A high-capability new infrared satellite, ASTRO-F, was successfully launched last night by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). In a collaborative effort involving ESA and scientists across Europe, the spacecraft is now being prepared to start its mapping of the cosmos.
Orbiting the Earth, ASTRO-F (to be renamed Akari (light) now that it is in orbit) will make an unprecedented study of the sky in infrared light, to reveal the distant phenomena hidden from our eyes that tell th
Temex of France, a specialist in the field of high-performance time and frequency components and sub-systems, has launched a small-size Oven Controlled Crystal Oscillator (OCXO) in a 25mm x 25mm flat-pack package for space applications. This new low-consumption OCXO is designed specifically for applications such as deep-space up/down link transceivers where a wide operating temperature range and low energy consumption are critical.“
Designed to meet the ESA SCC3501 specification a
Tiny regular bumps on a surface, such as the wing of an airplane, can substantially reduce total air resistance, and thereby the consumption of fuel. Wind tunnel tests at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, Sweden, show that small cylindrical bumps on a surface delay the transition from laminar flow (well-ordered) to turbulent (chaotic) when air flows over a surface-a crucial factor in total air resistance.
If this finding, made by an international research team at
By combining quantum computation and quantum interrogation, scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have found an exotic way of determining an answer to an algorithm – without ever running the algorithm.
Using an optical-based quantum computer, a research team led by physicist Paul Kwiat has presented the first demonstration of “counterfactual computation,” inferring information about an answer, even though the computer did not run. The researchers report their
Quantum cryptography allows transmission of data through fibre optic cable´s
For governments and corporations in the business of transmitting sensitive data such as banking records or personal information over fibre optic cables, a new system demonstrated by University of Toronto researchers offers the protective equivalent of a fire-breathing dragon.
“Quantum cryptography is trying to make all transmissions secure, so this could be very useful for online banking, for
The world’s largest particle detector is nearing completion following the construction of its ‘endcap’ at the University of Liverpool.
Its assembly of advanced apparatus, at the University’s Semiconductor Detector Centre, has been a joint effort by physicists, engineers and technicians from the Universities of Liverpool, Glasgow, Lancaster, Manchester and Sheffield as well as Daresbury and Rutherford Laboratories.
The endcap is part of a semiconductor tracker (SCT) bas
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who recently reported that DNA-wrapped carbon nanotubes could serve as sensors in living cells now say the tiny tubes can be used to target specific DNA sequences. Potential applications for the new sensors range from rapid detection of hazardous biological agents to simpler and more efficient forensic identification.
In the Jan. 27 issue of the journal Science, chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Michael
Scientists who hope to use quantum dots as the building blocks for the next generation of computers have found a way to make these artificial atoms communicate.
“Essentially, the dots talk to each other,” said Ameenah Al-Ahmadi, an Ohio University doctoral student who published the findings with Professor of Physics Sergio Ulloa in a recent issue of the journal Applied Physics Letters.
The dots are tiny, engineered spherical crystals about 5 nanometers in diameter. An
A study by an academic at The University of Nottingham gives us the first observational evidence for how massive galaxies in our universe formed.
The implications of the study are vast and are being used by astronomers to explain seemingly unrelated processes such as how massive black holes and the universe’s stars came to be.
The research, led by Dr Christopher J Conselice, of the University’s School of Physics and Astronomy, which is published in the February 20 edi
On Dec. 27, 2004, scientists detected the largest gamma-ray burst ever recorded. It came from a magnetar–a neutron star with an enormous magnetic field–50,000 light years away. Its powerful rays penetrated deep into the ionosphere, the electrically conductive layer encircling Earth. On Feb. 19 in St. Louis at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Stanford electrical engineering Professor Umran Inan will describe what scientists learned from thi
Space science discoveries are being made in earthly labs
Reaching for the stars isn’t so out of reach these days. With the development of increasingly sophisticated instruments, researchers not only are able to get more detailed information about circumstellar and interstellar dust from afar by using advanced telescopes, but they also are now able to study actual stardust right in their own labs.
Since the discovery two decades ago that primitive meteorites contain
Scientists at the University of Chicago are among the first ever to analyze cometary dust delivered to Earth via spacecraft.
Scientists routinely examine extraterrestrial material that has fallen to Earth as meteorites, but never before NASA’s Stardust mission have they had access to verified samples of a comet. The leftover debris from the formation of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago, comets consist mostly of ice, dust and rock.
“We think comets make up a hug
A new optical effect has been created in a London laboratory that means solid objects such as walls could one day be rendered transparent, scientists report today in the journal Nature Materials.
Researchers from Imperial College London and the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland, have pioneered the technique which could be used to see through rubble at earthquake sites, or look at parts of the body obscured by bone.
The effect is based on the development of a new materi
A new study by a researcher at The University of Nottingham has provided the first observational evidence of how massive galaxies in our universe formed.
The results of this study have major implications for many other areas of research and are being used by astronomers to explain seemingly unrelated processes such as how massive black holes and the universe’s stars came to be.
The research, led by Dr. Christopher J. Conselice of the University’s School of Phy
One hundred days after beginning its cruise to Venus, ESA’s Venus Express spacecraft successfully tested its main engine for the first time in space.
The main engine test is a critical step in the mission. In fact, it is due to its powerful thrust that Venus Express will be able to ‘brake’ on arrival at Venus. The spacecraft must slow down in order to be captured in orbit around the planet.
The engine was fired during the night of 16/17 February, starting at 01:27 CET
Physicists at JILA have demonstrated an ultrafast laser technique for “seeing” once-hidden electronic behavior in semiconductors, which eventually could be useful in more predictable design of optoelectronic devices, including semiconductor lasers and white light-emitting diodes.
The work at JILA, a joint institute of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado at Boulder, is described in the Feb. 10 issue of Physical Review Letters.
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