Tillerson to meet allies as NATO races to save talks
Washington (AFP) March 25, 2017 -
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will meet with NATO members next week in Brussels, officials said Friday, as alliance diplomats worked to nail down the date.
"We are currently planning to hold the meeting of NATO foreign ministers on 31 March. Consultations on scheduling among Allies are ongoing," a NATO official in Brussels said.
The NATO foreign ministers meeting had been planned f ...
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Spacewalking French, US astronauts begin upgrade to orbiting lab
Miami (AFP) March 24, 2017 -
A French and an American astronaut floated outside the International Space Station Friday for a spacewalk to upgrade the orbiting outpost for the arrival of future space crews.
The spacewalk by France's Thomas Pesquet, 39, and American Shane Kimbrough, 49, officially began at 7:24 am (1124 GMT) when the duo switched their spacesuits to internal battery power.
Pesquet and Kimbrough worked ...
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ANU leads public search for Planet X
Canberra, Australia (SPX) Mar 27, 2017 -
The Australian National University (ANU) is launching a search for a new major planet within our solar system, inviting anyone around the world with access to the Internet to help make the historic discovery.
Anyone who helps find the so-called Planet X will work with ANU astronomers to validate the discovery through the International Astronomical Union.
ANU astrophysicist Dr. Brad T ...
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SBIRS satellite successfully transmitting first images
Sunnyvale CA (SPX) Mar 27, 2017 -
From its final orbit location 22,000 miles above the equator, the third Lockheed Martin-built Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) satellite recently sent its first images back down to Earth, a milestone known as "first light."
The satellite was launched on Jan. 20 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket and is the third in a series of Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) satellites that ...
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NASA's SDO sees a stretch of spotless Sun
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Mar 23, 2017 -
For 15 days starting on March 7, 2017, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, returned visible light images of a yolk-like spotless sun.
This is the longest stretch of spotlessness since the last solar minimum in April 2010, indicating the solar cycle is marching on toward the next minimum, which scientists predict will occur between 2019-2020.
The sun goes through a natural 11-y ...
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Songs that make robots cry
Osaka, Japan (SPX) Mar 13, 2017 -
Music, more than any art, is a beautiful mix of science and emotion. It follows a set of patterns almost mathematically to extract feelings from its audience. Machines that make music focus on these patterns, but give little consideration to the emotional response of their audience. An international research team led by Osaka University together with Tokyo Metropolitan University, imec in Belgiu ...
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3D Pizza Printer to Feed Hungry Astronauts in Deep Space
Washington (Sputnik) Mar 13, 2017 -
Has this ever happened to you? You're drifting through the vacuum of space, millions of miles from Earth, when suddenly you have a craving for pizza. To satisfy this probable demand, a startup has raised $1 million in seed funding to create a 3D printer that they hope can be used as a spaceship's pizza oven.
The company, BeeHex, intends to build "3D printing robots that prepare food faster ...
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