30 November 2017
China's DAMPE has detected unexpected and mysterious signals in its measurement of high-energy cosmic rays, which might bring scientists a step closer to shedding light on invisible dark matter. "This is the first time a space experiment has reported a detailed and precise electron and positron spectrum up to about 5 TeV. In this energy range, we found some unexpected and interesting features. We have detected a spectral break at 0.9 TeV and a possible spike at 1.4 TeV," said Chang Jin, Chief Scientist of DAMPE and Vice Director of the Nanjing Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). More data will be needed to confirm what DAMPE is possibly seeing.
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Backgrounder: Will we finally see the cosmic ghost?
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29 November 2017
Russia’s Federation Council (upper house of parliament) ratified an intergovernmental agreement with China on measures to protect technologies related to cooperation in the exploration and peaceful use of outer space at its meeting on 29 November. The agreement was signed in Beijing on 25 June 2016. Its purposes is "to create an organizational and legal basis for preventing unauthorized access to and transfer of protected technologies, in particular with regard to cooperation in rocket and space activities, including the creation and operation of launch vehicles and ground-based space infrastructure."
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27 November 2017
Ukraine and China are preparing to expand cooperation in the space sector, updated cooperation plans were outlined in a new version of the program of bilateral cooperation in the space sector until 2020, which has been recently adopted in Beijing. The updated version of the program of bilateral cooperation in the space sector for 2016-2020 was approved during a session of the working group and the 4th meeting of the Sub-Commission on Cooperation in Space Sector of the Ukrainian-Chinese Intergovernmental Commission, the Ukrainian State Space Agency’s press service reported.
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27 November 2017
The landmark breakthrough on intercontinental quantum-encrypted communications made by Chinese scientists opens the window for global quantum communications, turning the once-doubted quantum phenomena into reality, a world leading quantum physicist Anton Zeilinger told Xinhua. Zeilinger is seen as a pioneer in the field of quantum information and of the foundations of quantum mechanics. He believes the landmark quantum-encrypted intercontinental video call between China and Austria is very important and impressive.
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