The high-resolution images taken in Titan’s atmosphere by the Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer (DISR) were spectacular, but not the only surprises obtained during descent. Both DISR and the Doppler Wind Experiment data have given Huygens scientists much to think about.

The irreversible conversion of methane into other hydrocarbons in Titan’s stratosphere implies a surface or subsurface ’reservoir’ of methane. Although the NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini orbiter has no

The Surface Science Package (SSP) revealed that Huygens could have hit and cracked an ice ‘pebble’ on landing, and then it slumped into a sandy surface possibly dampened by liquid methane. Had the tide on Titan just gone out?

The SSP comprised nine independent sensors, chosen to cover the wide range of properties that be encountered, from liquids or very soft material to solid, hard ice. Some were designed primarily for landing on a solid surface and others for a liquid landing,

GIOVE A, the first Galileo satellite, departed from ESA’s test facility at the European Space Research and Technology Centre in The Netherlands on the morning of 29 November, bound for the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The spacecraft, packed in its transport container and accompanied by its support equipment, was taken by road from the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) to Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, where it was loaded onto an Antonov transport plane.

Scientists at the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have coaxed six atoms into spinning together in two opposite directions at the same time, a so-called Schrödinger “cat” state that obeys the unusual laws of quantum physics. The ambitious choreography could be useful in applications such as quantum computing and cryptography, as well as ultra-sensitive measurement techniques, all of which rely on exquisite control of nature’s smallest particle

Princeton group outlines novel mathematical approach

It has been 20 years since the futurist Eric Drexler daringly predicted a new world where miniaturized robots would build things one molecule at a time. The world of nanotechnology that Drexler envisioned is beginning to come to pass, with scientists conjuring new applications daily.

Now Salvatore Torquato, a Princeton University scientist, is proposing turning a central concept of nanotechnology on its head. If

In his PhD thesis the Pamplona engineer, Francisco Falcone Lanas, has put forward various structures based on what are known as left-handed metamaterials, materials that can be used to make smaller mobile phones, aerials or GPS and which have better specifications and performance. This is the first PhD defended in the world on applications of left-handed metamaterials.

Photonic crystal devices

The research undertaken by Francisco Falcone in his PhD involved analysing t

This release contains a summary of some significant astronomical and space events that will be taking place during December. It has been written in order to assist the media in planning and researching future stories related to space science and astronomy, particularly those with UK involvement. It is not intended to be fully comprehensive. Dates and times may be subject to change.

1 DECEMBER: BEYOND EINSTEIN: LIVE WORLDWIDE WEBCAST
To celebrate Einstein Year (World Year of

Two studies on carbon nanotubes by CEA DRECAM researchers have just been published in Physical Review Letters and Applied Physics Letters. The first study presents an innovative and experimentally verified theoretical law to predict and characterize the deformation of a carbon nanotube subject to an electrical field. The second study applies this knowledge to produce a nano-switch using innovative dimensioning and positioning control techniques.

MEMs technologies (microelectromech

A team of astrophysicists from the CEA (Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique), the Université Paris 7 Denis Diderot and the CNRS in France has discovered that one of Saturn’s rings has a spiral shape and has published its results today in the American journal Science. This unusual astronomical configuration is perhaps the result of a collision with a recently formed small moon. The discovery is a great opportunity for astrophysicists who think that this ring is the only place in our solar s

AMBER instrument on VLTI Probes Environment of Stars

Using the newly installed AMBER instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer, which combines the light from two or three 8.2-m Unit Telescopes thereby amounting to observe with a telescope of 40 to 90 metres in diameter, two international teams of astronomers observed with unprecedented detail the environment of two stars. One is a young, still-forming star and the new results provide useful information on

A recent check of the VIRTIS imaging spectrometer during the Venus Express commissioning phase has allowed its first remote-sensing data to be acquired, using Earth and the Moon as a reference.

After a successful in-flight checkout of the spacecraft’s systems in the first ten days of flight, the ESOC operations team is now verifying the health and functioning of all the Venus Express instruments. These observations were made as part of this checkout.
Of course the ver

International team of astronomers uses a new infrared interferometer at the VLT to get surprising views of cosmic disks of dust and gas

A research team investigated a disk of gas and dust surrounding a young star, as well as the stellar winds which emanate from that star. The team found unique, previously unknown characteristics of the innermost environment around the star. Another research group carried out the first-ever analysis of the gas and dust material surrounding a “supergi

An experimental mystery — the origin of the insulating state in a class of materials known as doped Mott insulators — has been solved by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The solution helps explain the bizarre behavior of doped Mott insulators, such as high-temperature copper-oxide superconductors.

In a paper published in the Nov. 2 issue of the journal Physical Review Letters, physics professor Philip Phillips and graduate student Ting-Pong Choy

Despite millions of dollars spent by IT companies, digital security still contains more holes than a Swiss cheese. One European project plans to plug those holes by creating a virtual security framework independent of both devices and the networks they are trying to access.

SEINIT, the Security Experts Initiative, offers the promise of seamless security regardless of hardware, software or access protocol, whether it’s mobile phones, bluetooth, WiFi, ethernet or broadban

Design of smart homes takes into consideration technology as well as the wishes, needs and fears of residents.

The research results of Research Director Frans Mäyrä’s Morphome project confirm that test subject perceptions of computer technology are often critical or negative. The idea of computers playing a central role in the home is anathema to many. Computers are seen as being complicated and unreliable, so no one would readily submit key household functions to their control.

AMBER instrument on VLTI Probes Environment of Stars

Using the newly installed AMBER instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer, which combines the light from two or three 8.2-m Unit Telescopes thereby amounting to observe with a telescope of 40 to 90 metres in diameter, two international teams of astronomers observed with unprecedented detail the environment of two stars. One is a young, still-forming star and the new results provide useful information on the conditi