LauncherOne: Big Value for Small Satellites
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Sep 15, 2015 -
The exploration of space provides important benefits to life here on Earth. Because of their relatively low cost and quick development timelines, small satellites specifically are incredibly appealing both to established satellite users feeling the reality of fixed or declining budgets and to new entities looking to undertake their first space missions.
But despite their incredible promise ...
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DPRK hints at satellites launch
Pyongyang, North Korea (XNA) Sep 15, 2015 -
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said Monday that it is accelerating efforts at the final stage of development for satellites for earth observations, hailing its huge progress in research on developing geostationary satellites.
"Successful progress made in reconstructing and expanding satellite launching grounds for higher-level satellite lift-off has laid a firm foundation ...
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95,000 Russian troops in massive military drill
Moscow (AFP) Sept 14, 2015 -
Russia on Monday launched its largest military exercises of the year, Centre-2015, involving some 95,000 soldiers including ground troops, navy and airforce units.
The long-announced war games are "the most large-scale drill of 2015," the defence ministry said.
Russia has recently intensified snap checks of its military might, testing its capabilities from the Arctic to the Far East as r ...
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Poroshenko asks for 'defensive weapons' against rebels
Berlin (AFP) Sept 14, 2015 -
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko stressed Monday his wish for "defence weapons" from Western allies to help in the conflict against pro-Russian separatists.
Ukraine needed support "not just with words", he said in an interview with Germany's conservative Die Welt daily, mentioning the need for defensive weapons.
"We are not just defending our country, we are defending freedom and dem ...
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Okinawa to revoke approval for controversial US base
Tokyo (AFP) Sept 14, 2015 -
The governor of Okinawa said Monday he will revoke approval for work on a US air base in southern Japan, in the latest setback to the controversial plan.
The proposal to relocate Futenma air base to the Henoko region, first mooted in 1996, has become the focus of anger among locals, who insist it should be shut and a replacement built elsewhere in Japan or overseas.
Outspoken Okinawa gov ...
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To Watch and to Strike: Russia Developing Multi Role Heavy Drone
Moscow (Sputnik) Sep 15, 2015 -
Russia is developing a heavy drone that could be used both as reconnaissance and combat aircraft, one of its designers said in an interview Wednesday.
The two ton Avius-1 UAV will bristle with hi-tech gear including an onboard radar and a satellite communications system, Igor Bevzyuk, deputy director of the RTI Holding Company told RIA Novosti news agency.
"This will be a multirole m ...
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Poland to Receive U.S. cruise missiles
Orlando, Fla. (UPI) Sep 14, 2015 -
The Polish Air Force is receiving Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles from Lockheed Martin for its fleet of F-16 fighters.
The contract for the air-to-ground cruise missiles comes as a result of a U.S. Foreign Military Sales deal for Poland announced last year.
That package, worth about $500 million, was for 40 AGM-158 JASSM missiles and upgrades to the aircraft.
"JASSM ...
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N. Korea hints at possible rocket launch
Seoul (AFP) Sept 14, 2015 -
North Korea hinted Monday at a possible satellite launch, fuelling speculation that it might attempt to fire a long-range rocket to coincide with a key political anniversary next month.
Any such launch would invite fresh international sanctions and jeopardise a reunion being organised with South Korea of families divided by the 1950-53 Korean War.
The North insists its rocket launches ar ...
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DOD starting new entity for sharing space information
Washington (UPI) Sep 14, 2015 -
A Joint Interagency Combined Space Operations Center is being created by the U.S. military for better information sharing.
The center, with the acronym JICSpOC, is to be located at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo. It is being established by the Department of Defense in conjunction with the U.S. Strategic Command, Air Force Space Command, and the intelligence community ...
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Mozambique opposition boycotts peace talks
Maputo (AFP) Sept 14, 2015 -
Mozambique's main opposition party Renamo on Monday boycotted peace talks with the ruling Frelimo for the second time, raising tensions further in the southern African nation where sporadic clashes between the army and rebel gunmen have resumed.
"As long as we do not have clear indications that the government is ready to accept our proposals, discussions are useless," Renamo MP Eduardo Nambu ...
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Chinese 'thief' swallowed diamond, tried to flee Thailand
Bangkok (AFP) Sept 14, 2015 -
A Chinese woman who allegedly tried to smuggle a stolen diamond out of Thailand by swallowing it was released from hospital Monday after doctors removed the expensive gem from her gut.
Police say the 39-year-old unnamed woman, who will appear in court later Monday, switched the 10 million baht ($278,000) gem with a fake one at a jewellery fair on the northern outskirts of Bangkok on Thursday ...
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Coast Guard's Rescue 21 Alaska communications system upgrade
Fairfax, Va. (UPI) Sep 14, 2015 -
General Dynamics is to update communications equipment and the physical infrastructure of the U.S. Coast Guard's Rescue 21 Alaska system.
Work under the Phase 2 contract includes a comprehensive analysis for a cost-effective update to existing radio equipment at 30 locations and an evaluation of the radio and communications towers and buildings at each site.
The 30 sites are loca ...
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Fossil trove adds a new limb to human family tree
Madison WI (SPX) Sep 15, 2015 -
Working in a cave complex deep beneath South Africa's Malmani dolomites, an international team of scientists has brought to light an unprecedented trove of hominin fossils - more than 1,500 well-preserved bones and teeth - representing the largest, most complete set of such remains found to date in Africa.
The discovery of the fossils, cached in a barely accessible chamber in a subterranea ...
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Southern Ocean removing carbon dioxide from atmosphere more efficiently
Washington DC (SPX) Sep 15, 2015 -
Since 2002, the Southern Ocean has been removing more of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, according to two new studies. These studies make use of millions of ship-based observations and a variety of data analysis techniques to conclude that that the Southern Ocean has increasingly taken up more carbon dioxide during the last 13 years.
That follows a decade from the ea ...
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Protected areas save mangroves, reduce carbon emissions
Durham NC (SPX) Sep 15, 2015 -
Protected areas not only keep significant swaths of Indonesia's shrinking mangrove habitats intact, but also prevent emissions of carbon dioxide that would have been released had these mangroves been cleared, according to a study in the journal Ecological Economics.
Published online, the analysis examined the success of protected areas between 2000 and 2010, finding that their use has avoi ...
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World's turtles face plastic deluge danger
Brisbane, Australia (SPX) Sep 15, 2015 -
An international study led by a University of Queensland researcher has revealed more than half the world's sea turtles have ingested plastic or other human rubbish.
The study, led by Dr Qamar Schuyler from UQ's School of Biological Sciences, found the east coasts of Australia and North America, Southeast Asia, southern Africa, and Hawaii were particularly dangerous for turtles due to a co ...
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Research shows evolution in real time
Riverside CA (SPX) Sep 15, 2015 -
In ongoing research to record the interaction of environment and evolution, a team led by University of California, Riverside biologist David Reznick has found new information illustrating the evolution of a population of guppies.
Working in a river in Trinidad, the researchers determined which male guppies would contribute more offspring to the population as well as which would live longe ...
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World's longest continental volcano chain in Australia
Canberra, Australia (SPX) Sep 15, 2015 -
Scientists have discovered the world's longest known chain of continental volcanoes, running 2,000 kilometres across Australia, from the Whitsundays in North Queensland to near Melbourne in central Victoria.
The volcanic chain was created over the past 33 million years, as Australia moved northwards over a hotspot in the Earth's mantle, said leader of the research Dr Rhodri Davies from The ...
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Climate research: Where is the world's permafrost thawing
Bremerhaven, Germany (SPX) Sep 15, 2015 -
This Saturday at a conference in Quebec, Canada an international research team will present the first online data portal on global permafrost. In the Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost researchers first collect all the existing permafrost temperature and active thickness layer data from Arctic, Antarctic and mountain permafrost regions and then make it freely available for download.
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Russia draws in hordes of Chinese with 'red tourism'
Saint Petersburg (AFP) Sept 13, 2015 -
Drawn by its Communist past and a visa-free regime, Chinese tourists are flocking to Russia in droves as it develops new routes touting "red tourism".
Nearly 410,000 Chinese came to Russia last year putting them on top of the list of foreign tourists, according to the federal tourism agency.
Their number has swelled 10 percent since 2013, when Germans topped the list of overseas visitor ...
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Global warming to pick up in 2015, 2016: experts
London (AFP) Sept 13, 2015 -
Man-made global warming is set to produce exceptionally high average temperatures this year and next, boosted by natural weather phenomena such as El Nino, Britain's top climate and weather body said in a report Monday.
"It looks very likely that globally 2014, 2015 and 2016 will all be amongst the very warmest years ever recorded," Rowan Sutton of the National Centre for Atmospheric Science ...
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Predicting tornadoes months or even seasons in advance
Toronto, Canada (SPX) Sep 15, 2015 -
What if tornado activity could be forecasted months, even seasons in advance? Thanks to a new model developed at the University of Toronto Scarborough, that ability could soon become a reality.
"The aim is to predict ahead to the following year or subsequent years about whether we'll get above or below average tornado activity in a given area," says Vincent Cheng, a postdoctoral fellow in ...
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Babies and children among 34 dead in Aegean migrant boat sinking
Athens, Greece (AFP) Sept 13, 2015 -
At least 34 people, including 15 babies and children, drowned when their overcrowded boat capsized in high winds off a Greek island on Sunday, the latest migrant tragedy at sea.
The new deaths came as Athens angrily defended its handling of the mounting refugee crisis in Europe and appealed for more help.
Four babies and 11 young children - six boys and five girls - were among those o ...
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Japan warns tourists on Mount Aso after eruption
Tokyo (AFP) Sept 14, 2015 -
Japan on Monday warned tourists to keep away from popular Mount Aso after it began belching smoke and ash into the air, the latest eruption in one of the world's most volcanically active countries.
Authorities issued their third-highest alert and cancelled more than a dozen flights after the huge volcano on the southwestern main island of Kyushu shot a column of ash several thousand metres ( ...
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New Ebola death in SLeone dims optimism for epidemic's end
Freetown (AFP) Sept 14, 2015 -
A 16-year-old girl in Sierra Leone has died from Ebola, dealing a blow to optimism that the west African country has finally turned the page on the devastating epidemic.
The teenager died Sunday in the city of Makeni, in a northern province that had not recorded a single case of the deadly virus in nearly six months, officials said.
Her death came some two weeks after a 67-year-old food ...
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