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December 23, 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


Small Troughs Growing on Mars May Become 'Spiders'
Erosion-carved troughs that grow and branch during multiple Martian years may be infant versions of larger features known as Martian "spiders," which are radially patterned channels found only in the south polar region of Mars. Researchers using NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) report the first detection of cumulative growth, from one Martian spring to another, of channels resultin ... more
All eyes on Trump over Mars

Opportunity performs several drives to ancient gully

Full go-ahead for building ExoMars 2020

Cassini offers a crash course in ring world orbital mechanics
It may look as though Saturn's moon Mimas is crashing through the rings in this image taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, but Mimas is actually 28,000 miles (45,000 kilometers) away from the rings. There is a strong connection between the icy moon and Saturn's rings, though. Gravity links them together and shapes the way they both move. The gravitational pull of Mimas (246 miles or 396 kil ... more
Saturn's bulging core implies moons younger than thought

Cassini Makes First Ring-Grazing Plunge

Cassini Beams Back First Images from New Orbit

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

India achieves advances multiple space systems in 2016
The year 2016 was a bag of mixed fortunes for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) with successes on the technological front and setbacks on the legal front. On the technological side, apart from simultaneously launching 20 satellites, the year also saw ISRO activating its own NavIC satellite navigation system, and testing a reusable launch vehicle (RLV) and a scramjet engine. ... more
'Passengers' and the real-life science of deep space travel

NASA Readies for Major Orion Milestones in 2017

Spacewalk for Thomas Pesquet at ISS



Going green with nanotechnology
Nanotechnology offers many chances to benefit the environment and health. It can be applied to save raw materials and energy, develop enhanced solar cells and more efficient rechargeable batteries and replace harmful substances with eco-compatible solutions. "Nanotechnology is a seminal technology. The UMWELTnanoTECH project association has delivered excellent results. Even the smallest ac ... more
Nanocubes simplify printing and imaging in color and infrared

New aspect of atom mimicry for nanotechnology applications

ANU demonstrates 'ghost imaging' with atoms

United Launch Alliance launches EchoStar XIX satellite
A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket carrying the EchoStar XIX satellite lifted off from Space Launch Complex-41 Dec. 18 at 2:13 p.m. EST. EchoStar XIX will dramatically increase capacity for HughesNet high-speed satellite Internet service to homes and businesses in North America. Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services procured the Atlas V for this mission. This is ULA's 12th ... more
Preparing to Plug Into NASA SLS Fuel Tank

Ultra-Cold Storage - Liquid Hydrogen may be Fuel of the Future

NASA Engineers Test Combustion Chamber to Advance 3-D Printed Rocket Engine Design



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

Meet a 'Spacecraft Dressmaker'
Lien Pham sometimes thinks of herself as a "spacecraft dressmaker." She's been making thermal blankets at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, for 16 years. Just as clothing can be sewn too tight or too loose, thermal blankets - the glinting material each spacecraft is wrapped in to regulate its temperature - have to be cut to form. A thermal blanket has to provide just the ri ... more
Mind-controlled toys: The next generation of Christmas presents?

Purdue analyzes environmental impact of space-based ADS-B

NASA Satellite Servicing Office Becomes a Projects Division



A population of neutron stars can generate gravitational waves continuously
Professor Sudip Bhattacharyya of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, India, and Professor Deepto Chakrabarty (MIT, USA), an adjunct visiting professor at the same institute, have shown that a population of neutron stars should spin around their axes much faster than the highest observed spin rate of any neutron star. They pointed out that the observed lower spin rate ... more
LISA Pathfinder's pioneering mission continues

Magnetic mirror could shed new light on gravitational waves

Verlindes new theory of gravity passes first test

It's a cosmic winter wonderland at NGC 6357
Although there are no seasons in space, this cosmic vista invokes thoughts of a frosty winter landscape. It is, in fact, a region called NGC 6357 where radiation from hot, young stars is energizing the cooler gas in the cloud that surrounds them. This composite image contains X-ray data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the ROSAT telescope (purple), infrared data from NASA's Spitze ... more
Pan-STARRS releases catalogue of 3 billion astronomical sources

Festive nebulae light up Milky Way Galaxy satellite

Texas A and M-Led Study Helps Prove Galaxy Evolution Theory



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
Space as a Driver for Socio-Economic Sustainable Development

Intel acquires ESA incubator company

SoftBank delivers first $1 bn of Trump pledge, to space firm

Daily Newsletters - Space - Military - Environment - Energy

PANIC Lander to Revolutionize Asteroid Research
A US-German team of researchers has proposed to develop a micro-scale low-cost surface lander for the in situ characterization of an asteroid. The tiny spacecraft, called the Pico Autonomous Near-Earth Asteroid In Situ Characterizer (PANIC), could be a breakthrough for the scientific community, offering simple and cheap solutions for asteroid research. The concept of the PANIC mission envi ... more
Ceres Offers Insight Into Prospects For Life in Early Solar System

The case of the missing diamonds

Studies refute hypothesis on what caused abrupt climate change thousands of years ago

NIST device for detecting subatomic-scale motion may aid robotics, homeland security
Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new device that measures the motion of super-tiny particles traversing distances almost unimaginably small - shorter than the diameter of a hydrogen atom, or less than one-millionth the width of a human hair. Not only can the handheld device sense the atomic-scale motion of its tiny parts with unpreced ... more
A hardware-based approach for real world collaborative multi-robots

Mimicking biological movements with soft robots

Zuckerberg builds software butler for his home



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