ANIMATION “Sterile neutrinos” are theoretically predicted new particles that offer an intriguing possibility in the quest for understanding the dark matter in our universe. Unlike the known “active” neutrinos in the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics, these sterile neutrinos do not interact with normal matter as they move through space, making them very difficult to […]
It’s an exciting time to be a Venus watcher. Our sister planet, which has been the target of only one mission since the 1980s, is now the focus of not one, not two, but three missions from NASA and ESA. Combined, they promise to give the closest look ever at the Morning […]
The core stage and twin booster rockets stand taller than the Statue of Liberty (minus its pedestal) NASA Nasa has assembled the first of its powerful Space Launch System (SLS) rockets, which will carry humans to the Moon this decade. On Friday, engineers at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center finished lowering […]
June 5, 2021 For the second year in a row, drought has overtaken much of the United States from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast. For the second year in a row, drought has parched much of the United States from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast. Following […]
Using data from several instruments onboard Rosetta, CASTRA’s team has modeled the properties of cometary dust in the environment of Comet 67P. Image credit – ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM As anyone who has ever tried to clean a home knows, ridding yourself of dust is a Sisyphean effort. No surface stays free of […]
The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) has recently commissioned three private companies, Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin and General Atomics, to develop nuclear fission thermal rockets for use in lunar orbit. Such a development, if flown, could usher in a new era of spaceflight. That said, it is only one of […]
An aerial view of the Hoover Dam in 2009. (Image credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images) The Western U.S. continues to suffer from a severe drought. Water levels in Lake Mead, the vital reservoir formed by the Hoover Dam, reached a new record low this week as the Western U.S. continues to […]
Saturn’s moon Enceladus, with its geysers of water (artist’s illustration), could be the target for a future European flagship mission. EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY/SCIENCE OFFICE The biggest space missions gestate for the longest time. Today, the European Space Agency (ESA) revealed the three broad science themes it wants to pursue for […]
Pine Island Glacier ends in an ice shelf that floats in the Amundsen Sea. These crevasses are near the grounding line, where the glacier makes contact with the Antarctic continent. The photo was taken in January 2010 from the east side of the glacier, looking westward. This ice shelf lost […]
ANIMATION Graphene can be used for ultra-high density hard disk drives (HDD), with up to a tenfold jump compared to current technologies, researchers at the Cambridge Graphene Centre have shown. The study, published in Nature Communications, was carried out in collaboration with teams at the University of Exeter, India, Switzerland, […]