Science

The uncomfortable truth now facing the space community, in the days after the horrific events at the Capitol Jan. 6, is that some of the most prominent Republican supporters of space in Congress are on the wrong side of history. The U.S. Capitol is seen in this Maxar Technologies satellite image the day after a

Hot stuff: scientists have shown that a chemical in chilli peppers can boost the performance of solar cell. (Courtesy: © Tomas Castelazo, www.tomascastelazo.com / Wikimedia Commons) Researchers at the Skoltech Institute of Science and Technology in Russia have used chemical sensors and imaging software to determine – in a contactless way – when a chicken

WASHINGTON — NASA officials expressed confidence that a key test of the Space Launch System scheduled for Jan. 16 will go well, keeping open the chances that the vehicle will make its long-delayed debut before the end of the year. NASA has scheduled a full-duration static-fire test of the SLS core stage at the Stennis

Topological operation: lattice surgery has been used to entangle qubits. (Courtesy: Shutterstock/Dmitriy-Rybin) “Lattice surgery” has been used to quantum-mechanically entangle fault-tolerant topological qubits – an achievement that could lead to the production of more reliable quantum logic gates. Created by researchers in Austria, Switzerland and Germany, the entanglement technique could prove useful in the development

“The DoD space industrial base remains a niche market with very specialized and capital-intensive requirements.” WASHINGTON — U.S. military satellites and missiles continue to rely on customized hardware and niche components that are no longer manufactured domestically, the Pentagon said in a report to Congress released Jan. 14. These programs need to invest in new

WASHINGTON — OneWeb says it’s drastically reducing the size of a proposed next-generation satellite constellation originally envisioned to have nearly 48,000 satellites. In a Jan. 12 filing with the Federal Communications Commission, OneWeb sought permission to amend an application filed in May requesting to launch 47,844 satellites for its “Phase Two” constellation. Instead, the company

Taken from the January 2021 issue of Physics World. Members of the Institute of Physics can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app. The Internet will use a fifth of all the world’s electricity by 2025 – and that’s no bad thing, says James McKenzie

The future headquarters will have approximately 1,400 military and civilian personnel. WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army’s Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, was picked as the future location of U.S. Space Command’s headquarters. Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett announced the decision Jan. 13. The selection of Redstone Arsenal is a huge win for Huntsville, nicknamed “Rocket

Three of the 2021 launches planned from Florida’s Space Coast will be NASA human spaceflight missions — two by SpaceX and one by Boeing. WASHINGTON — As many as 53 space missions are projected to lift off in 2021 from Florida’s Space Coast, the vice commander of the 45th Space Wing said Jan. 12. “We

Pulsar array: artist’s impression of how NANOGrav observes pulsars in an effort detect gravitational waves. (Courtesy: NANOGrav/T Klein) The observation of tiny deviations in the arrival times of radio pulses from neutron stars could be our first glimpse at gravitational waves from merging supermassive black holes – according to astronomers working on the NANOGrav pulsar

The NGA and NRO are stepping up research to better understand the emerging commercial geospatial intelligence market. WASHINGTON — The private sector is coming out with new geospatial intelligence products and services faster than the government can figure out how to buy them. That means analysts need ways to procure commercial geoint “at a moment’s

SAN FRANCISCO – Iceye is preparing to send three Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites into orbit on the SpaceX Falcon 9 small satellite rideshare mission scheduled for launch Jan. 21. With the upcoming launch, Iceye seeks to expand its constellation to include six SAR satellites. “We are excited to start 2021 with the launch of

Entangled image: still from a 3D animation of a volume scan of a 900-micron thick structure, consisting of three layers of alumina ceramics. (Courtesy: Aron Vanselow and Sven Ramelow, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) Entangled pairs of photons have been used by physicists in Germany and Austria to image structures beneath the surfaces of materials that scatter

SAN FRANCISCO – NOAA’s National Satellite, Data and Information Service is recommending flying three satellites over the United States in the satellite constellation that will follow the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite R Series (GOES-R). In addition, to operating satellites in orbits similar to those of the current GOES East and GOES West satellites, NOAA recommends

If you live in a part of the world with cold winters, you probably know the awful feeling that comes with an unexpectedly early frost or snow—one that covers your car in a layer of ice before you’ve pulled out your gloves and ice scraper for the season. The one that makes your fingers freeze

WASHINGTON — The head of Arianespace asked European governments to provide his company with more support in order to balance what he called government support of American competitors “with no precedent.” At a Jan. 7 press briefing, Stéphane Israël, chief executive of Arianespace, said the company completed 2020 with revenues of about one billion euros

Schematic structure of the tandem solar cell stack in 3D. Credit: Eike Koehnen/HZB Solar cells made from a combination of silicon and a complex perovskite have reached a new milestone for efficiency. The new tandem devices, made by Steve Albrecht and colleagues at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, Germany, have a photovoltaic conversion efficiency (PCE) of 29.15%,

The European Space Agency (ESA) signed a nearly €296 million ($362 million) contract with Thales Alenia Space Jan. 7 to build a European module for NASA’s lunar Gateway space station. JOHANNESBURG — The European Space Agency (ESA) signed a nearly €296 million ($362 million) contract with Thales Alenia Space Jan. 7 to build a European