Beijing (AFP) Jan 4, 2022
China Tuesday said it will continue to "modernise" its nuclear arsenal and called on the United States and Russia to reduce their stockpiles a day after global powers pledged to prevent such weapons spreading. In a rare joint statement setting aside rising West-East tensions, the United States, China, Russia, Britain and France reaffirmed their goal of creating a world free of atomic weapons

Huntsville AL (SPX) Jan 05, 2022
Northrop Grumman was awarded a five-year contract valued at more than $1 billion from the U.S. Army for low-rate initial production and full-rate production of the Integrated Battle Command System (IBCS) on December 23. "IBCS is a centerpiece of the U.S. Army's modernization strategy for air and missile defense to address the changing battlefield," said Mary Petryszyn, corporate vice presi

Seoul (AFP) Jan 5, 2022
North Korea fired what appeared to be a ballistic missile into the sea on Wednesday, South Korea and Japan said, in the first such launch by Pyongyang this year. In the decade since Kim Jong Un took power, North Korea has made rapid progress in its military technology at the cost of international sanctions. The nuclear-armed nation's first apparent weapons launch of 2022 follows a year o

Boston MA (SPX) Jan 04, 2022
Up until she served in the Peace Corps in Malawi, Rachel Bielajew was open to a career reboot. Having studied nuclear engineering as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, graduate school had been on her mind. But seeing the drastic impacts of climate change play out in real-time in Malawi - the lives of the country's subsistence farmers swing wildly, depending on the rains

Copenhagen, Denmark (SPX) Jan 06, 2022
Evidence demonstrates a close connection between the fraction of organic matter buried in sediments and changes in supernovae occurrence. This correlation is apparent during the last 3.5 billion years and in closer detail over the previous 500 million years. The correlation indicates that supernovae have set essential conditions under which life on Earth had to exist. This is concluded in

Moscow (Sputnik) Jan 06, 2022
The Russian forces have strengthened armed protection over the Baikonur Cosmodrome's key objects amid rallies in Kazakhstan, Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos Head Dmitry Rogozin said on Wednesday. Rogozin noted that the situation at the Baikonur Cosmodrome is calm as "Roscosmos' branches, law enforcement bodies, city services and organizations are working in the routine mode."

Washington DC (SPX) Jan 06, 2022
The Webb teams has deployed the observatory's secondary mirror support structure. When light from the distant universe hits Webb's iconic 18 gold primary mirrors, it will reflect off and hit the smaller, 2.4-foot (.74-meter) secondary mirror, which will direct the light into its instruments. The secondary mirror is supported by three lightweight deployable struts that are each almost 25 fe

Houston TX (SPX) Jan 06, 2022
Before the solar system had planets, the sun had rings - bands of dust and gas similar to Saturn's rings - that likely played a role in Earth's formation, according to a new study. "In the solar system, something happened to prevent the Earth from growing to become a much larger type of terrestrial planet called a super-Earth ," said Rice University astrophysicist Andre Izidoro, referring to the

Wallops Island VA (SPX) Jan 06, 2022
NASA has provided an advance release of its NASA Autonomous Flight Termination Unit (NAFTU) software code to the launch industry, a critical milestone toward the final certification of NAFTU, which is on-track for February 2022. NAFTU is a game-changing command and control system available to launch vehicle providers for use at all U.S. launch ranges in ensuring public safety during launch

Another year passes, and our muscles, bones, eyes and ears deteriorate as we age – even more so in space. Reactions in ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer’s body after barely two months on the International Space Station are giving European scientists clues on how to fight the downsides of growing old on Earth.