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here's some of the stories trending this

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week at nasa

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orbital sciences corporations antares

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rocket and cygnus cargo craft launched

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from wallops flight facility on the

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orbital 2 mission the company's second

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operational resupply mission to the

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international space station under its

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commercial resupply services contract

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with nasa

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the cygnus spacecraft which is

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delivering almost 3 300 pounds of cargo

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is targeted to rendezvous with the iss

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on july 16th

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data from nasa's aquarius instrument has

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helped researchers create worldwide maps

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of soil moisture showing how the wetness

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of the land fluctuates with the seasons

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and weather phenomena

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soil moisture the water contained within

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soil particles is an important player in

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earth's water cycle

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when it launched in june 2011 the

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primary science objective of the

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aquarius mission was to study the salt

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content of ocean surface waters but

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investigators have since developed a

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method to retrieve soil moisture data

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from the instruments microwave

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radiometer

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the core stage for nasa's space launch

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system or sls has passed its critical

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design review at marshall space flight

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center the cdr is a major milestone that

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proves the design for the rocket is

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mature enough for production it is also

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a sign of progress toward nasa's next

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giant leap to send humans farther into

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the solar system than ever before

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including to an asteroid and eventually

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mars

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representatives from nasa and the boeing

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company the prime contractor for the

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core stage participated on the critical

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design review board

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the james webb space telescope has

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reached another development milestone

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with the completion of static load

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testing of its primary mirror backplane

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support structure moving the telescope a

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step closer to its targeted launch in

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2018.

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the backplane support structure holds

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the telescope's science instruments and

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the 21 foot diameter primary mirror

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nearly motionless while the telescope

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peers into deep space

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the primary mirror made up of 18

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beryllium mirror segments is the largest

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mirror in the telescope and the one

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starlight will hit first

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repeated high resolution observations by

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nasa's mars reconnaissance orbiter

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indicate that seasonal carbon dioxide

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frost not liquid water is the main

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driver in forming gullies on mars today

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in 2000 the first reported gullies on

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mars generated excitement because of the

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possibility the gullies were formed by

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liquid water a necessity for all known

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life but while mars has plenty of water

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ice and water vapor liquid water has not

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been confirmed on modern mars

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and that's what's up this week at nasa

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for more on these and other stories

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