Mercury-bound NASA probe snaps first approach shots before August flyby

NASA’s Mercury-bound MESSENGER spacecraft — less than three months from an Earth flyby that will slingshot it toward the inner solar system — successfully tested its main camera by snapping distant approach shots of Earth and the Moon.

MESSENGER took a set of six pictures on May 11 with the narrow-angle camera in its Mercury Dual Imaging System, or MDIS. Earth was about 18.4 million miles (29.6 mi

On 4 July 2005, the NASA Deep Impact spacecraft will visit Comet 9P/Tempel 1. It will launch a 370 kg impactor probe that should produce a crater on the surface of the comet and a plume of gas, dust and ejected material.

Although dramatic images of the impact may be sent to Earth in near-real time by the Deep Impact spacecraft and its impactor, the spacecraft themselves have limited remote sensing capability. The parent spacecraft will observe the impact from 500 kilometres di

New research from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) links a particular magnetic structure on the Sun with the genesis of powerful solar storms that can buffet Earth’s atmosphere. The research may enable scientists to create more accurate computer models of the solar storms, known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs), and could eventually point the way to forecasting the storms days before they occur. Sarah Gibson, a scientist at NCAR’s High Altitude Observatory (HAO), wil

Type Ic supernovae, or hypernovae, may be source of powerful bursts

Observations by two of the world’s largest telescopes provide strong evidence that a peculiar type of exploding star may be the origin of elusive gamma-ray bursts that have puzzled scientists for more than 30 years.

A team of astronomers from Italy, Japan, Germany and the United States, including the University of California, Berkeley, conclude from observations with the Keck and Subaru telescopes in H

The same kind of chemical coating used to shed rainwater from aircraft and automobile windows also dramatically enhances the sensitivity and reaction time of hydrogen sensors. Hydrogen sensor technology is a critical component for safety and other practical concerns in the proposed hydrogen economy. For example, hydrogen sensors will detect leaks from hydrogen powered cars and fueling stations long before the gas becomes an explosive hazard.

The discovery was made by a team led by

Today’s computers and other technological gizmos operate on electronic charges, but researchers predict that a new generation of smaller, faster, more efficient devices could be developed based on another scientific concept – electronic “spin.” The problem, however, is that researchers have found it challenging to control or predict spin – which keeps practical applications out of reach.

But physicists in Europe, California and at Ohio University now have found a way to manipulate

New York’s Rochester Institute of Technology and University of Rochester to present results

Two astronomers have used NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory to discover a shell of superheated gas around a dying star in the Milky Way galaxy.

Joel Kastner, professor of imaging science at the Rochester Institute of Technology, and Rodolpho Montez, a graduate student in physics and astronomy at the University of Rochester, will present their results today at the American

Astronomers using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope have imaged a giant molecular cloud being shredded by howling stellar winds and searing radiation, exposing a group of towering dust pillars harboring infant stars, according to a University of Colorado at Boulder researcher.

Nathan Smith, a Hubble Fellow and postdoctoral researcher at CU-Boulder’s Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy, said the violent panorama is unfolding in the Carina Nebula, located in the southern Mi

A scientist using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has found evidence that two white dwarf stars are orbiting each other in a death grip, destined to merge.

The data indicate gravitational waves are carrying energy away from the star system at a prodigious rate, making it a prime candidate for future missions designed to directly detect these ripples in space-time.

Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity predicted a binary star system should emit gravitation

The St. Petersburg researchers suggest that infrared emission should be used to treat burns. The Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises (FASIE) will help the authors in the framework of the “Start” program to develop and begin production of devices required for such treatment based on silicon light-emitting diodes.

A unique device based on silicon light-emitting diodes was developed by the St. Petersburg physicists – specialists of the Ioffe Physico-Technical I

Jules Verne, the first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), will be launched next year by a specific version of Ariane 5 called the Ariane 5 Evolution Storable upper stage Automated Transfer Vehicle, or A5 ES-ATV for short.

Although the ATV does not use the powerful ECA version of Ariane 5, which was launched successfully into geostationary orbit in February 2005, it does need an Ariane 5 equipped with the powerful Vulcain 2 main engine, and featuring the storable propellant upper

Data from the NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini-Huygens mission are providing convincing evidence that Saturn’s moon Phoebe was formed elsewhere in the Solar System, and was only later caught by the planet’s gravitational pull.

One way to unlock Phoebe’s secrets is using Cassini’s Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS), developed by a team of US (JPL), French and Italian (ASI) scientists and engineers. The science team is made by a large international group of US, Italian, French an

Researchers from the United Kingdom, France and the DUBBLE beamline at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) have made a step forward in research on glass. They have monitored the change in the structure of zeolites, crystalline solids, into an almost perfect glass when heated. They have done this by recording vibrations involving groups of atoms in zeolites that subsequently characterise the glass. Their results are published in the last issue of Science. Zeolites are porous cr

What if the speed of light is a constant only most of the time? What if gravity sometimes pushed instead of pulled? Scientists are increasingly asking what would seem like far-out questions regarding the laws and rules of physics after discovering conditions and materials where the rules don’t quite apply. Take the Doppler effect.

The Doppler effect is in use everywhere, everyday. Police use it to catch speeders. Satellites use it to track space debris and air-traffic control

European entrepreneurs, small businesses, academia and research institutes have the chance to win business development support worth €50 000 if they come up with the best idea for an innovative use of Galileo, Europe’s coming global navigation satellite system.

The Galileo Masters 2005 competition, which has ESA’s European Space Incubator as one of its sponsors, is being run under the patronage of the Bavarian Minister for Economic Affairs, Dr Otto Wiesheu. Its aim is to enc

In 2006, with the launch of Jules Verne, the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) will become the new European powerful automatic re-supply spaceship able to bring an indispensable payload to the International Space Station and its permanent crew. This first ATV will carry a mix of supplies depending on the Station’s needs and its own payload capacity.

ESA, NASA and Russian counterparts are already defining the priorities to accommodate the most appropriate combination of different sup