Space News From SpaceDaily.Com

December 11, 2012

US sends futuristic plane back into space
Washington (AFP) Dec 11, 2012
The United States on Tuesday launched for the third time its futuristic X-37B spacecraft, a small and pilotless plane that experts believe could open a new realm of espionage. The 29-foot (8.9-meter) long vehicle blasted off aboard an Atlas V rocket at 1:03 pm (1803 GMT) from Cape Canaveral in Florida on a mission about which the US Air Force has offered minimal details. The United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, streamed live footage on its website of the bl ... read more

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China patent office becomes world's largest: WIPO China's patent office for the first time became the world's largest last year, as the number of global patent filings continued to grow despite the sluggish economy, the UN's intellectual property agency said Tuesday. ... more		ULA Launch Monopoly to End On May 2, 2005, Boeing and Lockheed Martin announced their intention to form a joint venture called the United Launch Alliance (ULA), combining the production, engineering, test and launch operation ... more		Mining ancient ores for clues to early life An analysis of sulfide ore deposits from one of the world's richest base-metal mines confirms that oxygen levels were extremely low on Earth 2.7 billion years ago, but also shows that microbes were ... more
				Hubble's Glitter galaxy: The ESO 318-13 galaxy The brilliant cascade of stars through the middle of this image is the galaxy ESO 318-13 as seen by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Despite being located millions of light-years from Earth, the ... more		Fermi Improves its Vision for Thunderstorm Gamma-Ray Flashes Greenbelt MD (SPX) Dec 11, 2012 Thanks to improved data analysis techniques and a new operating mode, the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) aboard NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is now 10 times ... more

CubeSats, SmallSats and MicroSats

Unvieling diffuse x-ray emission from nearby galaxies NASA will launch an astrophysics mission to study the Diffuse X-ray emission from the Local galaxy (DXL) December 9 from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The goal of this flight is ... more		Do we live in a computer simulation? UW researchers say idea can be tested A decade ago, a British philosopher put forth the notion that the universe we live in might in fact be a computer simulation run by our descendants. While that seems far-fetched, perhaps even incomp ... more		Japan, US sign agreement to develop hypersonic missile interceptor Xi, Putin hail ties as 'stabilising' force in chaotic world US forces lose strategic African position in Niger		NASA Astrobiology Institute Shows How Wide Binary Stars Form Using computer simulations, scientists from the NASA Astrobiology Institute team at the University of Hawaii are shedding light on a question that has challenged astronomers for years: What causes w ... more
				Wildfires Light Up Western Australia Careful observers of the new "Black Marble" images of Earth at night released this week by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have noticed bright areas in the western part ... more		Apollo's Lunar Dust Data Being Restored Forty years after the last Apollo spacecraft launched, the science from those missions continues to shape our view of the moon. In one of the latest developments, readings from the Apollo 14 and 15 ... more

Solar systems for home and business

Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

To reach final frontier, NASA can't go it alone: analysts If NASA wants to help humans boldly go where no man has gone before, the US space agency must work with other countries, say experts who fear budget constraints will keep astronauts stuck on Earth. ... more		What happens to plant growth when you remove gravity? It is well known that plant growth patterns are influenced by a variety of stimuli, gravity being one amongst many. On Earth plant roots exhibit characteristic behaviours called 'waving' and 'skewin ... more		Indonesia raises volcano alert level to highest after huge eruption Gov. Ron DeSantis signs law erasing climate change from Florida policy Climate change could force Bangkok to move, official warns		Russia and Kazakhstan to run Baikonur together Russia and Kazakhstan are reestablishing the intergovernmental commission on the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The commission will be headed by the deputy prime ministers of the two countries who will have t ... more
				Rock Comet Meteor Shower Every year in mid-December, astronomers look up in the sky and witness a mystery. It announces itself with a flurry of shooting stars. For several nights in a row, dozens to hundreds of meteors per ... more		Environmental satellite produces first photo of Earth China's first synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) satellite for environmental monitoring has produced its first "clear, coherent and informative" image of Earth, authorities said Monday. The satell ... more

Apollo's Lunar Dust Data Being Restored

To the moon and back for less than 2 billion dollars

NASA's GRAIL Creates Most Accurate Moon Gravity Map

Charitum Montes: a cratered winter wonderland

Opportunity Continues Rock Studies

Orbiter Spies Where Rover's Cruise Stage Hit Mars

China patent office becomes world's largest: WIPO

What happens to plant growth when you remove gravity?

Scientists say NASA's budget inadequate for its goals

Mr Xi in Space

China plans manned space launch in 2013: state media

China to launch manned spacecraft

	Space-Age Ceramics Get Their Toughest Test Advanced ceramic composites can withstand the ultrahigh operational temperatures projected for hypersonic jet and next generation gas turbine engines, but real-time analysis of the mechanical proper ... more		Medical Ops, Fan Checks for Space Crew; New Trio Checks Soyuz The orbiting Expedition 34 trio was busy Friday with medical operations, physical science and ongoing maintenance. The trio waiting to launch on Dec. 19 tested their launch suits and spacecraft in B ... more		Little Telescope Spies Gigantic Galaxy Clusters Our solar system, with its colorful collection of planets, asteroids and comets, is a fleck in the grander cosmos. Hundreds of billions of solar systems are thought to reside in our Milky Way galaxy ... more		Charitum Montes: a cratered winter wonderland The high-resolution stereo camera on ESA's Mars Express imaged the Charitum Montes region of the Red Planet on 18 June, near to Gale crater and the Argyre basin featured in our October and November ... more

Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

Search for life extends to the stars		Opportunity Continues Rock Studies		Chandra Observes Ring Galaxy NGC 922		Russia works to fix satellite's off-target orbit		British astronomer Patrick Moore dead aged 89
To the moon and back for less than 2 billion dollars		What is Creating Gullies on Vesta?		Secrets of universe revealed thanks to AF research complex		X-ray vision can reveal the moment of birth of violent supernovae		Speeding Space Junk Poses Risks for Spacecraft

What trends will take upper hand in space exploration?

Elbit Systems to Provide Space Camera for the Italian OPTSAT 3000 Observation Satellite

Seeing stars, finding nukes: Radio telescopes can spot clandestine nuclear tests

Galaxy-wide echoes from the past

Geminid Meteor Shower Coming on December 13-14

Khrunichev Completes Nauka Space Station Module

The Bubble Nebula, observed with the new One Degree Imager Camera

Wide Binary Stars: Long-Distance Stellar Relationships

TRT Turk Selects SES To Reach Audiences In Sub-Saharan Africa

Scientists say NASA's budget inadequate for its goals

Six degrees of inclination

Putin Urges CIS Countries to Join Glonass

Astronomers Go Infrared to Map Brightest Galaxies in Universe

Crowdsourcing the cosmos: Astronomers welcome all to identify star clusters in Andromeda galaxy

Herschel and Keck take census of the invisible Universe

Third Boeing GPS IIF Begins Operation After Early Handover to USAF

SPACEX Awarded Two EELV Class Missions From The USAF

Raytheon technology instrumental in creating "Black Marble" image

Heliophysics Nugget: Sungrazing Comets as Solar Probes

Mystery Air Force space plane launched

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