Paris, France (SPX) Aug 30, 2024
ESA's Solar Orbiter spacecraft has delivered vital data that sheds light on the longstanding mystery of the energy source responsible for heating and accelerating the solar wind. In collaboration with NASA's Parker Solar Probe, the Solar Orbiter has unveiled that significant fluctuations in the Sun's magnetic field are the driving force behind this process. The solar wind, a continuous flo

Berkeley CA (SPX) Aug 27, 2024
Figuring out the nature of dark matter, the invisible substance that makes up most of the mass in our universe, is one of the greatest puzzles in physics. New results from the world's most sensitive dark matter detector, LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ), have narrowed down possibilities for one of the leading dark matter candidates: weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs. LZ, led by the Department

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Aug 30, 2024
Astronomers have achieved a significant milestone in understanding the darkness of deep space, thanks to NASA's New Horizons spacecraft. This mission has enabled the most accurate and direct measurements to date of the total amount of light generated by the universe. After more than 18 years in space and nine years following its historic encounter with Pluto, New Horizons is now over 5.4 b

London, UK (SPX) Aug 26, 2024
Researchers at Imperial College London and Google DeepMind have harnessed neural networks, a form of AI modeled after the human brain, to address one of quantum chemistry's most challenging problems: modeling the states of molecules. Their findings could pave the way for new approaches to designing materials and chemical processes via computer simulations, potentially streamlining experimental e

Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 30, 2024
Perseverance is officially headed into a new phase of scientific investigation on the Jezero Crater rim! For the last 2 months, the Perseverance rover has been exploring the Neretva Vallis region of Jezero Crater, where rocks with interesting popcorn-like textures and "leopard spot" patterns have fascinated us all. Now, the rover has begun its long ascent up the crater rim, and is official

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Aug 30, 2024
NASA has awarded a $116.9 million contract to Intuitive Machines of Houston to deliver a new set of science experiments and technology demonstrations to the lunar South Pole in 2027 as part of the agency's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. The mission will involve transporting six NASA payloads to a region of the Moon characterized by extremely cold nighttime temperatures, rug

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Aug 30, 2024
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is making significant progress on the NEO Surveyor, a next-generation infrared space telescope designed to detect asteroids and comets that could potentially threaten Earth. This mission marks the agency's first space telescope dedicated to planetary defense. Scheduled for launch in late 2027, NEO Surveyor will be stationed a million miles away at the

Hanover, NH (SPX) Aug 30, 2024
Katherine Lutz, a PhD student at the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies and National Science Foundation Fellow, began her journey in planetary science by examining satellite images of Mars' polar ice caps. These images revealed spiraling patterns across the ice caps, which are composed of alternating layers of ice and dusty deposits and range between 400 to 1,000 meters deep. These

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Aug 30, 2024
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration has achieved the sharpest images ever captured from Earth, detecting light from the centers of distant galaxies at a frequency of around 345 GHz. This milestone represents the highest resolution obtained in ground-based astronomy. These new observations, combined with previous images of supermassive black holes at the lower frequency of 230 G

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Aug 30, 2024
Lunar igneous activities, including both intrusive and extrusive magmatism, offer crucial insights into the Moon's interior and its thermal history. These activities are distributed asymmetrically between the Moon's nearside and farside, reflecting the global lunar dichotomy. Previous lunar samples returned by Apollo, Luna, and Chang'e-5 missions all originated from the nearside, leaving a gap i