Astronauts to get 'ISSpresso' coffee machine
Paris (AFP) Nov 20, 2014 -
Ristretto or lungo? Not a question astronauts on the International Space Station normally have to contemplate, but that is about to change thanks to a new zero-gravity coffee machine being delivered this weekend.
The ISSpresso machine is set to boldly go to the orbital station this weekend, carried there by Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti.
Astronauts on the station will finally ...
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New model clarifies photoexcited thin-film lattice dynamics
Washington DC (SPX) Nov 19, 2014 -
A research team from Germany developed an analytical model to describe the structural dynamics of photoexcited thin films and verified it by ultrafast X-ray diffraction. Lattice dynamics, atomic movements in a crystal structure, can influence the physical and chemical properties of a material.
The phenomenon can be directly studied using ultrafast X-ray diffraction, in which femtosecond X- ...
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A new approach to the delivery of satellites to orbit
Barcelona, Spain (SPX) Nov 20, 2014 -
Celestia Aerospace starts operations in Barcelona for the development and launch of low weight satellites with an innovative approach. Its primary goal is to offer turnkey solutions, which encompass all the stages of development and operation of a satellite, a first for the small dimension satellite industry worldwide. A unique integral low-cost service never seen before in the aerospace industr ...
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Physicists suggest new way to detect dark matter
Odense, Denmark (SPX) Nov 20, 2014 -
For years physicists have been looking for the universe's elusive dark matter, but so far no one has seen any trace of it. Maybe we are looking in the wrong place? Now physicists from University of Southern Denmark propose a new technique to detect dark matter.
The universe consists of atoms and particles - and a whole lot more that still needs to be detected. We can only speculate about t ...
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Gravity may have saved the universe after the Big Bang
London, UK (SPX) Nov 20, 2014 -
New research by a team of European physicists could explain why the universe did not collapse immediately after the Big Bang. Studies of the Higgs particle - discovered at CERN in 2012 and responsible for giving mass to all particles - have suggested that the production of Higgs particles during the accelerating expansion of the very early universe (inflation) should have led to instability and ...
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Second Time Through, Mars Rover Examines Chosen Rocks
Pasadena CA (JPL) Nov 20, 2014 -
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has completed a reconnaissance "walkabout" of the first outcrop it reached at the base of the mission's destination mountain and has begun a second pass examining selected rocks in the outcrop in more detail.
Exposed layers on the lower portion of Mount Sharp are expected to hold evidence about dramatic changes in the environmental evolution of Mars. That was a ...
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Did Philae Drill The Comet?
Paris (ESA) Nov 20, 2014 -
Philae's Sampling, Drilling and Distribution (SD2) subsystem was activated towards the end of the surface operations that Philae performed on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko last week, despite fears that it might alter the lander's precarious position following its third touchdown. Here we present the latest update from the SD2 team.
SD2's goal was to drill into the comet surface in order ...
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