Science

WASHINGTON — The European Space Agency and ArianeGroup announced a successful hot-fire test of the core stage of the Ariane 6 rocket, the first of two such tests before ESA is ready to set a date for the rocket’s inaugural launch. The test took place Sept. 5 on the launch pad at the spaceport in

TAMPA, Fla. — Vodafone plans to test beta services from Amazon’s planned Project Kuiper broadband constellation next year to extend the reach of its cellular networks in Europe and Africa. The companies said Sept. 5 they agreed on a partnership that would use Amazon’s envisioned network of 3,200 satellites in low Earth orbit to bring

Cool idea: NIST’s Daniel Barker, Steve Eckel, Jim Fedchak, Julia Scherschligt and colleagues have developed and tested a technique that uses cold atoms to measure ultralow pressures. (Courtesy: NIST) An effect that normally gets in the way of the magnetic trapping of atoms has been harnessed to create a new method for measuring pressure in

WASHINGTON — With its first 23 satellites in orbit, the U.S. Space Development Agency in the coming months will begin the demonstration phase of a data network in space designed to support military operations.   SpaceX on Sept. 2 launched SDA’s second batch of satellites. The agency now has 19 communications satellites and four missile-tracking spacecraft

WASHINGTON — The European Space Agency plans to set a target launch period for the first Ariane 6 in October, with the hopes that vehicle can finally take flight “not too late” into 2024. At a Sept. 4 briefing, officials from ESA and other partners on the Ariane 6 said they should be able to

Lurking for decades: researchers have discovered Pines’ demon, a collection of electrons in a metal that behaves like a massless wave. It is illustrated here as an artist’s impression. (Courtesy: The Grainger College of Engineering/University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) For nearly seven decades, a plasmon known as Pines’ demon has remained a purely hypothetical feature of

HELSINKI — Emerging trends in how China is utilizing and operating its Tiangong space station could impact how the country’s space program is viewed internationally. “The People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA’s) intention to allow civilian astronauts and nonstate-owned enterprise (SOE) companies to participate in the Chinese Space Station (CSS) are two trends that will probably change

WASHINGTON — Lunar lander developer Intuitive Machines announced Aug. 31 it raised $20 million through a sale of stock as the company gears up for its first mission. The Houston-based company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it sold approximately 4.7 million shares to an unnamed institutional investor at $4.25 per share.

Physicists at Stevens Institute of Technology used Christiaan Huygens’ 350-year-old theorem, which explains the workings of pendulums and planets, to reveal new properties of light waves. (Courtesy: Stevens Institute of Technology) Physicists at Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey, US have found a new and surprising link between the wave properties of light and

LONDON — Globalstar has contracted SpaceX to launch Apple-backed satellites in 2025 to replenish its low Earth orbit (LEO) connectivity constellation. The operator said in an Aug. 30 regulatory filing it will pay a total $64 million to launch the first set of satellites ordered last year from MDA, which is using Rocket Lab to

WASHINGTON — A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Sept. 2 at 7:25 a.m. Pacific from Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, carrying 13 U.S. military satellites.  The mission to low Earth orbit was the second launch of the Space Development Agency’s Tranche 0 mesh network of military communications and missile

How it happens: illustration of an antiferromagnetic CrSBr mirror-less cavity that allows the formation of exciton–polaritons. (Courtesy: Florian Dirnberger/City College of New York) An international team of researchers has shown that hybrid light-matter quasiparticles can enhance magneto-optical effects in layered crystals. This research has strong implications for the development of magneto-optic devices, such as sensors

WASHINGTON — Space Tango, a Kentucky-based startup that conducts research and science experiments on the International Space Station, on Sept. 1 announced the appointment of S. Sita Sonty as its new chief executive officer. Sonty succeeds co-founder Twyman Clements, who will remain with the company as president. Clements said Sonty will help the company grow

SAN FRANCISCO – Ball Aerospace, Northrop Grumman, Orbital Micro Systems and Spire Global won contracts, announced Aug. 31, to design microwave sounders for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Under the contracts awarded by NASA on behalf of NOAA, the four companies will conduct studies and design sounders for the Near-Earth Orbit Network, or NEON,

Perfect cables: superconducting wires destined for the LHC at CERN (Courtesy: Berkeley Lab) Quiz question: how many kilometres of new superconducting cables are being made in California for the next generation of focussing magnets at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Geneva? If your answer is “more than 2220 km”, you are correct

WASHINGTON — A pension fund has filed suit against the board of directors of Amazon, claiming they “acted in bad faith” in approving launch contracts for the Project Kuiper broadband constellation that awarded billions of dollars to Blue Origin, the company founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. The suit, a public version of which was filed

WASHINGTON — QinetiQ US, a defense contractor based in Lorton, Virginia, was awarded a $224 million contract to provide systems engineering and technical support to the Space Development Agency.  SDA is an agency under the U.S. Space Force. It is building a mesh network in low Earth orbit — called the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture

Today, it can seem that we are adrift in a swirling sea of claims and counterclaims designed to prod and provoke. So, how can a person make sense of this barrage of information? According to the this week’s guest, a good grasp of some fundamental mathematical principles can make a huge difference when it comes