The Sky Tonight

April 11, 2013

Beer Cans For Deep Space
Sydney, Australia (SPX) Apr 11, 2013
The recent announcement of a NASA plan to drag an asteroid into lunar orbit with a robot spacecraft, then stage a crewed astronaut expedition to explore it, has stunned many boffins. The plan is highly original, slightly strange, and probably quite feasible. It also seems to have struck a chord with the general public, judging by the reactions to my earlier article (More Treasures from Asteroids) on this subject. While there are many potential scientific and technical benefits from such a mission, ... read more

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UA Helps Lead U.S. Exploration of Asteroids Scientists at the University of Arizona welcome President Barack Obama's NASA budget proposal, rolled out this week, and specifically its focus on gaining a better understanding of asteroids that co ... more		NASA's Asteroid Initiative Benefits From Rich History NASA's FY2014 budget proposal includes a plan to robotically capture a small near-Earth asteroid and redirect it safely to a stable orbit in the Earth-moon system where astronauts can visit and expl ... more		Suzaku 'Post-mortem' Yields Insight into Kepler's Supernova An exploding star observed in 1604 by the German astronomer Johannes Kepler held a greater fraction of heavy elements than the sun, according to an analysis of X-ray observations from the Japan-led ... more
				Retired Star Found With Planets And Debris Disc ESA's Herschel space observatory has provided the first images of a dust belt - produced by colliding comets or asteroids - orbiting a subgiant star known to host a planetary system. After bil ... more		Characterizing The Lunar Radiation Environment The radiation environment near the Moon could be damaging to humans and electronics on future missions. To characterize this potentially hazardous environment, the Cosmic Ray Telescope for the ... more

Space Exploration Auction - April 18 - Dallas, Texas

The Space Cowboys are Back You can't make this stuff up! The latest idea from NASA sounds like a "space western." In this case one cowboy, played by a robotic spacecraft, is sent to lasso a small asteroid and bring it back to ... more		The Great Exoplanet Debate At the 2012 Astrobiology Science Conference, Astrobiology Magazine hosted a plenary session titled: "Expanding the Habitable Zone: The Hunt for Exoplanets Now and Into the Future." Originally formul ... more		Revolutionising the Skies: How Helsing's CA-1 Europa Drone Could Transform Autonomous Warfare Lockheed Martin Sikorsky unveils scalable Nomad drone family for autonomous long-range missions Firefly Aerospace to Acquire SciTec in $855M Deal Expanding National Security Portfolio		More Treasures from Asteroids The recent announcement of a potential NASA plan to robotically capture an asteroid, transport it to lunar orbit and use it as a target for a human expedition is amazing. Admittedly, it sounds ... more
				Russia rekindles Moon exploration program, intends setting up first human outposts there Having on hand an impressive record of successful moon missions performed when it was the Soviet Union, Russia has set to revive a robotic moon exploration program. The country's serious intentions ... more		NASA Taps the Power of Zombie Stars in Two-in-One Instrument Neutron stars have been called the zombies of the cosmos. They shine even though they're technically dead, occasionally feeding on neighboring stars if they venture too close. Interestingly, these u ... more

CubeSats, SmallSats and MicroSats

Solar systems for home and business installations

Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

Observationally Confirmed Supernova Explosion of a Yellow Supergiant Star Observational results of the Hubble Space Telescope announced in March 2013 confirmed the theoretical prediction by the Bersten team at the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Uni ... more		A meteorite mystery from Mercury? Early in 2012, someone in Southern Morocco picked up 35 greenish stones, including the one shown above. Purchased by a dealer in Erfoud, Morocco, it was then resold to Stefan Ralew, a meteorite coll ... more		Deep-sea mining poses new threat to sharks, rays and ghost sharks Hydropower emerges as Southeast Asia's hidden force in driving down carbon emissions An Aussie tycoon bets billions on cleaning up iron ore giant		NASA wants to tow an asteroid to the moon: senator NASA wants to grab a small asteroid and tow it into orbit around the moon, as part of a long-range plan towards establishing permanent manned outposts in space, according to a US senator. ... more
				NASA Selects Explorer Investigations for Formulation NASA's Astrophysics Explorer Program has selected two missions for launch in 2017: a planet-hunting satellite and an International Space Station instrument to observe X-rays from stars. The Tr ... more		Scientists to Io: Your Volcanoes Are in the Wrong Place Jupiter's moon Io is the most volcanically active world in the Solar System, with hundreds of volcanoes, some erupting lava fountains up to 250 miles high. However, concentrations of volcanic activi ... more

'Vulcan' wins Pluto moon name vote

Public to vote on names for Pluto moons

The PI's Perspective: The Seven-Year Itch

Power behind primordial soup discovered

University of Tennessee professor discovers how microbes survive at bare minimum

Where Life Could Thrive: Interview With John Grotzinger

NASA Selects Explorer Investigations for Formulation

Retired Star Found With Planets And Debris Disc

The Great Exoplanet Debate

Astronaut's radiation study will be critical for Mars mission

Registration Opens for NASA Night Rover Energy Challenge

Shaking ExoMars

	Scientists propose revolutionary laser system to produce the next LHC An international team of physicists has proposed a revolutionary laser system, inspired by the telecommunications technology, to produce the next generation of particle accelerators, such as the Lar ... more		On wings of light LMU physicists have, for the first time, successfully transmitted a secure quantum code through the atmosphere from an aircraft to a ground station. Can worldwide communication ever be fully s ... more		Power behind primordial soup discovered Researchers at the University of Leeds may have solved a key puzzle about how objects from space could have kindled life on Earth. While it is generally accepted that some important ingredients for ... more		Quantum tricks drive magnetic switching into the fast lane Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory, Iowa State University, and the University of Crete in Greece have found a new way to switch magnetism that is at least 1000 times fast ... more

Renewables overtake coal but growth slows: reports

OpenAI's Fidji Simo says AI investment frenzy 'new normal,' not bubble

Tokyo stocks hit new record as markets extend global rally

Mapping the Chemistry Needed for Life at Europa		Gravity-Bending Find Leads to Kepler Meeting Einstein		Stars in NGC 602a		Collision Course? A Comet Heads for Mars		Shining light on elusive dark matter
SDSC's Gordon Supercomputer Assists in Crunching Large Hadron Collider Data		Hubble breaks record for furthest supernova		ALMA Detects Signs of Star Formation Surprisingly Close to Galaxy's Supermassive Black Hole		The Great Exoplanet Debate Part Four		What Is Behind Einstein's Turbulences?

NASA Team Investigates Complex Chemistry At Titan

Astronomers Anticipate 100 Billion Earth-Like Planets

Green Pea galaxies could help astronomers understand early universe

Astrophysicists to probe dark matter in sunny California

Shape from sound - new methods to probe the universe

Europe readies for solar storm risks

LHC upgrade could yield dark matter

Swirling Secrets

Supernova remnant 1987A continues to reveal its secrets

New Insights on How Spiral Galaxies Get Their Arms

Pre-existing mineralogy may survive lunar impacts

NOAO: Star Birth in Cepheus

Black hole wakes up and has a light snack

Hungry black hole wakes up for a planet-sized snack

'Metascreen' forms ultra-thin invisibility cloak

Lensing in the Peculiar "Magatama" Galaxy

Hubble Sees J 900 Masquerading as a Double Star

Hubble observes the hidden depths of Messier 77

NASA's Swift Sizes Up Comet ISON

Dawn remains in silent pursuit of dwarf planet Ceres

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