Science

SAN FRANCISCO – Roccor has completed radio frequency testing of the antenna scheduled for launch later this year on the satellite housing Viasat’s Link 16 military communications terminal. The firm known for deployable spacecraft structures, is working with BluFlux, an antenna technology specialist,  to complete environmental testing of the helical L-band antenna for XVI, an

Handy material: this model of a human hand was made using a liquid metal matrix. (Courtesy: Pu Zhang) A liquid metal lattice that can be crushed but returns to its original shape on heating has been developed by Pu Zhang and colleagues at Binghamton University in the US. The material is held together by a

WASHINGTON — NASA and SpaceX officials said after a final pre-launch review they had no major issues about the upcoming Demo-2 commercial crew launch beyond one over which they have no control: the weather. NASA concluded a launch readiness review May 25 for the Demo-2 mission, the final pre-launch review for a mission that will

Updated 5:00 p.m. Eastern. WASHINGTON — Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne failed to reach orbit in its first launch attempt May 25, with the mission “terminated” moments after the rocket’s release from its aircraft. The company’s “Cosmic Girl” aircraft, a modified Boeing 747, took off from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California at 2:56 p.m.

Tiphaine Kouadou is a PhD student who is supposed to finish her dissertation this year and Mattia Walschaers is a CNRS research scientist. Both work in the multimode quantum optics group at the Laboratoire Kastler Brossel (LKB) in Paris, France, which is affiliated with Sorbonne Université, CNRS, ENS Université PSL, and Collège de France. This

The Air Force sent the report to congressional committees May 21 and notified them the next day that what they had received was not the final version. WASHINGTON — A Department of the Air Force report sent to Congress last week proposing changes to Space Force acquisition programs was an “initial version” and not the

NASA has selected three companies to begin development of lunar landers that could return astronauts to the surface of the moon as soon as 2024. The program makes use of public-private partnerships, rather than conventional contracts, to fund these efforts. What are the next steps in developing these landers? Why are partnerships the best approach

On the move: time sequence of the electron distribution of the molecule 1,3-cyclohexadiene after it is excited by a light pulse. (Courtesy: SLAC) Scientists in the US and UK are the first to observe electrons rearrange their positions in molecules during the early stages of a light-driven chemical reaction. They did so by firing ultrashort

WASHINGTON — While both the president and vice president plan to attend the Demo-2 commercial crew launch, there will be far fewer people attending the first American human orbital spaceflight in nearly a decade than once expected. The White House announced May 22 that President Donald Trump will go to the Kennedy Space Center for

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