Science

Derek Tournear: ‘I’m really interested in industry feedback when we when they see our acquisition strategy’ WASHINGTON — The Pentagon’s Space Development Agency is considering buying its next 150 satellites from three different vendors, but that could change after the agency evaluates companies’ bids, SDA director Derek Tournear said April 14. Speaking at the Washington

Fry up: cooked egg white is dynamic gel that continues to evolve long after solidifying (Courtesy: cyclonebill-Vagtel-spejlæg CC BY-SA 2.0) New research shows that the humble egg white could hold the answer to a long-standing mystery about the evolution of gels. In a paper published in Physical Review Letters, scientists at the University of Tübingen

WASHINGTON — Blue Origin completed another test flight of its New Shepard vehicle April 14, putting the company on the verge of finally flying people. Blue Origin’s New Shepard vehicle lifted off from the company’s West Texas test site, known as Launch Site One by the company, at 12:51 p.m. Eastern. The capsule, separating from

Sound technology: the optomechanical ultrasound sensor array chip with optical fibre block array access. (Courtesy: IMEC) A highly sensitive optomechanical ultrasound detector integrated onto a silicon photonic chip has been developed by researchers in Belgium and Germany. The team, led by Wouter Westerveld at the Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (IMEC) in Leuven, showed that its device

WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin announced a new line of satellites designed for space-based surveillance. The mid-size satellite bus is aimed at the military market and would be interoperable with military weapons systems such as fighter jets and air defense systems. The company is pitching the new mid-size satellite as an alternative to tactical surveillance platforms

SAN FRANCISCO – York Space Systems has learned a lot from operating its first production-model spacecraft in orbit for two years. The biggest takeaway, though, has been the need to automate satellite handling on the ground. “In the first few months, it became clear it was going to require as many as 15 different people

From proton-based cancer therapy to small-animal PET scanners, US technology company H3D is seeking out growth opportunities in the medical imaging market Made to measure: H3D founder and CEO Willy Kaye (right) runs a product demonstration for workers at a nuclear power plant. Alongside its established customer base in defence, nuclear power and nuclear safeguarding

SAN FRANCISCO — Orbital Sidekick announced a $16 million Series A funding round April 13 led by Singapore investment giant Temasek that clears the way for the company to complete development of its first constellation of hyperspectral imaging satellites. “Temasek is a great foothold within the Asia Pacific region,” Daniel Katz, Orbital Sidekick CEO and

WASHINGTON — The United Arab Emirates doubled the size of its astronaut corps April 10 with the selection of two new astronauts, including the first woman, who will train at NASA starting later this year. The UAE government announced it picked Nora AlMatrooshi and Mohammad AlMulla from a pool of 4,305 applicants to join the

Ionic progress: artistic conception of a quantum computer. (Courtesy: iStock/Devrimb) A quantum charged coupled device – a type of trapped-ion quantum computer first proposed 20 years ago – has finally been fully realized by researchers at Honeywell in the US. Other researchers in the field believe the design, which offers notable advantages over other quantum computing

Global Trends 2040 predicts governments will routinely conduct on-orbit servicing, assembly and manufacturing activities WASHINGTON — The Office of the Director of National Intelligence in a new report released April 8 projects that by 2040 China will be the most significant rival to the United States in space, competing on commercial, civil and military fronts.

WASHINGTON — A Soyuz spacecraft carrying two Russian cosmonauts and one American astronaut arrived at the International Space Station April 9, a few hours after its launch from Kazakhstan. A Soyuz-2.1a rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 3:42 a.m. Eastern, placing the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft into orbit. That spacecraft docked with the station’s

An optomechanical accelerometer that uses light to measure acceleration. Credit: F Zhou/NIST An accelerometer that uses laser light instead of just mechanical strain can register changes as small as tens of billionths of the acceleration due to Earth’s gravity, making it far more sensitive than commercial devices. With further improvements, the developers of the new

WASHINGTON — NASA announced April 10 it was postponing the first flight attempt of the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars by at least three days after detecting a problem during a final pre-flight test. In a brief statement, NASA said that the command sequence for an April 9 test of the vehicle’s rotors, where they would

General Atomics’ Christina Back: Nuclear thermal propulsion “will enable spacecraft to travel immense distances quickly” WASHINGTON — The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency awarded a $22 million contract to General Atomics to design a small nuclear reactor for space propulsion, the agency announced April 9. General Atomics, based in San Diego, California, was selected for

Sweet water: deuterium oxide tastes sweet to humans. (Courtesy: Roger McLassus/CC BY-SA 3.0) Have you ever wondered what heavy water tastes like? Indeed, you may be tempted to taste deuterium oxide and find out for yourself. That is what the chemistry Nobel laureate Harold Urey and a colleague did in 1935, reporting that the taste

Boeing HorizonX Ventures backed El Segundo, California-based Morf3D in 2018 and again in 2019 SEOUL, South Korea — Japanese camera maker Nikon has acquired a controlling stake in U.S. startup Morf3D, an aerospace supplier that has produced 3D-printed metallic flight hardware for Boeing satellites and helicopters. The deal gives Tokyo-based Nikon a foothold in the

WASHINGTON — The White House released a first look at its budget proposal for fiscal year 2022 that includes an increase in funding for NASA, particularly Earth science and space technology programs. The 58-page budget document, released April 9, outlines the Biden administration discretionary spending priorities. It provides only high-level details, though, with a full