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Small but mighty microplate reader could transform NASA research

A small but mighty piece of lab equipment, about the size of a cellphone, has arrived at the International Space Station after launching with NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission. NASA aims to use the off-the-shelf device, called a microplate reader, to conduct vital biological research in space and get real-time access to data.

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NASA targets March for first moon mission by Artemis astronauts after fueling test success

NASA aims to send astronauts to the moon in March after acing the latest rocket fueling test.

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Flexible force fields can protect our return to the moon

Lunar dust remains one of the biggest challenges for a long-term human presence on the moon. Its jagged, clingy nature makes it naturally stick to everything from solar panels to the inside of human lungs. And while we have some methods of dealing with it, there is still plenty of experimentation to do here on […]

Atom-thin electronics withstand space radiation, potentially surviving for centuries in orbit

Atom-thick layers of molybdenum disulfide are ideally suited for radiation-resistant spacecraft electronics, researchers in China have confirmed. In a study published in Nature, Peng Zhou and colleagues at Fudan University put a communications system composed of the material through a gauntlet of rigorous tests—including the transmission of their university’s Anthem—confirming that its performance is barely […]

Near-infrared study finds no clear counterpart to mysterious gamma-ray source

Spanish astronomers have conducted a near-infrared study of an ultra-high energy gamma-ray source designated LHAASO J2108+5157. The new study, published February 11 on the arXiv preprint server, tries to unravel the mysterious nature of this source.

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The persistence of gravitational wave memory

Neutron stars are ultra-dense remnants of massive stars that collapsed after supernova explosions and are made up mostly of subatomic particles with no electric charge (i.e., neutrons). When two neutron stars collide, they are predicted to produce gravitational waves, ripples in the fabric of spacetime that travel at the speed of light.

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NASA moves forward with Artemis II tanking test that could set up moonshot mission

NASA is set to begin fueling 700,000 gallons of cryogenic propellant on the Space Launch System rocket at Kennedy Space Center on Thursday as it moves ahead with a test countdown of the Artemis II mission.

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A ‘blood moon’ is coming to the US in March—and the next good one isn’t until 2029

A total lunar eclipse will cross the skies over the contiguous United States on Tuesday, March 3, turning the moon a deep reddish color in what’s commonly called a “blood moon.”

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SpaceX launch to feature rare booster landing in Bahamas

It will be business as usual for SpaceX when it tries to send up a rocket from the Space Coast Thursday night, but not so much for when the rocket comes back down.

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42 years of measuring the sun, the Earth and the energy in between

On Jan. 31, 1958, Explorer 1 became the first satellite launched by the United States. Its primary science instrument, a cosmic ray detector, was designed to measure the radiation environment in Earth orbit. Though its final transmission was in May 1958, it continued to revolve around Earth more than 58,000 times. As those looping orbits […]

NASA boss blasts Boeing and space agency managers for Starliner’s botched astronaut flight

NASA’s new boss blasted Boeing and the space agency Thursday for Starliner’s botched flight that left two astronauts stuck for months at the International Space Station.

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AI tool observes solar active regions to advance warnings of space weather

New research by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and the National Science Foundation’s National Center for Atmospheric Research (NSF-NCAR) has developed a new tool providing a first step toward the ability to forecast space weather weeks in advance, instead of just hours. This advance warning could allow agencies and industries to mitigate impacts to GPS, power […]

Why some objects in space look like snowmen: Gravitational collapse may shed light on contact binaries

Astronomers have long debated why so many icy objects in the outer solar system look like snowmen. Michigan State University researchers now have evidence of the surprisingly simple process that could be responsible for their creation.

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NASA conducts second rocket fueling test that will decide when Artemis astronauts head to the moon

NASA took another crack at fueling its giant moon rocket Thursday after leaks halted the initial dress rehearsal and delayed the first lunar trip by astronauts in more than half a century.

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Webb maps the mysterious upper atmosphere of Uranus

For the first time, an international team of astronomers have mapped the vertical structure of Uranus’s upper atmosphere, uncovering how temperature and charged particles vary with height across the planet. Using Webb’s NIRSpec instrument, the team observed Uranus for nearly a full rotation, detecting the faint glow from molecules high above the clouds.

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