Plainsboro NJ (SPX) Jan 29, 2021
A new type of rocket thruster that could take humankind to Mars and beyond has been proposed by a physicist at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. The device would apply magnetic fields to cause particles of plasma, electrically charged gas also known as the fourth state of matter, to shoot out the back of a rocket and, because of the conservation of moment

Dresden, Germany (SPX) Jan 29, 2021
The study of warm dense matter helps us understand what is going on inside giant planets, brown dwarfs, and neutron stars. However, this state of matter, which exhibits properties of both solids and plasmas, does not occur naturally on Earth. It can be produced artificially in the lab using large X-ray experiments, albeit only at a small scale and for short periods of time. Theoretical and

Dalian, China (SPX) Jan 29, 2021
Studying the creation and evolution of sulfur-containing compounds in outer space is essential for understanding interstellar chemistry. CS2 is believed to be the most important molecule in comet nuclei, interstellar dust, or ice cores. CS and S2 are the photodissociation fragments of CS2. Forty years ago, the emission spectra of only CS and S2 species, and not those of CS2 species, were o

Boston MA (SPX) Jan 29, 2021
MIT researchers have discovered four new exoplanets orbiting a sun-like star just over 200 light-years from Earth. Because of the diversity of these planets and brightness of their star, this system could be an ideal target for atmospheric characterization with NASA's upcoming James Webb Space Telescope. Tansu Daylan, a postdoc at the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, led

Heidelberg, Germany (SPX) Jan 29, 2021
Scientists have been finding ring-like structures indicating planet formation in the disks surrounding young Sun-like stars for several years. Astronomers led by Nicolas Kurtovic from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany, have now detected similar signals in disks of young very low-mass stars that are considerably smaller and less massive than their counterparts. A

Toulouse, France (SPX) Jan 29, 2021
Airbus has been awarded a CLTV (Cis-Lunar Transfer Vehicle) study for a "Moon Cruiser" by the European Space Agency (ESA). According to the study concept (two parallel Phase A/B1), the CLTV is a versatile, autonomous logistics vehicle that could, for example, provide timely and efficient support to NASA and ESA in the implementation of the future Artemis Moon missions. The spacecraft will be bas

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Jan 29, 2021
With a suite of new national and international spacecraft primed to explore the Red Planet after their arrival next month, NASA's MAVEN mission is ready to provide support and continue its study of the Martian atmosphere. MAVEN launched in November 2013 and entered the Martian atmosphere roughly a year later. Since that time, MAVEN has made fundamental contributions to understanding the hi

Washington DC (SPX) Jan 29, 2021
The year 1986 was shaping up to be the most ambitious one yet for NASA's Space Shuttle Program. The agency's plans called for up to 15 missions, including the first flight from the West Coast launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Other important missions included the launch of two planetary spacecraft with very tight launch windows, an astronomy mission to study Halley's Comet,

Bethesda, MD (SPX) Jan 29, 2021
America's first astronaut, Alan Shepard, took that first suborbital flight of 15 minutes on May 15, 1961. The expected flight time was so short that NASA assumed no toilet facilities would be needed. However, Shepard had to endure several hours in his Mercury capsule before lift-off due to launch delays. You can imagine the results, but it wasn't pretty. By the time NASA began launching Ge

Washington (Sputnik) Jan 29, 2021
The crew on the International Space Station (ISS) has faced unique challenges while producing a new virtual reality documentary although factors such as weightlessness have also provided an advantage, Russian cosmonaut and ISS engineer Sergey Kud-Sverchkov told Sputnik. In December, Russia's Space Agency Roscosmos announced it is producing a documentary series - together with Canada's Feli