Science

Who hasn’t wished the doctor would prescribe a week of vacation or a trip to Walt Disney World to cure an ailment? For patients with kidney stones, that might be just around the corner. According to research published in 2016 in The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, a trip to your local amusement park might

Compact imaging spectrometer combines a catadioptric lens and a special flat immersion reflection grating. Credit: Ronald B. Lockwood, MIT Lincoln Laboratory A new, slimline imaging spectrometer developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US boasts the same performance as the most advanced devices of its kind while being much more

WASHINGTON — Despite a lull in orbital launch activity at Vandenberg Air Force Base, officials with the U.S. Space Force foresee a “very promising future” for both commercial and government launches there. The Falcon 9 launch of the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich ocean science satellite Nov. 21 was the first orbital launch from Vandenberg since another

Gen. John Raymond said the Space Force wants to be able to collect more data but also analyze it quickly and share it with allies and civilian space organizations.  WASHINGTON — Space tracking sensors and artificial intelligence systems that analyze data are becoming high priorities for the U.S. Space Force and U.S. Space Command, officials

Join the audience for a live webinar at 3 p.m. GMT/10 a.m. EST on 2 December 2020 exploring the physical principles of electrochemical acoustic interrogation Want to take part in this webinar? Acoustics and batteries. (Courtesy: Columbia Electrochemical Energy Centre) Although classic battery engineering is firmly rooted in chemical engineering and chemistry, the last decade

AN FRANCISCO – Hyperspectral satellite startup Orbital Sidekick (OSK) announced a contract Nov. 19 to work with an industry-led consortium to develop tools for daily monitoring of oil and gas pipelines. “This is an important validation of our commercial application and viability,” Dan Katz, OSK CEO and co-founder, told SpaceNews. “We are not merely a

WASHINGTON — A SpaceX Falcon 9 successfully launched Nov. 21 the latest in a series of satellites developed by the United States and Europe to track rising sea levels. The Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex (SLC) 4 East at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 12:17 p.m. Eastern. Its payload, the

Robot-like fish provide insight into how fish can save energy by swimming in schools. Credit: Liang Li, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior (MPI-AB) Swimming in schools helps fish avoid predators, but it also allows them to conserve energy. This is the finding of researchers in Germany, China and Hungary who used fish-like robots to

SAN FRANCISCO – AAC Clyde Space announced a 19 million euro ($22.5 million) contract backed by the U.K. Space Agency to develop a 10-cubesat communications and Earth-observation constellation. As part of the three-year project called xSPANCION, AAC Clyde Space will develop and manufacture satellites to provide space-based services to companies eager to harness satellites to

VALLETTA, Malta — The head of Italian rocket manufacturer Avio assured customers Nov. 19 that the company was working hard to return Vega to service following the rocket’s second failure in its last three launches.   In a video statement, Avio CEO Giulio Ranzo said that in initial investigation into Vega’s Nov. 16 failure had identified

WASHINGTON — Rocket Lab launched its Electron rocket Nov. 19, placing nearly 30 smallsats in orbit while making its first attempt to recover the rocket’s first stage. The Electron lifted off from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 on Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand, at 9:20 p.m. Eastern on a mission called “Return to Sender” by the

WASHINGTON — Small launch vehicle developer Astra will make its second orbital launch attempt in December, three months after an initial launch attempt failed shortly after liftoff. The company announced Nov. 19 that it has completed testing of the vehicle, known as Rocket 3.2, and will soon ship it from its California headquarters to Pacific

By: Hannah Pell Two years ago on November 16th, 2018, representatives from more than 60 member nations of the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (International Bureau of Weights and Measures) convened in Versailles, France to make a very important decision. Representatives in attendance to the 26th General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) unanimously

Clocking dark matter: optical clocks join the hunt for dark matter. (Courtesy: N Hanacek/NIST) An optical clock has been used to set new constraints on a proposed theory of dark matter. Researchers including Jun Ye at JILA at the University of Colorado, Boulder and Andrei Derevianko at the University of Nevada, Reno, explored how the

WASHINGTON — Satellite megaconstellation company OneWeb should emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy “any day now,” a company executive said Nov. 18, its business plan validated by a growing demand for broadband connectivity. During a Washington Space Business Roundtable webinar, Ruth Pritchard-Kelly, vice president for regulatory affairs at OneWeb, said the company was wrapping up paperwork

ULA said the delay in Dream Chaser’s first mission will not prevent Vulcan from getting certified on time for its first national security mission in 2022. WASHINGTON — United Launch Alliance’s new rocket, the Vulcan Centaur, has to fly at least twice before it is certified by the U.S. Space Force to launch national security

Pictorial representation of the molecule-based magnet and its magnetic properties. Credit: Rodolphe Clérac Researchers have shown that certain metal-organic materials can act as permanent magnets at temperatures of up to 242°C, while remaining magnetized in external magnetic fields as strong as 7500 oersteds – 25 times higher than other “molecular magnets” reported previously. Both values