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SpaceX schedules 10th test flight for Starship, details recent setbacks – Spaceflight Now

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SpaceX

SpaceX schedules 10th test flight for Starship, details recent setbacks – Spaceflight Now

SpaceX’s Ship 37 performs a static fire test with all six of its Raptor engines as part of prelaunch testing ahead of the Flight 10 mission for the Starship program. Image: SpaceX SpaceX is once again gearing up for a launch of its massive Starship rocket from southern Texas. On Friday, it announced plans for the tenth flight of the fully integrated, two-stage rocket as soon as Sunday, Aug. 24, from its headquarters in Starbase. The test flight of the towering rocket is tentatively scheduled during an hour-long window that opens at 6:30 p.m. CDT (7:30 p.m. EDT / 2330 UTC). It comes three months after the previous test flight experienced multiple issues and two months after a test stand explosion destroyed the ship originally intended to fly this mission. This tenth test flight of the fully...

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Science

Editor’s Note | Science

On 27 March 2020, Science published the Research Article “Flux-induced topological superconductivity in full-shell nanowires” by S. Vaitiekėnas et al. (1). After readers expressed concerns about whether the authors selected data for publication that were not representative of the entirety of the data collected in association with the project (2), Science published an Editorial Expression of Concern (3) and contacted the authors’ institution (University of Copenhagen), which convened an external expert panel to conduct an investigation. In February 2024, the panel released a detailed report, to which Science directed readers in an Editor’s Note (4). The report concluded in part that “[t]he presented data do, for the most part, represent the outcome of the experiments: the authors have exerc...

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 Astronauts to Discuss Science Mission

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SpaceX

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 Astronauts to Discuss Science Mission

After spending almost five months in space, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 astronauts will discuss their science mission aboard the International Space Station during a news conference at 4:15 p.m. EDT, Wednesday, Aug. 20, from the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi will answer questions about their mission. The crew returned to Earth on Aug. 9. Live coverage of the news conference will stream on the agency’s YouTube channel. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of additional platforms, including social media. This event is open to media to attend in person or virtually. For in-person, media must contact the NASA Johnson newsroom no later than 12 p.m., Tuesday, ...

3I/ATLAS Is Very Actively Releasing Water

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Astronomy

3I/ATLAS Is Very Actively Releasing Water

3I/ATLAS, our third discovered interstellar visitor, has been in the news a lot lately for a whole host of reasons, and rightly so given the amount of unique scientific data different groups and telescopes have been collecting off of it. A new pre-release paper from researchers at the Auburn University Department of Physics recounts yet another interesting aspect of the new visitor - its water content. Almost all comets have some amount of water in them, as water is one of the most common substances in the universe, despite its absence on many of the worlds of our solar system. Typically, comets have a “coma” of water particles trailing behind them as they approach the Sun. Doing so heats up the particles, sublimating them into water vapor, which then streams behind the comet, giv...

Jacket that gets thinner when you sweat could help avoid overheating

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Science

Jacket that gets thinner when you sweat could help avoid overheating

The jacket is thicker when dry (left) and thinner when moist (right)Xiaofeng Jiang/Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics 2023 If you find yourself endlessly taking your jacket on and off when the sun disappears behind clouds, a material that becomes thinner when you sweat could provide a solution. Researchers have previously developed self-adapting materials that can cool you down in hot climates by increasing the amount of heat, in the form of infrared radiation, that the material lets through. But these materials tend to work in only one direction and are poor at keeping people warm in cooler climates. Xiuqiang Li at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in China and his colleagues have developed a jacket that contains a layer that curv...