Jeff Bezos envisions gigawatt-scale orbital data centers within 10–20 years, powered by continuous solar energy and space-based cooling, but the concept remains commercially unviable today due to the immense cost and complexity of deploying thousands of tons of hardware, solar panels, and radiators into orbit.
In 2020, scientists reported the detection of hematite, an iron oxide mineral otherwise known as rust, distributed through the higher latitudes of the moon, particularly on the nearside. This came as a surprise, considering the low concentrations of oxygen—which is required for the formation of rust—on the moon. Researchers proposed several theories to account for the origins of the oxygen in moon rust, including the degassing of volatiles from lunar magma, asteroids, comets, or large impact events.
However, the only explanation that could account for the distribution patterns of the hematite was that oxygen ions were being transported to the moon by Earth’s magnetosphere. This occurs during the five or so days per month when Earth sits between the sun and moon, allowing parts of its atmosphere to be blown onto the surface of the moon. The phenomenon is referred to as “Earth wind.” At other times, the moon is primarily exposed to the low energy hydrogen ions from solar wind.
A group of scientists has recently provided more evidence backing up this theory. The study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, sought to test whether Earth wind could produce the hematite by setting up a series of lab experiments mimicking the conditions on the lunar surface. The team did this by irradiating various iron-bearing minerals found on the moon with oxygen and hydrogen at energies expected from particles in Earth wind, as well as hydrogen ions, like those from solar wind.
Scientists have unveiled a new approach to detecting gravitational waves in the milli-Hertz frequency range, providing access to astrophysical and cosmological phenomena that are not detectable with current instruments.
Gravitational waves—ripples in spacetime predicted by Einstein—have been observed at high frequencies by ground-based interferometers such as LIGO and Virgo, and at ultra-low frequencies by pulsar timing arrays. However, the mid-band range has remained a scientific blind spot.
Developed by researchers at the Universities of Birmingham and Sussex, the new detector concept uses cutting-edge optical cavity and atomic clock technologies to sense gravitational waves in the elusive milli-Hertz frequency band (10⁻⁵–1 Hz).
Astronomers have identified an enormous “growth spurt” in a so-called rogue planet. Unlike the planets in our solar system, these objects do not orbit stars, free-floating on their own instead. The new observations, made with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT), reveal that this free-floating planet is eating up gas and dust from its surroundings at a rate of six billion tons a second. This is the strongest growth rate ever recorded for a rogue planet, or a planet of any kind, providing valuable insights into how they form and grow.
The universe is approaching the midpoint of its 33-billion-year lifespan, a Cornell physicist calculates with new data from dark-energy observatories. After expanding to its peak size about 11 billion years from now, it will begin to contract—snapping back like a rubber band to a single point at the end.
Astronomers have discovered that asteroid 1998 KY26, the target of Japan’s Hayabusa2 extended mission, is far smaller and faster-spinning than previously thought. Astronomers have conducted a new study of the asteroid 1998 KY26 using observatories across the globe, including the European Southern