The Air Force said OTV 6 will carry more experiments than any of the previous X-37B missions. WASHINGTON — United Launch Alliance on May 17 launched an Atlas 5 rocket carrying the U.S. Air Force X-37B spaceplane to orbit for its sixth mission. The vehicle lifted off at 09:14 AM Eastern time from Space Launch
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In honour of the 60th anniversary of the invention of the laser, we invite you to test your knowledge of laser trivia. Warning: Do not look at laser with remaining eye. (Courtesy: iStock/ricochet64) 1. In the first laser – demonstrated on 16 May 1960 by Ted Maiman – the lasing medium was a crystal of
WASHINGTON — Intelsat hopes it can eliminate around half of its $15 billion debt load through its recent bankruptcy, a change that would free the company to invest in next generation satellite technologies, according to a company executive. “This was something that we’ve had to deal with for a while,” Samer Halawi, Intelsat’s chief commercial
The future of clothing is electronic. Along with color and size, you’ll probably be able to choose clothes based on what they do—as determined by the sensors, indicators, and power sources embedded within them. Many researchers expect that such “smart clothing” will revolutionize at least some aspects of medicine and fashion. But in the age
WASHINGTON — NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine criticized China May 15 for the “really dangerous” reentry of a large rocket stage earlier in the week that led to debris landing in Africa. In brief comments opening the online meeting of the NASA Advisory Council’s Regulatory and Policy Committee, Bridenstine used the May 11 reentry of the
One way or another: Janus spheres are coated with gold and platinum. (Courtesy: Vladsinger/CC BY-SA 4.0) If a micron-sized sphere is coated half in gold and half in platinum, then placed in a solution of hydrogen peroxide, it will start to “swim” with its gold side pointing forwards. Dubbed “Janus spheres” for the two-faced Roman
We’ve all wished for weightlessness at some point in our lives—that fantastical quality that powers the magic of flying broomsticks and fuels our fascination with space travel. Although we’re a long way from floating down the street, physicists have developed ways to mitigate the effect of gravity, from carefully aligning sound waves to mimicking free
U.S. Space Command for the next six years will remain at its provisional headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force on May 15 announced an open bidding process to select the permanent location of U.S. Space Command headquarters. The new process allows any state with large military
The electromagnetic spectrum, an assortment of energy wiggling throughout space and time, is overwhelmingly underappreciated in our lives. There is no combination of existence that could happen without it. To celebrate the role that light plays in our lives, our ecosystem, and the operation of the universe, UNESCO declared March 16th as the International Day
The flag is derived from the Space Force seal that Trump approved in January. WASHINGTON — President Trump on May 15 was presented with the official flag of the U.S. Space Force by Chief of Space Operations Gen. John Raymond and senior enlisted adviser Chief Master Sgt. Roger Towberman. In attendance at the Oval Office
[embedded content] “Particle of doubt” is the latest musical offering from David Ibbett, who is guest composer at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory outside Chicago. It is about the neutrinos and is sung in the above video by the soprano Beth Sterling. My favourite line is “You should be changeless. But the change gives us hope
Until something disrupts the rhythm of life (or you’re in the car with a five-year-old), most of us don’t stop to analyze why things are the way they are. We’re too busy navigating life to step back and ponder our reality. But let’s try it for a few minutes. Photo by Mike Kononov on Unsplash. We live in
WASHINGTON — Three satellite operators whose fleets have at least some C-band coverage of the United States are taking the Federal Communications Commission to court over their exclusion from an upcoming spectrum auction that stands to transfer billions of dollars to competitors with larger shares of the market. Bermuda-based ABS and Hispasat of Spain have
“Bacteria always find new ways to manipulate their environment to protect themselves,” says Harshitha Kotian, a PhD candidate at the Center for Nano Science and Engineering (CeNSE), Indian Institute of Science (IISc). Spreading tendrils of bacteria react to an obstacle in their path (details below). Credit: H. S. Kotian, A. Z. Abdulla, K. N. Hithysini, S.
Intelsat filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection May 13 in hopes that restructuring will position the No. 2 satellite operator to win nearly $5 billion from an FCC spectrum program. The company flies roughly 50 satellites and generates around $2 billion in annual revenue, but has labored for years under a crushing $15 billion debt load. Questions
Light show: Celebrating 60 years of the laser. (Courtesy: iStock/Terraxplorer) In October 1959, Theodore “Ted” Maiman, a relatively unknown 32-year-old physicist, set out to make what was then known as “optical maser” out of a crystal of pink ruby. The project didn’t have the most auspicious of starts. Maiman’s employers at Hughes Research Laboratory were
Antoine Riaud might need to take his wife on a second honeymoon. You’re supposed to spend that first romantic getaway obsessing over your new spouse, not how cells behave in an acoustics experiment. But when inspiration calls…well, it can be hard to ignore. For some time Riaud had been working on an idea for a
One way to help the industry is for the government to communicate what problems it needs solved and commit funding for the right solutions. The COVID-19 economic slowdown will have lasting implications on the new space sector. Yet the United States cannot afford another lost decade of commercial space innovation. Adversaries are building their own