Science

If we want more people to become interested in physics, sending out the wrong signals about the discipline on social media is the surest way to fail. In this episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast, Georgina Phillips of the Institute of Physics (IOP) explains the importance of social media in reaching groups of people

WASHINGTON — A delay in the launch of NASA’s Psyche asteroid mission is forcing another asteroid mission hitching a ride to revise its plans. Janus, a NASA smallsat mission selected in 2019, will launch two identical spacecraft as secondary payloads on the Falcon Heavy rocket whose primary payload is Psyche. After a series of Earth

The committee’s proposal advocates for greater DoD use of commercial remote sensing satellite data such as radio-frequency and synthetic aperture radar WASHINGTON — The House Armed Services Committee’s subcommittee on strategic forces on June 8 passed its proposals for the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act.  The strategic forces panel – which covers military

Taken from the June 2022 issue of Physics World. Members of the Institute of Physics can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app. Glasses are much more mysterious than their crystalline counterparts, yet have a wealth of practical uses, says Jon Cartwright At the British Museum in London, there is a small turquoise-blue

WASHINGTON — France joined the U.S.-led Artemis Accords June 7, a long-anticipated but significant milestone for the effort to establish best practices for sustainable space exploration. In a ceremony at the French ambassador’s resident here, Philippe Baptiste, president of the French space agency CNES, signed the Artemis Accords alongside NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. The signing

TAMPA, Fla. — SpaceX is unlikely to offer shares in its broadband company Starlink to the public until 2025 or later, according to a report citing comments its CEO Elon Musk made to employees last week. Musk said he did not know exactly when Starlink could list shares on a public stock exchange, reported CNBC

Neurotransmitter: dopamine plays an important role in the function of the brain. (Courtesy: Shutterstock/Phonlamai-Photo) A sensing technique that can precisely detect the release and diffusion of dopamine from individual neuron release sites has been developed by researchers in Germany. Led by Sebastian Kruss at Ruhr University Bochum, the team created their sensor using specially-modified carbon

The antennas will support the military Link 16 tactical communications data network WASHINGTON – Redwire announced June 7 it won a contract to produce 42 tactical communications antennas for U.S. military satellites in low Earth orbit. The Jacksonville, Florida-based space infrastructure company said it’s under contract to deliver 42 high-gain antennas over the next 18

TAMPA, Fla. — SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network reclaimed permission to operate in France June 2 following a month-long public consultation in the country. French telecoms regulator ARCEP said it decided to award Starlink a spectrum license again after its consultation highlighted demand for the services in areas poorly served by terrestrial networks. ARCEP had authorized

Want to take part in this webinar? This webinar is made up of three presentations: • AI autocontouring of organs in preclinical radiation studies for cancer An overview will be given of the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in automatic delineation (contouring) of organs in preclinical cancer research models. It will be shown how AI

Blue Canyon president Brad Tously said there is a growing interest from national security agencies in space missions in very low Earth orbit WASHINGTON — Among the 59 small-satellite missions SpaceX launched on May 25 on the Transporter 5 rideshare was a shoebox-size cubesat designed to operate in very low orbit for an extended period

Clare Grason: Some military organizations are warming up to commercial satcom services but many still distrust commercial solutions WASHINGTON — Despite growing enthusiasm for new space internet services, some military buyers remain distrustful of commercial solutions as a replacement for government-developed systems, a senior procurement official said June 2. “We see the LEO mania, and

Noise protection: An optical micrograph of the circuit used in the experiment, showing aluminium electrodes in light grey and niobium electrodes in dark grey. The insets are scanning electron microscope images of one array of large junctions and one small junction. (Courtesy: W C Smith et al., “Magnifying Quantum Phase Fluctuations with Cooper-Pair Pairing”, Phys

HELSINKI — China’s Shenzhou-14 crewed spacecraft docked with the Tianhe space station module early Sunday, marking the start of a crucial six-month-long mission. Shenzhou-14 completed a fast automated rendezvous and docking with the Tianhe module at 5:42 a.m. Eastern, June 5, marking the safe arrival of astronauts Chen Dong (commander), Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe.

WASHINGTON — Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital vehicle performed its fifth crewed suborbital flight June 4, carrying six people including the first Mexican-born woman to go to space and the company’s first repeat customer. New Shepard lifted off from Blue Origin’s Launch Site One in West Texas at 9:25 a.m. Eastern. The crew capsule, with

At long last: the crystal structure of three layers of γ-graphyne. (Courtesy: Yiming Hu) Two new processes for producing different types of graphyne – a 2D allotrope of carbon that includes triple bonds – have been reported in independent papers. One paper – from researchers in the US and China – reports the first experimental

TAMPA, Fla. — Lockheed Martin no longer expects its UK Pathfinder mission will fly this year, although it remains in the running to perform the first-ever vertical launch to orbit from British soil. With British microlaunch startup Orbex targeting this year or early next for its maiden flight, the delay appears to pull Lockheed Martin

TAMPA, Fla. — Sony has formed a company to develop laser communications equipment for small satellites, drawing on optical disc technology it pioneered for CD players and other devices. The Japanese conglomerate said June 2 it founded Sony Space Communications (SSC) in San Mateo, California, to help companies avoid running out of radio waves as