Space Tourism, Space Transport and Space Exploration News
August 13, 2020
IRON AND ICE
Bright areas on Ceres come from salty water below



Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 12, 2020
NASA's Dawn spacecraft gave scientists extraordinary close-up views of the dwarf planet Ceres, which lies in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. By the time the mission ended in October 2018, the orbiter had dipped to less than 22 miles (35 kilometers) above the surface, revealing crisp details of the mysterious bright regions Ceres had become known for. Scientists had figured out that the bright areas were deposits made mostly of sodium carbonate - a compound of sodium, carbon, and o ... read more

EXO WORLDS
Lava oceans may not explain the brightness of some hot super-Earths
Boston MA (SPX) Aug 12, 2020
Arguably some of the weirdest, most extreme planets among the more than 4,000 exoplanets discovered to date are the hot super-Earths - rocky, flaming-hot worlds that zing so precariously close to th ... more
EXO WORLDS
VLBA finds planet orbiting small, cool star
Charlottesville VA (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
Using the supersharp radio "vision" of the National Science Foundation's continent-wide Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), astronomers have discovered a Saturn-sized planet closely orbiting a small, c ... more
EXO WORLDS
Hubble uses Earth as a Proxy for identifying oxygen on exoplanets
Baltimore MD (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
Taking advantage of a total lunar eclipse, astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have detected Earth's own brand of sunscreen - ozone - in our atmosphere. This method simulates how astrono ... more
OUTER PLANETS
Shallow Lightning and Mushballs reveal ammonia to Juno scientists
Washington DC (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
New results from NASA's Juno mission at Jupiter suggest our solar system's largest planet is home to what's called "shallow lightning." An unexpected form of electrical discharge, shallow lightning ... more
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OUTER PLANETS
Huge ring-like structure on Ganymede's surface may have been caused by violent impact
Kobe, Japan (SPX) Aug 12, 2020
Researchers from Kobe University and the National Institute of Technology, Oshima College have conducted a detailed reanalysis of image data from Voyager 1, 2 and Galileo spacecraft in order to inve ... more
OUTER PLANETS
Inside the ice giants of space
Trieste, Italy (SPX) Aug 12, 2020
A new theoretical method paves the way to modelling the interior of the ice giants Uranus and Neptune, thanks to computer simulations on the water contained within them. The tool, developed by ... more
EXO WORLDS
Surprisingly dense exoplanet challenges planet formation theories
Washington DC (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
New detailed observations with NSF's NOIRLab facilities reveal a young exoplanet, orbiting a young star in the Hyades cluster, that is unusually dense for its size and age. Weighing in at 25 Earth-m ... more
EXO WORLDS
NASA's planet hunter completes its primary mission
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Aug 12, 2020
On July 4, NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) finished its primary mission, imaging about 75% of the starry sky as part of a two-year-long survey. In capturing this giant mosaic, TE ... more
IRON AND ICE
Dwarf planet Ceres is an ocean world: study
Paris (AFP) Aug 10, 2020
The dwarf planet Ceres - long believed to be a barren space rock - is an ocean world with reservoirs of sea water beneath its surface, the results of a major exploration mission showed Monday. ... more
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MARSDAILY
Lava tubes on Mars and the Moon are so wide they can host planetary bases
Bologna, Italy (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
The international journal Earth-Science Reviews published a paper offering an overview of the lava tubes (pyroducts) on Earth, eventually providing an estimate of the (greater) size of their lunar a ... more
OUTER PLANETS
Ammonia sparks unexpected, exotic lightning on Jupiter
Ithaca NY (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
NASA's Juno spacecraft - orbiting and closely observing the planet Jupiter - has unexpectedly discovered lightning in the planet's upper atmosphere, according to a multi-institutional study led by t ... more
TECH SPACE
First laser detection of space debris in daylight
Paris (ESA) Aug 07, 2020
Lasers on Earth are used to measure the position of space debris high above, providing crucial information on how to avoid in-space collisions. Until now, this technique has suffered from a fatal fl ... more
IRON AND ICE
OSIRIS-REx is one rehearsal away from touching Asteroid Bennu
Tucson AZ (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
NASA's first asteroid sampling spacecraft is making final preparations to grab a sample from asteroid Bennu's surface. Next week, the OSIRIS-REx mission will conduct a second rehearsal of its touchd ... more
IRON AND ICE
Fragments of asteroids may have jumped the "Jupiter Gap"
Tempe AZ (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
Using some cosmic detective work, a team of researchers has found evidence that tiny pieces of asteroids from the inner solar system may have crossed a gap to the outer solar system, a feat once tho ... more


NASA's MAVEN observes Martian night sky pulsing in ultraviolet light

IRON AND ICE
NASA's Lucy mission passes critical mission milestone
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
Last week marked the completion of a major milestone on the path to spacecraft assembly, test, and launch operations for NASA's Lucy mission. The Systems Integration Review ensured segments, c ... more
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MARSDAILY
NASA scientists leverage carbon-measuring instrument for Mars studies
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
Insights and technology gleaned from creating a carbon-measuring instrument for Earth climate studies is being leveraged to build another that would remotely profile, for the first time, water vapor ... more
ROBO SPACE
Human Rights Watch eyes treaty banning 'killer robots'
Geneva (AFP) Aug 10, 2020
Human Rights Watch said Monday it was seeking a new international treaty to halt the race towards fully autonomous weapons, claiming a growing number of countries wanted an outright ban. ... more
EXO WORLDS
Microbes in the seabed survive on little energy
Potsdam, Germany (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
All life needs energy. Where there is not enough energy available, there can be no life. But how much is enough? A new study led by James Bradley of the German Research Centre for Geosciences ... more
DRAGON SPACE
China seeks payload ideas for mission to moon, asteroid
Beijing (XNA) Aug 07, 2020
China is soliciting ideas for payloads aboard its proposed missions to the moon, an asteroid and a comet, according to the China National Space Administration. It is asking for primary, middle ... more
MARSDAILY
Rice researchers use InSight for deep Mars measurements
Houston TX (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
Using data from NASA's InSight Lander on Mars, Rice University seismologists have made the first direct measurements of three subsurface boundaries from the crust to the core of the red planet. ... more
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NASA scientists leverage carbon-measuring instrument for Mars studies
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
Insights and technology gleaned from creating a carbon-measuring instrument for Earth climate studies is being leveraged to build another that would remotely profile, for the first time, water vapor up to nine miles above the Martian surface, along with wind speeds and minute particles suspended in the planet's atmosphere. Scientists Jim Abshire and Scott Guzewich, both at NASA's Goddard S ... more
+ NASA's MAVEN observes Martian night sky pulsing in ultraviolet light
+ Lava tubes on Mars and the Moon are so wide they can host planetary bases
+ Rice researchers use InSight for deep Mars measurements
+ A new look at Mars' eerie, ultraviolet nighttime glow
+ Radiation-Devouring Mold Could Be Humanity's Key to Venturing to Mars, New Research Says
+ A European dream team for Mars
+ Ice sheets, not rivers, carved valleys on Mars, new study says


Russian Cosmonauts Could Be Going to the Moon Without a Super-Heavy Launch Vehicle
Moscow (Sputnik) Jul 27, 2020
Russian space industry giant Energia is involved in the production of everything from rockets and satellites to space stations and ballistic missiles, and is the prime mover behind the current Russian manned spaceflight programs. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia has created and patented a means to fly cosmonauts to the Moon and back without an expensive new heavy-launch rocket. ... more
+ Study reveals composition of gel-like lunar substance
+ Aerojet Rocketdyne completes its propulsion for NASA's Artemis II mission
+ Russia's Trailblazing Lunar Lander Mission to be Launch-Tested With US Equipment
+ Solar power investigation to launch on lunar lander
+ China's Chang'e 4 probe resumes work for 20th lunar day
+ Who's ready to serve the lunar missions
+ A slightly younger Moon
Huge ring-like structure on Ganymede's surface may have been caused by violent impact
Kobe, Japan (SPX) Aug 12, 2020
Researchers from Kobe University and the National Institute of Technology, Oshima College have conducted a detailed reanalysis of image data from Voyager 1, 2 and Galileo spacecraft in order to investigate the orientation and distribution of the ancient tectonic troughs found on Jupiter's moon Ganymede. They discovered that these troughs are concentrically distributed across almost the entire su ... more
+ Inside the ice giants of space
+ Ammonia sparks unexpected, exotic lightning on Jupiter
+ Shallow Lightning and Mushballs reveal ammonia to Juno scientists
+ NASA's Webb Telescope Will Study Jupiter, Its Rings, and Two Intriguing Moons
+ NASA Juno takes first images of Ganymede's North Pole
+ Subaru Telescope and New Horizons explore the outer Solar System
+ The collective power of the solar system's dark, icy bodies
Hubble uses Earth as a Proxy for identifying oxygen on exoplanets
Baltimore MD (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
Taking advantage of a total lunar eclipse, astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have detected Earth's own brand of sunscreen - ozone - in our atmosphere. This method simulates how astronomers and astrobiology researchers will search for evidence of life beyond Earth by observing potential "biosignatures" on exoplanets (planets around other stars). Hubble did not look at Earth di ... more
+ NASA's planet hunter completes its primary mission
+ VLBA finds planet orbiting small, cool star
+ Surprisingly dense exoplanet challenges planet formation theories
+ Lava oceans may not explain the brightness of some hot super-Earths
+ Microbes in the seabed survive on little energy
+ Deep sea microbes dormant for 100 million years are hungry and ready to multiply
+ Surprising number of exoplanets could host life
Aerojet Rocketdyne to provide ULA's Vulcan Centaur Key Propulsion for future Air Force Launch Services
El Segundo CA (SPX) Aug 12, 2020
The U.S. Air Force selected United Launch Alliance (ULA) as one of two launch service providers under the National Security Space Launch Phase 2 Launch Services Procurement (LSP). Aerojet Rocketdyne will provide two RL10 rocket engines to power the upper stage of ULA's Vulcan Centaur launch vehicle, as well as the thrusters that control the stage while in flight and the composite overwrapp ... more
+ U.S. hypersonic weapon system completes second test on B-52 Stratofortress
+ BE-4 engine will support US Space Force space launch program
+ Russia wants to return to Venus, build reusable rocket
+ Virgin Orbit wraps up first demo launch
+ Artemis I rocket moves closer to hot fire test
+ ABL Space Systems begins RS1 stage testing and reaches $90mm in funding
+ New footage of US hypersonic glide body impacting target unveiled by the Army


China seeks payload ideas for mission to moon, asteroid
Beijing (XNA) Aug 07, 2020
China is soliciting ideas for payloads aboard its proposed missions to the moon, an asteroid and a comet, according to the China National Space Administration. It is asking for primary, middle school and university students across the country to provide ideas for payloads that would fly aboard the Chang'e 7 probe to the moon, and on another spacecraft to the asteroid 2016HO3 and the comet ... more
+ China marching to Mars for humanity's better shared future
+ From the Moon to Mars: China's long march in space
+ Tianwen 1 probe to soon blast off for Mars
+ China's newest carrier rocket fails in debut mission
+ China's tracking ship wraps up satellite launch monitoring
+ Final Beidou launch marks major milestone in China's space effort
+ Satellite launch center Wenchang eyes boosting homestay, catering sectors
Fragments of asteroids may have jumped the "Jupiter Gap"
Tempe AZ (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
Using some cosmic detective work, a team of researchers has found evidence that tiny pieces of asteroids from the inner solar system may have crossed a gap to the outer solar system, a feat once thought to be unlikely. About 1 million years after the start of the solar system, it is thought that while Jupiter's core formed, it created a gap in the protoplanetary disk (the disk of dense gas ... more
+ OSIRIS-REx is one rehearsal away from touching Asteroid Bennu
+ Surrey academics develop a new method to determine the origin of stardust in meteorites
+ Bright areas on Ceres come from salty water below
+ NASA's Lucy mission passes critical mission milestone
+ Dwarf planet Ceres is an ocean world: study
+ Iron-rich meteorites show record of core crystallization in system's oldest planetesimals
+ Scientists Find Two Meteorites in Two Weeks


AFRL breaks ground on new directed energy facility
Kirtland AFB NM (SPX) Aug 07, 2020
The Air Force Research Laboratory broke ground Monday, on a new 10,000 sq. ft. facility addition, to study and advance Directed Energy capabilities for the U.S. Warfighter. Dr. Kelly Hammett, Director of AFRL's Directed Energy Directorate, joined other leaders for the ceremonial first dig. "This new facility will allow for greater collaboration as we advance our High Power Microwave ... more
+ US Army plans to mount anti-aircraft lasers on Stryker armored vehicles
+ Army testing new air defense system, laser weapons
+ Northrop Grumman taps Epirus for Electromagnetic Pulse C-UAS Weapon System
+ USS Portland's high-powered laser disables drone in weapon's first at-sea test
+ 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
Hungary purchases $1 billion U.S.-made defense missile system
Washington DC (UPI) Aug 12, 2020
Hungary agreed to buy missile systems valued at $1 billion from the United States, the U.S. Embassy in Budapest announced Wednesday. U.S. Ambassador David Cornstein and Hungarian Defense Minister Tibor Benko signed declarations of intent on Wednesday. The Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles [AMRAAM], produced by Raytheon, are in use by many NATO countries. "This purchase wi ... more
+ Boeing submits proposal for Next Generation Interceptor missile
+ South Korea to invest $250B in missile defense, submarines
+ Japan will reorient missile defense posture as Aegis Ashore is suspended
+ Raytheon Missiles and Defense awarded $2.3B production contract for missile defense radars
+ Lockheed Martin PAC-3 MSE Achieves Test Success
+ NGC and US Army team up for combined missile defense test
+ Japan confirms scrapping US missile defence system


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
Scientists open new window into the nanoworld
Boulder CO (SPX) Jul 20, 2020
University of Colorado Boulder researchers have used ultra-fast extreme ultraviolet lasers to measure the properties of materials more than 100 times thinner than a human red blood cell. The team, led by scientists at JILA, reported its new feat of wafer-thinness this week in the journal Physical Review Materials. The group's target, a film just 5 nanometers thick, is the thinnest material ... more
+ The smallest motor in the world
+ 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


'Quantum negativity' can power ultra-precise measurements
Cambridge UK (SPX) Aug 03, 2020
Scientists have found that a physical property called 'quantum negativity' can be used to take more precise measurements of everything from molecular distances to gravitational waves. The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, Harvard and MIT, have shown that quantum particles can carry an unlimited amount of information about things they have interacted with. The results, reported ... more
+ QinetiQ wins contract with the European Space Agency
+ Tabletop quantum experiment could detect gravitational waves
+ Gravitational wave scientists grapple with the cosmic mystery of GW190814
+ LIGO-Virgo finds mystery object in 'mass gap'
+ 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
Physicists cast doubt on neutrino theory
Cincinnati OH (SPX) Aug 12, 2020
University of Cincinnati physicists, as part of an international research team, are raising doubts about the existence of an exotic subatomic particle that failed to show up in twin experiments. UC College of Arts and Sciences associate professor Alexandre Sousa and assistant professor Adam Aurisano took part in an experiment at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in search of steril ... more
+ Simulating quantum 'time travel' disproves butterfly effect in quantum realm
+ Universe Is More Homogeneous Than Expected
+ Cosmic tango between the very small and the very large
+ New approach refines the Hubble's constant and age of universe
+ Atomtronic device could probe boundary between quantum, everyday worlds
+ Filling in 11B years of the Universe's expansion history
+ In a first, astronomers watch a black hole's corona disappear, then reappear


Human Rights Watch eyes treaty banning 'killer robots'
Geneva (AFP) Aug 10, 2020
Human Rights Watch said Monday it was seeking a new international treaty to halt the race towards fully autonomous weapons, claiming a growing number of countries wanted an outright ban. The non-governmental organisation (NGO) said 30 countries are now explicitly seeking a ban, after compiling an overview of 97 nations with a stated position on the use and development of what it termed "kill ... more
+ Subterranean Challenge pivots to all-virtual competition for cave circuit
+ Russia to create several space robots
+ NUS researchers gives robots intelligent sensing abilities to carry out complex tasks
+ Robot hotel gets its occupants
+ "Alexa, go to the kitchen and fetch me a snack"
+ AI robots for power network put into service in North China
+ Amid reckoning on police racism, algorithm bias in focus
Turkish drone kills 2 Iraqi officers in Kurdish region: army
Baghdad (AFP) Aug 11, 2020
Two high-ranking Iraqi officers were killed Tuesday in what the army said was a "blatant Turkish drone attack" in the autonomous Kurdish region, where Ankara has for weeks been raiding militant positions. The strike killed two border guard battalion commanders and the driver of their vehicle, the army said in a statement. It is the first time members of the regular Iraqi forces have been ... more
+ Air Force holds electronic warfare exercise with classified stealth drone
+ Swiss Army Chooses Lockheed Martin's Indago 3 UAS For Tactical Reconnaissance And Surveillance
+ Image processing algorithm allows indoor drones to fly autonomously
+ VTOL demonstration at JEB Little Creek showcases REALL Technology
+ VSR700 prototype performs first autonomous free flight
+ Israeli-built drone for German air force has first successful flight
+ AFLCMC Awards Skyborg Contract
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