Science & Technology

WASHINGTON, February 15. /TASS corr. Vladislav Pavlov/. Russian spacecrafts "Soyuz" have a "tremendous benefit" for operating the International Space Station, and can be useful as a backup transportation system for lunar exploration, a NASA spokesperson told TASS on Thursday.

15 Feb 2019; AFP: NASA is accelerating plans to return Americans to the Moon, and this time, the US space agency says it will be there to stay.

Jim Bridenstine, NASA's administrator, told reporters Thursday that the agency plans to speed up plans backed by President Donald Trump to return to the moon, using private companies.

BEIJING, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- The landing site of China's Chang'e-4 lunar probe has been named "Statio Tianhe" after the spacecraft made the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon last month.

Together with three nearby impact craters and one hill, the name was approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), Liu Jizhong, director of the China Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), said at a joint press conference held in Beijing Friday.

NAMPO, North Korea (AP) — Power-strapped North Korea is exploring two ambitious alternative energy sources — tidal power and coal-based synthetic fuels — that could greatly improve living standards and reduce its reliance on oil imports and vulnerability to sanctions.

14 Feb 2019; AFP: During 14 years of intrepid exploration across Mars, it advanced human knowledge by confirming that water once flowed on the red planet -- but NASA's Opportunity rover has analyzed its last soil sample.

The robot has been missing since the US space agency lost contact during a dust storm in June last year and was declared officially dead Wednesday, ending one of the most fruitful missions in the history of space exploration.

MOSCOW, February 13. /TASS/. Russia and Saudi Arabia are due to draw up a program of bilateral cooperation in the space industry, Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, wrote in his Twitter post on Wednesday.

"Along with His Royal Highness Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, who chaired Saudi Arabia’s Space Agency at the end of last year, we have decided to draw up a program of bilateral cooperation in space," Rogozin tweeted recalling that the prince had flown in orbit earlier.

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Google will make a new investment of more than 13 billion U.S. dollars in data centers across the United States in 2019, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said Wednesday.

Pichai said the new investment is expected to allow the company to hire tens of thousands of workers and create more than 10,000 new construction jobs in many states including Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Texas and Oklahoma, Pichai said.

With the new funding, Google will "have a home in 24 total states, including data centers in 13 communities," Pichai said.

13 Feb 2019; AFP: US space agency NASA will make one final attempt to contact its Opportunity Rover on Mars late Tuesday, eight months after it last made contact.

The agency also said it would hold a briefing Wednesday, during which it will likely officially declare the end of the mission.

Opportunity landed on Mars in 2004 and covered 28 miles (45 kilometers) on the planet, securing its place in history after lasting well beyond its expected 90-day mission.

BEIJING, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- China has established the world's largest clean coal power generation system, setting a new milestone in cutting emissions and saving energy, the National Energy Administration (NEA) said Tuesday.

The country has beaten its target of ultra-low emission and energy conservation and transformation outlined in the country's 13th Five-Year Plan two years in advance, NEA said.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The Norwegian Intelligence Service says GPS signal disruption as seen during major NATO drills in Norway last year “is of particular concern” for the military and “is also a threat to civil aviation in peacetime.”

The intelligence agency said Monday in its annual report that the signal jamming “represents not only a new challenge” for NATO members, but saying Russia’s ability to project its power “in peace, crisis and war will increase.”