Space News From SpaceDaily.Com

December 11, 2015

Zooming in on Pluto's Pattern of Pits
Washington DC (SPX) Dec 11, 2015
On July 14 the telescopic camera on NASA's New Horizons spacecraft took the highest resolution images ever obtained of the intricate pattern of "pits" across a section of Pluto's prominent heart-shaped region, informally named Tombaugh Regio. Mission scientists believe these mysterious indentations may form through a combination of ice fracturing and evaporation. The scarcity of overlying impact craters in this area also leads scientists to conclude that these pits - typically hundreds of ya ... read more

Previous Issues

Dec 10

Dec 09

Dec 08

Dec 07

Dec 06

Dwarf planet Ceres: water vapor in Occator crater When the Sun shines into the Occator crater on the surface of the dwarf planet Ceres, a kind of thin haze appears above its brightest spot. This can be seen in images taken by the camera system aboa ... more		SpaceX to launch rocket Dec 19, six months after blast SpaceX on Thursday announced plans to launch its Falcon 9 on December 19, its first mission since a massive explosion after liftoff destroyed the rocket and its space station cargo six months ago. ... more		A 'ghost from the past' recalls the infancy of the Milky Way When our galaxy was born, around 13,000 million years ago, a plethora of clusters containing millions of stars emerged. But over time, they have been disappearing. However, hidden behind younger sta ... more
				NASA telescopes detect Jupiter-like storm on small star Astronomers have discovered what appears to be a tiny star with a giant, cloudy storm, using data from NASA's Spitzer and Kepler space telescopes. The dark storm is akin to Jupiter's Great Red Spot: ... more		Boundless raises more than $5M in Series B Funding Round Boundless has announced it has raised more than $5 million in Series B funding led by Motorola Solutions Venture Capital. Boundless' existing investors, Vanedge Capital and In-Q-Tel, have participat ... more

Can't stop me now: Tim set for Principia launch ESA astronaut Tim Peake, NASA astronaut Tim Kopra and cosmonaut commander Yuri Malenchenko will leave our planet for the International Space Station 15 December at 11:03 GMT, marking the start of Ti ... more		Exp 45 set to return from space station Three International Space Station crew members are preparing to return to Earth early Friday after 141 days in space. Expedition 45 Flight Engineers Kjell Lindgren of NASA, Oleg Kononenko of Roscosm ... more		North Korea declares nuclear statehood 'permanently enshrined' ArianeGroup to develop next-generation M51.4 missile for French nuclear deterrent Comtech modem earns first sovereign certification for SES O3b mPOWER network		NASA tests ICESat-2's laser aim Close enough doesn't cut it in the spacecraft assembly cleanroom at NASA Goddard's Space Flight Center, where engineers are building an elevation-measuring instrument to fly on the Ice, Cloud and la ... more
				German physicists see landmark in nuclear fusion quest Scientists in Germany said Thursday they had reached a milestone in a quest to derive energy from nuclear fusion, billed as a potentially limitless, safe and cheap source. ... more		US Pacific Northwest's extreme rainfall tallied by NASA's IMERG As moisture from the tropics has been streaming into the Pacific Northwest by the "Pineapple Express" NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission and a cadre of other satellites have been ... more

Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

India to launch 6 Singaporean satellites India will be launching six Singaporean satellites weighing a total of around 625 kg on December 16 evening through its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket, a senior official said. "I ... more		What spawned the Jellyfish Nebula? The Jellyfish Nebula, also known by its official name IC 443, is the remnant of a supernova lying 5,000 light years from Earth. New Chandra observations show that the explosion that created the Jell ... more		New U.S.-European Sea Level Satellite Will Help Safeguard Ships at Sea Planet captures first light from Pelican-3 satellite as constellation expands Trump signs memorandum to deploy U.S. National Guard troops to Memphis		Ocean toxicity hampered the rapid evolution of complex life By examining rocks at the bottom of ancient oceans, an international group of researchers have revealed that arsenic concentrations in the oceans have varied greatly over time. But also that in the ... more
Pluto's close-up, now in color This enhanced color mosaic combines some of the sharpest views of Pluto that NASA's New Horizons spacecraft obtained during its July 14 flyby. The pictures are part of a sequence taken near New Hori ... more		SES-9 arrives at Cape Canaveral for mid-January Launch SES has announced that SES-9 has safely arrived at Cape Canaveral, Florida, and is being processed for a mid-January 2016 launch on board Space X's newly upgraded Falcon 9 rocket. SES-9 will b ... more		US investigating possible Iran missile test The United States is conducting a "serious review" into reports that Iran carried out a new round of ballistic missile testing in violation of UN resolutions, its United Nations envoy said Tuesday. ... more		U.S. awards Raytheon SM-3 Block IIA production contract The U.S. Missile Defense Agency has placed a $543 million order for 17 of Raytheon's Standard Missile-3 Block IIA interceptors. ... more

	Satellites show global plant growth is not keeping up with CO2 emissions Because plants need carbon dioxide to grow, scientists have expected rising atmospheric CO2 to substantially enhance plant growth, offsetting a portion of human CO2 emissions and, in turn, slowing c ... more		Stanford scientists develop 'Shazam for earthquakes' An algorithm inspired by a popular song-matching app is helping Stanford scientists find previously overlooked earthquakes in large databases of ground motion measurements. They call their alg ... more

Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

Japanese space probe goes into orbit around Venus		New clues to Ceres' bright spots and origins		No extraterrestrial laser pulses detected from KIC 8462852		Computing with time travel		Titan helps researchers explore explosive star scenarios
Orbital cargo ship arrives at space station		EDRS-A and its laser are ready to fly		Geminid meteors will dazzle on December 13th and 14th		GOES-R: Launching in October 2016		Dissecting paleoclimate change

China launches new communication satellite

XPRIZE verifies moon express launch contract, kicking off new space race

Airbus signs contract to develop and build JUICE spacecraft

Student helps discover new planet, calculates frequency of Jupiter-like planets

VLT revisits a curious cosmic collision

$4 Million laser marks ground zero for adaptive optics science

Japan's space agency says probe now orbiting Venus

Conductor turned insulator amid disorder

Robot adds new twist to NIST antenna measurements and calibrations

Seeking a new generation of light-based sensing systems

Twin civilisations? How life on an exoplanet could spread to its neighbour

Study: Sun capable of destructive superflare

Scientists explain origin of heavy elements in the Universe

Prometheus up close about Saturn

Alternative stellar lifestyle: Common, curious, solved at last

CTA Prototype Telescope Achieves "First Light"

New Visualization of Space Environment at Pluto

First light from LAXPC instrument onboard ASTROSAT

Robot arm simulates close approach of ESA's asteroid mission

Drone laws tightened in Japan as police deploy air-to-air take down unit

Buy Advertising

Media Advertising Kit

Editorial & Other Enquiries

Privacy statement

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2016 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.