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Category: space travel – Page 66

In the basement of Kirchhoff-Institut für Physik in Germany, researchers have been simulating the Universe as it might have existed shortly after the Big Bang. They have created a tabletop quantum field simulation that involves using magnets and lasers to control a sample of potassium-39 atoms that is held close to absolute zero. They then use equations to translate the results at this small scale to explore possible features of the early Universe.

The work done so far shows that it’s possible to simulate a Universe with a different curvature. In a positively curved universe, if you travel in any direction in a straight line, you will come back to where you started. In a negatively curved universe, space is bent in a saddle shape. The Universe is currently flat or nearly flat, according to Marius Sparn, a PhD student at Kirchhoff-Institut für Physik. But at the beginning of its existence, it might have been more positively or negatively curved.

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SpaceX has quietly swooped in to buy a venerable parachute vendor on the verge of bankruptcy, The Information reports, in a rare acquisition by the launch provider as it gears up to play a pivotal role in NASA’s return to the Moon.

The company, Pioneer Aerospace, designs and manufactures parachutes for reusable spacecraft returning to Earth, including SpaceX’s own Dragon capsule used by NASA to ferry astronauts and supplies to and from the International Space Station.

According to a Florida bankruptcy filing by Pioneer’s parent company, SpaceX bought Pioneer for a bargain-basement $2.2 million, approved by a judge on November 22. The move wasn’t reported until this week.

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NASA’s maiden mission to explore Saturn’s moon, Titan, has progressed to the next phase of development.

If everything goes as planned, the launch of this car-sized nuclear-powered drone will take place in 2028.

The Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, will move to the final stages of design and development of the Dragonfly drone with NASA’s preliminary design approval.

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WASHINGTON — Firefly Aerospace has conducted the first hot-fire test of a new engine that will power the company’s future launch vehicles.

Firefly announced Nov. 28 that it conducted the test of its Miranda engine at the company’s Texas test site. A company spokesperson said the test, performed at 65% power, was designed to validate the engine’s startup sequence.

The company plans to work its way up to a full-duration test in the coming months, running the engine for 206 seconds. Miranda uses liquid oxygen and kerosene propellants, generating 230,000 pounds-force of thrust.

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Firefly Aerospace conducted the first hot fire test of its new Miranda rocket engine, producing a massive plume of green flames.

Firefly’s Miranda engine is slated to be used on the first stage of Northrop Grumman’s Antares 330 rocket as well as the Medium Launch Vehicle (MLV) the two companies are developing together. The Antares 330 rocket is designed to carry more than 22,000 lbs of cargo to the International Space Station (10,000 kg), while the MLV will be able to loft 35,000 lbs (16,000 kg) of payload to low Earth orbit.

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Applying simple, ancient weaving techniques to newly recognized properties of organic crystals, researchers with the Smart Materials Lab (SML) and the Center for Smart Engineering Materials (CSEM) at NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) have, for the first time, developed a unique form of woven “textile.” These new fabric patches expand one-dimensional crystals into flexible, integrated, two-dimensional planar structures that are incredibly strong—some 20 times stronger than the original crystals—and resistant to low temperatures.

These traits give them a host of exciting potential applications, including in that range from sensing devices to optical arrays, as well as in extreme conditions such as low temperatures encountered in space exploration.

In the paper titled “Woven Organic Crystals” published in the journal Nature Communications, Panče Naumov, NYUAD Professor of Chemistry and Director of the CSEM, and colleagues from Jilin University demonstrate that organic crystal can be simply woven into flexible and robust patches with plain, twill, and satin textures.

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In an extraordinary feat of engineering and international collaboration, the Orion spacecraft, a part of NASA’s Artemis I mission, has achieved a remarkable milestone in space exploration. The spacecraft ventured some 267,000 miles from Earth and roughly 40,000 miles from the Moon, surpassing the distance record set by the Apollo 13 mission over half a century ago.

In this photo, the Orion capsule, along with the Earth and the Moon, appeared to be posing for a ‘family portrait.’ This iconic image marks a pivotal moment in the mission’s journey, symbolizing the culmination of years of meticulous planning and execution.

Orion’s journey from Earth began a year ago, on November 16, 2022, when NASA’s mega Moon rocket, the Space Launch System, lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA. The uncrewed Orion spacecraft was placed into Earth orbit, marking the beginning of a new era in lunar exploration.

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