Berlin, Germany (SPX) Sep 01, 2025
A team led by Stockholm University has identified a young star surrounded by a disk unusually dominated by carbon dioxide, defying current theories of planet formation. Using the James Webb Space Telescope's MIRI instrument, the researchers found that water vapor is nearly absent in the disk, while carbon dioxide shows up strongly in regions where rocky planets could eventually take shape.

Paris (ESA) Sep 02, 2025
The European Space Agency-led Solar Orbiter mission has split the flood of energetic particles flung out into space from the Sun into two groups, tracing each back to a different kind of outburst from our star. The Sun is the most energetic particle accelerator in the Solar System. It whips up electrons to nearly the speed of light and flings them out into space, flooding the Solar System

London UK (SPX) Sep 01, 2025
Clues about the formation of Earth-like planets have emerged from the Butterfly Nebula NGC 6302, where astronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope and ALMA to probe its dusty heart. The combined observations revealed crystalline silicates, irregular dust grains, jets of iron and nickel, and even carbon-based molecules thought to be precursors of life. Lead researcher Dr Mikako Matsuura

Liverpool (AFP) Aug 31, 2025
Britain's energy operator is betting on an age-old technology to future-proof its grid, as the power plants that traditionally helped stabilise it are closed and replaced by renewable energy systems. Spinning metal devices known as flywheels have for centuries been used to provide inertia - resistance to sudden changes in motion - to various machines, from a potter's wheel to the steam eng

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Sep 01, 2025
A research team led by Prof. Sun Youwen at the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has unveiled two artificial intelligence systems designed to enhance the stability and efficiency of fusion experiments. Their results appear in the journals Nuclear Fusion and Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion. Fusion energy promises clean, virtually inexhaustible powe

Troy NY (SPX) Sep 02, 2025
The Earth supports the only known life in the universe, all of it depending heavily on the presence of liquid water to facilitate chemical reactions. While single-celled life has existed almost as long as the Earth itself, it took roughly three billion years for multicellular life to form. Human life has existed for less than one 10 thousandth of the age of the Earth. All of this suggests

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Sep 01, 2025
Earths chemical make-up reached completion within the first three million years of the Solar Systems formation, according to a new study by the University of Berns Institute of Geological Sciences. However, this early Earth, known as the proto-Earth, lacked volatile elements such as water and carbon compounds that are essential for life. The findings, published in Science Advances, suggest

Paris, France (SPX) Sep 01, 2025
Elbit Systems has confirmed the successful launch of its JUPITER space camera aboard the National Advanced Optical System (NAOS) satellite, built by OHB Italia. The spacecraft lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on a SpaceX Falcon 9, beginning its role in diverse Earth observation missions. Developed by Elbit Systems ISTAR and EW - ELOP, JUPITER is described as one of

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Sep 01, 2025
Draper has added Space Kinetic Corp. to its DraperSPARX program, an initiative that accelerates emerging technologies from startups and small businesses to address pressing national security challenges. Space Kinetic recently secured more than $12 million in venture funding to expand its work in space superiority and missile defense. Its proprietary electromechanical system can deploy smal

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Sep 01, 2025
After its July 30 launch, the NASA-ISRO NISAR radar mission cleared preliminary health checks and on Aug 15 unfurled its 39-foot 12-meter reflector, then powered up both L-band and S-band SARs. Orbit raising toward a 464-mile 747-kilometer mean altitude began Aug 26, with science-quality images expected within weeks. Full science begins about 90 days after launch. he first dual-SAR missio