Science

WASHINGTON — NASA confirmed July 17 that the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, with two astronauts on board, will return to Earth from the International Space Station in early August. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted that the agency current plans to have the Crew Dragon spacecraft, with astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on board, undock

HELSINKI — China is preparing to launch its Tianwen-1 Mars orbiter and rover next week with the rollout of the mission’s Long March 5 launch vehicle. The roughly 878-metric-ton heavy-lift Long March 5 was vertically transferred to its launch area at the coastal Wenchang Satellite Launch Center late Thursday Eastern.  The rollout indicates that China

Nature in all its glorious diversity has come up with some very clever solutions to difficult problems. In this episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast the science writer Michael Allen talks about a longhorn beetle from southeast Asia, whose ability to survive sizzling temperatures has inspired the creation of a highly reflective material that

WASHINGTON — NASA announced July 16 that it is delaying the launch of its largest-ever space observatory, the James Webb Space Telescope, by seven months to address both technical issues as well as the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Agency officials said in a media teleconference that the launch of JWST is now projected for

WASHINGTON — NASA and Boeing are on track to perform a major static-fire test of the core stage of the Space Launch System in October, a key milestone ahead of a first launch in late 2021. Speaking at the American Astronautical Society’s Glenn Memorial Symposium July 15, John Shannon, Boeing vice president and program manager

Magnesium-rich: an atomic-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy image of an enamel crystallite looking down the long axis of the crystal. The dark areas show magnesium ions forming two layers on either side of the core. (Courtesy: Northwestern University) The fundamental building blocks of human tooth enamel contain characteristic impurities that could contribute to their toughness,

For many, the Black Lives Matter protests occurring while NASA celebrated a historic achievement were reminiscent of the Apollo era. In July 1969, civil rights protesters marched outside the Kennedy Space Center the day before Apollo 11 launched to the moon. NASA’s historic achievement occurred against the backdrop of a nation struggling to address discrimination

WASHINGTON — A spending bill approved by the House Appropriations Committee July 14 once again rejects an administration proposal to combine the Office of Space Commerce with another office and increase its budget to perform space traffic management work. The committee approved the commerce, justice and science appropriations bill on a 30–22 vote July 14.

Karina Voggel is a postdoctoral fellow at the Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg, France. 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. Blue skies, uncertain forecast: Karina Voggel

Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition Will Roper said the funds were redirected to pay for small business loans. WASHINGTON — The $116 million that DoD had set aside for small launch contracts under the Defense Production Act have been redirected to other priorities, and it is unlikely that those contracts will be

SAN FRANCISCO – Orbite Corp., a Seattle startup founded by American entrepreneur Jason Andrews and French entrepreneur Nicolas Gaume, announced plans July 14 to establish a Spaceflight Gateway and Astronaut Training Complex offering luxury accommodations, dining and recreation for commercial astronauts, their friends and families. “It’s been clear during my two-plus decades in this industry

Collision course: artist’s impression of a pair of black holes within an active galactic nucleus. (Courtesy: Caltech/R Hurt (IPAC)) A recent electromagnetic signal from a distant quasar could have been created by merging black holes, according to an international team of astronomers led by Matthew Graham at the California Institute of Technology. The researchers made

Defense committee says not having a senior civilian acquisition executive for space is a “fundamental problem.” WASHINGTON — The House Appropriations Committee’s subcommittee on defense in a report released July 13 blasts the U.S. Space Force for not having a dedicated civilian leader in charge of acquisitions. The committee is “most concerned that the Department

By: Hannah Pell Graphic from shutdownSTEM.com. Recently I started rereading When Physics Became King by Iwan Rhys Morus, a historian of science at Aberystwyth University in Wales. Published in 2005, Morus traces the development of physics through the nineteenth century, as the field gradually evolved from its roots in natural philosophy and mathematics to later

WASHINGTON — NASA has signed an agreement with the Japanese government that brings the agencies closer to finalizing Japan’s roles in the Artemis program. The agreement, called a Joint Exploration Declaration of Intent, was signed late July 9 in a virtual meeting between NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, in the United States, and Koichi Hagiuda, Minister

Insect inspired: a film of the highly reflective material. (Courtesy: University of Texas at Austin) A new flexible material for passive cooling that was inspired by a volcano dwelling beetle has been developed by scientists in China, the US and Sweden. The film reflects around 95% of solar irradiance, and can reduce the surface temperature

WASHINGTON — Cost overruns on three instruments for NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft led NASA to consider dropping them from the mission and ultimately requiring significant changes to some of them. At a July 9 briefing to the Committee on Astrobiology and Planetary Sciences of the National Academies, NASA officials said they recently conducted “continuation/termination reviews”

WASHINGTON — NASA announced July 9 two new directives regarding planetary protection for missions to the moon and Mars that implement recommendations of an independent review board last year. The two directives, announced by NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine during a “Moon Dialogs” webinar, are part of an effort by NASA to modernize guidelines that are