A rare encounter between two gas-rich galaxies spotted by ESA’s Herschel space observatory indicates a solution to an outstanding problem: how did massive, passive galaxies form in the early Universe? Most large galaxies fall into one of two major categories: spirals like our own Milky Way that are full of gas and actively forming stars, or gas-poor ellipticals, populated by old cool red stars and showing few signs of ongoing star formation. It was long assumed that the large el...

HERNDON, Va. -  The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has selected ITT Exelis (NYSE: XLS) to provide maintenance, operations, and engineering services for NASA’s international Deep Space Network (DSN). The subcontract has a base period of performance of five years, with incentive provisions that can extend the contract up to 10 years for a total value of $435 million. Under the DSN subcontract, Exelis will support an international network of communications complexes that supports interplanetary robot...

QUITO -  An Ecuadoran satellite launched last month could collide with the remains of a Russian rocket in the coming hours, the country's civilian space agency warned Wednesday. The "Pegaso" (Pegasus) nanosatellite, designed and built in Ecuador, set off aboard an unmanned rocket April 25 from the Jiuquand station in northern China. It is the country's first. "Alert: possible collision between NEE-01 Pegaso and Russian rocket remains," tweeted the country's civi...

NEW YORK -  L-3 Communications (NYSE:LLL) announced today that it has been awarded a $38.5 million contract from the Commonwealth of Australia to supply 51 Hawkeye™ III Lite 1.2-meter Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSATs), as well as training and long-term sustainment services. This program is one of a number of coordinated projects that will enable the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to deploy an integrated wideband satellite communications capability. Specifically, the contract will deliver one ty...

When did the first stars and galaxies form in the universe? How brightly did they burn their nuclear fuel? Scientists will seek to gain answers to these questions with the launch of the Cosmic Infrared Background ExpeRIment (CIBER) on a Black Brant XII suborbital sounding rocket between 11 and 11:59 p.m. EDT, June 4 from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Jamie Bock, CIBER principal investigator from the California Institute of Technology, said, “The first massive stars to...