Enlarge / NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION (NASA) Administrator Bill Nelson is seen in firing room four during the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft on the Crew-4 mission in April. (credit: Joel Kowsky/NASA via Getty Images) NASA Administrator Bill Nelson appeared before a US Senate Appropriations subcommittee […]
Enlarge (credit: Krisana Antharith / EyeEm) Earth Day was April 22, and its usual message—take care of our planet—has been given added urgency by the challenges highlighted in the latest IPCC report. This year, Ars is taking a look at the technologies we normally cover, from cars to chipmaking, and finding out how we can […]
Enlarge / After being caught by a helicopter, and then dropped into the sea, an Electron booster is brought back to New Zealand by boat on Tuesday. (credit: Rocket Lab) On Monday evening Rocket Lab launched its 26th Electron mission, successfully deploying a record 34 small satellites into orbit. But attention for this mission was […]
Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson) As we noted a couple of weeks ago with our announcement post, we’re fast approaching the date for Ars Frontiers, our inaugural single-day conference. The event will be held next week, on May 12, in Washington, DC. We’re going to be exploring the interconnectedness of innovation—looking at how the things that […]
The sound of a binary black hole’s echoes, courtesy of MIT’s Erin Kara and Kyle Keane. Animation computed by Michal Dovciak. Black holes feeding on companion stars can go through cycles where they emit high-energy outbursts. MIT astronomers are using X-ray echoes from those cycles to map out the environment around these exotic objects, similar […]
Enlarge / In this illustration, SpaceX’s Starship vehicle is seen landing on the Moon. (credit: NASA) As part of its Artemis program to return humans to the Moon this decade, NASA has a minimum requirement that its “human landing system” must be able to deliver 865 kg to the lunar surface. This is based on […]
When a rare species is a product. Alive or dead, rare or mundane, insects are weirdly easy to find for sale online. However, in some cases, the insects or spiders sold through the various e-commerce sites, both niche and large-scale, may be of dubious provenance. Some may be bred and reared in sustainable programs. Others […]
Enlarge / Roscosmos Head Dmitry Rogozin is seen before Russia-China talks at the Moscow Kremlin. (credit: Mikhail Metzel/TASS via Getty Images) It happened again this weekend. Both Bloomberg and Axios reported that Russia is quitting the International Space Station due to sanctions imposed by the United States on Russia. Each of these stories garnered considerable […]
Enlarge Earth Day was April 22, and its usual message—take care of our planet—has been given added urgency by the challenges highlighted in the latest IPCC report. This year, Ars is taking a look at the technologies we normally cover, from cars to chipmaking, and finding out how we can boost their sustainability and minimize […]
The Large Magellanic Cloud, the largest satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. Accurate estimates of the distance to this galaxy help calibrate measurements of the expansion rate of the Universe. (credit: Robert Gendler/Josch Hambsch) If a person is lost in the wilderness, they have two options. They can search for civilization, or they could make […]