While performing yesterday’s flyby of Mars, ESA’s Hera mission for planetary defence made the first use of its payload for scientific purposes beyond Earth and the Moon. Activating a trio of instruments, Hera imaged the surface of the red planet as well as the face of Deimos, the smaller and more mysterious of Mars’s two moons.

High above the Arctic Circle, on the rugged terrain of Andøya, three ESA radionavigation engineers take a rare moment to unwind with a game of shuffleboard. Outside, sheep graze under the shimmering northern lights, a serene backdrop to their demanding mission: test how navigation technologies withstand interference signals. With 100TB of data collected over 5 days, their efforts promise to strengthen the reliability of satellite navigation for the benefit of us all.

Washington (AFP) Mar 12, 2025
NASA announced Tuesday the dismissal of its chief scientist and others to comply with orders from President Donald Trump, marking the latest in a series of administration actions undermining climate change research. While the move affects only 23 people, a spokeswoman indicated more cuts are coming. The first round notably eliminates the Office of the Chief Scientist, led by Katherine Ca

Washington (AFP) Mar 12, 2025
A routine crew rotation at the International Space Station has taken on unusual significance: It paves the way for a pair of astronauts stranded for more than nine months to finally come home. The NASA-SpaceX Crew-10 mission is set to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:48 PM (2348 GMT) on Wednesday. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carries a Crew Dragon capsule with a four-member

Houston TX (SPX) Mar 11, 2025
Researchers at Rice University have uncovered a critical link between rising temperatures and declines in a species' population, shedding new light on how global warming threatens natural ecosystems. The study, published in Ecology and led by Volker Rudolf, revealed that rising temperatures exacerbate competition within populations, ultimately leading to population crashes at higher temperatures

London, UK (SPX) Mar 11, 2025
A new study highlights that tree planting continues to be the most cost-efficient method for carbon removal, provided careful planning is undertaken regarding tree species and planting locations. Governments globally are committed to increasing forest cover to absorb greenhouse gases, with the UK aiming to plant 30,000 hectares of trees annually until 2050. However, environmental economist

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Mar 11, 2025
Seismology has long established that earthquakes result from the movement of tectonic plates, which accumulate strain energy until it is released as seismic activity. However, predicting earthquakes with enough accuracy to enable timely evacuations remains a significant challenge. Events like the 2011 magnitude 9.0 Tohoku earthquake, which triggered a devastating tsunami and led to the Fukushima

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Mar 01, 2025
A groundbreaking study from researchers in Japan and Taiwan has revealed that helium, an element typically considered chemically inert, can bond with iron under extreme pressures. Using a laser-heated diamond anvil cell, scientists observed this phenomenon, suggesting that substantial amounts of helium may exist in Earth's core. This discovery could challenge long-standing theories about the pla

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Mar 11, 2025
After years of dedicated research, scientists at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) have perfected a method to create the specialized fuel necessary for the world's first critical fast-spectrum molten salt reactor. The Molten Chloride Reactor Experiment (MCRE) at INL is set to evaluate a revolutionary nuclear reactor design using molten chloride salt combined with uranium as both a fuel and c

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Mar 11, 2025
The Greenland Ice Sheet, the largest ice mass in the Northern Hemisphere, is experiencing significant melting due to climate change. However, a new study reveals that intense atmospheric rivers can bring substantial snowfall, mitigating some of the ice loss. Atmospheric rivers are long, narrow bands of concentrated moisture that transport water vapor and heat from warm oceanic regions to c