Science

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Satellogic is relocating from Uruguay to the United States in a bid for more government business as revenues continue falling short of expectations, the publicly traded Earth observation operator announced Sept. 21. Satellogic is currently registered in the British Virgin Islands and headquartered in Montevideo, Uruguay, meaning it is not subject

KIHEI, Hawaii — Sierra Space conducted another test of its inflatable habitat technology, demonstrating that the module exceeds its requirements even with the addition of a window in its fabric structure. The company announced Sept. 20 that it performed the fifth in a series of tests of subscale versions of its Large Integrated Flexible Environment

This episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast features a wide-ranging conversation with the astrophysicist Victoria Grinberg, who is a liaison scientist at the European Space Agency (ESA). Based at ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Centre in the Netherlands, Grinberg explains how X-ray observatories are being used to study some of the most violent

Senjuti Mallick is a space law expert promoting space sustainability and responsible space exploration. She leads legal and compliance operations at COMSPOC Corp. Space exploration has always been an endeavor that transcends borders, uniting the world in a shared pursuit of knowledge and discovery. In this era of renewed interest in lunar and interplanetary exploration,

WASHINGTON — Maxar Technologies, a space technology firm that operates imaging satellites and manufactures spacecraft, has reorganized and eliminated executive positions, the company confirmed Sept. 20 The restructuring comes less than five months after Maxar, previously a publicly traded company, was acquired by the private equity firm Advent International in a $6.4 billion deal. Maxar

Mirror image: artistic illustration of an Alice ring, which researchers have just observed for the first time in nature. (Courtesy: Heikka Valja/Aalto University) In Lewis Carroll’s novel, Through the Looking-Glass, Alice encounters a mirror-like portal to a world where rules of reality are reversed. In the 1980s, the story inspired the name for a ring-like

KIHEI, Hawaii — The Federal Communications Commission is requiring more operators of satellite constellations to work with astronomers to minimize the effects their satellites will have on ground-based astronomy. The FCC issued authorizations Aug. 31 to Iceye and Planet, updating their licenses to add new satellites. Iceye, which operates a constellation of synthetic aperture radar

TAMPA, Fla. — AST Space Mobile said Sept. 19 its Blue Walker 3 test satellite that’s been in orbit for a year recently relayed its first 5G phone call to an ordinary smartphone in a cellular dead zone. An engineer with a Samsung Galaxy S22 phone near Hana, Hawaii, successfully connected with the satellite Sept.

Transformation: neutron stars could gather dark matter that turns them into small black holes.(Courtesy: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab) A team of theoretical physicists in India has shown that gravitational waves could reveal the role that dark matter could play in transforming neutron stars into black holes. Dark matter is a hypothetical,

WASHINGTON — CACI International’s optical communication terminal passed initial ground tests required to compete for Space Development Agency satellite contracts, the company announced Sept. 18. CACI, a defense contractor based in Reston, Virginia, said its optical terminal successfully completed an interoperability test, bringing it closer to meeting technical requirements set by the Space Development Agency

WASHINGTON — A Rocket Lab Electron failed during a launch of Capella Space radar imaging satellite Sept. 19. The Electron lifted off at 2:55 a.m. Eastern from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand after a delay of about 20 minutes because of space weather conditions. The liftoff and ascent of the first stage appeared to

Magnetic map: image of the galaxy 9io9 showing the orientation of its magnetic field. (Courtesy: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/J Geach et al.) The most distant galactic magnetic field ever observed has been reported by an international team of astronomers. The field belonged to a galaxy called 9io9, which we see as it was about 11 billion years

WASHINGTON — ABL Space Systems, a California-based launch startup that has yet to reach orbit, received a $15 million task order from the U.S. Space Force to demonstrate it can launch a payload on short notice from either one of the company’s two launch pads.  The contract, announced Sept. 18, is part of a $60

PARIS – The rapid growth of European space startups is reflected in Young European Enterprises Syndicate for Space (YEESS), a nonprofit formed in 2021. In two years, YEESS has grown from six to 15 companies with combined employment of more than 1,000 people, Juan Tomás Hernani, YEESS president and Satlantis co-founder and CEO, told SpaceNews

The WT-PET team Stefaan Vandenberghe (back row, second from right) and colleagues at Ghent University are developing a walk-through total-body PET system that will scan patients in a standing position. (Courtesy: Stefaan Vandenberghe) The use of positron emission tomography (PET) for disease diagnosis and repeated monitoring of the effectiveness of medical treatments is on the

TAMPA, Fla. — The growing need to tackle climate change presents a transformational growth opportunity for the Earth observation industry, executives from an international mix of companies in this market said Sept. 15. Mo Lin, vice president of Chinese spacecraft maker DFH Satellite — part of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CASC), said his

BRUSSELS — A Soyuz spacecraft delivered a new crew to the International Space Station Sept. 15 as NASA and Roscosmos updated plans for later missions. A Soyuz-2.1a rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 11:44 a.m. Eastern and placed the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft into orbit. The spacecraft docked with the station’s Rassvet module at

Counting is easy, right? Kevin McGuigan recalls his time working at a mobile clinic in rural Kenya when it dawned on him just how hopeless he was at the task Numbers up Kevin McGuigan found he was hopelessly slow at counting pills. (Courtesy: iStock/wilpunt) I once spent a month in Kenya taking part in a