Space Tourism, Space Transport and Space Exploration News
February 16, 2018
MARSDAILY
Oppy Takes A Selfie To Mark Sol 5000



Pasadena CA (JPL) Feb 16, 2018
The Sun will rise on NASA's solar-powered Mars rover Opportunity for the 5,000th time on Saturday, sending rays of energy to a golf-cart-size robotic field geologist that continues to provide revelations about the Red Planet. "Five thousand sols after the start of our 90-sol mission, this amazing rover is still showing us surprises on Mars," said Opportunity Project Manager John Callas, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. A Martian "sol" lasts about 40 minutes longer t ... read more

MARSDAILY
Mars Rover Opportunity Reaches 5000 Sols On Mars
Pasadena CA (JPL) Feb 16, 2018
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity keeps providing surprises about the Red Planet, most recently with observations of possible "rock stripes." The ground texture seen in recent images f ... more
MOON DAILY
NASA's Lunar Outpost will Extend Human Presence in Deep Space
Washington DC (SPX) Feb 16, 2018
As NASA sets its sights on returning to the Moon, and preparing for Mars, the agency is developing new opportunities in lunar orbit to provide the foundation for human exploration deeper into the so ... more
STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Physicists create new form of light
Boston MA (SPX) Feb 16, 2018
Try a quick experiment: Take two flashlights into a dark room and shine them so that their light beams cross. Notice anything peculiar? The rather anticlimactic answer is, probably not. That's becau ... more
TECH SPACE
Last NASA Communications Satellite of its Kind Joins Fleet
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Feb 16, 2018
NASA has begun operating the last satellite of its kind in the network that provides communications and tracking services to more than 40 NASA missions, including critical, real-time communication w ... more
ADVERTISEMENT



ADVERTISEMENT


Previous Issues Feb 15 Feb 14 Feb 13 Feb 12 Feb 11
ADVERTISEMENT



EXO WORLDS
Kepler Scientists Discover Almost 100 New Exoplanets
Copenhagen, Denmark (SPX) Feb 16, 2018
Based on data from NASA's K2 mission an international team of scientists have just confirmed nearly 100 new exoplanets, planets located outside our solar system. This brings the total number of new ... more
TECH SPACE
University Holds Tenth Annual Space Horizons Workshop
Providence RI (SPX) Feb 13, 2018
This past weekend, students, faculty and aerospace professionals gathered in Barus and Holley to participate in the tenth annual Space Horizons workshop. The event focused on the industry's shift to ... more
SPACE MEDICINE
Repetition key to self-healing, flexible medical devices
University Park PA (SPX) Feb 13, 2018
Medical devices powered by synthetic proteins created from repeated sequences of proteins may be possible, according to materials science and biotechnology experts, who looked at material inspired b ... more
ROBO SPACE
Researchers help robots think and plan in the abstract
Providence RI (SPX) Feb 15, 2018
Researchers from Brown University and MIT have developed a method for helping robots plan for multi-step tasks by constructing abstract representations of the world around them. Their study, publish ... more
MOON DAILY
NASA's OSIRIS-REx Captures New Earth-Moon Image
Washington DC (SPX) Feb 15, 2018
As part of an engineering test, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft captured this image of the Earth and Moon using its NavCam1 imager on January 17 from a distance of 39.5 million miles (63.6 million km). ... more
24/7 Space News Coverage
24/7 Technology News Coverage
24/7 China News Coverage

ADVERTISEMENT


ADVERTISEMENT

EXO WORLDS
Deep-sea fish use hydrothermal vents to incubate eggs
University Park PA (SPX) Feb 13, 2018
Some deep-sea skates - cartilaginous fish related to rays and sharks - use volcanic heat emitted at hydrothermal vents to incubate their eggs, according to a new study in the journal Scientific Repo ... more
MARSDAILY
Danish architect envisions life on Mars
Dubai (XNA) Feb 14, 2018
Could humans ever live on Mars? Award-winning architect gave a positive answer and even a timescale to this question: in 100 years. Bjarke Ingels, named by Time magazine in 2016 as among the " ... more
MARSDAILY
A Piece of Mars is Going Home
Pasadena CA (JPL) Feb 14, 2018
A chunk of Mars will soon be returning home. A piece of a meteorite called Sayh al Uhaymir 008 (SaU008) will be carried on board NASA's Mars 2020 rover mission, now being built at the agency's Jet P ... more
MARSDAILY
Mars Opportunity Rover Energy Levels Improve
Pasadena CA (JPL) Feb 13, 2018
Opportunity is continuing her exploration of "Perseverance Valley" on the west rim of Endeavour Crater. The rover has moved along the north fork of a local flow channel about half way down the ... more
MARSDAILY
Leaky Atmosphere Linked To Lightweight Planet
Paris (ESA) Feb 13, 2018
The Red Planet's low gravity and lack of magnetic field makes its outermost atmosphere an easy target to be swept away by the solar wind, but new evidence from ESA's Mars Express spacecraft shows th ... more


In Oman desert, European venture sets sights on Mars

ENERGY TECH
Using lithium to reduce instabilities in fusion plasmas
Plainsboro NJ (SPX) Feb 12, 2018
You may be most familiar with the element lithium as an integral component of your smart phone's battery, but the element also plays a role in the development of clean fusion energy. When used on tu ... more
Space News from SpaceDaily.com

ADVERTISEMENT



MARSDAILY
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter preparing for years ahead
Pasadena CA (JPL) Feb 12, 2018
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has begun extra stargazing to help the space agency accomplish advances in Mars exploration over the next decade. The spacecraft already has worked mor ... more
DRAGON SPACE
Long March rockets on ambitious mission in 2018
Xichang, China (XNA) Feb 15, 2018
The Long March-3B rocket launched Monday from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province marked the seventh successful mission of the Long March rocket series since th ... more
TECH SPACE
Self-Driving Servicer Now Baselined for NASA's Restore-L Satellite-Servicing Demonstration
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Feb 14, 2018
One test changed the fortunes of an advanced 3-D imaging lidar system now baselined for NASA's Restore-L project that will demonstrate an autonomous satellite-servicing capability. Officials w ... more
ROBO SPACE
The robots will see you now
Brooklyn NY (SPX) Feb 08, 2018
For more than a decade, biomimetic robots have been deployed alongside live animals to better understand the drivers of animal behavior, including social cues, fear, leadership, and even courtship. ... more
ROBO SPACE
Integration of AI and robotics with materials sciences will lead to new clean energy technology
Toronto, Canada (SPX) Feb 08, 2018
Materials are the foundation of essentially all clean energy technologies including advanced batteries, solar cells, low-energy semiconductors, catalysts for capturing and storing CO2, and more. But ... more
24/7 Nuclear News Coverage
24/7 War News Coverage
24/7 War News Coverage

Mars Opportunity Rover Energy Levels Improve
Pasadena CA (JPL) Feb 13, 2018
Opportunity is continuing her exploration of "Perseverance Valley" on the west rim of Endeavour Crater. The rover has moved along the north fork of a local flow channel about half way down the valley. Greatly improved energy levels from dust cleaning of the solar arrays has allowed the rover to be active longer each day and occasionally overnight. On Sol 4986 (Feb. 1, 2018), the robo ... more
+ Mars Rover Opportunity Reaches 5000 Sols On Mars
+ Oppy Takes A Selfie To Mark Sol 5000
+ A Piece of Mars is Going Home
+ Danish architect envisions life on Mars
+ Leaky Atmosphere Linked To Lightweight Planet
+ In Oman desert, European venture sets sights on Mars
+ Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter preparing for years ahead


NASA's OSIRIS-REx Captures New Earth-Moon Image
Washington DC (SPX) Feb 15, 2018
As part of an engineering test, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft captured this image of the Earth and Moon using its NavCam1 imager on January 17 from a distance of 39.5 million miles (63.6 million km). When the camera acquired the image, the spacecraft was moving away from home at a speed of 19,000 miles per hour (8.5 kilometers per second). Earth is the largest, brightest spot in the center ... more
+ NASA's Lunar Outpost will Extend Human Presence in Deep Space
+ New study sheds light on moon's slow retreat from frozen Earth
+ India Prepares For Second Lunar Mission with Chandrayaan-2
+ UCF Seeks New Way to Mine Moon for Water
+ Chinese volunteers spend 200 days on virtual 'moon base'
+ CubeSats for hunting secrets in lunar darkness
+ Russia at work on new station, lunar trips: says top rocket scientist
New Horizons captures record-breaking images in the Kuiper Belt
Washington DC (SPX) Feb 09, 2018
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft recently turned its telescopic camera toward a field of stars, snapped an image - and made history. The routine calibration frame of the "Wishing Well" galactic open star cluster, made by the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on Dec. 5, was taken when New Horizons was 3.79 billion miles (6.12 billion kilometers, or 40.9 astronomical units) from Earth - ... more
+ Europa and Other Planetary Bodies May Have Extremely Low-Density Surfaces
+ JUICE ground control gets green light to start development
+ New Year 2019 offers new horizons at MU69 flyby
+ Study explains why Jupiter's jet stream reverses course on a predictable schedule
+ New Horizons Corrects Its Course in the Kuiper Belt
+ Does New Horizons' Next Target Have a Moon?
+ Juno probes the depths of Jupiter's Great Red Spot
Kepler Scientists Discover Almost 100 New Exoplanets
Copenhagen, Denmark (SPX) Feb 16, 2018
Based on data from NASA's K2 mission an international team of scientists have just confirmed nearly 100 new exoplanets, planets located outside our solar system. This brings the total number of new exoplanets found with the K2 mission up to almost 300. The new results are to be published in the Astronomical Journal. "We started out analyzing 275 candidates of which 149 were validated as re ... more
+ Deep-sea fish use hydrothermal vents to incubate eggs
+ 'Oumuamua has been tumbling about the galaxy for a billion years
+ UChicago astrophysicists settle cosmic debate on magnetism of planets and stars
+ Viruses are falling from the sky
+ Are you rocky or are you gassy
+ What the TRAPPIST-1 Planets Could Look Like
+ Hubble offers first atmospheric data of exoplanets orbiting Trappist-1
Russia launches cargo spacecraft after aborted liftoff
Moscow (AFP) Feb 13, 2018
Russia on Tuesday launched an unmanned Progress cargo ship to the International Space Station after a glitch led officials to postpone the planned liftoff two days earlier. The Soyuz rocket carrying the Progress ship took off from the snow-covered Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:15 am Moscow time (0815 GMT) and reached its designated orbit several minutes later, the Russian space a ... more
+ 140 successful tests and several "firsts" for Vinci, the engine for Ariane 6
+ Soyuz launch to resupply ISS aborted seconds before liftoff
+ What's next for SpaceX?
+ Elon Musk, visionary Tesla and SpaceX founder
+ Japan Successfully Launches World's Smallest Carrier Rocket
+ Final request for proposal released for Air Force launch services contract
+ World's biggest rocket soars toward Mars after perfect launch


Long March rockets on ambitious mission in 2018
Xichang, China (XNA) Feb 15, 2018
The Long March-3B rocket launched Monday from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province marked the seventh successful mission of the Long March rocket series since the beginning of 2018. The year 2018 will be an ambitious year for China's space program, with the largest number of Long March rocket launches. According to Cen Zheng, rocket system command ... more
+ Chinese taikonauts maintain indomitable spirit in space exploration: senior officer
+ China launches first shared education satellite
+ China's first X-ray space telescope put into service after in-orbit tests
+ China's first successful lunar laser ranging accomplished
+ Yang Liwei looks back at China's first manned space mission
+ Space agency to pick those with the right stuff
+ China to select astronauts for its space station
Five Years after the Chelyabinsk Meteor: NASA Leads Efforts in Planetary Defense
Pasadena CA (JPL) Feb 16, 2018
A blinding flash, a loud sonic boom, and shattered glass everywhere. This is what the people of Chelyabinsk, Russia, experienced five years ago when an asteroid exploded over their city the morning of Feb. 15, 2013. The house-sized asteroid entered the atmosphere over Chelyabinsk at over eleven miles per second and blew apart 14 miles above the ground. The explosion released the energy equ ... more
+ Seafloor data point to global volcanism after Chicxulub meteor strike
+ Evidence for a massive biomass burning event at the Younger Dryas Boundary
+ Two Small Asteroids Safely Pass Earth This Week
+ New research suggests toward end of Ice Age, human beings witnessed fires larger than dinosaur killers
+ Asteroid to pass by Earth in Feb.
+ Asteroid 2002 AJ129 to Fly Safely Past Earth February 4
+ NASA, USGS confirm Michigan meteorite strike


Navy orders laser weapon systems from Lockheed Martin
Washington (UPI) Jan 29, 2018
Naval Sea Systems Command has awarded Lockheed Martin a contract for the Surface Navy Laser Weapon System. The deal, announced Friday by the Department of Defense, is valued at more than $150 million under the terms of a cost-plus-incentive-fee contract. The contract taps Lockheed Martin's Aculight Corp. to develop, manufacture and deliver two test units in fiscal 2020 - one uni ... more
+ Lockheed Martin to develop compact airborne high energy laser capabilities
+ Lockheed Martin developing technology to intercept missile threats with Directed Energy
+ Upgraded Lockheed Martin Laser Outguns Threat in Half the Time
+ ATHENA laser testbed system successfully shoots down drones
+ DOD to invest $17M on laser weapons research in New Mexico
China to Develop Sea-Based Missile Interceptors
Beijing (XNA) Feb 09, 2018
China is planning to develop a sea-based missile defense launcher after completing a successful intercept of a ballistic missile in space from a ground-based system earlier this week, according to the South China Morning Post. "China's sea-based anti-missile system aims to defend both its territory and overseas interests, because sea-based defense systems will be set up wherever its warshi ... more
+ Lockheed awarded $523M for Patriot missiles for Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Romania
+ Beijing holds successful missile defense test
+ Saudi says Yemen rebel ballistic missile shot down
+ Lockheed tapped by Army for 10 more THAAD interceptors
+ Raytheon awarded $2.3B to support Patriot missile system
+ Test of US-Japanese missile interceptor fails again
+ Boeing awarded $6.56B for upgrades to ballistic missile defense system


Titan topographic map unearths cookie-cutter holes in moon's surface
Ithaca NY (SPX) Jan 19, 2018
Using the now-complete Cassini data set, Cornell University astronomers have created a new global topographic map of Saturn's moon Titan that has opened new windows into understanding its liquid flows and terrain. Two papers, recently published in Geophysical Review Letters, describe the map and discoveries arising from it. Creating the map took about a year, according to doctoral student ... more
+ Cassini finds Titan has 'sea level' like Earth
+ Giant Storms Cause Palpitations in Saturn's Atmospheric Heartbeat
+ Electrical and Chemical Coupling Between Saturn and Its Ring
+ Unique atmospheric chemistry explains cold vortex on Saturn's moon Titan
+ Cassini Image Mosaic: A Farewell to Saturn
+ Unexpected atmospheric vortex behavior on Saturn's moon Titan
+ Heating ocean moon Enceladus for billions of years
Ultra-efficient removal of carbon monoxide using gold nanoparticles on a molecular support
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Feb 15, 2018
Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have developed a way to mount gold nanoparticles on a molecular support known as a polyoxometalate (POM). They successfully applied this to realize nearly 100% conversion of carbon monoxide (CO) over a wide temperature range, demonstrating stable performance over long periods of time. They showed how traces of water uniquely contribute to the cataly ... more
+ Scientists observe nanowires as they grow
+ Fast-spinning spheres show nanoscale systems' secrets
+ More-sensitive DNA nanowires promise better measurements of biological processes
+ On the rebound as nanoparticles self-heal
+ Optical nanoscope allows imaging of quantum dots
+ Let the good tubes roll
+ Piecework at the nano assembly line


Bursting with Excitement - A Look at Bubbles and Fluids in Space
Houston TX (SPX) Feb 13, 2018
Watching a bubble float effortlessly through the International Space Station may be mesmerizing and beautiful to witness, but that same bubble is also teaching researchers about how fluids behave differently in microgravity than they do on Earth. The near-weightless conditions aboard the station allow researchers to observe and control a wide variety of fluids in ways that are not possible on Ea ... more
+ NASA Technology to Help Locate Electromagnetic Counterparts of Gravitational Waves
+ New method enables high-resolution measurements of magnetism
+ ESA Creates Quietest Place In Space
+ Transportable optical clock used to measure gravitation for the first time
+ Acoustic tractor beam could pave the way for levitating humans
+ Cutting-Edge Technology Enhances Virgo Gravitational-Wave Detector
+ Deep Learning Pioneered for Real-Time Gravitational Wave Discovery
Scientists make first direct observation of electron frolic
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Feb 15, 2018
The shower of electrons bouncing across Earth's magnetosphere - commonly known as the Northern Lights - has been directly observed for the first time by an international team of scientists. While the cause of these colorful auroras has long been hypothesized, researchers had never directly observed the underlying mechanism until now. The spectacle of these subatomic showers is legendary. G ... more
+ Supermassive black hole model predicts characteristic light signals at cusp of collision
+ NASA Tests Atomic Clock for Deep Space Navigation
+ Captured electrons excite nuclei to higher energy states
+ Supermassive black holes can feast on one star per year
+ Large Hadron Collider experiment shows potential evidence of quasiparticle sought for decades
+ New technique can capture images of ultrafast energy-time entangled photon pairs
+ Distant galaxy group contradicts common cosmological models, simulations


Researchers help robots think and plan in the abstract
Providence RI (SPX) Feb 15, 2018
Researchers from Brown University and MIT have developed a method for helping robots plan for multi-step tasks by constructing abstract representations of the world around them. Their study, published in the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research, is a step toward building robots that can think and act more like people. Planning is a monumentally difficult thing for robots, largely be ... more
+ The robots will see you now
+ Integration of AI and robotics with materials sciences will lead to new clean energy technology
+ Can a cockroach teach a robot how to scurry across rugged terrain?
+ All-terrain microbot moves by tumbling over complex topography
+ Quantum algorithm could help AI think faster
+ Army researchers develop new algorithms to train robots
+ Bezos hails Alexa as Amazon profits surge
General Atomics enlists Boeing for its MQ-25 Stingray proposal
Washington (UPI) Feb 14, 2018
General Atomics has announced their collaboration with Boeing, among other companies, to develop and build the MQ-25 Stingray carrier-based tanker drone for the U.S. Navy. Tuesday's announcement comes as the Navy has suggested in its latest budget request that it will only order four of the drone tankers during the next several years, despite years of development on the program. ... more
+ Improving drone performance in headwinds
+ Orbital ATK contracted for testing of drone missile targets
+ Programming drones to fly in the face of uncertainty
+ Alleged Iranian UAV captured by Israel is 'copy' of US' Sentinel UAV
+ Drones showcase wildlife-counting skills in the EpicDuckChallenge
+ L-3 awarded $8.2M for retrofits to Predator simulators
+ General Atomics awarded $49M for Reaper drone software development
Daily Newsletters - Space - Military - Environment - Energy

Buy Advertising Media Advertising Kit Editorial & Other Enquiries Privacy statement
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2018 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement