|
|
|
  Tampa (AFP) Dec 28, 2018 NASA's unmanned New Horizons spacecraft is closing in on its historic New Year's flyby target, the most distant world ever studied, a frozen relic of the solar system some four billion miles (6.4 billion kilometers) away. The cosmic object, known as Ultima Thule, is about the size of the US capital, Washington, and orbits in the dark and frigid Kuiper Belt about a billion miles beyond the dwarf planet, Pluto. The spacecraft's closest approach to this primitive space rock comes January 1 at 12:33 ... read more |
 |
 
Researchers model glaciation on Mercury's polesWashington (UPI) Dec 28, 2018 Mercury's poles are marked by large craters. Icy deposits hide inside. Now, scientists think they know how the ice got there. ... more 
The PI's Perspective: Anticipation on Ultima's DoorstepLaurel MD (SPX) Dec 28, 2018 The New Horizons spacecraft is healthy and on final approach to the first close-up exploration of a Kuiper Belt object in history, and the farthest exploration of any world, ever. In just a fe ... more  
Holiday Asteroid Imaged with NASA RadarPasadena CA (JPL) Dec 24, 2018 The December 2018 close approach by the large, near-Earth asteroid 2003 SD220 has provided astronomers an outstanding opportunity to obtain detailed radar images of the surface and shape of the obje ... more  
Over Six Months Without Word From OpportunityPasadena CA (JPL) Dec 24, 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 |
|
|
|
|
| Previous Issues | Dec 28 | Dec 27 | Dec 26 | Dec 25 | Dec 24 |
|
|
|
|
|
 
ESA sets clock by distant spinning starsParis (ESA) Dec 27, 2018 ESA's technical centre in the Netherlands has begun running a pulsar-based clock. The 'PulChron' system measures the passing of time using millisecond-frequency radio pulses from multiple fast-spinn ... more  
Strong interactions produce a dance between light and soundLondon, UK (SPX) Dec 27, 2018 Light and high-frequency acoustic sound waves in a tiny glass structure can strongly couple to one another and perform a dance in step. A team of researchers from Imperial College London, the ... more  
China launches telecommunication technology test satelliteXichang (XNA) Dec 28, 2018 China successfully launched the No. 3 telecommunication technology test satellite on Tuesday. The satellite was launched at 0:53 a.m. Beijing Time by a Long March-3C carrier rocket from the Xi ... more  
Getting a glimpse inside the moonEdmonton, Canada (SPX) Dec 21, 2018 New research from University of Alberta physicists provides the first-ever model of our Moon's rotational dynamics, taking into consideration its solid inner core. Their model helps to explain why, ... more 
Mars Express gets festive: A winter wonderland on MarsParis (ESA) Dec 21, 2018 This image shows what appears to be a large patch of fresh, untrodden snow - a dream for any lover of the holiday season. However, it's a little too distant for a last-minute winter getaway: this fe ... more |
|
 Mars 2020 rover to capture sound on the Red Planet 
Navigating NASA's first mission to the Trojan asteroidsGreenbelt MD (SPX) Dec 21, 2018 In science fiction, explorers can hop in futuristic spaceships and traverse half the galaxy in the blink of a plot hole. However, this sidelines the navigational acrobatics required in order to guar ... more  |
|
|
|
All About Ultima: New Horizons Flyby Target is Unlike Anything Explored in SpaceLaurel MD (SPX) Dec 27, 2018 NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is set to fly by a distant "worldlet" 4 billion miles from the Sun in just six days, on New Year's Day 2019. The target, officially designated 2014 MU69, was nicknamed ... more 
Astronomers identify cycle of disturbances at Jupiter's equatorLeicester, UK (SPX) Dec 21, 2018 Scientists at the University of Leicester and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory predict next parting of Jupiter's veil of clouds for 2019. A regular pattern of unusual meteorological events at Jupite ... more  
NASA study finds sugars, key ingredient for life, can form in spaceWashington DC (Sputnik) Dec 21, 2018 A new study by NASA scientists has proven that sugar molecules - one of the building blocks of life - can form in conditions similar to those in outer space. The find provides further grist to the m ... more
NASA spacecraft hurtles toward historic New Year's flybyTampa (AFP) Dec 24, 2018 A NASA spacecraft is hurtling toward a historic New Year's Day flyby of the most distant planetary object ever studied, a frozen relic of the early solar system called Ultima Thule. ... more 
New Horizons Notebook: On Ultima's DoorstepLaurel MD (SPX) Dec 24, 2018 New Horizons carried out its last trajectory correction maneuver on approach to Ultima Thule last week, a short thruster burst to direct the spacecraft closer to its precise flyby aim point just 2,2 ... more |
|
|
 |
|
 Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 24, 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 polari ... more |
|
|
 Edmonton, Canada (SPX) Dec 21, 2018 
New research from University of Alberta physicists provides the first-ever model of our Moon's rotational dynamics, taking into consideration its solid inner core. Their model helps to explain why, as seen from Earth, the Moon appears to wobble on its axis.
The answer, said physicist Mathieu Dumberry, lies in the complex geometry of the Moon's orbit, locked in what is known as a Cassini st ... more |
|
 Laurel MD (SPX) Dec 27, 2018 
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is set to fly by a distant "worldlet" 4 billion miles from the Sun in just six days, on New Year's Day 2019. The target, officially designated 2014 MU69, was nicknamed "Ultima Thule," a Latin phrase meaning "a place beyond the known world," after a public call for name recommendations. No spacecraft has ever explored such a distant world.
Ultima, as the flyby ... more |
|
|
 Warwick UK (SPX) Dec 24, 2018 
A massive stellar flare on a baby star has been spotted by University of Warwick astronomers, shedding light on the origins of potentially habitable exoplanets.
One of the largest ever seen on a star of its type, the huge explosion of energy and plasma is around 10,000 times bigger than the largest solar flare ever recorded from our own Sun.
The discovery is detailed in a paper for t ... more |
|
 Vostochny (Sputnik) Dec 28, 2018 
The Soyuz-2.1a rocket with two Russian and 26 foreign satellites lifted off from the Vostochny space center in Russia's Far East on Thursday, which became the fourth launch from the cosmodrome.
The Vostochny cosmodrome is the first civilian spaceport in Russia, designed to prepare and launch spacecraft for scientific, socio-economic and commercial purposes.
It ensures Russia's indepe ... more |
|
|
 Xichang (XNA) Dec 28, 2018 
China successfully launched the No. 3 telecommunication technology test satellite on Tuesday.
The satellite was launched at 0:53 a.m. Beijing Time by a Long March-3C carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province.
The satellite was developed and produced by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
There have been 296 ... more |
|
 Greenbelt MD (SPX) Dec 21, 2018 
In science fiction, explorers can hop in futuristic spaceships and traverse half the galaxy in the blink of a plot hole. However, this sidelines the navigational acrobatics required in order to guarantee real-life mission success.
In 2021, the feat of navigation that is the Lucy mission will launch. To steer Lucy towards its targets doesn't simply involve programming a map into a spacecraf ... more |
|
|
 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 |
|
 Washington (UPI) Dec 24, 2018 
Lockheed Martin has been awarded a contract for Phased Array Tracking Radar to Intercept on Target Advanced Capability-3, or Patriot PAC-3, missiles for Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
The contract, announced Friday by the Department of Defense, is worth a total of $3.3 billion for production of the missiles, with associated ground support equipment and initial spares of both PAC-3 missiles an ... more |
|
|
 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 |
|
 Upton NY (SPX) Dec 27, 2018 
Hydrogen fuel cells are a promising technology for producing clean and renewable energy, but the cost and activity of their cathode materials is a major challenge for commercialization. Many fuel cells require expensive platinum-based catalysts - substances that initiate and speed up chemical reactions - to help convert renewable fuels into electrical energy. To make hydrogen fuel cells commerci ... more |
|
|
 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 |
|
 University Park PA (SPX) Dec 21, 2018 
Our first glimpses into the physics that exist near the center of a black hole are being made possible using "loop quantum gravity" - a theory that uses quantum mechanics to extend gravitational physics beyond Einstein's general theory of relativity.
Loop quantum gravity, originated at Penn State and subsequently developed by a large number of scientists worldwide, is opening up a new para ... more |
|
|
 Washington (UPI) Dec 26, 2018 
The British army accepted the first four of 56 bomb disposal robots it ordered from Harris Corporation, the U.K. government announced.
The T7 ground vehicles, manufactured by Florida-based Harris, are equipped with high-definition cameras, data links, an adjustable manipulation arm, and tank-like all-terrain treads. They also employ "haptic feedback," which recreates the sense of the ro ... more |
|
 Washington (UPI) Dec 24, 2018 
General Atomics and Raytheon have each been awarded contracts for support of the MQ-9 Reaper, one for sensors and the other for overall program support, that come to a total of more than $350 million.
The contracts, announced Friday by the Department of Defense, cover separate areas of sustainment for the unmanned aerial system used for surveillance and support of ground troops, though ... more |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
| 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 |
