Search results for Matt Williams, Universe Today

Astronomy Jan 3, 2024

After all of this time searching for aliens, are we stuck with the zoo hypothesis?

In 1950, during a lunchtime conversation with colleagues at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, famed physicist Enrico Fermi asked the question that launched a hundred (or more) proposed resolutions. "Where is Everybody?"

Space Exploration Jan 2, 2024

NASA tests 3D-printed, rotating detonation rocket engine

Looking to the future, NASA is investigating several technologies that will allow it to accomplish some bold objectives. This includes returning to the moon, creating the infrastructure that will let us stay there, sending ...

General Physics Dec 18, 2023

Scientists are recommending IceCube should be eight times bigger

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory, operated by the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-M), located at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica, is one of the most ambitious neutrino observatories in the world. ...

Astronomy Dec 15, 2023

Breakthrough Listen scans entire galaxies for signals from extremely advanced civilizations

In 1960, Dr. Frank Drake led the first Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) experiment at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia. In the more than sixty years that have since passed, ...

Space Exploration Dec 7, 2023

Communicating with a relativistic spacecraft gets pretty weird

Someday, in the not-too-distant future, humans may send robotic probes to explore nearby star systems. These robot explorers will likely take the form of lightsails and wafercraft (a la Breakthrough Starshot) that will rely ...

Space Exploration Dec 5, 2023

Europa clipper could help discover if Jupiter's moon is habitable

Since 1979, when the Voyager probes flew past Jupiter and its system of moons, scientists have speculated about the possibility of life within Europa. Based on planetary modeling, Europa is believed to be differentiated between ...

Astrobiology Nov 29, 2023

Why don't we see robotic civilizations rapidly expanding across the universe?

In 1950, while sitting down to lunch with colleagues at the Los Alamos Laboratory, famed physicist and nuclear scientist Enrico Fermi asked his famous question: "Where is everybody?" In short, Fermi was addressing the all-important ...

Astronomy Nov 27, 2023

Next-generation space telescopes could use deformable mirrors to image Earth-sized worlds

Observing distant objects is no easy task, thanks to our planet's thick and fluffy atmosphere. As light passes through the upper reaches of our atmosphere, it is refracted and distorted, making it much harder to discern objects ...

Astronomy Nov 13, 2023

Gaia is so accurate it can predict microlensing events

The ESA's Gaia Observatory continues its astrometry mission, which consists of measuring the positions, distances, and motions of stars (and the positions of orbiting exoplanets) with unprecedented precision. Launched in ...

Space Exploration Nov 13, 2023

China wants to retrieve a sample of Mars by 2028

China continues to take great strides as part of its goal to become a superpower in space and a direct competitor with NASA. In addition to its proposed expansion of the Tiangong space station and the creation of the International ...

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