Tuesday, 9 December 2014

Tennessee research offers explanation for Titan dune puzzle

SATURN DAILY
Tennessee research offers explanation for Titan dune puzzle
Knoxville TN (SPX) Dec 09, 2014 - Titan, Saturn's largest moon, is a peculiar place. Unlike any other moon, it has a dense atmosphere. It has rivers and lakes made up of components of natural gas, such as ethane and methane. It also has windswept dunes that are hundreds of yards high, more than a mile wide and hundreds of miles long--despite data suggesting the body to have only light breezes. Research led by Devon Burr, a ... more


Russia to Conduct 7 Launches at Baikonur next 3 Months

RUSSIAN SPACE
Russia to Conduct 7 Launches at Baikonur next 3 Months
Moscow (Sputnik) Dec 09, 2014 - Russia plans to conduct seven launches from the Baikonur space center during the period from December 2014 until February 2015, a source in the space industry told RIA Novosti on Monday. "The launch of a Proton-M ?arrier rocket with the Yamal-401 communications satellite is set for December 15. The RS-18 [the Rokot] rocket launch with the Kondor-E satellite will take place on December 18," ... more


Chinese Hypersonic Strike Vehicle May Overcome US Missile Defense: Expert

MISSILE DEFENSE
Chinese Hypersonic Strike Vehicle May Overcome US Missile Defense: Expert
Beijing (Sputnik) Dec 08, 2014 - Igor Korotchenko, Director of the Center for the Analysis of the World Arms Trade told Sputnik on Friday that China's successful testing of a Hypersonic Strike Vehicle (the HGV) demonstrates the country's potential to affect US national security in a serious way. "US anxiety is centered on the fact that China is actively experimenting with weaponry that is based on hypersonic speed, which ... more


Artificial intelligence: Hawking's fears stir debate

ROBO SPACE
Artificial intelligence: Hawking's fears stir debate
Paris (AFP) Dec 06, 2014 - There was the psychotic HAL 9000 computer in "2001: A Space Odyssey". The humanoids which attacked their flesh-and-blood masters in "I, Robot". And, of course, "The Terminator", where a robot is sent into the past to kill a woman whose son will end the tyranny of the machines in the future. Never far from the surface, a dark, dystopian view of artificial intelligence (AI) has return ... more


China develops new rocket for manned moon mission: media

DRAGON SPACE
China develops new rocket for manned moon mission: media
Beijing (AFP) Dec 08, 2014 - China is developing a huge rocket that will be used for its first manned mission to the moon, state media said Monday, underscoring Beijing's increasingly ambitious space programme. The first launch of the Long March-9 will take place around 2028, said the China Daily, which also cited experts saying the rocket's development is at the research stage. It will carry a load of 130 tonnes, t ... more


Curiosity finds clues to how water helped shape Mars

MARSDAILY
Curiosity finds clues to how water helped shape Mars
Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 09, 2014 - Observations by NASA's Curiosity Rover indicate Mars' Mount Sharp was built by sediments deposited in a large lake bed over tens of millions of years. This interpretation of Curiosity's finds in Gale Crater suggests ancient Mars maintained a climate that could have produced long-lasting lakes at many locations on the Red Planet. "If our hypothesis for Mount Sharp holds up, it challenges th ... more


Saturday, 6 December 2014

SPOT 7 satellite launched

EARTH OBSERVATION
SPOT 7 satellite launched
Paris, France (SPX) Dec 03, 2014 - SPOT 7, the Earth-observation satellite designed and built by Airbus Defence and Space, has been launched, making its high-resolution imagery available to all users. Together with SPOT 6, Pleiades 1A and 1B, TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X, SPOT 7 makes Airbus Defence and Space the first operator in the world to offer customers a full palette of Earth-imaging data spanning multiple resolution and spectr ... more