China wants its new rocket for astronaut launches to be reusable | Tiny laser-propelled spaceships could travel to the far reaches of the solar system and beyond | When NASA's Parker Solar Probe flew by the sun, telescopes were watching
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China's next crewed rocket would allow a reusable launch option for sending astronauts or cargo to the new Tiangong space station or deep space missions. But you won't believe how they'll catch the booster.
(Adapted from Nano Letters 2022, DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c04188)
Miniature spaceships the size of cellphones could fly across the solar system using sails propelled by lasers, which would allow the tiny spacecraft to reach much faster speeds - and, potentially, much more distant destinations.
To be clear, the Parker Solar Probe wasn't directly visible in the various instruments, as the van-sized spacecraft was too small for the telescopes to pick out. But what the long-distance view did provide is valuable context for what the spacecraft saw close up, from as close as 5.3 million miles (8.5 million kilometers) from the sun's surface.
The outcome was expected, but the visuals are still dramatic. On Friday, Russia removed a Soyuz rocket topped with 36 OneWeb internet satellites from its launch pad at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in the wake of UK sanctions on Russia over its Ukraine invasion.
The beautiful branching rock, which is just 0.4 inch (1 centimeter) wide, looks a bit like a coral or a sponge. Despite its likeness to a living organism, however, the deposit is not alive and is a fairly common sight across the Martian landscape.
Some of the James Webb Space Telescope's first science investigations will probe the role that bright objects called quasars played in early galaxy evolution.
Scientists are gearing up to once more push the boundaries of the cutting edge of particle physics with the reopening of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN near Geneva, Switzerland after a three-year shutdown.
A fleet of SpaceX Starlink internet satellites poised for deployment in orbit (SpaceX)
SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said Friday that his company is now focusing on cyber defense and overcoming signal jamming of its Starlink internet satellites amid Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Starlink V2 and Starship work may be delayed, he said.
"Starlink has been told by some governments (not Ukraine) to block Russian news sources. We will not do so unless at gunpoint," Elon Musk wrote on Twitter Friday.
