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Australia is forming its own space agency
Australia is finally getting its own space agency. After months of talks, the federal government has decided it's time the land down under is on par with other developed nations -- including its neighbour New Zealand -- and has put $50 million aside to launch the program.
Russia lost a $45m satellite because of a launchpad mix-up
Despite Russia's ambitious plans for space domination, it hasn't had a great deal of luck bringing its designs to fruition. The Roscosmos program's budget was slashed in 2015 (because of "moral decay") and in April last year a technical glitch postponed the launch of its first rocket from the Vostochny cosmodrome. Now, the team has straight-up lost a satellite after setting it to launch from the wrong place.
Australia will establish its own space agency
Australia is very much a participant in the space industry with about 11,500 people working in the field. However, it has never had its own space agency -- and that may put it at a disadvantage next to the US, Canada and other countries that have concerted space strategies. The government hopes to fix that. It just unveiled plans to create Australia's first national space agency. There aren't many details at this point (more are expected later in the week), but acting industry minister Hon. Michaelia Cash argues that it's necessary to keep pace with a space industry that's "growing rapidly."
NASA develops extreme-heat-resistant CPUs
Finally, you can wave goodbye to your heat-sinks, mods, and water-cooled contraptions, because NASA is on the scene with a new CPU that can rock 1,700 hours of uninterrupted processing at the low, low temperature of 500 degrees... Celsius. According to reports, scientists at the space agency have developed a chip which they call the "silicon carbide differential amplifier integrated circuit," taking the approach of using more heat-resistant materials, rather than external and extraneous cooling technology. "This new capability can eliminate the additional plumbing, wires, weight and other performance penalties required to liquid-cool traditional sensors and electronics," says Phil Neudeck, a NASA electrical engineer, adding, "It's really a significant step toward mission-enabling harsh environment electronics." The agency believes that the new technology will lead to improvements in safety and fuel efficiency, as well as reduced jet engine emissions, though team leaders say they're mainly hoping to, "...seriously jack up our WoW rigs."
