Science

TAMPA, Fla. — Telesat has contracted 14 launches from SpaceX starting in mid-2026 to deploy its entire Lightspeed broadband constellation within a year, the Canadian satellite operator said Sept. 11. Each Falcon 9 rocket could carry up to 18 of the 750-kilogram low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites Canada’s MDA is building — or 252 in

Paige McCullough is SpaceNews vice president of business development. Tysons Corner, Virginia – September 8, 2023 – SpaceNews, the leader in space industry news coverage and analysis, is proud to announce the promotion of Paige McCullough to the position of Vice President of Business Development. Over her nearly 10-year career at SpaceNews, Paige has consistently

Most people outside physics probably have no idea what condensed-matter science even means. Physicist and popular-science author James Kakalios is on a mission to show the public just how exciting and useful this field of physics can be. One of his key pieces of advice for would-be science communicators is to connect the outcomes of

WASHINGTON — A National Reconnaissance Office mission flew to geostationary Earth orbit Sept. 10 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket. The rocket lifted off at 8:47 a.m. Eastern from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.  The launch had been originally scheduled for August 29 but was delayed due

SAN FRANCISCO — Rubicon Space Systems won a series of contracts with a combined value of about $6 million to deliver ASCENT thrusters to NASA and the Air Force Research Laboratory in 2024. “Collectively, these three awards represent NASA and AFRL’s immense interest and trust in Rubicon as a champion of ASCENT-based propulsion,” Daniel Cavender,

Going with the flow: Björn Hof in his lab. (Courtesy: Nadine Poncioni/ISTA) Pumping patterns that mimic the human heartbeat can drastically reduce turbulence in a fluid that is pumped through pipes, researchers in Austria have discovered. Through a simple set of experiments, Björn Hof and colleagues at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria showed

WASHINGTON — Operating under a veil of secrecy reminiscent of a national security launch, Virgin Galactic performed its third commercial suborbital spaceflight Sept. 8 with three private astronauts on board. The company’s VSS Unity spaceplane, attached to its VMS Eve mothership aircraft, took off from Spaceport America in New Mexico at 10:34 a.m. Eastern. Unity

TAMPA, Fla. — Viasat’s U.K. subsidiary is partnering with Oxford Space Systems, a British satellite antenna specialist, to develop a 50% lighter high-speed communications terminal to improve the mobility of dismounted soldiers. The companies see the potential for a Ka-band satellite communications system that is 15 kilograms or less, Viasat UK managing director Hisham Awad

Elaborate structure: this pitcher plant grows at the Oxford Botanic Garden (Courtesy: Chris Thorogood) Carnivorous pitcher plants consist of hollow, cup-like structures that capture and then digest unsuspecting prey. Found mostly in the tropics, especially south-east Asia, pitcher plants have a slippery rim at the top, called a peristome that is covered in small ridges

WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration has completed the mishap investigation in SpaceX’s first integrated Starship launch in April but is not ready yet to approve a second launch of the vehicle. In a Sept. 8 statement, the FAA said it completed the investigation into the April 20 launch of the Starship vehicle and its

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force should overhaul its current approach to procuring commercial satellite communications services, the RAND Corp. recommends in a report published Sept. 6. RAND argues in the report that existing methods for procuring commercial satcom services inhibit the government from harnessing the full potential of commercial innovations.  The Space Force, which

Speedy SNAIL: The experimental structure housing the two cavities and the SNAIL coupling element. (Courtesy: Stijn de Graaf and Sophia H Xue) Quantum computers could revolutionize science, but the quantum bits (qubits) they run on are fragile. Being able to manipulate these qubits rapidly, before interactions with their environment cause the quantum information in them

WASHINGTON — Satellite manufacturer Terran Orbital in 2024 plans to accelerate production at its factory in California, promising deliveries in 30 to 60 days, the company announced Sept. 7. The company is marketing this effort as a “responsive space initiative” to shorten production timelines,  said Marc Bell, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Terran Orbital. “Today

ARLINGTON, Va. — Under a new strategy to counter China’s military buildup, the Pentagon is advocating the use of low-cost autonomous platforms that can be mass produced and deployed at sea, on land, in the air and in space.  “This is about driving culture change just as much as technology change — so we can

Fluid situation: composite image of the remnant of SN 1987A. Neutrinos from such supernovae could provide clues about physics beyond the Standard Model. (Courtesy: Alma/NASA/ESA) Neutrinos created in exploding stars could point to physics beyond the Standard Model, according to calculations done by Po-Wen Chang and colleagues at Ohio State University in the US. Their

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