Eclipse-themed beer. Jewelry and ornaments. And doughnuts that capture the sun's disappearing act with the help of buttercream frosting.

With April 8's total solar eclipse right around the corner, businesses are ready for the celestial event that will dim skies along a generous path across North America.

A new robot will be taking flight soon to test its ability to support biological and physical science experiments in microgravity. As one of NASA's 2023 TechFlights selections, this compact robot will have a chance to fly on a commercial suborbital flight to see just how well it can perform in a space environment.

Managed by NASA's Flight Opportunities program, the TechFlights 2023 solicitation included a call for technologies to support the agency's Commercially Enabled Rapid Space Science (CERISS) initiative. CERISS, administered by NASA's Biological and Physical Sciences Division, uses the spaceflight environment to study phenomena in ways that cannot be done on Earth.

One of the 11 TechFlights selections that will undergo flight testing is a compact robot designed to prepare samples for science experiments in microgravity, improve in-flight sample preparation capabilities and potentially reduce astronauts' time tending to such research while on the International Space Station or future commercial destinations in low Earth orbit.

Led by principal investigator Phil Putman, manager of advanced projects at Sierra Lobo, Inc, in Fremont, Ohio, the tests will leverage parabolic flights from Zero Gravity Corporation to evaluate the technology's performance in microgravity.

Frank Herbert's Dune is epic sci-fi storytelling with an environmental message at its heart. The novels and movies are set on the desert planet of Arrakis, which various characters dream of transforming into a greener world—much like some envision for Mars today.

We investigated Arrakis using a climate model, a computer program similar to those used to give weather forecasts. We found the world that Herbert had created, well before climate models even existed, was remarkably accurate—and would be habitable, if not hospitable.

However, Arrakis wasn't always a desert. In Dune lore, 91% of the planet was once covered by oceans, until some ancient catastrophe led to its desertification. What water remained was further removed by sand trout, an invasive species brought to Arrakis. These proliferated and carried liquid into cavities deep underground, leading to the planet becoming more and more arid.

To see what a large ocean would mean for the planet's climate and habitability, we have now used the same climate model—putting in an ocean while changing no other factors.