NASA selects a sample return mission to Venus

In Dante Alighieri's epic poem The Divine Comedy, the famous words "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here" adorn the gates of hell. Interestingly enough, Dante's vision of hell is an apt description of what conditions are like ...

Buckle up: A new class of materials is here

Usually, the two characterizations of a material are mutually exclusive: something is either stiff, or it can absorb vibrations well—but rarely both. However, if we could make materials that are both stiff and good at absorbing ...

Aerodynamics of perching birds could inform aircraft design

If you have ever watched a bird land on a tree branch, you may have noticed that it rapidly pitches its wings upward at a high angle to execute a smooth landing. However, for some birds, they land by folding their wings as ...

New funding to research 'super material' graphene

Scientists at Imperial College London are set to receive over £4.5 million of public funding to investigate how the 'super material' graphene can drive improvements in high-tech industries, such as aerospace design and medical ...

In London for dinner—with an Australian ceramic rocket

(Phys.org)—Melbourne researchers are literally doing rocket science with clay. They have developed a cheaper and more efficient way of making the complex, heat-resistant, ceramic parts needed to build tomorrow's rockets ...

Project aims to remove space debris

(Phys.org) -- Low Earth Orbit is overcluttered with rogue objects and collision shrapnel that are a constant threat to spacecraft.

On a roll: Designing the next rover to explore Mars

The concept of a wind-powered vehicle that can be used to explore the surface of Mars - a so-called "tumbleweed rover" that would roll over the surface of Mars like a tumbleweed - has been around for more than 10 years, but ...

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