Machimosaurus rex: Paleontologists discover terrifying ancient crocodile the size of a bus

National Geographic / YouTubeFederico Fanti and his research team discovered the giant Cretaceous crocodile skeleton in Tunisia.

Paleontologists searching far and wide in Tunisia made a discovery of massive proportions: the world’s largest sea-dwelling crocodile, previously unknown to science.

This prehistoric crocodile is believed to have measured more than 9 metres long and weighed three tonnes. The skull alone is roughly 1.5 metres long. Researchers named the new species the Machimosaurus rex and described their findings this week in the journal Cretaceous Research.

“Massive” is how lead author Federico Fanti of the University of Bologna described the crocodile. “It’s just big. It’s almost the size of a bus.”

NASA spots (possible) ice volcano on Pluto

NASA has released a new photograph taken by its New Horizons spacecraft that shows what researchers believe is a cryovolcano — that is, an ice volcano — on Pluto. The image was taken last summer and shows a part of Pluto known as Wright Mons. NASA points toward a number of intriguing features that hint at active volcanoes in Pluto’s past -- the volcano spotted this time around is one of a possible pair.


According to the space agency, Wright Mons measures about 90 miles from one side to the other and is about 2.5 miles high. Whether this region is an ice volcano isn’t confirmed, but is suspected, and if such suspicion proves true, NASA says it would be the biggest of its kind found in the outer solar system.

Audi Lunar Quattro Enters Google Lunar XPRIZE Hunt

I know what you’re thinking. “Wait, the same Audi that manufacturers automobiles wants to land on the moon?” The answer is yes, that same company (Audi) will be landing a rover on the moon by 2017 and have partnered up with Google Lunar XPRIZE Part Time Scientists to make it really happen.

While teaming up with Google Lunar XPRIZE, there do come some requirements that will need to be met. The rover must travel at least half a kilometer and send back high resolution photos and videos back to Earth. The rover also needs to be launched to the moon by 2017 while landing on a specific target on the moon not too far from where Apollo 17 landed back in the 70’s. It’ll take 5 days for the moon rover to land on the moon and will cost around $26.2 million.

Audi is naming their moon rover “Audi Lunar Quattro” and it weighs in at 77.2 pounds. It’s made out of high strength aluminum and does plan on becoming lighter by trying to integrate magnesium. Top speed is only 2.2 mph, which as we all know isn’t fast at all, but when you’re on the moon it’s better to be safe than sorry. Audi Lunar Quattro has a solar panel that’ll swivel, two stereo cameras capturing 3D images, and four wheels that can turn 360 degrees. A third camera will be placed on the rover to take panoramic photos and for studying its surroundings.

China successfully launches Belintersat-1 telecommunications satellite into orbit

Archive Photo of Long March 3B launch. Photo Credit: China Daily

China has begun its busy year of space launches with a flawless liftoff of the Belintersat-1 telecommunications satellite from the LC3 launch pad at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, located in Sichuan Province. The mission commenced at 11:57 EST (16:57 GMT) on Friday, Jan. 15, when a Long March 3B rocket ignited its four boosters and started a short vertical ascent.

Photo Credit: Belintersat

Burning its core stage’s engines, the rocket began to pitch over and roll, heading southeast, shortly after liftoff. The shutdown of the boosters occurred about two minutes and 20 seconds into the flight and they were jettisoned about one minute later. Then, the vehicle continued its mission powered by the core stage alone, equipped in one four-chamber engine, until its separation about two minutes and 40 seconds after the launch.

'Hobbit' gets a neighbor: Stone tools hint at archaic human presence

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Researchers discover stone tools on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia, indicating that archaic humans were present at least 118,000 years ago.

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When early humans began trekking out of Africa, they spread across Eurasia on foot. As some made it down into then-peninsular Southeast Asia, they would have run into a watery boundary, called Wallace's Line, that scientists thought essentially uncrossable by animals until around 50,000 years ago, when Homo sapiens arrived with boat technology.

But somehow another human species had crossed into that island region, called Wallacea, long before H. sapiens even reached Southeast Asia. In 2004, archaeologists discovered fossils of an archaic human, H. floresiensis, nicknamed "Hobbit" for its stature, on the island of Flores, Indonesia.
Now, research reveals Flores may not have been the only human-populated island in the region at the time. Scientists recently unearthed stone tools on the neighboring island of Sulawesi that date to between 118,000 and 194,000 years ago.

China shoots for first landing on dark side of moon

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BEIJING - China will launch a mission to land on the dark side of the moon in two years’ time, state media reported, in what will be a first for humanity.

The moon’s far hemisphere is never directly visible from Earth and while it has been photographed, with the first images appearing in 1959, it has never been explored.

China’s Chang’e-4 probe - named for the goddess of the moon in Chinese mythology - will be sent to it in 2018, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

“The Chang’e-4’s lander and rover will make a soft landing on the back side of the moon, and will carry out in-place and patrolling surveys,” it cited the country’s lunar exploration chief Liu Jizhong as saying on Thursday.

Spacewalk suspended after leak in U.S. astronaut's helmet

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ESA astronaut Tim Peake takes part in his 4 hour 43 minute spacewalk to replace a failed power regulator and install cabling for the International Space Station

NASA cut short a spacewalk on Friday at the International Space Station after one of the astronauts reported a leak in his spacesuit helmet, the U.S. space agency said.

Tim Peake, who on the mission became the first astronaut from Britain to walk in space, and U.S. astronaut Tim Kopra had finished the primary goal of their outing when Kopra reported a water ball had formed in his helmet.

The astronauts were not in any danger, but NASA curtailed the spacewalk as a precaution, flight director Royce Renfrew said during an interview on NASA TV.

Peake, 43, a former army major, blasted off to the station as part of a six-month mission for the European Space Agency in December, becoming the first Briton in space since Helen Sharman travelled on a Soviet spacecraft for eight days in 1991, and the first to do so under a British flag.

SpaceX success launches space startups to new heights

A remodeled version of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on the launcher’s first mission since a June failure in Cape Canaveral, Florida, December 21, 2015.

Reuters/Joe Skipper

SpaceX's successful landing of a reusable rocket booster last month opens a new frontier for commercial space startups by offering tremendous cost savings and attracting venture capitalists who once shied away from spatial ventures.Space startups include nano-satellite makers, earth-imaging and weather-tracking technology developers, and ventures with ambitious plans to mine asteroids.

 If this fledgling industry can reuse rockets, that will save money and accelerate the pace of launches, enabling startups to more quickly test and update their technology, and replace old satellites more frequently - all critical for growing revenue.
"Driving down the cost of the launch, which is the single greatest barrier to entry for the startups and the investors ... makes (space startups) much more viable," said Jeff Matthews, director of venture strategy and research at the Space Frontier Foundation, a space advocacy nonprofit.