Near-Earth asteroid CubeSat goes full sail

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NASA's Near-Earth Asteroid Scout, a small satellite the size of a shoebox, designed to study asteroids close to Earth, recently performed a full-scale solar sail deployment test. The test was performed in an indoor clean room to ensure the deployment mechanism's functionality after recent environmental testing.
via Science Daily
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Cartography of the Cosmos

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There are hundreds of billions of stars in our own Milky Way galaxy, interspersed with all manner of matter, from the dark to the sublime. This is the universe that one group of researchers is trying to reconstruct, structure by structure, combining telescope surveys with next-generation data analysis and simulation techniques currently being primed for exascale computing.
via Science Daily
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Cassini's Last Ring Portrait at Saturn

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How should Cassini say farewell to Saturn? Three days before plunging into Saturn's sunny side, the robotic Cassini spacecraft swooped far behind Saturn's night side with cameras blazing. Thirty-six of these images have been merged -- by an alert and adept citizen scientist -- into a last full-ring portrait of Cassini's home planet for the past 13 years. The Sun is just above the frame, causing Saturn to cast a dark shadow onto its enormous rings. This shadow position cannot be imaged from Earth and will not be visible again until another Earth-launched spaceship visits the ringed giant. Data and images from Cassini's mission-ending dive into Saturn's atmosphere on September 15 continue to be analyzed.

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Helicopter test for Jupiter icy moons radar

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A long radar boom that will probe below the surface of Jupiter’s icy moons has been tested on Earth with the help of a helicopter.

via ESA Space Science
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Helicopter_test_for_Jupiter_icy_moons_radar

LHC rocks the seesaw model