Toward quantum chips
Boston MA (SPX) Jan 13, 2015 -
A team of researchers has built an array of light detectors sensitive enough to register the arrival of individual light particles, or photons, and mounted them on a silicon optical chip. Such arrays are crucial components of devices that use photons to perform quantum computations.
Single-photon detectors are notoriously temperamental: Of 100 deposited on a chip using standard manufacturi ...
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NASA's Airborne Observatory Begins 2015 Science Campaign
Moffett Field CA (SPX) Jan 15, 2015 -
The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, or SOFIA, Program began its third season of science flights on Jan. 13, 2015. SOFIA is NASA's next generation flying observatory and is fitted with a 2.5-meter (100-inch) diameter telescope that studies the universe at infrared wavelengths.
"Last night's flight used the German Receiver for Astronomy at Terahertz Frequencies (GREAT) spec ...
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O3b Certifies Gilat's meoEdge TDMA/SCPC Terminal
Petah Tikva, Israel (SPX) Jan 15, 2015 -
Gilat Satellite Networks has announced that satellite service provider O3b Networks, certified Gilat's SkyEdge II meoEdge high-performance MEO/O3b satellite terminal for use over its growing constellation of satellites.
O3b successfully launched four more satellites in December 2014 to meet market demand and complement the eight that are already in orbit serving customers in Africa, the Mi ...
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Evolution: Rock sponges split up
Munich, Germany (SPX) Jan 13, 2015 -
A study led by researchers at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich throws new light on the evolution of the so-called rock sponges, and reveals that conventional, morphology-based taxonomies do not accurately reflect the true genealogical relationships within the group.
Modern approaches to biological systematics have demonstrated that the evolutionary relationships between orga ...
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NASA and ESA Celebrate 10 Years Since Titan Landing
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jan 15, 2015 -
Ten years ago, an explorer from Earth parachuted into the haze of an alien moon toward an uncertain fate. After a gentle descent lasting more than two hours, it landed with a thud on a frigid floodplain, surrounded by icy cobblestones. With this feat, the Huygens probe accomplished humanity's first landing on a moon in the outer solar system. Huygens was safely on Titan, the largest moon of Satu ...
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Long duration weightlessness in space induces a blood shift
Washington DC (SPX) Jan 15, 2015 -
In a study published in The Journal of Physiology, researchers found that in space, the shift of blood and fluid from the lower to the upper body caused by weightlessness is much higher and the blood pressure much lower than previously thought.
Researchers measured the volume of blood ejected by the heart into the blood vessels and monitored the blood pressure in eight astronauts aged betw ...
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Experts explore the medical safety needs of civilian space travel
New Rochelle NY (SPX) Jan 15, 2015 -
The commercial aviation industry has medical care standards, as does NASA for traditional space missions, and the emerging commercial space transportation industry will need to define medical care practices as well.
The unique risks posed by commercial spaceflight warrant the establishment of Medical Levels of Care to account for the different phases of suborbital and orbital missions, as ...
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Meteorite material born in molten spray as embryo planets collided
West Lafayette IN (SPX) Jan 15, 2015 -
Asteroids may be a byproduct of planet formation rather than planetary building blocks, according to a recent paper in Nature. Research done at Purdue University suggests collisions of planetary embryos - the seeds to the planets in our solar system that existed 4 billion years ago - could be the origin of the material that formed asteroids.
When part of an asteroid falls onto the Earth it ...
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Firefly Space Systems and NASA have Inked Space Act Agreement
Austin TX (SPX) Jan 15, 2015 -
Firefly Space Systems is pleased to announce it has entered into a Space Act Agreement (SAA) with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama.
The agreement's intended purpose is for Firefly and NASA to collaborate as related to the design and commercial development of Firefly's Alpha launch vehicle, specific ...
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Crystal-Rich Rock 'Mojave' is Next Mars Drill Target
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jan 15, 2015 -
A rock target where NASA's Curiosity Mars rover is using its sample-collection drill this week may have a salty story to tell. This target, called "Mojave," displays copious slender features, slightly smaller than grains of rice, that appear to be mineral crystals.
A chance to learn their composition prompted the Curiosity science team to choose Mojave as the next rock-drilling target for ...
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AI helps physicists predict dangerous solar flares
Stanford CA (SPX) Jan 15, 2015 -
Though scientists do not completely understand what triggers solar flares, Stanford solar physicists Monica Bobra and Sebastien Couvidat have automated the analysis of those gigantic explosions. The method could someday provide advance warning to protect power grids and communication satellites.
Solar flares can release the energy equivalent of many atomic bombs, enough to cut out satellit ...
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A twist on planetary origins
Boston MA (SPX) Jan 15, 2015 -
Meteors that have crashed to Earth have long been regarded as relics of the early solar system. These craggy chunks of metal and rock are studded with chondrules - tiny, glassy, spherical grains that were once molten droplets. Scientists have thought that chondrules represent early kernels of terrestrial planets: As the solar system started to coalesce, these molten droplets collided with bits ...
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Vega ready to launch ESA spaceplane
Paris (ESA) Jan 15, 2015 -
On its first launch of the year, Europe's Vega rocket will loft ESA's unmanned spaceplane to test reentry technologies for future vehicles. The launch campaign has resumed, aiming for a liftoff on 11 February from Kourou, French Guiana to release ESA's Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle, IXV, into a suborbital trajectory.
This mission will provide vital flight data for Europe to forge ahead ...
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China December inflation rises to 1.5%: govt
Beijing (AFP) Jan 9, 2015 -
Chinese inflation rebounded marginally in December, the government said Friday, but economists warned of deflationary threats and called for more monetary stimulus to boost slowing growth in the world's second-largest economy.
The consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.5 percent year-on-year in December, the National Bureau of Statistics announced, matching market estimates and marking an increa ...
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Health, not money, inspires people to save power
Miami (AFP) Jan 12, 2015 -
Telling people how pollution can harm kids' health inspires them to use less electricity than telling them how much money they could save by cutting back on power use, US researchers said Monday.
The study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences centered on people living in 118 apartment units in Los Angeles.
Over the course of about four months, residents were given weekl ...
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French govt minister calls for new generation of reactors
Paris (AFP) Jan 13, 2015 -
France should build a new generation of nuclear reactors to replace its ageing power stations that provide a majority of the country's electricity, the energy and environment minister said Tuesday.
Despite French firms being world leaders in nuclear energy, the country's Socialist government has been keen on ending France's status as the world's most nuclear-dependent country.
The minist ...
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Can quake-hit Haiti manufacture itself a hi-tech future?
Port-Au-Prince (AFP) Jan 12, 2015 -
The phrase is used so often it has become a cliche - Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas - but even so it fails to capture the stark reality five years after a devastating earthquake.
Haiti's per capita GDP is the 209th lowest in the world, less than that of Sierra Leone, North Korea or Bangladesh. The money sent home by Haitians living abroad is worth five times more than its exp ...
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The Real Cause Of Low Oil Prices
Washington DC (SPX) Jan 13, 2015 -
With all the conspiracy theories surrounding OPEC's November decision not cut production, is it really not just a case of simple economics? The U.S. shale boom has seen huge hype but the numbers speak for themselves and such overflowing optimism may have been unwarranted. When discussing harsh truths in energy, no sector is in greater need of a reality check than renewable energy.
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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wants to shake up satellite industry
Hawthorne, Calif. (UPI) Jan 13, 2015 -
Elon Musk wants to grow the presence of SpaceX in the satellite communications industry. Establishing a profitable satellite operation would bring in the kinds of stable revenue streams that Musk needs to pursue more adventurous missions - like a manned colony on Mars.
But Musk says a cozy relationship between the U.S. Air Force and other aerospace and defense industry contractors is p ...
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Russia delays decision on using ISS after 2020
Moscow (AFP) Jan 13, 2015 -
Russia has delayed a ruling on its future use of the International Space Station, a source in Russia's space agency said Tuesday, as economic turmoil buffets the country's space programme.
NASA has said the ISS will remain operational until 2024, but Russia - which since the termination of the US shuttle programme is the only country able to ferry astronauts to the international station -- ...
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Rivers Are Draining Greenland Quickly: NASA-UCLA
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 14, 2015 -
Rivers of glacial meltwater flowing over Greenland's frozen surface may be contributing as much to global sea level rise as all other processes that drain water from the melting ice sheet combined, according to researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, and NASA.
The new finding was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The research is ded ...
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U.S. intel agency contracts for BAE Systems software
San Diego (UPI) Jan 13, 2015 -
BAE Systems' commercial GXP Xplorer software is to be used to modernize the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's data stores and libraries.
The management software will be deployed globally to support the agency's transition from legacy image product libraries to commercial-based information storage capabilities and allow easier sharing of data, the company said.
"NSG analys ...
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NASA releases retro-styled travel posters for newly discovered planets
Washington (UPI) Jan 14, 2015 -
As a unique way to draw attention to the increasing number of exoplanets discovered by the repaired and reinvigorated Kepler, NASA published three throwback travel posters showcasing alien worlds Kepler-16b, Kepler-186f and HD 40307g.
The first destination planet showcased as part of NASA's Planet Quest and its Exoplanet Travel Series was Kepler-16b, a Saturn-mass planet that is half ga ...
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New Navy missile ready for operational testing
Patuxent River, Md. (UPI) Jan 13, 2015 -
The final developmental free flight test of Raytheon's Joint Standoff Weapon C-1 has been conducted in California by the U.S. Navy.
The U.S. Naval Air Systems Command said the test involved the missile being launched from an F/A-18 at a moving maritime target. The missile destroyed the target, it said, and met all primary test objectives.
The AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon is medi ...
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