First | Common News Update

Feb172019 by adminNo Comments

Harpoon to pierce junk tested in space for first time

A harpoon designed to clear harmful space junk has been tested for the first time.The British-led RemoveDebris mission aims to tackle the problem of waste material in space left by rockets and other deployments. Scientists say between 16,000 and 20,000 pieces of junk have been tracked orbiting the Earth.The test was carried out by Airbus and involved a harpoon piercing through sample pieces of debris that were dangled on a boom about one-and-a-half metres from the spacecraft.When the harpoon hits debris, a barb is deployed to secure it. Image: The harpoon pierces through the skin of debris Although the harpoon is still a number of years away from operational use, the experiment is a major step towards making it possible to cl...

Feb92019 by adminNo Comments

Rare tiger kills prospective mate in London at first meeting

World

[unable to retrieve full-text content]London Zoo says one of its female Sumatran tigers has been killed by a potential mate while the two animals were being introduced ABC News: International

Feb92019 by adminNo Comments

The Specials score first number one album after 40 years

Entertainment

The Specials have thanked fans after scoring their first-ever number one album - 40 years on from the release of their debut.Encore, the new album from the ska legends, saw off competition from noughties pop-punk band Busted, who had also been hoping to top the album charts for the first time. After numerous splits and reunions over the years, the current incarnation of The Specials features original members Lynval Golding, Terry Hall and Horace Panter. Image: The Specials were famous for hits including Ghost Town and Too Much Too Young in the '70s and '80s Speaking to OfficialCharts.com after getting the number one, the band said in a statement: "Recording the album has been one of the most amazing trips of our lives. What ...

Feb52019 by adminNo Comments

Ford-class Ship Self Defense System undergoes first live test

Business

Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Raytheon and the U.S. Navy completed the first test of the Ship Self Defense System Integrated Combat System aboard the first of the new class of aircraft carriers, the USS Gerald R. Ford. The newest generation of Raytheon's Ship Self Defense System successfully engaged in its first live-fire test of an unmanned aerial vehicle target off the coast of California aboard USS Gerald R. Ford. The test -- against an unmanned aerial vehicle target off the coast of California -- was the first of several live fire events planned for the ship and it's new ICS this year, Raytheon said Tuesday in a press release. "The design of our Ship Self Defense System enabled seamless integration of the sensors and missiles with the CVN 78 combat system during this first-of-its-kind test, proving...

Feb42019 by adminNo Comments

Air Force names first female flight commander for F-16 Viper team

Business

Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Capt. Zoe "SiS" Kotnik has been named the first female commander of a single-aircraft demonstration team, the F-16 Viper Demo Team. She will lead a team of 17 airmen flying F-16V Vipers, the latest variant of the Fighting Falcon, at 20 airshows this year performing precision aerial maneuvers. That includes overseeing maintenance actions performed on three $ 43 million Lockheed Martin aircraft. Kotnik, 30, has logged more than 1,000 flying hours in her eight years of military service, and was certified last Tuesday by Gen. Mike Holmes, commander of Air Combat Command, at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va. "What I'm looking forward to most is the potential to have an influence on younger generations," Kotnik said in a news release. "I know firsthand how impactful airshows can be...