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September 25, 2012 |
![]() Slow-moving rocks better odds that life crashed to Earth from space Princeton NJ (SPX) Sep 25, 2012 - Microorganisms that crashed to Earth embedded in the fragments of distant planets might have been the sprouts of life on this one, according to new research from Princeton University, the University of Arizona and the Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB) in Spain. The researchers report in the journal Astrobiology that under certain conditions there is a high probability that life came to Earth - ... more |
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![]() A windshield wiper for Mars dust Madrid, Spain (SPX) Sep 25, 2012 - Leading energy scientists from the UK and China are joining forces to develop green technology that will revolutionise the way electricity is distributed via national power grids. The investment in smart grids - with over Pounds 4 million funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and matched-resource funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of Ch ... more |
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![]() Life in the extreme Raleigh NC (SPX) Sep 25, 2012 - Life in extreme environments - hot acids and heavy metals, for example - can apparently make very similar organisms deal with stress in very different ways, according to new research from North Carolina State University. One single-celled organism from a hot spring near Mount Vesuvius in Italy fights uranium toxicity directly - by eating the heavy metal and acquiring energy from it. Anothe ... more |
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![]() A Clock that Will Last Forever Berkeley CA (SPX) Sep 25, 2012 - Imagine a clock that will keep perfect time forever, even after the heat-death of the universe. This is the "wow" factor behind a device known as a "space-time crystal," a four-dimensional crystal that has periodic structure in time as well as space. However, there are also practical and important scientific reasons for constructing a space-time crystal. With such a 4D crystal, scientists ... more |
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![]() NASA's Chandra Shows Milky Way is Surrounded by Halo of Hot Gas Huntsville AL (SPX) Sep 25, 2012 - Astronomers have used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to find evidence our Milky Way Galaxy is embedded in an enormous halo of hot gas that extends for hundreds of thousands of light years. The estimated mass of the halo is comparable to the mass of all the stars in the galaxy. If the size and mass of this gas halo is confirmed, it also could be an explanation for what is known as the "mi ... more |
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![]() Why Curiosity Matters Huntsvile AL (SPX) Sep 25, 2012 - Adam Steltzner doesn't sound much like an ordinary engineer. For instance, when we asked him if he would talk about Curiosity-and explain why the Mars rover matters to ordinary people--the former rock-n-roller responded "I'm totally down with that." He really is down with it. Steltzner is the NASA engineer who helped take the country's cool new Curiosity rover to the surface of Mars ... more |
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![]() China Spacesat gets 18-million-USD gov't support Beijing (XNA) Sep 25, 2012 - China Spacesat Co., Ltd., the nation's key developer of small satellites, said on Saturday that it will obtain 116 million yuan (18.3 million U.S. dollars) in government financial support. Four projects, run by the company or its subsidiaries, have been declared as support targets of a national fund developed to foster the country's strategic emerging industries, according to a statement f ... more |
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![]() Russia's First Private Satellite to Be Launched in 2013 Moscow (RIA Novosti) Sep 25, 2012 - Russia's first satellite manufactured and operated by a private firm will be launched next year, Dauria Aerospace head Mikhail Kokorich told RBK daily. The DX1-class 50-kg satellite will be designed to "fine-tune a satellite platform, monitor the movement of ships in the world's oceans and test a variety of payloads," he said. Development of the second satellite, DRE, will start by t ... more |
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![]() Lockheed Martin Achieves Key Software Milestone for Iridium NEXT Communications Satellite Gaithersburg, MD (SPX) Sep 25, 2012 - A "switchboard in the sky" for the Iridium NEXT constellation of global communication satellites is one step closer to becoming reality as Lockheed Martin completed a major software design milestone. Lockheed Martin's Application Software for the Iridium NEXT constellation held the Critical Design Review, which showed that the design is at a high level of maturity and keeps this new genera ... more |
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![]() Lockheed Martin Delivers Propulsion Core for the First GPS III Satellite Denver CO (SPX) Sep 25, 2012 - The Lockheed Martin team developing the U.S. Air Force's next generation Global Positioning System III satellites has delivered the first spacecraft's propulsion core module to the company's Denver-area GPS Processing Facility (GPF). The milestone represents the program's first major hardware delivery for GPS III Space Vehicle 1 and highlights the satellite's initial Assembly, Integration and Te ... more |
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![]() Northrop Grumman to Improve Performance of MEMS Inertial Sensors for DARPA Woodland Hills, CA (SPX) Sep 25, 2012 - Northrop Grumman has been awarded a subcontract from the University of California, Irvine to help address the long-term calibration of inertial sensors. Inertial sensors, which measure rotation rate and acceleration, are used in a variety of navigation, pointing and stabilization applications. Currently, micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) inertial instruments are vulnerable to lo ... more |
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![]() NASA Mars Rover Targets Unusual Rock Enroute to First Destination Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 25, 2012 - NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has driven up to a football-size rock that will be the first for the rover's arm to examine. Curiosity is about 8 feet (2.5 meters) from the rock. It lies about halfway from the rover's landing site, Bradbury Landing, to a location called Glenelg. In coming days, the team plans to touch the rock with a spectrometer to determine its elemental composition and use an arm ... more |
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![]() Robotic Arm Tools Get to Work Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 25, 2012 - Opportunity is continuing the in-situ (contact) science campaign at a putative location of clay minerals at the inboard edge of Cape York on the rim of Endeavour Crater. The rover is positioned next to a large light-toned block of exposed outcrop. Previous Panoramic Camera (Pancam) imagery indicates mineral hydration in this block. On 3071 (Sept. 13, 2012), Opportunity performed a ve ... more |
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![]() Data that lives forever is possible: Japan's Hitachi Tokyo (AFP) Sept 24, 2012 - As Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones prove, good music lasts a long time; now Japanese hi-tech giant Hitachi says it can last even longer - a few hundred million years at least. The company on Monday unveiled a method of storing digital information on slivers of quartz glass that can endure extreme temperatures and hostile conditions without degrading, almost forever. And for anyone who ... more |
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![]() Drink, flirt, stumble home: there's a beer fest app for that Munich, Germany (AFP) Sept 23, 2012 - Whether you want to know how long until you're sober, flirt with like-minded single revellers or where to stumble home after a few, help is only a click away at this year's Munich Oktoberfest. Amid the pageantry, oompah and lederhosen associated with the world's biggest folk festival, a galaxy of ingenious apps for smartphones and tablet computers this year have blasted the 202-year-old part ... more |
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![]() Curiosity's Stars and Stripes Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 24, 2012 - This view of the American flag medallion on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity was taken by the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) during the 44th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars (Sept. 19, 2012). The flag is one of four "mobility logos" placed on the rover's mobility rocker arms. The circular medallion of the flag is made of anodized aluminum and measures 2.68 inches (68 mill ... more |
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![]() NASA Selects Space Launch System Advanced Development Proposals Washington DC (SPX) Sep 24, 2012 - NASA has selected 26 proposals from academia and industry for advanced development activities for the nation's next heavy lift rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS). Proposals selected under this NASA Research Announcement (NRA) seek innovative and affordable solutions to evolve the launch vehicle from its initial configuration to its full lift capacity capable of sending humans farther into dee ... more |
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![]() Discovery of an Ancient Celestial City Undergoing Rapid Growth Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Sep 24, 2012 - Using the Multi-Object Infrared Camera and Spectrograph (MOIRCS) mounted on the Subaru Telescope, a team of astronomers led by Dr. Masao Hayashi (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan or NAOJ) and Dr. Tadayuki Kodama (Subaru Telescope, NAOJ) has discovered a protocluster of galaxies in the midst of a vigorous process of formation. It is the densest and most active protocluster ever id ... more |
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![]() California Governor Signs the Spaceflight Liability and Immunity Act Washington DC (SPX) Sep 24, 2012 - California Governor Jerry Brown has signed into law the Spaceflight Liability and Immunity Act, AB 2243. This law provides the necessary liability protections for compliant companies in the state, should any spaceflight participant who has acknowledged the risks sustain any bodily injury during spaceflight activities. Currently, Florida, Virginia, and Texas also provide spaceflight c ... more |
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![]() Processing is underway with the next Automated Transfer Vehicle to be orbited by Arianespace Kourou, French Guiana (ESA) Sep 24, 2012 - Initial checkout has begun at the Spaceport for Europe's fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), which is to be launched from French Guiana by Arianespace on a servicing mission to the International Space Station next year. The activity underway includes verifications of the ATV's Service Module in the Spaceport's S5 payload preparation building, where it has been joined by the resupply s ... more |
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