The West experienced a very warm December at all but the highest elevations, but strong storms also drenched large parts of the region. Washington state was swamped with rain that triggered flooding and melted the existing snowpack. The total area of the Western US with snow cover has been exceptionally low compared to the years ..
Tag : Science
In addition to efficiency, a nuclear-electric propulsion system has the benefit of using conventional plasma thrusters. But instead of using solar power to energize the thrusters’ xenon fuel, SR-1 will use electricity generated from a nuclear reactor. “Our nuclear program, SR-1, is not about going and lobbying for billions of dollars to undertake a brand-new ..
But the Swift spacecraft will surely crash back to Earth, likely before the end of this year, without a reboost. That’s where Katalyst comes in. The company’s robotic servicing spacecraft, named Link, will attempt to rendezvous and dock with the Swift satellite, then raise its altitude to give the observatory a new lease on life. ..
Saleem Ali, an environmental systems scientist at the University of Delaware who also provides research and advice on critical metals to the United Nations, says that deep-sea mining should be part of discussions on the green transition. He coauthored a 2022 analysis, funded by The Metals Company, that compared mining waste from terrestrial deposits to that ..
On Monday, a paper announcing that all four DNA bases had been found on an asteroid sparked a lot of headlines. But many of the headlines omitted a key word needed to put the discovery in context: “again.” The paper itself cited similar results dating back to 2011, and the ensuing years have seen various ..
The DOE spokesperson said its radiation standards “are aligned with Gold Standard Science… with a focus on protecting people and the environment while avoiding unnecessary bureaucracy.” The department has already decided to abandon the long-standing radiation protection principle known as “ALARA”—the “As Low As Reasonably Achievable” standard—which directs anyone dealing with radioactive materials to minimize ..
Those statements suggested the Space Force was likely to transfer the GPS slated to fly on the next Vulcan rocket to a different launch vehicle. That’s exactly what happened. On Friday, Space Systems Command confirmed that GPS III SV10 will now launch on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket in late April. Read our earlier story on ..
When NASA’s Perseverance rover landed in Jezero Crater in 2021, its primary mission was to scour the remnants of a dried-up Martian lakebed for signs of ancient life. Scientists have been focused on the crater’s spectacular Western Delta, a fan-shaped geologic feature deposited by a river flowing into the basin billions of years ago. But ..
For more than 60 years, nearly every large rocket used some combination of the same liquid and solid propellants. Refined kerosene was favored for its easy handling and non-toxicity, hydrazine for its storability and simplicity, hydrogen for its efficiency, and solid fuels for their long shelf life and rapid launch capability. About 15 years ago, ..
It took nearly a decade for most archaeologists to come around to the idea, but Monte Verde rewrote the story we thought we knew about how (and when) people first moved into, and spread throughout, the Americas. For once in the history of science, that statement isn’t just a headline-grabbing exaggeration—it was really that big ..
