Space Tourism, Space Transport and Space Exploration News
June 25, 2020
ROBO SPACE
This Hopping Robot Could Explore the Solar System's Icy Moons



Pasadena CA (JPL) Jun 25, 2020
Steam locomotion may sound like an antiquated way to get around, but it might be getting a science fiction makeover as we expand our reach into the solar system. A novel robotic concept being investigated at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California would use steam propulsion to hop across the sort of icy terrains found on Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's moon Enceladus. Both are thought to host vast subsurface oceans of salty water under a thick ice crust. But while that makes the ... read more

DRAGON SPACE
Final Beidou launch marks major milestone in China's space effort
Beijing (XNA) Jun 24, 2020
The final satellite to complete the third-generation network of China's Beidou Navigation Satellite System was launched on Tuesday morning, marking a milestone in the nation's space endeavor. ... more
TIME AND SPACE
NASA Extends Deep Space Atomic Clock Mission
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jun 25, 2020
As the time when NASA will begin sending humans back to the Moon draws closer, crewed trips to Mars are an enticing next step. But future space explorers will need new tools when traveling to such d ... more
DRAGON SPACE
China's tracking ship wraps up satellite launch monitoring
Beijing (XNA) Jun 25, 2020
Yuanwang-6 - China's space-tracking ship, Yuanwang-6, has completed maritime monitoring for the last satellite launch of the country's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) in the Pacific Ocean o ... more
OUTER PLANETS
Ocean in Jupiter's moon Europa "could be habitable"
Washington DC (SPX) Jun 25, 2020
A new model from NASA scientists supports the theory that the interior ocean in Jupiter's moon Europa would be able to sustain life. In addition they have calculated that this water, believed to be ... more
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EXO WORLDS
Neptune-sized planet discovered orbiting young, nearby star
Baltimore MD (SPX) Jun 25, 2020
New research published in Nature reports the discovery of a planet about the size of Neptune orbiting an especially young, nearby star. The planet, named AU Mic b, is orbiting AU Microscopii, which ... more
EXO WORLDS
Young Planets Bite the Dust
Hilo HI (SPX) Jun 25, 2020
These orange swirls of dust are snapshots from the largest collection of sharp, detailed images of dusty debris disks around young stars - published this week by an international group of astronomer ... more
EXO WORLDS
'Infant' planet discovered by UH astronomers, Maunakea telescope
Honolulu HI (SPX) Jun 25, 2020
Astronomers study stars and planets much younger than the Sun to learn about past events that shaped the Solar System and Earth. Most of these stars are far enough away to make observations challeng ... more
EXO WORLDS
Beneath the surface of exoplanet water worlds
Lemont IL (SPX) Jun 25, 2020
Out beyond our solar system, visible only as the smallest dot in space with even the most powerful telescopes, other worlds exist. Many of these worlds, astronomers have discovered, may be much larg ... more
STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Strainoptronics: A new way to control photons
Washington DC (SPX) Jun 23, 2020
Researchers discovered a new way to engineer optoelectronic devices by stretching a two-dimensional material on top of a silicon photonic platform. Using this method, coined strainoptronics by a tea ... more
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IRON AND ICE
Hera and its asteroid target
Paris (ESA) Jun 25, 2020
ESA's Hera mission for planetary defence seen approaching the Dimorphos asteroid moonlet, which is destined to become the subject of an audacious deflection experiment. The newly-named Dimorph ... more
EXO WORLDS
Discovering an exoplanet the size of Neptune
Montreal, Canada (SPX) Jun 25, 2020
An exoplanet the size of Neptune has been discovered around the young star AU Microscopii, thanks in part to the work of Jonathan Gagne, a former iREx Banting postdoctoral researcher who is now a sc ... more
EXO WORLDS
Space Team Theorizes Rare Exomoon Discovery
London, Canada (SPX) Jun 25, 2020
Western University astronomers may have spotted six new moons orbiting planets in solar systems far from our own - an otherworldly discovery so rare it must wait on future technologies to confirm. U ... more
STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Geometry of intricately fabricated glass makes light trap itself
University Park PA (SPX) Jun 23, 2020
Laser light traveling through ornately microfabricated glass has been shown to interact with itself to form self-sustaining wave patterns called solitons. The intricate design fabricated in the glas ... more
MARSDAILY
How NASA's Mars Helicopter Will Reach the Red Planet's Surface
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jun 24, 2020
NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter will travel with the Perseverance rover through 314 million miles (505 million kilometers) of interplanetary space to get to Mars. But for the team working on the fi ... more


Evidence supports 'hot start' scenario and early ocean formation on Pluto

EXO WORLDS
Breakthrough listen releases list of "exotica"
San Francisco CA (SPX) Jun 23, 2020
Breakthrough Listen, the initiative to find signs of intelligent life in the Universe, has released an innovative catalog of "Exotica" - a diverse list of objects of potential interest to astronomer ... more
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EXO WORLDS
NASA scientist simulates sunsets on other worlds
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Jun 23, 2020
Have you ever wondered what a sunset on Uranus might look like? As you can see in the animation above, a Uranian sunset is a rich azure that fades into royal blue with hints of turquoise. This blue- ... more
EXO WORLDS
Young giant planet offers clues to formation of exotic worlds
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jun 23, 2020
For most of human history our understanding of how planets form and evolve was based on the eight (or nine) planets in our solar system. But over the last 25 years, the discovery of more than 4,000 ... more
TECH SPACE
ESA awards NanoAvionics contract to develop new satellite propulsion technologies
Vilnius, Lithuania (SPX) Jun 24, 2020
The European Space Agency (ESA) has granted 1 million euros to nanosatellite mission integrator NanoAvionics to develop key components for small satellite propulsion systems. The new propulsion tech ... more
ROBO SPACE
Researchers discover unique material design for brain-like computations
Adelphi MD (SPX) Jun 19, 2020
Over the past few decades, computers have seen dramatic progress in processing power; however, even the most advanced computers are relatively rudimentary in comparison with the complexities and cap ... more
EXO WORLDS
An experiment in recreating primordial proteins solves a long-standing riddle
Rehovot, Israel (SPX) Jun 23, 2020
What did the very first proteins look like - those that appeared on Earth around 3.7 billion years ago? Prof. Dan Tawfik of the Weizmann Institute of Science and Prof. Norman Metanis of the Hebrew U ... more
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How NASA's Mars Helicopter Will Reach the Red Planet's Surface
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jun 24, 2020
NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter will travel with the Perseverance rover through 314 million miles (505 million kilometers) of interplanetary space to get to Mars. But for the team working on the first experimental flight test on another planet, engineering the final 5 inches (13 centimeters) of the journey has been among the most challenging of all. To safely navigate those 5 inches - the dista ... more
+ NASA's new Mars mission will take at least a decade to confirm life
+ The Launch Is Approaching for NASA's Next Mars Rover, Perseverance
+ Martian rover motors ahead
+ Airbus wins next study contract for Martian Sample Fetch Rover
+ Electrically charged dust storms drive Martian chlorine cycle
+ ExoMars spots unique green glow at the Red Planet
+ NASA's Mars Rover Drivers Need Your Help


Final Frontier Design awarded multiple NASA lunar xEMU Space Suit contracts
New York NY (SPX) Jun 22, 2020
Final Frontier Design (FFD) is pleased to announce the award of multiple contracts for components of NASA's next generation xEMU Lunar space suit. The xEMU Lunar space suit will be used in the Artemis mission, the first US planetary space mission since Apollo. The development awards include the Lunar xEMU space suit boot, hip, and waist joints, and will culminate with hardware delive ... more
+ Scientists provide new explanation for the far side of the Moon's strange asymmetry
+ NASA invites competitors to shoot for the moon and beyond
+ NASA Selects Astrobotic to Fly Water-Hunting Rover to the Moon
+ NASA awards Northrop Grumman Artemis contract for Gateway Crew Cabin
+ First global map of rockfalls on the Moon
+ NASA to announce selection of company to fly VIPER rover to Moon
+ Xplore to host Space for Humanity Payload on its first lunar mission
Evidence supports 'hot start' scenario and early ocean formation on Pluto
Santa Cruz CA (SPX) Jun 23, 2020
The accretion of new material during Pluto's formation may have generated enough heat to create a liquid ocean that has persisted beneath an icy crust to the present day, despite the dwarf planet's orbit far from the sun in the cold outer reaches of the solar system. This "hot start" scenario, presented in a paper published June 22 in Nature Geoscience, contrasts with the traditional view ... more
+ Ocean in Jupiter's moon Europa "could be habitable"
+ Proposed NASA Mission Would Visit Neptune's Curious Moon Triton
+ SOFIA finds clues hidden in Pluto's haze
+ New evidence of watery plumes on Jupiter's moon Europa
+ Telescopes and spacecraft join forces to probe deep into Jupiter's atmosphere
+ Newly reprocessed images of Europa show 'chaos terrain' in crisp detail
+ Mysteries of Uranus' oddities explained by Japanese astronomers
Young giant planet offers clues to formation of exotic worlds
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jun 23, 2020
For most of human history our understanding of how planets form and evolve was based on the eight (or nine) planets in our solar system. But over the last 25 years, the discovery of more than 4,000 exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system, changed all that. Among the most intriguing of these distant worlds is a class of exoplanets called hot Jupiters. Similar in size to Jupiter, the ... more
+ Breakthrough listen releases list of "exotica"
+ NASA scientist simulates sunsets on other worlds
+ Space Team Theorizes Rare Exomoon Discovery
+ Young Planets Bite the Dust
+ Beneath the surface of exoplanet water worlds
+ 'Infant' planet discovered by UH astronomers, Maunakea telescope
+ Neptune-sized planet discovered orbiting young, nearby star
Gilmour Space achieves 45-second milestone in latest hybrid rocket engine test fire
Gold Coast, Australia (SPX) Jun 25, 2020
Australia's leading rocket company has reached another milestone in its mission to launch small satellites to space by 2022. Rocket engineers at Gilmour Space Technologies in Queensland, Australia, have completed the first in a series of major technology demonstrations this year: a successful 45-second 'hot fire' of their upper-stage hybrid rocket engine. "This was our longest and mo ... more
+ Virgin Galactic signs agreement with NASA
+ China launches final satellite to complete rival to GPS
+ NASA Prepares to Complete Artemis SLS Rocket Structural Testing
+ Researchers design a system to reduce the noise of space rockets in the launch phase
+ Australian professor wants local town to become hub for commercial space travel
+ Spacecrafts get a boost in 'aerogravity assisted' interactions
+ Launch postponement for Flight VV16 due to weather conditions at the Spaceport


China's tracking ship wraps up satellite launch monitoring
Beijing (XNA) Jun 25, 2020
Yuanwang-6 - China's space-tracking ship, Yuanwang-6, has completed maritime monitoring for the last satellite launch of the country's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) in the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday. The satellite, the 55th of the BeiDou family, was launched at 9:43 am (Beijing Time) on Tuesday. It was sent into the preset orbit by a Long March-3B carrier rocket from the Xichang S ... more
+ Final Beidou launch marks major milestone in China's space effort
+ Satellite launch center Wenchang eyes boosting homestay, catering sectors
+ Private investment fuels China commercial space sector growth
+ More details of China's space station unveiled
+ China space program targets July launch for Mars mission
+ More details of China's space station unveiled
+ China's tracking ship Yuanwang-5 back from rocket monitoring mission
Hera and its asteroid target
Paris (ESA) Jun 25, 2020
ESA's Hera mission for planetary defence seen approaching the Dimorphos asteroid moonlet, which is destined to become the subject of an audacious deflection experiment. The newly-named Dimorphos - at 160 m across, about the size of Egypt's Great Pyramid - orbits around the main 780 m mountain-sized Didymos near-Earth asteroid. Next year NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) will l ... more
+ Name given to asteroid target of ESA's planetary defence mission
+ Name Approved for Target of Asteroid Deflection Missions
+ Protecting Earth from asteroid impact with a tethered diversion
+ SOHO spots its 4,000th Comet
+ NASA's OSIRIS-REx produces Nightingale mosaic
+ First Citizen Science Successes for Backyard Astronomy
+ NASA's OSIRIS-REx discovers sunlight can crack rocks on Asteroid Bennu


USS Portland's high-powered laser disables drone in weapon's first at-sea test
Pearl Harbor (USN) May 22, 2020
Amphibious transport dock ship USS Portland (LPD 27) successfully disabled an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with a Solid State Laser - Technology Maturation Laser Weapon System Demonstrator (LWSD) MK 2 MOD 0 on May 16. LWSD is a high-energy laser weapon system demonstrator developed by the Office of Naval Research and installed on Portland for an at-sea demonstration. LWSD's operational em ... more
+ Navy breaks ground on laser weapons test lab in California
+ The power of short range air defense
+ Lockheed nabs $22.4M for work on LCS-based laser system
+ Navy: Chinese warship fired laser at U.S. aircraft
+ AFRL engineer leaves a legacy called HADES
+ Israel hails 'breakthrough' towards laser air defence system
+ China's air force seeks aircraft-mounted laser weapon
First modernized LM 2100 SBIRS missile warning satellite completes thermal vacuum testing
Sunnyvale CA (SPX) Jun 23, 2020
The world's most advanced missile defense satellite recently and successfully came out of almost two months of harsh simulated space environmental testing. On June 9, the U.S. Space Force's fifth Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbit satellite (SBIRS GEO-5) successfully completed Thermal Vacuum (TVAC) testing at Lockheed Martin's Sunnyvale, California satellite manufacturi ... more
+ Aerojet Rocketdyne delivers 600th boost motor and divert and attitude control system for THAAD
+ Japan 'can't move ahead' with US missile defence system: PM
+ US Senate Panel Approves More Funds for Missile Defence in 2021 NDAA Act
+ Turkey to buy additional S-400 missile defense system from Russia
+ Israel says 'successfully' tested ballistic missiles
+ US approves sale of 84 Patriot missiles to Kuwait
+ Advanced Air and Missile Defense, in the hands of soldiers


Evidence for Volcanic Craters on Saturn's Moon Titan
Tucson AZ (SPX) Jun 16, 2020
Volcano-like features seen in polar regions of Saturn's moon Titan by NASA's Cassini spacecraft could be evidence of explosive eruptions that may continue today, according to a new paper by Planetary Science Institute Senior Scientist Charles A. Wood and coauthor Jani Radebaugh of Brigham Young University. Morphological features such as nested collapses, elevated ramparts, halos, and islan ... more
+ Saturn's Moon Titan drifting away faster than previously thought
+ Discovered a multilayer haze system on Saturn's Hexagon
+ Data from NASA's Cassini may explain Saturn's atmospheric mystery
+ Why is NASA Sending Dragonfly to Titan
+ New SwRI models reveal inner complexity of Saturn moon
+ Huygens landing spin mystery solved
+ Final images from Cassini spacecraft
The smallest motor in the world
Dubendorf, Switzerland (SPX) Jun 17, 2020
The smallest motor in the world - consisting of just 16 atoms: this was developed by a team of researchers from Empa and EPFL. "This brings us close to the ultimate size limit for molecular motors," explains Oliver Groning, head of the Functional Surfaces Research Group at Empa. The motor measures less than one nanometer - in other words it is around 100,000 times smaller than the diameter of a ... more
+ Crystalline 'nanobrush' clears way to advanced energy and information tech
+ Transporting energy through a single molecular nanowire
+ To make an atom-sized machine, you need a quantum mechanic
+ Magnetic nanoparticles help researchers remotely release adrenal hormones
+ New DNA origami motor breaks speed record for nano machines
+ Deep-sea osmolyte makes biomolecular machines heat-tolerant
+ Nanobubbles in nanodroplets


LIGO-Virgo finds mystery object in 'mass gap'
Pasadena CA (SPX) Jun 24, 2020
When the most massive stars die, they collapse under their own gravity and leave behind black holes; when stars that are a bit less massive die, they explode in supernovas and leave behind dense, dead remnants of stars called neutron stars. For decades, astronomers have been puzzled by a gap that lies between neutron stars and black holes: the heaviest known neutron star is no more than 2.5 time ... more
+ Gravitational wave scientists grapple with the cosmic mystery of GW190814
+ Thailand team wins UN access to ESA's hypergravity centrifuge
+ New gravitational-wave model can bring neutron stars into even sharper focus
+ Seeing the universe through new lenses
+ L3Harris lays foundation for first space-based gravitational wave observatory
+ Gravitational waves could prove the existence of the quark-gluon plasma
+ TAMA300 blazes trail for improved gravitational wave astronomy
ESA listens in on black hole mission
Paris (ESA) Jun 25, 2020
European and Russian specialists recently worked together to catch signals from an astrophysical observatory mission, now mapping X-ray sources in our galaxy and beyond, discovering previously unknown supermassive black holes. In a joint technology demonstration conducted in April and May, ESA, Roscosmos, and the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IKI RAN) in coop ... more
+ A blue spark to shine on the origin of the Universe
+ NASA Extends Deep Space Atomic Clock Mission
+ Mapping the Early Universe with NASA's Webb Telescope
+ How molecules are rotating determines what happens when they collide with surfaces
+ Is teleportation possible? Yes, in the quantum world
+ New research hints at the presence of unconventional galaxies containing 2 black holes
+ Australian scientists reveal a lost 8 billion light years of universe evolution


This Hopping Robot Could Explore the Solar System's Icy Moons
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jun 25, 2020
Steam locomotion may sound like an antiquated way to get around, but it might be getting a science fiction makeover as we expand our reach into the solar system. A novel robotic concept being investigated at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California would use steam propulsion to hop across the sort of icy terrains found on Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's moon Enceladus. Bo ... more
+ Researchers discover unique material design for brain-like computations
+ Borrowing from robotics, scientists automate mapping of quantum systems
+ New control technique could improve accuracy of industrial robots
+ Robot dog hounds Thai shoppers to keep hands virus-free
+ Next-generation cockroach-inspired robot is small but mighty
+ These flexible feet help robots walk faster
+ Algorithm quickly simulates a roll of loaded dice
NATO RQ-4D Phoenix Reaches New Milestone
Sigonella Italy (SPX) Jun 25, 2020
The NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance Force (NAGSF), with support from Northrop Grumman Corporation, marked a significant milestone recently in the System Level Performance Verification with the completion of a nine-hour training and test flight conducted for the first time under control of NAGSF trained pilots. "Northrop Grumman is proud to support NAGSF pilots training as they control fl ... more
+ Deep drone acrobatics
+ Australia to buy additional Triton surveillance UAV
+ New research leads to Army drones changing shape mid-flight
+ AI goes underground: root crop growth predicted with drone imagery
+ Droniq and Sky Drone make BVLOS drone flights with real-time command and control possible
+ Army researchers find new ways to test swarming drones
+ NSO group launches anti drone defense system
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