Collins Aerospace, Raytheon and TAG have to develop devices that are smaller in size and have low power consumption than the ones currently used by the military. WASHINGTON — Collins Aerospace, Raytheon and Technology Advancement Group were awarded contracts to develop Global Positioning System handheld devices for the U.S. military. The U.S. Space Force’s Space
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The inaugural Bell Burnell fellowships have been awarded to (clockwise from top left) Katarina Mamic, Kiri Newson, Joanna Sakowska and Tracy Garratt. (Courtesy: Institute of Physics) Four female physics students have been awarded a new fellowship that seeks to promote diversity in physics. The Bell Burnell Graduate Scholarship Fund, awarded by the Institute of Physics
The Descartes Labs’ platform uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to fuse and analyze data from space and aerial sources WASHINGTON — Geospatial analytics company Descartes Labs has been awarded a $1.5 million contract to help the U.S. Air Force draw intelligence from imagery and other data collected by satellites and by autonomous aerial vehicles,
Maj. Gen. Chance Saltzman wil serve as acting staff director of the Office of the Chief of Space Operations. WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force Pentagon headquarters will have a leaner staff structure than traditional military service headquarters and some senior staff posts will be assigned to civilians, according to a draft proposal. The Space
Making waves: artist’s impression of gravitational waves being broadcast by a pair of black holes. (Courtesy: LIGO/T Pyle) Rather than the kilometre-length observatories of today, future gravitational-wave detectors could be just a few metres long. That is the goal of physicists in the UK and the Netherlands, who have put forward a design for a
WASHINGTON — NASA announced July 7 that it has completed two major reviews that stemmed from Boeing’s flawed commercial crew test flight last December as the agency and company prepare for a second test flight later this year. NASA said that an independent review team (IRT), jointly organized by NASA and Boeing to investigate the
WASHINGTON — A potential return to operations of satellite megaconstellation company OneWeb is a new source of worry for astronomers who previously had been focused on the effect SpaceX’s Starlink satellites will have on their observations. OneWeb, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March, announced July 3 that the British government and Indian telecom
Cryogenics is a core enabling technology at the European Spallation Source, a next-generation neutron-science facility under construction in Sweden. Joe McEntee talks to John G Weisend II, group leader for specialized technical services at ESS, about the secrets of success at ultralow temperatures Big science: an aerial view over the ESS construction site in Lund,
NOAA forecasters predicting an active 2020 hurricane season are refining storm track and intensity forecasts thanks to data from multiple satellites, including the second Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate (COSMIC-2). Six COSMIC-2 satellites launched in June 2019 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket are gathering more than 4,000 daily radio occultation soundings.
How a 2005 call for ‘skin in the game’ started a 15-year countdown to the first human orbital spaceflight from U.S. soil since 2011 Success, the saying goes, has a thousand fathers. Sure enough, when a SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted off May 30, placing a Crew Dragon with two NASA astronauts on board into orbit
Universal stingers: this plant has something in common with a swordfish. (Courtesy: Kaare Jensen/Technical University of Denmark) From virus spikes to narwhal tusks, the stingers of many living organisms have the same basic mechanical design. Now a team of physicists led by Kaare Jensen has studied the mechanical properties of more than 200 natural and
The Air Force plans to announce the preferred location in January 2021. WASHINGTON — The Department of the Air Force has received nominations from 26 states that want to host U.S. Space Command headquarters, the service announced July 5. “We were pleased with the strong response the Air Force received from across the country,” Air
HELSINKI — China launched the classified Shiyan-6 (02) satellite into orbit Saturday, following launch of a new Gaofen ‘multi mode’ Earth observation satellite two days earlier. A Long March 2D carried the Shiyan-6 (02) experimental remote sensing satellite from Jiuquan at 7:45 p.m. Eastern Saturday. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CASC) announced success
Testing time: Nanorepair UV being applied to limestone samples from Cadiz (Courtesy: Javier Becerra) From the Egyptian pyramids to The Pentagon in Washington DC, limestone has long been one of the most popular materials for ornate buildings and monuments. But this rock’s aesthetic qualities and workability come at a price – it can be vulnerable
Three months after the coronavirus pandemic upended American society, there are signs of recovery. States are rolling back some of their restrictions on businesses and public gatherings, hoping to undo the economic damage they caused even amid concerns that the pandemic is far from over. NASA is also taking the first initial steps back to
WASHINGTON — The British government and Indian mobile network operator Bharti Global placed the winning bid to acquire OneWeb, a broadband megaconstellation startup that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March after running out of funding, OneWeb said July 3. OneWeb said it has secured $1 billion in new funding — $500 million from
[embedded content] N95 masks are much more than a simple screen filter and use lots of interesting physics – including van der Waals forces – to stop you from breathing in nasty virus particles. The above video does a superb job of explaining how the masks work and also touches on efforts to make them
If DARPA exercises all options, the contract has a potential value of $99.4 million. WASHINGTON — Blue Canyon Technologies is producing four satellite buses for the Blackjack program under a $14.1 million contract awarded last month by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The contract has options for DARPA to buy up to 20 satellites