Science

HELSINKI — China successfully conducted its 54th and 55th orbital launches of 2021 Dec. 29, launching satellites from the Jiuquan and Xichang spaceports within hours of each other.  A Long March 3B rocket lifted off from launch complex 2 at Xichang in southwest China at 11:43 a.m. Eastern Wednesday, carrying the communications technology test satellite-9

WASHINGTON — Firefly Aerospace is pausing preparations for its next Alpha launch, originally scheduled for early 2022, after the government asked its largest shareholder to divest its stake for national security reasons. Noosphere Venture Partners, a fund run by Ukrainian-born investor Max Polyakov, said Dec. 29 that it will retain an investment banking firm to

Taken from the December 2021 issue of Physics World where it first appeared under the headline “Joining the dots”. Members of the Institute of Physics can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app. (Courtesy: NASA) John Gribbin must like counting. Following on from his books Six Impossible Things (2019) and Seven Pillars of

SEOUL, South Korea — Japan’s recently elected prime minister set an end-of-the-decade goal for sending Japanese astronauts to the moon as part of the U.S.-led Artemis program.  “We will promote the Artemis project to perform manned activities on the moon, and in the late 2020s, we will try to realize the lunar landing of Japanese

TAMPA, Fla. — The first ViaSat-3 broadband satellite is on track to launch in the first half of 2022 despite ongoing pandemic-related challenges, according to Viasat’s recently appointed chief operating officer Kevin Harkenrider. The high-throughput satellite’s Viasat-built payload has been integrated with a chassis provided by Boeing for tests that will continue into early next

Taken from the December 2021 issue of Physics World where it first appeared under the headline “The shape of things”. Members of the Institute of Physics can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app. (Courtesy: Shutterstock/Olga Korneeva) Geometry – Greek for “measuring the world” – is one of the oldest branches of mathematics

SANTA FE, N.M. — The Federal Aviation Administration says it needs at least two more months to complete an environmental review of SpaceX Starship orbital launches from its Boca Chica, Texas, facility. The FAA said Dec. 28 that was unable to meet an original Dec. 31 deadline to complete an environmental assessment of plans by

HELSINKI — China has informed the United Nations that its crewed space station twice maneuvered to avoid potential collisions with SpaceX Starlink satellites earlier this year. A notification dated Dec. 6 by China under Article V of the Outer Space Treaty stated that the Tianhe space station module conducted preventive collision avoidance due to close

Real live results: This box may or may not contain quantum discoveries. (Courtesy: Shutterstock/S Castelli) Last month, Physics World reported on a campaign to make 2025 the official UN International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. Although we wish the campaigners well, here at the magazine’s socially-distanced HQ we’ve already found plenty to celebrate in

SANTA FE, N.M. — As Virgin Orbit prepares to complete its merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), the launch provider has announced a series of partnerships and investments to diversify its business. Shareholders in NextGen Acquisition Corp. II are scheduled to vote Dec. 28 on its merger with Virgin Orbit announced Aug. 23.

TAMPA, Fla. — Arianespace completed its last mission of the year Dec. 27 with the launch of 36 satellites for low Earth orbit broadband operator OneWeb. OneWeb’s latest batch of satellites launched on a Soyuz 2.1b rocket at 8.10 a.m. Eastern from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Mission Success! We are thrilled to have ended

Taken from the December 2021 issue of Physics World where it first appeared under the headline “Technologies that changed us”. Members of the Institute of Physics can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app. Kate Gardner reviews The Alchemy of Us: How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another by Ainissa Ramirez

HELSINKI — Two Shenzhou-13 astronauts embarked on a six-hour extravehicular activity Sunday to install equipment outside China’s Tianhe space station module. Astronaut Ye Guangfu, wearing a Fetian EVA suit with yellow markings, opened the Tianhe airlock hatch at 5:44 a.m. Eastern Dec. 26 before exiting the space station module, according to the China Manned Space

WASHINGTON — While the impending launch of the James Webb Space Telescope has astronomers both excited and nervous, the liftoff marks only the beginning of the riskiest part of the mission. NASA and other mission partners said Dec. 22 they remained on schedule for a Dec. 25 launch of JWST on an Ariane 5 from

Fresh fish: quantum dots have been used to identify spoiled mackerel. (Courtesy: Jastrow) Materials and nanotechnology have long attracted some of the best physicists in academia and industry. This year saw some fascinating research done in this field, and in particular work that focused on natural materials and the environment. Here is a selection of

HELSINKI — China launched a new-generation Long March 7A rocket Thursday, successfully sending a pair of Shiyan-12 test satellites into geosynchronous transfer orbit. The Long March 7A lifted off from the coastal Wenchang Satellite Launch Center at 5:12 a.m. Eastern, rising into a broken cloudy sky just after local sunset. The China Aerospace Science and

SANTA FE, N.M. — A space telescope that will peer deeper into the universe than any other is on its way to its destination beyond the moon after a long-anticipated launch Dec. 25. An Ariane 5 lifted off from the European spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana, at 7:20 a.m. Eastern. The James Webb Space Telescope

Lift off: The James Webb Space Telescope launches NASA has successfully launched its much anticipated $10bn James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The mission took off today aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from the European Spaceport located near Kourou, French Guiana, at 12:20 GMT. It will now make its way to Lagrange point L2 – a