Space News from SpaceDaily.com
April 30, 2020
MOON DAILY
Musk, Bezos win NASA contracts for Moon lander



Washington DC (AFP) Apr 30, 2020
NASA on Thursday awarded almost $1 billion in contracts to three space companies including those owned by Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos to develop lunar landers as the United States seeks to return human beings to the Moon. The human landing system contracts were given to Musk's SpaceX, Bezos' Blue Origin and Dynetics, who receive $967 million. The three will compete against each other over the contract period, ending February 2021, when NASA will decide which of them will have an opportunity to ... read more

SPACEMART
NASA's new solar sail system to be tested on-board NanoAvionics' satellite
Columbia IL (SPX) Apr 30, 2020
NanoAvionics has been selected to build a 12U nanosatellite bus for an in-orbit demonstration of NASA's Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3). This a result of a contract between NASA Ames Res ... more
SPACEMART
SpaceX develops new sunshade to make Starlink satellites less visible from Earth
Washington DC (UPI) Apr 30, 2020
SpaceX plans to launch a Starlink satellite in May with a sunshade to make it less visible from Earth and mitigate interruptions to astronomical observations, company founder Elon Musk told a group ... more
MARSDAILY
Martian meteorites contain 4-billion-year-old nitrogen-bearing organic material
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Apr 30, 2020
A research team including research scientist Atsuko Kobayashi from the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) at Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan and research scientist Mizuho Koike from the Instit ... more
MARSDAILY
NASA's Mars Helicopter named Ingenuity
Pasadena CA (JPL) Apr 30, 2020
Destined to become the first aircraft to attempt powered flight on another planet, NASA's Mars Helicopter officially has received a new name: Ingenuity. Vaneeza Rupani, a junior at Tuscaloosa ... more
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MARSDAILY
Emirates first Mars mission ready for launch from Japan's Tanegashima Space Centre
Abu Dhabi UAE (SPX) Apr 30, 2020
The UAE Space Agency and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center announced the safe transfer of the Mars Hope spacecraft to its launch site at Tanegashima Space Centre. The transfer was conducted in an ... more
TIME AND SPACE
"Elegant" solution reveals how the universe got its structure
Washington DC (SPX) Apr 28, 2020
The universe is full of billions of galaxies - but their distribution across space is far from uniform. Why do we see so much structure in the universe today, and how did it all form and grow? ... more
EXO WORLDS
Newly discovered exoplanet dethrones former king of Kepler-88 planetary system
Maunakea HI (SPX) Apr 30, 2020
Our solar system has a king. The planet Jupiter, named for the most powerful god in the Greek pantheon, has bossed around the other planets through its gravitational influence. With twice the mass o ... more
TIME AND SPACE
The weight of the Universe
Bochum, Germany (SPX) Apr 29, 2020
Results from physicists in Bochum have challenged the Standard Model of Cosmology. Infrared data, which have recently been included in the analysis, could be decisive. Bochum cosmologists head ... more
SPACEWAR
Pentagon releases 'UFO' videos taken by US Navy pilots
Washington (AFP) April 28, 2020
The Pentagon has officially released three videos taken by US Navy pilots showing mid-air encounters with what appear to be UFOs. ... more
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ENERGY TECH
Scientists explore the power of radio waves to help control fusion reactions
Plainsboro NJ (SPX) Apr 29, 2020
A key challenge to capturing and controlling fusion energy on Earth is maintaining the stability of plasma - the electrically charged gas that fuels fusion reactions - and keeping it millions of deg ... more
ROCKET SCIENCE
Launches from Kourou to resume in June
Moscow (Sputnik) Apr 30, 2020
Launches from the Kourou Space Centre in French Guiana, which was closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, will resume in mid-June with the launch of the Vega rocket, France's Arianespace space trans ... more
SPACEMART
Infostellar has raised a total of $3.5M in convertible bonds
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Apr 30, 2020
Infostellar, a highly innovative ground-segment-as-a-service (GSaaS) provider, has raised a total of USD 3.5 million in convertible bonds with existing investors Airbus Ventures and Sony Innovation ... more
GPS NEWS
Galileo positioning aiding Covid-19 reaction
Paris (ESA) Apr 30, 2020
As European governments plan their phased recoveries from the lockdown states triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, the positioning delivered through satellite navigation is becoming more important th ... more
SPACE MEDICINE
NASA contributes expertise, ingenuity to COVID-19 fight
Washington DC (SPX) Apr 28, 2020
NASA has joined the fight against coronavirus (COVID-19) with efforts underway across the country to augment the national response, a few of which were highlighted in a media briefing today. " ... more


Air pollution drops in India following lockdown

EARTH OBSERVATION
Wildlife conservation aided by L3Harris Electro-Optical/Infrared Technology
Melbourne FL (SPX) Apr 23, 2020
When John Romero, president of Owyhee Air Research (OAR), got into the business of wildlife research, he did so for the love of wildlife. Now, he says, "it's more a love of the work and the services ... more
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SHAKE AND BLOW
Study suggests rainfall triggered 2018 Kilauea erruption
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Apr 23, 2020
In May 2018 Kilauea volcano on the island of Hawaii erupted, touching off months of intense activity. Through August, incandescent lava from fissures spewed hundreds of feet in the air, and billowin ... more
TECTONICS
Tectonic plates started shifting earlier than previously thought
Boston MA (SPX) Apr 23, 2020
An enduring question in geology is when Earth's tectonic plates began pushing and pulling in a process that helped the planet evolve and shaped its continents into the ones that exist today. Some re ... more
EPIDEMICS
Social distancing app uses space to save lives
Paris (ESA) Apr 21, 2020
A free app that helps people observe social distancing to slow the spread of coronavirus is about to launch. Devised by Lanterne, a UK start-up company supported by ESA, it uses satellite data ... more
WATER WORLD
Ocean biodiversity has not increased substantially for hundreds of millions of years - new study
Birmingham UK (SPX) Apr 24, 2020
A new way of looking at marine evolution over the past 540 million years has shown that levels of biodiversity in our oceans have remained fairly constant, rather than increasing continuously over t ... more
MOON DAILY
NASA scientists tapped to mature more rugged seismometer system to measure moonquakes
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Apr 30, 2020
NASA hasn't measured moonquakes since Apollo astronauts deployed a handful of measuring stations at various locations on the lunar surface and discovered unexpectedly that Earth's only natural satel ... more
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180 day commercial Soyuz mission to ISS possible in 2022
Moscow (Sputnik) Apr 28, 2020
A six-month commercial Soyuz flight to the International Space Station (ISS) is planned for 2022-2023, according to files obtained by Sputnik. According to the documents, the launch of a Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft with a Russian cosmonaut as crew commander and two unknown crew members is planned for October 2022, while a return to Earth is planned for April 2023. No details are provided on the ... more
+ Pentagon formally releases Navy videos of unidentified object encounters
+ Russian cargo capsule docks with ISS
+ Russian 'Victory Rocket' cargo flight docks at ISS
+ CASIS welcomes new NASA ISS National Lab program executive
+ Getting Down to Earth with CAVES in Space
+ NASA researchers look to the future on Earth Day 50
+ Space Station science payload operations continue amid pandemic
Solar One: A proposal for the first manned interstellar spaceship
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Apr 29, 2020
In a new paper, astronomer Alberto Caballero presents the concept and design of a beam-powered propulsion system that could become the first manned interstellar spaceship by the late-20s. Solar One, the name he gives to the spaceship, could reach 30% the speed of light, reaching Alpha Centauri system in 15 years. Alberto argues that, despite light-sail spacecrafts such as the so-call ... more
+ Launches from Kourou to resume in June
+ NASA Test Directors eagerly await Artemis launch
+ Northrop says it's on schedule with next-generation OmegA rocket
+ Permanently open call for commercial space transportation services
+ Department of the Air Force commissioned RAND Space Launch Market Report released
+ US Military not sure if Iran's launch of 'military' satellite was successful
+ Japanese astronaut prepares for flight aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon


Emirates first Mars mission ready for launch from Japan's Tanegashima Space Centre
Abu Dhabi UAE (SPX) Apr 30, 2020
The UAE Space Agency and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center announced the safe transfer of the Mars Hope spacecraft to its launch site at Tanegashima Space Centre. The transfer was conducted in an 83-hour operation brought forward from its scheduled May shipment date because of the travel and movement restrictions imposed by international efforts to contain the impact of Covid-19. The Emirates ... more
+ Martian meteorites contain 4-billion-year-old nitrogen-bearing organic material
+ NASA's Mars Helicopter named Ingenuity
+ Promising signs for Perseverance rover in its quest for past Martian life
+ Nanocardboard flyers could serve as martian atmospheric probes
+ Surface Hot Springs May Have Existed on Ancient Mars
+ Mars 2020 Perseverance rover gets balanced
+ NASA's Curiosity Keeps Rolling As Team Operates Rover From Home
China builds Asia's largest steerable radio telescope for Mars mission
Beijing (XNA) Apr 28, 2020
China is constructing the largest steerable radio telescope in Asia with a 70-meter-diameter antenna to receive data from its first Mars exploration mission which is expected to be launched this year. China aims to complete orbiting, landing and roving on the red planet in one mission, which has been named Tianwen-1. The telescope, with an antenna the size of nine basketball courts, ... more
+ China recollects first satellite stories after entering space for 50 years
+ China's first Mars exploration mission named Tianwen-1
+ Parachutes guide China's rocket debris safely to earth
+ China to launch IoT communications satellites named after Wuhan
+ China's experimental manned spaceship undergoes tests
+ China's Long March-7A carrier rocket fails in maiden flight
+ China's Yuanwang-5 sails to Pacific Ocean for space monitoring mission
NASA's new solar sail system to be tested on-board NanoAvionics' satellite
Columbia IL (SPX) Apr 30, 2020
NanoAvionics has been selected to build a 12U nanosatellite bus for an in-orbit demonstration of NASA's Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3). This a result of a contract between NASA Ames Research Center and AST for a 12U bus to carry NASA's payload into low Earth orbit (LEO) including an approximately 800 square foot (74 square meter) composite boom and solar sail system. The aim o ... more
+ Infostellar has raised a total of $3.5M in convertible bonds
+ SpaceX develops new sunshade to make Starlink satellites less visible from Earth
+ Momentus selected as launch provider for Swarm
+ Elon Musk's SpaceX launches 60 Starlink satellites from Florida
+ SpaceX plans Wednesday Starlink satellite launch from Florida
+ US wants to mine resources in space, but is it legal?
+ NewSpace Philosophies: Who, How, What?
Coding contest from NASA and Texas Instruments allows students to compete virtually to win out-of-this-world prizes
Dallas TX (SPX) Apr 28, 2020
Texas Instruments (TI) and NASA have teamed up to give students who are learning remotely the opportunity to connect, collaborate and win out-of-this-world prizes in a new, space-themed coding contest. The NASA and TI Codes Contest challenges middle and high school students to improve a process or product on the International Space Station - whether it's a better way to help astronauts sta ... more
+ UAV Navigation integrates Sagetech Avionics' transponders for sense and avoidance
+ Heat-friendly microbes provide efficient way to biodegrade plastic
+ Scientists discover just how runny a liquid can be
+ Papua New Guinea seizes Barrick, Zijin gold mine
+ Synthesizing ammonia using less energy
+ A great new way to paint 3D-printed objects
+ Bose-Einstein condensate: magnetic particles behave repulsively


Yale's EXPRES looks to the skies of a scorching, distant planet
New Haven CT (SPX) Apr 23, 2020
Yale technology is giving astronomers a closer look at the atmosphere of a distant planet where it's so hot the air contains vaporized metals. The planet, MASCARA-2 b, is 140 parsecs from Earth - or roughly 2.68 quadrillion miles. It's a gas giant, like Jupiter. However, its orbit is 100 times closer to its star than Jupiter's orbit is to our Sun. The atmosphere of MASCARA-2 b reache ... more
+ Newly discovered exoplanet dethrones former king of Kepler-88 planetary system
+ Hubble observes aftermath of massive collision
+ Researchers use 'hot Jupiter' data to mine exoplanet chemistry
+ New study reveals life's earliest evolution was more complicated than previously suspected
+ ASU scientists lead study of galaxy's 'water worlds'
+ Scientists find microbes eating ethane spewing from deep-sea vents
+ Astronomers discover planet that never was
Mysteries of Uranus' oddities explained by Japanese astronomers
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Apr 30, 2020
The ice giant Uranus' unusual attributes have long puzzled scientists. All of the planets in our Solar System revolve around the Sun in the same direction and in the same plane, which astronomers believe is a vestige of how our Solar System formed from a spinning disc of gas and dust. Most of the planets in our Solar System also rotate in the same direction, with their poles orientated perpendic ... more
+ Jupiter probe JUICE: Final integration in full swing
+ The birth of a "Snowman" at the edge of the Solar System
+ New Horizons pushing the frontier ever deeper into the Kuiper Belt
+ Mysteries of Uranus' oddities explained by Japanese astronomers
+ Jupiter's Great Red Spot shrinking in size, not thickness
+ Researchers find new minor planets beyond Neptune
+ Ultraviolet instrument delivered for ESA's Jupiter mission


How the blob came back
Boulder CO (SPX) Apr 22, 2020
Weakened wind patterns likely spurred the wave of extreme ocean heat that swept the North Pacific last summer, according to new research led by the University of Colorado Boulder and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego. The marine heat wave, named the "Blob 2.0" after 2013's "Blob," likely damaged marine ecosystems and hurt coastal fisheries. Waters ... more
+ A cheap organic steam generator to purify water
+ Ocean biodiversity has not increased substantially for hundreds of millions of years - new study
+ Simulated deep-sea mining affects ecosystem functions at the seafloor
+ Water recycling can reduce pressure of urban usage on fresh water resources
+ Recycling could dramatically slash cities' need for fresh water resources
+ Coronavirus calm reveals flourishing Venice Lagoon ecosystem
+ Researchers explore ocean microbes' role in climate effects
Galileo Green Lane, easing pressure at the EU's internal borders
Prague, Czechia (SPX) Apr 28, 2020
The European GNSS Agency (GSA) is working together with the European Commission (EC) on an app to facilitate the movement of goods and freight within the EU in support of the COVID-19 pandemic response. The "Galileo Green Lane" app will ease the flow of freight through borders and enable the efficient transit of critical goods. The COVID-19 outbreak represents a serious threat not only to ... more
+ Quantum entanglement offers unprecedented precision for GPS, imaging and beyond
+ Galileo positioning aiding Covid-19 reaction
+ GPS celebrates 25th year of operation
+ India develops unique model to hit enemy targets without positioning error
+ Apple data show dramatic impact of virus on movement
+ USSF reschedules next GPS launch
+ China to launch last satellite for BeiDou navigation system in May


NASA CubeSat Will Shine a Laser Light on the Moon's Darkest Craters
Pasadena CA (JPL) Apr 28, 2020
As astronauts explore the Moon during the Artemis program, they may need to make use of the resources that already exist on the lunar surface. Take water, for instance: Because it's a heavy and therefore expensive resource to launch from Earth, our future explorers might have to seek out ice to mine. Once excavated, it can be melted and purified for drinking and used for rocket fuel. But how muc ... more
+ NASA scientists tapped to mature more rugged seismometer system to measure moonquakes
+ Musk, Bezos win NASA contracts for Moon lander
+ USGS releases first-ever comprehensive geologic map of the moon
+ ESA helps analyse untouched Moon rocks
+ China's Chang'e-4 probe resumes work for 17th lunar day
+ Moon dust and 3D printing will be standard for future lunar operations
+ Time-travelling ESA team explore a virtual Moon
Asteroid 1998 OR2 to Safely Fly Past Earth This Week
Pasadena CA (JPL) Apr 29, 2020
A large near-Earth asteroid will safely pass by our planet on Wednesday morning, providing astronomers with an exceptional opportunity to study the 1.5-mile-wide (2-kilometer-wide) object in great detail. The asteroid, called 1998 OR2, will make its closest approach at 5:55 a.m. EDT (2:55 a.m. PDT). While this is known as a "close approach" by astronomers, it's still very far away: The ast ... more
+ Hubble watches Comet ATLAS disintegrate into more than two dozen pieces
+ NASA's Swift mission tallied water from interstellar Comet Borisov
+ Asteroid visiting Earth's neighborhood brings its own face mask
+ Population of Interstellar Asteroids Found Hiding in Plain Sight
+ 2016 Arizona meteorite fall points researchers to source of ll chondrites
+ Interstellar comet Borisov reveals its chemistry and possible origins
+ Hubble probes alien comet's chemical makeup


Wildlife conservation aided by L3Harris Electro-Optical/Infrared Technology
Melbourne FL (SPX) Apr 23, 2020
When John Romero, president of Owyhee Air Research (OAR), got into the business of wildlife research, he did so for the love of wildlife. Now, he says, "it's more a love of the work and the services we can provide." The Nampa, Idaho-based company is on the forefront of wildlife study, wildfire containment and natural resource surveying using L3Harris aerial infrared technology. OAR s ... more
+ How NASA is Helping the World Breathe More Easily
+ Ball Aerospace moves into full production of the Space Force's Weather System Follow-on satellite
+ Ending global plant tracking, Proba-V assigned new focus
+ Airbus will support France and India to monitor climate change with TRISHNA
+ Identifying land cover from outer space
+ Locked-down Delhi revels in fresh air and blue sky
+ Spotting air pollution with satellites, better than ever before
Switchbacks and spikes: Parker Solar Probe data consistent with 20-year-old theory
Ann Arbor MI (SPX) Apr 30, 2020
Continued analysis of Parker Solar Probe data is starting to create a clearer picture of the sun's magnetic activity, which may bolster our ability to predict dangerous solar events. And the more information that comes in, the more it all fits with theories posited at the turn of the millennium by researchers at the University of Michigan. Justin Kasper, professor of climate and space scie ... more
+ New research helps explain why the solar wind is hotter than expected
+ SwRI to build Space Weather Follow-On L1 for NOAA
+ SwRI-led PUNCH mission achieves milestone
+ High-Res Images Reveal Fine Plasma Threads in Sun's Atmosphere
+ A journey into the northern lights
+ NASA Selects Mission to Study Causes of Giant Solar Particle Storms
+ China completes new large solar telescope


An eclipsing binary millisecond pulsar discovered by FAST
Beijing (SPX) Apr 28, 2020
Using the data obtained by the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST), a research team led by Prof. PAN Zhichen and Prof. LI Di from the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC) discovered an eclipsing binary millisecond pulsar in Globular Cluster (GC) Messier 92 (M92). Named as PSR J1717+4307A or M92A, it is the first pulsar known ... more
+ NASA's Swift Satellite Celebrates 15 Years of Multiwavelength Science
+ Hubble marks 30 years in space with tapestry of blazing starbirth
+ New design could make fiber communications more energy efficient
+ New metasurface laser produces world's first super-chiral light
+ Beyond the Brim, Sombrero galaxy's halo suggests turbulent past
+ Hungry galaxies grow fat on the flesh of their neighbors
+ The 'Camera That Saved Hubble'
The weight of the Universe
Bochum, Germany (SPX) Apr 29, 2020
Results from physicists in Bochum have challenged the Standard Model of Cosmology. Infrared data, which have recently been included in the analysis, could be decisive. Bochum cosmologists headed by Professor Hendrik Hildebrandt have gained new insights into the density and structure of matter in the Universe. Several years ago, Hildebrandt had already been involved in a research consortium ... more
+ 'Elegant' solution reveals how the universe got its structure
+ New high-energy-density physics research provides insights about the universe
+ ESO telescope sees star dance around supermassive black hole, proves Einstein right
+ "Elegant" solution reveals how the universe got its structure
+ New findings suggest laws of nature not as constant as previously thought
+ A new kind of physics
+ NSF Funds Astrophysicists to Develop Code for "Einstein Toolkit"
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