USAF Awards Lockheed Martin Full Production Contracts For Next Two GPS 3 Satellites
Denver CO (SPX) Apr 03, 2014 -
The U.S. Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin more than $245 million in contract options to complete production of its seventh and eighth next-generation Global Positioning System satellites, known as GPS III.
GPS III space vehicles seven and eight (SV 07-08) received initial funding under a February 2013 long lead material contract for the Air Force's second set of four satellites, GPS III S ...
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Black hole makes 'String of Pearls' clusters
Melbourne, Australia (SPX) Apr 03, 2014 -
Huge young star clusters resembling a string of pearls around a black hole in the centre of a galaxy 120 million light-years away have been discovered by researchers at Swinburne University of Technology. The galaxy, called NGC2110, is in the constellation of Orion.
Using the giant Keck telescopes in Hawaii, the researchers, Professor Jeremy Mould and PhD student Mark Durre from Swinburne' ...
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EUTELSAT 3B Mission Status Update
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Apr 03, 2014 -
During the final "dry" roll-out phase of integrated launch vehicle (ILV) processing at Home Port in support of the EUTELSAT 3B mission, a discrepancy in the nominal movement of the cable-mast and the Zenit-2S LV lateral plate occurred while installing the ILV onto the launch pad. This caused mechanical damage to the lateral plate housing located on the inter-stage truss of the LV. Resolution of ...
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Dawn draws ever closer to dwarf planet Ceres
Pasadena CA (JPL) Apr 03, 2014 -
Powering its way through deep space, Dawn draws ever closer to dwarf planet Ceres. To reach its destination, the interplanetary spaceship gently reshapes its path around the sun with its extraordinary ion propulsion system. In about a year, the spacecraft will gracefully slip into orbit so it can begin to unveil the nature of the mysterious world of rock and ice, an intriguing protoplanetary rem ...
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Mars and Earth move closer together this month
Washington DC (UPI) Apr 01, 2014 -
Spring is here, love is in the air, and Mars and Earth are getting a little closer this time of year.
For the next two weeks, the two neighborly planets will continue to converge - the distance between them shrinking roughly 186 miles every minute.
By the time the convergence ends, Mars and Earth will have moved 57 million miles closer together. Such a distance may seem a pittan ...
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Ukraine crisis brings MDA project to a halt
Washington DC (UPI) Apr 01, 2014 -
A Canadian communications and information company says the political and military crisis in Ukraine is having an adverse effect on its business there.
MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. said Russia's occupation and annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region has caused it and an unidentified Ukranian customer to declare force majeure in regard to a contract for a ground segment project ...
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NASA suspends Russia ties, except on space station
Washington (AFP) April 02, 2014 -
NASA has cut all contacts with Russia except for cooperation aboard the International Space Station, according to an internal memo obtained by the online news site The Verge on Wednesday.
NASA did not immediately return calls for comment.
However, a copy of the memo posted online described a halt to travel to Russia by NASA employees and to visits by Russians to NASA facilities, and a fr ...
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Health risks of Mars mission would exceed NASA limits
Washington (AFP) April 02, 2014 -
Efforts to send humans to Mars would likely expose them to health risks beyond the limits of what NASA currently allows, an independent panel of medical experts said Wednesday.
Therefore, any long-term or deep space missions - which are still decades off - need a special level of ethical scrutiny, said the report by the Institute of Medicine.
"These types of missions will likely expose ...
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Quantum Photon Properties Revealed in Another Particle-the Plasmon
Pasadena CA (SPX) Apr 04, 2014 -
For years, researchers have been interested in developing quantum computers-the theoretical next generation of technology that will outperform conventional computers. Instead of holding data in bits, the digital units used by computers today, quantum computers store information in units called "qubits."
One approach for computing with qubits relies on the creation of two single photons tha ...
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Using ethic frameworks for decisions about health standards on long duration spaceflights
Washington DC (SPX) Apr 04, 2014 -
NASA should use an ethics framework when deciding whether, and under what conditions, spaceflights that venture outside low Earth orbit or extend beyond 30 days are acceptable if they do not meet current health standards, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine, the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences.
Exceptions to existing health standards should be granted by NASA on ...
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Galactic serial killer
Munich, Germany (SPX) Apr 04, 2014 -
Several clues in the structure of NGC 1316 reveal that its past was turbulent. For instance, it has some unusual dust lanes embedded within a much larger envelope of stars, and a population of unusually small globular star clusters. These suggest that it may have already swallowed a dust-rich spiral galaxy about three billion years ago.
Also seen around the galaxy are very faint tidal tail ...
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Cassini reports sub-surface ocean on Enceladus
Washington DC (SPX) Apr 04, 2014 -
Enceladus-one of Saturn's smaller satellites-has joined the ranks of Titan and Europa as a moon that appears to have liquid water splashing around inside of it, researchers say. New gravity data from the Cassini spacecraft, which has been exploring the planet's moons for 10 years, reveal that Enceladus harbors an ocean of water beneath 18 to 24 miles (30 to 40 kilometers) of ice at its surface. ...
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A satellite view of volcanoes finds the link between ground deformation and eruption
Bristol, UK (SPX) Apr 04, 2014 -
ESA's Sentinel satellite, due for launch on April 3rd, should allow scientists to test this link in greater detail and eventually develop a forecast system for all volcanoes, including those that are remote and inaccessible.
Volcano deformation and, in particular, uplift are often considered to be caused by magma moving or pressurizing underground. Magma rising towards the surface could be ...
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Europe lofts first Copernicus environmental satellite
Kourou, French Guiana (ESA) Apr 04, 2014 -
The ability of European citizens, policymakers and service providers to access key environmental data on a routine basis will take a major step forward following the launch today of ESA's Sentinel-1A satellite.
The 2.3 tonne satellite lifted off on a Soyuz rocket from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana at 21:02 GMT (23:02 CEST). The first stage separated 118 sec later, followed by ...
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New research finds 'geologic clock' that helps determine moon's age
Boulder CO (SPX) Apr 04, 2014 -
An international team of planetary scientists determined that the Moon formed nearly 100 million years after the start of the solar system, according to a paper to be published April 3 in Nature. This conclusion is based on measurements from the interior of the Earth combined with computer simulations of the protoplanetary disk from which the Earth and other terrestrial planets formed.
The ...
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Land a Lunar Laser Reflector Now!
Sydney, Australia (SPX) Apr 04, 2014 -
As we consider the next spacecraft to land on the Moon, let's not overlook an increasing problem in scientific research. The laser reflectors already on the Moon are getting old, and need to be replaced.
Laser reflectors are collections of prisms or mirrors that bounce light back in exactly the same direction of its arrival. This means that it's easy to fire a laser beam at the reflector a ...
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Asteroid 2007 VK184 Eliminated as Impact Risk to Earth
Pasadena CA (JPL) Apr 04, 2014 -
Recent observations have removed from NASA's asteroid impact hazard list the near-Earth object (NEO) known to pose the most significant risk of Earth impact over the next 100 years.
2007 VK184, an asteroid estimated to be roughly 130 meters in size, has been on NASA's Impact Risk Page maintained by the NEO Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for several years, with an est ...
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Fermi Data Tantalize With New Clues To Dark Matter
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Apr 04, 2014 -
A new study of gamma-ray light from the center of our galaxy makes the strongest case to date that some of this emission may arise from dark matter, an unknown substance making up most of the material universe. Using publicly available data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, independent scientists at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), the Harvard-Smithsonian Center f ...
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Ancient volcanic explosions shed light on Mercury's origins
Providence RI (SPX) Apr 04, 2014 -
The surface of Mercury crackled with volcanic explosions for extended periods of the planet's history, according to a new analysis led by researchers at Brown University. The findings are surprising considering Mercury wasn't supposed to have explosive volcanism in the first place, and they could have implications for understanding how Mercury formed.
On Earth, volcanic explosions like the ...
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Gravity measurements confirm subsurface ocean on Enceladus
Pasadena CA (SPX) Apr 04, 2014 -
In 2005, NASA's Cassini spacecraft sent pictures back to Earth depicting an icy Saturnian moon spewing water vapor and ice from fractures, known as "tiger stripes," in its frozen surface.
It was big news that tiny Enceladus-a mere 500 kilometers in diameter-was such an active place. Since then, scientists have hypothesized that a large reservoir of water lies beneath that icy surface, poss ...
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White House Targets Methane Emissions
Washington DC (SPX) Apr 03, 2014 -
On March 28, the White House released a multi-pronged strategy to reduce methane emissions from a variety of sources, a step the administration says is an outgrowth of the President's Climate Action Plan announced last year. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, about 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide. The federal government will target four key areas of methane emissions - landfills, coa ...
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U.K. Coal may close two deep mines
Washington DC (UPI) Apr 02, 2014 -
U.K. Coal, the largest coal producer in the country, said it's on the verge of closing two of its last three deep mines in Britain because of economic woes.
U.K. Coal spokesman Andrew Mackintosh said the company needs about $16.6 million in new investments or it will be forced to close its Kellingley and Thoresby coal mines.
"Thoresby and Kellingley would have at least 18 months, ...
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Bitcoin boss flees Cyprus 'after threat': reports
Nicosia (AFP) April 03, 2014 -
The boss of a Bitcoin company in Cyprus has fled abroad days after it suddenly stopped operations, in a blow to the virtual currency's once vaunted prospects on the island.
Privately owned television channel Sigma TV said Thursday that it had repeatedly tried to contact Neo & Bee CEO Danny Brewster, but to no avail.
The firm launched a huge advertising campaign earlier this year but halt ...
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OMV enters acreage offshore Namibia
Washington DC (UPI) Apr 02, 2014 -
Austrian energy company OMV said Thursday it expanded its African footprint by joining an offshore exploration project in Namibia.
"OMV is well on track to position its assets into more high-return upstream projects," OMV Chief Executive Officer Gerhard Roiss said in a statement. "Therefore it is part of OMV's strategy to build up new exploration opportunities also in the region of Sub- ...
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Scientists unveil 'BionicKangroo Robot'
Esslingen Am Neckar, Germany (UPI) Apr 3, 2013 -
If a human tries to move around simply by jumping, he or she is likely to get very tired, very fast. The human body isn't designed to jump over and over again.
The same doesn't hold true for a kangaroo, of course - the hopping mammal, omnipresent throughout most of Australia, gets around exclusively via leaps and bounds.
Now, scientists in Germany have replicated the jumping mot ...
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