Image: This summer, Europe experienced a relentless heatwave, fuelling wildfires in several countries. This Copernicus Sentinel-1 image shows the burn scars left by fires on the Greek island of Rhodes.

New York (AFP) Sept 21, 2023
Microsoft on Thursday said it would integrate OpenAI's soon to be released Dall-E 3 image creation tool into its Bing search engine, in its latest effort to use artificial intelligence to compete with the almighty Google. Two versions of Dall-E were developed by OpenAI and presaged the massive explosion of interest in generative AI that came when it released ChatGPT late last year. Dall-

Arlington, United States (AFP) Sept 20, 2023
Amazon's popular Alexa digital assistant is about to be supercharged with the powers of generative artificial intelligence, the company said on Wednesday, as the tech giant steps into the AI race dominated by ChatGPT, Google and Microsoft. Voice assistants like Alexa or Apple's Siri are often designated as perfect candidates to have their sometimes-glitchy and robot-like technology streamlin

Paris (ESA) Sep 22, 2023
Jupiter's moon Europa is one of a handful of worlds in our Solar System that could potentially harbour conditions suitable for life. Previous research has shown that beneath its water-ice crust lies a salty ocean of liquid water with a rocky seafloor. However, planetary scientists had not confirmed whether or not that ocean contained the chemicals needed for life, particularly carbon. Astr

Paris (AFP) Sept 21, 2023
Carbon dioxide detected on Jupiter's moon Europa comes from the vast ocean beneath its icy shell, research using James Webb Space Telescope data indicated on Thursday, potentially bolstering hopes the hidden water could harbour life. Scientists are confident there is a huge ocean of saltwater kilometres below Europa's ice-covered surface, making the moon a prime candidate for hosting extra-t

Washington DC (SPX) Sep 22, 2023
NASA's Artemis missions have far-reaching scientific and exploratory goals, and a new report seeks to foster discussion about how the agency can make such dramatic progress in a way that takes ethical and societal considerations into account. NASA will set precedents for decades to come as it implements Artemis activities, including landing the first woman and first person of color on the

Washington (AFP) Sept 22, 2023
NASA's first mission to retrieve an asteroid sample and return it to US soil is expected to reach a perilous finale on Sunday with a descent into the Utah desert. Scientists hope the material - possibly the most ever retrieved by such a mission - will provide humanity with a better understanding on the formation of our solar system and how Earth became habitable. The US space probe OSI

Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 23, 2023
After more than two and a half years of driving and exploring, Perseverance is closing in on an eagerly anticipated destination: the margin carbonate unit. The Mars 2020 scientists have been buzzing with excitement this past week as Perseverance makes its final approach towards a special rock unit that played a pivotal role in selecting Jezero as the landing site for exploration. Located in a na

Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 18, 2023
Earth planning date: Monday, September 18, 2023: Coming in to planning today, we were greeted with another spectacular view back down Mt. Sharp and the distant crater rim visible through the haze (see the image). I am the TUL (Tactical Uplink Lead) today, but my trainee Kathryn is doing most of the work. We are continuing to drive southeast toward our next drilling location. In addition to conta

Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 23, 2023
For the past couple of planning sols, Perseverance has been working on a complex navigation out of a boulder field on one of the lobes on top of the fan. The engineering team planned specific maneuvers and utilized Perseverance's autonomous navigation capabilities to navigate around and eventually out of the boulder field. This drive took Perseverance to Mandu Wall, part of the margin carb