#US, China consulted on safety as their crafts headed to Mars

#US, China consulted on safety as their crafts headed to Mars

“#US, China consulted on safety as their crafts headed to Mars” BEIJING — As their respective spacecrafts headed to Mars, China and the US held consultations earlier this year in a somewhat unusual series of exchanges between the rivals. China’s National Space Agency confirmed Wednesday that it had working-level meetings and communications with NASA from…

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#a brief history of Elon Musk’s exploding rockets

#a brief history of Elon Musk’s exploding rockets

“#a brief history of Elon Musk’s exploding rockets” Elon Musk’s private aerospace company SpaceX lost another rocket prototype on Tuesday as it crash landed in heavy Texas fog. The company has launched more than 100 rockets over the past decade in their effort to bring tourists to the Moon and Mars — but a number…

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#Virgin Galactic unveils VSS Imagine tourist spaceship

#Virgin Galactic unveils VSS Imagine tourist spaceship

“#Virgin Galactic unveils VSS Imagine tourist spaceship” Virgin Galactic unveiled its latest spacecraft Tuesday as it prepares to continue testing ships that it hopes will ferry tourists out of Earth’s atmosphere. The VSS Imagine is the first of Virgin’s “SpaceShip III” models, a new class of vehicles that the shuttle builder says will be easier…

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#NASA’s Orion capsule begins new water drop tests

#NASA’s Orion capsule begins new water drop tests

“#NASA’s Orion capsule begins new water drop tests” NASA engineers at the Virginia-based Langley Research Center have begun a new series of four water-impact drop tests using a test version of the agency’s Orion spacecraft capsule.  The tests, conducted at Langley’s Landing and Impact Research Facility Hydro Impact Basin in Hampton, will simulate various landing scenarios in order to help researchers get a clearer…

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#Alabama ‘supercell’ that produced tornado captured in satellite imagery

#Alabama ‘supercell’ that produced tornado captured in satellite imagery

“#Alabama ‘supercell’ that produced tornado captured in satellite imagery” This week’s severe weather in the Mid-South was visible from outer space.  Stunning imagery from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) GOES East satellite captured the Thursday “supercell” that produced a large tornado in Alabama near Brent and Centerville. “In the 16-second timelapse, you can see the lightning that accompanied the storm during March…

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#Earth safe from asteroid for 100 years says NASA

#Earth safe from asteroid for 100 years says NASA

“#Earth safe from asteroid for 100 years says NASA” Whew, now here’s some good cosmic news: NASA has given Earth the all clear for the next century from a particularly menacing asteroid. The space agency announced this week that new telescope observations have ruled out any chance of Apophis smacking Earth in 2068. That’s the…

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#Astronomers capture new polarized view of a black hole

#Astronomers capture new polarized view of a black hole

“#Astronomers capture new polarized view of a black hole” Scientists from the international Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration announced Wednesday that they had been able to map the magnetic fields around a black hole using polarized light waves for the first time, releasing a stunning image of the supermassive object at the center of the Messier 87 (M87) galaxy. The team…

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