Science

WASHINGTON — Virgin Orbit says that it’s ready for its first orbital launch attempt, scheduled for May 24, while acknowledging potentially long odds of successfully placing a payload into orbit. Company executives said in a May 23 media call that final preparations for the inaugural LauncherOne mission are proceeding, with a “green board” and no

WASHINGTON — NASA has given SpaceX approval to proceed with final preparations for the first commercial crew mission with astronauts on board, although there is still work to complete ahead of the planned May 27 launch. NASA and SpaceX completed a flight readiness review (FRR) May 22 that lasted one and a half days. At

SpaceNews in Conversation withMAJ. GEN. JOHN SHAWU.S. Space Force and U.S. Space Command———Thursday, May 282 p.m. Eastern/11 a.m. Pacificvia Zoom As NASA prepares to launch astronauts from U.S. soil for the first time since the space shuttle retired in 2011, the U.S. military is reviving the astronaut-rescue role it has been performing since the Apollo era.

Get colouring: the latest posters from the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. (Courtesy: Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics) This week’s Red Folder focuses on things you can do at home. There is something therapeutic about colouring in pictures. Perhaps it takes some of us back to a childhood before the Internet and smartphones existed. If

Barrett: “This report outlines an Alternative Acquisition System that will optimize the U.S. Space Force with a bold set of new acquisition authorities and policies.” WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force on May 20 delivered a report to congressional committees asking for changes in the rules that currently are in place for buying new weapon

WASHINGTON — Satellite imaging companies are embracing long-awaited reforms to commercial remote sensing regulations, although one member of Congress doesn’t think the changes go far enough. The Commerce Department, which regulates commercial remote sensing satellite systems through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, released a final rule revising commercial remote sensing regulations May 19. The

Plastics in our oceans have something in common with dark matter in the universe. Our models tell us there should be loads of it out there, but it’s proving difficult to track it down. The big difference with marine plastic, however, it that whenever we do look for it we tend to find it –

Space Force will have a field command focused on acquisition that will bring together several existing organizations WASHINGTON — One unfinished piece of business for the leaders of the U.S. Space Force is figuring out the organization of space acquisition agencies that currently operate independently. A plan to consolidate diverse procurement organizations under a single

WASHINGTON — Virgin Orbit announced May 20 it will make the first flight of its LauncherOne air-launched vehicle as soon as May 24, but is setting modest expectations about the probability of success. The company said in a statement that it current plans to perform its inaugural LauncherOne mission May 24, with “Cosmic Girl,” the

Cool colours: the hotter square on the left is coated in a single layer of black paint while the cooler square in the right is a black bilayer. (Courtesy: Jyotirmoy Mandal) A bilayer paint that can dramatically cool sunlit surfaces yet comes in a range of colours has been developed by scientists in the US

Air Force Secretary Barrett argues that DoD space programs and investments should be integrated under the Space Force as soon as possible. WASHINGTON — Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett is pushing back on a Defense Department proposal that would delay transferring the Space Development Agency to the Space Force until October 2022. In a May

WASHINGTON — Doug Loverro, the NASA official responsible for human spaceflight programs, left the agency May 18 after less than six months on the job. In a May 19 statement, NASA said that Loverro resigned from his position as associate administrator for human exploration and operations effective May 18. Ken Bowersox, Loverro’s deputy, will serve

Taken from the May 2020 issue of Physics World, where it appeared under the headline “Serendipity in action”. Members of the Institute of Physics can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app. Accidental discoveries lie at the heart of many technological innovations. James McKenzie runs through his favourites Serendipitious success Microwave ovens are

WASHINGTON — Relativity Space has hired a longtime SpaceX executive to help the startup scale up production of its small launch vehicle. Relativity said May 18 that it is hiring Zachary Dunn as its new vice president of factory development. He will lead a team with an initial focus on delivering the first Terran 1,

The contract announced May 18 is for two Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared missile warning satellites to be deployed in polar orbits. WASHINGTON — Northrop Grumman received a $2.37 billion contract to develop two satellites that will be part of a future constellation that provides the U.S. military early warning of incoming missiles. The contract announced

Uncertain times: electron micrograph of SARS-CoV-2 virions, which are the cause of COVID-19. (Courtesy: NIAID-RML/CC BY 2.0) Models of disease spread inform governments on when and how to ease the measures currently in place to contain COVID-19. But physicist Susanna Manrubia, an expert in modelling biological phenomena at the Spanish National Centre for Biotechnology in Madrid,

SAN FRANCISCO – Isotropic Systems won two defense contracts in two months, an important sign the satellite terminal developer is diversifying its customer base, John Finney, Isotropic founder and CEO, told SpaceNews. On May 18, Isotropic announced a contract with the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), an organization established in 2015 to help the U.S.