Copernical Team
Image: Space bauble produced by the Multiscale Boiling experiment
Write a comment
Deck the halls with space-based bubbles!
Here is a festive bauble you will not see on Earth: a bubble produced by the Multiscale Boiling experiment, known affectionately as Rubi.
In this image, electrostatic forces are pulling the bubble upwards and making it spherical, producing not only a cool image but also cool insights into the boiling process.
Understanding how boiling behaves in weightlessness is imperative because gravity plays an important role. Without gravity, boiling takes place in slow motion and produces larger bubbles. This has allowed scientists to observe and measure effects that are too fast and too small on Earth.
The experiment is also installed with an electrode to observe the effect of an electric field on the bubbles, enabling scientists to observe and quantify the effect of external forces.
"Boiling is an extremely efficient way of getting rid of excess heat. This research could therefore provide very valuable information for improving the thermal management systems in space as well as in terrestrial applications," says ESA project scientist Daniele Mangini.
With this insight and more accurate calculations of the boiling process, products such as laptops can be improved and made more compact.
Europe's Spaceport prepares for Ariane 6
Write a comment
Europe' Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana is gearing up for the arrival of Ariane 6, Europe's new generation launch vehicle.
Season's greetings from the European Space Agency
Write a comment
Season's greetings from the European Space Agency
New fullerene crystal production method 50 times faster than predecessor
Write a comment
Researchers from Yokohama National University and the University of Electro-Communications in Japan have developed a highly efficient technique for producing a unique fullerene crystal, called fullerene finned-micropillar (FFMP), that is of significant use for next-generation electronics.
Fullerene is a popular choice for developing technologies not only due to its small size, it is also v Weak force has strong impact on nanosheets
Write a comment
You have to look closely, but the hills are alive with the force of van der Walls.
Rice University scientists found that nature's ubiquitous "weak" force is sufficient to indent rigid nanosheets, extending their potential for use in nanoscale optics or catalytic systems.
Changing the shape of nanoscale particles changes their electromagnetic properties, said Matt Jones, the Norman an How scientists are using declassified military photographs to analyse historical ecological change
Write a comment
Researchers are using Cold War spy satellite images to explore changes in the environment, including deforestation in Romania, marmot decline in Kazakhstan and ecological damage from bombs in Vietnam.
Ecologists have harnessed new advances in image processing to improve analysis of declassified US military intelligence photographs and detect previously unseen changes in the environment. Dr DARPA successfully demonstrates, transitions advanced RF networking program
Write a comment
A DARPA network technology program recently concluded field tests demonstrating novel software that bridges multiple disparate radio networks to enable communication between incompatible tactical radio data links - even in the presence of hostile jamming. The technology is transitioning to Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) and the Marine Corps, which plans to put the software on a software repr Satellites can reveal risk of forced labor in the world's fishing fleet
Write a comment
Vessels known to have crew that are subject to forced labor behave in systematically different ways to the rest of the global fishing fleet, reveals a new paper published in the scientific journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The discovery was used to build a first-of-its-kind model to identify and predict vessels at high risk of engaging in these abuses.
The study fou US Space Force enters 'Year 2' with momentum and soaring expectations
Write a comment
From the publicly available view on the outside, the birth and creation of the nation's newest military service was going well; there was general agreement as to the need for the new service, its strategic importance and how it would fit in to the nation's existing and sprawling military enterprise.
Hidden, however, was a level of bureaucratic gamesmanship and "churn," worrisome enough tha A new method for the functionalization of graphene
Write a comment
An international research team involving Professor Federico Rosei of the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) has demonstrated a novel process to modify the structure and properties of graphene, a one atom thick carbon.
This chemical reaction, known as photocycloaddition, modifies the bonds between atoms using ultraviolet (UV) light. The results of the study were recently 
