Shh! Quiet cables set to help reveal rare physics events
Tuesday, 26 September 2023 10:46
Richland WA (SPX) Sep 26, 2023
Imagine trying to tune a radio to a single station but instead encountering static noise and interfering signals from your own equipment. That is the challenge facing research teams searching for evidence of extremely rare events that could help understand the origin and nature of matter in the universe. It turns out that when you are trying to tune into some of the universe's weakest signals, i
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Three Questions: The first asteroid sample returned to Earth
Tuesday, 26 September 2023 10:46
Boston MA (SPX) Sep 26, 2023
On Sunday morning, a capsule the size of a mini-fridge dropped from the skies over western Utah, carrying a first-of-its-kind package: about 250 grams of dirt and dust plucked from the surface of an asteroid. As a candy-striped parachute billowed open to slow its freefall, the capsule plummeted down to the sand, slightly ahead of schedule.
The special delivery came courtesy of OSIRIS-REx
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How OSIRIS-REx is helping scientists study the sonic signature of meteoroids
Tuesday, 26 September 2023 10:46
Albuquerque NM (SPX) Sep 26, 2023
In the high desert of Nevada, Elizabeth Silber watched NASA's Sample Return Capsule from OSIRIS-REx descend into Earth's atmosphere on Sunday, but unlike most scientists, she wasn't there for the asteroid rocks.
Silber, a physicist at Sandia National Laboratories, is working with researchers from Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, TDA Research
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Curiosity the Cautious Rover: Sols 3957-3959
Tuesday, 26 September 2023 10:46
Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 26, 2023
Earth planning day: Friday, September 22, 2023: When I opened the workspace imagery this morning, I was happy to see some nice big rock outcrops in reach of the rover and started to pick some nice targets for contact science with APXS, before realizing that one of the rear wheels is perched on a rock. Sure enough, the drive had cut short when the rover detected it had driven over an unexpectedly
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Zenno and D-to develop superconducting electromagnets
Tuesday, 26 September 2023 10:46
Auckland NZ (SPX) Sep 26, 2023
New Zealand headquartered space-flight systems company Zenno Astronautics (Zenno), a developer of world-first superconducting electromagnets for space applications, and D-Orbit, a company leader in the space logistics industry, have formed a special commercial partnership to collaborate on the development of new space products and services.
The initial project will see Zenno and D-Orbit co
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Did life exist on Mars? Other planets? With AI's help, we may know soon
Tuesday, 26 September 2023 10:46
Washington DC (SPX) Sep 26, 2023
Scientists have discovered a simple and reliable test for signs of past or present life on other planets - "the holy grail of astrobiology."
In the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a seven-member team, funded by the John Templeton Foundation and led by Jim Cleaves and Robert Hazen of the Carnegie Institution for Science, reports that, with 90% accuracy, their artifi
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Historic NASA wind tunnel testing Mars Ascent Vehicle
Tuesday, 26 September 2023 10:46
Huntsville AL (SPX) Sep 26, 2023
The MAV (Mars Ascent Vehicle) team recently completed wind tunnel testing at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in a facility that has been a critical part of NASA missions going all the way back to the Apollo program.
The same facility that provided valuable testing for NASA missions to low-Earth orbit and the Moon is now helping the agency prepare to launch the first rocket from Mars. T
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All engines added to NASA's Artemis II core stage
Tuesday, 26 September 2023 10:46
New Orleans LA (SPX) Sep 26, 2023
Teams at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans have structurally joined all four RS-25 engines onto the core stage for NASA's Artemis II Moon rocket. The flight test is the agency's first crewed mission under Artemis.
Technicians added the first engine to NASA's SLS (Space Launch System) rocket core stage Sept. 11. Teams installed the second engine onto the stage Sept. 15 with th
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Astronomers find an abundance of Milky Way-like Galaxies in early Universe
Tuesday, 26 September 2023 10:46
Manchester UK (SPX) Sep 26, 2023
Galaxies from the early Universe are more like our own Milky Way than previously thought, flipping the entire narrative of how scientists think about structure formation in the Universe, according to new research published this week,
Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), an international team of researchers including those at The University of Manchester and University of Victoria i
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China capable of protecting astronauts from effects of space weightlessness
Tuesday, 26 September 2023 10:46
Beijing (XNA) Sep 26, 2023
China has the capability to protect astronauts from the effects of a weightless environment for 180 days in space, according to a forum on aerospace medicine that kicked off Thursday in Beijing.
The progress in this area has provided theoretical support and a technical platform for research in cardiovascular health, musculoskeletal systems, neurodegenerative diseases, human aging and drug
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Terran Orbital Announces Closing of $32.5 Million Public Offering
Tuesday, 26 September 2023 10:46
Boca Raton FL (SPX) Sep 26, 2023
Terran Orbital Corporation (NYSE: LLAP) ("Terran Orbital" or the "Company"), a global leader in satellite-based solutions primarily serving the aerospace and defense industries, has announced the closing of its previously announced public offering of 23,214,290 shares of its common stock (or common stock equivalents in lieu thereof) and warrants to purchase up to 23,214,290 shares of common stoc
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Curiosity Needs an Altitude Adjustment: Sols 3955-3956
Tuesday, 26 September 2023 10:46
Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 26, 2023
Earth planning date: Wednesday, September 20, 2023: Curiosity speeds towards an exciting new region, specifically close to an area that, from orbit, has visible light and dark banding. Our hope is that within a few more drives we may find a new target for Curiosity to drill.
In preparation for an exciting new campaign of drilling, the team will be performing contact science on nearby bedro
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"Sombrero Rock": A Case of Case-Hardening?
Tuesday, 26 September 2023 10:46
Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 26, 2023
Mars never fails to provide us with interestingly-shaped rocks, and recent observations have been no exception. The rock seen in this sol 907 Mastcam-Z image has captured the hearts and minds of our science team: our hearts for its sombrero-like shape, and our minds for the potential science implications behind it.
"Sombrero rock" (officially named Middle Mountain) was found along our jour
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Boeing’s Quantum Leap: Satellites in Record Time, Boosting National Security and Commercial Connectivity
Tuesday, 26 September 2023 10:00
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