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Emerging Tech News

The galaxy NGC 1022

Hubble images dusty galaxy to learn about supermassive black holes

This week's image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1022, located in the constellation of Cetus. Scientists are observing this particular galaxy in order to study the relationship between the size of a galaxy and the size of the supermassive black hole at its center.
NASA astronauts

ISS astronauts succeed in fixing $2 billion ‘unserviceable’ instrument

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station have completed a spacewalk to repair a dark matter detection instrument previously considered unserviceable. NASA's Andrew Morgan and European Space Agency's Luca Parmitano spent 6 hours and 16 minutes performing repairs to the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer.
KELT-9b

This planet is so hot it tears apart the hydrogen molecules in its atmosphere

The extreme forces acting on huge planets close to blistering stars lead to unexpected findings, like a planet that is hotter than most stars. The exoplanet KELT-9b, was the target of more research which revealed it is prone to planetwide meltdowns so severe they tear apart the molecules that make up its atmosphere.
Saturn's geologically active moon, Enceladus.

Could Enceladus, the icy moon of Saturn, be capable of supporting life?

New research using data from Cassini suggests Enceladus, the moon of Saturn with an ocean hidden beneath a thick layer of ice, could be capable of supporting life. Cracks in the icy surface of the moon let out plumes of gases and sea spray, and data about these plumes can reveal more about the ocean hidden beneath.
An artist's impression of a vampire system.

This vampire star is feeding on its companion to create a ‘super-outburst’

Astronomers have spotted a vampire star feeding on one of its brethren in a dwarf nova. A nova is marked by the sudden appearance of a bight, seemingly new star, which fades over a period of weeks or months. What is unusual about this particular nova is that the white dwarf is feeding on one of its own, a brown dwarf.
Curiosity Rover

Curiosity rover adjusts its attitude to its Martian surroundings

Like a surly teenager, everyone's favorite Martian explorer, NASA's Curiosity rover, suffered from an attitude problem last week. Attitude refers to a rover's ability to locate itself spatially, and it is essential for the rover to have accurate attitude information to move around and perform operations safely.
The Palomar Hale Telescope Dome With Star Trails

NASA’S NESSI instrument can pick out the atmospheres of distant exoplanets

NASA has a new tool to help in the hunt for exoplanets. The New Mexico Exoplanet Spectroscopic Survey Instrument, or NESSI, is an instrument on the Hale Telescope in San Diego which has been in testing since February 2018. Now, it's ready to start investigating the atmospheres of planets outside our solar system.
Few cosmic vistas excite the imagination like the Orion Nebula, an immense stellar nursery some 1,500 light-years away. This stunning false-color view spans about 40 light-years across the region, constructed using infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope.

Celebrating Spitzer: NASA’s infrared telescope retiring after a 16-year mission

This week, NASA is saying goodbye to one of its most storied and productive telescopes: The Spitzer Space Telescope. As this remarkable 16-year mission draws to a close, we look back over its achievements and how its legacy will continue to inform astronomy and space exploration for years to come.
A cookie baked on the space station.

Astronauts discover how to bake the perfect cookie in space

Future astronauts heading to Mars will likely be baking chocolate chip cookies during the trip. The crew aboard the International Space Station recently made some of the cookies in the first-ever space-based baking experiment. The cookies returned to Earth last week and are now being inspected by scientists.
Apple Self Driving

New Apple self-driving car patent could turn Siri into your personal chauffeur

Apple wants to patent a new technology that would allow you to use voice commands to tell your self-driving car where you want to go, with the car doing the navigation, driving, and parking for you. The end result would be a Siri-like system for controlling your self-driving car. 
sweat measuring patch air force sweating

What if your smartphone could sweat? Sounds odd, but it could be a game changer

Do we want smartphones that sweat like nervous teenagers around their crush? Researchers from China's Shanghai Jiao Tong University think so. And they've developed a special sweating sorbent coating to prove why it could turn out to be so useful. (Spoiler: It's for cooling.)
crispr gene editing chicken virus

CRISPR gene editing could help stop a common poultry virus in its tracks

Researchers at the Czech Academy of Sciences may have successfully used CRISPR gene editing to create chickens that are resistant to avian leukosis virus (ALV), a common but deadly virus whose symptoms range from emaciation and dehydration to depressed behavior. Here's how they did it.
zipcar drivethevote electoin 59947941  closeup of an american i voted sticker placed on a navy shirt

Seattle’s vote-by-phone system could be a game changer, but only if it’s secure

For the King Conservation District Board of Supervisors, Seattle and other cities will allow residents to vote by phone using technology created by Democracy Live, in a pilot funded by Tusk Philanthropy, that hopes to increase mobile voting. Security issues are obvious, but some say it will increase turnout.
china fast telescope open for business

China’s enormous 500-meter radio telescope is up and running

The enormous 500-meter FAST Radio Telescope is the world’s biggest filled-aperture radio telescope, and the overall second-largest single-dish aperture after Russia’s RATAN-600. It is located in Guizhou, Southwest China. The dream of building it dates all the way back to 1994.
climbing up walls like spider man suction cup small

Water-powered suction cups let people climb walls like Spider-Man

Researchers in China have built new centrifugal-based, water-powered vacuum suction cups that allow users to climb up walls just like Spider-Man. The technology could help develop the vertical climbing robots and robot gripper arms of the future as well. Here's how it works.
mars 2020 nasa launches student contest to name its martian rover concept

NASA reveals 9 finalists in Mars 2020 rover naming contest. Cast your vote

NASA has revealed the top nine entries in its Mars 2020 rover name contest and you can vote for your favorite. The contest will reveal the winning name in March, with the student who suggested it invited to watch the mission launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida in July.
Lego version of the International Space Station

Space Station gets the Lego treatment in wonderfully detailed design

A Lego version of the International Space Station will launch on February 1 priced at $70. The level of detail is impressive, with the entire kit comprising not only the space station, but also a Lego brick-built NASA space shuttle, three mini cargo spacecraft, and two astronaut microfigures.
Boeing 737 Max 8

Boeing says 737 Max will stay grounded until at least mid-2020

Boeing had hoped that its troubled 737 Max aircraft might get permission to fly again this month, but this week the plane-maker said that after considering the FAA’s evaluation process, it’s unlikely to get clearance until mid-2020. The news will come as a serious blow to airlines that use the aircraft.
Facebook Libra

Another partner backs out of Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency

Yet another partner of Facebook’s proposed cryptocurrency known as Libra has backed out of the deal. The British telecommunications operator Vodafone announced its departure from Facebook’s Libra Association on Tuesday. In total, eight companies have now backed out of Libra. 
pigeon bot feather drone takes flight dl0 6689

PigeonBot is a drone that flies with feathered wings, just like a real bird

Drones can fly like birds, but that’s pretty much where comparisons with our feathered friends end. Well, unless you build an experimental drone like PigeonBot, the unusual creation developed by researchers at Stanford University. Here's what makes it so interesting.
Jessica-Meir-and-Christina-Koch

Watch NASA astronauts spacewalk to replace space station batteries

Two astronauts aboard the International Space Station will shortly begin a spacewalk to perform upgrades, and you can watch the event happen live. Jessica Meir and Christina Koch will be suiting up and heading out of the station to replace batteries as part of a long-term project to update the station's power system.
watch spacex perform a successful crew dragon in flight escape test abort

Watch SpaceX nail in-flight escape test, and lose a rocket in a huge fireball

SpaceX took a big step toward crewed flights on Sunday after performing a successful in-flight abort test of its Crew Dragon capsule. The test showed how the Crew Dragon’s SuperDraco engines would fire the capsule away from the rocket if a serious anomaly should occur shortly after launch.

Kyoto fireball was caused by a chunk falling off potentially hazardous asteroid

On April 29, 2017, something strange appeared over Kyoto, Japan: A bright, slow fireball streaking through the in the sky. At the time, astronomers were baffled as it what it could have been. But now, researchers from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan have figured out what it was and where it came from.
lexus lunar transport concepts zero gravity k cropped

Lexus concepts envision lunar transport in the year 2220

f you've ever found yourself wondering what transport of the future will look like, Lexus has some concept sketches to feed your imagination. Designers were invited to create a lunar mobility concept for everything from personal transportation for traveling across the moon's surface to spacecraft concepts.

The nearest star to our sun, Proxima Centauri, may host a second planet

Astronomers have discovered what appears to be a second exoplanet in orbit around the nearest star to our sun, Proxima Centauri. The planet candidate is called Proxima c, its mass is around half that of Neptune, and it orbits its star at a distance 1.5 times greater than the distance between the Earth and the sun.
Boeing Space's Starliner spacecraft.

See video of Boeing’s Starliner orbital flight test from inside the capsule

Boeing's first Starliner orbital test flight might not have gone as planned, with the craft failing to reach the correct orbit. However, there's still plenty to be learned from the test. Boeing has released a video of highlights of the test, showing the interior of the capsule and the view from the window.
international asteroid day tunguska asteroid20161103 16 2 1

Asteroid discovered orbiting inside Venus for the first time

Most asteroids in our solar system orbit around the sun in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, or in a cluster in the orbit of Jupiter called the Trojans. Plus, there are Near-Earth asteroids that come close to the orbit of Earth. Now, for the first time, an asteroid has been discovered orbiting inside Venus.
Image of a solar flare.

Scientists image the progression of a solar flare for the first time

Our sun occasionally flashes brighter than usual in electromagnetic eruptions called solar flares. Now, scientists have released data on the first-ever flare captured moment by moment, pinpointing the exact time and place the flare burst out of the sun's surface with energy equivalent to 1 billion degrees.
Artist impression of activities in a Moon Base.

Scientists come up with a method to make oxygen from moon dust

The moon is covered in fine dust called regolith which sticks to absolutely everything and causes all sorts of technical problems. But now, the European Space Agency has come up with a plan for the tricky substance: Turning it into oxygen to be used by lunar explorers for breathing and for the production of fuel.
ExoMars Rover in Thermal Vaccum Testing

Europe’s ExoMars rover completes environmental tests ahead of launch this year

NASA's Mars 2020 rover isn't the only robotic explorer set to head to the Red Planet this year. It will also be joined by the European Space Agency's Rosalind Franklin rover, as part of the ESA and Roscosmos ExoMars mission. The rover has now completed its final environmental tests before launch in July this year.
Artist’s impression of G objects

Astronomers discover bizarre stretchy objects unlike anything else in our galaxy

Astronomers have discovered a mysterious new class of objects at the heart of the Milky Way which are unlike anything else found in our galaxy. They start off small and compact but are elongated when they approach the supermassive black hole in the center of the galaxy.
Falcon 9

SpaceX delays its in-flight abort test until Sunday morning due to rough seas

This weekend, SpaceX is planning a dramatic test of its Crew Dragon capsule, in which it will blow up a Falcon 9 rocket to test the capsule's emergency escape system. The launch will take place from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and you can watch it happen live.
ATTOL---A350-1000-taking-off

Look, no hands! Airbus nails autonomous takeoff in move toward pilotless jets

Pilotless planes have come a step closer after Airbus recently achieved the first fully automatic vision-based takeoff using image-recognition technology installed directly on the aircraft. Moving forward, the aerospace giant is aiming to test automatic vision-based taxi and landing sequences by the middle of 2020.
MojoVision AR 1

AR contact lenses are here to usher in the cyberpunk future of our dreams

Staring at your smartphone is no way to experience augmented reality. Mojo Vision is getting ready to change the AR game with the introduction of new augmented reality contact lenses. Here's what you can expect from them -- and why they're likely to be such a game-changer.