Los Angeles CA (SPX) Sep 03, 2025
Southwest Research Institute has expanded its Laser Induced Particle Impact Test technique to measure ballistic resistance with greater efficiency and scale than previously possible. The updated process enables larger projectiles and automation, dramatically boosting testing throughput while maintaining accuracy in evaluating protective materials. Dr. Daniel Portillo of SwRI's Engineering

Los Alamos NM (SPX) Sep 03, 2025
For the first time, researchers have established a direct correlation between the frequency of spacecraft electrical discharges and the number of electrons in the surrounding space environment. The findings could inform future methods of protecting satellites from potentially damaging effects. Spacecraft environment discharges (SEDs) are short-lived electrical breakdowns that can harm sens

London, UK (SPX) Sep 03, 2025
LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration detects 128 black hole collisions, doubling the known gravitational-wave events and advancing our understanding of the Universe. An international team of researchers has announced a significant advancement in gravitational-wave astronomy, with the detection of 128 new cosmic collisions involving black holes and neutron stars. This discovery more than do

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Sep 03, 2025
A $1.39 million award from the National Science Foundation will significantly upgrade Georgia State University's Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARA) Array, enabling observations across the entire visible and near-infrared spectrum.

Amsterdam, Netherlands (SPX) Sep 03, 2025
Astronomers have confirmed that massive stars in galaxies with low metal content often exist in binary systems, much like their counterparts in the Milky Way. An international team of seventy researchers from Belgium, the Netherlands, and Israel used the European Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile to monitor massive stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud. Their findings appear in Nature Astronomy.

Paris, France (SPX) Sep 03, 2025
In a new study published in Nature Astronomy, scientists have identified a clear origin for hypervelocity white dwarfs - stellar remnants racing through space at more than 2000 km/s. The research, led by Dr. Hila Glanz of the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, used advanced three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations to model the merger of two rare hybrid helium - carbon - oxygen wh

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Sep 03, 2025
A NASA-sponsored team is advancing single-photon sensing Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) detector technology that will enable future NASA astrophysics space missions to search for life on other planets. As part of their detector maturation program, the team is characterizing sensors before, during, and after high-energy radiation exposure; developing novel readout modes to mitigat

Medford MA (SPX) Sep 03, 2025
What was the universe like in the first few hundreds of millions of years after it came into existence? How did the first stars and galaxies form? Those are questions that astronomers now have a better chance of answering, thanks to a new research program using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which came online in 2022. The MINERVA program, co-led by a Tufts astronomer, will give res

Paris, France (SPX) Sep 03, 2025
The first magnetic fields that emerged after the Universe's birth may have been billions of times weaker than the pull of a refrigerator magnet, with intensities comparable to the magnetism created by neurons in the brain. Despite their weakness, researchers have found that these fields left detectable traces in the cosmic web that spans the Universe. The conclusions come from a collaborat

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Sep 03, 2025
Pixxel has added three new Firefly satellites to orbit aboard SpaceX's NAOS Mission, doubling its commercial constellation to six. The company says this expansion delivers humanity's first daily, high-resolution hyperspectral view of Earth, enabling detailed environmental monitoring and predictive analytics at planetary scale. The Fireflies operate collectively as the most advanced commerc