New Studies Propose Two New Planets Beyond Pluto

New calculations from an international team of researchers suggest that there could be two unknown planets beyond Pluto.

In two new studies, published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, scientists from the University of Madrid and the University of Cambridge posit that two, or more, unknown planets are responsible for unusual behaviour beyond Neptune.

Objects, in that far-flung part of the Solar System, don’t act like we believe they should: the paths they move along do not have the orbital inclinations and axes that astronomers would expect to see, based on current theory of what researchers call "trans-Neptunian objects."

Unless, the astrophysicists posit, there’s something else out there, and, after considering the effects of the “Kozai mechanism,” the effect an object orbiting further out from a gravitational source can have one orbiting futher in, they now believe there are at least two mysterious planets at play.

“Our results may be truly revolutionary for astronomy,” says co-author Carlos de la Fuente Marcos in a news release, but the team says this is still a hypothesis.

To prove it, scientists will have to overcome two hurdles. Not only does the new theory challenge astrophysicists' current thinking about how the solar system came to be, but the sample size used in the study’s calculations contains only 13 objects.

However, the team promises that with a larger sample size, coming soon, and new research (a recently-discovered planet-in-process is much further away from a star than scientists suspected to be possible), they’ll soon have even more evidence that our solar system may be even bigger than thought.

More Information
'Flipping minor bodies: what comet 96P/Machholz 1 can tell us about the orbital evolution of extreme trans-Neptunian objects and the production of near-Earth objects on retrograde orbits' published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society - 10.1093/mnras/stu2230

European Service Module for NASA's Orion new Crewed Spacecraft

On 17 November, ESA signed a contract in Berlin with the Airbus Defence and Space division to develop and build the European Service Module for Orion, NASA’s new crewed spacecraft. 

It is the first time that Europe will provide system-critical elements for an American space transportation vehicle.

NASA intends to use this service module for the 2017 unmanned flight of Orion. The vehicle will perform a high-altitude orbital mission around the Moon.

This flight will be a precursor for future Orion human space exploration missions beyond low-Earth orbit.

The official name of Orion is ‘Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle’, because the spacecraft can be used to conduct different missions. Eventually, NASA will use Orion to send astronauts to Mars.

NASA’s Orion spacecraft will carry astronauts further into space than ever before using a module based on Europe’s Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATV). 

ATV’s distinctive four-wing solar array is recognisable in this concept. 

The ATV-derived service module, sitting directly below Orion’s crew capsule, will provide propulsion, power, thermal control, as well as supplying water and gas to the astronauts in the habitable module. 

The first Orion mission will be an uncrewed lunar flyby in 2017, returning to Earth’s atmosphere at 11 km/s ­– the fastest reentry ever.

Credit: ESA

The design of the European Service Module (ESM) is based on the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), the European supply craft for the International Space Station. It is a major achievement, as this is the first European development of a human spacecraft operating beyond Earth orbit.

“Being selected by NASA to develop critical elements for the Orion project – currently their most important exploration project – is a clear recognition of Europe’s performance in the frame of the ATV programme,” says Nico Dettmann, Head of ESA’s Space Transportation Department.

“Cooperation with NASA is going well. It is fruitful and is happening with the same good spirit as with the International Space Station partnership,” he adds.

The ESM is a cylindrical module with a diameter of 4.5 metres and a total length – main engine excluded – of 2.7 metres. It is fitted with four solar array ‘wings’ with a span of 18.8 metres. Its dry mass is 3.5 metric tons and it can carry 8.6 tons of propellant. Besides propulsion and power, ESM carries consumables.

The Critical Design Review (CDR) is planned for 2015.

ESA Rosetta team broadcast new pictures from Philae lander

Prof Jean Pierre Bibring (CNES) ESA Rosetta science team leader at the ESA update broadcast revealing new pictures from Philae lander sitting on the Comet 67/P.

The Philae is sitting close to a rocky cliff like structure, with 2 legs out of three on firm surface. The surface appears to be rocky not powdery.

The instruments on Philae are firing up to gather as much science data as possible while the onboard matteries are running.

Given that the Philae may be sitting on partial shade there is some doubt as to whether the solar panels can be deployed to extend the power cycle of the instruments' data gathering.

Prof Ulamec (DLR) of the ESA Rosetta team shows the approx area (the blue diamond) that the team believe Philae is located, on the comet.

There is some concern that is in the shade of a cliff-like structure.

The ESA team are under great pressure to produce pictures and data from the comet and this is clearly showing up in the professional but sleep deprived presentations.

Short animated sequence showing Philae leaving Rosetta on its descent to Comet 67/P.

This image from Rosetta shows a tiny dot that is the Philae lander in transit to comet 67/P. 

This is a composite picture made up of the others (above) showing an almost panaramic view around Philae.

NASA's New Wind Watcher Ready for Weather Forecasters

ISS-RapidScat data on a North Atlantic extratropical cyclone, as seen by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System used by weather forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Ocean Prediction Center.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/NOAA

In an early holiday gift to the world's weather and marine forecasting agencies, ocean-winds data from NASA's newest Earth-observing mission, the International Space Station-Rapid Scatterometer (ISS-RapidScat), are being released two months ahead of schedule.

RapidScat launched to the International Space Station on Sept. 21 on a two-year mission to boost global monitoring of ocean winds for improved weather forecasting and climate studies.

The JPL-developed space-based scatterometer is a remote-sensing instrument that uses radar pulses reflected from the ocean's surface at different angles to calculate surface wind speed and direction.

This information will improve weather and marine forecasting and hurricane monitoring.


Working at an accelerated pace, scientists and engineers have successfully cross-calibrated ISS-RapidScat's ocean winds data with data from NASA's QuikScat satellite and validated the data against ground measurements.

The team reports the RapidScat data are meeting all planned wind performance requirements and are ready to begin extending the long-term climate data record of ocean-surface winds begun by QuikScat in 1999.

New Commercial Rocket Descent Data Helps NASA with Future Mars Landings

NASA successfully captured thermal images of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on its descent after it launched in September from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The data from these thermal images may provide critical engineering information for future missions to the surface of Mars.

"Because the technologies required to land large payloads on Mars are significantly different than those used here on Earth, investment in these technologies is critical," said Robert Braun, principal investigator for NASA's Propulsive Descent Technologies (PDT) project and professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.

"This is the first high-fidelity data set of a rocket system firing into its direction of travel while traveling at supersonic speeds in Mars-relevant conditions."

"Analysis of this unique data set will enable system engineers to extract important lessons for the application and infusion of supersonic retro-propulsion into future NASA missions."

NASA equipped two aircraft with advanced instrumentation to document re-entry of the rocket's first stage.

The first stage is the part of the rocket that is ignited at launch and burns through the rocket's ascent until it runs out of propellant, at which point it is discarded from the second stage and returns to Earth.

During its return, or descent, NASA captured quality infrared and high definition images and monitored changes in the smoke plume as the engines were turned on and off.

Thermal imagery of the Space X Falcon 9 first stage performing propulsive descent Sept. 21. 

Supersonic retropropulsion data obtained from this flight test is being analyzed by NASA to design future Mars landing systems.

Image Credit: NASA

"NASA's interest in building our Mars entry, descent and landing capability and SpaceX's interest and experimental operation of a reusable space transportation system enabled acquisition of these data at low cost, without standing up a dedicated flight project of its own," said Charles Campbell, PDT project manager at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

NASA's Scientifically Calibrated In-Flight Imagery (SCIFLI) project team at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, had their eyes, cameras and telescopes trained on the Falcon with the help of two long-range aircraft provided by NASA and the U.S. Navy.

A NASA WB-57, a twin jet engine high-altitude research aircraft from Johnson, was equipped with a long-range infrared optical system to capture the images. 

It is a unique full-motion video camera system that is gimbal-mounted on the nose of the WB-57. It collects full-color high definition and infrared video.

A Navy NP-3D Orion aircraft from the Naval Air Systems Command Weapons Division's Air Test and Evaluation Squadron-30 at Point Mugu, California, was equipped with a long-range infrared optical system and also took thermal images of the launch.

Iran to Launch 3 New Satellites with More Powerful Launchers

In this undated photo provided by the Iranian Defense Ministry on Friday, June 17, 2011, technicians work on a locally manufactured satellite called Rasad. 

Image courtesy Iranian Defense Ministry.

Iran is preparing to launch three new locally made satellites to the orbit, Fars News Agency reported citing the Deputy Head of the Iranian Space Agency (ISA) Hamid Fazeli.

Tehran is preparing to orbit three new home-made satellites, called Zafar (Triumph), Tolou (Sunrise) and Pars, from more powerful launchers and on the back of bigger carriers in the near future, an official announced on Saturday. 

Credit: Fars News Agency

Deputy Head of Iran Space Agency (ISA) Hamid Fazeli made the announcement on the sidelines of a ceremony at the start of the World Space Week in Tehran today.

"Launching the under-construction satellites, including Sharifsat and Nahid, are also among the short-term plans of the ISA," he added.

Also, Iranian Vice-President for Executive Affairs Mohammad Shariatmadari told reporters in the same ceremony that Iran hopes that its Sharifsat satellite would be sent into orbit this year.

Fazeli had announced in May that Iran plans to launch three home-made monitoring satellites into orbit in the next Iranian calendar year (March 2015-March 2016).

"Zafar, Tolou and AUT Sat will be sent into space onboard the Simorq satellite carrier," he said.

Fazeli noted that the satellites would transmit images of the Earth's surface to ground stations.

Zafar will be sent into a geostationary orbit, which is a circular orbit around 36,000 kilometers (22,320 miles) above the Earth's equator.

The satellite will reportedly have a lifespan of one year and six months, and will capture images and transmit them to stations on earth.

Tolou satellite will also carry out remote sensing and topography missions, and will travel in an orbit of 500 kilometers above from the Earth’s equator.

Moreover, AUT Sat, developed by Iranian scientists at Amir Kabir University of Technology, is a monitoring and telecommunications satellite, which weighs 100 kilograms. It is expected to have a lifespan of two years.

NASA aeronautics research tests new wildfire detection tool

NASA researcher Mike Logan plans to use this small unmanned aerial vehicle to check for fires at a Virginia-North Carolina wildlife refuge as part of an agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

Credit: NASA Langley/David C. Bowman

NASA's research in unmanned aerial systems (UAS) may soon provide a means for early detection and mitigation of fires in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, a nearly 50,000-square-acre region centered on the Virginia-North Carolina border.

NASA's Langley Research Center, in nearby Hampton, Virginia, has signed a one-year agreement with the Department of the Interior's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to test small UASs for the detection of brush and forest fires.

The research is part of the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate's UAS Integration in the National Airspace System (NAS) project.

"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is evaluating the feasibility of airborne unmanned platforms and their ability to offer a safer and more cost-effective alternative for surveillance of potential areas of interest immediately following thunderstorm activity," said Great Dismal Swamp Refuge Manager Chris Lowie.

"The agency hopes to see a significant decrease in cost to survey the Great Dismal Swamp, as well as a reduction in time to detect nascent fires, which could potentially save millions of dollars to the taxpayer in firefighting costs," added Lowie.

Mike Logan, the research lead at Langley, came up with the idea after a forest fire in 2011 that lasted almost four months and cost more than $10 million to extinguish.

Smoke from that fire, which was caused by a lightning strike, traveled as far north as Maryland only three years after another $10-million blaze in 2008, according to FWS.

"I made a phone call to the local fire captain after days of inhaling peat bog smoke," said Logan. "I learned most fires are caused by lightning strikes and the only way they can spot them is by hiring an aircraft to do an aerial survey of the huge swamp. So I figured why not use a UAV as a fire detector?"

After approval from the Federal Aviation Administration, the team at Langley plans to fly a lightweight UAS equipped with cameras and transmitters over the wildlife refuge.

"One is an out-of-the-nose camera that can see smoke plumes as they are rising," Logan explained.

"The other is an infrared camera housed in the body of the plane that points down. It can find hot spots by detecting heat signatures."

Although the aircraft can fly as fast as 40 miles an hour, when used in this capacity it will be flown slower while it transmits video, allowing individuals on the ground to observe what is occurring in the live video.

The transmissions can be viewed on a laptop computer in a mobile ground station.

Logan says the drone, which weighs about 15 pounds and has an almost six-foot wingspan, has a range of about eight miles and can stay aloft as long as an hour, before the batteries need recharging.

The aircraft also can be programmed to fly on its own, but a safety pilot will monitor operations during the tests.

"This kind of application for unmanned aerial systems shows just one public benefit," said Dave Hinton, Langley associate director for UAS technologies and applications.

"They can be used to detect fires or locate people who are lost."

ESA CryoSat-2 and Jason-1 Satellites detect 'thousands' of new ocean-bottom mountains

ESA CryoSat-2 and NASA's Jason-1 satellites capture new gravity data.

ESA's CryoSat-2 and NASA's Jason-1 satellites capture new gravity data gives us our clearest view yet of the shape of the ocean floor

It is not every day you can announce the discovery of thousands of new mountains on Earth, but that is what a US-European research team has done.

What is more, these peaks are all at least 1.5km high.

ESA's CryoSat-2 Earth Observation satellite.

Credit: ESA

The reason they have gone unrecognised until now is because they are at the bottom of the ocean.

Prof Dave Sandwell (UCSD) and colleagues used Cryosat-2 and Jason-1 radar satellites to discern the mountains' presence under water and report their findings in Science Magazine.

"In the previous radar dataset we could see everything taller than 2km, and there were 5,000 seamounts," Prof Sandwell told reporters.

"With our new dataset, and we haven't fully done the work yet, I'm guessing we can see things that are 1.5km tall.

"That might not sound like a huge improvement but the number of seamounts goes up exponentially with decreasing size.

"So, we may be able to detect another 25,000 on top of the 5,000 already known," the Scripps Institution of Oceanography researcher explained.

The new detailed map of the sea floor is available here.

Knowing where the seamounts are is important for fisheries management and conservation, because it is around these topographic highs that wildlife tends to congregate.

The roughness of the seafloor is important also as it steers currents and promotes mixing, behaviours that are critical to understanding how the oceans transport heat and influence the climate.

But our knowledge of the seafloor is poor; witness the problems they have had searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet MH370, which is believed to have crashed west of Australia.

Seeing fracture zones tells scientists about the movement of the continents
The problem is that saltwater is opaque to all the standard techniques that are used to map mountains on land.

Ship-borne echosounders can gather very high-resolution information by bouncing sound off bottom structures, but less than 10% of the global oceans have been properly surveyed in this way because of the effort it involves.

Europe's SSTL new ocean winds and waves measuring method - video

The video shows in about 20 times real time speed the motion of the TechDemoSat-1 satellite over an orbit, indicated by a white cross on the world map. 

The specular reflections targeted by the SGR-ReSI are shown by yellow spots, and the measurement tracks are shown in yellow. 

The four Delay Doppler Map channels from the SGR-ReSI are shown at the top right. The spreading horseshoe shape is caused by reflections being received away from the specular point, and a rougher ocean causes more spreading. 

When reflections are received from over land and over ice, there is much less spreading. 

The red band on the map indicates the collection of “raw” unprocessed data, which takes a few minutes to transfer before the processed Delay Doppler Maps resume.

Credit: SSTL

Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) has successfully demonstrated an innovative method of measuring winds and waves from space, using GNSS Reflectometry.

This paves the way for a cost effective satellite system supporting the maritime sector and the organisations that rely on this information and it also offers improvements to weather services and climate research.

The measurements were taken from an instrument developed by SSTL, the SGR-ReSI, (Space GNSS Receiver Remote Sensing Instrument) which is flying on-board TechDemoSat-1, a technology demonstration satellite which was launched in July 2014.

TechDemoSat-1

SSTL's SGR-ReSI collects the signals from GPS and other navigation satellites after they have been reflected off the ocean surface and processes them into images called Delay Doppler Maps, from which ocean roughness and wind speed measurements at the sea surface can be interpreted.

The technique works in a similar way to existing scatterometric radar from satellites, however it eliminates the need for a transmitter and can process up to four reflections from different GPS satellites simultaneously, presenting an opportunity for collecting data more regularly and in a denser grid across the globe.

By flying the receivers on a constellation of small satellites GNSS Reflectometry data could be used to map all of the Earth's ocean surface with refreshed data every couple of hours.

This would be of enormous benefit to the maritime industry who depend on wave height and wind speed predictions for optimum ship routing, insurance claims, oil and gas rig operations, undersea cable laying and fishing conditions.

Such wind speed and wave height measurements are currently very difficult to make over the open ocean in timely manner and in a dense enough grid to be useful.

Luis Gomes, Director of Earth Observation and Science at SSTL, commented: "We are very excited about the future application of this development which extends the applications of small satellites.

"For instance, a constellation of 18 SGR-ReSIs could cover most of the world's oceans every few hours providing a real time wind and wave height service."

"These do not need to be dedicated satellites as the SGR-ReSI can be easily accommodated as a hosted payload on small satellites with a different primary mission. Our aim is to deploy such a constellation in the next two years."

The SGR-ReSI can pick up GPS reflections not only off the ocean, but also off land, snow and ice, opening up other potential new opportunities for remote sensing - for example, measuring the thickness of sea ice, snow depth, soil moisture levels and the classification of vegetative foliage.

SSTL, supported by the European Space Agency, is now working on preparing the ground processing and web interface that will allow users access to the measurements over the internet with a short delay.

New Space Station Crew Docks with Stuck Solar Array - Video

The Soyuz TMA-14M failed to deploy one of its solar arrays en-route to the International Space Station. The power aboard the spacecraft was not interrupted. They docked about 6 hours after launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

New RFID technology helps PR2 robots find household objects

A Georgia Tech research team has developed a new search algorithm that improves a robot’s ability to find and navigate to tagged objects.

Mobile robots could be much more useful in homes, if they could locate people, places and objects.

Today's robots usually see the world with cameras and lasers, which have difficulty reliably recognizing things and can miss objects that are hidden in clutter.

A complementary way robots can "sense" what is around them is through the use of small ultra-high frequency radio-frequency identification (UHF RFID) tags.

Inexpensive self-adhesive tags can be stuck on objects, allowing an RFID-equipped robot to search a room for the correct tag's signal, even when the object is hidden out of sight.

Once the tag is detected, the robot knows the object it's trying to find isn't far away.

"But RFID doesn't tell the robot where it is," said Charlie Kemp, an associate professor in Georgia Tech's Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering.

"To actually find the object and get close to it, the robot has to be more clever."

A PR2 robot successfully navigates to a medication bottle. 

Credit: Georgia Tech/Travis Deyle

That's why Kemp, former Georgia Tech student Travis Deyle and University of Washington Professor Matthew Reynolds developed a new search algorithm that improves a robot's ability to find and navigate to tagged objects.

The team has implemented their system in a PR2 robot, allowing it to travel through a home and correctly locate different types of tagged household objects, including a medication bottle, TV remote, phone and hair brush.

The research was presented September 14-18 in Chicago at the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS).

The researchers have equipped a PR2 robot with articulated, directionally sensitive antennas and a new algorithm that allows the robot to successfully find and navigate to the intended object.

Due to the physics of radio-frequency propagation, these antennas tend to receive stronger signals from a tag when they are closer to it and pointed more directly at it.

By moving around the antennas on its shoulders and driving around the room, the PR2 can figure out the direction it should move to get a stronger signal from a tag and thus become closer to a tagged object.

In essence, the robot plays the classic childhood game of "Hotter/Colder" with the tag telling the PR2 when it's getting closer to the target object.

Charlie Kemp is an associate professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering. Credit: Georgia Tech

In contrast to other approaches, the robot doesn't explicitly estimate the 3D location of the target object, which significantly reduces the complexity of the algorithm.

"Instead the robot can use its mobility and our special behaviors to get close to a tag and oriented toward it," said Deyle, who conducted the study in Kemp's lab while earning his doctoral degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Georgia Tech.

Deyle, who currently works at Google, says the research has implications for future home robots and is particularly compelling for applications such as helping people with medicine, as RFID is able to provide precise identification information about an object or a person.

"This could allow a robot to search for, grasp and deliver the right medication to the right person at the right time," he added.

"RFID provides precise identification, so the risk of delivering the wrong medication is dramatically reduced. Creating a system that allows robots to accurately locate the correct tag is an important first step."

More information: 
Travis Deyle, Matt Reynolds and Charles C. Kemp, "Finding and Navigating to Household Objects with UHF RFID Tags by Optimizing RF Signal Strength." IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2014. www.hsi.gatech.edu/hrl/pdf/iro… le_reynolds_kemp.pdf

Blue Origin to Build New BE-4 liquid rocket engine for US Launch Provider

Jeff Bezos looks on as a new model of Blue Origin's BE-4 liquid rocket engine is revealed during a press event on Sept. 17, 2014.

Credit: United Launch Alliance Instagram

Blue Origin, the secretive private spaceflight company led by billionaire Jeff Bezos, has teamed up with a veteran space launch provider to build a new rocket engine designed to reduce U.S. dependence on Russian hardware.

In an announcement today (Sept. 17), Bezos and the launch provider United Launch Alliance unveiled plans to develop Blue Origin's new BE-4 liquid rocket engine.

The new partnership will allow ULA's next-generation rockets to come equipped with engines that are built in America. At the moment, ULA uses Russian-made RD-180 engines to power its Atlas 5 rockets.

"ULA has put a satellite into orbit almost every month for the past eight years – they're the most reliable launch provider in history and their record of success is astonishing," Bezos, founder of Blue Origin and Amazon.com, said in a statement.

"The team at Blue Origin is methodically developing technologies to enable human access to space at dramatically lower cost and increased reliability, and the BE-4 is a big step forward. With the new ULA partnership, we're accelerating commercial development of the next great US-made rocket engine."

A model of Blue Origin's BE-4 rocket engine on display on Sept. 17, 2014.

Credit: United Launch Alliance Instagram

The United Launch Alliance is currently launches most U.S. government and military satellites using its Atlas 5 rockets, as well as Delta 4 booster variants.

The company is a cooperative venture by Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

Blue Origin's partnership with ULA states that full-scale BE-4 engine testing should begin in 2016, with the first flight due for launch in 2019, according to representatives.

Although ULA and Blue Origin did not release the cost of development for the BE-4 engine, it will be privately funded.

Blue Origin and ULA have committed to funding it 100 percent for the next five years. Blue Origin began testing its BE-3 rocket engine in 2013.

"This agreement ensures ULA will remain the most cost-efficient, innovative and reliable company launching the nation's most important national security, civil, human and commercial missions," Tory Bruno, president and CEO of ULA, said in today's statement.

"Blue Origin has demonstrated its ability to develop high-performance rocket engines and we are excited to bring together the best minds in engineering, supply chain management and commercial business practices to create an all-new affordable, reliable, American rocket engine that will create endless possibilities for the future of space launch."



Tensions between the United States and Russia have been heightened due to Russia's involvement with the conflict in the Ukraine. Because of that political situation, ULA has come under fire for its use of the Russian rocket engines.

Today's Blue Origin-ULA rocket engine news is the second time in two days that a commercial spaceflight vernture including Boeing has made headlines.

On Tuesday (Sept. 16), NASA announced that Boeing's manned CST-100 spacecraft, which is slated to launch on Atlas 5 rockets, was one of two vehicles picked to fly American astronauts as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Transportation Capability program.

Blue Origin's BE-4 engine won't serve as a direct replacement for RD-180s that power Atlas 5 rockets.

Instead, Blue Origin's new engine will outfit ULA's next generation of rockets, according to Blue origin representatives.

NASA also picked the Dragon spacecraft developed by California-based SpaceX, led by billionaire Elon Musk, as its second commercial space taxi for astronauts.

The announcement Tuesday came after a four-year competition of aerospace companies that included Blue Origin's Space Vehicle and the Dream Chaser space plane developed by Sierra Nevada among the spacecraft contenders.

Giant Magellan Telescope: New Mega-Telescope in Chilean Andes

Artist's impression of the Giant Magellan Telescope's mirror system.

Credit: Giant Magellan Telescope /GMTO Corporation

A gigantic telescope designed to help astronomers solve some of the universe's deepest mysteries will soon start taking shape atop an arid mountain in the Chilean Andes.

The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) completed several major external reviews earlier this year and is on target to enter the construction phase before the end of 2014, project representatives said.

If all goes according to plan, the megascope should begin observing the heavens early in the next decade.

"The group here on the project is basically anticipating that we will begin construction activities late this year," GMT director Patrick McCarthy, Carnegie Observatories, told reporters.

"We're going ahead full steam, aiming for that 2021 first light when the first few mirrors get up on the mountain, along with all the rest of the hardware."

Scientists will use the enormous telescope to probe the nature of mysterious dark energy and dark matter, find and characterise exoplanets and study how the universe's first stars and galaxies came together, GMT representatives have said.



The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) will be built on Chile's Las Campanas Peak, at an altitude of about 8,500 feet (2,550 meters). The site was leveled by an excavation blast in March 2012.

GMT will arrange seven 27.6-foot-wide (8.4 m) primary mirrors, the biggest single-piece astronomical mirrors ever made, into one light-collecting surface 80 feet (24 m) across.

The completed scope will have 10 times the resolving power of NASA's iconic Hubble Space Telescope, project representatives say.

The third primary mirror for the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) is cast in a spinning furnace at the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory Mirror Lab on Aug. 23, 2013.

Credit: Mike Wall/Space.com

The GMT design also incorporates seven smaller secondary mirrors, which will change shape to counter the blurring effects of Earth's thick atmosphere.

Each of GMT's 20-ton primary mirrors must be shaped and smoothed to near perfection. Their surfaces cannot be off by more than 20 nanometers, about the width of a single glass molecule.

Adding to the difficulty is the fact that six of the mirrors must be steeply curved, since they surround a central (symmetric) mirror.

Manufacturing and polishing the primary mirrors, activities that are done at the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory Mirror Lab, have proved to be enormously challenging, McCarthy said.

But one of the big mirrors is finished, while two others have already been cast. Casting of the fourth one is scheduled for next March.

"So we've dealt with that as our principal technical risk, and we've retired that," McCarthy said.



Fundraising is another challenge. The project's total cost is pegged at $860 million, though perhaps another $100 million will eventually be needed to cover contingencies and the cost of inflation, McCarthy said.

The money will be provided by GMT's many partners, which include educational institutions such as the University of Arizona, Harvard and the University of Chicago, private organizations like the Carnegie Institution for Science and international entities, such as the state of Sao Paulo in Brazil.

Money is now coming in "at a rate that makes us pretty confident that we'll manage to raise enough funds to keep the project on schedule, and that the schedule will be set by the engineering rather than by how fast we can raise money," McCarthy said.

Laniakea supercluster: Newly identified galactic supercluster, home to the Milky Way

A slice of the Laniakea Supercluster in the supergalactic equatorial plane, an imaginary plane containing many of the most massive clusters in this structure. 

The colours represent density within this slice, with red for high densities and blue for voids, areas with relatively little matter. 

Individual galaxies are shown as white dots. 

Velocity flow streams within the region gravitationally dominated by Laniakea are shown in white, while dark blue flow lines are away from the Laniakea local basin of attraction. 

The orange contour encloses the outer limits of these streams, a diameter of about 160 Mpc. This region contains the mass of about 100 million billion suns. 

Credit: SDvision interactive visualization software by DP at CEA/Saclay, France.

Astronomers using the National Science Foundation's Green Bank Telescope (GBT), among other telescopes, have determined that our own Milky Way galaxy is part of a newly identified ginormous supercluster of galaxies, which they have dubbed "Laniakea," which means "immense heaven" in Hawaiian.

This discovery clarifies the boundaries of our galactic neighbourhood and establishes previously unrecognized linkages among various galaxy clusters in the local Universe.

"We have finally established the contours that define the supercluster of galaxies we can call home," said lead researcher R. Brent Tully, an astronomer at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

"This is not unlike finding out for the first time that your hometown is actually part of much larger country that borders other nations."

The paper explaining this work is the cover story of the September 4 issue of the journal Nature.

Superclusters are among the largest structures in the known Universe. They are made up of groups, like our own Local Group, that contain dozens of galaxies, and massive clusters that contain hundreds of galaxies, all interconnected in a web of filaments.

Though these structures are interconnected, they have poorly defined boundaries.

To better refine cosmic mapmaking, the researchers are proposing a new way to evaluate these large-scale galaxy structures by examining their impact on the motions of galaxies.

A galaxy between structures will be caught in a gravitational tug-of-war in which the balance of the gravitational forces from the surrounding large-scale structures determines the galaxy's motion.

By using the GBT and other radio telescopes to map the velocities of galaxies throughout our local Universe, the team was able to define the region of space where each supercluster dominates.

"Green Bank Telescope observations have played a significant role in the research leading to this new understanding of the limits and relationships among a number of superclusters," said Tully.


The Milky Way resides in the outskirts of one such supercluster, whose extent has for the first time been carefully mapped using these new techniques.

This so-called Laniakea Supercluster is 500 million light-years in diameter and contains the mass of one hundred million billion Suns spread across 100,000 galaxies.

This study also clarifies the role of the Great Attractor, a gravitational focal point in intergalactic space that influences the motion of our Local Group of galaxies and other galaxy clusters.

Two views of the Laniakea Supercluster. 

Credit: SDvision interactive visualization software by DP at CEA/Saclay, France

Within the boundaries of the Laniakea Supercluster, galaxy motions are directed inward, in the same way that water streams follow descending paths toward a valley.

The Great Attractor region is a large flat bottom gravitational valley with a sphere of attraction that extends across the Laniakea Supercluster.

The name Laniakea was suggested by Nawa'a Napoleon, an associate professor of Hawaiian Language and chair of the Department of Languages, Linguistics, and Literature at Kapiolani Community College, a part of the University of Hawaii system. The name honors Polynesian navigators who used knowledge of the heavens to voyage across the immensity of the Pacific Ocean.

More information: Nature, dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature13674

Russia Angara Rocket Booster: Successful Launch

A Russian-built Angara medium-lift rocket launches on its maiden test flight from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome on July 9. 2014.

Credit: Russian Ministry of Defense

Russia's recent maiden launch of its new Angara rocket is a harbinger of bigger boosters to come.

The successful test flight also marked the country's first new launch vehicle to be built from scratch since the fall of the Soviet Union.

The July 9 suborbital flight of the light-lift Angara-1.2ML rocket lifted off from Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodrome in the country's northern Arkhangelsk region. (The "ML" stands for "maiden launch.")

The test flight, which lasted roughly 21 minutes and was not intended to reach orbit, launched the Angara rocket over Russian territory on a ballistic trajectory.

A "mass/dimensional payload simulator" topped the Angara, attached to the rocket's second stage.

That booster ultimately fell back to Earth over a targeted impact area of the Kura Range on the Kamchatka Peninsula over 3,500 miles (5,700 kilometers) from the launch site.

An Angara rocket, the first in Russia's new launch vehicle family, soars skyward after a July 9, 2014 launch from Plesetsk Cosmodrome during a test flight. 

Credit: Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center

Russia's Angara rockets are being developed by the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center in Moscow.

The two-stage Angara-1.2ML runs on "ecologically clean components," oxygen and kerosene, according to Khrunichev representatives.

According to Khrunichev, the family of Angara rockets includes a range of light-, medium- and heavy-lift launch vehicles based on generic modules.

The modular principle supports the buildup of various launch vehicle classes by using generic boosters: one for the light-lift, three for the medium-lift and five for the heavy-lift.

Russia has deemed the Angara Space Rocket Complex (SRC) one of the priorities in the country's national program to develop launch systems by tapping domestic research and development, along with production potential.

The nation views building the Angara SRC as a task of national importance. When the Angara SRC becomes operational, "Russia will be in a position to launch all types of satellites from its own territory, thereby gaining a guaranteed independent access to outer space," according to a Khrunichev press statement.

Russia GONETS: Development of New Satellite Communication System

A scaled model of the Gonets-M satellite in orbital configuration. 

Credit: Anatoly Zak / RussianSpaceWeb.com

The new secure communication system is to be used by the country's leaders and the military, according to the newspaper. 

The system will be based on the Gonets-M1 and Gonets-M2 communication systems.

Russia intends to create a new powerful satellite communication system that will provide global coverage and communication security, Izvestia newspaper reported Thursday.

A cluster of Gonets satellites. Credit: ISS Reshetnev

The development of such a system will require the launch of a space complex ordered by the Russian Defense Ministry and the Russian Federal Space Agency.

The budget for the project is estimated at 65.6 billion rubles ($1.8 billion).

The system throughput is expected to reach 80 gigabits (Gb) by 2020, and 120 Gb by 2025. That will allow the simultaneous coverage of about a million high-speed terminals.

A Gonets-M satellite released on July 2, 2014. 

Credit: Roskosmos

The new secure communication system is to be used by the country's leaders and the military, according to the newspaper.

The system will be based on the Gonets-M1 and Gonets-M2 communication systems.

The space complex will consist of four satellites weighing up to 2.5 tons and equipped with transponders and air traffic control systems.

Oko-1 Replacement: Russia to launch new missile-attack warning satellite

After years of delay, Russia plans to deploy this year the first satellite of its new constellation replacing the space component of the early warning system, Russian media reported. It will also double as an emergency communication satellite.

The satellite was developed for the military, so naturally little is known about it.

Identified by disambiguation 'product 14F142', it is expected to be launched in the fourth quarter of 2014, according to Kommersant newspaper.

The spacecraft will be the first in a constellation, aimed to replace the old Oko-1 early warning system, which allows Russia survey countries possessing nuclear-capable ballistic missiles and detect possible launches.

Oko-1 is currently in bad shape. To be fully operational, it needs four 73D6 satellites in placed in a highly elliptical orbit, dubbed 'Molnya' (lightning) orbit, to provide full-time coverage of the area of interest, and an additional backup satellite in a 71X6 geosynchronous orbit.

Russia lost the last of the 71X6s in April this year and has not launched replacements for the 73D6s since 2008, with only two still operational.

The Russian military assured that the ground-based network of early warning radar stations, which the country considerably upgraded in the past years, is robust enough to compensate for the blind spot in the space component, but they may not be completely earnest.

A replacement for Oko-1, the EKS (Unified Space System), has been in development since at least 2000 and was initially expected the star space tests in 2009, but the project faced a set of delays and a round of public bickering and a court battle between the Defense Ministry and Energia space corporation, which builds the platforms for the satellite.

Now Kommersant says all the disputes and setbacks are in the past, with the spacecraft almost ready for launch.

The 14F142 is to be launched by a Soyuz-2.1b rocket and a Fregat third stage to a Tundra orbit, a highly elliptical orbit similar to Molnya, but with twice its period.

The newspaper source says the instruments build by Kometa Corporation will be able to detect launches of submarine-launched ballistic missiles and launches of some cruise missiles.

In addition to detecting a launch, the spacecraft will be able to calculate the projectile's flight parameters, which will be handy for ground radar stations locking on it.

It will also provide communication functions for the military, allowing commands for a retaliatory nuclear strike to be transmitted, should things really go that far south, Kommersant said.

Amid preparation for the launch the military are upgrading Oko-1 ground station in Serpukhov-15 to take control of the 14F142.

NASA Hubble: New precise mass map of a distant galaxy cluster

This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the galaxy cluster MCS J0416.1-2403. 

This is one of six being studied by the Hubble Frontier Fields programme. 

This programme seeks to analyse the mass distribution in these huge clusters and to use the gravitational lensing effect of these clusters, to peer even deeper into the distant Universe. 

Credit: ESA/Hubble, NASA, HST Frontier Fields

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have mapped the mass within a galaxy cluster more precisely than ever before.

Created using observations from Hubble Frontier Fields observing programme, the map shows the amount and distribution of mass within MCS J0416.1-2403, a massive galaxy cluster found to be 160 trillion times the mass of the Sun.

The detail in this mass map was made possible thanks to the unprecedented depth of data provided by new Hubble observations, and the cosmic phenomenon known as strong gravitational lensing.

Measuring the amount and distribution of mass within distant objects in the Universe can be very difficult.

A trick often used by astronomers is to explore the contents of large clusters of galaxies by studying the gravitational effects they have on the light from very distant objects beyond them.

This is one of the main goals of Hubble Frontier Fields, an ambitious observing programme scanning six different galaxy clusters, including MCS J0416.1-2403, the cluster shown in this stunning new image.

Large clumps of mass in the Universe warp and distort the space-time around them. Acting like lenses, they appear to magnify and bend light that travels through them from more distant objects.

Despite their large masses, the effect of galaxy clusters on their surroundings is usually quite minimal.

For the most part they cause what is known as weak lensing, making even more distant sources appear as only slightly more elliptical or smeared across the sky.

However, when the cluster is large and dense enough and the alignment of cluster and distant object is just right, the effects can be more dramatic.

The images of normal galaxies can be transformed into rings and sweeping arcs of light, even appearing several times within the same image.

This effect is known as strong lensing, and it is this phenomenon, seen around the six galaxy clusters targeted by the Hubble Frontier Fields programme, that has been used to map the mass distribution of MCS J0416.1-2403, using the new Hubble data.

"The depth of the data lets us see very faint objects and has allowed us to identify more strongly lensed galaxies than ever before," explains Mathilde Jauzac of Durham University, UK, and Astrophysics & Cosmology Research Unit, South Africa, lead author of the new Frontier Fields paper.

"Even though strong lensing magnifies the background galaxies they are still very far away and very faint. The depth of these data means that we can identify incredibly distant background galaxies."

"We now know of more than four times as many strongly lensed galaxies in the cluster than we did before."

Using Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys, the astronomers identified 51 new multiply imaged galaxies around the cluster, quadrupling the number found in previous surveys and bringing the grand total of lensed galaxies to 68.

Because these galaxies are seen several times this equates to almost 200 individual strongly lensed images which can be seen across the frame.

This effect has allowed Jauzac and her colleagues to calculate the distribution of visible and dark matter in the cluster and produce a highly constrained map of its mass.