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Category: space travel

NASA Powers Down Voyager 1 Instrument As It Fights To Survive Deep Space

Voyager 1 is losing power, and NASA just shut down a decades-old instrument to keep it going. The sacrifice could help the spacecraft continue exploring interstellar space a little longer.

On April 17, engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California transmitted commands to switch off an instrument on Voyager 1 known as the Low-energy Charged Particles experiment, or LECP. The spacecraft, which runs on nuclear power, is steadily losing energy, and shutting down this instrument is the most effective way to extend the mission of the first human-made object to reach interstellar space.

A 49-Year-Old Instrument Falls Silent

SpaceX files for $55 billion semiconductor fab in rural Texas for Musk’s Terafab — total chipmaking fab investment could reach $119 billion

SpaceX has filed a property tax abatement application in Grimes County, Texas, for a semiconductor fab that would cost $55 billion in its initial phases and up to $119 billion if all planned expansions are completed.

The filing, posted on the county government’s website ahead of a public hearing scheduled for June 3, describes the project as a “multi-phase, next-generation, vertically integrated semiconductor manufacturing and advanced computing fabrication facility” to be built at the Gibbons Creek Reservoir site, roughly 90 miles northeast of Austin.

The capital figures in this filing far exceed what was disclosed when Elon Musk announced Terafab in March, where the project carried a $20 billion price tag. Musk later confirmed during Tesla’s earnings call that SpaceX would handle high-volume chip manufacturing while Tesla operates a smaller R&D pilot line at its Austin campus. The Grimes County filing appears to be SpaceX’s first formal step toward securing a site for that production facility.

Something Disturbing Happens When You Solve Einstein’s Equations This Way

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Kurt Gödel discovered a solution to General Relativity that allows time travel without any exotic physics, revealing that the theory doesn’t actually guarantee a consistent chain of cause and effect. His “Gödel universe” shows that under certain conditions, the structure of spacetime itself can loop back on itself—blurring the line between past and future and exposing a deep limitation in our understanding of reality.

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Explosive evaporation unlocks new possibilities in 3D printing and chemical analysis

Water droplets might seem simple at first. But when nearing evaporation, a desperate power struggle of competing physical forces can emerge, with explosive effects. In a Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences publication, researchers have taken a closer look at the physics of charged water droplets on frictionless surfaces, observing spontaneous jets of microdroplet emissions. Their insights may open new opportunities in nanoscale fabrication and electrospray ionization.

Professor Dan Daniel, head of the Droplet and Soft Matter Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) says, “From raindrops to spray coatings, mass spectrometry to microfluidics, sneezes to spacecraft plumes, charged droplets can show up in a surprising wealth of settings. Our observations enable new physical understanding of evaporating charged droplets, with a range of potential industrial applications.”

Sleep Documentary | Is Interstellar Travel Impossible?

We will achieve interstellar travel 300 years.

Relax as we explore the daunting question of whether humanity will ever journey beyond the stars. From the vast distances of space to the limits of technology, this soothing story unpacks the challenges (and the quiet hope) of interstellar travel.

Where are you watching from, and what time is it there? I’d love to hear in the comments—it’s always wonderful to see how far and wide this sleepy little community reaches.

If this helped you relax or stirred your sense of wonder, feel free to like the video and subscribe for more peaceful science stories to fall asleep to.

Wishing you a quiet night, wherever in the cosmos you may be.

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World Science Festival

Does quantum mechanics actually imply that every possible outcome of every decision happens somewhere in an expansive reality? And if so, what does that mean for probability, free will, and our understanding of the universe itself?

Brian Greene sits down with David Deutsch, widely regarded as the father of quantum computing, to examine what many physicists are still reluctant to accept about their own theory. They explore why the many-worlds interpretation isn’t just a philosophical curiosity, what the wave function is really telling us about reality, and how decision theory may rescue probability in a fully deterministic multiverse. Deutsch also introduces constructor theory, his framework for rethinking the foundations of physics entirely and explains why the questions we’ve been trained not to ask might be the most important ones in all of science.

This program is part of the Rethinking Reality series, supported by the John Templeton Foundation.

Participant: David Deutsch.
Moderator: Brian Greene.

#worldsciencefestival #briangreene #cosmology #astrophysics.

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The Science of PROJECT HAIL MARY

I talk about the science of Project Hail Mary and why it makes the story feel so grounded, exciting, and believable.

From microbes in space to the real challenges of long-duration space travel, this section looks at how the movie uses science as more than just background decoration. It also gets into why stories like this feel so refreshing right now, because they make curiosity, intelligence, and problem-solving feel dramatic again.

This is a conversation about the real science behind Project Hail Mary, what NASA’s work has to do with the movie, and why science fiction can still inspire wonder.

FULL EPISODE: • PROJECT HAIL MARY: Hope, Science, and Huma…
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