Berlin, Germany (SPX) Jul 24, 2025
The surface of the Moon is constantly exposed to the solar wind-a stream of charged particles from the Sun that can dislodge atoms from the lunar surface and contribute to its thin exosphere. However, a new study by Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien) and international collaborators reveals that earlier models greatly overestimated this sputtering effect. The researchers attribute th

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Jul 24, 2025
A team of physicists from Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), University of Duisburg-Essen, and University of Alberta has discovered that ultra-fast cooling of silicon surfaces produces structural patterns that echo the cosmic phase transitions theorized to have occurred shortly after the Big Bang. Their study shows that the rate at which silicon cools drastically influences how atoms a

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Jul 24, 2025
A research team from Chiba University has demonstrated how soft X-ray imaging could be used to monitor magnetic reconnection rates in Earth's magnetosphere-a critical development in improving space weather forecasting. Magnetic reconnection, a process where solar wind penetrates Earth's magnetic barrier, can disrupt satellite operations and communication systems. Led by Associate Professor

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 24, 2025
An international research team has made the first direct measurement of sulfur in both its gas and solid forms in interstellar space, using X-ray data from the Japan-led XRISM (X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission) satellite. Utilizing observations from two distant X-ray binary systems, astronomers detected sulfur throughout the interstellar medium-the vast mix of dust and gas between st

Washington DC (UPI) Jul 23, 2025
SpaceX launched two Falcon 9 rockets with satellite payloads after they were scrubbed less than a minute before liftoff one day earlier in Florida and California. In both situations, the rockets and payloads were in good health. On Wednesday, the private agency launched two Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites, or TRACER, for NASA at 2:13 p.m. PD

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 24, 2025
Seismic data can distinguish between intact and fragmented fireball meteoroids during atmospheric entry, according to a new study published in Seismological Research Letters. Researchers led by Iona Clemente of Curtin University analyzed seismic signals from several fireball events, including the 2020 return of Japan's Hayabusa2 sample capsule, to test this approach. The Hayabusa2 re-entry

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 23, 2025
A Cold War-era bunker near Scotland's Mull of Kintyre has been repurposed into a state-of-the-art rocket testing and training facility. Known as MachLab, the site has officially opened at a business park on the former RAF Machrihanish airbase close to Campbeltown. Established by University of Glasgow researchers with nearly Pounds 500,000 in funding-half from the UK Space Agency-MachLab w

Paris, France (SPX) Jul 24, 2025
A Canadian-led team has revealed the most detailed analysis yet of the L 98-59 planetary system, confirming the presence of a fifth planet within its habitable zone. The system, located just 35 light-years from Earth, hosts a strikingly diverse group of rocky exoplanets orbiting a small red dwarf star. Led by researchers from the Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets (IREx) at Univ

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 24, 2025
The CTAO LST Collaboration has unveiled critical insights into gamma-ray burst (GRB) jets following detailed analysis of GRB 221009A-the most luminous GRB ever observed. The results, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, draw from 2022 observations using the LST-1, a prototype Large-Sized Telescope stationed at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the CTAO-North site in La Palma,

Nashville TN (SPX) Jul 24, 2025
NASA's Juno spacecraft, currently orbiting Jupiter, narrowly salvaged its onboard JunoCam imager through a remote thermal repair maneuver executed in December 2023. The move, initiated from over 370 million miles away, enabled the camera to capture unprecedented views of Io during a close approach. The repair effort was detailed by mission engineers on July 16 at the IEEE Nuclear and Space Radia