Aerospace
NASA plans to put a nuclear reactor on the moon by 2031
NASA and the Department of Energy are asking U.S. companies for help putting a nuclear reactor on the moon by 2031.
Bullet-shaped plane promises to slash air travel costs
Otto Aviation has finished phase 1 flight testing of its Celera 500L, a highly efficient airplane that could cut the cost of air travel.
See the surface of the sun evolve in stunning time lapse
A stunning time lapse of the surface of the sun created using NASA images shows the activity that occurs over the course of just one month.
Russian satellite strike creates huge cloud of space debris
A Russian anti-satellite weapons test threatened the safety of ISS astronauts by adding more space debris to Earth’s orbit.
Perseverance is collecting more rock samples from Mars
NASA’s Perseverance rover is on the hunt for its next samples from Mars, scraping away a small circle of rock to see beneath its surface.
The future of space launches: a giant spinning arm in a vacuum
SpinLaunch has tested a new approach to satellite launches that flings the objects into space, rather than blasting them up with rockets.
The world’s biggest industrial robot lasers off airplane paint
Dutch company Xyrec recently demonstrated a 67-ton industrial robot that uses lasers to quickly strip paint from aircraft.
New thruster tech that vaporizes metal could help clean up space
Hypernova Space Technologies’ metal-fueled propulsion system for small satellites could be a game-changer for space exploration.
“Pulverize It”: The plan to slice and dice space rocks
To prevent asteroid impacts, UCSB physicists suggest we slice up the space rocks using arrays of “penetrator rods.”
Air Force gunship will be equipped with anti-drone lasers
Two U.S. military branches are building compact, portable laser guns — taking us closer to laser warfare.