World News: Space

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Thursday, September 25, 2014

NASA uses three space telescopes to detect water vapor on Neptune-sized exoplanet

byMariella Moon|@mariella_moon| 7 hours ago

NASA has been discovering one exoplanet after another these days, but its scientists have to look a lot closer if they want to see more details, such as the planets' color or whether they have water. That's exactly what the agency did while observing HAT-P-11b -- by combining the power of three space telescopes, scientists have found clear skies and water vapor on the atmosphere of the Neptune-sized exoplanet. NASA observed the distant world while it was crossing its solar system's sun using one of Hubble's wide field cameras. Water vapor typically absorbs starlight during that process, and it's that light that reaches our telescopes. In order to confirm whether it's actually water vapor (mixed with hydrogen gas and other molecules), the scientists compared Hubble's data to visible-light data collected by Kepler and Spitzer light data taken at infrared wavelengths.

To note, this isn't the first time scientists found water vapor on exoplanets. But, they were all more akin to the size of Jupiter, since it's tough observing smaller ones like this from afar, especially since most of them seem to have cloudy atmospheres. This particular discovery gives NASA hope that it can work its way down to even smaller planets, until it can effectively observe Earth-sized rocky worlds in other solar systems.

Source: NASA

Tags: exoplanet, hubble, kepler, nasa, spitzer Hide Comments 0Comments

Monday, July 7, 2014

Retired NASA probe brought back to life after 27 years drifting in space

BYSharif Sakr @shotsheriff17 hours ago

The last time ISEE-3 fired its engines, Madonna was moving up the charts, the stock market was booming and President Reagan was busily denying that he'd secretly sold weapons to Iran. After that final gasp from its thrusters, in February 1987, the International Sun-Earth Explorer probe would have drifted into permanent retirement -- if a $150,000 crowdfunded project hadn't come along to save it at the last minute. That project has just scored it first big success, by remotely reawakening the 36-year-old craft's engines and altering its course in order to make it easier to communicate with. Keith Cowing, who's co-leading the private group in charge of the resurrection, blogged that it was "all in all, a very good day." If the next steps go equally well, the idea is to reconfigure ISEE-3's onboard computers and sensors so that they can be used for a bit of citizen science during remaining two-month, four million-mile journey back to earth.

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Via: Scientific American

Source: Space College

Tags: international sun-earth explorer, isee-3, keith cowing, nasa, probe, retirement, space Next: Xbox One's Kinect sensor coming to Windows on July 15th .fyre .fyre-comment-divider > span.fyre-comment-reply-wrapper {top: 18px;}.fyre .fyre-comment-divider > a, .fyre .fyre-comment-divider > a:hover {top: 20px;} ✖AboutAbout EngadgetContact usAdvertiseAbout Our AdsCommunityForumsEngadget MetaCommunity guidelinesReviewsProduct reviewsWrite a reviewContributeSend us a tip!Add to our databaseWrite a reviewStart a discussionAsk a questionLive eventsEngadget ExpandEngadget LivePopular topicsMobileHDAltSoftwareAppleFollow EngadgetEngadget AppsMore Apps from Engadget

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Google Project Tango smartphones heading to space this week

BYEdgar Alvarez @abcdedgar5 hours ago

Google is no stranger to having some of its devices up in space, what with the Nexus S and One each taking on different missions in years past. Up next: Project Tango. The search giant's smartphone, which packs 3D sensors that allow it to track and map just about anything around it, has been playing a role in NASA's Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellite program, otherwise known as SPHERES. As Reuters notes, these spherical satellites could one day "take over daily chores for astronauts or even handle risky duties outside of the vessel." Accordingly, on July 11th, NASA and Google are doing good on the promise to launch Project Tango smartphones into orbit, where they be will be used as "the brains and eyes" of the bowling ball-sized, hovering robots at the International Space Station.

SPHERES Project manager, Chris Provencher, told Reuters they had been looking to add better processing power, cameras as well as a slew of sensors to the robots, and smartphones were the way to go. "This type of capability is exactly what we need for a robot that's going to do tasks anywhere inside the space station," he said about Tango possessing the right attributes to meet the program's needs. "We wanted to add communication, a camera, increase the processing capability, accelerometers and other sensors. As we were scratching our heads thinking about what to do, we realized the answer was in our hands [smartphones]."

[SPHERES image credit: NASA]

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Via: VentureBeat

Source: Reuters

Tags: 3D, Google, International Space Station, InternationalSpaceStation, ISS, NASA, Project Tango, ProjectTango, Robots Next: Google Play encryption bug is blocking paid apps from using Android Wear .fyre .fyre-comment-divider > span.fyre-comment-reply-wrapper {top: 18px;}.fyre .fyre-comment-divider > a, .fyre .fyre-comment-divider > a:hover {top: 20px;} ✖AboutAbout EngadgetContact usAdvertiseAbout Our AdsCommunityForumsEngadget MetaCommunity guidelinesReviewsProduct reviewsWrite a reviewContributeSend us a tip!Add to our databaseWrite a reviewStart a discussionAsk a questionLive eventsEngadget ExpandEngadget LivePopular topicsMobileHDAltSoftwareAppleFollow EngadgetEngadget AppsMore Apps from Engadget

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Monday, June 16, 2014

3D printer headed to the International Space Station this August

BYZach Honig @zachhonig9 hours ago

Astronauts on the International Space Station will need to make room for one more gadget: a NASA-certified 3D printer. The device, designed by Made in Space at NASA's Ames Research Park in Mountain View, will launch on SpaceX CRS-4 in August, a few months ahead of schedule. Initially, astronauts will test the printer in the ISS' microgravity environment, but eventually it could be used to build tools and other hardware needed for on-board repairs or cubesat deployments. Down the road, Made in Space's clients could also have access to the printer for their own experiments. "This is unprecedented access to space," CEO Aaron Kemmer said in a press release. "If you want to 3D print in space, contact us now."

[Image credit: NASA]

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Via: Space.com, 3DPrint.com

Source: Made in Space

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Monday, June 9, 2014

International Space Station beams a video back to Earth using lasers (video)

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