Experiments in Space

Credit: Purdue University/Jared Pike WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- For astronauts to go on long missions to the moon or Mars, they need a refrigerator. But today's fridges aren't designed to work in zero gravity - or upside down if…

Credit: ERC-ZARATHUSTRA project Plasma thrusters consume less propellant than chemical combustion rockets, allowing for longer, more ambitious and economical missions. Existing technologies, however, use metal electrodes in contact…

Credit: (Image: Hakan Kayal / University of Wuerzburg) Suddenly, circular holes were visible on the surface of Mars that were not there before. On photos of Saturn's moon Enceladus, geysers were discovered that hurl powerful…

Credit: City, University of London Funded by the European Space Agency (ESA), City, University of London will be spearheading the development of next-generation AI-based guidance, navigation and control (GNC) systems for space…

Mars had dry and wet eras and dried up for good 3 billion years agoCredit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/CNES/CNRS/LANL/IRAP/IAS/LPGN LOS ALAMOS, N.M., April 8, 2021-While attention has been focused on the Perseverance rover that landed on…

SwSP-100 now available through the $6 billion Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition IV contractCredit: SwRI SAN ANTONIO -- April 6, 2021 -- NASA has selected Southwest Research Institute's 100 kg-class small satellite (SmallSat) platform to…

In terms of space exploration, Mars is all the rage these days. This has left our closest neighbor, Venus -- previously the most attractive planet to study because of its proximity and similar atmosphere to Earth -- in the lurch. A new…

Researchers the world over have long believed that 70 percent of the universe is composed of dark energy, a substance that makes it possible for the universe to expand at an ever-increasing rate. But in a new study, University of Copenhagen…

NICT's optical ground station successfully received downlink light from DLR's small satellite-mounted optical terminal (OSIRISv1)Credit: NICT -Successful experiment to receive downlink light at NICT optical ground station from DLR…

Jovian jet streams above the cloud tops measured using the aftermath of comet collision SAN ANTONIO -- March 18, 2021 -- Working with a team led by French astronomers, Southwest Research Institute scientists helped identify incredibly…

Credit: Tonny Olsen The NASA-funded Seismometer to Investigate Ice and Ocean Structure (SIIOS) performed well in seismic experiments conducted in snowy summer Greenland, according to a new study by the SIIOS team led by the…

A study simulating the effects of weightlessness also finds that impaired cognitive performance cannot be counteracted by short periods of artificial gravityCredit: DLR Living for nearly 2 months in simulated weightlessness…

Credit: NASA NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, has chosen three companies to participate in a new partnership to test and evaluate satellite servicing technologies. Altius Space Machines of Broomfield,…

In order to withstand the rigors of space on deep-space missions, food grown outside of Earth needs a little extra help from bacteria. Now, a recent discovery aboard the International Space Station (ISS) has researchers may help create…

Credit: Pavel Odinev (Skoltech) Researchers from Skoltech and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have analyzed several dozen options to pick the best one in terms of performance and costs for the 'last mile' of a future…

Credit: Rafael Luis Méndez Peña/Sciworthy.com A researcher at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) is the lead author of a study with proposals for "technosignatures" -evidence for the use of technology or industrial…

Credit: Adapted from Nano Letters 2021, DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c04780 NASA's Perseverance Rover recently made a successful landing on Mars, embarking on a two-year mission to seek signs of ancient life and collect samples.…

Credit: Graphic by Shireen Dooling for the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University Astronauts face many challenges to their health, due to the exceptional conditions of spaceflight. Among these are a variety of infectious microbes…

The ambitious project proposed by a University of Arizona team aims to preserve humankind - and animal-kind, plant-kind and fungi-kind - in the event of a global crisisCredit: Jekan Thanga University of Arizona researcher Jekan Thanga is…

New measure of Hubble constant highlights discrepancy between estimates of our cosmic fateCredit: Photo courtesy of the Carnegie-Irvine Galaxy Survey Determining how rapidly the universe is expanding is key to understanding our…