Science

The world watched with excitement as former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and three others lifted off July 20 toward the farthest edge of Earth’s atmosphere aboard the Blue Origin New Shepard. This mission took place only nine days after Virgin Group founder Richard Branson boarded the Virgin Galactic VSS Unity, embarking on the first fully

Taken from the August 2021 issue of Physics World where it first appeared under the headline “The candyfloss cosmos”. Members of the Institute of Physics can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app. Laura Hiscott muses on how candy floss is made, and an unlikely link to astrophysics (Courtesy: iStock/lilu330) If you’ve ever

SANTA FE, N.M. — Shareholders of a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) voted Aug. 20 to merge with Rocket Lab, giving the small launch vehicle and spacecraft developer an infusion of cash. Vector Acquisition Corporation announced that its shareholders approved a series of motions at its annual general meeting to merge the SPAC with Rocket Lab.

HELSINKI — Chinese astronauts Nie Haisheng and Liu Boming embarked on a second Shenzhou-12 spacewalk late Thursday to carry out work on a space station robotic arm. Shenzhou-12 mission commander Nie opened the hatch of the Tianhe module at 8:38 p.m. Eastern Aug. 19 to begin a planned near seven-hour extravehicular activity, the China Manned

Left to right: Livia Eberlin, James Suliburk and Jialing Zhang are developing a new diagnostic device. Their experimental setup is seen in the background. (Courtesy: James Suliburk) Scientists in the US have conducted the first clinical tests of a new diagnostic device called MasSpec Pen. The “pen” is able to detect differences between healthy and

SANTA FE, N.M. — NASA will stop work on a Human Landing System award to SpaceX through the end of October as a federal court takes up a suit filed by Blue Origin protesting the contract. The Court of Federal Claims issued a schedule Aug. 19 for a suit filed by Blue Origin protesting NASA’s

SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea will invest 16 trillion won ($13.6 billion) over the next 10 years in bolstering its defense capabilities in outer space. This includes 1.6 trillion won to be used to develop “core technologies” for military satellites. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), the national arms procurement agency, unveiled the roadmap

SEOUL, South Korea — Satrec Initiative, a satellite maker under South Korea’s Hanwha Group, will send a high-resolution imaging satellite called SpaceEye-T into low Earth orbit by the first quarter of 2024, in the first step toward building its own constellation of Earth observation satellites. The company unveiled the plan Aug. 18, saying SpaceEye-T will

Taken from the August 2021 issue of Physics World. Members of the Institute of Physics can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app. During their physics degree at the University of Birmingham, Marion Cromb did four internships across industry and academia. They speak to Laura Hiscott about what they learnt from these varied

WASHINGTON — Firefly Aerospace has hired a former SpaceX and Blue Origin engineer as its new chief operating officer to guide the company’s shift from development to production, although exactly when the company’s first launch will take place remains unclear. Firefly announced Aug. 17 that Lauren Lyons will become chief operating officer of the company,

TAMPA, Fla. — Shares in Spire Global, the small satellite constellation operator, closed down 5.2% to $9.41 at the end of its first day as a public company Aug. 17. The operator is now trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the “SPIR” ticker, after shareholders of special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) NavSight approved

Electrons exhibiting maximal dissipation in the normal state before passing into a state of minimal dissipation in the superconducting state. Courtesy: Erik van Heumen (Amsterdam) Nobody really understands why cuprates – highly-doped copper oxides – are high-temperature superconductors, and researchers in the UK and the Netherlands have now discovered that the materials don’t conform to

WASHINGTON — A Finnish cubesat designed to test satellite deorbiting technologies will launch on a Rocket Lab Electron after delays with its original launch on a Momentus tug. Rocket Lab announced Aug. 16 that it signed a contract with Aurora Propulsion Technologies to launch its AuroraSat-1 spacecraft on an Electron in the fourth quarter of

WASHINGTON — Blue Origin has filed suit against NASA in federal court, arguing that the agency failed to properly evaluate its proposal for the agency’s Human Landing System program, a procurement won by SpaceX. Blue Origin filed suit Aug. 13 in the Court of Federal Claims, which has jurisdiction over bid protests after reviews by

WASHINGTON — The Government Accountability Office offered more details about its decision to reject protests filed by two companies of NASA’s Human Landing System (HLS) award to SpaceX. The GAO released Aug. 10 a 76-page decision denying protests filed in April by Blue Origin and Dynetics of NASA’s decision to make a single HLS award,

Taken from the 2021 issue of Physics World Instrumentation and Vacuum Briefing. You can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app. Vacuum specialists are working closely with production engineers to make lithium-ion battery manufacturing more efficient – reducing costs and cutting carbon emissions, as Susan Curtis reports

Taken from the August 2021 issue of Physics World where it first appeared under the headline “Infinitesimal to infinite”. Members of the Institute of Physics can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app. David Appell reviews Probable Impossibilities: Musings on Beginnings and Endings by Alan Lightman