https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. What are the dangers of going to space? https://phys.org/news/2025-04-video-dangers-space-nasa-expert.html Space Exploration Thu, 03 Apr 2025 11:07:02 EDT news662897221 NASA on Tuesday said it had picked SpaceX to build a vessel to carry the International Space Station back through Earth's atmosphere and on to a final resting place in the Pacific Ocean after it is retired in 2030. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-nasa-elon-musk-spacex-international.html Space Exploration Thu, 27 Jun 2024 04:14:55 EDT news638680491 The discovery of vast lithium deposits in the Indian territory of Jammu and Kashmir, hailed as a win for the country's clean energy transition, comes at a price for communities in the Himalayan region, say villagers and environmental scientists. https://phys.org/news/2023-03-india-lithium-discovery-environmental.html Environment Mon, 06 Mar 2023 14:33:54 EST news597335628 The construction of large structures such as space stations, space solar power stations, and space telescopes is one of the main development trends for space exploration in the future. However, due to their large size, such structures cannot be carried directly into space by rockets or spacecraft. https://phys.org/news/2022-10-options-automated-in-orbit-large.html Space Exploration Fri, 14 Oct 2022 10:54:42 EDT news584963679 Amid global efforts towards carbon neutrality, automakers all over the world are actively engaged in research and development to convert internal combustion engine vehicles into electric vehicles. Accordingly, competition to improve battery performance, which is at the heart of electric vehicles, is intensifying. Since their commercialization in 1991, lithium-ion batteries have held a dominant market share in most market segments, from small home appliances to electric vehicles, thanks to continuous improvement in energy density and efficiency. However, some phenomena occurring within such batteries are still not well understood, such as the expansion and deterioration of the anode material. https://phys.org/news/2022-10-uncovering-secrets-materials-degradation-lithium-ion.html Analytical Chemistry Mon, 03 Oct 2022 11:27:52 EDT news584015269 Federal wildlife officials proposed endangered species protections Friday for a desert wildflower known to exist only on a remote Nevada ridge where an Australian company plans a lithium mine. https://phys.org/news/2021-10-endangered-status-nevada-lithium.html Ecology Sat, 02 Oct 2021 04:18:22 EDT news552367097 General Motors is teaming up with Lockheed Martin to produce the ultimate off-road, self-driving, electric vehicles—for the moon. https://phys.org/news/2021-05-gm-vehicle-off-road-self-driving-rover.html Space Exploration Wed, 26 May 2021 16:10:00 EDT news541264193 Harrison Schmitt and Eugene Cernan blasted off from the Taurus-Littrow valley on the moon in their lunar module Challenger on December 14 1972. Five days later, they splashed down safely in the Pacific, closing the Apollo 17 mission and becoming the last humans to visit the lunar surface or venture anywhere beyond low-Earth orbit. https://phys.org/news/2021-02-artemis-ever-changing-space-policy-moon.html Space Exploration Fri, 26 Feb 2021 08:48:21 EST news533551697 The NASA official who managed the inaugural private crewed flight into space last month has been promoted to become the first female head of human spaceflight, the agency said Friday, as it prepares to return people to the Moon in 2024. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-nasa-woman-human-spaceflight.html Space Exploration Fri, 12 Jun 2020 17:04:24 EDT news511200259 The type of vehicle that will carry people to the Red Planet is shaping up to be "like a two-story house you're trying to land on another planet. The heat shield on the front of the vehicle is just over 16 meters in diameter, and the vehicle itself, during landing, weighs tens of metric tons. It's huge," said Ashley Korzun, a research aerospace engineer at NASA's Langley Research Center. https://phys.org/news/2019-10-summit-supercomputer-simulates-humans-mars.html Space Exploration Fri, 11 Oct 2019 06:57:43 EDT news489995853 Researchers have demonstrated that vehicle armor using composite metal foam (CMF) can stop ball and armor-piercing .50 caliber rounds as well as conventional steel armor, even though it weighs less than half as much. The finding means that vehicle designers will be able to develop lighter military vehicles without sacrificing safety, or can improve protection without making vehicles heavier. https://phys.org/news/2019-06-metal-foam-caliber-rounds-steel.html Materials Science Wed, 05 Jun 2019 09:50:02 EDT news478946780 This year marks the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing and a significant turning point in world history. The Israeli robotic mission Beresheet has just arrived in lunar orbit, with a scheduled landing on April 11 – making Israel the fourth country to land on the surface of the moon. It follows China's exciting first ever landing on the moon's far side in January. https://phys.org/news/2019-04-crewed-mission-moon-years.html Space Exploration Tue, 09 Apr 2019 08:50:02 EDT news474017786 NASA is developing technology that could enable autonomous navigation of future underwater drones studying subsurface oceans on icy moons like Jupiter's Europa. The agency is working on artificial intelligence (AI) that would allow submersibles to make their own decisions during exploration of extraterrestrial water worlds. https://phys.org/news/2017-01-nasa-ai-future-exploration-extraterrestrial.html Space Exploration Tue, 24 Jan 2017 06:40:01 EST news404461951 ESA and NASA are extending their collaboration in human space exploration following confirmation that Europe will supply a second Service Module to support the first crewed mission of the Orion spacecraft. https://phys.org/news/2016-12-esa-module-crewed-orion-mission.html Space Exploration Thu, 08 Dec 2016 06:46:11 EST news400401961 Earth and environmental scientists have often had to rely on piloted aircraft and satellites to collect remote sensing data, platforms that have traditionally been controlled by large research organizations or regulatory agencies. https://phys.org/news/2016-02-drones-scientists-self-service-approach.html Engineering Fri, 12 Feb 2016 11:00:01 EST news374490409 Faculty from a number of academic disciplines at Louisiana Tech University are working together to develop new and innovative technologies in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) that could impact industries from public safety to forestry to oil and gas exploration. https://phys.org/news/2015-09-interdisciplinary-ltu-uav-technologies.html Engineering Thu, 03 Sep 2015 10:00:00 EDT news360493189 On July 7, 2003, NASA launched its second Mars Exploration Rover, Opportunity, aboard a Delta II launch vehicle. Opportunity's dash to Mars began with liftoff at 11:18:15 p.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. https://phys.org/news/2015-07-image-july-nasa-opportunity-rover.html Space Exploration Wed, 08 Jul 2015 07:50:02 EDT news355556917 Until recently, it took hours – sometimes days – to analyze biological samples after they were frozen in the field and brought back to the laboratory. But now there is a faster, cheaper and smaller way for researchers to bring gold-standard analysis to the field. https://phys.org/news/2015-05-faster-portable-microbial-analysis-field.html Analytical Chemistry Mon, 25 May 2015 06:51:07 EDT news351755458 Personal air vehicles (PAVs), lightweight four to five-seater aircraft that anyone with a driver's licence could fly are in the not too distant future according to a University of Sydney aeronautical student. https://phys.org/news/2014-07-flight-fiction-future.html Space Exploration Tue, 01 Jul 2014 08:00:01 EDT news323418553 Europe will expand its space presence this year through missions with a more practical application for Earthlings—notably the Galileo constellation of navigation satellites, the European Space Agency (ESA) said Friday. https://phys.org/news/2014-01-big-year-european-space.html Space Exploration Fri, 17 Jan 2014 13:40:02 EST news309186669 NASA has achieved a major milestone in its effort to build the nation's next heavy-lift launch vehicle by successfully completing the Space Launch System (SLS) preliminary design review. https://phys.org/news/2013-08-nasa-space-preliminary.html Space Exploration Fri, 02 Aug 2013 08:22:55 EDT news294650559 Setting foot on Mars by the 2030s is human destiny and a US priority, and every dollar available must be spent on bridging gaps in knowledge on how to get there, NASA's chief said Monday. https://phys.org/news/2013-05-dollar-bridge-gaps-mars-nasa.html Space Exploration Mon, 06 May 2013 10:52:36 EDT news287056350 As Curiosity prepares for the historic first drilling operation on Mars, the HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured an image of it from 271 km (169 miles) up, along with twin lines of tracks and the blast marks from the dramatic rocket-powered descent back on August 6 (UTC). https://phys.org/news/2013-02-image-curiosity-tracks-orbit.html Space Exploration Fri, 01 Feb 2013 08:34:07 EST news278930030 (Phys.org)—At NASA facilities around the country, engineers are developing America's first exploration-class rocket since the Saturn V launched astronauts to the moon. The Space Launch System (SLS) will provide an entirely new capability for science and human exploration beyond Earth's orbit to destinations such as an asteroid and eventually Mars. To enable some of these new capabilities, members of the Aeroelasticity Branch of NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. tested a ten-foot-long buffet model of the Space Launch System in Langley's Transonic Dynamics Tunnel (TDT). https://phys.org/news/2012-11-sls-flies-langley-tunnel.html Space Exploration Thu, 29 Nov 2012 08:40:01 EST news273398440 As NASA's Curiosity rover scours the surface of Mars and beams pictures of the stark and desolate landscape back to Earth, we've begun to paint a picture of what living on the red planet might actually be like. https://phys.org/news/2012-10-life-mars-student-red-planet.html Space Exploration Mon, 01 Oct 2012 19:00:07 EDT news268329951 (Phys.org)—NASA is powering ahead toward new destinations in the solar system. This week marks one year of progress since the formation of the Space Launch System (SLS), the nation's next step in human exploration efforts. https://phys.org/news/2012-09-space-year-powering.html Space Exploration Thu, 13 Sep 2012 13:25:45 EDT news266761535 Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday defended spending millions of dollars on space exploration despite many people in the country living in grinding poverty. https://phys.org/news/2012-09-indian-pm-defends-space-exploration.html Space Exploration Sun, 09 Sep 2012 04:36:58 EDT news266384207 (Phys.org) -- The rocket that will launch humans farther into space than ever before passed a major NASA review Wednesday. The Space Launch System (SLS) Program completed a combined System Requirements Review and System Definition Review, which set requirements of the overall launch vehicle system. SLS now moves ahead to its preliminary design phase. https://phys.org/news/2012-07-space-major-agency-preliminary.html Space Exploration Thu, 26 Jul 2012 07:59:10 EDT news262508342 (Phys.org) -- Batoid rays, such as stingrays and manta rays, are among nature's most elegant swimmers. They are fast, highly maneuverable, graceful, energy-efficient, can cruise, bird-like, for long distances in the deep, open ocean, and rest on the sea bottom. https://phys.org/news/2012-07-mechanical-ray-video.html Engineering Tue, 24 Jul 2012 09:01:34 EDT news262339273 NASA has selected six proposals to improve the affordability, reliability and performance of an advanced booster for the Space Launch System (SLS). The awardees will develop engineering demonstrations and risk reduction concepts for SLS, a heavy-lift rocket that will provide an entirely new capability for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit. https://phys.org/news/2012-07-nasa-space-advanced-booster.html Space Exploration Mon, 16 Jul 2012 03:05:20 EDT news261626703