Science & Technology

CAPE CANAVERAL, 15 Sep2018; (AP) — A Japanese supply run to the International Space Station has been delayed again.

The countdown was halted Saturday local time in Japan, with only a few hours remaining before liftoff. Earlier in the week, a typhoon delayed the launch.

The Japanese space agency said there was an issue with the propulsion system. No new launch date has been set.

The cargo ship — the seventh to be launched by Japan — contains new batteries needed for a pair of NASA spacewalks.

IRKUTSK, September 12. /TASS/. Groundless allegations US astronauts might be responsible for causing damage to the Russian spacecraft Soyuz MS-09, attached to the ISS, are extremely dangerous and absolutely unacceptable, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said in the wake of media publications on that score.

"It is absolutely impermissible to cast a shadow either on our cosmonauts or US astronauts," he said.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- American researchers found that two to three million years ago, the functional loss of a single gene made humanity into best long-distance runners in the animal kingdom.

VLADIVOSTOK, September 11. /TASS/. Pre-clinical studies to create a new domestic drug based on the yttrium-90 isotope to treat liver cancer can be completed within the next few months, Andrei Kaprin, Director General of Russia’s National Medical Research Radiology Center and full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told TASS on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum.

"Pre-clinical studies of a potential pharmaceutical drug based on the yttrium-90 isotope could be completed within the next two or three months. We have very good results there," he said.

SHANGHAI, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- China has launched its first domestically built polar research vessel and icebreaker "Xuelong 2" or "Snow Dragon" which will be operational in the first half of 2019.

The vessel was deployed in Shanghai on Monday and will go through a series of tests and interior decoration before beginning official operations, according to its builder Jiangnan Shipyard Group.

The launch of the vessel has extensively boosted China's polar research and expedition capabilities, said the builder.

CHANGCHUN, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- China's leading train maker on Friday released its new-generation carbon-fiber light rail train at an exhibition held in Changchun, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province.

The body of the train is made of carbon fiber composite and weighs 30 percent less than those made of stainless steel, making it more energy-efficient, according to its manufacturer CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles Co. Ltd.

MOSCOW, September 6. /TASS/. A hole in the hull of the Russian Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft was drilled when the spaceship was fully assembled, a source in the space industry told TASS on Thursday.

"The hole was drilled when the spaceship was already assembled," he said, adding that the spacecraft's manufacturer, the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation had decided to check all manned Soyuz and cargo Progress spaceships, both those that are being assembled and those sent to the Baikonur space center.

By Prashant Rangnekar

Bengaluru, Sept 6 (PTI) Stepping up space cooperation, India and France Thursday inked an agreement to collaborate on Gaganyaan, ISRO's first human space mission.

The two countries have formed a working group for the project.

BEIJING (AP) — A rocket developed by Chinese company iSpace blasted into space Wednesday carrying three miniature satellites in another milestone for the country’s budding private spaceflight industry.

Reports said the SQX-1Z rocket took off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China and entered space at a suborbital level. Two of the satellites will be released into space for testing while the third will re-enter the atmosphere and parachute down to Earth.

GENEVA; 3 Sep 2018; (AP) — A key opponent of high-tech, automated weapons known as “killer robots” is blaming countries like the U.S. and Russia for blocking consensus at a U.N.-backed conference, where most countries wanted to ensure that humans stay at the controls of lethal machines.

Coordinator Mary Wareham of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots spoke Monday after experts from dozens of countries agreed before dawn Saturday at the U.N. in Geneva on 10 “possible guiding principles” about such “Lethal Automated Weapons Systems.”