The news was leaked a few days ago and later confirmed by Orbital Sciences. The American aerospace company has signed a contract with Russian NPO Energomash for the supply of the model RD-181 engines for the Antares rocket. They will replace the AJ-26 engines used so far and discarded after the fault that led to the explosion of Antares on October 28, 2014.
ESA has declared the end of the Venus Express space probe’s mission. As of November 28, 2014, communications have become unstable and the mission control center lost control of the spacecraft. It was known that it was almost out of fuel but ESA hoped that there was still some increase the altitude of Venus Express to allow it to extend its mission for some more days. Now it’s expected to fall in the atmosphere of the planet Venus, where it will be destroyed by its enormous pressure and its high temperatures corrosive compounds.
The novel “Quantico” Greg Bear was published for the first time in 2005.
A new terrible terrorist attack struck the USA and is one of the symptoms of an unprecedented wave ready to strike around the world. Some young FBI agents who are still attending the Academy in Quantico are involved in various investigations that may be connected. Their difficulties come from the fact that the FBI itself is under investigation.
The US government responded to the last terrorist attack by opening new law enforcement and intelligence agencies that should increase national security. While the FBI is under the threatens of being shut down, its agents try to follow various tracks to fight religious fundamentalism and also threats arising from the use of genetic engineering.
A few hours ago ISRO, the Indian space agency, carried out the first test launch of the new carrier rocket Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III, also known simply as GSLV-III, LVM3 or GSLV Mk. 3. This test lasted about twenty minutes since it was only a suborbital flight. The result is a success though the analyzes of the recorded data and the CARE capsule will be made later.
At the American Geophysical Union Meeting held in San Francisco, NASA scientists revealed that the Mars Rover Curiosity found methane concentrations ten times higher than earlier and later measurements in the Martian atmosphere. It’s a very interesting result but despite the optimism of some sources of information it’s not evidence of the presence of life forms on Mars.
