Lemont IL (SPX) Feb 04, 2022
Breakthrough using common material could pave way for new quantum technologies. Quantum science holds promise for many technological applications, such as building hackerproof communication networks or quantum computers that could accelerate new drug discovery. These applications require a quantum version of a computer bit, known as a qubit, that stores quantum information. But researchers

Bonn, Germany (SPX) Feb 07, 2022
A few years ago, a novel measurement technique showed that protons are probably smaller than had been assumed since the 1990s. The discrepancy surprised the scientific community; some researchers even believed that the Standard Model of particle physics would have to be changed. Physicists at the University of Bonn and the Technical University of Darmstadt have now developed a method that

Evry, France (SPX) Feb 04, 2022
After the successful launch of NASA's Webb Space Telescope on December 25 with Ariane 5, Arianespace is back to the Guiana Space Center (CSG) with Soyuz for a February 10 lift-off. The first Arianespace mission of the year will orbit 34 additional OneWeb satellites. With this mission, Arianespace will exceed 100 satellites launched on Soyuz from the CSG, while OneWeb's fleet will be brought to 4

Orlando FL (SPX) Feb 07, 2022
Anew race to harness hypersonic speed for travel and defense has started, and University of Central Florida researchers are helping the U.S. stay ahead of the pack with a new $1.5 million U.S. Department of Defense award to develop high-performance fuels for hypersonic propulsion. The race, which includes competition from Russia and China, recently intensified when it was reported that Chi

London, UK (SPX) Feb 04, 2022
With Britain's first satellite launches set to take place this year, the SatelLife Competition is looking for the best new ideas for how to use data collected from space to benefit daily life, from supporting local communities and the NHS, to monitoring the environment and tackling climate change. The competition is now in its fifth year, with previous winning ideas including drones carryi

Ishikawa, Japan (SPX) Feb 08, 2022
Atomic forces are primarily responsible for the motion of atoms and their versatile arrangement patterns, which is unique for different types of materials. Atomic simulation methods are a popular choice for the calculation of these forces, the understanding of which can vastly enhance existing knowledge on how to improve a material's function at an atomic level. Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) m

Washington (AFP) Feb 8, 2022
Lockheed Martin's space division has won a NASA contract to build the rocket that will return the first Mars rock samples to Earth in the 2030s, the US space agency said Monday. The "small, lightweight rocket" will be the first to take off from another planet, bringing back "rock, sediment and atmospheric samples from the surface of the Red Planet," NASA said in a statement. NASA's Perse

Washington DC (UPI) Feb 7, 2021
Astra Space postponed its first rocket launch from Florida on Monday for the second time in three days due to a "minor telemetry issue" and did not set a new launch date, a company official said. "Unfortunately, we need to stand down from today's launch attempt," Astra product manager Carolina Grossman said during a live launch broadcast. The rocket's software aborted a launch at

Notre Dame IN (SPX) Feb 08, 2022
University of Notre Dame researchers, along with collaborators in China and Australia, published a new sample catalog of more than 24 million stars that can be used to decipher the chemical history of elements in the Milky Way Galaxy. The research, published February 3 in The Astrophysical Journal, represents about one-hundredth of a percent of the roughly 240 billion stars in the Milky Wa

Washington DC (SPX) Feb 08, 2022
For decades physicists have been perplexed about why our cosmos appears to have been precisely tuned to foster intelligent life. It is widely thought that if the values of certain physical parameters, such as the masses of elementary particles, were tweaked, even slightly, it would have prevented the formation of the components necessary for life in the universe - including planets, stars, and g