Mars News, Science, Technology at MarsDaily.com

August 21, 2019

All instruments onboard Rosalind Franklin rover

Paris (ESA) Aug 21, 2019
The full suite of scientific instruments, including cameras that will give us our eyes on Mars, the drill that will retrieve pristine soil samples from below the surface, and the onboard laboratory that will seek out signs of life are all installed on the ExoMars rover. The rover, named after the pioneering scientist Rosalind Franklin, is part of the ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars programme, and is nearing completion at Airbus Defence and Space, Stevenage, UK. The rover is now seen with its recently ... read more

Ancient Mars was warm with occasional rain, turning cold
Barcelona, Spain (SPX) Aug 20, 2019
Scientists have long known that water was abundant on ancient Mars, but there has been no consensus on whether liquid water was common, or whether it was largely frozen in ice. Was the temperature h ... 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

Roscosmos postpones joint ESA ExoMars mission after failed parachute tests
Moscow (Sputnik) Aug 16, 2019
Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos said in a statement on Thursday that the launch of the joint Russian-European ExoMars-2020 astrobiology mission, aimed at searching for evidence of life on ... more

Robotic toolkit added to NASA's Mars 2020 Rover
Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 16, 2019
The bit carousel - a mechanism that will play a key role in the acquisition, containment and eventual return to Earth of humanity's first samples from another planet - has been incorporated into NAS ... more

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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

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. ... 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

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

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
Washington DC (SPX) Jul 18, 2019
Mars is about 9 months from Earth with today's tech, NASA reckons. As the new space race hurtles forward, Harvard researchers are asking: how do we make sure the winners can still stand when they re ... more

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

India's Moon probe enters lunar orbit
Bangalore, India (AFP) Aug 20, 2019

India's Chandrayaan 2 spacecraft entered lunar orbit on Tuesday, executing one of the trickiest manoeuvres on its historic mission to the Moon. After four weeks in space, the craft completed its Lunar Orbit Insertion as planned, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a statement. The insertion "was completed successfully today at 0902 hrs IST (0332 GMT) as planned, using t ... more

+ MDA selected to build robotic interfaces for Canadarm3 on Lunar Gateway

+ Astrobotic selects United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur Rocket for its first Moon mission

+ Chandrayaan-2 mission to reach Lunar orbit on 20 August

+ NASA asks American companies to deliver supplies for Artemis Lunar missions

+ Thomas Pesquet on a new underwater lunar adventure

+ NASA Marshall to lead Artemis Program's human lunar lander development

+ Moon glows brighter than Sun in images from NASA's Fermi telescope

China's newly launched communication satellite suffers abnormality
Beijing (XNA) Aug 21, 2019

China's new communication satellite ChinaSat 18, sent into space on Monday, has experienced abnormalities, and space engineers are investigating the cause. The ChinaSat 18 satellite was launched at 8:03 p.m. (Beijing Time) on a Long March-3B carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province. The satellite separated with the carrier rocket a ... more

+ China launches first private rocket capable of carrying satellites

+ 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

Scientists to use near-Earth object telescope to observe cosmic mergers
Washington (UPI) Aug 16, 2019

Scientists have reprogrammed the Catalina Sky Survey's near-Earth object telescopes to look for both asteroids and cosmic mergers. "Catalina Sky Survey has all of this infrastructure for their asteroid survey," Michael Lundquist, postdoctoral research associate at the University of Arizona, said in a news release. "So we have deployed additional software to take gravitational wave alert ... more

+ Best of both worlds: asteroids and massive mergers

+ Four Candidate Sites Selected for Asteroid Sample Collection

+ Critical Observation Made on During First Night of Return to Operations

+ 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

Mission to Jupiter's icy moon confirmed
Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 20, 2019

An icy ocean world in our solar system that could tell us more about the potential for life on other worlds is coming into focus with confirmation of the Europa Clipper mission's next phase. The decision allows the mission to progress to completion of final design, followed by the construction and testing of the entire spacecraft and science payload. "We are all excited about the dec ... more

+ Young Jupiter was smacked head-on by massive newborn planet

+ Giant Impact Disrupted Jupiter's Core

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

+ Hubble showcases new portrait of Jupiter

+ 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

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

GRACE-FO shows the weight of Midwestern floods
Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 21, 2019

In May 2019, after the wettest 12 months ever recorded in the Mississippi River Basin, the region was bearing the weight of 8 to 12 inches (200 to 300 millimeters) more water than average. New data from NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) mission, which launched in May 2018, showed that there was an increase in water storage in the river basin, extending east arou ... more

+ Monitoring the Matterhorn with millions of data points

+ Making microbes that transform greenhouse gases

+ Using lasers to visualize molecular mysteries in our atmosphere

+ 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

NASA astronauts to install docking adapter on ISS during next EVA
Washington DC (Sputnik) Aug 21, 2019

NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Andrew Morgan will conduct a spacewalk from the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday to install a docking adapter, NASA said on Tuesday. "NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Andrew Morgan, assigned as flight engineers for Expedition 60 aboard the International Space Station, will begin a planned six-and-a-half-hour s ... more

+ A space cocktail of science, bubbles and sounds

+ Japan steps in to supply key component to Russia's space program

+ India orders Russian equipment for first manned space mission

+ France's 42: start-up IT school tears up the rule book

+ Solar sail craft could revolutionize space travel

+ Virgin Galactic unveils new Mission Control for space tourism

+ Brain games hosted by Keegan-Michael Key will test perceptions with a live audience

New "Gold Open Access" Planetary Science Journal Launched
Washington DC (SPX) Aug 16, 2019

Research articles reporting significant developments, discoveries, and theories about planets, moons, small bodies, and the interactions among them will soon have a new showcase: The Planetary Science Journal (PSJ). This online publication is being launched by the American Astronomical Society (AAS), the major organization of professional astronomers in North America, in conjunction with t ... more

+ A second planet in the Beta Pictoris System

+ A rare look at the surface of a rocky exoplanet

+ Study: NASA data shows Earth-sized exoplanet lacks atmosphere

+ Does ET exist ponders UVA astronomer

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

+ NASA plans for Webb to zero in on TRAPPIST-1 atmospheres within a year of launch

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

AFRL conducts first flight of robopilot unmanned air platform
Wright-Patterson AFB OH (SPX) Aug 16, 2019

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Center for Rapid Innovation (CRI) and DZYNE Technologies Incorporated successfully completed a two-hour initial flight of a revolutionary Robotic Pilot Unmanned Conversion Program called ROBOpilot Aug. 9 at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. "This flight test is a testament to AFRL's ability to rapidly innovate technology from concept to application in ... more

+ Drone buzzes above vineyard helping Luxembourg winegrower

+ Skyfront Perimeter Drone Performs The First Beyond-Line-of-Sight Flight under FAA Part 107

+ 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

Proposals selected for small satellites to study interplanetary space
Washington DC (SPX) Aug 16, 2019

NASA has selected two proposals to demonstrate small satellite technologies to improve science observations in deep space, which could help NASA develop better models to predict space weather events that can affect astronauts and spacecraft. "This is the first time that our heliophysics program has funded this kind of technology demonstration," said Peg Luce, deputy director of the Helioph ... more

+ NASA's MMS finds first interplanetary shock

+ 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

Hall thrusters will enable longer space missions
Moscow, Russia (SPX) Aug 21, 2019

The 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing has reignited interest in space travel. However, almost any mission beyond the moon, whether manned or unmanned, will require the spacecraft to remain fully operational for at least several years. The Hall thruster is a propulsion system that is often used by craft involved in long missions. A recent study by Andrey Shashkov and co-workers ... more

+ US detect explosion of old European Ariane 4 rocket in space

+ China launches 3 satellites wth Jielong-1 rocket

+ SNC selects ULA for Dream Chaser launches

+ Robotic tool operations bring in-space refueling closer to reality

+ Secret Russia weapon project: gamechanger or PR stunt?

+ Bolton says Russia 'stole' US hypersonic technology

+ Chinese space startup to send heavy satellite

Observed explosion of monster star requires new supernova mechanism
Boston MA (SPX) Aug 16, 2019

Scientists at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard and Smithsonian have announced the discovery of the most massive star ever known to be destroyed by a supernova explosion, challenging known models of how massive stars die and providing insight into the death of the first stars in the universe. First noticed in November 2016 by the European Space Agency's (ESA) Gaia satellite, three year ... more

+ Astronomers measure mass, energy from high-mass protostar for first time

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

+ A new lens for life-searching space telescopes

+ Lab-based dark energy experiment narrows search options for elusive force

+ Scientists discover a new type of pulsating star

+ Unique electrical properties in quantum materials can be controlled using light

+ Iron-60 discovery in Antarctic provides data on solar system environment

A key piece to understanding how quantum gravity affects low-energy physics
Trieste, Italy (SPX) Aug 09, 2019

Researchers have, for the first time, identified the sufficient and necessary conditions that the low-energy limit of quantum gravity theories must satisfy to preserve the main features of the Unruh effect. In a new study, led by researchers from SISSA (Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati, the Complutense University of Madrid and the University of Waterloo, a solid theoretica ... more

+ Fastest eclipsing binary, a valuable target for gravitational wave studies

+ 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

Atomic 'Trojan horse' could inspire new generation of X-ray lasers and particle colliders
Stanford CA (SPX) Aug 15, 2019

How do researchers explore nature on its most fundamental level? They build "supermicroscopes" that can resolve atomic and subatomic details. This won't work with visible light, but they can probe the tiniest dimensions of matter with beams of electrons, either by using them directly in particle colliders or by converting their energy into bright X-rays in X-ray lasers. At the heart of such scie ... more

+ Physicists say they've discovered a new state of matter

+ A new holographic method to simulate black holes with a tabletop experiment

+ NASA selects proposals to further study the fundamental nature of space

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

+ 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

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

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

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

+ 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's newly launched communication satellite suffers abnormality
Beijing (XNA) Aug 21, 2019

+ China launches first private rocket capable of carrying satellites

+ 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

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