Space Tourism, Space Transport and Space Exploration News
April 17, 2018
MOON DAILY
The New Space Race: NASA to Award 1st Contracts for Gateway Moon Base



Washington DC (Sputnik) Apr 23, 2018
As the space race heats up, the first contracts for the manufacture of key components for humanity's Gateway orbital lunar base will be awarded in 2019, according to NASA. Expected to begin next year, a big push to reignite space exploration will see landmark awards for contractors to begin building humanity's first orbital moon base, according to NASA. Intended to be used as a staging area for deep-space exploration and study, the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway (LOP-G) will orbit the moon, ... read more

IRON AND ICE
Four Years of NASA NEOWISE Data
Pasadena CA (JPL) Apr 23, 2018
NASA's Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) mission has released its fourth year of survey data. Since the mission was restarted in December 2013, after a period of hibern ... more
MOON DAILY
Moon Colonization: Why do we want it and what technologies do we have?
Moscow (Sputnik) Apr 20, 2018
Scientists are convinced that humankind is capable of turning the Moon into a space outpost: people have cosmodromes, heavy carrier rockets, space modules and lunar rovers. Sputnik reveals what is b ... more
MARSDAILY
Clear as mud: Desiccation cracks help reveal the shape of water on Mars
Boulder CO (SPX) Apr 20, 2018
As Curiosity rover marches across Mars, the red planet's watery past comes into clearer focus. In early 2017 scientists announced the discovery of possible desiccation cracks in Gale Crater, w ... more
MOON DAILY
Indian Space Agency claims to have saved $120 mln on second Lunar mission
New Delhi (Sputnik) Apr 20, 2018
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has claimed that it has saved $120 million in public money in the upcoming moon mission "Chandrayaan-2," which is expected to be launched in October-Nov ... more
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TIME AND SPACE
En route to the optical nuclear clock
Munich, Germany (SPX) Apr 19, 2018
The nucleus of thorium-229 possesses a property that is unique among all known nuclides: It should be possible to excite it with ultraviolet light. To date, little has been known about the low-energ ... more
STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Ultrafast electron oscillation and dephasing monitored by attosecond light source
Yokohama, Japan (SPX) Apr 19, 2018
Collaborative research team of Prof. Jun Takeda and Associate Prof. Ikufumi Katayama in the laboratory of Yokohama National University (YNU) and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) successfully obs ... more
MOON DAILY
SSTL and Goonhilly Earth Station Sign Collaboration Agreement with ESA for Commercial Lunar Missions
Guildford, UK (SPX) Apr 19, 2018
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL), Goonhilly Earth Station (GES) and the European Space Agency (ESA) have signed a collaboration agreement for Commercial Lunar Mission Support Services at the ... more
MARSDAILY
SwRI's Martian moons model indicates formation following large impact
San Antonio TX (SPX) Apr 19, 2018
Southwest Research Institute scientists posit a violent birth of the tiny Martian moons Phobos and Deimos, but on a much smaller scale than the giant impact thought to have resulted in the Earth-Moo ... more
SPACE MEDICINE
Inactivity bigger threat to muscles in space than low oxygen, study says
Washington DC (UPI) Apr 18, 2018
In experiments designed to measure the impacts of spaceflight on human muscle health and performance, researchers were surprised to find inactivity had a greater negative effect than hypoxia. ... more
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MOON DAILY
Walking on the Moon - underwater
Paris (ESA) Apr 18, 2018
It's one of the deepest 'swimming pools' in Europe, but for three years has been helping preparations for a human return to the Moon. ESA's Neutral Buoyancy Facility at the European Astronaut Centre ... more
EXO WORLDS
Scientists blast iron with lasers to study the cores of rocky exoplanets
Washington (UPI) Apr 17, 2018
By blasting a small iron sample with high-powered lasers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, scientists can replicate the extreme pressure and density conditions found inside the cores of large, rocky exoplanets. ... more
DRAGON SPACE
China to launch Long March-5 Y3 rocket in late 2018
Beijing (XNA) Apr 17, 2018
China plans to launch its heavy-lift carrier rocket, the Long March-5 Y3, in late 2018, after finding the cause of the failure of the Long March-5 Y2, according to the St ... more
OUTER PLANETS
Pluto's Largest Moon, Charon, Gets Its First Official Feature Names
Munich, Germany (SPX) Apr 17, 2018
Legendary explorers and visionaries, real and fictitious, are among those immortalized by the IAU in the first set of official surface-feature names for Pluto's largest moon, Charon. The names were ... more
EXO WORLDS
Are we alone? NASA's new planet hunter aims to find out
Tampa (AFP) April 16, 2018
SpaceX postponed the launch of NASA's new planet-hunting mission Monday in order to verify the Falcon 9 rocket's navigation systems, the California-based company said. ... more


Close Call: Giant Asteroid Flies Through the Earth-Moon Orbit

EXO WORLDS
Once upon a time, an exoplanet was discovered
Washington DC (SPX) Apr 17, 2018
In recent history, a very important achievement was the discovery, in 1995, of 51 Pegasi b, the first extrasolar planet ever found around a normal star other than the Sun. In a paper published ... more
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DRAGON SPACE
The Long Game: China Seeks to Transfer Its Silk Industry to Far Side of the Moon
Beijing (Sputnik) Apr 17, 2018
Talk about a trade war, as intra-solar-system transport of silk - one of the world's most popular commodities - could be made on the moon, and imported to earth. Just because China's upcoming ... more
MARSDAILY
NASA scientist to discuss 'Swimming in Martian Lakes: Curiosity at Gale Crater'
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Apr 17, 2018
The public is invited to a free talk called "Swimming in Martian Lakes: Curiosity at Gale Crater," with Dr. Scott Guzewich in the Pickford Theater, third floor, Madison Building, Library of Congress ... more
MARSDAILY
US, Russia likely to go to Mars Together, former NASA astronaut says
Colorado Springs (Sputnik) Apr 17, 2018
The United States and Russia are on a path to jointly explore deep space and will most likely fly to Mars together, former NASA astronaut Ronald M. Sega told Sputnik. "I think we are on a path ... more
EXO WORLDS
We think we're the first advanced earthlings - but how do we really know?
Rochester UK (SPX) Apr 18, 2018
Imagine if, many millions of years ago, dinosaurs drove cars through cities of mile-high buildings. A preposterous idea, right? Over the course of tens of millions of years, however, all of the dire ... more
STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Atomic Lego guides light below one nanometer
Barcelona, Spain (SPX) Apr 20, 2018
All electronic devices in our daily lives - computers, smartphones etc. - consist of billions of transistors, the key building block invented in Bell Labs in the late 1940s. The transistor started o ... more
24/7 Nuclear News Coverage
24/7 War News Coverage
24/7 War News Coverage

NASA scientist to discuss 'Swimming in Martian Lakes: Curiosity at Gale Crater'
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Apr 17, 2018
The public is invited to a free talk called "Swimming in Martian Lakes: Curiosity at Gale Crater," with Dr. Scott Guzewich in the Pickford Theater, third floor, Madison Building, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., on April 25 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. EDT. Guzewich is a speaker in the 2018 NASA Goddard Lectures Series at the Library of Congress. Guzewich is a research astrophysicis ... more
+ Clear as mud: Desiccation cracks help reveal the shape of water on Mars
+ SwRI's Martian moons model indicates formation following large impact
+ US, Russia likely to go to Mars Together, former NASA astronaut says
+ Trace Gas Orbiter reaches stable Mars orbit, ready to start science mission
+ Mars impact crater or supervolcano?
+ The Rock Outcrop 'Tome' Continues to Garner Interest On Mars
+ Mars Express to get major software update


Walking on the Moon - underwater
Paris (ESA) Apr 18, 2018
It's one of the deepest 'swimming pools' in Europe, but for three years has been helping preparations for a human return to the Moon. ESA's Neutral Buoyancy Facility at the European Astronaut Centre has been the site of the 'Moondive' study, using specially weighted spacesuits to simulate lunar gravity, which is just one sixth that of Earth. The three-year study took place in the Centre's ... more
+ SSTL and Goonhilly Earth Station Sign Collaboration Agreement with ESA for Commercial Lunar Missions
+ The New Space Race: NASA to Award 1st Contracts for Gateway Moon Base
+ Moon Colonization: Why do we want it and what technologies do we have?
+ Indian Space Agency claims to have saved $120 mln on second Lunar mission
+ NASA offers 4K tour of the moon
+ NAU planetary scientist's study suggests widespread presence of water on the Moon
+ Indian space agency postpones second Moon mission to October
Pluto's Largest Moon, Charon, Gets Its First Official Feature Names
Munich, Germany (SPX) Apr 17, 2018
Legendary explorers and visionaries, real and fictitious, are among those immortalized by the IAU in the first set of official surface-feature names for Pluto's largest moon, Charon. The names were proposed by the New Horizons team and approved by IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature. The International Astronomical Union (IAU), the internationally recognized authority for na ... more
+ Pluto's largest moon, Charon, gets its first official feature names
+ Juno Provides Infrared Tour of Jupiter's North Pole
+ SSL to provide of critical capabilities for Europa Flyby Mission
+ Jupiter's turmoil more than skin deep: researchers
+ New Horizons Chooses Nickname for 'Ultimate' Flyby Target
+ Jupiter's Great Red Spot getting taller as it shrinks
+ Jupiter's Jet-Streams Are Unearthly
Are we alone? NASA's new planet hunter aims to find out
Tampa (AFP) April 16, 2018
SpaceX postponed the launch of NASA's new planet-hunting mission Monday in order to verify the Falcon 9 rocket's navigation systems, the California-based company said. The next opportunity to blast off the $337 million satellite - which aims to advance the search for extraterrestrial life by scanning the skies for nearby, Earth-like planets - will be Wednesday. ... more
+ Scientists blast iron with lasers to study the cores of rocky exoplanets
+ Once upon a time, an exoplanet was discovered
+ We think we're the first advanced earthlings - but how do we really know?
+ Newly discovered salty subglacial lakes could help search for life in solar system
+ SPHERE Reveals Fascinating Zoo of Discs Around Young Stars
+ A Cosmic Gorilla Effect Could Blind the Detection of Aliens
+ NASA's newest planet-hunter, TESS, to survey the entire night sky
US Air Force awards nearly $1 bn for hypersonic missile
Washington (AFP) April 19, 2018
The US Air Force is awarding almost $1 billion to Lockheed Martin to design and develop a hypersonic missile that can be launched from a warplane. The contract follows repeated warnings from senior defense officials about rapid advances by China and Russia in the field of hypersonic weaponry, where missiles can fly at many times the speed of sound and dodge missile-defense systems. In a ... more
+ ULA Atlas V launch to feature full complement of Aerojet Rocketdyne solid rocket boosters
+ Arianespace to launch BSAT-4b; marking the 10th satellite launch for B-SAT
+ SpaceX blasts off NASA's new planet-hunter, TESS
+ Lockheed awarded $928M for hypersonic strike weapon
+ RL10 Selected for OmegA Rocket
+ ISRO not facing funds crunch: Chairman K.Sivan
+ Alaska Aerospace Clarifies Commercial Aerospace Plans For Kodiak


The Long Game: China Seeks to Transfer Its Silk Industry to Far Side of the Moon
Beijing (Sputnik) Apr 17, 2018
Talk about a trade war, as intra-solar-system transport of silk - one of the world's most popular commodities - could be made on the moon, and imported to earth. Just because China's upcoming moon mission is unmanned doesn't mean it will be unoccupied, as - in an effort to test possible self-sustaining biospheres that could lead to larger projects - cohabitating flora and fauna will be tra ... more
+ China to launch Long March-5 Y3 rocket in late 2018
+ Flowers on the Moon? China's Chang'e-4 to launch lunar spring
+ China's 'space dream': A Long March to the moon
+ China says Earth-bound space lab to offer 'splendid' show
+ Tiangong-1 expected to burn up on reentering atmosphere
+ Earth-bound Chinese spacelab plunging to fiery end
+ Chang'e-4 Lunar Probe will Reach the Far Side of the Moon
Lyrid meteor shower to peak over the weekend
Washington (UPI) Apr 20, 2018
The second major meteor shower of 2018 is set to peak this weekend. The Lyrids will deliver roughly 20 streaking meteors per hour during its peak. Saturday night will offer sky-watchers the best chance to take in the shooting stars, but Friday and Sunday nights will host a handful of meteors, too. "The shower will be best viewed after midnight when the radiant is highest in the s ... more
+ Close Call: Giant Asteroid Flies Through the Earth-Moon Orbit
+ Four Years of NASA NEOWISE Data
+ Trail of glassy beads helps scientists track down missing crater
+ Here, There and Everywhere: Across the Universe with the Beatles
+ A star disturbed the comets of the solar system in prehistory
+ Russian scientists use lasers to destroy mini asteroids
+ NASA plans giant spacecraft to defend Earth by nuking deadly asteroids


US Air Force to begin fighter-mounted laser testing this summer
Washington (AFP) March 19, 2018
The US Air Force will this summer begin testing a laser that will be mounted on an F-15 warplane, an official said Monday. The Pentagon last year awarded a $26 million contract to Lockheed Martin for a laser program called SHiELD (Self-protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator.) The idea is to put a laser system on aircraft with an output of about 50 kilowatts to test their ability to zap ... more
+ Navy taps Northrop Grumman for laser weapon system
+ Lockheed Martin awarded first part of billion dollar laser weapons deal
+ Navy orders laser weapon systems from Lockheed Martin
+ Lockheed Martin to develop compact airborne high energy laser capabilities
Lockheed tapped for upgrades to Patriot, THAAD missile systems
Washington DC (UPI) Apr 18, 2018
Lockheed Martin has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Army for Patriot defense systems and launch capabilities. The deal, announced Tuesday by the Department of Defense, is valued at $200 million under the terms of a cost-plus-incentive-fee contract, which is a modification to a previous award. The contract awarded by the Army Contracting Command, out of Redstone Arsenal, Al., ... more
+ Syrian air defence shoots down missiles over Homs: state media
+ Raytheon tapped for Air and Missile Defense Radar Program
+ Pentagon awards $67.8M contract for Ballistic Missile Defense System
+ Saudis intercept ballistic missile from Yemen: coalition
+ Estonia calls for deployment of Patriot missiles and US troops
+ Saudis intercept new missile fired by Yemen rebels: coalition
+ Yemen rebel missiles, drones shot down over Saudi


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
This 2-D nanosheet expands like a Grow Monster
Buffalo NY (SPX) Apr 19, 2018
Grow Monsters. Expandable water toys. Whatever you call them, they're plastic-like figurines that swell when placed in water. New materials science research borrows from this concept; only instead of water, engineers discovered that tiny crystal lattices called "self-assembling molecular nanosheets" expand when exposed to light. The advancement, described in the Proceedings of the Na ... more
+ Robot developed for automated assembly of designer nanomaterials
+ A treasure trove for nanotechnology experts
+ UCLA researchers develop a new class of two-dimensional materials
+ Nanostructures made of previously impossible material
+ Mining hardware helps scientists gain insight into silicon nanoparticles
+ Big steps toward control of production of tiny building blocks
+ New technique allows printing of flexible, stretchable silver nanowire circuits


Searching for Continuous Gravitational Waves
Hannover, Germany (SPX) Apr 13, 2018
A permanent Max Planck Independent Research Group under the leadership of Dr. M. Alessandra Papa has been established at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute; AEI) in Hannover. The primary goal of the research group "Searching for Continuous Gravitational Waves" is to make the first direct detection of gravitational waves from rapidly rotating neutr ... more
+ Feature: Every second counts to trace a gravitational wave
+ Astronomers discover galaxies spin like clockwork
+ New method enables high-resolution measurements of magnetism
+ ESA Creates Quietest Place In Space
+ Bursting with Excitement - A Look at Bubbles and Fluids in Space
+ NASA Technology to Help Locate Electromagnetic Counterparts of Gravitational Waves
+ Transportable optical clock used to measure gravitation for the first time
Can we tell black holes apart to test theories of gravity?
Bonn, Germany (SPX) Apr 17, 2018
One of the most fundamental predictions of Einstein's theory of relativity is the existence of black holes. In spite of the recent detection of gravitational waves from binary black holes by LIGO, direct evidence using electromagnetic waves remains elusive and astronomers are looking for it with radio telescopes. For the first time, collaborators in the ERC funded project BlackHoleCam, inc ... more
+ En route to the optical nuclear clock
+ Chemical analysis technique gets major upgrade from Russian scientists
+ Understanding quantum chromodynamics
+ Dense Stellar Clusters May Foster Black Hole Megamergers
+ The background hum of space could reveal hidden black holes
+ One string to rule them all
+ Researchers inaugurate a new era of precision antimatter studies


A robot by NTU Singapore autonomously assembles an IKEA chair
Singapore (SPX) Apr 19, 2018
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) scientists have developed a robot that can autonomously assemble an IKEA chair without interruption. Designed by Assistant Professor Pham Quang Cuong and his team from NTU's School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, the robot comprises a 3D camera and two robotic arms equipped with grippers to pick up objects. The team coded ... more
+ Researchers design 'soft' robots that can move on their own
+ Two robots are better than one for NIST's 5G antenna measurement research
+ Want computers to see better in the real world? Train them in a virtual reality
+ Visual recognition: Seeing the world through the eyes of rodents
+ Russia's Robot FEDOR to Be the First to Fly to Space on Board New Spacecraft
+ How accurate is your AI
+ Make way for the mini flying machines
US to drop curbs on drone tech to boost arms sales
Washington (AFP) April 20, 2018
The United States dropped some restrictions Thursday on sales of its advanced drones in order to reinforce the armies of its allies and compete with China on the world arms market. President Donald Trump's White House announced an update to its policy on arms transfers to promote US exports and jobs, and specifically to loosen the rules on selling unmanned warplanes. Trump's chief trade ... more
+ Dynetics to develop Gremlins UAV system for DARPA
+ MSAB and URSA Partner on Drone Forensic Technology
+ Air Force contracts with SRC for drone supplies, services
+ OFFSET "Sprinters" to Pursue State-of-the-art Solutions for Second Swarm Sprint
+ Israeli drone crashes in southern Lebanon
+ Insitu tapped to manage ScanEagle UAS in Afghanistan
+ CPI Antenna receives new contract for UAV comms from Cubic Mission
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