Science

A novel semiconducting material with high thermal conductivity can be integrated into high-power computer chips to cool them down and so improve their performance. The material, boron arsenide, is better at removing heat than the best thermal-management devices available today, according to the US-based researchers who developed it. An electron microscopy image of a gallium

WASHINGTON — The new chief executive of Momentus hopes to turn the page on the company’s past regulatory problems and focus on development of its in-space propulsion technology it plans to demonstrate next year. John Rood formally took over as chief executive of Momentus Aug. 1. Rood spent more than 20 years in various U.S.

The Space and Missile Systems Center says ‘requests for equitable adjustment are considered on a case-by-case basis’ WASHINGTON — Raytheon’s contract for the Global Positioning System Next Generation Operational Control System, known as OCX, is increasing by $13.5 million due to pandemic-related costs. The U.S. Space Force on Aug. 2 announced a modification to Raytheon’s

WASHINGTON — Japanese lunar lander developer ispace raised $46 million in a new funding round Aug. 4 to support future missions to the moon. Tokyo-based ispace said it raised the $46 million Series C round from seven investors, led by Incubate Fund, a Japanese venture capital fund. Incubate Fund had been investing in ispace since

TAMPA, Fla. — Significantly faster communications could be coming to the International Space Station in 2024, after SpaceLink won funding to test its incoming relay satellites. The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), which manages the U.S. National Laboratory on the ISS, awarded the startup a contract to test its 10 gigabit

Heart of the matter: cross-section of the designed heart-shaped phase singularity sheet (left). The extended dark region in the centre image is a cross-section of the singularity sheet. The phase (right) is undefined on the singularity sheet. (Courtesy: Daniel Lim/Harvard SEAS) Researchers in the US have shown for the first time how regions of complete

Space-base communications from GPS satellites would give the military an additional layer of connectivity in medium Earth orbit WASHINGTON — The next generation of Global Positioning System satellites could host additional payloads to provide communications services, the U.S. Space Force said in a request for information.  The RFI issued last month by the Space and

TAMPA, Fla. — Amazon Web Services is partnering with Greece’s government on economic and technology initiatives that aim to turn the country into a regional space hub. It is the first agreement of its kind for the cloud computing giant, which is expanding its global space presence as Amazon commits $10 billion to develop the

Eye on the universe: the planetary nebula NGC 7294, or the “Helix Nebula”, is nearby in the Milky Way. However, astronomers have managed to observe similar objects at much greater distances. (Courtesy: NASA, NOAO, ESA, the Hubble Helix Nebula Team, M Meixner (STScI), and TA Rector (NRAO)) Planetary nebulae as far away as 40 Mpc (about

HELSINKI — A Chinese private launch company carried out a first low-altitude vertical takeoff, vertical land test late July. Deep Blue Aerospace fired up the Nebula-M VTVL test stage at a facility at Tongchuan, Shaanxi Province, reaching a height of almost 10 meters before briefly hovering and landing safely, the company announced Aug. 2. The

ORLANDO — NASA Administrator Bill Nelson says he remains confident that Congress will provide NASA with additional funding so it can select a second lunar lander developer but declined to comment on Blue Origin’s proposal to lower its costs to enable a contract. Speaking at a press conference at the Kennedy Space Center July 29

Weathered rock: columnar basalt at Cape Stolbchaty in Russia. The volcanic rock could be used to soak-up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. (Courtesy: Ekaterina Vasyagina/CC BY-SA 4.0) Sprinkling powered basalt over natural ecosystems would remove vast amounts of carbon dioxide from the Earth’s atmosphere while also improving soils. That’s the finding of a new study

WASHINGTON — The Senate confirmed the White House’s nominee to be chief financial officer of NASA July 30, rounding out the senior leadership positions at the agency. The Senate, on a voice vote late in the day, confirmed Margaret Vo Schaus to be the agency’s CFO. The White House nominated her for the position April

RSA won an SBIR contract funded by the Space Force to design a spacecraft with a solar-thermal propulsion system.  WASHINGTON — A startup under contract to the U.S. Space Force is investigating the use of solar-powered vehicles for operations in deep space beyond Earth orbit. As the Space Force plans possible missions in cislunar space

Neutron clustering measurements at the Walthousen Reactor Critical Facility at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Schenectady, NY. Credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory The first ever live “snapshot” of an operating nuclear reactor has revealed a surprise: the neutrons in the reactor tend to cluster rather than spreading evenly. The observations, which were made by researchers in

ORLANDO — An Ariane 5 successfully launched two commercial communications satellites July 30 in the first flight of the rocket in nearly a year, and the first of two missions before it launches a NASA space telescope. The Ariane 5 lifted off at 5 p.m. Eastern time from the spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The

ORLANDO — The U.S. Government Accountability Office denied protests July 30 that Blue Origin and Dynetics filed of NASA’s award of a single lunar lander contract to SpaceX. In a statement, the GAO said that NASA did not violate procurement law when it decided to make a single Human Landing System (HLS) award to SpaceX