Success of the fourth Ariane5 launch in 2013

Dear followers,

yesterday night, two satellites were successfully geostationary transfer orbit by an Ariane 5 rocket fired from Kourou, French Guiana, +Arianespace announced. It is the 215th Ariane launch and 71st for the Ariane 5 space launcher.This fourth Ariane launch of the year from the Guiana Space Centre began at 17:30 Kourou time (22h30 Paris time) at the beginning of the launch window.

Credits: AFP

This fourth Ariane launch of the year from the Guiana Space Centre began at 17:30 Kourou time (22h30 Paris time) at the beginning of the launch window.

This is the 57th consecutive success for the European launcher, which "confirms the unparalleled level of reliability of our delivery systems," said the CEO of +Arianespace, Stéphane Israel.

The payload placed on a geostationary orbit was two satellites: EUTELSAT 25B/Es of the European operator Eutelsat and Qatari Es'hailSat, and GSAT-7 for Indian space agency (ISRO).

With a total launch mass of about 6.3 tons, EUTELSAT 25B/Es satelliste must serve the growing markets of the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia. This satellite will enhance the coverage and power of EUTELSAT 25C which he will take over.

GSAT-7 is the 17th satellite entrusted by the Indian space agency to the European launcher. With a weight of 2.6 tonnes, this satellite will offer to the entire Indian subcontinent telecommunications services multi-band (Ku, C, S and UHF).

Update : video of the take-off

Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer spacecraft by NASA

Credits: +NASA / Terry Zaperach

Water on the Moon found

Dear followers,

a new study, published on the journal Nature Geoscience, has revealed the probably presence of water on the Moon when it first formed 4.5 billion year ago.

The new water signatures discovered in the center peak of Bullialdus crater on the Moon have the form of hydroxyl molecules. Hydroxyls are molecules consisting of an oxygen atom connected to a hydrogen atom. The pairing is often seen as a substructure of the water molecule.

Credits: +NASA / +Arizona State University 

The scientists have detected magnetic water on the surface of the Moon. This type of water  is originating from deep within the Moon's interior. These findings has been performed using data from +NASA 's Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) carried on-board India's Chandrayann-1 lunar orbiter.

Sources: +Universe Today and +Astro Watch 

Light signal of stars turned into sound

Dear followers,

Scientists from Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN), Fisk University (Nashville, TN), University of California (Berkeley, California), Lehigh University (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) have turned light signals from distant stars into sound. Acoustic oscillations and transits don't interfere with each other: sound waves cause the brightness of Sun-like stars to vary on time scales of 5–15 minutes, whereas planetary transits last for hours. 

Credits: Nature Video

Source:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v500/n7463/full/nature12419.html