 Landsat 9: The Pieces Come Together
Washington DC (SPX) Jan 10, 2020
Landsat 9's two science instruments are now attached to the spacecraft, bringing the mission one step closer to launch. In late December, the Operational Land Imager 2 (OLI-2) and the Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 (TIRS-2) were both mechanically integrated on to the spacecraft bus at Northrop Grumman in Gilbert, Arizona.
The Landsat 9 mission continues the nearly 50-year Landsat data record, p
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Mission X 2020 Walk to the Moon challenge is open!
Paris (ESA) Jan 15, 2020
Mission X: train like an astronaut is an international educational challenge, focusing on health, science, fitness and nutrition, which encourages pupils to train like an astronaut.
The perfect project for school teachers of pupils between 8 and 12 years old, Mission X is also ideal for educators who run science clubs, youth and community groups, after-school clubs and home educators.
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X-rays and gravitational waves will combine to illuminate massive black hole collisions
Birmingham UK (SPX) Jan 15, 2020
A new study by a group of researchers at the University of Birmingham has found that collisions of supermassive black holes may be simultaneously observable in both gravitational waves and X-rays at the beginning of the next decade.
The European Space Agency (ESA) has recently announced that its two major space observatories of the 2030s will have their launches timed for simultaneous use.
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Merger of Milky Way with Dwarf Galaxy Dated
Gottingen, Germany (SPX) Jan 14, 2020
The dwarf galaxy Gaia-Enceladus collided with the Milky Way probably approximately 11.5 billion years ago. A team of researchers including scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany for the first time used a single star affected by the collision as a clue for dating.
Using observational data from ground-based observatories and space telescopes, the
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Oxygen line opens new perspective on the far universe
Amsterdam, The Netherlands (SPX) Jan 14, 2020
A team of astronomers of Leiden University (the Netherlands) and the University of Texas (Austin, United States) has discovered a new way to map distant galaxies. They used an atomic oxygen spectral line for this.
Normally, this spectral line cannot be captured with terrestrial telescopes. But because the light comes from distant galaxies, it is stretched and it can actually be measured on
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Stars need a partner to spin universe's brightest explosions
Warwick UK (SPX) Jan 14, 2020
When it comes to the biggest and brightest explosions seen in the Universe, University of Warwick astronomers have found that it takes two stars to make a gamma-ray burst.
New research solves the mystery of how stars spin fast enough to create conditions to launch a jet of highly energetic material into space, and has found that tidal effects like those between the Moon and the Earth are t
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AFRL engineer leaves a legacy called HADES
Kirtland NM (SPX) Jan 14, 2020
The Air Force Research Laboratory has developed a unique directed energy weapon demonstrator called the High-power Adaptive Directed Energy System, or HADES, that completed field testing in 2019."HADES technology was designed with the warfighter in mind," said the AFRL program manager Dan Marker. "The system works by combining a large number of high power fiber lasers in a fashion that corrects
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Russia, China consider building joint on-orbit assembling space telescope
Moscow (Sputnik) Jan 15, 2020
Russian and Chinese experts have developed a joint concept of what can become the world's first large telescope to be assembled in space by supervised robotic manipulators, Mikhail Sachkov, the deputy director of the Institute of Astronomy at the Russian Academy of Sciences which develops the project on the Russian end, said.
"Our Chinese colleagues have asked our institute to become the s
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Crew ready for spacewalk while working Earth and Fire Research
Houston TX (SPX) Jan 15, 2020
The first of three spacewalks planned for January begins Wednesday to continue upgrading International Space Station power systems and a cosmic ray detector. While the spacewalkers ready their suits and tools, the rest of the Expedition 61 crew is on science and maintenance duty today.
NASA Flight Engineer Jessica Meir is partnering for a second time with fellow NASA astronaut Christina Ko
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NASA rings in busy new year in Florida to prepare for Artemis Missions
Kennedy Space Center FL (SPX) Jan 15, 2020
NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida will have a busy year preparing facilities, ground support equipment and space hardware for the launch of Artemis I, the first uncrewed launch of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft. In 2020, Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) activities will ramp up as launch hardware arrives and teams put systems in place for Artemis I and II missi
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Final images from Cassini spacecraft
Lancaster UK (SPX) Jan 15, 2020
Researchers are busy analysing some of the final data sent back from the Cassini spacecraft which has been in orbit around Saturn for more than 13 years until the end of its mission in September 2017.
For the last leg of its journey, Cassini was put on a particularly daring orbit passing between Saturn and its rings which brought it closer to Saturn than ever before. This allowed scientist
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Connecting the dots in the sky could shed new light on dark matter
Stanford CA (SPX) Jan 14, 2020
Astrophysicists have come a step closer to understanding the origin of a faint glow of gamma rays covering the night sky. They found that this light is brighter in regions that contain a lot of matter and dimmer where matter is sparser - a correlation that could help them narrow down the properties of exotic astrophysical objects and invisible dark matter.
The glow, known as unresolved gam
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Cold Neptune" and 2 temperate Super-Earths found orbiting nearby stars
Washington DC (SPX) Jan 15, 2020
A "cold Neptune" and two potentially habitable worlds are part of a cache of five newly discovered exoplanets and eight exoplanet candidates found orbiting nearby red dwarf stars, which are reported in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series by a team led by Carnegie's Fabo Feng and Paul Butler.
The two potentially habitable planets are orbiting GJ 180 and GJ 229A, which are among the
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Israel hails 'breakthrough' towards laser air defence system
Jerusalem (AFP) Jan 10, 2020
The Israeli defence ministry has hailed a "breakthrough" in the development of cheaper laser-based air defences, as tensions soar in the region after Iran hit US targets in retaliation for a high-profile assassination.
The lasers, still under development, would be capable of intercepting "everything" fired at Israel, including long and medium range missiles, rockets, mortar rounds and drones
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Meteorite contains the oldest material on Earth: 7-billion-year-old stardust
Chicago IL (SPX) Jan 14, 2020
Stars have life cycles. They're born when bits of dust and gas floating through space find each other and collapse in on each other and heat up. They burn for millions to billions of years, and then they die. When they die, they pitch the particles that formed in their winds out into space, and those bits of stardust eventually form new stars, along with new planets and moons and meteorites. And
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NASA's Mars 2020 Rover closer to getting its name
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jan 14, 2020
NASA's Mars 2020 rover is one step closer to having its own name after 155 students across the U.S. were chosen as semifinalists in the "Name the Rover" essay contest. Just one will be selected to win the grand prize - the exciting honor of naming the rover and an invitation to see the spacecraft launch in July 2020 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
The currently unnamed ro
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Euroconsult forecasts satellite demand to experience a four-fold increase over the next 10 years
Paris, France (SPX) Jan 14, 2020
In its latest analysis of satellite manufacturing and launch services, Satellites to be Built and Launched by 2028, Euroconsult projects that the satellite market will experience a radical transformation in the quantity, value and mass of the satellites to be built and launched with a four-fold increase in the number of satellites at a yearly average of 990 satellites to be launched, compared to
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Wanted: Girlfriend to fly to the Moon with Japanese billionaire
Tokyo (AFP) Jan 13, 2020
A Japanese billionaire has launched an online wanted ad for a girlfriend who will fly around the Moon with him on a SpaceX rocket.
Yusaku Maezawa, who recently announced his break-up with a Japanese actress, is accepting applications from "single women aged 20 or over" who want to enjoy life to the fullest.
The matchmaking exercise is being turned into a TV show for a web streaming servi
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India to launch communication satellite to cover Gulf, Asian Countries and Australia
New Delhi (Sputnik) Jan 14, 2020
With increasing demand to provide satellite bandwidth for television, telecommunication and broadcasting services, India's national space agency, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has built a new satellite, GSAT-30.
GSAT-30, with a payload weight of 3,357 kilograms is to be launched by the Ariane-5 launch vehicle from the European Spaceport in French Guiana on Friday (17 January) a
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'Superdiamond' carbon-boron cages can trap and tap into different properties
Washington DC (SPX) Jan 13, 2020
A long-sought-after class of "superdiamond" carbon-based materials with tunable mechanical and electronic properties was predicted and synthesized by Carnegie's Li Zhu and Timothy Strobel. Their work is published by Science Advances.
Carbon is the fourth-most-abundant element in the universe and is fundamental to life as we know it. It is unrivaled in its ability to form stable structures,
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Elon Musk praises results after SpaceX intentionally blows up Starship tank
Washington DC (Sputnik) Jan 14, 2020
This is the second time SpaceX has blown up its completed hardware with the aim of finding out the company's limits in terms of production and assembly methods, media reported.
On 10 January, a SpaceX team of engineers blew up a miniature Starship tank, which had been built for just 20 days, Teslarati reports.
After the test, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter to reveal the results
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SpaceX, NASA gear up for in-flight abort demonstration
Kennedy Space Center FL (SPX) Jan 14, 2020
NASA and SpaceX are preparing to launch the final, major test before astronauts fly aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program.
The test, known as in-flight abort, will demonstrate the spacecraft's escape capabilities - showing that the crew system can protect astronauts even in the unlikely event
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Shocked meteorites provide clues to Earth's lower mantle
Tempe AZ (SPX) Jan 13, 2020
Deep below the Earth's surface lies a thick rocky layer called the mantle, which makes up the majority of our planet's volume. While Earth's mantle is too deep for humans to observe directly, certain meteorites can provide clues to this unreachable layer.
In a study recently published in Science Advances, an international team of scientists, including Sang-Heon Dan Shim and Thomas Sharp of
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Russian spy satellite has broken up in space says harvard astronomer
Moscow (Sputnik) Jan 14, 2020
Russia launched the Kosmos-2491 military satellite into orbit in 2013, with few details made available regarding its capabilities and mission, leading to speculation about its true purpose.
Russia's Kosmos-2491 military satellite may has disintegrated in space, either by accident or after deliberately self-destructing, Harvard-Smithsonian astronomer Jonathan McDowell believes.
Earlie
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The Boeing Starliner
Bethesda, MD (SPX) Jan 14, 2020
The Starliner, known as CST-100, is a crew space transportation capsule manufactured by Boeing for NASA's Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program. Its primary purpose is to transport crews to low-Earth orbit destinations such as the International Space Station (ISS) and the proposed Bigelow Aerospace Commercial Space Station.
This capsule is 15 feet in diameter, as compared to the slig
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New moon rover tested in Lunar Operations Lab
Cleveland OH (SPX) Jan 14, 2020
An engineering model of the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, is tested in the Simulated Lunar Operations Laboratory at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio.
About the size of a golf cart, VIPER is a mobile robot that will roam around the Moon's South Pole looking for water ice in the region and for the first time ever, actually sample the water ice at t
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Russian Space Agency commits billions of rubles more to 'Oryol' next-gen spacecraft
Moscow (Sputnik) Jan 14, 2020
Currently in development, the Oryol ('Eagle') crewed spacecraft is a crucial element of Russia's plans to land cosmonauts on the Moon. Roscosmos Chief Dmitry Rogozin has previously indicated that flight testing of the spaceship should be completed by 2028.
Roscosmos plans to commit over 8 billion rubles (equivalent to about $130.7 million US) in additional funding to the development of the
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SuperTIGER on its second prowl high above Antarctica
St. Louis MO (SPX) Jan 13, 2020
A balloon-borne scientific instrument designed to study the origin of cosmic rays is taking its second turn high above the continent of Antarctica three and a half weeks after its launch.
SuperTIGER (Super Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder) is designed to measure the rare, heavy elements in cosmic rays that hold clues about their origins outside of the solar system. The effort is a coll
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Nanosatellites improve detection of early-season corn nitrogen stress
Urbana IL (SPX) Jan 14, 2020
For corn growers, the decision of when and how much nitrogen fertilizer to apply is a perennial challenge. Scientists at the University of Illinois have shown that nanosatellites known as CubeSats can detect nitrogen stress early in the season, potentially giving farmers a chance to plan in-season nitrogen fertilizer applications and alleviate nutrient stress for crops.
"Using this technol
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Rippling ice and storms at Mars' north pole
Paris (ESA) Jan 14, 2020
ESA's Mars Express has captured beautiful images of the icy cap sitting at Mars' north pole, complete with bright swathes of ice, dark troughs and depressions, and signs of strong winds and stormy activity.
The poles of Mars are covered in stacked layers of ice that subtly shift in extent and composition throughout the year.
During summer, the pole is permanently covered by thick lay
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LZH's MOMA laser ready for the flight to Mars
Hannover, Germany (SPX) Jan 13, 2020
One last time on Earth it has been turned on in France in December 2019. The next time the MOMA laser developed by the Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH) is going into operation will be on Mars. The ExoMars rover into which the laser is integrated has now successfully passed the thermal vacuum tests at Airbus in Toulouse, France.
For 18 days the ExoMars rover Rosalind Franklin was subjected
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Experiment on beta-decay sheds light on fate of intermediate-mass stars
Darmstadt, Germany (SPX) Jan 13, 2020
A group of scientists, among them several from GSI Helmholtzzentrum fur Schwerionenforschung and from Technical University of Darmstadt, succeeded to experimentally determine characteristics of nuclear processes in matter ten million times denser and 25 times hotter than the centre of our Sun.
A result of the measurement is that intermediate-mass stars are very likely to explode, and not,
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Russian satellites to monitor Iran after attack on US bases, plane crash
Moscow (Sputnik) Jan 10, 2020
Russian space agency Roscosmos is planning to use its satellites to monitor the situation in Iran following its recent missile attack on US bases in Iraq and the Ukrainian Boeing crash, according to a statement published on the organization's website on Thursday.
The statement, which gives updates on Roscosmos' satellite monitoring operations, also said that the agency planned to monitor t
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Study details how hydrogen causes embrittlement of steels
Washington DC (UPI) Jan 09, 2020
Scientists have finally figured out how hydrogen causes embrittlement of steels. The research, conducted by engineers at the University of Sydney, also revealed new strategies for steels resistant to embrittlement.
Many scientists and policy makers remain hopeful that a hydrogen economy - the use of hydrogen fuel to power cars, trucks, planes and more - will dramatically curb carbon e
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Telescope upgrade, move will aid in search for exoplanets
Ithaca NY (SPX) Jan 13, 2020
Thousands of planets orbiting stars other than our own - known as extrasolar planets, or exoplanets - have been detected and cataloged over the last 30 years. A new effort will set the stage for the discovery of fundamentally different kinds of planets - very young and very large.
Dmitry Savransky, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, is a co-investigator on a $2.6
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Collaboration on development of next-generation rapid launch space systems
Edwards AFB CA (SPX) Jan 10, 2020
The Air Force Research Laboratory and ABL Space Systems are collaborating to develop and test rocket propulsion elements for use in launch vehicles thanks to a 3-year Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) both organizations have agreed to.
The CRADA, which was finalized July 10, 2019, focuses on research and development collaboration efforts that will transform the standar
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Satellite constellations harvest energy for near-total global coverage
Ithaca NY (SPX) Jan 13, 2020
Think of it as a celestial parlor game: What is the minimum number of satellites needed to see every point on Earth? And how might those satellites stay in orbit and maintain continuous 24/7 coverage while contending with Earth's gravity field, its lumpy mass, the pull of the sun and moon, and pressure from solar radiation?
In the mid-1980s, researcher John E. Draim proposed what is genera
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Aeolus winds now in daily weather forecasts
Paris (ESA) Jan 13, 2020
ESA's Aeolus satellite has been returning profiles of Earth's winds since 3 September 2018, just after it was launched - and after months of careful testing these measurements are considered so good that the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts is now using them in their forecasts.
The decision to include new measurements in weather forecasts is never taken lightly; it takes
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First sighting of hot gas sloshing in galaxy cluster
Paris (ESA) Jan 13, 2020
ESA's XMM-Newton X-ray observatory has spied hot gas sloshing around within a galaxy cluster - a never-before-seen behaviour that may be driven by turbulent merger events.
Galaxy clusters are the largest systems in the Universe bound together by gravity. They contain hundreds to thousands of galaxies and large quantities of hot gas known as plasma, which reaches temperatures of around 50 m
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Dancing debris, moveable landscape shape Comet 67P
Ithaca NY (SPX) Jan 13, 2020
A comet once thought to be a quiet dirty snowball cruising through the solar system becomes quite active when seen up close.
Photography from the Rosetta mission reveals dancing gravel, whirling icy debris and transient, movable "depressions" on the smooth terrain of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (Comet 67P). Alex Hayes '03, M.Eng. '03, associate professor of astronomy, presented the res
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A stripped helium star solves the massive black hole mystery
Nuremberg, Germany (SPX) Jan 13, 2020
Stellar black holes form when massive stars end their life in a dramatic collapse. Observations have shown that stellar black holes typically have masses of about ten times that of the Sun, in accordance with the theory of stellar evolution.
Recently, a Chinese team of astronomers claimed to have discovered a black hole as massive as 70 solar masses, which, if confirmed, would severely cha
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Mars loses water to space during warm, stormy seasons
Washington DC (UPI) Jan 10, 2020
All kinds of geological formations on Mars, alluvial fans, dry lake beds and eroded river valleys, suggest the Red Planet once hosted an abundance of water. Today, the water is mostly gone. What's left is largely locked up in the planet's polar ice caps.
Scientists have been trying to figure out where all the water went and how fast it disappeared. New research, published this week in t
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Eyeing Moon, NASA hosts first public astronaut graduation ceremony
Houston (AFP) Jan 11, 2020
NASA on Friday celebrated its latest class of graduating astronauts at a public ceremony in Houston, honoring a diverse and gender-balanced group now qualified for spaceflight missions including America's return to the Moon and eventual journey to Mars.
After completing more than two years of basic training, the six women and seven men were chosen from a record-breaking 18,000 applicants and
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'Space unites us': First Iranian-American astronaut reaches for stars
Houston (AFP) Jan 12, 2020
Jasmin "Jaws" Moghbeli earned her fierce nickname during her time as a decorated helicopter gunship pilot who flew more than 150 missions in Afghanistan.
The Marine Corps major, MIT graduate and college basketball player can now add another accomplishment to her burgeoning resume: the first Iranian-American astronaut.
Speaking to AFP after graduating in NASA's latest cohort, the 36-year
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Maxar Technologies to sell MDA to Northern Private Capital for CAD$1 Billion
Westminster CO (SPX) Jan 13, 2020
Maxar Technologies, a trusted partner and innovator in Earth Intelligence and Space Infrastructure, reports it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell MDA to a consortium of financial sponsors led by Northern Private Capital (NPC), for CAD$1 billion (US$765 million), subject to customary adjustments.
The company expects to use proceeds to reduce leverage and improve its capital str
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Sublimation, not melting: Graphene surprises researchers again
Moscow, Russia (SPX) Jan 08, 2020
Physicists from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and the Institute for High Pressure Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences have used computer modeling to refine the melting curve of graphite that has been studied for over 100 years, with inconsistent findings. They also found that graphene "melting" is in fact sublimation. The results of the study came out in the journal Carbo
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SDSU astronomers pinpoint two new 'Tatooine' planetary systems
San Diego CA (SPX) Jan 08, 2020
Astronomers announced Monday the first discovery made by NASA's TESS mission of a two-star planetary system. Led by researchers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and San Diego State University, with other collaborators, the telescope satellite's finding marks the start of a much better understanding of the population of such planetary systems.
On behalf of the international team of 60
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China's air force seeks aircraft-mounted laser weapon
Beijing (Sputnik) Jan 09, 2020
The People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) likely wants to mount a laser weapon on its aircraft in the next few years, judging from some recently published procurement requests.
On Saturday, the PLAAF said it was looking for bidders for developing systems that would support an airborne, offensive laser weapon. While the details are scant, the titles of the two bids published on weain.m
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Planet WASP-12b is on a death spiral
Princeton NJ (SPX) Jan 09, 2020
Earth is doomed - but not for 5 billion years. Our planet will be roasted as our sun expands and becomes a red giant, but the exoplanet WASP-12b, located 600 light-years away in the constellation Auriga, has less than a thousandth of that time left: a comparatively paltry 3 million years.
A Princeton-led team of astrophysicists has shown that WASP-12b is spiraling in toward its host star,
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Cosmic magnifying glasses yield independent measure of universe's expansion
Baltimore MD (SPX) Jan 09, 2020
A team of astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has measured the universe's expansion rate using a technique that is completely independent of any previous method.
Knowing the precise value for how fast the universe expands is important for determining the age, size and fate of the cosmos. Unraveling this mystery has been one of the greatest challenges in astrophysics in recent y
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New production method for carbon nanotubes gets green light
Swansea UK (SPX) Jan 08, 2020
A new method of producing carbon nanotubes - tiny molecules with incredible physical properties used in touchscreen displays, 5G networks and flexible electronics - has been given the green light by researchers, meaning work in this crucial field can continue.
Single-walled carbon nanotubes are among the most attractive nanomaterials for a wide range of applications ranging from nanoelectr
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Cosmic magnifying glasses find dark matter in small clumps
Baltimore MD (SPX) Jan 09, 2020
Using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and a new observing technique, astronomers have found that dark matter forms much smaller clumps than previously known. This result confirms one of the fundamental predictions of the widely accepted "cold dark matter" theory.
All galaxies, according to this theory, form and are embedded within clouds of dark matter. Dark matter itself consists of slow-mo
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Stellar heavy metals can trace history of galaxies
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Jan 10, 2020
Astronomers have cataloged signs of nine heavy metals in the infrared light from supergiant and giant stars. New observations based on this catalog will help researchers to understand how events like binary neutron star mergers have affected the chemical composition and evolution of our own Milky Way Galaxy and other galaxies.
Right after the Big Bang, the universe contained only hydrogen
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Second Spaceship in Virgin Galactic's fleet completes major build milestone
Mojave CA (SPX) Jan 10, 2020
Virgin Galactic has reached the "Weight on Wheels" milestone in the build of its second commercial spaceship. In this milestone, all major structural elements of the vehicle were assembled, and the vehicle deployed its main landing gear and carried its own weight for the first time. The milestone signals strong progress in the manufacture of Virgin Galactic's space vehicle fleet by The Spaceship
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From exoskeletons to education at CES
Las Vegas (AFP) Jan 9, 2020
Exoskeletons to give wearers super-human strength and games to playfully teach children software skills for coding - such innovations were on display at the Consumer Electronics Show this week.
Mechanical muscle
A Guardian XO exoskeleton made in a collaboration between Sarcos Robotics and Delta Air Lines let CES goers easily lift a 50-pound (22.7 kilo) suitcase with one hand with "techn
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Martian water could disappear faster than expected
Paris, France (SPX) Jan 10, 2020
The small red planet is losing water more quickly than what theory as well as past observations would suggest.
The gradual disappearance of water (H2O) occurs in the upper atmosphere of Mars: sunlight and chemistry disassociate water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen atoms that the weak gravity of Mars cannot prevent from escaping into space.
An international research team,1 led par
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NASA's Lucy mission confirms discovery of Eurybates Satellite
Washington DC (SPX) Jan 10, 2020
NASA's Lucy mission team is seeing double after discovering that Eurybates, the asteroid the spacecraft has targeted for flyby in 2027, has a small satellite. This "bonus" science exploration opportunity for the project was discovered using images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3 in September 2018, December 2019, and January 2020.
Launching in October 2021, Lucy wi
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Arianespace's first launch in 2020, using Ariane 5 at the service of Eutelsat and ISRO
Evry, France (SPX) Jan 10, 2020
For its initial flight of 2020, Arianespace will orbit two telecommunications satellites using an Ariane 5 launch vehicle from the Guiana Space Center: EUTELSAT KONNECT for the operator Eutelsat; and GSAT-30 for the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
Arianespace will confirm its leadership in the geostationary launch services market segment through this 107th Ariane 5 mission, to b
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ESA and EDA joint research: advancing into the unknown
ESA and the European Defence Agency (EDA) are embarking on new cooperative projects for exploring unknown or potentially hazardous environments: harnessing drones for the monitoring of disaster-stricken regions or toxic spill sites and making use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to navigate across the surface of asteroids or other terra incognita.
These two new joint projects have been authorised by the ESA Council and Steering Board of EDA. They are the latest in a long history of cooperat
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Human-based models to study space radiation and countermeasures
Houston TX (SPX) Jan 10, 2020
The Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) is releasing a new funding initiative supporting research advances in the study of effects of space radiation on human physiology and seeking countermeasures to be used in deep space exploration.
TRISH seeks and funds high-risk, high-reward solutions for predicting and protecting the health of future astronauts on deep space mis
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NASA: 'Joint, independent team' will probe Boeing Starliner orbital glitch
Washington (UPI) Jan 8, 2020
NASA is establishing a "joint, independent team" to probe the failure of Boeing's Starliner space capsule to reach the International Space Station during a test flight.
The investigation comes as NASA is feeling pressure to stop relying on Russian Soyuz capsules to carry astronauts to the station. Boeing and its competitor, SpaceX, are years behind schedule in developing a new spacecraf
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Cosmic bubbles reveal the first stars
Tucson AZ (SPX) Jan 06, 2020
Astronomers using the Mayall telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, a program of NSF's National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory, have identified several overlapping bubbles of hydrogen gas ionized by the stars in early galaxies, a mere 680 million years after the Big Bang. This is the earliest direct evidence from the period when the first generation of stars formed and bega
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Goldilocks stars are best places to look for life
Baltimore MD (SPX) Jan 09, 2020
In the search for life beyond Earth, astronomers look for planets in a star's "habitable zone" - sometimes nicknamed the "Goldilocks zone" - where temperatures are just right for liquid water to exist on a planet's surface to nurture life as we know it.
An emerging idea, bolstered by a three-decade-long set of stellar surveys, is that there are "Goldilocks stars" - not too hot, not too coo
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AI-powered avatar at tech show touted as 'artificial human'
Las Vegas (AFP) Jan 8, 2020
Avatars touted as "artificial humans" created a buzz Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show even as debate swirled on what exactly the digital entities were.
Star Labs, a startup funded by Samsung, showed the painstakingly detailed AI-powered, two-dimensional digital creations to a large crowd, saying they are able to "converse and sympathize" like real people.
A demonstration at CES s
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NASA needs new way to handle accident investigations, report says
Washington (UPI) Jan 8, 2020
NASA needs new ways to investigate accidents that occur during human spaceflight when private companies like SpaceX and Boeing are launching astronauts, an agency watchdog said.
That recommendation was among those put forth in the federal Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel's annual report for 2019, released Tuesday.
"As NASA approaches the resumption of launching humans on U.S. spac
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Hubble sights galaxy's celestial sequins
Baltimore MD (SPX) Jan 06, 2020
This smattering of celestial sequins is a spiral galaxy named NGC 4455, located in the northern constellation of Coma Berenices (Berenice's Hair). This might sound like an odd name for a constellation - and in fact it is somewhat unusual. It's the only modern constellation to be named in honor of a real person from history: Queen Berenice II of Egypt.
The story of Queen Berenice II is an i
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NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel Releases 2019 Annual Report
Washington DC (SPX) Jan 09, 2020
The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP), an advisory committee that reports to NASA and Congress, issued its 2019 annual report Tuesday examining the agency's safety performance over the past year and highlighting accomplishments, issues and concerns.
The report highlights 2019 activities and includes assessments of NASA's:
+ International Space Station br>
+ Lunar and deep space
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Light elements add weighty burden to crisis in cosmology
Middlesex NJ (SPX) Jan 09, 2020
A bedrock prediction of the Big Bang theory has been contradicted by abundant observations, according to a new study to be reported at the American Astronomical Society Meeting in Honolulu, deepening the already widely discussed crisis in cosmology. The study, by Eric J. Lerner, Chief Scientist at LPPFusion, Inc., looks at the origin and abundance of three key light elements that are hypothesize
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China launches new communication technology experiment satellite
Xichang (XNA) Jan 09, 2020
China sent a new communication technology experiment satellite into space from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province at 11:20 p.m. (Beijing Time), Tuesday.
The satellite has entered the preset orbit. It will be used in communication, radio, television and data transmission, as well as high throughput technology test.
The satellite was launched on a Long March-3B carrier
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First NASA Artemis Rocket Core Stage loaded on Pegasus Barge
Bay St. Louis MS (SPX) Jan 09, 2020
The first Space Launch System (SLS) rocket core stage for NASA's Artemis program completed manufacturing work at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and was loaded onto the agency's Pegasus barge on Jan. 8 for delivery to NASA's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.
With NASA Deputy Administrator Jim Morhard in attendance, NASA rolled out the core stage for the
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Utilizing relativistic effects for laser fusion
Osaka, Japan (SPX) Jan 08, 2020
A team of researchers at Osaka University has investigated a new method for generating nuclear fusion power, showing that the relativistic effect of ultra-intense laser light improves upon current "fast ignition" methods in laser-fusion research to heat the fuel long enough to generate electrical power. These findings could provide a spark for laser fusion, ushering in a new era of carbonless en
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Update on Boeing's Orbital Flight Test
Washington DC (SPX) Jan 09, 2020
NASA and Boeing are in the process of establishing a joint, independent investigation team to examine the primary issues associated with the company's uncrewed Orbital Flight Test.
The independent team will inform NASA and Boeing on the root cause of the mission elapsed timer anomaly and any other software issues and provide corrective actions needed before flying crew to the International
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Two supermassive black holes caught in a galaxy crash
Charlottesville VA (SPX) Jan 06, 2020
An international team of astronomers used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to create the most detailed image yet of the gas surrounding two supermassive black holes in a merging galaxy.
400 million light-years away from Earth, in the constellation of Ophiuchus, two galaxies are crashing into each other and forming a galaxy we know as NGC 6240. This peculiarly-shaped
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Kangaroo Island shows burn scars on one third of the land mass
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Jan 08, 2020
NASA's Terra satellite provided before and after imagery that showed the extent of the fires that have been ravaging Australia's Kangaroo Island. Kangaroo Island lies off the mainland of South Australia, southwest of Adelaide. About a third of the island is made up of protected nature reserves which are home to native wildlife which includes sea lions, koalas and diverse and endangered bird spec
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A new tool for 'weighing' unseen planets
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jan 09, 2020
A new instrument funded by NASA and the National Science Foundation called NEID (pronounced "NOO-id"; sounds like "fluid") will help scientists measure the masses of planets outside our solar system - exoplanets - by observing the gravitational pull they exert on their parent stars. That information can help reveal a planet's composition, one critical aspect in determining its potential habitabi
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NASA planet hunter finds its first Earth-Size habitable-zone world
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Jan 07, 2020
NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has discovered its first Earth-size planet in its star's habitable zone, the range of distances where conditions may be just right to allow the presence of liquid water on the surface. Scientists confirmed the find, called TOI 700 d, using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and have modeled the planet's potential environments to help inform future
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New technique may give Webb Telescope new way to identify planets with oxygen
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Jan 07, 2020
Researchers may have found a way that NASA's James Webb Space Telescope can quickly identify nearby planets that could be promising for our search for life, as well as worlds that are uninhabitable because their oceans have vaporized.
Since planets around other stars (exoplanets) are so far away, scientists cannot look for signs of life by visiting these distant worlds. Instead, they must
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Climate signals detected in global weather
Zurich, Switzerland (SPX) Jan 07, 2020
In October this year, weather researchers in Utah measured the lowest temperature ever recorded in the month of October in the US (excluding Alaska): -37.1C. The previous low-temperature record for October was -35C, and people wondered what had happened to climate change.
Until now, climate researchers have responded that climate is not the same thing as weather. Climate is what we expect
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New map of Milky Way reveals giant wave of stellar nurseries
Boston MA (SPX) Jan 08, 2020
Astronomers at Harvard University have discovered a monolithic, wave-shaped gaseous structure - the largest ever seen in our galaxy - made up of interconnected stellar nurseries. Dubbed the "Radcliffe Wave" in honor of the collaboration's home base, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, the discovery transforms a 150-year-old vision of nearby stellar nurseries as an expanding ring into one
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Fast radio burst observations deepen astronomical mystery
Tucson AZ (SPX) Jan 07, 2020
An unsolved mystery in astronomy has become even more puzzling. The source of fast radio bursts (FRBs) - sudden bursts of radio waves lasting a few thousandths of a second - has remained unknown since their discovery in 2007.
Research published in the scientific journal Nature, and presented at the 235th meeting of the American Astronomical Society, has pinpointed the origin of an FRB to a
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PhD centre will nurture new leaders in Earth observation
Leeds UK (SPX) Jan 07, 2020
A new centre will enable 50 fully-funded PhD researchers to harness satellite data to tackle global environmental challenges.
The Centre for Satellite Data in Environmental Science (SENSE) will bring together expertise in satellite remote sensing, climate change, and advanced data science to nurture the next generation of Earth observation researchers.
Through a 2.2m pound investment
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Arianespace to launch ESA Euclid satellite's for dark energy exploration
Evry, France (SPX) Jan 08, 2020
Arianespace and the European Space Agency (ESA) has announced the signature of a launch services contract for the Euclid satellite - with the mission's timeframe for liftoff starting in mid-2022 from the Guiana Space Center, Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana (South America).
Euclid mission will be compatible with Ariane 62 and Soyuz.
Euclid is a medium-class astronomy and astrophys
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Indian delicacies for astronauts selected for country's first manned mission
New Delhi (Sputnik) Jan 08, 2020
India is preparing its manned space mission Gaganyaan, a seven-day operation scheduled for January 2022. The $1.31 billion mission was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day address to the nation on 15 August 2019.
Indian astronauts scheduled to fly into space as part of Mission "Gaganyaan" will need to eat, and the Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL) in
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Atlantic and Pacific oscillations lost in the noise
University Park PA (SPX) Jan 07, 2020
The Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) do not appear to exist, according to a team of meteorologists who believe this has implications for both the validity of previous studies attributing past trends to these hypothetical natural oscillations and for the prospects of decade-scale climate predictability.
Using both observational data and clima
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China's cosmic ray observatory half functional
Beijing (XNA) Jan 08, 2020
A giant observatory to search for the origin of cosmic rays in southwest China's Sichuan Province was half completed and thousands of its detectors have been put into operation, said the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
The project, known as the Large High-Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO), is located 4.41 km above sea level on Haizi Mountain in Sichuan. Since April 2019, it has l
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Ferocious fires in Australia intensify
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Jan 07, 2020
As the New Year starts, the outlook for the bushfire situation in Australia continues to be grim. These huge and disastrous fires continue to burn ferociously and with abandon, and reports have come out that the fires have actually intensified in the last 12 hours. NOAA-NASA's Suomi NPP satellite captured imagery of the fires and the resultant billowing smoke cascading off the edge of Australia
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North Korea defends 'peaceful' satellite launches, report says
Washington DC (SPX) Jan 07, 2020
North Korea is determined to press forward with space development "regardless of any opposition," according to a South Korean press report.
NK Economy reported Monday a law journal published by Kim Il Sung University in 2019 includes an article on the regime's efforts to take on space exploration for peaceful and scientific purposes.
The article comes at a time when concerns are rising No
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Life could have emerged from lakes with high phosphorus
Seattle WA (SPX) Jan 07, 2020
Life as we know it requires phosphorus. It's one of the six main chemical elements of life, it forms the backbone of DNA and RNA molecules, acts as the main currency for energy in all cells and anchors the lipids that separate cells from their surrounding environment.
But how did a lifeless environment on the early Earth supply this key ingredient?
"For 50 years, what's called 'the p
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WGS-11+ Leverages Commercial Technology to Deliver Twice the Capability
Los Angeles AFB CA (AFNS) Jan 06, 2020
Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS)-11+ is a Space and Missile Systems Center Pacesetter for the rapid application and fielding of commercial technology. The SMC Production Corps and Portfolio Architect's Mission System Integration team jointly championed a successful first-ever, cross-corps Systems Requirements Review (SRR) to help the Government and Boeing reach a mutual agreement on a system perform
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2020 FIRST Robotics Kickoff Event Returns to Rocket City Jan. 4
Huntsville AL (SPX) Jan 06, 2020
More than 260 students are expected to attend the 2020 FIRST Robotics kickoff event Jan. 4, starting 8:30 a.m. at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The event, to be held in the Davidson Center for Space Exploration, is hosted by the U.S. Space and Rocket Center and supported by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. Members of the local news media are invited t
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TESS shows North Star undergoes eclipses
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Jan 07, 2020
Astronomers using data from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) have shown that Alpha Draconis, a well-studied star visible to the naked eye, and its fainter companion star regularly eclipse each other. While astronomers previously knew this was a binary system, the mutual eclipses came as a complete surprise.
"The first question that comes to mind is 'how did we miss this?
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NASA's Hubble survey's gigantic galaxy
Baltimore MD (SPX) Jan 06, 2020
This majestic spiral galaxy might earn the nickname the "Godzilla Galaxy" because it may be the largest known in the local universe. The galaxy, UGC 2885, is 2.5 times wider than our Milky Way and contains 10 times as many stars.
But it is a "gentle giant," say researchers, because it looks like it has been sitting quietly over billions of years, possibly sipping hydrogen from the filament
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UNC expert helps treat astronaut's blood clot during NASA mission
Chapel Hill NC (SPX) Jan 06, 2020
"My first reaction when NASA reached out to me was to ask if I could visit the International Space Station (ISS) to examine the patient myself," said Stephan Moll, MD, UNC School of Medicine blood clot expert and long-time NASA enthusiast. "NASA told me they couldn't get me up to space quickly enough, so I proceeded with the evaluation and treatment process from here in Chapel Hill."
Moll
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Have Space Suit Will Travel
Bethesda, MD (SPX) Jan 07, 2020
To put it simply, a space suit is a garment worn by a space traveler for the purpose of safely supporting life in the harsh environment of space while allowing the wearer to perform many desired functions. Anytime a space traveler is outside of the spacecraft, this suit is absolutely essential for survival. Often these suits are worn inside spacecraft for precautionary measures.
Different
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Famous black hole has jet pushing cosmic speed limit
Boston MA (SPX) Jan 07, 2020
Using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have seen that the famous giant black hole in Messier 87 is propelling particles at speeds greater than 99% of the speed of light.
The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration released the first image of a black hole with observations of the massive, dark object at the center of Messier 87, or M87, last April. This black hole has a mass of a
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Looking back at a New Horizons New Year's to remember
Laurel MD (SPX) Jan 06, 2020
Safe to say, 2020 came in more quietly for many members of the New Horizons mission team than did 2019.
A year ago, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft flew past the Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69 (now known as Arrokoth) in the early hours of New Year's Day, ushering in an era of exploration of the enigmatic Kuiper Belt, a region of primordial objects that holds keys to understanding the origins
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TESS mission uncovers its first world with two stars
by Jeanette Kazmierczak for GSFC News
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Jan 07, 2020
In 2019, when Wolf Cukier finished his junior year at Scarsdale High School in New York, he joined NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, as a summer intern. His job was to examine variations in star brightness captured by NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and uploaded to the Planet Hunters TESS citizen science project.
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SOFIA reveals new view of milky way's center
Columbia MD (SPX) Jan 07, 2020
Universities Space Research Association has announced that SOFIA has revealed a new infrared view of the center of our Milky Way galaxy, showing never-before-seen details, and revealing structures indicative of star birth.
NASA's telescope has captured an extremely crisp infrared image of the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Spanning a distance of more than 600 light-years, this panorama re
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Binary star V Sagittae will explode as a very bright 'nova' by century's end
Baton Rouge LA (SPX) Jan 07, 2020
Currently, the faint star V Sagittae, V Sge, in the constellation Sagitta, is barely visible, even in mid-sized telescopes. However, around the year 2083, this innocent star will explode, becoming as bright as Sirius, the brightest star visible in the night sky.
During this time of eruption, V Sge will be the most luminous star in the Milky Way galaxy. This prediction is being presented fo
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Repeating fast radio burst from spiral galaxy deepens mystery
Dwingeloo, The Netherlands (SPX) Jan 07, 2020
Telescopes in the European VLBI Network (EVN) have observed a repeating fast radio burst (FRB) in a spiral galaxy similar to our own. This FRB is the closest to Earth ever localised and was found in a radically different environment to previous studies. The discovery, once again, changes researchers' assumptions on the origins of these mysterious extragalactic events.
At this point in time
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