Satellite navigation is not just about travel directions; its applications extend to search and rescue operations, agriculture, autonomous vehicles, sports and perhaps surprisingly, even health. ESA's NAVISP programme supports European companies in the creation of satnav-powered solutions with all sorts of applications – among them, emergency response and healthcare.

Launched in December 2013, ESA’s Gaia spacecraft is on a mission to map the locations and motions of more than a billion stars in the Milky Way with extreme precision.

But it’s not easy being a satellite: space is a dangerous place. In recent months, hyper-velocity space dust and the strongest solar storm in 20 years have threatened Gaia’s ability to carry out the precise measurements for which it is famous.

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Jul 15, 2024
The quantum Hall effect (QHE) stands as a significant milestone in condensed matter physics, paving the way for advancements in topological physics. Extending QHE into three dimensions, however, presents substantial challenges. The primary difficulty lies in the extension of Landau levels into bands along the magnetic field direction, preventing the formation of bulk gaps. A recent approac

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Jul 15, 2024
Tachyons are hypothetical particles that exceed the speed of light. Often considered the "enfant terrible" of modern physics, these superluminal particles were previously thought to be incompatible with the special theory of relativity. However, a recent paper in Physical Review D by physicists from the University of Warsaw and the University of Oxford reveals that such assumptions were unfounde

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 15, 2024
Quantum computing, harnessing the principles of quantum mechanics, is set to revolutionize fields such as medicine and machine learning by tackling problems too complex for classical computers. Quantum simulators, which consist of interacting quantum units, can be programmed to emulate intricate physical models, allowing scientists to extract valuable insights by controlling and measuring the in

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Jul 12, 2024
The Higgs boson, discovered over a decade ago in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) detectors, remains elusive, with its properties still not fully understood. Recent progress comes from a collaboration between the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IFJ PAN), RWTH Aachen University, and the Max Planck Institute for Physics, providing new insights into its origins.

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Jul 15, 2024
The potential for hydrogen-powered flights opens up significant opportunities for fossil-free travel, with rapid technological advancements propelling this vision forward. Recent research from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden indicates that nearly all air travel within a 750-mile (1200 km) radius could be serviced by hydrogen-powered aircraft by 2045. Moreover, a new heat exchanger un

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 15, 2024
A group of scientists has published a significant report on glacial geoengineering-an emerging field exploring whether technology could halt the melting of glaciers and ice sheets due to climate change. This white paper marks the first public effort by glaciologists to evaluate potential technological interventions that might address catastrophic sea-level rise scenarios. Although it