and Mars blast off for space station tests
London, UK (SPX) Jul 30, 2019
Astronauts will test the devices on board the International Space Station, following the successful launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket last night (at 23:01 BST, Thursday 25 July) from NASA's Kenne ... more

Mars 2020 rover does biceps curls
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jul 30, 2019
The robotic arm on NASA's Mars 2020 rover does not have deltoids, triceps or biceps, but it can still curl heavy weights with the best. In this time-lapse video, taken July 19, 2019, in the clean ro ... more

Europe prepares for Mars courier
Paris (ESA) Jul 26, 2019
The first round-trip to the Red Planet will see a European orbiter bringing martian samples back to Earth. ESA is opening the door to industry to build the spacecraft that will deliver the precious ... more

Fueling of NASA's Mars 2020 rover power system begins
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jul 26, 2019
NASA's Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, Thomas Zurbuchen, has given the go-ahead to begin fueling the Mars 2020 rover's Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generato ... more

Trump pits Apollo 11 astronauts against NASA chief
Washington (AFP) July 19, 2019
President Donald Trump welcomed surviving Apollo 11 crew members Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins to the White House Friday, using the occasion to tell his space chief he would prefer to go straight to Mars without returning to the Moon. ... more

ExoMars radio science instrument readied for Red Planet
Paris (ESA) Jul 23, 2019
An ambitious instrument for ESA's ExoMars 2020 mission has passed its testing in conditions resembling those on the Red Planet. It will now be transported to Russia for its acceptance review, follow ... more

Red wine compound could help protect astronauts on trip to Mars
Washington (UPI) Jul 18, 2019
Resveratrol, a phenol found in red wine, could be used to protect the muscles of astronauts during extended stays in space, like on a mission to Mars. ... more

Mars 2020 Rover: T-Minus One Year and Counting
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jul 22, 2019
The launch period for NASA's Mars 2020 rover opens exactly one year from July 17, 2020, and extends through Aug. 5, 2020. The mission will launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and ... more

Red wine's resveratrol could help Mars explorers stay strong

A material way to make Mars habitable
Boston MA (SPX) Jul 17, 2019
People have long dreamed of re-shaping the Martian climate to make it livable for humans. Carl Sagan was the first outside of the realm of science fiction to propose terraforming. In a 1971 paper, S ... more

Aerogel could be a key building material for Mars
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jul 17, 2019
Raising crops on Mars is far easier in science fiction than it will be in real life: The Red Planet is an inhospitable world. Among other challenges, subzero temperatures mean water can persist on t ... more

NASA funds demo of 3D-Printed spacecraft parts made, assembled in orbit
Huntsville AL (SPX) Jul 13, 2019
NASA has awarded a $73.7 million contract to Made In Space, Inc. of Mountain View, California, to demonstrate the ability of a small spacecraft, called Archinaut One, to manufacture and assemble spa ... more

NASA SLS rocket testing ensures astronaut safety, mission success
Huntsville AL (SPX) Jul 11, 2019
As the world reflects on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo missions, NASA is looking forward to its next giant leaps. One way NASA ensures the safety of astronauts and the success of the Artemis mi ... more

Sustaining Life on Long-Term Crewed Missions Will Require Planetary Resources
Cleveland OH (SPX) Jul 09, 2019
When astronauts live and work on the Moon, they will need access to life-sustaining oxygen, water and other resources. On the Moon, and eventually Mars, they could collect local resources on the sur ... more

InSight Uncovers the 'Mole' on Mars
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jul 05, 2019
Behold the "mole": The heat-sensing spike that NASA's InSight lander deployed on the Martian surface is now visible. Last week, the spacecraft's robotic arm successfully removed the support structur ... more

Chandrayaan-2 enters Lunar Transfer Trajectory
New Delhi, India (SPX) Aug 15, 2019

The final orbit raising manoeuvre of Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft was successfully carried out August 14, 2019 at 02:21 am IST. During this maneuver, the spacecraft's liquid engine was fired for about 1203 seconds. With this, Chandrayaan-2 entered the Lunar Transfer Trajectory. Earlier, the spacecraft's orbit was progressively increased five times during July 23 to August 06, 2019. The health ... more

+ India's moon-bound Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft set to leave Earth's orbit

+ Kilopower technology could be used for lunar night operations

+ China's lunar rover travels 271 meters on moon's far side

+ First steps in getting Canada to the Moon

+ ISRO Chandrayaan-2 completes 5th orbital manoeuvre

+ Moon 2069: lunar tourism and deep space launches a century on from Apollo?

+ China's micro lunar orbiter crashes into Moon under control

China launches first private rocket capable of carrying satellites
Beijing (AFP) July 25, 2019

A Chinese startup successfully launched the country's first commercial rocket capable of carrying satellites into orbit Thursday, as the space race between China and the US heats up. Beijing-based Interstellar Glory Space Technology - also known as iSpace - said it launched two satellites into orbit around 1:00 pm Beijing time (0500 GMT) from Jiuquan, a state launch facility in the Gobi de ... more

+ Chinese scientists say goodbye to Tiangong-2

+ China's space lab Tiangong 2 destroyed in controlled fall to earth

+ From Moon to Mars, Chinese space engineers rise to new challenges

+ China plans to deploy almost 200 AU-controlled satellites into orbit

+ Luokung and Land Space to develop control system for space and ground assets

+ Yaogan-33 launch fails in north China, Possible debris recovered in Laos

+ China develops new-generation rockets for upcoming missions

Critical Observation Made on During First Night of Return to Operations
Honolulu HI (SPX) Aug 13, 2019

The existing astronomical observatories on Maunakea returned to operations this weekend, and it didn't take long for a significant result to be achieved, not only for science, but for assuring the safety of the Earth. Observations of the near-Earth asteroid 2006 QV89 made on August 11 with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) have ruled out any potential future impact threat to the Ea ... more

+ Four Candidate Sites Selected for Asteroid Sample Collection

+ Largest impact crater in the US, buried for 35 million years

+ Asteroid's features to be named after mythical birds

+ Asteroid's surprise close approach illustrates need for more eyes on the sky

+ Aquariids peak on Monday starts month of meteor showers

+ What gives meteorites their shape

+ MASCOT Confirms What Scientists Have Long Suspected

Hubble showcases new portrait of Jupiter
Garching, Germany (SPX) Aug 09, 2019

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope reveals the intricate, detailed beauty of Jupiter's clouds in this new image taken on 27 June 2019 [1]. It features the planet's trademark Great Red Spot and a more intense colour palette in the clouds swirling in the planet's turbulent atmosphere than seen in previous years. Among the most striking features in the image are the rich colours of the cloud ... more

+ Giant Impact Disrupted Jupiter's Core

+ Young Jupiter Was Smacked Head-On by Massive Newborn Planet

+ Jupiter's auroras powered by alternating current

+ Kuiper Belt Binary Orientations Support Streaming Instability Hypothesis

+ Study Shows How Icy Outer Solar System Satellites May Have Formed

+ Astronomers See "Warm" Glow of Uranus's Rings

+ Table salt compound spotted on Europa

A brief astronomical history of Saturn's amazing rings
Los Angeles CA (The Conversation) Aug 15, 2019

Many dream of what they would do had they a time machine. Some would travel 100 million years back in time, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Not many, though, would think of taking a telescope with them, and if, having done so, observe Saturn and its rings. Whether our time-traveling astronomer would be able to observe Saturn's rings is debatable. Have the rings, in some shape or form, exi ... more

+ Yale researcher has a window seat for planning NASA's Dragonfly mission

+ SMU's 'Titans in a jar' could answer key questions ahead of NASA's space exploration

+ The mission of a lifetime: a drone on Titan in 2034

+ Dragonfly Mission to Study Titan for Origins, Signs of Life

+ NASA's Dragonfly Will Fly Around Titan Looking for Origins, Signs of Life

+ "Bathtub rings" around Titan's lakes might be made of alien crystals

+ Cassini reveals new sculpting in Saturn rings

Using lasers to visualize molecular mysteries in our atmosphere
Washington DC (SPX) Aug 12, 2019

Invisible to the human eye, molecular interactions between gases and liquids underpin much of our lives, including the absorption of oxygen molecules into our lungs, many industrial processes and the conversion of organic compounds within our atmosphere. But difficulties in measuring gas-liquid collisions have so far prevented the fundamental exploration of these processes. Kenneth McKendr ... more

+ Making microbes that transform greenhouse gases

+ Making sense of remote sensing data

+ NASA's Spacecraft Atmosphere Monitor Goes to Work Aboard the International Space Station

+ Earth's last magnetic field reversal took far longer than once thought

+ NASA targets coastal ecosystems with new space sensor

+ CryoSat conquers ice on Arctic lakes

+ Roscosmos postpones launch of second Arctic weather satellite

Xplore To Send Celestis Memorials to the Moon, and Beyond
Washington DC (SPX) Aug 13, 2019

Xplore and Celestis will host Celestis Memorial Spaceflight payloads on Xplore's planned missions to the Moon, and beyond, starting in 2021. This event marks Celestis' first Voyager Mission, called "the Enterprise Flight." "Celestis is a pioneer of the commercial space age and a proven provider of uniquely compelling celebrations of lives well-lived with space-based memorial services for c ... more

+ India orders Russian equipment for first manned space mission

+ The first DJ in space

+ Solar sail craft could revolutionize space travel

+ Orion Service Module completes critical propulsion test

+ Two weeks of science and beyond on ISS

+ Study identifies way to enhance the sustainability of manufactured soils

+ As iPhone sales sputter, Apple moves toward reinvention, again

NASA plans for Webb to zero in on TRAPPIST-1 atmospheres within a year of launch
Seattle WA (SPX) Aug 14, 2019

New research from astronomers at the University of Washington uses the intriguing TRAPPIST-1 planetary system as a kind of laboratory to model not the planets themselves, but how the coming James Webb Space Telescope might detect and study their atmospheres, on the path toward looking for life beyond Earth. The study, led by Jacob Lustig-Yaeger, a UW doctoral student in astronomy, finds th ... more

+ Timeline suggests 'giant planet migration' was earlier than predicted

+ How astronomers chase new worlds in TESS data

+ How Many Earth-like Planets Are Around Sun-like Stars

+ Fluorescent glow may reveal hidden life in the cosmos

+ Dead planets can 'broadcast' for up to a billion years

+ Pre-life building blocks spontaneously align in evolutionary experiment

+ Hordes of Earth's toughest creatures may now be living on Moon

Skyfront Perimeter Drone Performs The First Beyond-Line-of-Sight Flight under FAA Part 107
Fairbanks AK (SPX) Aug 15, 2019

Skyfront's Perimeter 4 long-range hybrid gas-electric drone successfully performed the first civilian beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) flight without visual observers under the FAA's Part 107 rules. This flight is a significant step toward the safe integration of unmanned aerial vehicles into the national airspace. During the round-trip flight, the Perimeter UAV flew over mountainous, r ... more

+ Teams test swarm autonomy in second major OFFSET field experiment

+ S.Korea tests drone delivery in remote regions

+ DLR conducts flight tests for gyrocopter drones

+ General Atomics to build parts, equipment for MQ-1C Gray Eagle drone

+ State Dept. approves $950M drone support services sale to South Korea

+ Automating complex design of universal controller for hybrid drones

+ US may have downed two Iranian drones last week: general

NASA's MMS finds first interplanetary shock
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Aug 09, 2019

The Magnetospheric Multiscale mission - MMS - has spent the past four years using high-resolution instruments to see what no other spacecraft can. Recently, MMS made the first high-resolution measurements of an interplanetary shock. These shocks, made of particles and electromagnetic waves, are launched by the Sun. They provide ideal test beds for learning about larger universal phenomena, ... more

+ Parker Solar Probe completes 2 orbits of Sun

+ Magnetic plasma pulses excited by UK-size swirls in the solar atmosphere

+ Researchers recreate the sun's solar wind and plasma "burps" on Earth

+ Airbus brings a SMILE to ESA

+ 'Terminators' on the sun trigger plasma tsunamis and the start of new solar cycles

+ Details of Solar Science Mission Revealed at UK Astronomy Meeting

+ Citizen scientists discover cyclical pattern of complexity in solar storms

Secret Russia weapon project: gamechanger or PR stunt?
Paris (AFP) Aug 14, 2019

A deadly explosion at a Russian testing site has focused attention on President Vladimir Putin's bid to build a nuclear-powered missile that the Kremlin hopes would give Moscow the edge in a new arms race. Western experts have linked the blast at the Nyonoksa test site on August 8, which caused a sharp spike in local radiation levels, to the 9M730 Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile f ... more

+ Chinese space startup to send heavy satellite

+ Vulcan Centaur rocket on schedule for first flight in 2021

+ Orbex and Innovative Space Logistics sign European Space Launch Agreement

+ AFRL achieves record-setting hypersonic ground test milestone

+ Lockheed awarded $405.7M contract for Army's hypersonic missile

+ In-Space selects Orbex for Scottish launch in 2022

+ Pentagon working on 9 separate hypersonic missile projects to take on Russia, China

Astronomers measure mass, energy from high-mass protostar for first time
Washington (UPI) Aug 12, 2019

Scientists have precisely measured the mass and energy of a jet driven by a high-mass protostar, a component and process that scientists estimate is a key to part of stellar formation. As gas and dust coalesce to form a protostar, the new stellar orb's gravity begins to pull in more and more of the surrounding gas and dust. As the new stellar material condenses, a high-velocity jet form ... more

+ Dark matter may be older than the big bang, study suggests

+ A new lens for life-searching space telescopes

+ Dutch Japanese Instrument Measures 49 Shades of Far-Infared

+ Scientists discover a new type of pulsating star

+ Stellar Evolution in Real Time Detected in the Old Star T Ursae Majoris

+ Glitch in neutron star reveals its hidden secrets

+ Finding a cosmic fog within shattered intergalactic pancakes

Fastest eclipsing binary, a valuable target for gravitational wave studies
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 26, 2019

Observations made with a new instrument developed for use at the 2.1-meter (84-inch) telescope at the National Science Foundation's Kitt Peak National Observatory have led to the discovery of the fastest eclipsing white dwarf binary yet known. Clocking in with an orbital period of only 6.91 minutes, the rapidly orbiting stars are expected to be one of the strongest sources of gravitational ... more

+ Chameleon Theory Could Change How We Think About Gravity

+ Artificial gravity breaks free from science fiction

+ Researchers find quantum gravity has no symmetry

+ Development of a displacement sensor to measure gravity of smallest source mass ever

+ Gravitational waves leave a detectable mark, physicists say

+ UCLA students touch space with a microgravity experiment

+ LIGO and Virgo Detect Neutron Star Smash-Ups

NASA selects proposals to further study the fundamental nature of space
Washington DC (SPX) Aug 14, 2019

NASA has selected two proposals for concept studies that could help us better understand the fundamental nature of space and how it changes in response to planetary atmospheres, radiation from the Sun, and interstellar particles. The proposals will advance NASA's heliophysics program and could lead to better protection for both technology and humans as we travel farther from home. Each of ... more

+ ALMA dives into Black Hole's 'Sphere of Influence'

+ Atomic 'Trojan horse' could inspire new generation of X-ray lasers and particle colliders

+ Where in the universe can you find a black hole nursery?

+ Ultracold quantum particles break classical symmetry

+ Cloaked black hole discovered in early universe using NASA's Chandra

+ Einstein's general relativity theory is questioned but still stands for now, team reports

+ Scientists reproduce the dynamics behind astrophysical shocks

NASA wants your help developing autonomous rovers
Huntsville AL (SPX) Aug 14, 2019

Autonomous robots will assist future astronauts during long-duration missions to other worlds by performing tedious, repetitive and even strenuous tasks. These robotic helpers will let crews focus on the more meticulous areas of exploring. To help achieve this, NASA's Centennial Challenges program, along with Space Center Houston of Texas, opened the second phase of the NASA Space Robotics Chall ... more

+ NASA Robots Compete Underground in DARPA Challenge

+ Evolving computers from tools to partners in cyber-physical system design

+ Employees less upset at being replaced by robots than by other people

+ Roach-inspired robot nearly as fast as real thing, unsquashable

+ A computer that understands how you feel

+ In the shoes of a robot: The future approaches

+ Kitchen disruption: better food through artificial intelligence

China launches first private rocket capable of carrying satellites
Beijing (AFP) July 25, 2019

+ Chinese scientists say goodbye to Tiangong-2

+ China's space lab Tiangong 2 destroyed in controlled fall to earth

+ From Moon to Mars, Chinese space engineers rise to new challenges

+ China plans to deploy almost 200 AU-controlled satellites into orbit

+ Luokung and Land Space to develop control system for space and ground assets

+ Yaogan-33 launch fails in north China, Possible debris recovered in Laos

+ China develops new-generation rockets for upcoming missions

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