NASA solar sail technology passes crucial deployment test

In his youth, NASA technologist Les Johnson was riveted by the 1974 novel "The Mote in God's Eye," by Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven, in which an alien spacecraft propelled by solar sails visits humanity. Today, Johnson ...

Juice: Why's it taking so long?

At their closest point in orbit, Earth and Jupiter are separated by almost 600 million kilometers. At the time of writing, five months after launch, Juice has already traveled 370 million kilometers, yet in time it's only ...

Robotic motion in curved space defies standard laws of physics

When humans, animals, and machines move throughout the world, they always push against something, whether it's the ground, air, or water. Until recently, physicists believed this to be a constant, following the law of conservation ...

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