Newark DE (SPX) Aug 11, 2022
Sustained space exploration will require infrastructure that doesn't currently exist: buildings, housing, rocket landing pads. So, where do you turn for construction materials when they are too big to fit in your carry-on and there's no Home Depot in outer space? "If we're going to live and work on another planet like Mars or the moon, we need to make concrete. But we can't take bags

San Antonio TX (SPX) Aug 11, 2022
Astroport Space Technologies, Inc. has been awarded its second NASA Phase 1 Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) contract for the construction of landing pads on the Moon. Astroport and its research partner, The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), will develop geotechnical engineering processes for "Lunar Surface Site Preparation for Landing/Launch Pad and Blast Shield Construc

Buffalo NY (SPX) Aug 11, 2022
In trying to understand the nature of the cosmos, some theorists propose that the universe expands and contracts in endless cycles. Because this behavior is hypothesized to be perpetual, the universe should have no beginning and no end - only eternal cycles of growing and shrinking that extend forever into the future, and forever into the past. It's an appealing concept in part becau

San Diego CA (SPX) Aug 11, 2022
A new analysis of seismic data from NASA's Mars InSight mission has revealed a couple of surprises. The first surprise: the top 300 meters of the subsurface beneath the landing site near the Martian equator contains little or no ice. "We find that Mars' crust is weak and porous. The sediments are not well-cemented. And there's no ice or not much ice filling the pore spaces," said geo

Tucson AZ (SPX) Aug 10, 2022
Scientists using sophisticated computational chemistry techniques have identified a new pathway for how sulfur particles can form in the atmosphere of Venus. These results may help to understand the long sought-after identity of the mysterious ultraviolet absorber on Venus. "We know that the atmosphere of Venus has abundant SO2 and sulfuric acid particles. We expect that ultraviolet destru

London, UK (SPX) Aug 10, 2022
Space start-ups generated almost 9 million pounds in investment and created 80 new jobs after taking part in a UK Space Agency-backed business support programme. The UK Space Agency Space Accelerator Programme, delivered by Entrepreneurial Spark, worked with entrepreneurs from all over the UK aged between 18-70, with business expertise in sectors such as aerospace, law, quantum technology,

Huntsville AL (SPX) Aug 09, 2022
Lockheed Martin recently validated prototype communications radio technology for the Next Generation Interceptor (NGI) during a recent test milestone. The NGI's mission is to protect the U.S. homeland from increasing and evolving intercontinental ballistic missile threats. Critically, the interceptor and its components must be able to receive and share data from the ground and throughout t

Taiyuan, China (XNA) Aug 05, 2022
China successfully launched a terrestrial ecosystem carbon monitoring satellite and two other satellites from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province Thursday. The satellites were launched at 11:08 a.m. (Beijing Time) by a Long March-4B carrier rocket and entered the planned orbit successfully. The carbon monitoring satellite is mainly used for terrestria

Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 05, 2022
A new study uses data from the ECOSTRESS instrument aboard the space station to better understand why some parts of a wildfire burn more intensely than others. Even in drought-stricken California, not all areas face the same degree of wildfire risk. A recent study featuring data from NASA's ECOSTRESS mission found relationships between the intensity of a wildfire and the water stress in pl