Science

[embedded content] If you have seen the film Oppenheimer, you may have enjoyed the visual effects that were used in the film to illustrate esoteric physical concepts – I certainly did. There has been a bit of a debate in the movie press about whether computer-generated imagery (CGI) was used to create the effects. As

WASHINGTON — Ahead of a final meeting of a United Nations working group on reducing space threats, members states of the European Union, but not the E.U. itself, have pledged not to conduct destructive direct-ascent anti-satellite tests. In a document recently published by the U.N. Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) on Reducing Space Threats, a “joint

WASHINGTON — NASA is preparing for the release of a new decadal survey for space research that the agency hopes will provide guidance on research to pursue on the International Space Station and how to transition that to commercial successors. The National Academies announced Aug. 23 that it will release the decadal survey for biological

Conformable ultrasound breast patch MIT researchers have designed a wearable ultrasound device that could detect breast tumours when they are still in early stages. (Courtesy: Canan Dagdeviren) A wearable ultrasound scanner that could help detect breast cancer earlier – and thus improve survival rates – has been developed by a research team headed up at

WASHINGTON — Rocket Lab successfully reflew an engine on an Electron launch Aug. 23 as the company moves a step closer to reusing the entire rocket booster. The Electron rocket lifted off from the company’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 7:45 p.m. Eastern. The “We Love the Nightlife” mission deployed a Capella Space

WASHINGTON — Australian startup HEO, which uses space-based sensors to inspect and image objects in orbit, announced Aug. 23 it has completed an $8 million Series A funding round.   Previously known as HEO Robotics, the company changed its name to just HEO to reflect its focus on commercial in-orbit inspection and space-based space situational awareness,

Essential for life: this illustration shows how fundamental constants of nature set the fundamental lower limit for liquid viscosity. (Courtesy: thehackneycollective.com) The values of the fundamental physical constants – seemingly fine-tuned for the emergence of nuclear matter and ultimately life – might not have been fixed at the universe’s outset but instead changed over time

WASHINGTON — A payload adapter that is the target of a European debris cleanup mission may have itself been damaged by a debris impact. The European Space Agency said Aug. 22 that it was informed 12 days earlier by the U.S. Space Force’s 18th Space Defense Squadron, responsible for space domain awareness activities, that it

SAN FRANCISCO – Sidus Space announced the acquisition Aug. 22 of Exo-Space, a startup focused on space-based edge processing and artificial intelligence. Sidus acquired Pasadena, California-based Exo-Space to expand its “talent, technology and total addressable market,” Carol Craig, Sidus founder and CEO, said in a statement. “Along with sales contracts and existing AI technology, the

Researchers claim that the new IAU code of conduct offers a safe space for harassers. (Courtesy: iStock/PonyWang) Astronomers have voiced their concern over an update by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to its harassment policy, which they say helps to provide a safe space for harassers. The changes to the code were announced last week

SAN DIEGO — Eutelsat has scheduled a shareholder vote Sept. 28 to get the final approval needed to take over OneWeb after clearing all regulatory hurdles for the multi-orbit merger. The French operator of geostationary satellites is expected to complete its all-share deal for the British low Earth orbit (LEO) broadband network shortly after the

WASHINGTON — The Space Development Agency announced Aug. 21 it awarded contracts worth $1.5 billion to Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin to build and operate 72 satellites. The Space Development Agency (SDA), an organization under the U.S. Space Force, is building a mesh network of military satellites in low Earth orbit. The 72 satellites will

Hot air: two US direct air capture pilot plants will be built, one in Kleberg County, Texas and the other in Louisiana’s Calcasieu Parish costing a total of £1.bn (courtesy: Battelle) The US Department of Energy (DOE) has announced plans to build two commercial-scale pilot plants that would remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through

WASHINGTON — SpaceX, Kuiper Government Solutions and Aalyria Technologies were selected for market-research studies on how commercial systems could add capacity to the military’s future low Earth orbit constellation.  The U.S. Space Force’s Space Development Agency announced Aug. 17 that the companies will conduct three-month studies. The agency said it wants to better understand the

HELSINKI — Russia’s Luna-25 mission ended in failure after crashing into the moon, space agency Roscosmos has announced. A statement posted to the agency’s Telegram social media channel early Aug. 20 confirmed that an anomaly during an Aug. 19 maneuver to lower Luna-25’s orbit resulted in the spacecraft impacting the lunar surface. The spacecraft was

Neural recording across the vessel wall A micro-endovascular probe (yellow) designed for insertion into straight (versus branched) blood vessels is preloaded into a flexible microcatheter (cyan) and selectively injected into the straight vessel by saline flow. (Courtesy: Anqi Zhang, Stanford University) Brain–machine interfaces (BMIs) provide direct electrical communication between the brain and external electronic systems.

WASHINGTON — True Anomaly, a startup based in Denver, opened a manufacturing facility where it plans to produce small satellites designed for surveillance and reconnaissance of objects in space.  The company on Aug. 17 unveiled the 35,000 square-foot facility in Centennial, Colorado,  True Anomaly designed a spacecraft called Jackal aimed at the U.S. military and

WASHINGTON — Russia’s first lunar mission in nearly half a century suffered an “emergency situation” during an attempted maneuver Aug. 19, putting plans for a landing into question. In a brief statement posted to its channel on the social media service Telegram, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said that the Luna-25 spacecraft was commanded to