Reuters Science News Summary

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

European wind-tracker satellite to sharpen weather forecasts

Europe plans to launch a satellite on Wednesday that will use new laser technology to measure the winds sweeping across Earth and help scientists forecast changes in weather more accurately. The Aeolus mission will provide scientists with data on winds in remote areas, such as over oceans, that they have not been able to get from weather balloons, ground stations and airplanes but which are crucial to predicting changes in weather.

Paul Allen's space firm details plans for rockets, cargo vehicle

The space company of billionaire Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen on Monday unveiled details of medium-lift rockets and a reusable space cargo plane it is developing, injecting more competition into the lucrative launch services market. With its rockets, Allen's Stratolaunch Systems Corp is trying to cash in on higher demand in the coming years for vessels that can put satellites into orbit. But his vehicles will have to compete domestically with other space entrepreneurs and industry stalwarts such as Elon Musk's SpaceX and United Launch Alliance - a partnership between Boeing and Lockheed Martin .

NASA chief excited about prospects for exploiting water on the moon

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has a vision for renewed and "sustainable" human exploration of the moon, and he cites the existence of water on the lunar surface as a key to chances for success. "We know that there's hundreds of billions of tons of water ice on the surface of the moon," Bridenstine said in a Reuters TV interview in Washington on Tuesday, a day after NASA unveiled its analysis of data collected from lunar orbit by a spacecraft from India.

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