Baltimore MD (SPX) Dec 17, 2020
We live in a mature solar system-eight planets and several dwarf planets (like Pluto) have formed, the latter within the rock- and debris-filled region known as the Kuiper Belt. If we could turn back time, what would we see as our solar system formed? While we can't answer this question directly, researchers can study other systems that are actively forming-along with the mix of gas and dust tha

Ithaca NY (SPX) Dec 17, 2020
By monitoring the cosmos with a radio telescope array, a Cornell University-led international team of scientists has detected radio bursts emanating from the constellation Bootes. The signal could be the first radio emission collected from a planet beyond our solar system. The team, led by Cornell postdoctoral researcher Jake D. Turner, Philippe Zarka of the Observatoire de Paris - Paris S

San Antonio TX (SPX) Dec 17, 2020
Using data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, scientists at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) modeled chemical processes in the subsurface ocean of Saturn's moon Enceladus. The studies indicate the possibility that a varied metabolic menu could support a potentially diverse microbial community in the liquid water ocean beneath the moon's icy facade. Prior to its deorbit in September of 2017

Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 17, 2020
NASA's InSight spacecraft touched down Nov. 26, 2018, on Mars to study the planet's deep interior. A little more than one Martian year later, the stationary lander has detected more than 480 quakes and collected the most comprehensive weather data of any surface mission sent to Mars. InSight's probe, which has struggled to dig underground to take the planet's temperature, has made progress, too.

Washington DC (SPX) Dec 17, 2020
NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) finalized an agreement between the United States and Canada to collaborate on the Gateway, an outpost orbiting the Moon that will provide vital support for a sustainable, long-term return of astronauts to the lunar surface as part of NASA's Artemis program. This Gateway agreement further solidifies the broad effort by the United States to engage internati

Wausau WI (SPX) Dec 17, 2020
Innovative Hydraulics LLC has been awarded a contract to design and manufacture fluid power products in support of NASA's Artemis program. With the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024, using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before. NASA will collaborate with commercial and international partners and establis

Washington DC (UPI) Dec 16, 2020
Experiments on a NASA educational satellite mission planned this month include two devices intended to inspect other spacecraft in space, a box of quartz marbles that will float in microgravity and a weather observation satellite to monitor storms. Ten small satellites, or CubeSats, on the mission are packed for launch as early as next week from California. Nine of the craft were design

Washington DC (SPX) Dec 17, 2020
President Donald Trump has issued a new Space Policy Directive that will help propel NASA and humanity's next giant leap - creating a sustainable presence on the Moon and sending astronauts to Mars. The president issued Space Policy Directive-6 (SPD-6), the Nation's Strategy for Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion (SNPP), Wednesday, Dec. 16. Space nuclear systems power spacecraft for missio

Washington DC (SPX) Dec 17, 2020
NASA has awarded a NASA Launch Services (NLS) II contract to Blue Origin and their New Glenn launch service in accordance with the contract's on-ramp provision. The New Glenn launch service will be available to NASA's Launch Services Program (LSP) to use for future missions in accordance with the on-ramp provision of NLS II. The NLS II is a multiple-supplier, multiple-award, indefinite-del

Beijing (AFP) Dec 16, 2020
An unmanned Chinese spacecraft carrying rocks and soil from the Moon returned safely to Earth early Thursday in the first mission in four decades to collect lunar samples, the Xinhua news agency said. The capsule carrying the samples collected by the Chang'e-5 space probe landed in northern China's Inner Mongolia region, Xinhua said, quoting the China National Space Administration (CNSA).