A pioneering NASA mini weather satellite ends its mission

After nearly 2.5 years in orbit, a shoebox-size weather satellite phoned home one last time before plunging into Earth's atmosphere and burning up on Dec. 24, 2020. RainCube (Radar in a CubeSat) was a technology demonstration ...

NASA's deep space network welcomes a new dish to the family

A powerful new antenna has been added to the NASA Space Communications and Navigation's Deep Space Network (DSN), which connects us to the space robots exploring our solar system. Called Deep Space Station 56, or DSS-56, ...

The Very Large Array: Astronomical shapeshifter

When the Very Large Array was completed forty years ago, it was a different kind of radio telescope. Rather than having a single antenna dish, the VLA has 27. The data these antennas gather is combined in such a way that ...

Ultrathin spray-applied MXene antennas are ready for 5G

New antennas so thin that they can be sprayed into place are also robust enough to provide a strong signal at bandwidths that will be used by fifth-generation (5G) mobile devices. Performance results for the antennas, which ...

NASA contacts Voyager 2 using upgraded Deep Space Network dish

On Oct. 29, mission operators sent a series of commands to NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft for the first time since mid-March. The spacecraft has been flying solo while the 70-meter-wide (230-foot-wide) radio antenna used to ...

Infrared light antenna powers molecular motor

Light-controlled molecular motors can be used to create functional materials to provide autonomous motion, or in systems that can respond on command. For biological applications, this requires the motors to be driven by low-energy, ...

Flood risks: More accurate data due to COVID-19

Emerging use of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) makes it possible to continuously measure shallow changes in elevation of Earth surface. A study by the University of Bonn now shows that the quality of these measurements ...

Image: Mesh reflector for shaped radio beams

This prototype 2.6-m diameter metal-mesh antenna reflector represents a big step forward for the European space sector: versions can be manufactured to reproduce any surface pattern that antenna designers wish, something ...

SAMURAI measures 5G communications channels precisely

Engineers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a flexible, portable measurement system to support design and repeatable laboratory testing of fifth-generation (5G) wireless communications ...

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