Archive for the ‘space’ category: Page 821
Nov 28, 2016
A Material From Shapeshifting Planes Could Heal Human Flesh
Posted by Carse Peel in categories: biotech/medical, space
What generates voltage when you warm it up, push on it, or blow on it?
Get your mind out of the gutter. The correct answer is polyvinylidene fluoride, a material NASA researchers have refined for use in morphing aircraft that shapeshift in response to their environment. But wait! There’s more: It can also kickstart the human body’s healing process.
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Nov 28, 2016
US military readies for next frontier: Space war
Posted by Sean Brazell in categories: military, space
Since man first explored space, it has been a largely peaceful environment. But now US adversaries are deploying weapons beyond Earth’s atmosphere, leading the US military to prepare for the frightening prospect of war in space.
“As humans go out there, there has always been conflict. Conflict in the Wild West as we move in the West … conflict twice in Europe for its horrible world wars,” Gen. John Hyten, head of US Strategic Command, told CNN. “So, every time humans actually physically move into that, there’s conflict, and in that case, we’ll have to be prepared for that.”
Nov 27, 2016
Emptiest Place in Space Could Explain Mysterious “Cold Spot” in the Universe
Posted by Karen Hurst in category: space
Efforts to explain a strange cold spot in the cosmos have led to the discovery of something even odder: a vast area with very little matter.
Nov 24, 2016
Gravity may have chased light in the early universe
Posted by Andreas Matt in categories: physics, space
By Michael Brooks
It’s supposed to be the most fundamental constant in physics, but the speed of light may not always have been the same. This twist on a controversial idea could overturn our standard cosmological wisdom.
In 1998, Joao Magueijo at Imperial College London, proposed that the speed of light might vary, to solve what cosmologists call the horizon problem. This says that the universe reached a uniform temperature long before heat-carrying photons, which travel at the speed of light, had time to reach all corners of the universe.
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Nov 23, 2016
DARPA is Placing “Big Bets” on Space-Based Weapons Systems
Posted by Karen Hurst in categories: neuroscience, security, space
DARPA sees a real possibility for spaced based conflict. So, it’s hoping to create breakthrough technology to dissuade U.S. adversaries who might consider attacking from space.
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency assists national security with efforts in space. It focuses on making space a “real-time operational domain,” as DARPA Director Dr. Arati Prabhakar recently said.
“The questions we ask ourselves at DARPA about the space domain … is what would it take to make the space domain robust for everything that we need militarily and for intelligence, and what would it take to make space a real-time operational domain, which it’s not at all today,” the director said last week at the 4th annual Defense One Summit. Many nation-states now orbit the Earth. Conflict is a real possibility, believes Prabhakar.
Nov 23, 2016
Tiny ‘Black Magic’ Satellite Packs Origami-Like Radar Dish
Posted by Klaus Baldauf in category: space
A flower-like starshade could give astronomers a direct look at planets orbiting distant stars. Cathal O’Connell explains how it would work.
In this epic, 2-part episode, we team up with Isaac Arthur to imagine how humans will colonize the inner Solar System, becoming a true spacefaring civilization.
Nov 18, 2016
China’s Shenzhou 11 manned space capsule returns to Earth
Posted by Aleksandar Vukovic in category: space
BEIJING China’s Shenzhou 11 space capsule landed safely in the northern region of Inner Mongolia on Friday with two astronauts aboard, state media said, completing the country’s longest manned space mission to date.
China Central Television showed images of the craft — whose name translates as “Divine Vessel” — on the ground flanked by Chinese flags and support teams. State news agency Xinhua said the capsule had touched down “successfully” just after 2 p.m.
The two astronauts, Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong, spent 30 days aboard the Tiangong 2 space laboratory, or “Heavenly Palace 2”, which China is using to carry out experiments ahead of a longer-range plan to have a permanent manned space station around 2022.