Toe curling: the toe spring makes it easier to step, but could also be damaging feet. (Courtesy: Harvard University) Most conventional running shoes have a “toe spring” – a gentle upward curve of the sole towards the tip of the shoe. While this makes stepping more comfortable and easier, Harvard University’s Daniel Lieberman, Oliver Hansen
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New Space has for the last decade challenged the established design rules for spacecraft, and proved that is it possible to design and launch small spacecrafts at a fraction of the cost of traditional designs. OneWeb being one of the pioneers challenging the established supplier base using new thinking to drive down the cost and
WASHINGTON — A smallsat mission to study the atmosphere of Mars is looking for a new ride after being removed as a secondary payload on the launch of a NASA asteroid mission. The Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers, or EscaPADE, mission, was one of three smallsat missions selected by NASA in 2019 for
Counting the cost: Water vapour rises from cooling towers for the ATLAS detector – part of the energy bill for CERN outlined in the lab’s first environmental report (Courtesy: CERN/Maximilien Brice) Greenhouse-gas emissions emitted by the CERN particle-physics lab near Geneva in 2018 were 223 800 tonnes of carbon-dioxide equivalent – similar to the emissions
VALLETTA, Malta — Launch startup PLD Space of Spain raised 7 million euros ($8.2 million) this week from Madrid-based investment bankers Arcano Partners to continue development of its Miura family of partially reusable rockets. PLD Space spokeswoman Lorena Santos said Sept. 17 the new investment will allow the Elche, Spain-based company to add at least
At sports venues designed to maximize crowd atmosphere, beware of hearing loss. Originally published: Apr 14 2014 – 2:45pm, Inside Science News Service By: Brian Owens, ISNS Contributor (ISNS) — The roar of the crowd is a major part of the excitement of attending a sporting event. A noisy, engaged crowd makes for a better experience for fans,
WASHINGTON — As a new venture proposes to send the winner of a reality show to the International Space Station, some investors see a stronger business case for a future commercial space station. A television production company, Space Hero LLC, announced Sept. 17 that it was planning a “global, unscripted casting show” called “Space Hero”
Under light fields, polystyrene/gold Janus particles are set to swim and rotate alternatively such that they follow a predefined path (reprinted under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License) Microscopic devices made from so-called Janus particles can be made to “swim” through liquid with the help of light-induced thermoelectric fields. The devices, which can travel 100μm
HELSINKI — China has initiated preparations to launch Chang’e-5, a mission seeking to collect and return the first lunar samples since the 1970s. Chang’e-5 aims to collect and return around two kilograms of lunar samples and was earlier slated for launch before the end of 2020. Ship tracking and satellite data now indicate that China
WASHINGTON — The longtime president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF) is stepping down next month to become an executive with one of the organization’s member companies. The CSF announced Sept. 17 that Eric Stallmer will leave the organization in late October to become executive vice president for government relations and public policy at Voyager
A laser light shines in a gas cell where UCF researchers generate attosecond pulses. Courtesy: UCF Studies of ultrafast processes could become more widely accessible thanks to researchers at the University of Central Florida (UCF) in the US, who have shown that commercially available, industrial-grade lasers can generate attosecond pulses of light. Until now, such
The contract is for the Evolved Strategic Satellite Communications program, known as Evolved Strategic Satcom. WASHINGTON — Northrop Grumman received a $298 million contract to develop a jam-resistant military satellite that could eventually supplement or replace the existing Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellites made by Lockheed Martin. The Space and Missile Systems Center announced
Public engagement event at a local high school with the Women and Minorities in the Physical Sciences group in graduate school By: Brean Prefontaine We all know what is about to happen when someone asks, “What do/did you study?” As soon as you utter the word “physics” you have to brace for the inevitable “oh,
WASHINGTON — The lunar lander under development by Dynetics for NASA’s Artemis program will make use of in-space refueling of cryogenic propellants and require three launches in quick succession, company officials revealed. In a Sept. 15 webinar held by Dynetics in cooperation with the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics, the company discussed the overall
Tirthraj Adhikari is a radiation oncology physicist at the BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital in Nepal. This post is part of a series on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the personal and professional lives of physicists around the world. If you’d like to share your own perspective, please contact us at pwld@ioppublishing.org. Tirthraj Adhikari (far
Raymond: “One of the really big issues is the dollars that are transferring from the Air Force to the Space Force that can’t officially move over in a CR.” WASHINGTON — Congress is expected to pass a continuing resolution to fund the federal government when the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1. An extended CR
WASHINGTON — The discovery of a molecule in the atmosphere of Venus associated with life could boost the prospects for both government and private missions to the planet. In a paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy Sept. 14, a group of astronomers reported the discovery of the molecule phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus.
Making connections: illustration of gamma-ray flickers being created by magnetic reconnection in a turbulent region in the jet of the blazar 3C 279. (Courtesy: Amit Shukla/Indian Institute of Technology Indore) A gamma ray flare originating from a distant blazar was likely generated by magnetic reconnection within a black hole’s relativistic jet, a pair of researchers