U.S. space agency NASA received the final signal from its Cassini spacecraft, which ended a groundbreaking 13-year Saturn mission on Friday with a meteor-like plunge into the planet’s atmosphere, transmitting data until the final moment. Cassini, the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn, ended its mission at 7:55 a.m. EDT (1155 GMT), shortly after it lost contact with … [Read more...]
NASA chooses Lucy and Psyche for asteroid missions
NASA has announced the choice of two new projects of space missions to asteroids in the Discovery program, in order to learn more about the start-up period of our solar system which has an age estimated at 4,6 billions of years, according to the AFP. For the first mission, NASA has announced that they will launch a spacecraft in 2021 which will study the so-called 'Trojans … [Read more...]
Mars Ice Home made by NASA for the first human mission on Mars looks like an igloo
'Mars Ice Home', the habitat designed by NASA and the winners of a project contest for the first human mission on Mars in 2030, looks like an igloo and has the merit of being an excellent insulator against the cosmic radiation, but at the same time the iced used to raise the structure can be used as fuel for the ship which will take off toward the Earth at the end of the … [Read more...]
The small planet Ceres is abundant in ice, according to NASA
The little planet Ceres, an enigmatic rocky body of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, is rich in ice just below its dark surface, announced the scientists in a study which might clear the early history of our solar system, informs Reuters. The discovery, presented in the study published in the magazines Nature Astronomy and Science, could stimulate the first … [Read more...]
Galileo, the European navigation system via satellite, started to function
Europe has launched the first services of its navigation system through satellite, Galileo, on the occasion of an official ceremony in Brussels, reports the AFP. 'It is a major achievement for Europe (...) No European country would be able to do this by itself', said the European commissioner for industry, Elzbieta Bienkowska. 'It is the result of a common effort for the … [Read more...]
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has a problem with the drilling mechanism
The Mars rover Curiosity of NASA stopped its ascension to a mountain that presents many cavities which might be habitable for the engineers who are in charge of the project to be able to solve a problem at one of its key-instruments, announces the scientists, informs Reuters. Curiosity landed on Mars after four years in order to determine if the planet that looks the most like … [Read more...]
John Glenn, the former astronaut and senator, dies at 95
The former American astronaut and senator John Glenn, the first American who made an orbital flight around the Earth, died on Thursday at the age of 95 years, announced the governor of Ohio, John Kasich, quoted by the international press agencies. Glenn was hospitalized, announced on Wednesday a spokesman for the Ohio State University, the institution which gave the astronaut's … [Read more...]
NASA prepares for Artificial Intelligence testing of Underwater Drones
Researchers at the NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory are working on a project to improve the technologies of the current submersibles through the implementation of artificial intelligence to help the underwater robots to do scientific missions, writes UPI.com. The researchers at the NASA, in collaboration with the scientists from the Science at Remote Sensing Solutions, … [Read more...]