Mystery Mars plume baffles scientists
Paris (ESA) Feb 20, 2015 -
Plumes seen reaching high above the surface of Mars are causing a stir among scientists studying the atmosphere on the Red Planet. On two separate occasions in March and April 2012, amateur astronomers reported definite plume-like features developing on the planet.
The plumes were seen rising to altitudes of over 250 km above the same region of Mars on both occasions. By comparison, simila ...
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Stars akin to the sun also explode when they die
Granada, Spain (SPX) Feb 20, 2015 -
The birth of planetary nebulae, resulting from the death of low and intermediate mass stars, is usually thought of as a slow process, in contrast with the intense supernovae that massive stars produce. But a recent study led by researchers at the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC) in collaboration with the Center for Astrobiology (CAB, CSIC/INTA) has revealed the fact that explosi ...
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The highest plume ever observed on Mars
Leioa, Spain (SPX) Feb 20, 2015 -
In the thin, cold, dry atmosphere of Mars the winds blow and raise the dust from the surface to an altitude of about 50 km. In its core thin clouds of ice and carbon dioxide crystallites are formed; they are the main component of the Martian atmosphere which on occasions can reach, at the most, altitudes of about 100 km. Spacecraft orbiting Mars have taken photos of the suspended dust and the hi ...
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For the first time, spacecraft catch a solar shockwave in the act
Boston MA (SPX) Feb 20, 2015 -
On Oct. 8, 2013, an explosion on the sun's surface sent a supersonic blast wave of solar wind out into space. This shockwave tore past Mercury and Venus, blitzing by the moon before streaming toward Earth. The shockwave struck a massive blow to the Earth's magnetic field, setting off a magnetized sound pulse around the planet.
NASA's Van Allen Probes, twin spacecraft orbiting within the ra ...
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The strange case of the missing dwarf
Paris (SPX) Feb 20, 2015 -
Some pairs of stars consist of two normal stars with slightly different masses. When the star of slightly higher mass ages and expands to become a red giant, material is transferred to other star and ends up surrounding both stars in a huge gaseous envelope. When this cloud disperses the two move closer together and form a very tight pair with one white dwarf , and one more normal star [1].
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With new data, Planck satellite brings early universe into focus
Oxnard CA (SPX) Feb 20, 2015 -
From its orbit 930,000 miles above Earth, the Planck space telescope spent more than four years detecting the oldest light in the universe, called the cosmic microwave background.
This fossil from the Big Bang fills every square inch of the sky and offers a glimpse of what the universe looked like almost 14 billion years ago, when it was just 380,000 years old. Planck's observations of thi ...
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Why do starburst galaxies 'burst'?
Washington DC (SPX) Feb 20, 2015 -
Starburst galaxies transmute gas into new stars at a dizzying pace - up to 1,000 times faster than typical spiral galaxies like the Milky Way. To help understand why some galaxies "burst" while others do not, an international team of astronomers used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to dissect a cluster of star-forming clouds at the heart of NGC 253, one of the nearest sta ...
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Dark matter guides growth of supermassive black holes
Boston MA (SPX) Feb 20, 2015 -
Every massive galaxy has a black hole at its center, and the heftier the galaxy, the bigger its black hole. But why are the two related? After all, the black hole is millions of times smaller and less massive than its home galaxy.
A new study of football-shaped collections of stars called elliptical galaxies provides new insights into the connection between a galaxy and its black hole. It ...
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The mystery of cosmic oceans and dunes
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Feb 20, 2015 -
Simulations by researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology and Tsinghua University indicate that Earth-like planets are more likely to be found orbiting Sun-like stars rather than lower-mass stars that are currently targeted, in terms of water contents of planets.
The search for habitable planets currently focuses on so-called M dwarfs - stars with less than half the mass of the Sun. Thes ...
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In the quantum world, the future affects the past
St. Louis MO (SPX) Feb 18, 2015 -
We're so used murder mysteries that we don't even notice how mystery authors play with time. Typically the murder occurs well before the midpoint of the book, but there is an information blackout at that point and the reader learns what happened then only on the last page.
If the last page were ripped out of the book, physicist Kater Murch, PhD, said, would the reader be better off guessin ...
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NASA preparing to reassemble International Space Station
Washington (UPI) Feb 19, 2015 -
On Friday, astronauts aboard the International Space Station will initiate the station's first reassembly in several years. The station will be reconfigured to create two new docking ports for the space taxis NASA hopes to have launched by the end of 2017 as part of its Commercial Crew program.
The first of three assembly spacewalks will be conducted on Friday by NASA astronauts Barry W ...
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China's Hypersonic Glide Vehicle: A Threat to the United States
New Delhi, India (SPX) Feb 18, 2015 -
Beijing's significant military advance has been furthered with its venture into hypersonic weapons systems. China is working on hypersonic cruise missiles for which it is working on scramjet engines and also on Hypersonic Glide Vehicle (HGV).
In 2014, Beijing has conducted three test-firings of its HGV, the Wu-14. The first test-firing was conducted in January, while the second one was con ...
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DSCOVR: Mission Success for Moog Engines Over a Decade Later
East Aurora NY (SPX) Feb 15, 2015 -
Moog Space and Defense Group supported NOAA's Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite that launched today from Cape Canaveral, F.L., atop a Falcon 9 launch vehicle.
DSCOVR is a partnership between NOAA, NASA and the U.S. Air Force to provide a rapid advance warning to utility companies and satellite operators when solar flares approach Earth.
Technology used to develop the ...
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Astra Connect Solution Selected For UK Satellite Pilot
Luxembourg (SPX) Feb 15, 2015 -
SES has announced that its Astra Connect for Communities solution will be used in a UK Government-funded Market Test Pilot (MTP) project. These Pilot projects aim to assess which technologies and commercial models are best suited to deliver superfast broadband to the final five percent of households in the UK that currently do not have access to high-speed internet.
SES is working with Sat ...
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Russian Space Agency's Computers Are Hacker-Proof
Moscow, Russia (Sputnik) Feb 18, 2015 -
Data leakage from the servers and computers of the Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos is not possible, a source in Roscosmos told RIA Novosti Tuesday.
On Monday, the Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab security experts said they discovered malware placed on high-value computer hard drives in over 30 countries.
"The information security system in the rocket-space industry is formed in a wa ...
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SSL-Built High-Throughput Satellite For Telenor Ready For Launch
Palo Alto CA (SPX) Feb 18, 2015 -
Space Systems/Loral (SSL) has announced that the THOR 7 satellite, designed and built for Telenor Satellite Broadcasting (TSBc), is ready for launch and will ship to the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana later next week, for launch aboard an Ariane 5 launch vehicle by Arianespace.
THOR 7 is a multi-mission satellite equipped with Telenor's first high performance Ka-band payload, ...
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NASA Team Develops New Ka-Band Communications System to Break Through the Noise
Greenebelt MD (SPX) Feb 18, 2015 -
The radio frequency band that many NASA missions use to communicate with spacecraft - S-band - is getting a bit crowded and noisy, and likely to get more jammed as science missions demand higher and higher data rates.
A team of NASA technologists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, just may have a solution, particularly for potential missions that plan to operate ...
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Russian-Ukrainian Satan Rocket to Launch South Korean Satellite as Planned
Moscow, Russia (Sputnik) Feb 18, 2015 -
The joint Russian-Ukrainian company Kosmotras will go ahead with the launches of commercial and scientific satellites and spacecraft it had planned for 2015 using the Dnepr-1 rocket, including a South Korean Kompsat remote sensing satellite in mid-March.
The March 12 launch of the Dnepr-1 carrying a South Korean satellite will go ahead as planned, a source close to the space industry told ...
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Why Did Russian Cosmonauts Carry Shotguns and Machetes in Space?
Moscow, Russia (Sputnik) Feb 18, 2015 -
The popular myth about Russian spacemen traveling to space geared with weapons is actually true and the question why they did that is finally revealed. Russian cosmonauts carried a convertible shotgun which doubled as an axe and machete into space.
The 'myth' about Soviet spacemen being armed with shotguns was a topic of great interest on Russian forums for the past few years. Recently it ...
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Virgin Galactic Opens New Design and Manufacturing Facility for LauncherOne
Long Beach CA (SPX) Feb 18, 2015 -
Virgin Galactic and Abu Dhabi's Aabar Investments PJS, is pleased to announce it has leased a new 150,000 square foot facility that will house design and manufacturing of the company's small satellite launch vehicle, LauncherOne.
LauncherOne is a new two-stage orbital launch vehicle being designed by Virgin Galactic specifically to launch commercial or governmental satellites that weigh 50 ...
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Signals to Alien Worlds Pose No Threat of Invasion
Edinburgh, UK (Sputnik) Feb 18, 2015 -
Using powerful radio telescopes to broadcast "greetings messages" into space will not result in an alien invasion, a chief scientist at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute in California told Sputnik Friday.
Astronomers have been listening for messages from possible alien civilizations since 1960, without any tangible success. But under a proposal, known as "Active ...
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A Composite Booster Gets a Burst of Energy
Washington DC (SPX) Feb 19, 2015 -
Turning a rocket booster case into spaghetti sounds more like magic than engineering, but a test that did just that could be an important step in the future of human space exploration.
As NASA prepares to test the massive solid rocket booster for the agency's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket in March, a team of engineers is looking even farther into the future by exploring an advanced comp ...
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Moog offers "SoftRide" for enhanced spacecraft protection during launch
Dublin, Ireland (SPX) Feb 19, 2015 -
Moog's Dublin facility has announced the commencement of a European Space Agency (ESA) technology transfer program to protect spacecraft by reducing harsh vibration experienced during launches.
The program will make Moog Dublin the European supplier of Moog's patented SoftRide, a vibration control technology that has already provided launch load alleviation for 34 satellites. Moog Dublin w ...
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Boeing's Space Efforts to Be Managed by Newly Created Organization
Washington DC (SPX) Feb 19, 2015 -
Boeing has announced the creation of BDS Development, an organization within its Defense, Space and Security (BDS) unit, which will centralize its defense and space efforts.
The company stated that this move will enhance its performance on the pre-production development activities that significantly influence its ability to provide customers with the right capabilities at the right time an ...
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Syria Kurds, rebels advance into IS bastion: monitor
Beirut (AFP) Feb 19, 2015 -
Syrian Kurdish and rebel forces, backed by US-led air strikes, advanced on Thursday into Raqa province, where the jihadist Islamic State group has its de facto capital, a monitor said.
"The YPG (Kurdish People's Protection Units) and rebel forces captured 19 villages in Raqa province," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
"The US-led international coalition played a key role in ...
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