by quasarn01 | Jun 2, 2026 | Astronomy
MIT engineers are testing a new propulsion system that combines the power and speed of conventional chemical thrusters with the precision and fuel-efficiency of electrical thrusters. The system could enable the design of nimbler, more flexible small satellites, which...
by quasarn01 | Jun 2, 2026 | Astronomy
Astronomers monitoring a nearby active galaxy for six years have watched its supermassive black hole dramatically wake up, brightening by a factor of 10 across ultraviolet and X-ray wavelengths. The paper outlining the study was posted to the preprint server arXiv on...
by quasarn01 | Jun 2, 2026 | Astronomy
Multi-billion-dollar space telescope programs aren’t only feats of aerospace engineering. They also feature “lies, damn lies, and statistics.” Or at least statistics. They definitely feature those, as does all good observational astronomy. The...
by quasarn01 | Jun 2, 2026 | Latest in Physics
Glasses are non-crystalline but solid states of matter in which molecules and atoms are not arranged into a regular crystal lattice, but rather in a disordered pattern. Glassy materials are widely used in various settings, for instance, in the synthesis of...
by quasarn01 | Jun 2, 2026 | Astronomy
New observatories and spacecraft missions are probing environments in our solar system that could potentially host life but have long remained hidden. Icy moons like Saturn’s Enceladus and Jupiter’s Europa likely contain oceans beneath frozen outer shells....
