News
(AviationWeek) JAXA Reveals Akatsuki Venus Explorer
The mission, which will focus on meteorology and the planet's climate, will overlap with the ESA's Venus Express
(Discovery News) Mysterious 'Dark Flow' May Be Tug of Other Universe
A structure, possibly another universe beyond the horizon of our own, appears to be pulling at our world.
(Discovery News) Primordial 'Dust Free' Monsters Lurk at the Edge of the Universe
On the very edge of our observable universe live two quasars. Both contain active and growing primordial black holes, but where's all the dust?
(Space Fellowship) CoRoT-9b, a temperate exoplanet
(DLR) - CoRoT-9b, a Jupiter-sized exoplanet thats orbits its star every 95 days, is the latest discovery of the CoRoT satellite, a project in which the German Aerospace Center (DLR) is a participant. "This exoplanet stands out by virtue of its 'normality'. It is a very close approximation of the planets in our own solar system," says Professor Heike Rauer from the DLR Institute of Planetary Research in Berlin, who manages the German contribution to CoRoT. CoRoT-9b lies far away from our Sola [...]
(Space Fellowship) Planck sees tapestry of cold dust
(ESA) - Giant filaments of cold dust stretching through our Galaxy are revealed in a new image from ESA’s Planck satellite. Analysing these structures could help to determine the forces that shape our Galaxy and trigger star formation. Planck is principally designed to study the biggest mysteries of cosmology. How did the Universe form? How did the galaxies form? This new image extends the range of its investigations into the cold dust structures of our own Galaxy. “What makes these [...]
(Discovery News) Space Station Crew Lands In 'Blizzard-Like' Conditions
Ahoy there! NASA astronaut Jeff Williams and Russia's Maxim Suraev landed in blustery Kazakhstan this morning, wrapping up a six-month stay aboard the International Space Station. Winds were so high, the crew's Soyuz capsule tipped over on its side at ...
(Space Fellowship) NASA's Spitzer Unearths Primitive Black Holes
(NASA) - Astronomers have come across what appear to be two of the earliest and most primitive supermassive black holes known. The discovery, based largely on observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, will provide a better understanding of the roots of our universe, and how the very first black holes, galaxies and stars came to be. "We have found what are likely first-generation quasars, born in a dust-free medium and at the earliest stages of evolution," said Linhua Jiang of the Uni [...]
(Space Fellowship) Expedition 22 Leaves Station, Expedition 23 Begins
(NASA) - Expedition 22 Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Maxim Suraev have completed their mission aboard the International Space Station after 167 days. They entered the Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft, then undocked from the Poisk Mini-Research Module at 4:03 a.m. EDT. After entering the Earth’s atmosphere they will parachute to a landing in Kazakhstan at 7:23 a.m. Staying behind are Flight Engineers Soichi Noguchi and T.J. Creamer and new Expedition 23 Commander Oleg Kotov. The trio, [...]
(Space Politics) Constellation, solid rocket motors, and the military
One of the less-obvious impacts of NASA’s plan to cancel Constellation is on the US military. NASA is the largest customer for solid rocket motors (SRMs), subsidizing to a considerable degree the costs needed to produce SRMs for a variety of missiles. However, with the shuttle scheduled for retirement at the end of [...]
(Space Fellowship) ILS And Telesat Announce Launch Of Nimiq 6 in 2012
RESTON, VA / Ottawa, Canada, (ILS) – International Launch Services (ILS) and Telesat, one of the world’s largest fixed satellite services operators, announced today a contract for the ILS Proton launch of Telesat’s Nimiq 6 satellite scheduled for mid-2012. Nimiq 6 is an all Ku-band satellite with 32 high power transponders that will be located at 91 degrees West Longitude. The 5 metric ton spacecraft is now under construction at Space Systems/Loral and will utilize their flight prove [...]
(Space Fellowship) Picture of the Day - Expedition 22 Crew Lands
The Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft is seen as it lands with Expedition 22 Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Maxim Suraev near the town of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan on Thursday, March 18, 2010. NASA Astronaut Jeff Williams and Russian Cosmonaut Maxim Suraev are returning from six months onboard the International Space Station where they served as members of the Expedition 21 and 22 crews. [...]
(Space Daily) Launch Of Nimiq 6 In 2012
Reston VA (SPX) Mar 18, 2010 - International Launch Services (ILS) and Telesat have announced a contract for the ILS Proton launch of Telesat's Nimiq 6 satellite scheduled for mid-2012.
(Space Daily) CoRoT-9b - A Temperate Exoplanet
Bonn, Germany (SPX) Mar 18, 2010 - CoRoT-9b, a Jupiter-sized exoplanet thats orbits its star every 95 days, is the latest discovery of the CoRoT satellite, a project in which the German Aerospace Center (DLR) is a participant.
(Space Daily) NASA's Spitzer Unearths Primitive Black Holes
Pasadena CA (SPX) Mar 18, 2010 - Astronomers have come across what appear to be two of the earliest and most primitive supermassive black holes known. The discovery, based largely on observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, will provide a better understanding of the roots of our universe, and how the very first black holes, galaxies and stars came to be.
(Space Daily) Planck Sees Tapestry Of Cold Dust
Paris, France (ESA) Mar 18, 2010 - Giant filaments of cold dust stretching through our Galaxy are revealed in a new image from ESA's Planck satellite. Analysing these structures could help to determine the forces that shape our Galaxy and trigger star formation.
(Space Daily) LRO Camera Releases Science Data From First Six Months
Tempe AZ (SPX) Mar 18, 2010 - NASA is releasing to the Planetary Data System (PDS) the first six months of data acquired by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft. The PDS serves as NASA's permanent online data archive providing these measurements to the science community and the world at large.
(Space Daily) Change Of Command As Expedition 22 Prepares For Return
Houston TX (SPX) Mar 18, 2010 - The crew aboard the International Space Station conducted a change of command ceremony Wednesday as Expedition 22 comes to a close and two crew members prepare for an early Thursday return home.
(Space Daily) New Planck Images Reveal Large-Scale Structure In The Milky Way
Paris, France (ESA) Mar 18, 2010 - New images from ESA's Planck mission reveal details of the structure of the coldest regions in our Galaxy. Filamentary clouds predominate, connecting the largest to the smallest scales in the Milky Way. These images are a scientific by-product of a mission which will ultimately provide the sharpest picture ever of the early Universe.
(Space Daily) Astronomers Observe Fast Growing Primitive Black Holes
Copenhagen, Denmark (SPX) Mar 18, 2010 - Quasars are active and very powerful black holes at the centre of distant galaxies. The black holes are extremely massive weighing between 100 million and 10 billion solar masses and rotating around the super massive black hole is a disc of gas and dust. The inner ring of the disc moves faster than the outer rings.
(Space Daily) Ten Craters On Mercury Receive New Names
Washington DC (SPX) Mar 18, 2010 - The International Astronomical Union (IAU) recently approved a proposal from the MESSENGER Science Team to confer names on 10 impact craters on Mercury. The newly named craters were imaged during the mission's three flybys of Mercury in January and October 2008 and September 2009.
(Space Daily) GMV To Provide GPS Tech For Malaysian Urban Transportation System
Madrid, Spain (SPX) Mar 18, 2010 - GMV was selected by Putrajaya Corporation to supply a new fleet control system for the city of Putrajaya, Malaysia. In a consortium with Raisevest Sdn Bhd, GMV's fleet management experience for urban passenger transportation will make Putrajaya the first city in Malaysia to operate one of today's most advanced urban-transportation systems for giving real-time passenger information.
(Space Daily) Ariane Chair Says Existing Launch Services Meet Industry Needs
Paris, France (SPX) Mar 18, 2010 - The push by certain telecommunications operators for additional players in the space lift marketplace could work to the satellite industry's own detriment, generating an overcapacity situation and potentially creating launch services quality issues.
(Space Daily) Shootout at Indian space facility
Bangalore, India (AFP) March 16, 2010 - Paramilitary police guarding a space centre in southern India on Tuesday exchanged fire with two men who were acting suspiciously near the facility, an official said.
(Space Daily) Robot helps stroke victims use their arms
Genoa, Italy (UPI) Mar 17, 2009 - Italian scientists say they have developed a robot that could become a teacher to help paralyzed stroke patients learn to use their arms again.
(CNN Science & Space) Inspiration for 'Contact' still listening
From a remote valley in Northern California, Jill Tarter is listening to the universe.
(CNN Science & Space) Shuttle lands at California air base
NASA officials Sunday waved off the first opportunity for space shuttle Endeavour to return to Earth, citing poor weather conditions.
(CNN Science & Space) Indian lunar orbiter hit by heat rise
Scientists have switched off several on-board instruments to halt rising temperatures inside India's first unmanned lunar spacecraft.
(CNN Science & Space) Mars Science Lab launch delayed two years
NASA's launch of the Mars Science Laboratory -- hampered by technical difficulties and cost overruns -- has been delayed until the fall of 2011, NASA officials said at a news conference Thursday in Washington.
(euronews) Columbus: The European contribution to the ISS
A year ago the space shuttle Atlantis delivered the European built laboratory module "Columbus" to the International Space Station. It was, and…
(euronews) European scientists take the measure of gravity
A European satellite is prepared for launch to map the subtle variations in gravity around the globe from orbit. It is hoped the GOCE mission will…
(euronews) From Gunpowder to the cosmos the latest techniques to power space travel
In the beginning there was gunpowder then came hydrogen and liquid oxygen used to propel objects through space. Today many more propellants are…
(euronews) A taste of how hard it will be putting life on Mars
It is a claustrophobe's worst nightmare. Locked in a giant tin-can for months on end, isolated from the outside world. In Moscow, scientists are…
(euronews) Getting to know our planetary neighbours
How well do we really know our Solar System? While we may be starting to unravel the secrets of Earth and its closest neighbours Mars and Venus, the…
(euronews) Interdisciplinary International Intercultural Studies
The International Space University is based in Strasbourg, France. Fifty students from all corners of the world are preparing for their future…
(euronews) 67°4 N, 26°6 E: a polar view
Above the arctic circle, satellites observe the snow and ice to protect animals such as reindeer -In what is being called "science to serve the…
(euronews) Uncovering Venus' secrets
For a long time, many imagined conditions on Venus to be similar to Earth. But space probes have since discovered a burning hell instead of a…
(euronews) A Window on the Universe
ESAC, the European Space Astronomy Centre, could describe some of their work as "putting the universe into our computers". Based near Madrid in…
(euronews) Space, Defence and Security
Walls and watchtowers have long been used to ensure the safety of citizens sheltering under their protection. The guardians of the 21st century are…
(euronews) The space business
The Paris Airshow is a giant marketplace for all things aerospace. But what drives the space industry? What's it all about? Variously, people at…
(euronews) Destination Moon, four decades on
It has been 40 years since Apollo 11's Eagle lander touched down on the surface of the Moon. For decades after Neil Armstrong took his 'one small…
(euronews) One hundred days of solitude
Six volunteers spent 105 days in an isolation module as part of an international experiment in preparation for a manned space mission to Mars.…
(euronews) Why Mars?
Thousands of years ago, Mars and Earth probably presented similar primative environments so if life existed on earth, then we can legitimately…
(euronews) A pocket-sized ecosystem
Using organic waste and minerals and the sun as an energy source, pilot project Melissa aims to develop the life support systems essential for…
(euronews) Cryosat 2, the ice mission
The extent of ice and in particular its thickness are elements that condition the Earth's climate and the oceans currents. A new observation tool…
(euronews) The Ariane Saga
Ariane launches might seem routine - but it's a routine that's been going on for 30 years. But each launch is a technological and organisational…
(euronews) Climate change and satellites
Climate change is worrying the most influential leaders on the planet. A conference will be held in December to discuss subject in Copenhagen. In…
(euronews) Europe's Spaceport: the future
Over the last 30 years, 192 Ariane rockets, including 48 Ariane 5s, have been launched from The Guyanese Space Centre of Kourou, also known as the…
(euronews) XMM Newton: unveiling the universe
In 1895 German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen discovered rays which he didn't know much about, so he called them X-Rays. One of the best known…
(euronews) The eyes in the sky helping with major disasters
The tragic earthquake in Haiti last month triggered a vast international rescue effort. And space played a vital role in saving lives.…
(euronews) Studying the seas
The circulation of water in the world's oceans influences the climate. An important factor is the salinity of the water. Global data however, is…
(ScienceDaily) Stellar, metal-free way to make carbon nanotubes
Space apparently has its own recipe for making carbon nanotubes, one of the most intriguing contributions of nanotechnology here on Earth, and metals are conspicuously missing from the list of ingredients.
(ScienceDaily) New 'alien invader' star clusters found in Milky Way
As many as one quarter of the star clusters in our Milky Way -- many more than previously thought -- are "invaders" from other galaxies, according to a new study.
(ScienceDaily) Astronomically large lenses measure the age and size of the universe
Using entire galaxies as lenses to look at other galaxies, researchers have a newly precise way to measure the size and age of the universe and how rapidly it is expanding. The measurement determines a value for the Hubble constant, which indicates the size of the universe, and confirms the age of the universe as 13.75 billion years old, within 170 million years. The results also confirm the strength of dark energy, responsible for accelerating the expansion of the universe.
(ScienceDaily) Widening the search for extraterrestrial intelligence
The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) has been dominated for its first half century by a hunt for unusual radio signals. But bold new innovations are required if we are ever to hear from our cosmic neighbors, says a leading expert.
(ScienceDaily) Salt-seeking satellite shaken by quake, but not stirred
NASA's Aquarius instrument, and the Argentinian spacecraft that will carry it into space, the Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas (SAC-D), successfully rode out one of the largest earthquakes in recorded history Feb. 27 with no problems.
(ScienceDaily) Exotic magnetar has extremely strong magnetic fields
Astronomers have observed an uncommon neutron star. Classified as magnetar, its nature is as peculiar as its official name: SGR 0418+5729. The observations reached an unprecedented depth at optical wavelengths for this kind of sources, helping in constraining the physical properties of this celestial body characterized by extremely strong magnetic fields.
(ScienceDaily) NASA radar finds ice deposits at Moon's north pole; additional evidence of water activity on Moon
Using data from a NASA radar that flew aboard India's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, scientists have detected ice deposits near the moon's north pole. NASA's Mini-SAR instrument, a lightweight, synthetic aperture radar, found more than 40 small craters with water ice. The craters range in size from 1 to 9 miles (2 to15 km) in diameter. Although the total amount of ice depends on its thickness in each crater, it's estimated there could be at least 600 million metric tons of water ice.
(ScienceDaily) Air Force eyes mini-thrusters for use in satellite propulsion
Mini-thrusters or miniature, electric propulsion systems are being developed, which could make it easier for the Air Force's small satellites, including the latest CubeSats, to perform space maneuvers and undertake formidable tasks like searching for planets beyond our solar system.
(ScienceDaily) 'Cosmic Bat': Island of stars in the making on outskirts of Orion
The delicate nebula NGC 1788, located in a dark and often neglected corner of the Orion constellation, is revealed in a new and finely nuanced image that astronomers have released. Although this ghostly cloud is rather isolated from Orion's bright stars, the latter's powerful winds and light have had a strong impact on the nebula, forging its shape and making it home to a multitude of infant suns.
(ScienceDaily) 'History Detectives' investigate the case of the mylar mystery
There is a mystery afoot at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center -- the case of the mylar mystery to be exact. The PBS show "The History Detectives" recently investigated questions surrounding one clue -- a small, unassuming, silver sample of mylar with pink residue on one side. The mystery to be solved was whether or not this bit of mylar was from Goddard's Echo II satelloon project. Satelloons are a combination of satellites and balloons which were constructed out of bright, metallic mylar for increased visibility.
(ScienceDaily) How to hunt for exoplanets
A new report explains how new technological advances have seen the discovery of more than 400 exoplanets to date, a number expected to rise to thousands in the next few years.
(ScienceDaily) Bully galaxy rules the neighborhood
In general, galaxies can be thought of as "social" -- hanging out in groups and frequently interacting. However, a new Hubble Space Telescope image highlights how some galaxies appear to be hungry loners. These cosmic oddities have set astronomers on the "case of the missing neighbor galaxies."
(ScienceDaily) First of missing primitive stars found
Astronomers have discovered a relic from the early universe -- a star that may have been among the second generation of stars to form after the Big Bang. Located in the dwarf galaxy Sculptor some 290,000 light-years away, the star has a remarkably similar chemical make-up to the Milky Way's oldest stars. Its presence supports the theory that our galaxy underwent a "cannibal" phase, growing to its current size by swallowing dwarf galaxies and other galactic building blocks.
(ScienceDaily) NASA's Fermi probes 'dragons' of the gamma-ray sky
One of the pleasures of perusing ancient maps is locating regions so poorly explored that mapmakers warned of dragons and sea monsters. Now, astronomers using NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope find themselves in the same situation as cartographers of old. A new study of the ever-present fog of gamma rays from sources outside our galaxy shows that less than a third of the emission arises from what astronomers once considered the most likely suspects -- black-hole-powered jets from active galaxies.
(ScienceDaily) Mars Express Phobos flyby a success: Unlocking mystery of 'second generation' moons
Mars Express encountered Phobos March 3, smoothly skimming past at just 67 km, the closest any artificial object has ever approached Mars' enigmatic moon. The data collected could help unlock the origin of not just Phobos but other "second generation" moons.
(ScienceDaily) Asteroid killed off the dinosaurs, says international scientific panel
The Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction, which wiped out the dinosaurs and more than half of species on Earth, was caused by an asteroid colliding with Earth and not massive volcanic activity, according to a comprehensive review of all the available evidence.
(ScienceDaily) NASA Mars Orbiter Speeds Past Data Milestone
NASA's newest Mars orbiter, completing its fourth year at the Red Planet next week, has just passed a data-volume milestone unimaginable a generation ago and still difficult to fathom: 100 terabits.
(ScienceDaily) Precursors of life-enabling organic molecules in Orion Nebula unveiled by Herschel Space Observatory
ESA's Herschel Space Observatory has revealed the chemical fingerprints of potential life-enabling organic molecules in the Orion Nebula, a nearby stellar nursery in our Milky Way galaxy.
(ScienceDaily) NASA's Kepler Mission Celebrates One Year in Space
One year ago this week, NASA's Kepler mission soared into the dark night sky, leaving a bright glow in its wake as it began to search for other worlds like Earth.
(ScienceDaily) Radar map of buried Martian ice adds to climate record
Extensive radar mapping of the middle-latitude region of northern Mars shows that thick masses of buried ice are quite common beneath protective coverings of rubble.
(ScienceDaily) Lava likely made river-like channel on Mars
Flowing lava can carve or build paths very much like the riverbeds and canyons etched by water, and this probably explains at least one of the meandering channels on the surface of Mars.
(ScienceDaily) Webb Telescope's first primary mirror meets cold temperature specifications, sets program landmark
The James Webb Space Telescope reached a mission-readiness landmark March 2, 2010 when its first primary mirror segment was cryo-polished to its required prescription as measured at operational cryogenic temperatures. This achievement sets the stage for a successful polishing process for the remaining 18 flight mirror segments.
(euronews) Nearly there: The ISS gears up for full output
The biggest engineering project ever made by man is flying 400 kilometres overhead. The International Space Station has been 12 years in the…
(ScienceDaily) Alternative Energy Crops in Space
What if space held the key to producing alternative energy crops on Earth? That's what researchers are hoping to find in a new experiment on the International Space Station.
(ScienceDaily) Historic deep space network antenna starts major surgery
Like a hard-driving athlete whose joints need help, the giant "Mars antenna" at NASA's Deep Space Network site in Goldstone, Calif. has begun major, delicate surgery. The operation on the historic 70-meter-wide (230-foot) antenna, which has received data and sent commands to deep space missions for over 40 years, will replace a portion of the hydrostatic bearing assembly. This assembly enables the antenna to rotate horizontally.
(ScienceDaily) Is That Saturn's Moon Titan or Utah?
Planetary scientists have been puzzling for years over the honeycomb patterns and flat valleys with squiggly edges evident in radar images of Saturn's moon Titan. Now, working with a "volunteer researcher" who has put his own spin on data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, they have found some recognizable analogies to a type of spectacular terrain on Earth known as karst topography.
(ScienceDaily) Biggest, deepest crater exposes hidden, ancient moon
Shortly after the Moon formed, an asteroid smacked into its southern hemisphere and gouged out a truly enormous crater, the South Pole-Aitken basin, almost 1,500 miles across and more than five miles deep.
(ScienceDaily) Most extreme white dwarf binary system found with orbit of just five minutes
An international team of astronomers has shown that the two stars in the binary HM Cancri definitely revolve around each other in a mere 5.4 minutes. This makes HM Cancri the binary star with by far the shortest known orbital period. It is also the smallest known binary.
(ScienceDaily) Scientists discover 'catastrophic event' behind the halt of star birth in early galaxy formation
Scientists have found evidence of a catastrophic event they believe was responsible for halting the birth of stars in a galaxy in the early universe. The researchers observed the massive galaxy as it would have appeared just three billion years after the Big Bang when the Universe was a quarter of its present age.
(Commercial Space Watch) SpaceX Falcon 9 Static Fire Update 9 March 2010
On March 9 SpaceX performed our first Static Fire for the Falcon 9 launch vehicle. We counted down to an T-2 seconds and aborted on Spin Start.
(Discovery News) What is the LHC Trying to Accomplish?
As the Internet goes crazy about the LHC shutdown in 2011 (a shutdown that is actually in the LHC schedule rather than anything sudden), what's the plan for the world's largest particle accelerator?
(ScienceDaily) Galaxy study validates general relativity on cosmic scale, existence of dark matter
While general relativity describes well the behavior of the solar system, Einstein's theory of gravity and spacetime has not been tested on cosmological scales. Now, a team has analyzed data on 70,000 galaxies to show that the theory is so far the best description of the universe, at least out to 3.5 billion light years from Earth. Specifically, theories without dark matter do not fit the observations.
(AviationWeek) SpaceX Reviewing Data After Test Abort
The nine-engine Falcon 9 launch vehicle engines did not ignite for a planned 3.5-second static test
(Discovery News) Wide Angle: Exploiting Mars
A manned mission to Mars may be a long way off, but what efforts are underway to make our eventual arrival as successful as possible?
(Discovery News) Moon Room With a View
If you think the newly installed panoramic view cupola on the International Space Station is cool, I’ve got a room for you on the moon -- with a view. It's definitely a fixer-upper but well worth the effort. NASA's Lunar ...
(Discovery News) Dark Asteroids Found Near Earth
A new infrared telescope has found 16 previously unknown asteroids that swing close to Earth.
(ScienceDaily) Mysterious cosmic 'dark flow' tracked deeper into universe
Distant galaxy clusters mysteriously stream at a million miles per hour along a path roughly centered on the southern constellations Centaurus and Hydra. A new study tracks this collective motion -- dubbed the "dark flow" -- to twice the distance originally reported.
(AviationWeek) No Roadblocks To Extended ISS Operations
There are no technical reasons to preclude conducting operations at least through 2020, space station partners say
(Commercial Space Watch) NASA Solicitation: EVA Radio Miniaturization Studies
NASA Solicitation: EVA Radio Miniaturization Studies
(Discovery News) Fastest (and Most Compact) Stellar Spinner Confirmed
HM Cancri has been confirmed as a binary system of two white dwarfs orbiting one other so close, they complete one orbit every 5.4 minutes. With a year this short, it's little wonder HM Cancri is a record breaker!
(ScienceDaily) Shocking recipe for making killer electrons
Take a bunch of fast-moving electrons, place them in orbit and then hit them with the shock waves from a solar storm. What do you get? Killer electrons. That's the shocking recipe revealed by ESA's Cluster mission.
(Commercial Space Watch) GeoEye Selects Lockheed Martin to Begin Engineering and Manufacturing of GeoEye-2, the Company's Next Commercial Earth-Imaging Satellite
GeoEye Selects Lockheed Martin to Begin Engineering and Manufacturing of GeoEye-2, the Company's Next Commercial Earth-Imaging Satellite
(Commercial Space Watch) Zero Gravity Corporation Establishes The Zero-G Weightless Lab
Today, Zero Gravity Corporation announced the establishment of the ZERO-G WEIGHTLESS LAB. The specially designed two-day program provides the only commercial access to Martian, Lunar, zero and hyper gravity environments for scientific research.
(Commercial Space Watch) NASA Offers 'Fast' Opportunities for Zero-G Technology Testing
NASA has announced opportunities to test emerging technologies during flights on an airplane that simulates the weightless conditions of space.
(ScienceDaily) Cassini data show ice and rock mixture inside Saturn's moon Titan
By precisely tracking NASA's Cassini spacecraft on its low swoops over Saturn's moon Titan, scientists have determined the distribution of materials in the moon's interior. The subtle gravitational tugs they measured suggest the interior has been too cold and sluggish to split completely into separate layers of ice and rock.
(Discovery News) Flashback: Images From the Week's News
Take a look back at the week's top stories in the Discovery News Flashback Slide Show.
(Discovery News) What is the Aurora Borealis?
Although they look elegant and calm, aurora are produced from millions of explosions of magnetic energy.
(ScienceDaily) Proposed mission would return sample from asteroid 'time capsule'
Meet asteroid 1999 RQ36, a chunk of rock and dust about 1,900 feet in diameter that could tell us how the solar system was born, and perhaps, shed light on how life began. It also might hit us someday.
(Commercial Space Watch) Zero Gravity Corporation Brings Sky High Adventure to the Capital City with Exclusive Weightless Flight, April 3
Zero Gravity Corporation Brings Sky High Adventure to the Capital City with Exclusive Weightless Flight, April 3
(Commercial Space Watch) NASA Awards Civil Design, Engineering and Services Contract
NASA Awards Civil Design, Engineering and Services Contract
(Commercial Space Watch) Space Florida Secures Licenses for Launch Complexes 46 and 36
Space Florida is pleased to announce that it has secured Real Property Licenses for Space Launch Complexes 46 and 36 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
(ScienceDaily) Mars constantly loses part of its atmosphere to space due to solar wind
Space physicists have identified the impact of the Sun on Mars' atmosphere. The scientists report that Mars is constantly losing part of its atmosphere to space. The new study shows that pressure from solar wind pulses is a significant contributor to Mars's atmospheric escape.
(Commercial Space Watch) NASA Awards Aircraft and Airfield Related Services Contract
NASA Awards Aircraft and Airfield Related Services Contract
(Discovery News) Star Predicted to Blast Through the Solar System
In 1.5 million years time a star called Gliese 710 has a high chance of colliding with the Oort Cloud, potentially causing mayhem on Earth.
(Discovery News) Comet-Kaze Strikes The Sun
The SOHO observatory catches a comet crashing into the sun.
(Commercial Space Watch) Bigelow Aerospace Position Opening: Astronaut
Bigelow Aerospace seeks professional astronauts to fill permanent positions. Applicants need to have completed a training program from their government or recognized space agency and have at least some flight experience on a recognized space mission.
(Commercial Space Watch) SpaceX Successfully Completes Test Firing of Falcon 9 Launch Vehicle
Today, SpaceX successfully completed a test firing of the inaugural Falcon 9 launch vehicle at Space Launch Complex 40 located at Cape Canaveral.
(ScienceDaily) Mars dunes: On the move?
New studies of ripples and dunes shaped by the winds on Mars testify to variability on that planet, identifying at least one place where ripples are actively migrating and another where the ripples have been stationary for 100,000 years or more.
(Discovery News) Lunar Mirror Mystery Solved
Reflectors placed on the moon during Apollo missions practically stop working during a full moon. Now we may know why.
(Discovery News) SpaceX Fires Up
The Falcon 9 successfully completed a static test fire at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, where SpaceX is preparing for the rocket's debut flight next month.
(AviationWeek) NASA: Ending Constellation Will Cost More
The $2.5 billion budget request may be "oversubscribed" and will not cover all of the shutdown expenses
(Discovery News) 5 Buried Worlds Beneath Svalbard
As the Svalbard Global Seed Vault reaches the half-million seed mark -- making it the most diverse collection of seeds on the planet -- what else is happening on, and under, the frozen surface of these fascinating Arctic islands?
(ScienceDaily) Turning up the heat: Finding out how well the Webb telescope's sunshield will perform
Keeping an infrared telescope at very cold operating temperatures isn't an option, it's an absolute necessity. Serving as a radiation blocker, the Webb telescope sunshield is subjected to nearly 100,000 thermal watts of solar heat, and reduces that to one tenth of a watt on the cold side, a million to one reduction.
(Discovery News) The Sun Can't Save Us From Global Warming
When the sun enters solar minimum, its brightness decreases slightly. If this reduction of energy continued for an extended period of time, could it counteract global warming? Don't bet on it.
(Discovery News) It's Avalanche Season On Mars : Big Pic
As spring brings warmth to the northern hemisphere of Mars, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captures a spectacular photograph of an avalanche in the act.
(AviationWeek) After Anomaly, NASA To Test Shuttle
Pressure in the RRCS fuel helium tank unexpectedly decreased in unison with the RRCS fuel propellant tank
(ScienceDaily) Phobos flyby images: proposed landing sites for the forthcoming Phobos-Grunt mission
Images from the recent flyby of Phobos, on March 7, 2010, have been released. The images show Mars' rocky moon in exquisite detail, with a resolution of just 4.4 m per pixel. They show the proposed landing sites for the forthcoming Phobos-Grunt mission.
(Commercial Space Watch) SpaceX and Space Systems/Loral Sign Contract for Falcon 9 Geosynchronous Transfer Mission
SpaceX and Space Systems/Loral Sign Contract for Falcon 9 Geosynchronous Transfer Mission
(ScienceDaily) WISE captures a cosmic rosebud blossoming with new stars
A new infrared image from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, shows a cosmic rosebud blossoming with new stars. The stars, called the Berkeley 59 cluster, are the blue dots to the right of the image center. They are ripening out of the dust cloud from which they formed, and at just a few million years old, are young on stellar time scales.
(ScienceDaily) New Hubble treasury project to survey first third of cosmic time
Astronomers will peer deep into the universe in five directions to document the early history of star formation and galaxy evolution in an ambitious new project requiring an unprecedented amount of time on the Hubble Space Telescope.
(ScienceDaily) New Lunar Images and Data Available to the Public
The general public can now follow along with NASA on its journey of lunar discovery. On March 15, the publicly accessible Planetary Data System released data sets from the seven instruments on board NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
(ScienceDaily) Mystery solved: Why nebulae around massive stars don't disappear
New simulations show that as the gas cloud surrounding a massive star collapses, it forms dense filamentary structures that absorb the star's radiation when it passes through them. This makes heated nebulae flicker like a candle flame.
(Discovery News) Barnstorming Mars in 3D
A breathtaking three-dimensional low altitude flyover of Mars canyons is as awesome as actually being there.
(Discovery News) Martian Air Blown Away by Solar Super Wave
A double-whammy solar super wave is responsible for blowing away air from Mars and keeping its atmosphere thin and frigid.
(ScienceDaily) Super supernova: White dwarf star system exceeds mass limit
Astronomers have, for the first time, measured the mass of a type of supernova thought to belong to a unique subclass and confirmed that it surpasses what was believed to be an upper mass limit. Their findings could affect the way cosmologists measure the expansion of the universe.
(Commercial Space Watch) Aerojet and Orbital Complete Main Engine Lifetime Testing for Taurus II Space Launch Vehicle
Aerojet and Orbital Complete Main Engine Lifetime Testing for Taurus II Space Launch Vehicle
(Commercial Space Watch) Remarks by NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden, Jr. Washington Space Business Roundtable, Satellite 2010 Conference
My first message to you is that this budget is good for NASA because it sets the agency on a sustainable path that is tightly linked to our nation's interests.
(AviationWeek) More Space Station Participants To Be Sought
But agency heads do not want to open up the formal partnership to new members
(ScienceDaily) Jupiter's spot seen glowing: Scientists get first look at weather inside the solar system's biggest storm
New ground-breaking thermal images obtained with ESO's Very Large Telescope and other powerful ground-based telescopes show swirls of warmer air and cooler regions never seen before within Jupiter's Great Red Spot, enabling scientists to make the first detailed interior weather map of the giant storm system linking its temperature, winds, pressure and composition with its color.
(Discovery News) WISE Admires Aromatic Cosmic Rosebud : BIG PIC
NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) can see things regular telescopes can't. In this beautiful photograph, the infrared space telescope has spotted a star forming region in the constellation Cepheus with an uncanny floral shape.
(ScienceDaily) Seeking dark matter on a desktop
Desktop experiments could point the way to dark matter discovery, complementing grand astronomical searches and deep underground observations. According to recent theoretical results, small blocks of matter on a tabletop could reveal elusive properties of the as-yet-unidentified dark matter particles that make up a quarter of the universe.
(Commercial Space Watch) Airgas and XCOR Aerospace Announce Supply and Sponsorship Agreements
Airgas and XCOR Aerospace Announce Supply and Sponsorship Agreements
(Discovery News) Asteroid Mission May Offer Clues into Life's Origins
Four tablespoons worth of real estate from a nearby asteroid could help to explain how life began.
(Discovery News) Lunar Orbiter Spots Long Lost Russian Rover
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has picked out the final resting place of the Soviet Lunokhod 2 rover after a Canadian researcher followed the 37 year old tire tracks captured in recently released moon photos.
(ScienceDaily) Cosmic tapestry: Giant filaments of cold dust stretch through Milky Way
Giant filaments of cold dust stretching through the Milky Way are revealed in a new image from the European Space Agency's Planck satellite. Analyzing these structures could help to determine the forces that shape our galaxy and trigger star formation.
(ScienceDaily) Russian lunar rover found: 37-year-old space mystery solved
A Canadian researcher has helped solve a 37-year-old space mystery using lunar images released by NASA and maps from an atlas of the moon.
(Discovery News) 'Cool Jupiter' Widens Exoplanet Search
The exoplanet could be the Rosetta Stone in the search for worlds beyond our own.
(ScienceDaily) First temperate exoplanet -- size of Jupiter -- discovered
Astronomers have discovered a new planet the size of Jupiter. The planet is mostly made of hydrogen and helium, but may contain up to 20 Earth masses of heavier elements including rock and water under high pressure. It thus appears to be very similar to the solar system's giant planets, Jupiter and Saturn.
(ScienceDaily) Fast growing primitive black holes discovered
The most distant quasars found in the early universe, a mere 800 million years after the Big Bang, have been observed by astronomers.
(Space Fellowship) Boeing Announces New Names for Boeing 702 Satellite Series
(Boeing) - Rebranding Reflects Evolution of Classic 702 Satellite Design EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] announced today that it will begin marketing the Boeing 702 satellite under two names: the Boeing 702HP for the high-power version, and the Boeing 702MP for the medium-power version. "In 2009, we announced a medium-power variation of the very successful Boeing 702 high-power satellite -- a variation that was the result of more than four years of research and development," said C [...]
(Space Politics) Bolden attacks the “myths” about NASA’s new plan
NASA administrator Charles Bolden spoke Tuesday at the Washington Space Business Roundtable (WSBR) flagship luncheon, held as part of the Satellite 2010 trade show just outside Washington, giving perhaps his strongest defense to date of the agency’s new plan announced a month and a half ago. While part of his speech was a generic [...]
(Space Fellowship) ‘Green’ satellite fuel designed to make space safer
(ESA) - On the day running up to launch when a spacecraft is fuelled, ground personnel look more like astronauts than engineers, putting on spacesuit-like protective gear. This is an essential precaution when dealing with the current hydrazine fuel, but a new development could make satellite fuelling no more dangerous than filling up a car. “ADN has a 30% better performance than hydrazine, and is much less toxic,” said Mark Ford, Head of ESA’s Propulsion Engineering section. “Un [...]
(Space Politics) Witnesses for Senate commercial space hearing
The Senate Commerce Committee has released the list of witnesses for Thursday afternoon’s hearing by its space subcommittee on “Assessing Commercial Space Capabilities”. And it’s a pretty full panel: Lieutenant General Thomas P. Stafford United States Air Force, (Ret.) Astronaut (Ret.) Mr. Bryan D. O’Connor Chief, Safety and Mission Assurance National Aeronautics and Space Administration Dr. George C. Nield Associate Administrator for [...]
(Space Fellowship) Third ATV named after Edoardo Amaldi
(ESA) - Production of the Automated Transfer Vehicles is gearing up. After the flawless flight of the first ATV, Jules Verne, the second, Johannes Kepler, is being completed for launch later this year. Now the third ATV has been named after the Italian physicist and space pioneer Edoardo Amaldi. Europe's ATV space freighter proved its maturity in 2008, when Jules Verne completed a demonstration flight to the International Space Station (ISS), docked with 4.5 tonnes of food, water, fuel, suppl [...]
(Space Fellowship) WISE Captures a Cosmic Rose
(NASA) - A new infrared image from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, shows a cosmic rosebud blossoming with new stars. The stars, called the Berkeley 59 cluster, are the blue dots to the right of the image center. They are ripening out of the dust cloud from which they formed, and at just a few million years old, are young on stellar time scales. The rosebud-like red glow surrounding the hot, young stars is warm dust heated by the stars. Green "leafy" nebulosity enfolds th [...]
(Space Fellowship) See Spot on Jupiter. See Spot Glow.
(NASA) - New thermal images from powerful ground-based telescopes show swirls of warmer air and cooler regions never seen before within Jupiter's Great Red Spot, enabling scientists to make the first detailed interior weather map of the giant storm system. The observations reveal that the reddest color of the Great Red Spot corresponds to a warm core within the otherwise cold storm system, and images show dark lanes at the edge of the storm where gases are descending into the deeper regions [...]
(Space Fellowship) Technology Journey – Materials Science from Space to Earth
HUNTSVILLE, Ala., (NASA) -- The first American research sample processed in the International Space Station's Materials Science Laboratory was opened for study today at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The Materials Science Laboratory, a furnace facility housed in the new Materials Science Research Rack, was developed and is operated by the European Space Agency aboard the International Space Station. The research rack was developed and built at the Marshall Center. [...]
(Space Fellowship) Station Crew Does Science, Prepares for Undocking
(NASA) - The Expedition 22 crew aboard the International Space Station conducted scientific research Tuesday while preparing for the departure of two of its members. Flight Engineer T.J. Creamer worked on the Long Term Microgravity: A Model for Investigating Mechanisms of Heart Disease with New Portable Equipment (Card) experiment that studies blood pressure decreases when the human body is exposed to microgravity. In order to increase the blood pressure to the level it was on Earth, salt is [...]
(Space Fellowship) Italian astronaut to test 'electronic nose' on ISS
PERUGIA, (RIA Novosti) - Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori, who is due to fly to the International Space Station (ISS), will test an Italian-designed sensor, a national news agency reported on Tuesday. Ansa said the 'electronic nose', selected for the mission by the Italian Space Agency and NASA, is a highly sophisticated device able to detect various odors. "The sensor is designed to identify numerous scents that human noses are unable to detect, and, in particular, to pinpoint those that [...]
(Space Politics) Congressional delegations rally for Constellation
While NASA administrator Charles Bolden might not think that Constellation is “the symbol of American leadership in space”, some members of Congress disagree—or at least see Constellation as a symbol of economic concerns for their states if it’s canceled. Yesterday Utah’s five-member congressional delegation submitted a letter to President Obama asking him to reverse [...]
(Space Travel) Marshall Celebrates 50 Years Of Engineering, Science And Technology
Huntsville AL (SPX) Mar 17, 2010 - 1960 was a year of beginnings for NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. This year, the Marshall Center is celebrating its 50th anniversary, highlighting its historical engineering and technology achievements and service to the nation and America's space program.
(Space Daily) Green Satellite Fuel Designed To Make Space Safer
Paris, France (ESA) Mar 17, 2010 - On the day running up to launch when a spacecraft is fuelled, ground personnel look more like astronauts than engineers, putting on spacesuit-like protective gear.
(Space Daily) See Spot On Jupiter. See Spot Glow
Pasadena CA (JPL) Mar 17, 2010 - New thermal images from powerful ground-based telescopes show swirls of warmer air and cooler regions never seen before within Jupiter's Great Red Spot, enabling scientists to make the first detailed interior weather map of the giant storm system.
(Space Daily) Simulations Solve A 20-Year-Old Riddle
New York NY (SPX) Mar 17, 2010 - The birth of the most massive stars - those ten to a hundred times the mass of the Sun - has posed an astrophysical riddle for decades. Massive stars are dense enough to fuse hydrogen while they're still gathering material from the gas cloud, so it was a mystery why their brilliant radiation does not heat the infalling gas and blow it away.
(Space Daily) Interrogating The Asteroid
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Mar 17, 2010 - Meet asteroid 1999 RQ36, a chunk of rock and dust about 1,900 feet in diameter that could tell us how the solar system was born, and perhaps, shed light on how life began. It also might hit us someday.
(Space Daily) Boeing Announces New Names For 702 Satellite Series
El Segundo CA (SPX) Mar 17, 2010 - Boeing has announced that it will begin marketing the Boeing 702 satellite under two names: the Boeing 702HP for the high-power version, and the Boeing 702MP for the medium-power version.
(Space Daily) News From Stardust
Frankfurt, Germany (SPX) Mar 17, 2010 - As reported in last week's Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston, two most promising candidates for stardust have been identified.
(Space Daily) Crew Does Science, Prepares For Undocking
Houston TX (SPX) Mar 17, 2010 - The Expedition 22 crew aboard the International Space Station conducted scientific research Tuesday while preparing for the departure of two of its members.
(Space Daily) WISE Captures A Cosmic Rose
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Mar 17, 2010 - A new infrared image from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, shows a cosmic rosebud blossoming with new stars. The stars, called the Berkeley 59 cluster, are the blue dots to the right of the image center.
(Space Daily) New Hubble Treasury Project To Survey First Third Of Cosmic Time
Boston MA (SPX) Mar 17, 2010 - Astronomers will peer deep into the universe in five directions to document the early history of star formation and galaxy evolution in an ambitious new project requiring an unprecedented amount of time on the Hubble Space Telescope.
(Space Daily) Third ATV Named After Edoardo Amaldi
Paris, France (ESA) Mar 17, 2010 - Production of the Automated Transfer Vehicles is gearing up. After the flawless flight of the first ATV, Jules Verne, the second, Johannes Kepler, is being completed for launch later this year. Now the third ATV has been named after the Italian physicist and space pioneer Edoardo Amaldi.
(Space Daily) Arabsat-5A And COMS Begin Prep For Second Ariane 5 mission Of 2010
Kourou, French Guiana (SPX) Mar 17, 2010 - The Two Satellites For Arianespace's Second Ariane 5 Flight Of 2010 Have Begun Their Checkout At The Spaceport - Which Currently Is Hosting Two Parallel Missions For The Industry's Workhorse Launch Vehicle.
(Space Daily) Solving A 37-Year Old Space Mystery
London, Canada (SPX) Mar 17, 2010 - A researcher from The University of Western Ontario has helped solve a 37-year old space mystery using lunar images released yesterday by NASA and maps from his own atlas of the moon.
(Space Fellowship) Falcon 9 Successful Static Fire (Video)
On Saturday, March 13, SpaceX successfully completed a test firing of the inaugural Falcon 9 launch vehicle at Space Launch Complex 40 located at Cape Canaveral. Following a nominal terminal countdown, the launch sequencer commanded ignition of all 9 Merlin first stage engines for a period of 3.5 seconds. Just prior to engine ignition, the pad water deluge system was activated providing acoustic suppression to keep vibration levels within acceptable limits. The test validated the launch p [...]
(Space Fellowship) Station Crew Members Prep for Undocking, Future Arrivals
(NASA) - Soaring high over the Earth in the International Space Station, the astronauts and cosmonauts of the Expedition 22 crew began a new week Monday, the final week in space for two of their number. Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Maxim Suraev will depart the station Thursday aboard the Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft. They will undock from the orbiting complex and take a three-and-a-half-hour ride that will culminate in a parachute-assisted landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan early [...]
(Space Fellowship) SpaceX And Space Systems/Loral Sign Contract For Falcon 9 Geosynchronous Transfer Mission
Hawthorne, CA – (SpaceX) – Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Space Systems/Loral (SS/L), have signed an agreement for the launch of an SS/L manufactured satellite aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 as early as 2012. For this mission, Falcon 9 will launch from the SpaceX launch site at Cape Canaveral and insert the satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO). Space Systems/Loral is the world's leading provider of GEO commercial satellites with 40 percent of the high-power market [...]
(Space Politics) Briefly noted: Kosmas, Parker, and the GAO
The big effort in the House this week is to pass a health care reform bill, but that doesn’t mean that space can’t figure into the mix. The Orlando Sentinel reported that Rep. Suzanne Kosmas (D-FL) brought up the subject in a meeting with President Obama last Thursday. The president if trying to [...]
(Space Fellowship) Arabsat-5A and COMS begin their preparation for second Ariane 5 mission of 2010
(Arianespace) - The two satellites for Arianespace’s second Ariane 5 flight of 2010 have begun their checkout at the Spaceport – which currently is hosting two parallel missions for the industry’s workhorse launch vehicle. Both Arabsat-5A and COMS are now undergoing processing in the Spaceport’s S5 preparation facility following their deliveries to French Guiana this month. Arianespace’s mission with Arabsat-5A and COMS is planned for late April using a heavy-lift Ariane 5 E [...]
(Space Fellowship) Picture of the Day - The Wizard Nebula
This image of the open star cluster NGC 7380, also known as the Wizard Nebula, is a mosaic of images from the WISE mission spanning an area on the sky of about 5 times the size of the full moon. NGC 7380 is located in the constellation Cepheus about 7,000 light-years from Earth within the Milky Way Galaxy. The star cluster is embedded in a nebula, which spans some 110 light-years. The stars of NGC 7380 have emerged from this star-forming region in the last 5 million years or so, making it [...]
(Space Daily) Parallel Preparations Continue For Ariane 5 Flights
Kourou, French Guiana (SPX) Mar 16, 2010 - Launch Activity Is In Full Swing At French Guiana As Preparations Move Forward In Parallel For Ariane 5's First Two Missions In 2010 - Underscoring Arianespace's Ability To Support A Sustained Mission Pace With Its Workhorse Vehicle.
(Space Daily) The Ultimate Space Science Mission
Bethesda MD (SPX) Mar 16, 2010 - America's space program needs to be bold. U.S. spacecraft must go where no spacecraft have gone before. It must be imaginative, innovative and almost beyond belief. Well, here it is!
(Space Daily) Marsexpress Returns Phobos Flyby Images
Paris, France (SPX) Mar 16, 2010 - Images from the recent flyby of Phobos, taken on 7 March 2010 by the German Aerospace Center-operated (Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board Mars Express, are being released today. The images show Mars's rocky moon in exquisite detail, with a resolution of 4.4 metres per pixel, including the proposed landing sites for the forthcoming Phobos-Grunt mission.
(Space Daily) Space Available On Lunar Expeditions
Pittsburgh PA (SPX) Mar 16, 2010 - Astrobotic Technology will carry 240 lbs. (109 kg) to the Moon for researchers and marketers as part of its maiden expedition in 2012 to win the Google Lunar X Prize. Science instruments, prototype exploration devices and commercial packages will be carried at $700,000 per pound, plus a $250,000 fee per payload to cover the engineering costs of integrating it into either the expedition's lander or its solar-powered robot.
(Space Daily) ILS Proton To Launch Intelsat 21 And 23
Reston VA (SPX) Mar 16, 2010 - International Launch Services (ILS) announced two firm missions with the ILS Proton launches of the Intelsat 21 satellite and the Intelsat 23 satellite for Intelsat S.A., the world's leading provider of fixed satellite services.
(Space Daily) Aerojet And Orbital Complete Taurus II Tests
Sacramento CA (SPX) Mar 16, 2010 - Aerojet and Orbital Sciences, along with Aerojet's Russian partner, SNTK, have announced that a series of NK-33 rocket engine tests conducted in Samara, Russia were successfully completed in support of the development of Orbital's Taurus II space launch vehicle.
(Space Daily) Shocking Recipe For Making Killer Electrons
Paris, France (SPX) Mar 16, 2010 - Take a bunch of fast-moving electrons, place them in orbit and then hit them with the shock waves from a solar storm. What do you get? Killer electrons. That's the shocking recipe revealed by ESA's Cluster mission.
(Space Daily) Seeking Dark Matter On A Desktop
Menlo Park, CA (SPX) Mar 16, 2010 - Desktop experiments could point the way to dark matter discovery, complementing grand astronomical searches and deep underground observations. According to recent theoretical results, small blocks of matter on a tabletop could reveal elusive properties of the as-yet-unidentified dark matter particles that make up a quarter of the universe, potentially making future large-scale searches easier.
(Space Daily) Super Supernova: White Dwarf Star System Exceeds Mass Limit
New Haven CT (SPX) Mar 16, 2010 - An international team led by Yale University has, for the first time, measured the mass of a type of supernova thought to belong to a unique subclass and confirmed that it surpasses what was believed to be an upper mass limit. Their findings, which appear online and will be published in an upcoming issue of the Astrophysical Journal, could affect the way cosmologists measure the expansion of the universe.
(Space Daily) New Lunar Images And Data Available To Public
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Mar 16, 2010 - The public can follow along with NASA on its journey of lunar discovery. On March 15, the publicly accessible Planetary Data System will release data sets from the seven instruments on board NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
(Space Daily) Space shuttle Discovery problem reported
Cape Canaveral, Fla. (UPI) Mar 15, 2009 - NASA scientists discussed options Monday following a problem that occurred during the weekend when space shuttle Discovery's aft fuel tanks were being vented.
(Space Daily) NATO Commander Backs Cooperation With Russia On Missile Defense
Washington DC (RIA Novosti) Mar 11, 2010 - The new U.S. adoptive approach for European missile defense includes the possibility of using a Russian radar system as part of an integrated system, NATO's top military officer has said.
(Space Daily) NATO needs an anti-missile defence system: chief
Warsaw (AFP) March 12, 2010 - NATO needs to develop an anti-missile defence system as a deterrence, the alliance chief said Friday, while seeking to assure Moscow that the organisation posed no threat to Russia.
(Space Politics) It’s commercial space week
Well, not really, but it’s close. On Thursday afternoon the space subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee is planning a hearing titled “Assessing Commercial Space Capabilities”. The witness list and other hearing details haven’t been published on the committee web site as of midday Monday, but this appears to be the hearing Sen. [...]
(Space Fellowship) ILS Proton To Launch Intelsat 21 And Intelsat 23
Reston, VA, (ILS)– International Launch Services (ILS) announced two firm missions with the ILS Proton launches of the Intelsat 21 satellite and the Intelsat 23 satellite for Intelsat S.A., the world’s leading provider of fixed satellite services. Intelsat 21 is under construction by Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems with a launch planned in early 2012. The Intelsat 23 satellite is being built by Orbital Sciences Corporation, and is slated to launch in late 2011. Both missions are p [...]
(Space Fellowship) Orbital and Aerojet Complete Main Engine Lifetime Testing for Taurus II Space Launch Vehicle
(Orbital) -- Russian Tests of Heritage NK-33 Rocket Engine Confirm Performance and Durability Engine Completes Two Times Normal Firing Duration of a Taurus II Launch Profile -- (Dulles, VA) -- Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB) and Aerojet, a GenCorp (NYSE: GY) company, along with Aerojet’s Russian partner, United Engine Corporation/SNTK, announced today that a series of NK-33 rocket engine tests conducted in Samara, Russia, were successfully completed last week in support of the dev [...]
(Space Fellowship) This Week On The Space Show
The Space Show, hosted by David Livingston under www.TheSpaceShow.com, will have the following guests this week: 1. Monday, March 15, 2010, 2-3:30 PM PDT (21-22:30 GMT) Henry Vanderbilt of Space-Access Society (www.space-access.org) comes to discuss the upcoming conference April 8-10, 2010. Henry Vanderbilt thought space was cool from the start. At age six he was watching a Mercury launch on TV when someone explained that the Atlas rocket cost ten million dollars and they threw it away [...]
(Space Fellowship) Phobos flyby images
(ESA) - Images from the recent flyby of Phobos, on 7 March 2010, are released today. The images show Mars’ rocky moon in exquisite detail, with a resolution of just 4.4 metres per pixel. They show the proposed landing sites for the forthcoming Phobos-Grunt mission. ESA's Mars Express spacecraft orbits the Red Planet in a highly elliptical, polar orbit that brings it close to Phobos every five months. It is the only spacecraft currently in orbit around Mars whose orbit reaches far enough fro [...]
(Space Fellowship) Picture of the Day - Global Map of Mercury
In December 2009, the first high-resolution global map of Mercury was made publicly available. These images are from MESSENGER, a NASA Discovery mission to conduct the first orbital study of the innermost planet, Mercury. Members of the MESSENGER team and experts from the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) used images from MESSENGER's three Mercury flybys and from the Mariner 10 mission in 1974-75 to create a global mosaic that covers 97.7% of Mercury's surface at a resolution of 500 m [...]
(Space Daily) World Space Agencies Confirm Serviceability Of ISS Through 2020
Moscow (RIA Novosti) Mar 15, 2010 - There are no technical constraints to extending the operation of the International Space Station (ISS) until at least 2020, top international space officials said on Thursday.
(Space Daily) Did The Chilean Quake Shift Earth's Axis
Huntsville AL (SPX) Mar 12, 2010 - Pictures of widespread devastation leave no doubt: Last month's 8.8 magnitude earthquake in coastal Chile was extremely strong. Indeed, say NASA scientists, it might have shifted the axis of Earth itself.
(Space Daily) China To Conduct Maiden Space Docking In 2011
Beijing (XNA) Mar 15, 2010 - China will launch an unmanned space module, Tiangong-1, in the first half of 2011, and the Shenzhou-8 spacecraft in the second half of the year, to carry out the nation's first-ever space docking, an expert said here Wednesday.
(Space Daily) Cassini Cruises By Rhea And Helene
Pasadena CA (JPL) Mar 15, 2010 - Cassini's closest-ever flyby of Saturn's moon Rhea went quite smoothly and teams are busy checking out their data! These flybys never fail to amaze me. And the raw images - which give us an unprocessed first look - are really cool!
(Space Daily) The Great Conveyor Belt Of Sol Running Fast
Huntsville AL (SPX) Mar 15, 2010 - NASA solar physicist David Hathaway reports that the top of the sun's Great Conveyor Belt has been running at record-high speeds for the past five years. "I believe this could explain the unusually deep solar minimum we've been experiencing," says Hathaway. "The high speed of the conveyor belt challenges existing models of the solar cycle and it has forced us back to the drawing board for new ideas."
(Space Daily) Three FASTSAT Instruments Pass Tests
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Mar 15, 2010 - The outer layers of Earth's atmosphere hold many secrets yet to be uncovered and three scientific instruments will fly soon on the FASTSAT-HSV01 satellite and seek to uncover them to benefit us here on Earth. Known as MINI-ME, PISA and TTI, these instruments recently passed a series of important final tests to prove their readiness for spaceflight.
(Space Daily) US Lifts Sanctions Against Russian Space Company
Moscow (RIA Novosti) Mar 15, 2010 - The U.S. government has lifted sanctions against the Russian space organization Glavkosmos, the U.S. Federal Register said on Thursday.
(Space Daily) Signature Secures Future Sentinels For GMES
Paris, France (ESA) Mar 15, 2010 - Marking another significant step in the GMES initiative, ESA and Thales Alenia Space recently signed a contract worth euros 270 million to build the second Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-3 satellites.
(Space Daily) Thales Begins Development Of Sentinel 1B And 3B Environmental Satellites
Rome, Italy (SPX) Mar 15, 2010 - Thales Alenia Space has started the development of Sentinel 1B and 3B Earth observation satellites in its Italian and French facilities. These contracts have been awarded to Thales Alenia Space in December 2009, worth 270 million euros, by the European Space Agency (ESA) as part of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme.
(Space Daily) Flipping The Amoeba
San Francisco CA (SPX) Mar 15, 2010 - In the long evolutionary road from bacteria to humans, a major milestone occurred some 1.5 billion years ago when microbes started building closets for all their stuff, storing DNA inside a nucleus, for example, or cramming all the energy machinery inside mitochondria.
(Space Daily) First Station Materials Science Rack Being Processed
Huntsville AL (SPX) Mar 15, 2010 - On Feb. 2, the first materials science sample supporting an U.S. investigator was processed in NASA's Materials Science Research Rack aboard the International Space Station.