Queen's scientist leads study of 'Super-Earth'
Belfast UK (SPX) Dec 08, 2014 -
Research led by an astronomer at Queen's University Belfast could pave the way in the search for life on other planets.
Up to now, only space-based telescopes have been able to detect planets near the size of the Earth that pass in front of stars like the Sun. An astronomer in the Astrophysics Research Centre at Queen's University has led an international team to detect a super-Earth, a pl ...
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Chief of Russia's Vostochny Space Center Project Resigns
Moscow (Sputnik) Dec 08, 2014 -
A decree by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev says Sklyarov was relieved of his duties "on his own request."
Another governmental decree appoints Kirill Martynyuk to the post.
The Vostochny space center project in Russia's Far East, initially estimated to cost 400 billion rubles [$7.4 billion at the current exchange rate], is scheduled to be completed in July 2015, with first ca ...
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US Senate May Ban Purchase of Russian Rocket Engines Next Week: McCain
Washington DC (Sputnik) Dec 08, 2014 -
Senator John McCain said that the vote in the US Senate on the defense budget, including the amendment to ban the purchase of Russian RD-180 rocket engines, will be held not earlier than next Tuesday.
The vote in the US Senate on the defense budget, including the amendment to ban the purchase of Russian RD-180 rocket engines, will be held not earlier than next Tuesday, Senator John McCain ...
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Marie Curie gets advice from Albert Einstein in lost letter
Prague, Czech Republic (UPI) Dec 8, 2014 -
"Haters gonna hate."
That is the message of a 1911 letter from Albert Einstein to Marie Curie where the scientist told his colleague not to listen to her critics.
About 10 years after she won her Nobel Prize for her work in radiation, Curie was still facing a lot of criticism as a woman, an atheist and an alleged Jew - which was looked down upon during a time of antisemitism in ...
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Low-grade waste heat regenerates ammonia battery
University Park PA (SPX) Dec 05, 2014 -
An efficient method to harvest low-grade waste heat as electricity may be possible using reversible ammonia batteries, according to Penn State engineers. "The use of waste heat for power production would allow additional electricity generation without any added consumption of fossil fuels," said Bruce E. Logan, Evan Pugh Professor and Kappe Professor of Environmental Engineering.
"Thermall ...
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The first X-ray diffraction measurements on Mars
Chester, UK (SPX) Dec 09, 2014 -
In 2012 the Mars Science Laboratory landed in the fascinating Gale crater. The Gale crater is of such great interest because of the 5.5 km high mountain of layered materials in the middle. This material tells an intricate story of the history of Mars, perhaps spanning much of the existence of this mysterious planet.
Once positioned, the Curiosity rover began field studies on its drive towa ...
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SSC supports the DEIMOS-2 satellite from launch through commercial service
Stockholm, Sweden (SPX) Dec 08, 2014 -
The Swedish Space Corporation, SSC, is proud to announce its successful ground station support to the Spanish satellite DEIMOS-2, which started providing commercial services to users around the world on 3 November.
DEIMOS-2, owned and operated by Elecnor Deimos, is the first Spanish very-high resolution optical Earth Observation satellite. It is the highest-resolution fully private satelli ...
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Mars mountain may have arisen from lake sediments: NASA
Miami (AFP) Dec 08, 2014 -
A mountain on Mars may have built up over time from lake sediments, according to NASA scientists who have been studying observations from the Curiosity rover scouring the Red Planet.
The latest analysis is based on rocks discovered at the lower edges of Mount Sharp, which is located, rather oddly, in the midst of a crater on Earth's neighboring planet.
"Gale Crater had a large lake fill ...
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New Horizons Wakes Up on Pluto's Doorstep
Huntsville AL (SPX) Dec 09, 2014 -
After a voyage of nearly nine years and three billion miles -the farthest any space mission has ever traveled to reach its primary target - NASA's New Horizons spacecraft came out of hibernation on Dec. 6th for its long-awaited 2015 encounter with the Pluto system.
Operators at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., confirmed at 9:53 p.m. (EST) that New Hor ...
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ADS to provide key elements for Vega launcher
Kourou, French Guiana (ESA) Dec 09, 2014 -
Airbus Defence and Space, the world's second largest space company, has signed a production contract with ELV (European Launch Vehicle, an AVIO and ASI Company), the industrial prime contractor for the European Vega launcher, to provide electronic components, including inertial navigation systems and backup units.
This contract follows on from the agreement signed by Arianespace and ELV on ...
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Ancient lava flows could explain pie-shaped landform on Mars
Pasadena, Calif. (UPI) Dec 8, 2014 -
If it was a real pie, it'd be the largest in the universe. But alas, it's composed of cold iron-rich rock - not flour, butter, fruit and sugar. The 1.2-mile wide circle of rumpled Martian crust was likely created by lava flows thousands of years ago.
Captured by the HiRISE camera - one of six instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter - the strange landform is located in the A ...
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China's ardor for a red planet
Beijing (XNA) Dec 09, 2014 -
The day after Orion, NASA's new spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to Mars, made its first test flight, a group of Chinese kids created their own Mars rover at Beijing Planetarium.
Li Manting, 10, draws a "rover train." "I hope it will carry tourists from earth," she says.
Her classmate Shi Zekai equips his rover with advanced weaponry, "in case it is threatened by aliens." He g ...
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Countdown to China's new space programs begins
Beijing (XNA) Dec 09, 2014 -
China hopes to put a rover on Mars around 2020, complete a manned space station around 2022 and test a heavy carrier rocket around 2030, a top space scientist revealed Sunday.
Lei Fanpei, chairman of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the main contractor for the space program, revealed the details in an interview with Xinhua after the launch of CBERS-4, a satell ...
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New Long March launcher on the drawing board
Beijing (XNA) Dec 09, 2014 -
China is conducting preliminary research on a super-heavy launch vehicle that will be used in its manned missions to the moon.
"We are discussing the technological feasibility and requirements of the Long March-9, and research on the solutions to some technical difficulties have started," said Li Tongyu, head of aerospace products at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology. "Its spe ...
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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 ...
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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," ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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