Category Archives: Space

Scientists Spot Stutterstep in San Andreas Fault

Different segments of the San Andreas Fault display different behavior. Image courtesy USGS.

A new study suggests that a geologic “pressure release valve” in California’s San Andreas Fault might work more sporadically than previously thought, putting more stress on neighboring segments to the north and south.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
ASU Study Raises Concerns Over San Andreas Fault ‘Release Valve’

On Rarefied Pluto, Dunes Arise from Methane Puffs

Photos courtesy NASA/ Johns Hopkins University / Southwest Research Institute

Scientists analyzing Pluto data from the New Horizons spacecraft believe they have, for the first time, found dunes made of frozen methane.

On a planet with atmospheric pressure 100,000 times lower than Earth’s, the phenomenon is as remarkable as its explanation.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
Scientists Discover Methane Dunes on Pluto

NASA Funding Flows to Seven Small Businesses in Arizona

NASA has selected its 2018 crop of small businesses to receive funding supporting innovation research and technology transfer, with seven awards going to Arizona.

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) contracts, which total $43.5 million nationally among 348 awardees, support projects that promise to benefit both NASA’s mission and the U.S. economy.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
Seven Arizona Small Businesses Receive NASA Funding

NASA to Send Mini-Copter to the Red Planet in 2020

Image courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech.

When the next Mars rover launches in 2020, it will sport a sidekick: a football-sized scout helicopter.

Mars’s atmosphere is 1 percent as dense as Earth’s, so the copter will have to fly at the equivalent of 100,000 feet — 60,000 feet higher than any Earth-bound chopper has ever flown.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
Mars 2020 Rover Mission To Include Scout Helicopter

Orbital ATK to Expand Launch Vehicles Division

Rendering courtesy of new Orbital ATK center.

Aerospace and defense company Orbital ATK is expanding its Chandler, Arizona-based launch vehicles division.

Orbital will establish the 47-acre campus a stone’s throw from the company’s existing Chandler campus, which employs nearly 1,600 people.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
Orbital ATK To Expand Its Chandler Footprint