Next Giant Leap, No Small Steps
Houston TX (SPX) Nov 18, 2015 -
Our focus at the Space Launch System (SLS) program is on building a new rocket - the most powerful in the world. On its first test flight, Exploration Mission-1, SLS will carry atop it an uncrewed Orion spacecraft, which will someday carry astronauts on a journey to deep space.
A similar scene was unfolding at NASA 48 years ago. On Nov. 9, 1967, the Saturn V rocket launched for the first t ...
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Australian port lease to China firm under spotlight
Sydney (AFP) Nov 20, 2015 -
Australia is reviewing rules that allow its states to sell strategic assets to foreign firms without federal scrutiny, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Friday as he defended a port leasing to a Chinese firm.
Turnbull was reportedly chided by United States President Barack Obama at the APEC summit in the Philippines over the 99-year lease for the Port of Darwin granted to China's Landbrid ...
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Russia's nuclear torpedo at the cutting edge of underwater warfare tech
Moscow (Sputnik) Nov 18, 2015 -
The top secret project known as Ocean Multipurpose System: Status-6 will incorporate all the cutting-edge underwater technology and research Russia has to offer, military expert Igor Korotchenko told Radio Sputnik.
"We hope that nuclear weapons will never be used," he added. The underwater drone which Russia is apparently developing will primarily serve as a deterrent meant to assure a pot ...
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Streamlining mobile image processing
Boston MA (SPX) Nov 18, 2015 -
As smartphones become people's primary computers and their primary cameras, there is growing demand for mobile versions of image-processing applications.
Image processing, however, can be computationally intensive and could quickly drain a cellphone's battery. Some mobile applications try to solve this problem by sending image files to a central server, which processes the images and sends ...
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Japan to acquire Global Hawk drones
Washington (UPI) Nov 20, 2015 -
Japan is seeking to enhance its intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities through the acquisition Global Hawk remotely piloted vehicles.
The three high-altitude RQ-4 Block 30 aircraft being sought would be obtained through the U.S. Foreign Military Sales program at an estimated cost of $1.2 billion.
"This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and n ...
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Rockwell Collins opens new facility in India
New Delhi (UPI) Nov 20, 2015 -
A new facility in India has been opened by Rockwell Collins, which hs signed a 15-year lease for the building located in Bangalore.
The facility will employ 30 workers initially but the workforce is expected to grow to 100 in the first year of operation.
"The opening is a reflection of our commitment to India, as well as the increasing demand for services from our India Design Ce ...
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Thales sub-contracted for NATO BMD test activities
Paris (UPI) Nov 20, 2015 -
Thales is to perform test and integration support activities to help validate NATO's Ballistic Missile Defense capability.
The work, under a sub-contract from U.S.-based Leidos, is to be conducted as part of Leidos' multi-national team for NATO's BMD architecture. The team is responsible for the design, development and test of the BMD sensor interfaces with NATO's weapons and sensors an ...
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In fight on terror, encryption is double-edged sword
Washington (AFP) Nov 21, 2015 -
Encryption can be a terrorist's tool. But it's also a key for those hunting attackers, and for many others.
The technology for encryption can keep data and conversations private, making it a double-edged sword that can equally be used by democracy campaigners, law enforcement or violent extremists.
The November 13 attacks in Paris spurred calls for better tools for investigators to track ...
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Navy, Boeing test new Harpoon missile variant
Patuxent River, Md. (UPI) Nov 20, 2015 -
The U.S. Navy has free-flight tested a new Harpoon missile that can receive in-flight information for improved targeting of moving maritime targets.
The test of the missile, designated as the Harpoon Block II+, conducted with Boeing, was the "culmination of 152 lab-test sessions, 15 aircraft ground tests and 16 flight tests," the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command said.
"This success ...
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Raytheon moves forward with Multi-Object Kill Vehicle program
Tucson (UPI) Nov 20, 2015 -
Raytheon completed the first Program Planning Review with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency for its Multi-Object Kill Vehicle concept, advancing the program.
The completion marks a milestone for the program's Concept Development Phase, designed to ensure the company is meeting the Missile Defense Agency's expectations. The Concept Review takes place in December.
Raytheon is develop ...
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Superconductor survives ultra-high magnetic field
Groningen, Netherlands (SPX) Nov 23, 2015 -
Physicists from the universities of Groningen and Nijmegen (the Netherlands) and Hong Kong have discovered that transistors made of ultrathin layers molybdeendisulfide (MoS2) are not only superconducting at low temperatures but also stay superconducting in a high magnetic field.
This is a unique phenomenon with exciting promises for the future. The experiments were the first to have been p ...
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Perpetual youth for batteries
Munich, Germany (SPX) Nov 23, 2015 -
A key issue with lithium ion batteries is aging. It significantly reduces their potential storage capacity. To date, very little is known about the causes of the aging effects. Scientists from the Department of Technical Electrochemistry and the Research Neutron Source FRM II at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have now come a step closer to identifying the causes in their latest experim ...
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Electrons always find a quantum way
Basel, Switzerland (SPX) Nov 23, 2015 -
Scientists from the University of Basel in Switzerland have demonstrated for the first time how electrons are transported from a superconductor through a quantum dot into a metal with normal conductivity. This transport process through a quantum dot had already been calculated theoretically in the nineties, but scientists at the University of Basel have now succeeded in proving the theory with m ...
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Pioneering research boosts graphene revolution
Exeter, UK (SPX) Nov 23, 2015 -
Pioneering new research by the University of Exeter could pave the way for miniaturised optical circuits and increased internet speeds, by helping accelerate the 'graphene revolution'.
Physicists from the University of Exeter in collaboration with the ICFO Institute in Barcelona have used a ground-breaking new technique to trap light at the surface of the wonder material graphene using onl ...
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From nanocrystals to earthquakes, solid materials share similar failure characteristics
Chicago IL (SPX) Nov 23, 2015 -
Apparently, size doesn't always matter. An extensive study by an interdisciplinary research group suggests that the deformation properties of nanocrystals are not much different from those of the Earth's crust.
"When solid materials such as nanocrystals, bulk metallic glasses, rocks, or granular materials are slowly deformed by compression or shear, they slip intermittently with slip-avala ...
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Study: Mars to become a ringed planet following death of its moon
Berkeley, Calif. (UPI) Nov 23, 2015 -
A new study, published in Nature Geoscience, suggests Mars could become ringed if its smaller moon Phobos falls apart, as scientists believe it will.
Recent research pointed to Phobos' unique stretch marks as a sign of its undoing. The moon's insides are only a loose conglomeration, scientists argue, weakened by an ancient impact. Tidal forces continue to put structural stress on Mars' ...
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China's scientific satellites to enter uncharted territory
Beijing (XNA) Nov 24, 2015 -
A series of scientific satellites, including one to probe dark matter, will be launched later this year and next year, said Wu Ji, director of the National Space Science Center under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
The development of four scientific satellites is going well, Wu said recently at an event to mark the 10th anniversary of cooperation between China's Double Star space mi ...
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Earth Might Have Hairy Dark Matter
Pasadena CA (JPL) Nov 24, 2015 -
The solar system might be a lot hairier than we thought. A new study publishing this week in the Astrophysical Journal by Gary Prezeau of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, proposes the existence of long filaments of dark matter, or "hairs."
Dark matter is an invisible, mysterious substance that makes up about 27 percent of all matter and energy in the universe. The re ...
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Tesla recalls all Model S cars worldwide for seatbelt fix
New York (AFP) Nov 20, 2015 -
Tesla said Friday it was recalling all 90,000 of its Model S luxury electric cars sold worldwide since 2012 after discovering a security problem with seatbelts.
The front seatbelts failed to correctly fasten, but no accidents or injuries had been reported as a result, Tesla said, in a blow to its stellar reputation.
In an email to customers, Tesla said it was ordering the recall as a "pr ...
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NASA Studying Volcanic Ash Engine Test Results
Cleveland OH (SPX) Nov 24, 2015 -
NASA researchers are spending at least the next six months poring over data from a recent test that involved sending volcanic ash through an airplane engine.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey more than 80 commercial aircraft encountered potentially hazardous volcanic ash in flight and at airports from 1993-2008. That was before the big 2010 volcanic eruption of Eyjafjallajokull in Ic ...
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NASA Orders SpaceX Crew Mission to International Space Station
Washington DC (SPX) Nov 24, 2015 -
NASA took a significant step Friday toward expanding research opportunities aboard the International Space Station with its first mission order from Hawthorne, California based-company SpaceX to launch astronauts from U.S. soil.
This is the second in a series of four guaranteed orders NASA will make under the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contracts. The Boeing Company ...
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SAGE III Leaves Langley for Journey to ISS
Hampton VA (SPX) Nov 24, 2015 -
An autonomous, Earth-observing, ozone-measuring instrument is taking its first steps toward a new home in space. Thursday evening, the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III on the International Space Station, or SAGE III on ISS, rolled out of the gates at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, aboard a specially outfitted delivery truck.
It traveled south toward NASA's ...
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New Crew to Stay Aboard ISS for 7 Months Instead of 6
Moscow (Sputnik) Nov 24, 2015 -
The launch of the new crew including Malenchenko (Roscosmos), Timothy Kopra (NASA) and Timothy Peake (European Space Agency) is scheduled for December 15 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on board the Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft.
The period of service of a new International Space Station (ISS) crew in orbit has been increased from six to seven months due to update of the flight program, the new sp ...
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Sentinel-3A on its way
Paris (ESA) Nov 24, 2015 -
The latest satellite for the European Commission's Copernicus environmental programme has left France bound for the Plesetsk launch site in Russia and launch late next month.
Carrying a suite of state-of-the-art instruments, Sentinel-3A is set to provide an unprecedented step forward in the Copernicus marine, land, atmosphere and climate change services.
The satellite began its two-d ...
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Chinese, Lao leaders mark successful launch of communication satellite
Beijing (XNA) Nov 24, 2015 -
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Lao counterpart, Choummaly Sayasone, sent each other congratulatory messages on Saturday to mark the successful launch of a Lao communication satellite with a Chinese carrier rocket. The satellite, Lao Sat-1, was launched on Saturday at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province.
Hailing the Lao Sat-1 project as "a signifi ...
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