NGC Ships Payload Module For 4th Advanced EHF Protected ComSat
Redondo Beach CA (SPX) Apr 11, 2014 -
Northrop Grumman has continued its record of shipping Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite payload modules ahead of schedule when the fourth arrived Feb. 11, nearly two months early, at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Sunnyvale, Calif., AEHF system prime contractor.
Complex phased array and nulling antennas, along with the advanced crosslinks, will be shipped later this year t ...
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Appearance of Night-Shining Clouds Has Increased
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Apr 11, 2014 -
First spotted in 1885, silvery blue clouds sometimes hover in the night sky near the poles, appearing to give off their own glowing light. Known as noctilucent clouds, this phenomenon began to be sighted at lower and lower latitudes - between the 40th and 50th parallel - during the 20th century, causing scientists to wonder if the region these clouds inhabit had indeed changed - information t ...
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Israel launches cutting-edge satellite to spy on MidEast adversaries
Moscow (Voice of Russia) Apr 11, 2014 -
Israel's Defense Ministry has successfully launched Ofek 10, a next-generation satellite that will provide highly-targeted surveillance of specific locations - such as Iran's nuclear sites.
"We continue to increase the vast qualitative and technological advantage over our neighbors," said Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon at the launch at a test site in central Israel, Israeli media reported. ...
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SU professors test boundaries of 'new physics' with discovery of 4-quark hadron
Syracuse NY (SPX) Apr 11, 2014 -
Physicists in Syracuse University's College of Arts and Sciences have helped confirm the existence of exotic hadrons-a type of matter that cannot be classified within the traditional quark model.
Their finding is the subject of a forthcoming article, prepared by the Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb) Collaboration at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. (LHCb is a multinational experiment, design ...
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One Kind of Supersymmetry Shown to Emerge Naturally
Santa Barbara CA (SPX) Apr 11, 2014 -
UC Santa Barbara physicist Tarun Grover has provided definitive mathematical evidence for supersymmetry in a condensed matter system. Sought after in the realm of subatomic particles by physicists for several decades, supersymmetry describes a unique relationship between particles.
"As yet, no one has found supersymmetry in our universe, including at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)," said ...
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45th Space Wing launches NRO Satellite on board Atlas V
Cape Canaveral AFB FL (SPX) Apr 11, 2014 -
The 45th Space Wing successfully launched a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 here at 1:45 p.m. April 10 carrying a classified national security payload.
The payload was designed and built by the National Reconnaissance Office. It will be the second Atlas V from the Cape this year and ULA's 81st launch overall. The 45th Space Wing commander was pleased with ...
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Mars' halcyon times may have been fleeting
Paris (AFP) April 13, 2014 -
Cold and dry today, Mars was previously warm and wet but possibly only at intervals, a study published on Sunday suggests.
Scientists have long puzzled over what happened to the water, the precious stuff of life, on the Red Planet.
Unmanned spacecraft have sent home tantalising images of gouged canyons, valleys and sedimentary deltas, while landers have found hydrous rocks, all suggestin ...
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China's booming military spending belies caution
Beijing (AFP) April 11, 2014 -
With the world's biggest military, China far outnumbers rival Japan in manpower, ships, aircraft and defence spending, but analysts say underlying weaknesses leave it still wary of a fight.
The two Asian powers are embroiled in simmering territorial and historical rows, with the tensions highlighted this week in consecutive visits to each by US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.
Beijing's la ...
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Energy efficiency a trump card for German tech exports
Hanover, Germany (AFP) April 13, 2014 -
An often-ignored aspect of Germany's green energy transition is the one that has most helped its export industry; energy efficiency, the new hallmark of the country's high-tech sector.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that if the "Energiewende" - the ambitious switch from nuclear and carbon-based energy toward renewables - goes as planned, "I am sure it will be another export hit".
S ...
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Antarctica, a dream destination for tourists
President Frei Base, Antarctica (AFP) April 12, 2014 -
As the sun sets, the cloudy sky melds with the glaring white of the frozen terrain. Tourists trudging in single file line marvel over blue glaciers in Antarctica, a hip new vacation destination.
The group paid a small fortune - $3,000 per head - for a quick five-hour visit to the frozen continent, arriving by plane.
"Coming to Antarctica was a dream for me and my wife," American John ...
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SU geologists prove early Tibetan Plateau was larger than previously thought
Syracuse NY (SPX) Apr 14, 2014 -
scientists in Syracuse University's College of Arts and Sciences have determined that the Tibetan Plateau-the world's largest, highest, and flattest plateau-had a larger initial extent than previously documented.
Their discovery is the subject of an article in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters (Elsevier, 2014).
Gregory Hoke, assistant professor of Earth sciences, and Gr ...
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Sakura tree grown in space blooms in Japan
Moscow (Voice of Russia) Apr 14, 2014 -
A cherry tree grown from a pit that was in space burst into bloom in Japan six years earlier, Japanese media reported on Saturday.
The "space" tree surprising Japanese botanists grows near the Buddhist temple Ganjoji in the Gifu prefecture. In 2008, seeds of one of old sakuras growing near the temple were handed over to the Japanese Aerospace Research Agency, and astronaut Koichi Wakata, c ...
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Deputy PM Rogozin invites best minds to create anti-asteroid technology
Moscow (Voice of Russia) Apr 14, 2014 -
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said there was no means capable of diverting asteroids from Earth and invited the best minds to help create such a technology, Itar-Tass reports. "This is a dangerous phenomenon. Those who think that we know everything about the far reaches of deep space and that no catastrophe will happen are seriously wrong," Rogozin said at a meeting with students of the S ...
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Backup ISS computer breaks down, requiring possible spacewalk
Moscow (RIA Novosti) Apr 14, 2014 -
A reserve computer mounted on the International Space Station's hull has stopped working. As it will be needed as soon as Wednesday, when the station is to receive a cargo spacecraft, crewmembers may have to perform a spacewalk to replace it.
The Multiplexer-Demultiplexer (MDM) computers control certain robotics functions. The ISS's backup MDM computer stopped responding to commands, NASA ...
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German space research centre under espionage attack: report
Berlin (AFP) April 13, 2014 -
Germany's aeronautics and space research centre has for months been the target of a suspected cyber attack by a foreign intelligence service, a German news weekly reported Sunday.
Der Spiegel said that several computers used by scientists and systems administrators at the Cologne-based DLR centre had been infiltrated by spy programmes.
"The government classes the attack as extremely seri ...
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ISS Back Up Computer Not Responding to Commands
Houston TX (SPX) Apr 14, 2014 -
The Mission Control team at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston confirmed Friday night that a backup computer on the exterior of the International Space Station (ISS) called a Multiplexer-Demultiplexer (MDM) is not responding to commands. The station's MDM computers control some systems associated with robotics aboard the space station.
The primary MDM operating aboard the space station ...
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No politics in space: ISS example of what Russia, US can achieve working together
Moscow (RIA Novosti) Apr 14, 2014 -
The International Space Station is an example of what Russia and the US can accomplish by working together, US astronaut Michael Hopkins told RT, adding that the cooling relations between Moscow and Washington over Ukraine isn't felt in space at all.
Hopkins, who was part of the ISS crew together with Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazansky from September 2013 until March 2014, ...
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NASA to go ahead with joint projects with Russia, aside from ISS
Moscow (Voice of Russia) Apr 14, 2014 -
Although NASA has suspended cooperation with Russia, it still plans to retain a number of joint projects, including the ISS, the news chief for Media Services in External Relations at NASA, Allard Beutel, told the RIA Novosti news agency.
NASA said last week it was suspending cooperation with Russia over the situation in Ukraine, with the exception of the ISS and meetings at international ...
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Putin Hopes For Further Cooperation With Committee on Space Research
Moscow (RIA Novosti) Apr 14, 2014 -
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed hope that Russia will continue its cooperation with the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) during a meeting with the president of the organization on Friday.
"The organization which you are heading is one of the world's most reputable ones in the field of cooperation on space research," the Russian leader said.
"We greatly hope that Russia ...
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Dragon Cargo Craft Launch Scrubbed; Station Crew Preps for Spacewalk
Kennedy Space Center FL (SPX) Apr 15, 2014 -
Monday's launch attempt of the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft, loaded with nearly 5,000 pounds of supplies for the International Space Station's Expedition 39 crew, was scrubbed due to a helium leak on the Falcon 9 first stage. The next launch opportunity would be Friday, April 18 at 3:25 p.m. EDT if the issue can be resolved.
The launch of the third SpaceX Dragon commercial resupply services m ...
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Cosmic Slurp
Austin TX (SPX) Apr 15, 2014 -
Somewhere in the cosmos an ordinary galaxy spins, seemingly at slumber. Then all of a sudden, WHAM! A flash of light explodes from the galaxy's center. A star orbiting too close to the event horizon of the galaxy's central supermassive black hole is torn apart by the force of gravity, heating up its gas and sending out a beacon to the far reaches of the universe.
In a universe with tens of ...
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NASA Cassini Images May Reveal Birth of a Saturn Moon
Pasadena CA (JPL) Apr 15, 2014 -
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has documented the formation of a small icy object within the rings of Saturn that may be a new moon, and may also provide clues to the formation of the planet's known moons.
Images taken with Cassini's narrow angle camera on April 15, 2013, show disturbances at the very edge of Saturn's A ring - the outermost of the planet's large, bright rings. One of these dist ...
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From Red Mars To Green Earth
Paris (ESA) Apr 15, 2014 -
How can a sensor for analysing the atmosphere of Mars help us to cut greenhouse emissions on Earth? By going where no human or machine has been before. Parts of our planet are so hostile they are unreachable. But if we are to understand Earth's atmosphere it is vital we monitor factors such as gases around industrial chimneys and erupting volcanoes.
A new portable device created by the you ...
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Russia plans to get a foothold in the Moon
Moscow (Voice of Russia) Apr 15, 2014 -
Russia plans to organize a permanent base on the moon rather than leave it after several successful missions, the Russian deputy defense minister in charge of defense and space industries said. "The moon is not an intermediate point in the [space] race, it is a separate, even a self-contained goal. It would hardly be rational to make some ten or twenty flights to the moon, and then wind it all u ...
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Getting in Place for a Better View of Endeavour Crater
Pasadena CA (JPL) Apr 15, 2014 -
Opportunity is exploring 'Murray Ridge,' part of the west rim of Endeavour Crater. On Sol 3623 (April 3, 2014), the rover moved about 52 feet (16 meters) in a clockwise arc around some obstacles in an approach to a large rock outcrop.
Moving closer to the outcrop would be difficult, so it was decided to document the outcrop with imagery and then back away and resume the path south.
O ...
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