Moon Exploration and Science News

May 16, 2015

Ether Compounds Could Work like DNA On Oily Worlds
Moffett Field CA (SPX) May 15, 2015
In the search for life beyond Earth, scientists have justifiably focused on water because all biology as we know it requires this fluid. A wild card, however, is whether alternative liquids can also suffice as life-enablers. For example, Saturn's frigid moon Titan is awash in inky seas of the hydrocarbon methane. Here on warm, watery Earth, the molecules DNA and RNA serve as the blueprints of life, containing creatures' genetic instruction manuals. An immense family of proteins carries out these i ... read more

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Engineers Test Hydrogen Burn-off Igniters for Space Launch System NASA has a certain "flare" when it comes to safety on the launch pad. Those flares are called hydrogen burn-off igniters - which resemble celebratory sparklers - and were successfully used to mitiga ... more		Asteroid Distant 'Flyby' Thursday An asteroid, designated 1999 FN53, will safely pass more than 26 times the distance of Earth to the moon on May 14. To put it another way, at its closest point, the asteroid will get no closer than ... more		Europa's Mystery Dark Material Could Be Sea Salt NASA laboratory experiments suggest the dark material coating some geological features of Jupiter's moon Europa is likely sea salt from a subsurface ocean, discolored by exposure to radiation. The p ... more
				NASA's New Horizons Spots Pluto's Faintest Known Moons It's a complete Pluto family photo - or at least a photo of the family members we've already met. For the first time, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has photographed Kerberos and Styx - the sm ... more		Weather forecasts for planets beyond our solar system "Cloudy for the morning, turning to clear with scorching heat in the afternoon." While this might describe a typical late-summer day in many places on Earth, it may also apply to planets outside our ... more

Space Tech Expo - Design - Build - Test - Long Beach CA - May 19-21, 2015

The World's Largest Commercial Drone Conference and Expo - Sept 9 - Las Vegas

Next Generation Integrated ISR 2015 - Washington DC - July 27-29

NASA's LRO Moves Closer to the Lunar Surface NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has completed a maneuver that lowered the spacecraft's orbit to within 20 kilometers (12 miles) above areas near the lunar South Pole, the closest the space ... more		Saturn Moon's Activity Could Be 'Curtain Eruptions' New research using data from NASA's Cassini mission suggests most of the eruptions from Saturn's moon Enceladus might be diffuse curtains rather than discrete jets. Many features that appear to be i ... more		Sidekick autonomy software guides YFQ-42A test mission for CCA program Infleqtion lists shares on NYSE as neutral atom quantum firm Top Chinese gaming companies continue to challenge		Volcano Loki observed from Earth With the first detailed observations of a lava lake on a moon of Jupiter, the Large Binocular Telescope Observatory in Arizona places itself as the forerunner of the next generation of Extremely Lar ... more
				Geochemical process on Saturn's moon linked to life's origin New work from a team including Carnegie's Christopher Glein has revealed the pH of water spewing from a geyser-like plume on Saturn's moon Enceladus. Their findings are an important step toward dete ... more		European Space Agency Director Wants to Set Up a Moon Base The successor to the International Space Station (ISS) should be a permanent moon base, says incoming European Agency Space leader Johann-Dietrich Worner. The Space Foundation's National Space ... more

Army Network Modernization 2015 - Washington DC June 23-25

Russia Invites China to Join in Creating Lunar Station Russia and China are currently in talks on inviting the latter to become one of the main partners in creating a lunar station, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Tuesday. "The q ... more		Deep Space Atomic Clock On Time For 2016 Mission As the saying goes, timing is everything. More so in 21st-century space exploration where navigating spacecraft precisely to far-flung destinations - say, to Mars or even more distant Europa, a moon ... more		Solar-driven ionosphere charges may nudge stressed faults toward rupture Stable black carbon in mangrove soils boosts coastal climate role Low crystallinity iron minerals show promise for chromium cleanup and carbon storage		Japan to land first unmanned spacecraft on moon in 2018 Japan is planning to deliver its first lander on the surface of the moon in three years, local media reported on Sunday, citing sources with close knowledge of the project. Japan's Aerospace E ... more
Dating the moon-forming impact event with meteorites Through a combination of data analysis and numerical modeling work, researchers have found a record of the ancient Moon-forming giant impact observable in stony meteorites. Their work will appear in ... more		Japan to land probe on the moon in 2018 Japan's space agency announced plans on Monday to send an unmanned lander probe to the moon by fiscal year 2018. The mission will be Japan's first attempt to visit the lunar surface. ... more		Japan planning moon mission: space agency Japan plans to launch an unmanned mission to the moon as a stepping stone to a future visit to Mars, officials and local media said Monday. ... more		"Hubble" - One Word Says It All You know you've made it when people know you by your first name alone. There's Cher. Beyonce. Ozzie. Angelina. Lebron. Oprah. Add to that list "Hubble." NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is more than ju ... more

	Yutu finds Moon still active in old age Findings from China's first moon rover Yutu, or Jade Rabbit which is the only scientific probe to land on the Moon in almost 40 years, are rewriting lunar history. Analyzing data sent back fro ... more		Russia to Launch National Orbital Station by 2023 Russia's plan to build a new space outpost was confirmed December 2014, by Oleg Ostapenko, head of Roscosmos space agency at the time. He said the new space station would also serve as a base for Ru ... more

AALTO plans Zephyr stratospheric hub in northern Australia and seeks local payload partners

Ancient guano drove Chincha coastal power

UAH lands first DARPA award for biological sciences department

Manned Moon Flight Planned For 2030		A new view of the moon's formation		Moon formed when young Earth and little sister collided		Europa's Elusive Water Plume Paints Grim Picture For Life		Will the moon's first inhabitants live in giant lava tubes?
New explanation for Mercury's dark surface		Soft Landing on the Moon an Extraordinary Challenge		Saturn Spacecraft Returns to the Realm of Icy Moons		Stop blaming the moon		Next Steps on Journey to Mars: Progress on Asteroid Initiative

Europa's Elusive Water Plume Paints Grim Picture For Life

Titan's Atmosphere Created As Gases Escaped Core

Extent of Moon's giant volcanic eruption is revealed

MARSDROP Microprobes Could Expand Spacecraft Mission Capabilities

NASA's LRO Spacecraft Finds March 17, 2013 Impact Crater and More

Extent of moon's giant volcanic eruption is revealed

Yutu Changes Everything We Thought We Knew About Our Moon

Private companies asked to join moon program

Moon crater named for aviator Amelia Earhart

Scientists fly kites on Earth to study Mars

New clues from the dawn of the solar system

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