Space Tourism, Space Transport and Space Exploration News
December 19, 2018
MARSDAILY
InSight Engineers Have Made a Martian Rock Garden



Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 19, 2018
NASA's InSight lander is due to set its first science instrument on Mars in the coming days. But engineers here on Earth already saw it happen - last week. Like NASA's Curiosity rover, InSight has a full-scale working model at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. This sister lander, aptly named ForeSight, lets the team test all operations before they happen on Mars. To practice how InSight will place its instruments, JPL engineers built a Martian rock garden modele ... read more

OUTER PLANETS
New Horizons Takes the Inside Course to Ultima Thule
Laurel MD (SPX) Dec 19, 2018
With no apparent hazards in its way, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has been given a "go" to stay on its optimal path to Ultima Thule as it speeds closer to a Jan. 1 flyby of the Kuiper Belt object ... more
TECH SPACE
Celestia wins major ESA contract for UK
London, UK (SPX) Dec 19, 2018
Harwell based Celestia Technologies Group UK Ltd (CTG UK) has signed an 8m euro contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) for the development of the next generation of Gateway ground stations. ... more
MERCURY RISING
BepiColombo's first routine firing in space
Paris (ESA) Dec 19, 2018
On Monday this week, BepiColombo began its very first routine electric propulsion firing. After meticulous testing of the spacecraft's four high-tech ion thrusters, the mission team have now f ... more
MOON DAILY
Israeli spacecraft gets special passenger before moon journey
Yehud, Israel (AFP) Dec 17, 2018
Israeli scientists making final preparations to launch the country's first spacecraft to the moon added a special passenger on Monday that will accompany the journey. ... more
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IRON AND ICE
Space telescope detects water in a number of asteroids
Kobe, Japan (SPX) Dec 19, 2018
Using the infrared satellite AKARI, a Japanese research team has detected the existence of water in the form of hydrated minerals in a number of asteroids for the first time. This discovery will con ... more
OUTER PLANETS
Most Distant Solar System Object Ever Observed
Washington DC (SPX) Dec 18, 2018
A team of astronomers has discovered the most distant body ever observed in our solar system. It is the first known solar system object that has been detected at a distance that is more than 100 tim ... more
OUTER PLANETS
A nuclear-powered 'tunnelbot' to search for life on Jupiter's icy moon Europa
Chicago IL (SPX) Dec 18, 2018
Between 1995 and 2003, NASA's Galileo spacecraft made several flybys of Jupiter's moon, Europa. Several findings from observations of the moon pointed to evidence of a liquid ocean beneath Europa's ... more
EXO WORLDS
A young star caught forming like a planet
Leeds UK (SPX) Dec 17, 2018
Astronomers have captured one of the most detailed views of a young star taken to date, and revealed an unexpected companion in orbit around it. While observing the young star, astronomers led ... more
EXO WORLDS
Planets with Oxygen Don't Necessarily Have Life
Baltimore MD (SPX) Dec 18, 2018
In their search for life in solar systems near and far, researchers have often accepted the presence of oxygen in a planet's atmosphere as the surest sign that life may be present there. A new Johns ... more
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EXO WORLDS
Narrowing the universe in the search for life
Columbus OH (SPX) Dec 18, 2018
Humankind's exploration of space has for years pondered one central question: Is there another world somewhere in the universe where human beings could survive? And as astrophysicists and astr ... more
SATURN DAILY
NASA Research Reveals Saturn is Losing Its Rings at "Worst-Case-Scenario" Rate
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Dec 18, 2018
New NASA research confirms that Saturn is losing its iconic rings at the maximum rate estimated from Voyager 1 and 2 observations made decades ago. The rings are being pulled into Saturn by gravity ... more
MARSDAILY
Opportunity team performs more frequent communication attempts throughout each day
Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 17, 2018
Mars atmospheric opacity (tau) over the rover site remains at a storm-free range around 1.0. No signal from Opportunity has been heard since Sol 5111 (June 10, 2018). Opportunity likely experi ... more
EXO WORLDS
Where did the hot Neptunes go
Geneva, Switzerland (SPX) Dec 17, 2018
"But where did the hot Neptunes go?" This is the question astronomers have been asking for a long time, faced with the mysterious absence of planets the size of Neptunes very close to their star. A ... more
EXO WORLDS
In search of missing worlds, Hubble finds a fast-evaporating exoplanet
Baltimore MD (SPX) Dec 17, 2018
Fishermen would be puzzled if they netted only big and little fish, but few medium-sized fish. Astronomers likewise have been perplexed in conducting a census of star-hugging extrasolar planets. The ... more


Dancing with the enemy

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Scientists design new material to harness power of light
Lowell MA (SPX) Dec 19, 2018
Scientists have long known that synthetic materials - called metamaterials - can manipulate electromagnetic waves such as visible light to make them behave in ways that cannot be found in nature. Th ... more
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ROBO SPACE
New models sense human trust in smart machines
West Lafayette IN (SPX) Dec 17, 2018
New "classification models" sense how well humans trust intelligent machines they collaborate with, a step toward improving the quality of interactions and teamwork. The long-term goal of the ... more
MOON DAILY
NASA seeks US partners to develop reusable systems to land astronauts on Moon
Washington DC (SPX) Dec 14, 2018
As the next major step to return astronauts to the Moon under Space Policy Directive-1, NASA announced plans on Dec. 13 to work with American companies to design and develop new reusable systems for ... more
MARSDAILY
Planetary scientists assist in capturing image of Insight from orbit
London, Canada (SPX) Dec 14, 2018
Houston, there is no problem here. Eric Pilles assisted in capturing - for the first-time ever - extraordinary and highly significant scientific images of the NASA InSight robotic lander using HiRIS ... more
EXO WORLDS
Hubble finds faraway planet vanishing at record speed
Baltimore MD (SPX) Dec 14, 2018
The speed and distance at which planets orbit their respective blazing stars can determine each planet's fate - whether the planet remains a longstanding part of its solar system or evaporates into ... more
EXO WORLDS
UNLV study unlocks clues to how planets form
Las Vegas NV (SPX) Dec 13, 2018
Astronomers have cataloged nearly 4,000 exoplanets in orbit around distant stars. Though the discovery of these newfound worlds has taught us much, there is still a great deal we do not know about t ... more
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Opportunity team performs more frequent communication attempts throughout each day
Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 17, 2018
Mars atmospheric opacity (tau) over the rover site remains at a storm-free range around 1.0. No signal from Opportunity has been heard since Sol 5111 (June 10, 2018). Opportunity likely experienced a low-power fault, a mission clock fault and an up-loss timer fault. Since the loss of signal, the team has been listening for the rover over a broad range of times, frequencies and polarization ... more
+ InSight Engineers Have Made a Martian Rock Garden
+ Planetary scientists assist in capturing image of Insight from orbit
+ NASA's InSight takes its first selfie
+ InSight's robotic arm ready for some lifting on Mars
+ NASA's InSight lander 'hears' wind on Mars
+ NASA's Mars InSight Flexes Its Arm
+ Mars 2020 rover mission camera system 'Mastcam-Z' testing begins at ASU


Israeli spacecraft gets special passenger before moon journey
Yehud, Israel (AFP) Dec 17, 2018
Israeli scientists making final preparations to launch the country's first spacecraft to the moon added a special passenger on Monday that will accompany the journey. A time capsule of three digital discs containing thousands of files was ceremoniously placed within the space pod by organisers wearing white dust coats at the plant where it is being constructed and tested. They included d ... more
+ NASA seeks US partners to develop reusable systems to land astronauts on Moon
+ Learning from lunar lights
+ China launches rover for first far side of the moon landing
+ China Will Launch First Probe to Moon's Far Side Later This Week
+ NASA Announces New Partnerships for Commercial Lunar Payload Delivery Services
+ Lockheed Martin Selected for NASA's Commercial Lunar Lander Payload Services Contract
+ NASA chooses nine companies to bid on flying to Moon
Most Distant Solar System Object Ever Observed
Washington DC (SPX) Dec 18, 2018
A team of astronomers has discovered the most distant body ever observed in our solar system. It is the first known solar system object that has been detected at a distance that is more than 100 times farther than Earth is from the Sun. The new object was announced on Monday, December 17, 2018, by the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center [https://www.minorplanetcenter.net ... more
+ New Horizons Takes the Inside Course to Ultima Thule
+ A nuclear-powered 'tunnelbot' to search for life on Jupiter's icy moon Europa
+ NASA's Juno mission halfway to Jupiter science
+ Record Setting Course-Correction Puts New Horizons on Track to Kuiper Belt Flyby
+ Radio JOVE From NASA: Tuning In to Your Local Celestial Radio Show
+ The PI's Perspective: Share the News - The Farthest Exploration of Worlds in History is Beginning
+ Encouraging prospects for moon hunters
Where did the hot Neptunes go
Geneva, Switzerland (SPX) Dec 17, 2018
"But where did the hot Neptunes go?" This is the question astronomers have been asking for a long time, faced with the mysterious absence of planets the size of Neptunes very close to their star. A team of researchers, led by astronomers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, has just discovered that one of these planets is losing its atmosphere at a frantic pace. This observa ... more
+ Narrowing the universe in the search for life
+ Dancing with the enemy
+ In search of missing worlds, Hubble finds a fast-evaporating exoplanet
+ A young star caught forming like a planet
+ Planets with Oxygen Don't Necessarily Have Life
+ Hubble finds faraway planet vanishing at record speed
+ Common ground discovered in planet-forming disks
Largest piece of SLS rocket test hardware moved for testing
New Orleans LA (SPX) Dec 17, 2018
Technicians at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, moved the largest piece of structural test hardware for America's new deep space rocket, the Space Launch System, from the factory to the dock where it was loaded onto NASA's barge Pegasus Dec. 14, 2018. The liquid hydrogen tank test article will make its way up the river to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, A ... more
+ Static test qualifies crew safety launch abort motor for flight in cold conditions
+ Elon Musk's SpaceX set to raise $500 mn: report
+ Russia to Decommission Carrier Vehicle With Ukraine-Made Components
+ Russia's Vostochny Cosmodrome to Have Only One Space Launch in 2019
+ NASA's Plum Brook Station Completes Acoustic Test for SLS
+ Winning ideas for new space transport services
+ Roscosmos to submit super-heavy rocket project to Government


China's Chang'e-4 probe enters lunar orbit
Beijing (XNA) Dec 13, 2018
China's Chang'e-4 probe decelerated and entered the lunar orbit Wednesday, completing a vital step on its way to make the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced. After flying about 110 hours from earth, an engine on the probe was ignited when it was 129 km above the surface of the moon, in line with instructions sent fr ... more
+ China launches rover for first far side of the moon landing
+ Evolving Chinese Space Ecosystem To Foster Innovative Environment
+ China sends 5 satellites into orbit via single rocket
+ China releases smart solution for verifying reliability of space equipment components
+ China unveils new 'Heavenly Palace' space station as ISS days numbered
+ China's space programs open up to world
+ China's commercial aerospace companies flourishing
Space telescope detects water in a number of asteroids
Kobe, Japan (SPX) Dec 19, 2018
Using the infrared satellite AKARI, a Japanese research team has detected the existence of water in the form of hydrated minerals in a number of asteroids for the first time. This discovery will contribute to our understanding of the distribution of water in our solar system, the evolution of asteroids, and the origin of water on Earth. The findings were made by the team led by the Project ... more
+ Las Cumbres builds new instrument to study December comet
+ GMV leads the system that "drives" the HERA mission for planetary defence
+ Watch Comet 46P Wirtanen as it nears Earth
+ Rosetta witnesses birth of baby bow shock around comet
+ Look up at a green, fuzzy comet and shooting stars
+ Instrument on NASA probe finds hydrated minerals on Asteroid Bennu
+ OSIRIS-REx already finds water on Asteroid Bennu


Radiance Technologies tapped for U.S. Army laser research
Washington (UPI) Nov 30, 2018
The U.S. Army is contracting Radiance Technologies for high energy laser lethality research, assessment and support in the amount of $28.2 million. Work on the contract, announced Thursday by the Department of Defense, will be performed in Huntsville, Ala., and is expected to be completed by November 2023. It falls under a small business contract under acquisition rules, though R ... more
+ Lockheed Martin's missile defense laser concept continues toward development
+ Lockheed Martin, General Atomics, Boeing compete for laser-armed drone
+ Microwave weapon suspected in mystery attacks on US diplomats: report
+ Team Dynetics receives contract for next phase of 100kW laser weapon system for US Army
+ Dyenetics, Lockheed chosen for work on 100 KW laser weapon
+ Raytheon contracted to develop laser for U.S. Army
+ China firm develops 'laser gun'
Pentagon conducts latest successful test of US-Japan interceptor
Washington (AFP) Dec 11, 2018
The US military on Tuesday successfully conducted a test of a new ballistic-missile interceptor system, which is being co-developed with Japan. The launch marks the second successful test in less than two months for the SM-3 Block IIA missile and its associated technologies, which had previously experienced failures. According to the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), sailors at the Aegis As ... more
+ Aegis Combat System demonstrates success during on-land test against Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile
+ Navy to purchase new containers for air defense missiles
+ Navy to commission new Arleigh Burke destroyer USS Thomas Hudner
+ Raytheon to supply Romania with Patriot missile defense systems
+ Raytheon's SM-3 IIA successful in ballistic missle defense test
+ Aerojet Rocketdyne propulsion critical to successful intercept test for SM-3 Block IIA Missile
+ Aegis Combat System Demonstrates Success During At-Sea Test Against Medium Range Ballistic Missile


NASA Research Reveals Saturn is Losing Its Rings at "Worst-Case-Scenario" Rate
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Dec 18, 2018
New NASA research confirms that Saturn is losing its iconic rings at the maximum rate estimated from Voyager 1 and 2 observations made decades ago. The rings are being pulled into Saturn by gravity as a dusty rain of ice particles under the influence of Saturn's magnetic field. "We estimate that this 'ring rain' drains an amount of water products that could fill an Olympic-sized swimming p ... more
+ Water on Saturn's Moon Phoebe Is Out of This World
+ A new way to create Saturn's radiation belts
+ Saturn's Moon Dione Covered by Mysterious Stripes
+ Cutting through the mystery of Titan's atmospheric haze
+ Surprising chemical complexity of Saturn's rings changing planet's upper atmosphere
+ Latest insights into Saturn's weird magnetic field only make things weirder
+ In its final days, Cassini bathed in 'ring rain'
MIT team invents method to shrink objects to the nanoscale
Boston MA (SPX) Dec 14, 2018
MIT researchers have invented a way to fabricate nanoscale 3-D objects of nearly any shape. They can also pattern the objects with a variety of useful materials, including metals, quantum dots, and DNA. "It's a way of putting nearly any kind of material into a 3-D pattern with nanoscale precision," says Edward Boyden, an associate professor of biological engineering and of brain and cognit ... more
+ Pitt chemical engineers develop new theory to build improved nanomaterials
+ Artificial synapses made from nanowires
+ How microscopic machines can fail in the blink of an eye
+ Stealth-cap technology for light-emitting nanoparticles
+ Nano-scale process may speed arrival of cheaper hi-tech products
+ Watching nanoparticles
+ Penn engineers develop ultrathin, ultralight nanocardboard


New squeezing record at GEO600 gravitational-wave detector
Hannover, Germany (SPX) Dec 17, 2018
The detection of Einstein's gravitational waves relies on highly precise laser measurements of small length changes. The kilometer-size detectors of the international network (GEO600, LIGO, Virgo) are so sensitive that they are fundamentally limited by tiny quantum mechanical effects. These cause a background noise which overlaps with gravitational-wave signals. This noise is always presen ... more
+ Mini-detectors for the gigantic
+ Portsmouth researchers make vital contribution to new gravitational wave discoveries
+ Four New Gravitational Wave Detections Announced
+ Universal laws in impact dynamics of dust agglomerates under microgravity conditions
+ Griffith precision measurement takes it to the limit
+ Gravitational waves could shed light on dark matter
+ In five -10 years, gravitational waves could accurately measure universe's expansion
Cosmic fountain powered by giant black hole
Huntsville AL (SPX) Dec 17, 2018
Before electrical power became available, water fountains worked by relying on gravity to channel water from a higher elevation to a lower one. This water could then be redirected to shoot out of the fountain and create a centerpiece for people to admire. In space, awesome gaseous fountains have been discovered in the centers of galaxy clusters. One such fountain is in the cluster Abell 25 ... more
+ Mystery of coronae around supermassive black holes deepens
+ Fossil Gas Cloud from the Big Bang Discovered with Keck Observatory
+ Mystery of Black Hole Coronae Deepens
+ Unique insights into an exotic matter state
+ Fake plastic atoms
+ Researchers create tiny droplets of early universe matter
+ Bizarre 'dark fluid' with negative mass could dominate the universe


New models sense human trust in smart machines
West Lafayette IN (SPX) Dec 17, 2018
New "classification models" sense how well humans trust intelligent machines they collaborate with, a step toward improving the quality of interactions and teamwork. The long-term goal of the overall field of research is to design intelligent machines capable of changing their behavior to enhance human trust in them. The new models were developed in research led by assistant professor Neer ... more
+ Robot shown on Russian TV revealed to be man in costume
+ Artificial joint restores wrist-like movements to forearm amputees
+ Norfolk Navy Shipyard introducing exoskeletons for workers
+ Insight into swimming fish could lead to robotics advances
+ Flexible electronic skin aids human-machine interactions
+ Embark on a NASA technology scavenger hunt with Optimus Prime
+ Smarter AI: Machine learning without negative data
General Atomics receives $40 million for Gray Eagle drone services
Washington (UPI) Dec 14, 2018
General Atomics has been awarded $40 million by the U.S. Army for services on the Gray Eagle unmanned aerial vehicle. The contract modification, announced Thursday by the Department of Defense, falls under Army fiscal operations and maintenance funding as is expected to be completed by June 2019. The Gray Eagle is a development of the Predator drone designed for intelligence, sur ... more
+ New foldable drone can navigate narrow holes
+ Using drones to simplify film animation
+ General Atomics tapped for French MQ-9 drone support
+ Logos demonstrates Redkite advanced surveillance pod
+ Drones offer ability to find, ID and count marine megafauna
+ From parcel delivery to security, Singapore bets big on drones
+ DARPA tests autonomous drone swarms against communications and GPS jamming
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