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Apr 28, 2020

From Shuttle Sadness to Dragon Delight — USA prepares to regain domestic crew launch capability

Posted by in category: space travel

The gap in US domestic crew launch capability is coming to an end as soon as next month, concluding a convoluted and painful path that ultimately began when Columbia was lost during STS-107. The last time American astronauts launched from US soil was in 2011 with Shuttle Atlantis during STS-135. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is set to launch with Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken onboard the Crew Dragon as early as May 27.

For decades, the US relied on the Space Shuttle as its crew launch vehicle. While the Shuttle era was filled with accomplishments, its cost and complexity curtailed its envisioned role in taking the US space program forward and was ultimately shackled by safety issues that resulted in the loss of two orbiters and their crews.

The findings from The Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) ultimately set NASA on a path to transition to a new crew vehicle, to be designed and built while the Space Shuttle Program concluded a final swansong of missions focused on the assembly of the International Space Station (ISS).

Apr 28, 2020

Two-person-together MRI scans on couples investigates how touching is perceived in the brain

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Researchers in Finland can now scan two people together, showing that touching synchronizes couple’s brains, making them mirror each other’s movements.

Apr 28, 2020

Kondo cloud seen at last

Posted by in category: materials

New observations could boost understanding of multiple-impurity systems such as Kondo lattices, spin glasses and high transition-temperature superconductors.

Apr 28, 2020

Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google have on you

Posted by in category: futurism

The harvesting of our personal details goes far beyond what many of us could imagine. So I braced myself and had a look.

Apr 28, 2020

HK scientists say new antiviral coating can protect surfaces for 90 days

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

HONG KONG (Reuters) — Researchers at a Hong Kong university say they have developed an antiviral coating which could provide 90 days of “significant” protection against bacteria and viruses such as the one causing COVID-19.

The coating, called MAP-1, took 10 years to develop and can be sprayed on surfaces that are frequently used by the public, such as elevator buttons and handrails, researchers at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) say.

“These places are frequently touched, and, at the same time, serve as a very effective medium for transmission of diseases,” said HKUST Adjunct Professor Joseph Kwan, one of the chief researchers in the team that developed the product.

Apr 28, 2020

Escapee delays countdown to Ebola epidemic in the DRC

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

The DRC was on the verge of declaring an end to the epidemic on Monday 13 April.

But a new case was declared by the authorities on Friday 10 April.

In total, the Ebola haemorrhagic fever epidemic has killed 2,279 people in 3,461 cases (3,316 confirmed and 145 probable) since it was officially declared on 1 August 2018.

Apr 28, 2020

China Reveals Exotic Flying Saucer-Shaped “Armed Helicopter” Concept (Updated)

Posted by in category: military

Circa 2019


The Chinese claim the design will have impressive performance, but similar aircraft in the past have had trouble just getting off the ground.

Continue reading “China Reveals Exotic Flying Saucer-Shaped ‘Armed Helicopter’ Concept (Updated)” »

Apr 28, 2020

Ngrave Announces ‘Military-Grade’ Hardware Crypto Wallet

Posted by in categories: cryptocurrencies, military

Ngrave has launched what it claims is the first cryptocurrency wallet boasting EAL7-certification — one of the highest security gradings in the world.

Apr 28, 2020

Iran launches its 1st military satellite into orbit: reports

Posted by in categories: military, satellites

Iran has apparently lofted its first military satellite into orbit, ending a series of setbacks for the nation’s space program.

A two-stage Qassed rocket lifted off from the Markazi Desert in central Iran on Wednesday (April 22) and successfully delivered a military reconnaissance satellite called Nour to orbit, Al-Jazeera reported. The rocket could be seen successfully launching into soace in this video from Iran’s Tasnim News Agency and PressTV.

Apr 28, 2020

Taking on the challenge of Mars sample return

Posted by in category: space

At the highest level, Mars sample return sounds very straightforward: go to Mars, grab some rocks, and bring them back to Earth. Easy!

Easier said than done, though. While NASA has demonstrated the ability to land on Mars and travel across its surface on several missions, the challenges of gathering samples, putting them into a vehicle that launches them into Martian orbit, and then getting those samples back to Earth, increases the complexity of the endeavor exponentially more than linearly.

NASA announced its intent in August 2017 to pursue a “lean” sample return strategy in an effort to minimize the complexity, and cost, of getting samples back (see “Turning a corner on Mars,” The Space Review, August 19, 2019). Since then, NASA and the European Space Agency have said they will collaborate on a Mars Sample Return program, but the agencies have elaborated little on that overall architecture.