Astronomers have used the NASA Hubble Space Telescope to determine that the universe is expanding faster than expected. The team measured the expansion rate, which is called the Hubble constant, using gravitational lensing. That is a new technique that is completely independent of any previous method of measuring the expansion.
SpaceX's Starlink satellite constellation may be starting to take shape in orbit, but we're only just starting to find out what the user-experience of the internet service will be like down on the ground. Elon Musk's ambitious plan to build a network of satellites tens of thousands in number will eventually, if the plan pans out, deliver internet connections to areas previously underserved by ISPs or offline altogether.
Caltech researchers are reporting that the LIGO Livingston Observatory has picked up what appears to be gravitational ripples from the collision of a pair of neutron stars. LIGO Livingston is part of the gravitational-wave network that incudes LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory) funded by the National Science Foundation, and the European Virgo detector.
NASA has used the TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) to find exoplanets since the mission launched. The goal is to discover exoplanets that might be orbiting stars in their habitable zone to search for habitable worlds and potentially extraterrestrial life. TESS has found its first Earth-sized planet that is in a star's habitable zone.
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has published an update on the failed Boeing Orbital Flight Test, revealing that the space agency is working with the private company to launch a joint independent team to investigate what went wrong. The people on this team will be tasked with looking into the problems that led to the Orbital Test Flight issue and with making recommendations to help protect future launches.
Toyota announced this week at CES 2020 that it plans to build a prototype city of the future on a 175-acre site at the base of Mt. Fuji in Japan called the Woven City. The city will have a fully connected ecosystem powered by Hydrogen fuel cells, and it is envisioned as a living laboratory.
Scientists at Monash University in Australia have developed a new battery that the team says is the world's most efficient lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery. The Li-S battery promises enough power to run a smartphone for five days.
NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is an airborne observatory that flies into the stratosphere at an altitude of about 40,000 feet to capture infrared images of the cosmos. The observatory operates at those altitudes because it bypasses a significant portion of the atmosphere that blocks infrared light.
For as long as vehicles have been around, they have had the same basic system for helping to keep the sun out of a driver's eyes. The visor, as we know it, is a flip-down solid piece that shades the eyes, sometimes with little effect. The researchers at Bosch say that sun glare causes thousands of automotive accidents yearly, nearly two times as many accidents as any other weather condition.
SpaceX is set to put a new string of Starlink satellites into orbit today in a launch planned to happen at Cape Canaveral. If the launch goes off, it will be the first launch of 2020 and will be the 45th Space Wing's inaugural launch as part of the U.S. Space Force. The 45th Space Wing is one of five Air Force space wings that have been assigned to the U.S. Space Force effective December 20, 2019.
ASTERIA, a tiny satellite launched in April 2017 to help study planets outside of our solar system, has lost contact with its human operators on Earth, according to NASA. The spacecraft was last heard from on December 5; subsequent attempts to contact the briefcase-sized satellite have proven unsuccessful, leaving only weeks before the space agency gives up.
An experiment to grow ancient 'lost crops' has revealed evidence of surprisingly high yields, according to a new study from Washington University in St. Louis. It's unknown why certain crops were lost to time and speculation has centered largely around the idea that these crops may not have had adequately high yields. Based on the new study, that assumption may not be correct.