SpaceX’s Starlink mobile app got a refreshing upgrade this week that makes it easier to find clear patches of sky and monitor connection outages — and adds a new dark mode for its user interface. The app improvements came out yesterday as SpaceX reported 90,000 active users in its open “better than nothing” beta phase, which spans rural regions across 12 different countries so far.
The…
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NASA Study Highlights Importance of Surface Shadows in Moon Water Puzzle
The shadows cast by the roughness of the Moon’s surface create small cold spots for water ice to accumulate even during the harsh…
The Government Accountability Office squashed Blue Origin’s protest over NASA’s decision to pick a single lunar lander contractor, the agency said Friday, also denying a similar protest from Dynetics. The GAO’s decision keeps Blue Origin’s rival, Elon Musk’s…
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ECOSTRESS Data Incorporated Into New Wildfire Response Tool
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The instrument on the International Space Station is uniquely positioned to provide wildfire responders with a high-resolution look at fire progression.
NASA’s ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS)…
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Metallic Glass Gears Up for ‘Cobots,’ Coatings, and More
Bulk metallic glass could slash prices of collaborative robots and lead to advanced 3D printed metals.
Where are the robot assistants we were…
Uncontrolled firing from Russian module causes brief ‘tug of war’ on International Space Station
July 29, 2021
The International Space Station unexpectedly shifted in orbit on Thursday when thrusters on a newly docked Russian module began firing uncontrollably. The thrusters reoriented the football-field-sized laboratory’s position by as much as 45 degrees, NASA said. The station…
Clays, Not Water, Are Likely Source of Mars ‘Lakes’
July 29, 2021
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Clays, Not Water, Are Likely Source of Mars ‘Lakes’
Three studies published in the past month have cast doubt on the premise of subsurface lakes below the Martian south pole.
Where there’s water, there’s life. That’s the case on Earth, at least, and also why scientists remain tantalized by any evidence suggesting there’s liquid water on…
The Federal Communications Commission told SpaceX and other companies on Monday that the billions in rural broadband subsidies it doled out last year can’t be used in already connected areas like “parking lots and well-served urban areas,” citing complaints. The…
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Index Ranks Rainforests’ Vulnerability to Climate and Human Impacts
A new index shows that the world’s rainforests are responding differently to threats like a warming climate and deforestation.
Scientists from NASA’s Jet…
Jeff Bezos offers NASA $2 billion to pick Blue Origin’s lunar lander in last-minute plea
July 26, 2021
Jeff Bezos is offering NASA a discount of at least $2 billion for the agency to give his space company a lucrative human lunar landing system contract that his rival, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, won earlier this year. Bezos’ new offer is the latest in an escalating string of efforts to win the contract for Blue Origin.
In a Monday morning letter to NASA administrator Bill Nelson, Bezos said he’d…
