Science

WASHINGTON — As the Artemis 1 mission nears its conclusion, European Space Agency and industry officials praised the performance of the Orion spacecraft’s service module, which some see as a step towards a European crewed spacecraft. The Artemis 1 mission is set to conclude Dec. 11 with the reentry and splashdown of the Orion crew

Testing the new coronavirus detection system. (Courtesy: Andrea Starr | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) A new electrochemical cell could detect airborne viruses like SARS-CoV-2 in near real-time, according to researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). The device could be positioned on a wall or ceiling, or in air ducts,

TAMPA, Fla. — French satellite antenna maker Anywaves said Dec. 8 it has raised around $3 million to help capture more business from U.S. customers. Anywaves CEO Nicolas Capet said the funds from French investor Ylliade Groupe enable the company to accelerate sales and marketing efforts in the United States, where only 10% of its

York Space’s satellites will need filters to address a ‘noisy power supply’ issue WASHINGTON — The first launch of the Space Development Agency’s constellation planned for mid-December will slip to March 2023 due to an anomaly in York Space’s satellites that was identified during tests, the agency’s director Derek Tournear said Dec. 9. The Space

Listening in: the diarrhoea sensor installed over a toilet. (Courtesy: Maia Gatlin) This week’s Red Folder focuses on that humble yet crucial appliance, the toilet. Cholera, a bacterial disease that causes diarrhoea, affects millions of people worldwide and results in some 150,000 deaths per year, so identifying it early could help mitigate its spread. Yet

TAMPA, Fla. — SpaceX successfully launched 40 satellites for OneWeb’s rival broadband constellation Dec. 8 on a Falcon 9 rocket. The rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 5:27 p.m. Eastern and released the satellites over three separation sequences about an hour and a half later. Following its part of a mission that

WASHINGTON — Just days after setting a launch date for its first launch from the United Kingdom, Virgin Orbit announced Dec. 8 it was delaying that mission for weeks because of technical and regulatory issues. In a statement provided to SpaceNews, Virgin Orbit Chief Executive Dan Hart said the company’s “Start Me Up” mission from

Howdy, partner: Space science and supercomputing meet at the SC Conference in Dallas, Texas, US. Every year, the biggest names in high-performance computing get together for the SC conference. This year’s edition, SC22, saw nearly 12 000 supercomputing experts and enthusiasts travel to Dallas, Texas, US to listen to lectures, collaborate with colleagues and meet

DoD is looking for ‘responsive access’ to cislunar space WASHINGTON — The Defense Innovation Unit is seeking proposals for commercial services to deploy and operate payloads in outer space beyond Earth orbit, an area known as cislunar space. DIU, a Defense Department agency created to bring commercially developed technology into military programs, is looking for

WASHINGTON — Teams led by Blue Origin and Dynetics, runners-up in NASA’s first competition to develop a lander to transport astronauts to the lunar surface, have submitted proposals for a NASA competition to select a second lander. Blue Origin announced Dec. 6 that it submitted a proposal for NASA’s Sustaining Lunar Development (SLD) competition to

Courtesy: IOP Publishing Physics World is delighted to announce its top 10 Breakthroughs of the Year for 2022, which span everything from quantum and medical physics to astronomy and condensed matter. The overall Physics World Breakthrough of the Year will be revealed on Wednesday 14 December. The 10 Breakthroughs were selected by a panel of

Mynaric is designing an optical communications terminal for DARPA’s Space Based Adaptive Communications Node program known as Space-BACN WASHINGTON — Mynaric selected a cybersecurity tool from Redwire and BigBear.ai for an inter-satellite laser communications terminal it is developing for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the companies announced Dec. 6. Laser communications supplier Mynaric is

HELSINKI — Landspace is preparing for a test launch of its Zhuque-2 rocket in what could be a marker for the progress being made by Chinese commercial launch companies. The methane and liquid oxygen-powered Zhuque-2 is being readied for a launch attempt expected in the coming days and will take place at newly-built launch facilities

Catching the drips: the FRIB Decay Station Initiator. (Courtesy: Facility for Rare Isotope Beams) The first scientific results from the new Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) at Michigan State University have been unveiled by physicists in the US. Heather Crawford at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and colleagues have synthesized new neutron-rich isotopes of three

Undersecretary of Defense Heidi Shyu established a Defense Science Board task force on ‘commercial space system access and integrity’ WASHINGTON — The Pentagon’s top research official has directed the Defense Science Board to examine the military’s growing demand for commercial space technology and its implications, and to recommend steps DoD should take to ensure access

TAMPA, Fla. — Greg Wyler’s megaconstellation startup E-Space said Dec. 5 it plans to buy radio frequency module developer CommAgility in a $14.5 million deal. The acquisition gives E-Space 5G software and experience that “would have taken years to recreate,” Wyler said in a statement. CommAgility, which employs 50 people and is currently part of

Before and after: images of Amazonis Planitia taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The image on the left shows the region before the impact while the image on the right shows the effect of the meteorite. (Courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS) Two meteorite impacts on the Martian surface have given scientists a better understanding of the interior structure

WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission has partially approved SpaceX’s application for the second generation of its Starlink constellation, allowing the company to launch up to a quarter of the proposed 30,000 satellites while deferring action on the rest. In a Dec. 1 order, the FCC granted permission to SpaceX to launch 7,500 satellites of