Terry Rudolph, a professor of quantum physics at Imperial College London, suggests that interstellar light could actually be harnessed by space faring aliens to form an encrypted quantum internet. Motherboard reports: This may sound like the stuff of s…
Scientists Created a Quantum Crystal That Could Be a New Dark Matter Sensor
fahrbot-bot shares a report from Phys.Org: Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have linked together, or “entangled,” the mechanical motion and electronic properties of a tiny blue crystal, giving it a quantum edge in…
Walter Isaacson is working on a biography of Elon Musk
Walter Isaacson, the biographer who chronicled the lives of Steve Jobs, Benjamin Franklin and Leonardo da Vinci, is turning his attention to the life and career of Elon Musk. The Tesla CEO announced the project in a tweet Wednesday. If you’re curious about Tesla, SpaceX & my general goings on, @WalterIsaacson is writing a biography […]
Astra targets first commercial orbital launch for August 27
Astra’s last test launch went better than expected, nearly achieving orbit — kind of a stretch goal for that specific mission. The company at the time said that it would only need to tweak software to reach an orbital destination, and now we know when it’s going to get the chance to prove it: Astra […]
Japanese startup ispace raises $46M to support planned moon missions
Japanese startup ispace has raised $46 million in a fresh round of Series C funding as it looks to complete three lunar lander missions in three years. The funding will go toward the second and third of the planned missions, scheduled for 2023 and 2024. The first mission, which ispace aims to conduct in the […]
Launchpad hiccups indefinitely delay Boeing’s troubled Starliner orbital test
Boeing’s Starliner capsule is leaving the launchpad after a series of delays that prevented takeoff over the last few days. NASA and the beleaguered aerospace giant will take “whatever time is necessary” to find and fix the issue, but it’s beginning to feel like this long-in-development spacecraft may never make it to the ISS. This […]
「ブラックホールの向こう」からの光が初めて観測される
スタンフォード大学のダン・ウィルキンス氏らのチームは、本来なら見ることができないはずのブラックホールの向こう側からの光を観測することに成功したと発表した。7月28日に発表された論文によると、研究チームは地球から約8億光年の距離にあるI Zwicky 1 (I Zw 1)と呼ばれる銀河にある大質量ブラックホールを観察していたところ、大規模なX線フレアが出ているのを見つけたという(nature、ESA、Engadget、GIGAZINE)。
詳細に観測した結果、強力なX線バーストが繰り返し発生してい…
米会計検査院、NASA が有人月着陸システムの単一の契約先として SpaceX を選定したのは適切と判断
headless 曰く、米会計検査院 (GAO) は 7 月 30 日、NASA の有人月着陸システム (HLS) 契約に対する Blue Origin と Dynetics による抗議を却下した(プレスリリース、 The Verge の記事、 GeekWire の記事、 Ars Technica の記事)。
当初 NASA は HLS 契約で 2 者と契約する意思を示していたが、今年度予算が要求額の 4 分の 1 しか認められず、4 月に SpaceX を単一の契約先として選定した。そのため、S…
A docuseries on the Inspiration4 mission is coming to Netflix
Inspiration4 is getting its own documentary. Netflix said Tuesday it would be releasing a five-part series on the mission, its first documentary to cover an event “in near real-time,” in five parts in September. “Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space” will follow the first all-civilian Inspiration4 crew as they prepare for and undergo a three-day flight […]
Watch Boeing try its pivotal crew spacecraft orbital demonstration launch for the second time
Update 08/03/2021 @ 10:44 AM EST: The launch attempt has been officially scrubbed for today, and a new timeline for the next attempt is set to be confirmed. We’ll provide updates as they become available. Boeing is all set to make a second attempt at flying its Starliner CST-100 commercial crew spacecraft to the International […]