LONDON — The French Ministry of Defence will add a third satellite to its next-generation geostationary constellation, an official said Nov. 6. Col. Laurent Jannin, the head of French satcom programs at the French arms-procurement agency, DGA, said Nov. 6 that connectivity demands from drones and military aircraft drove the need for an additional satellite
How do military pilots aim guided weapons through clouds? originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by Tim Morgan, commercial pilot, on Quora: How do military pilots aim guided weapons through clouds? It depends on how the weapon is
FILE PHOTO: General view of the centre stage of Web Summit, Europe’s biggest tech conference, in Lisbon, Portugal, November 5, 2018. REUTERS/Pedro Nunes/File Photo LISBON (Reuters) – Portugal plans to build an international launch pad for small satellites in the Azores and has agreed with China to set up a joint research center to make
Earth is too big to fit into an X-ray or MRI scanner, so a group of physicists in Spain found a fascinating new way to peer inside - they used the subatomic particles constantly streaming through the planet. The team scanned the interior of Earth using neutrinos – and even used them to conduct an entirely
LOS ANGELES — Two former competitors in the Google Lunar X Prize are continuing to pursue commercial lunar landers that could launch as soon as late 2019. In separate presentations at the International Moon Village Workshop & Symposium here Nov. 5, representatives of PTScientists and Team Indus said they are working on versions of landers
BEIJING (Reuters) – U.S. billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates unveiled on Tuesday in Beijing a futuristic toilet that doesn’t need water or sewers and uses chemicals to turn human waste into fertilizer. Microsoft founder Bill Gates speaks during an interview at the fringes of the Reinvented Toilet Expo showcasing sewerless sanitation technology in Beijing, China November
The natural world is a strange and wonderful place. But sometimes biologists come across something that is just… odd. Really, really odd. Case in point: this peculiar arachnid photographed by natural scientist Andreas Kay in Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest in July 2017. By all appearances, it looks like it has the tiny head of a black
Sam Ballard swallowed the slug on a dare. The young rugby player from Sydney was a “larrikin” – a “rough-and-tumble” free spirit, his mother said. So when the creature crawled across a table at a party in 2010 and his buddies dared him to eat it, her son accepted the challenge, she said. “Twenty-year-old boys,
No matter how abundant or renewable, solar power has a thorn in its side. There is still no cheap and efficient long-term storage for the energy that it generates. The solar industry has been snagged on this branch for a while, but in the past year alone, a series of four papers has ushered in
A harpoon that grabs orbital debris sounds like a cool idea, but putting up more hardware in space to clean up debris is probably not a sustainable proposition, said Fred Kennedy, the director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Tactical Technology Office. LONDON — A British debris-removal satellite was deployed this summer from the
You may never have heard of the small Japanese island of Esanbe Hanakita Kojima, but it’s just hit the headlines after disappearing into the ocean – apparently without anyone noticing for quite some time. A combination of wind and the impacts from drift ice is thought to have sunk the island beneath the waves, as
This artist’s rendering made available by NASA in July 2016 shows the mapping of the near-Earth asteroid Bennu by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. The spacecraft will spend a year surveying Bennu before collecting a sample that will be returned to Earth for analysis. (NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona via AP) Two different spacecraft from NASA and JAXA (the
WASHINGTON — As the U.S. Federal Communications Commission prepares to vote on satellite constellations from four companies in mid-November, another satellite operator is reducing the size of its proposed constellation. Viasat of Carlsbad, California, modified its design for a medium-Earth-orbit constellation that would consist of 20 telecom satellites instead of 24 as originally envisioned, the
You’re assigned to create an exhibit for the seven-year ~$1 billion renovation of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum currently underway. It’s the most visited museum in the United States, and the third most visited one in the world, with over 8.6 million visitors in 2017. So, what do you do? That’s the task
It’s not too much to say that the movement of peoples across borders has been a pressing political concern recently, both in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere. That conversation is so prevalent now that it’s easy to think of this conversation as inevitable, immutable. The idea of the “nation” is one that’s bounded –
LONDON (Reuters) – The largest study to date of the genetic makeup of parasitic worms has found hundreds of new clues about how they invade the human body, evade its immune system and cause disease. FILE PHOTO: A giant 25m worm representing the parasitic worm of schistosomiasis, that causes significant suffering and death to thousands
Whenever we hear of stars discovered that formed just after the Big Bang, they’re very far away, in the far reaches of the visible Universe. But now astronomers have spotted something new: a star that’s around 13.5 billion years old, right here in our own Milky Way galaxy. It’s called 2MASS J18082002–5104378 B, and it
Somewhere on the bottom of the world, 33-year-old Colin O’Brady is readying for a task that no human has successfully accomplished. He’s about to travel 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometres) across Antarctica alone, without any resupply support. Everyone who has ever attempted that solo journey has either given up or died. “This is something that no
Sick of life right now on Earth? Head to Mars instead. Virtually, that is. Google Mars lets you explore the Red Planet without the 140-million-mile (225-million-kilometre) journey. It’s one of the most detailed maps of the planet ever made, thanks to data collected from NASA satellites and then put together in association with NASA scientists
A mud puddle doesn’t really sound all that threatening, but there’s one in California’s Imperial County that’s so troublesome, an emergency had to be declared earlier this year. It’s called the Niland Geyser and it’s exactly that, a geyser of bubbling mud. But there’s a strange twist – this menacing puddle has been slowly creeping across
Sir David Attenborough is much beloved as a broadcaster and naturalist, but a recent interview about his new BBC documentary series has stirred up some heated discussions in the environmental community. Ahead of the latest five-part nature series called Dynasties, Attenborough was interviewed by Jonathan Watts at the Observer (a UK Sunday newspaper and sister publication to The Guardian) about
All over the world, some truly groundbreaking telescopes are being built that will usher in a new age of astronomy. Sites include the mountain of Mauna Kea in Hawaii, Australia, South Africa, southwestern China, and the Atacama Desert – a remote plateau in the Chilean Andes. In this extremely dry environment, multiple arrays are being
In this Thursday, April 28, 2016 photo, Theo Ramos, 14, visits a neighborhood park in Homestead, Fla. Theo knew he sometimes “presented like a girl” _ like when he would Snapchat crowns of flowers on photos of his kitten, or how he colored his hair every shade of the rainbow. And he spent hours watching
You might be pretty distracted by the news of the world this week. You might not want to read any news at all, although we always think that science is a safe exception. Either way, since you’re here already, we’ve prepared an easy and shareable wrap of last week’s discoveries in science. If you’d like
This article originally appeared in the Oct. 22, 2018 issue of SpaceNews magazine. Engineers and researchers stand near one of the two metal laser-deposition machines at Lockheed Martin’s Additive Design and Manufacturing Center. Credit: Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin’s Additive Design and Manufacturing Center in Sunnyvale, California, where the company produces military, commercial and civil space
The northeastern tip of Hokkaido (left) near the smaller Kunashir Island, the latter of which is controlled by Russia. The swirls here are ice floes, which may have destroyed the tiny islet.JSC/NASA In this day and age, with anthropogenic climate change far from being under any sort of control, it’s to be expected that islands
Nothing lasts forever, especially an iceberg drifting away from its frigid home. This coffin-shaped iceberg was spotted by astronauts on the International Space Station as it drifted northwards. It split off from a much larger iceberg about 18 years ago, and is moving into warmer and warmer waters. The coffin-shaped iceberg has a name: B15-T.
On 4 November 1922, a boy accidentally stumbled on a stone that turned out to be the top of a flight of steps cut into the bedrock of the Valley of the Kings. The Valley of the Kings is a remote valley located in the desert west of the river Nile. In Pharaonic Egypt, this
This article originally appeared in the Oct. 22, 2018 issue of SpaceNews magazine. With four more of its satellites launched between July 22 and Sept. 25, Space Systems Loral now has more than 1,000 additively manufactured parts in orbit on 15 spacecraft. By printing flight hardware with aluminum, titanium and plastic materials, SSL is reducing
LOS ANGELES — SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk says he supports the concept of establishing a separate Space Force, using an argument that mirrors statements made by administration officials. In an extended interview with the technology site Recode published Nov. 2, Musk drew parallels between the Space Force and the creation of the U.S. Air
WASHINGTON — Aireon, the aircraft-tracking venture Iridium Communications founded to help finance construction of the now nearly completed Iridium Next constellation, is close to securing a new credit line that should allow the firm to catch up on $200 million in overdue payload hosting fees. McLean, Virginia-based Iridium said Oct. 25 that Aireon expects to
I often refer to geosynchronous weather satellites as the “lead singers” of the weather satellite rock band. They get much of the attention and produce stunning views of hurricanes, tornadic storms, and other real-time weather events. However, polar orbiting satellites are equally important, but often have a much lower profile like the drummer or bass
When you fall into a black hole or simply get very close to the event horizon, its size and scale appear much larger than the actual size. To an outside observer watching you fall in, your information would get encoded on the event horizon. What happens to that information as the black hole evaporates is
WASHINGTON — Israel Aerospace Industries was ordered to pay Spacecom $10 million for late delivery of Amos-6, a satellite that ended up being destroyed in SpaceX’s 2016 Falcon 9 fueling mishap. In a Nov. 1 filing with the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Spacecom said the late fee is the result of arbitration over the ill-fated
Explaining consciousness is one of the hardest problems in science and philosophy. Recent neuroscientific discoveries suggest that a solution could be within reach – but grasping it will mean rethinking some familiar ideas. Consciousness, I argue in a new paper, may be caused by the way the brain generates loops of energetic feedback, similar to
On October 19th, 2017, the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System-1 (Pan-STARRS-1) in Hawaii announced the first-ever detection of an interstellar asteroid, named 1I/2017 U1 (AKA ‘Oumuamua). In the months that followed, multiple follow-up observations were conducted that allowed astronomers to get a better idea of its size and shape, while also revealing that it had the
This article originally appeared in the Oct. 22, 2018 issue of SpaceNews magazine. Space system engineers, who once saw additive manufacturing as a way to trim the size and weight of conventional components, are beginning to see its true potential, said Stewart Deadman, Burloak Technologies’ space products manager. “I’ve seen the biggest change in mindset
When your old Aunt Petunia passes away, there’s a good chance her body will either be reduced to ash inside a purpose-built kiln or buried in an expensive (but not too expensive) wooden box next to the decaying remains of Uncle Harold. If only she’d lived in another time, or another place, things could have
Share to facebook Share to twitter Share to linkedin A cluster of octopuses (Mussoctopus robustus) in an unusual position near the Davidson Seamount: with their arms wrapped around themselves and their oral surfaces exposed.OctopusGarden3_Ocean Exploration Trust | NOAA Approximately 75 miles west of the Monterey, California exists the Davidson Seamount, an extinct volcano and one of
Ashley Quigley of Portland, left, takes the blood pressure of Samsam Dahir of Portland. (Staff photo by Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images) Do you have an idea of what is in these blood pressure medications? Take away the “I” from an idea and you’ve got a NDEA. That’s the chemical that seems
WASHINGTON — A NASA spacecraft that visited two of the largest objects in the solar system’s main asteroid belt has run out of fuel, ending its mission, NASA announced Nov. 1. NASA announced that the Dawn spacecraft was silent during two communications sessions on the Deep Space Network Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. After eliminating
Giant pandas are by nature solitary animals, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t well-versed in the language of love. Far from it. When spring arrives and these giant creatures get frisky, effective communication is one of biggest turn-ons. And these pandas know exactly how to express their interest. By recording giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) before,
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – South African researchers say they have made bricks using human urine in a natural process involving colonies of bacteria, which could one day help reduce global warming emissions by finding a productive use for the ultimate waste product. Researchers Dr Dyllon Randall, Suzanne Lambert and Vukheta Mukhari stand with a bio-brick
Two examples of potato-shaped ceramics from the Moche culture of Peru. L: Anthropomorphic potato vessel from 400 AD in the Larco Museum, Peru. R: Potato shaped vessel from the Larco Museum, Peru.L: Larco Museum / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY SA 3.0. R: Pattych / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY SA 3.0 We may think
First light, on April 26, 2016, of the 4LGST. This is presently the most advanced adaptive optics system in use aboard a modern observatory, and helps astronomers produce, in many ways, superior-quality images to what even a space-based observatory like Hubble can obtain.ESO/F. Kamphues One of the most profoundly remarkable properties about our atmosphere is
BERLIN (Reuters) – Europe’s Airbus said on Friday it had delivered the “powerhouse” for NASA’s new Orion Spaceship that will take astronauts to the Moon and beyond in coming years, hitting a key milestone that should lead to hundreds of millions of euros in future orders. Engineers at the Airbus plant in Bremen, Germany on
Almost on the cusp of the Mariana Trench, before it plunges down into the very bowels of the ocean, scientists have found something rare and wonderful. Sometime in 2015, an underwater volcano experienced a massive eruption, spewing molten magma into the surrounding ocean. As the incredibly hot magma meets the water, it begins to rapidly
WASHINGTON — As NASA works to keep the James Webb Space Telescope on track for a 2021 launch, the chairman of the mission’s independent review board believes that the mission was “a step too far” for the agency. Speaking at a meeting of the Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics of the National Academies’ Space Studies
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