London, UK (SPX) Aug 21, 2025
The world is set to heat up more than expected because of future changes in ozone, which shields Earth from ultraviolet radiation but also acts as a greenhouse gas. Although international bans on ozone-depleting chemicals such as CFCs have aided the layer's recovery, combined effects with air pollution mean ozone could add 40% more warming than earlier predictions suggested. A Univer

Washington (AFP) Aug 22, 2025
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted into space on Thursday night carrying the US military's secretive X-37B drone. The rocket successfully launched at 11:50 pm (0350 GMT on Friday), according to SpaceX's livestream of the event. The Falcon 9 lit up the night sky over NASA's Kennedy Space Center, where it was launched from. The US Space Force has said the drone's mission will include

London, UK (SPX) Aug 22, 2025
Space-based solar power could significantly reshape Europe's energy system by 2050, according to new research in the journal Joule. The study estimates the technology could reduce Europe's reliance on Earth-based wind and solar generation by up to 80% while lowering overall grid costs by 7% to 15%. Researchers modeled the European energy system in 2050 using two NASA-developed designs for

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Aug 22, 2025
Dark energy, once thought constant across time, may instead evolve through the universe, according to new results from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). Researchers show that interpreting black holes as dark energy bubbles not only supports this view but also offers consistent neutrino mass estimates. The DESI collaboration, working from Kitt Peak National Observatory in Ari

Riverside CA (SPX) Aug 22, 2025

More than 5,000 planets have been discovered beyond our solar system, allowing scientists to explore planetary evolution and consider the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Now, a UC Riverside study published in Physical Review D suggests that these "exoplanets" could also serve as tools to investigate dark matter. The researchers examined how dark matter, which makes up 85% of the un

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Aug 22, 2025
At 4:12 a.m. EDT on Aug. 7, mission controllers at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory confirmed that New Horizons had safely entered hibernation mode. The spacecraft, operating more than 5.7 billion miles (9.2 billion kilometers) from Earth in the Kuiper Belt, acted on commands uploaded July 23. The confirmation signal required 8 hours and 31 minutes to reach Earth, traveling at light spee

London, UK (SPX) Aug 22, 2025
The mystery at Jupiter's heart has taken a fresh twist - as new research suggests a giant impact may not have been responsible for the formation of its core. It had been thought that a colossal collision with an early planet containing half of Jupiter's core material could have mixed up the central region of the gas giant, enough to explain its interior today

London, UK (SPX) Aug 22, 2025
A new Durham University study challenges the idea that Jupiter's unusual dilute core was formed by a giant collision, overturning a leading explanation of the planet's interior structure. Jupiter's core does not have a sharp boundary but gradually merges into its hydrogen-rich layers. This dilute core was first revealed by NASA's Juno spacecraft, sparking debate about how it formed. Earlie

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Aug 22, 2025
In a milestone for interplanetary communications, Lonestar Data Holdings confirmed the successful test of the Solar System Internet's Delay Tolerant Network (DTN) aboard its lunar data center mission launched on Intuitive Machines' Athena lander in February. The demonstration validated the use of DTN technology, engineered to maintain robust communications in high-latency space environment

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Aug 22, 2025

NASA's Artemis II mission, set to send four astronauts on a nearly 10-day mission around the Moon and back, will advance the agency's goal to land astronauts at the Moon's south polar region and will help set the stage for future crewed Mars missions. While the Artemis II crew will be the first humans to test NASA's Orion spacecraft in space, they will also conduct science investigations