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December 20, 2016
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MOON DAILY
Lunar sonic booms



Ames IA (SPX) Dec 14, 2016
The sonic boom created by an airplane comes from the craft's large, speeding body crashing into molecules in the air. But if you shrank the plane to the size of a molecule, would it still generate a shock wave? Scientists such as University of Iowa physicist Jasper Halekas hope to answer that question by studying miniature shock waves on the moon. These sonic boomlets, physicists believe, are being generated by protons in the solar wind--moving at supersonic speed--colliding with pockets of magnet ... read more

MOON DAILY
India Inc joins hands to bid for moon mission
An Indian aerospace start-ups's plans to send a mission to moon as part of the Google's Lunar XPRIZE challenge has received a major boost in funding from local corporate houses and entrepreneurs. A ... more
MOON DAILY
TeamIndus signs contract with ISRO for lunar mission
Domestic space technology startup TeamIndus on Thursday signed a first-of-its-kind contract with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to send a TeamIndus robot to the Moon. TeamIndus will l ... more
MOON DAILY
Moonwalker Buzz Aldrin stable after South Pole health scare
Retired astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the Moon, was recovering in a New Zealand hospital Friday after being medically evacuated from the South Pole while on a tourist trip, his management said. ... more
MOON DAILY
Russian Space Agency Confirms Plans to Implement Lunar Sample-Return Mission
Russia's space agency said that Roscosmos does not intend to abandon the implementation of the Luna-Grunt (Lunar Sample-Return) project aimed at delivering lunar soil to the Earth. Roscosmos does no ... more
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MOON DAILY
Skygazers gawp at extra bright 'supermoon'
Skygazers took to high-rise buildings, observatories and beaches Monday to get a glimpse of the closest "supermoon" to Earth in almost seven decades, and snap dramatic pictures. ... more
MOON DAILY
There's an 'extra-super' Moon on the rise
An unusually large and bright Moon will adorn the night sky next Monday - the closest "supermoon" to Earth in 68 years and a chance for dramatic photos and spectacular surf. Weather permitting ... more
MOON DAILY
November 14th's Super-Close Full Moon
The full Moon on Monday, November 14th, will be a little bigger and brighter than normal, because on that day the Moon will be closer to Earth than it's been in nearly 69 years. At 6:23 a.m. E ... more
MOON DAILY
China "well prepared" to launch Chang'e-5 lunar probe in 2017: top scientist
China is well prepared to launch the Chang'e-5 lunar probe in 2017 to collect and bring back moon rock samples for scientific research, a leading Chinese scientist said Sunday. Chief Scientist ... more
MOON DAILY
Switch Flipped on LAMP in Lunar Orbit to Improve Data
A Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) team successfully opened a "failsafe" door on the Lyman-Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) instrument in lunar orbit, improving the quality of ultraviolet (UV) data i ... more


New Model Explains the Moon's Weird Orbit

MOON DAILY
New Theory Explains How the Moon Got There
Earth's moon is an unusual object in our solar system, and now there's a new theory to explain how it got where it is, which puts some twists on the current "giant impact" theory. The work is publis ... more
MOON DAILY
NASA Moon Mission Shares Insights into Giant Impacts
New results from NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission are providing insights into the huge impacts that dominated the early history of Earth's moon and other solid worlds, ... more


Bremen robot team successfully simulates Mars mission in Utah
A major challenge in the exploration of Mars by robots is its uneven surface, which is marked by trenches and craters. Whether the systems can withstand the rough terrain on the Red Planet, they have to prove it on the earth first - for example, in the rocky deserts of the American state of Utah. There, scientists from the Robotics Innovation Center of the German Research Center for Artifi ... more
First detection of boron on the surface of Mars

All eyes on Trump over Mars

A Promising Spot for Life on Mars

Saturn's bulging core implies moons younger than thought
Freshly harvested data from NASA's Cassini mission reveals that the ringed planet's moons may be younger than previously thought. "All of these Cassini mission measurements are changing our view of the Saturnian system, as it turns our old theories upside down," said Radwan Tajeddine, Cornell University research associate in astronomy and a member of the European-based Encelade scientific team t ... more
Cassini Makes First Ring-Grazing Plunge

Cassini Beams Back First Images from New Orbit

NASA Saturn Mission Prepares for 'Ring-Grazing Orbits'

Juno Captures Jupiter 'Pearl'
This image, taken by the JunoCam imager on NASA's Juno spacecraft, highlights the seventh of eight features forming a 'string of pearls on Jupiter - massive counterclockwise rotating storms that appear as white ovals in the gas giant's southern hemisphere. Since 1986, these white ovals have varied in number from six to nine. There are currently eight white ovals visible. The image was ta ... more
Juno Mission Prepares for December 11 Jupiter Flyby

Research Offers Clues About the Timing of Jupiter's Formation

New Perspective on How Pluto's "Icy Heart" Came to Be

Space Network upgrade to double data rates on ISS
The Space Network, the wireless communication system connecting astronauts inside the International Space Station to their colleagues on the ground, is getting an upgrade. The boost will double data rates. Currently, astronauts aboard ISS are limited by a connectivity threshold of 300 megabits per second, about twice the speed of most home WiFi networks. "Fundamentally, this upgr ... more
Spacewalk for Thomas Pesquet at ISS

NASA's Exo-Brake 'Parachute' to Enable Safe Return for Small Spacecraft

Trump sits down with tech execs, including critics



Nanocubes simplify printing and imaging in color and infrared
Duke University researchers believe they have overcome a longstanding hurdle to producing cheaper, more robust ways to print and image across a range of colors extending into the infrared. As any mantis shrimp will tell you, there are a wide range of "colors" along the electromagnetic spectrum that humans cannot see but which provide a wealth of information. Sensors that extend into the in ... more
New aspect of atom mimicry for nanotechnology applications

ANU demonstrates 'ghost imaging' with atoms

Supersonic spray yields new nanomaterial for bendable, wearable electronics

NASA Engineers Test Combustion Chamber to Advance 3-D Printed Rocket Engine Design
Recent tests of a developmental rocket engine at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, produced all the performance data engineers were hoping for, along with the traditional fire and roar. But this engine is anything but traditional. Marshall engineers are designing each of the components from scratch to ultimately be made entirely by additive manufacturing, or 3-D p ... more
Ultra-Cold Storage - Liquid Hydrogen may be Fuel of the Future

Technical glitch postpones NASA satellite launch

After glitch, NASA satellite launch set for Wednesday



Chinese missile giant seeks 20% of a satellite market
China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp, the largest missile maker in the country, is taking aim at 20 percent or more of the small-satellite launch contracts in the world by 2020, company executives said. "We estimate that from 2017 to 2020, we will send aloft at least 10 solid-fuel carrier rockets each year, to send about 50 small satellites into orbit," said Guo Yong, president of the ... more
China-made satellites in high demand

Space exploration plans unveiled

China launches 4th data relay satellite

Uncovering the secrets of water and ice as materials
Water is vital to life on Earth and its importance simply can't be overstated - it's also deeply rooted within our conscience that there's something extremely special about it. Yet, from a scientific point of view, much remains unknown about water and its many solid phases, which display a plethora of unusual properties and so-called anomalies that, while central to water's chemical and biologic ... more
NASA Satellite Servicing Office Becomes a Projects Division

Raytheon to produce additional Air and Missile Defense Radar equipment

U.S. State Dept. approves Sea Giraffe 3D radars for the Philippines



LISA Pathfinder's pioneering mission continues
On 7 December, LISA Pathfinder started the extended phase of its mission, an additional six months during which scientists and engineers will push the experiment to its limits in preparation for ESA's future space observatory of gravitational waves. LISA Pathfinder, a demonstration mission to validate important technologies to observe gravitational waves - fluctuations in the fabric of spacetime ... more
Magnetic mirror could shed new light on gravitational waves

A population of neutron stars can generate gravitational waves continuously

Verlindes new theory of gravity passes first test

Mystery of super flash solved
When astronomers and astrophysicists observe flashes of light in the dark sky, they assume they have seen a supernova. Possibly a star has burnt up its supply of nuclear fuel and collapsed, throwing off its outer layers into space; or maybe a dense white dwarf siphoned off material from a companion star until it exploded from excess weight. But a flash of light observed on June 14, 2015 did not ... more
Newly formed stars shoot out powerful whirlwinds

Young, thin and hyperactive: That's what outlier galaxies look like

A new light on stellar death



Russia to face strong competition from China in space launch market
In the decade to come Russia will face strong competition from China for the commercial launch of satellites for developing countries, according to Ivan Moiseev, director of the Institute of Space Policy."China is trying to expand its space launching services, developing new boosters for different segments of the market," Moiseev told RIA Novosti. "It has constructed a new spacecraft launc ... more
Vega And Gokturk-1A are present for next Arianespace lightweight mission

Antares Rides Again

Four Galileo satellites are "topped off" for Arianespace's milestone Ariane 5 launch from the Spaceport

Chinese missile giant seeks 20% of a satellite market
China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp, the largest missile maker in the country, is taking aim at 20 percent or more of the small-satellite launch contracts in the world by 2020, company executives said. "We estimate that from 2017 to 2020, we will send aloft at least 10 solid-fuel carrier rockets each year, to send about 50 small satellites into orbit," said Guo Yong, president of the ... more
China-made satellites in high demand

Space exploration plans unveiled

China launches 4th data relay satellite



Moore Foundation provides libraries with a millione solar-eclipse viewers
The Space Science Institute was awarded a grant from the Moore Foundation that will provide 1.26 million solar viewing glasses and other resources for 1,500 public libraries across the nation. They will serve as centers for eclipse education and viewing for their communities. The libraries will be selected through a registration process managed by the STAR Library Education Network (STAR_N ... more
Preparing for the August 2017 Total Solar Eclipse

Giving the Sun a brake

Perspectives on magnetic reconnection

OneWeb announces key funding form SoftBank Group and other investors
OneWeb reports it has secured $1.2 billion in funded capital from SoftBank and existing investors, of which $1 billion will come from SoftBank. The $1.2 billion fundraising round announced will support OneWeb's revolutionary technological development and the construction of the world's first and only high volume satellite production facility. The new facility, based in Exploration Park, Fl ... more
SoftBank delivers first $1 bn of Trump pledge, to space firm

Telecom satellite system to encircle globe

UAE launches national space policy

Daily Newsletters - Space - Military - Environment - Energy

Where is the Ice on Ceres
At first glance, Ceres, the largest body in the main asteroid belt, may not look icy. Images from NASA's Dawn spacecraft have revealed a dark, heavily cratered world whose brightest area is made of highly reflective salts - not ice. But newly published studies from Dawn scientists show two distinct lines of evidence for ice at or near the surface of the dwarf planet. Researchers are presen ... more
Ceres Offers Insight Into Prospects For Life in Early Solar System

Rosetta's last words: science descending to a comet

Ceres: Water ice in eternal polar night

A hardware-based approach for real world collaborative multi-robots
Technological revolution means robots no longer are the song of the future. The Governor of the Bank of England predicts today that up to half of British workforce face redundancy in the imminent 'second machine age'. No wonder, the research of multi-robot systems generates serious buzz both for promising (albeit at times scary) results and for their application prospects in the real world. ... more
A skillful rescue robot with remote-control function

Zuckerberg builds software butler for his home

Artificial intelligence creeps into daily life



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