Science

Intelligent control: The fluorescence microscope at EPFL’s Laboratory of Experimental Biophysics. (Courtesy: Hillary Sanctuary/EPFL/CC BY-SA) Fluorescence microscopy of live cells provides an indispensable tool for studying the dynamics of biological systems. But many biological processes – such as bacterial cell division and mitochondrial division, for example – occur sporadically, making them challenging to capture. Continually

Maj. Gen. Schiess: ‘We are preparing and posturing for the fight’ NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The U.S. Space Operations Command is assigning cybersecurity and intelligence specialists to work side-by-side with satellite operators so they’re better prepared to protect U.S. systems from electronic and physical threats, said Maj. Gen. Douglas Schiess. “We are preparing and posturing

PARIS – Planet released additional information about the hyperspectral constellation the Earth-observation company is developing through the Carbon Mapper public-private partnership. San Francisco-based Planet remains on schedule to launch the first two hyperspectral satellites in 2023 to gather data in 400 spectral bands with a resolution of 30 meters per pixel. While data to pinpoint methane

Slimmed down: the new quantum sensor could reduce battery weights by 10%. (Courtesy: Shutterstock/Chesky) A new quantum sensor can measure the energy stored in electric vehicle batteries much more accurately than existing devices – according to its inventors Mutsuko Hatano at the Tokyo Institute of Technology and her colleagues in Japan. Their sensor uses nitrogen–vacancy

PARIS — A major arm of China’s state-owned space contractor is looking at developing a series of partially and fully-reusable launch vehicles apparently in response to SpaceX’s Starship. A paper published in the journal Aerospace Technology outlines plans under consideration by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) for a number of launch vehicles with

Nearly 300 space executives from 195 companies filled a University of Colorado auditorium in late July to hear the U.S. Space Force talk about its needs for space domain awareness. Known as SDA, space domain awareness is the military term for space situational awareness, which means knowledge of the space environment. The Air Force Space

Functional ULM: Maps of blood velocity (left) and microbubble count (right) in the rat brain vasculature at 6.5 µm resolution. (Courtesy: CC BY 4.0/N Renaudin et al Nat. Methods 10.1038/s41592-022-01549-5) Neuroimaging has increased our understanding of brain function. Such techniques often involve measuring blood flow variations to detect brain activation, exploiting the fundamental interaction between

PARIS — Intuitive Machines, a company developing lunar landers and related capabilities for NASA and other customers, will go public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), it announced Sept. 16. Houston-based Intuitive Machines said it will merge with Inflection Point Acquisition Corp., a SPAC trading on the Nasdaq exchange. The merged

PARIS — Viasat took a step closer to buying London-based Inmarsat Sept. 16 after the British government ruled it poses no risk to the U.K.’s national security. The government found sufficient measures in place to protect sensitive information from unauthorized access, and to continue the provision of strategic capabilities to the U.K. following the merger.

Come from away: photos of some of the many DIY Kibble balances around the world that were inspired by the LEGO balance built at NIST. (Courtesy: B Hayes/NIST) We do love a good LEGO story here at Physics World. Indeed, this is the 55th article on the plastic blocks that we have published on the

WASHINGTON — The Space Systems Command, the Space Development Agency and the Missile Defense Agency have formed a new program office to coordinate disparate procurements of satellites to detect ballistic and hypersonic missiles. The Space Systems Command (SSC), the procurement arm of the U.S. Space Force, announced the realignment Sept. 15.  The combined program office

PARIS — Satellite radar startups disagree over how much of their resources should be moved to meet anticipated demand from commercial customers and away from governments, which today provide the bulk of revenues. Executives of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) companies Capella Space, Umbra, and Synspective discussed diverging growth strategies Sept. 16 during World Satellite Business

Researchers in the United Kingdom are facing an uncertain future, due to a political spat about the UK’s participation in Horizon Europe – Europe’s flagship research funding programme. Following Brexit, the UK was set to become an official associate within the scheme, which brings funding and leadership opportunities within European projects. This is now threatened by

NGA’s Dave Gauthier: ‘We have some obligation to think about commercial protection’ NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — U.S. defense and intelligence agencies that increasingly rely on commercial satellites for imagery and other services are discussing how they might compensate companies if their spacecraft is damaged during an armed conflict, officials said Sept. 15. If private sector

PARIS — Spire Global said Sept. 15 it will build three 16U cubesats launching in 2023 to expand Canadian greenhouse gas-monitoring operator GHGSat’s constellation. The three satellites, each the size of 16 cubesats, are slated to join the six similarly sized spacecraft that GHGSat currently operates in low Earth orbit. Joel Spark, co-founder and general

Star figure: Athene Donald speaking at a gala dinner in the fellows’ dining room at Churchill College Cambridge on 12 September 2022 to mark her retirement after a glittering career in physics (Courtesy: Matin Durrani) Over the years I’ve attended countless scientific conferences devoted to everything from astronomy to particle physics. As an editor, I’m

SDA’s second batch of Tranche 0 is still on track to launch in March WASHINGTON — The first launch of the Space Development Agency’s low Earth orbit satellites that had been scheduled for late September is slipping to no earlier than mid-December.  Speaking at the Washington Space Business Roundtable Sept. 14, SDA Director Derek Tournear