Science

COLORADO SPRINGS — SpaceX launched a Crew Dragon spacecraft April 8 carrying four commercial astronauts to the International Space Station for Axiom Space. The Falcon 9 lifted off at 11:17 a.m. Eastern from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. The Crew Dragon spacecraft Endeavour, which previously flew the Demo-2 and Crew-2 commercial crew

COLORADO SPRINGS – Amid a surge in demand for satellite imagery, BlackSky is looking to expand its national security and defense business, CEO Brian O’Toole told SpaceNews. “The Defense Department is interested in tactical ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] from space,” he said. “There’s quite a bit of opportunity there. ISR is clearly becoming a

Translational research: Researchers have performed the first controlled irradiation of tumours in mice using laser-accelerated protons. (Courtesy: HZDR/Juniks) Laser plasma accelerators (LPAs) propel particles to high energies over short distances using intense, ultrashort pulses of laser light. These accelerators can supply high-quality particle beams for radiobiological studies that will help scientists better understand how radiation

COLORADO SPRINGS — Megaconstellation startup E-Space is preparing to deploy the first of potentially hundreds of thousands of satellites on a Rocket Lab mission slated for no earlier than April 19. Three E-space prototypes are part of the 34 payloads that Rocket Lab said April 5 are on the upcoming mission, including satellites for Alba

Lt. Gen. Whiting: ‘Cyberspace is the soft underbelly of our global space networks’ COLORADO SPRINGS – The most likely form of attack facing satellite networks today does not happen in space but on the ground, where hackers seek to exploit vulnerabilities. “Cyberspace is the soft underbelly of our global space networks,” said Lt. Gen. Stephen

Collective endeavour: The Arab Physical Society’s first event will see leading physicists discuss their latest work (Courtesy: iStock/Harvepino) The Arab Physical Society (APS) is hosting its first-ever event today, 7 April 2022, just 10 months after the organisation was founded. The one-day online conference features a welcome address by Prince El Hassan bin Talal of

COLORADO SPRINGS – The U.S. Space Force is working with allies to establish international norms of behavior for space activity and to share a common operating picture of activity occurring in space. “What’s lacking at the moment is the ability to then apply consequences,” Air Marshal Mel Hupfeld, Royal Australian Air Force chief, said during

Bruno: Amazon’s launch contracts will help ensure that the West is never again dependent on Russia for launch services COLORADO SPRINGS – Amazon’s record-breaking deal to purchase up to 83 launches from Arianespace, Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance is “a big deal” in the context of recent geopolitical developments, ULA’s CEO Tory Bruno said

Biggish bang: artist’s impression of neutron stars merging, producing gravitational waves and resulting in a kilonova explosion. (Courtesy: University of Warwick/Mark Garlick/CC BY 4.0) A massive and exotic type of neutron star could be formed by the merger of two neutron stars and avoid becoming a black hole – at least temporarily. That is the

Companies said they will ‘significantly increase the number of women and employees from underrepresented groups’ COLORADO SPRINGS – Top executives from the space industry on April 5 signed a pledge to advance diversity across the workforce.  During an event at the 37th Space Symposium, 23 executives committed to “diversity equity and inclusion,” a term used

Raymond: ‘We are going to focus on how to mature our partnerships’ COLORADO SPRINGS – The United States this week will host the third gathering of international military space chiefs in Colorado Springs.  “We are going to focus on how to mature our partnerships,” Chief of Space Operations of the U.S. Space Force Gen. John

Record breaking: artist’s impression of the decay of a lutetium-149 nucleus into a ytterbium-148 nucleus and a proton. (Courtesy: University of Jyväskylä) Physicists in Finland have created a pumpkin-shaped nucleus that has the shortest directly measured half-life of any ground-state proton emitter. The lutetium-149 nucleus is also the most oblate deformed proton emitter observed to

COLORADO SPRINGS — Telesat has upgraded a quarter of its planned low Earth orbit constellation as supply chain issues force it to consider ordering fewer satellites for the delayed broadband network. The Canadian company’s plan to double the antennas onboard Telesat Lightspeed’s first 78 satellites brings the constellation back to a single satellite design that,

DENVER — NASA called off the first attempt to fuel its Space Launch System rocket and go through a practice countdown April 3, citing a problem with the rocket’s mobile launcher. NASA announced shortly before 12 p.m. Eastern that it was scrubbing its wet dress rehearsal (WDR) for the SLS before crews started loading any

Maths prodigies: stingrays (left) and cichlids can add and subtract small numbers. (Courtesy: Vera Schlüssel/University of Bonn) It has longed been known that fish can count, at least to four, but new research shows they can apparently do much more. Researchers led by Vera Schluessel from the Institute of Zoology at the University of Bonn showed cichlids and

WASHINGTON — The first private mission to the International Space Station by an American vehicle is scheduled to launch this week to serve as a first step in one company’s plans to establish a commercial space station. Axiom Space is targeting April 6 for the launch of its Ax-1 mission on a SpaceX Crew Dragon

SAN FRANCISCO — More than 10,000 people are expected to attend the 37th Space Symposium in person at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs and online through a virtual platform. Roughly seven months after the 36th Space Symposium, which was rescheduled repeatedly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Space Foundation is preparing to welcome 275

Heart of the experiment: the optical cavity used to create the photon gas. (Courtesy: Volker Lannert/University of Bonn) A gas of photons with nearly infinite compressibility has been created by Julian Schmitt and colleagues at the University of Bonn in Germany. The experimental first was achieved in a nanostructured, dye-filled optical cavity where the team