Science

Turbulent ball: William Irvine, Takumi Matsuzawa and colleagues have used this apparatus to track turbulence with lasers and high-speed cameras. (Courtesy: Takumi Matsuzawa) Researchers in the US have isolated a ball of turbulence inside a tank of water and sustained it by firing vortex rings from the corners of the tank. William Irvine and colleagues

WASHINGTON — L3Harris told investors July 26 that federal regulators will not challenge the company’s acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne, clearing the way for the deal to close as early as July 28. “We were advised today that the Federal Trade Commission will not block our acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne; therefore, we are moving forward to

TAMPA, Fla. — A Spire Global-led group has won European Space Agency funds to develop a satellite to demonstrate a civil aviation tracking constellation that would not rely on GPS, or any other global navigation satellite system (GNSS) vulnerable to interference. Most commercial aircraft must have an Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADS-B) transmitter that periodically sends

The meta-optical fibre endoscope A meta-optic is optimized for integration with a coherent fibre bundle. The new device achieves a reduced tip length while maintaining a wide field-of-view of 22.5° and a large depth-of-field exceeding 30 mm. (Courtesy: J E Fröch, L Huang, Q A A Tanguy, S Colburn, A Zhan, A Ravagli, E J

WASHINGTON — A bill intended to reform satellite spectrum licensing regulations failed to pass the House July 25 after some members objected to provisions they claimed gave the Federal Communications Commission authority to regulate space safety. The House debated H.R. 1338, the Satellite and Telecommunications Streamlining Act, under suspension of the rules, a procedure that

WASHINGTON — A startup that launched its first mission to test space manufacturing technologies last month is waiting on a Federal Aviation Administration license to be able to bring what it produced back to Earth. Varda Space Industries launched its first spacecraft, called W-Series 1, on the SpaceX Transporter-8 rideshare mission June 12, to test

Wonder mould: The BioKnit prototype. (Courtesy: The Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment) Most people strive to keep fungus out of their homes. Now, however, two groups of materials researchers are exploring ways to weave it into the very fabric of buildings. The first group, led by textile scientist Jane Scott at Newcastle University

WASHINGTON — In-space transportation services startup Impulse Space announced July 24 it has closed a $45 million iSeries A funding led by RTX Ventures, the venture capital arm of Raytheon Technologies.  Impulse Space is led by rocket engine designer Tom Mueller, a founding employee of SpaceX. The startup develops orbital transportation vehicles. “With the support

SAN FRANCISCO – German thermal satellite data startup constellr raised 17 million euros ($18.93) in seed funding. Karista led the round. Participants included Einstein Industries Ventures, FTTF, Lakestar, Vsquared, Amathaon Capital, Natural Ventures, OHB Ventures and EIT Food. With the latest funding, announced July 20, constellr plans to accelerate deployment of its shoebox-size thermal imagery

Vital cell tracking in a breast tumour explant (a) Yellow lines show the tracks of cell nuclei movement over 150 min; an unjammed region of cell motion is seen in the lower middle of the sample, surrounded by jammed cells. (b) Cell nuclei colour-coded for aspect ratio (AR), with red indicating elongated (high AR) cells

WASHINGTON — In a summer of extreme weather events, NASA is emphasizing its role in studying the climate, efforts that face both fiscal headwinds and partisan divides. In a July 20 media briefing, NASA leadership highlighted the agency’s work in studying the climate and addressing climate change, efforts that range from Earth science missions to

TAMPA, Fla. — The first Astranis-built satellite won’t be able to provide commercial broadband over Alaska for local telco Pacific Dataport because it can’t keep solar arrays pointed at the sun, the Californian manufacturer’s CEO John Gedmark said July 20.  Despite the failure of both solar array drive assemblies on Arcturus, used to position solar

Key metrics: A study find that peer reviewers can often judge the originality, rigour and significance of new work consistently — at least in theoretical physics (courtesy: Shutterstock/Nixx-Photography) Theoretical physicists do a good job when peer reviewing scientific papers, but tend to be more impressed by the significance of new research rather than the rigour

WASHINGTON — A NASA procurement document provides details about the plans of several companies that received unfunded Space Act Agreements for commercial space capabilities in June, as well as those who failed to make the cut. NASA selected seven companies June 15 for its Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities-2 (CCSC-2) initiative. Those companies will have

HELSINKI — Chinese startup Galactic Energy sent two satellites into orbit early Saturday with the company’s sixth consecutive successful launch. A Ceres-1 four-stage solid rocket lifted off using a transporter erector launcher at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert at 1:07 a.m. Eastern, July 22. Two satellites were aboard the flight codenamed

Field trip: (a) a researcher observes giant water striders in Vietnam’s Pu Mat National Park; (b) an insect on the water; (c) an illustration of the size of a giant water strider. (Courtesy: Woojoo Kim, Jungmoon H, Piotr Grzegorz Jablonski) I grew up in the Canadian province of Ontario, so I spent a lot of

TAMPA, Fla. — Amazon announced plans July 21 to build a satellite processing facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida, as it prepares to start launching 3,200 commercial Project Kuiper broadband satellites next year. The 31,000-square-meter facility Amazon expects to complete in 2024 at Kennedy’s runway-equipped Launch and Landing Facility will perform final preparations of