Science papers reveal new aspects of Pluto and its Moons

Mar 18, 2016, at 02:45 pm

Washington, Mar 18 (IBNS): A year ago, Pluto was just a bright speck in the cameras of NASA’s approaching New Horizons spacecraft, not much different than its appearances in telescopes since Clyde Tombaugh discovered the then-ninth planet in 1930.

Expedition 47 Soyuz raising

Mar 17, 2016, at 01:58 pm

Washington, Mar 17 (IBNS) The gantry arms close around the Soyuz TMA-20M spacecraft to secure the rocket, as seen in this long exposure taken on Wednesday at launch pad 1 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

South Africa snapped from Space Station's EarthKAM

Mar 16, 2016, at 03:23 pm

Washington, Mar 16 (Just Earth News/IBNS) The remotely controlled Sally Ride EarthKAM aboard the International Space Station snapped this striking photograph during a flyover of South Africa on Feb. 9, 2016.

NASA selects proposals to build better solar technologies for Deep Space Missions

Mar 15, 2016, at 03:33 pm

Washington, Mar 15 (Just Earth News/IBNS): NASA’s Game Changing Development (GCD) program has selected four proposals to develop solar array technologies that will aid spacecraft in exploring destinations well beyond low-Earth orbit, including Mars.

ExoMars on its way to solve red planet's mysteries

Mar 15, 2016, at 03:17 pm

Washington, Mar 15 (IBNS) The first of two joint ESA–Roscosmos missions to Mars has begun a seven-month journey to the Red Planet, where it will address unsolved mysteries of the planet’s atmosphere that could indicate present-day geological – or even biological – activity.

NASA measures U.S. south heavy rainfall from space

Mar 15, 2016, at 03:07 pm

Washington, Mar 15 (Just Earth News/IBNS): Extremely heavy rain fell over the southern United States during the past week and data from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission core satellite and others in the GPM constellation provided a look at areas with heaviest rainfall. The data showed the largest amounts of rain fell from north central Louisiana to southern Arkansas.

Dueling climate cycles may increase sea level swings

Mar 15, 2016, at 02:38 pm

Washington, Mar 15 (Just Earth News/IBNS):The tropical Pacific Ocean isn't flat like a pond. Instead, it regularly has a high side and a low side. Natural cycles such as El Niño and La Niña events cause this sea level seesaw to tip back and forth, with the ocean near Asia on one end and the ocean near the Americas on the other.

Harvard researchers design 3D material with controllable shape and size

Mar 15, 2016, at 03:32 am

New York, Mar 14 (IBNS) Harvard researchers have designed a new type of foldable material that is versatile, tunable and self actuated. It can change size, volume and shape; it can fold flat to withstand the weight of an elephant without breaking, and pop right back up to prepare for the next task.

Experiments show magnetic chips could dramatically increase computing’s energy efficiency

Mar 15, 2016, at 02:47 am

Los Angeles, Mar 14 (IBNS) In a breakthrough for energy-efficient computing, UC Berkeley engineers have shown for the first time that magnetic chips can actually operate at the lowest fundamental energy dissipation theoretically possible under the laws of thermodynamics.

Satellites and Shipwrecks: Landsat satellite spots foundered ships in coastal waters

Mar 12, 2016, at 11:08 pm

Washington, Mar 12 (IBNS) An estimated 3 million shipwrecks are scattered across the planet’s oceans. Most maritime mishaps take place close to shore where hazards to navigation — such as rocks, reefs, other submerged objects and vessel congestion — are abundant. While there is a romantic association of shipwrecks and buried treasure, it is desirable to know where they are located for many other practical reasons. The ships may be of historical significance or, if the hard substrate of the ship has created a reef, of ecological significance.

NASA selects scientists for Mars Rover research projects

Mar 12, 2016, at 11:01 pm

Washington, Mar 12 (IBNS) NASA has selected 28 researchers as participating scientists for the Curiosity Mars rover mission, including six newcomers to the rover's science team.

What’s eating at Pluto?

Mar 12, 2016, at 10:33 pm

Washington DC, Mar 12 (IBNS) Far in the western hemisphere, scientists on NASA’s New Horizons mission have discovered what looks like a giant “bite mark” on Pluto’s surface. They suspect it may be caused by a process known as sublimation—the transition of a substance from a solid to a gas. The methane ice-rich surface on Pluto may be sublimating away into the atmosphere, exposing a layer of water-ice underneath.

Astronaut Scott Kelly to retire from NASA in April

Mar 12, 2016, at 02:51 pm

Washington, Mar 12 (IBNS) NASA astronaut and one-year crew member Scott Kelly will retire from the agency, effective April 1.

Arts@CERN launches COLLIDE International Award

Mar 12, 2016, at 01:47 am

Geneva, Mar 11 (IBNS): Arts@CERN on Friday launched an international call for artists for the COLLIDE International Award-a new collaboration between CERN and FACT1.

NASA Television to Air Launch of Next Record-Breaking U.S. Astronaut

Mar 11, 2016, at 04:46 pm

Washington, Mar 11 (IBNS) On a second American record-breaking mission for 2016, NASA astronaut Jeff Williams is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station at 5:26 p.m. EDT Friday, Mar 18, with cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka of the Russian space agency Roscosmos from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. NASA Television launch coverage will begin at 4:30 p.m.

NASA Selects Instruments to Study Air Pollution, Tropical Cyclones

Mar 11, 2016, at 04:44 pm

Washington, Mar 11 (Just Earth News/IBNS) NASA has selected two proposals for new Earth science investigations that will put new instruments in low-Earth orbit to track harmful particulate air pollutants and study the development of tropical cyclones.

NASA Station leads way for improved measurements of Earth Orientation, shape

Mar 11, 2016, at 03:41 pm

Washington, Mar 11 (Just Earth News/IBNS) NASA has demonstrated the success of advanced technology for making precise measurements of Earth’s orientation and rotation – information that helps provide a foundation for navigation of all space missions and for geophysical studies of our planet.

PSLV-C32 successfully launches India's sixth Navigation Satellite IRNSS-1F

Mar 11, 2016, at 12:02 am

Sriharikota, Mar 10 (IBNS): In its thirty fourth flight (PSLV-C32), ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle successfully launched the 1425 kg IRNSS-1F, the sixth satellite in the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) on Thursday from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota.

India's sixth navigation satellite launched successfully

Mar 10, 2016, at 10:41 pm

Sriharikota, Mar 10 (IBNS) Indian rocket PSLV C-32 successfully put into orbit the country’s sixth navigation satellite, the 1,425-kg IRNSS-1F, around 20 minutes into flight, and at an altitude of 488.9 km, after a successful lift off from Sriharikota (Tamil Nadu) at 4pm on Thursday.

Solar eclipse over South Pacific Ocean

Mar 10, 2016, at 02:55 pm

California, Mar 10 (IBNS) During the afternoon of March 9, 2016, a total solar eclipse was visible in parts of southeast Asia and a partial eclipse was visible in parts of Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, and America Samoa.

NASA targets May 2018 launch of Mars InSight Mission

Mar 10, 2016, at 02:51 pm

California, Mar 10 (Just Earth News/IBNS) NASA’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission to study the deep interior of Mars is targeting a new launch window that begins May 5, 2018, with a Mars landing scheduled for Nov. 26, 2018.

NASA tests inflatable heat shield technology for deep space missions

Mar 09, 2016, at 04:03 pm

New york, Mar 9 (IBNS) Before NASA uses its new inflatable technology for slowing spacecraft that are entering the atmospheres of other planets, it will first need to be packed into the tight confines of a rocket.

NASA Glenn Technology pumps hope into broken hearts

Mar 09, 2016, at 03:46 pm

New York, Mar 9 (IBNS) Dr. Mark Rodefeld knows the hearts of children. As a pediatric heart surgeon at Indiana University, he’s spent decades fixing them.

NASA recognizes outstanding small businesses with industry awards

Mar 09, 2016, at 03:45 pm

New York, Mar 9 (IBNS) The winners of the Fiscal Year 2015 agency-level Small Business Industry Awards (SBIA) were announced Tuesday during the spring 2016 NASA Industry Forum meeting hosted by the agency’s Office of Small Business Programs at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

Citizen scientists help NASA researchers understand Auroras

Mar 09, 2016, at 01:16 am

California, Mar 8 (IBNS) Space weather scientist Liz MacDonald has seen auroras more than five times in her life, but it was the aurora she didn’t see that affected her the most.

NASA to provide live coverage for March 8 solar eclipse

Mar 09, 2016, at 12:56 am

California, Mar 8 (IBNS) NASA, in partnership with the Exploratorium Science Center in San Francisco, will host activities around the Mar 8 total solar eclipse, including opportunities to talk with solar scientists and live coverage of the eclipse originating from Woleai island in Micronesia.

NASA awards contract for test evaluation, support

Mar 08, 2016, at 03:42 pm

California, Mar 8 (IBNS) NASA has awarded a contract to Jacobs Technology Inc. of Tullahoma, Tennessee, for continued test and operations support at the agency’s White Sands Test Facility (WSTF) in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

NASA analyzes March 7 U.S. Pacific Northwestern Storm System

Mar 08, 2016, at 03:35 pm

California, Mar 7 (IBNS) NASA's RapidScat instrument spied tropical-storm-force winds in a weather system affecting the Pacific Northwestern U.S. and southwestern Canada on Mar 6 and Mar 7.

NASA, Honeywell bring Hip-Hop education show to West Coast

Mar 08, 2016, at 03:20 pm

California, Mar 8 (IBNS) NASA and Honeywell are visiting the West Coast with the FMA Live! Forces in Motion show for a spring 2016 tour designed to ignite students' interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

World Meteorological Organization Secretary General Petteri Taalas meets Harsh Vardhan

Mar 08, 2016, at 01:11 am

New Delhi, Mar 7 (IBNS) Secretary General, World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Geneva Dr Petteri Taalas, called on the Minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Harsh Vardhan, in New Delhi on Monday.