North Korea tests another new hypersonic weapon: reports

North Korea’s hypersonic weapons program appears to be ramping up. The rogue nation claims that it conducted a successful test of a new hypersonic vehicle on Wednesday (Jan. 5), its second such trial in just over three months.  The vehicle aced a 75-mile (120 kilometers) lateral maneuver and “precisely hit” a target 435 miles (700 … Read more

mRNA technology: Vaccine biotech has helped repair broken hearts in mice

By Michael Le Page An illustration of a strand of mRNA MattLphotography / Alamy Stock Photo Immune cells in the bodies of mice have been temporarily reprogrammed to repair damaged hearts by removing scar tissue, thanks to the technology used in the mRNA coronavirus vaccines. “After you give the treatment, the scar goes away,” says … Read more

NASA’s TESS exoplanet mission reveals dusty mystery, puzzling astronomers

The universe is full of mysteries. In observations gathered by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), astronomers stumbled on yet another mystery, and a dusty one at that. In new research, a team of scientists examines potential causes of strange signals emitted by an object dubbed TIC 400799224. Based on what astronomers have seen so … Read more

Volcanoes: Plumes of rock that feed volcanic hotspots are surprisingly cold

Geologists may need to come up with a new explanation for the sources of volcanic activity in places like Iceland and Hawaii Earth 6 January 2022 By Alex Wilkins Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano erupting in 2018 U.S. Geological Survey via Getty Images The plumes of rock feeding Earth’s volcanic hotspots are much cooler than previously thought, … Read more

The solar system belongs to us all, not just Jeff Bezos

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Alan Marshall, Lecturer in Environmental Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Mahidol University Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon Inc and the richest man on Earth, has just launched the third mission of his space tourism business, NS-19. … Read more

Wildfires Are Fueling a Toxic Combo of Air Pollutants

Unseen dangers accompanied deadly flames in the record-breaking wildfire season that raged across the U.S. West in 2020. In addition to the millions of acres burned by the blazes, the thousands of structures they destroyed and the dozens of people they killed, the 2020 fires brought some of the worst air quality conditions ever observed … Read more

Why doesn’t the James Webb Space Telescope have any cameras onboard?

The public is now used to seeing space up close, thanks to cameras watching everything from satellites deploying to a spacesuit-clad “dummy” cruising in a Tesla — so why doesn’t NASA’s giant new observatory have any cameras on board? It has to do with light and heat, Julie Van Campen, deputy commissioning manager for the … Read more

Sounding rocket launch might be visible on US east coast Thursday night

If the weather is clear on the U.S. mid-Atlantic east coast, you might see a rocket launch starting in the evening Thursday (Jan. 6). A Black Brant IX sounding rocket is scheduled to launch from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Virginia between 10 p.m. Thursday and 2 a.m. Friday, Jan. 5 EST (0300-0700 GMT Friday, Jan. … Read more

SpaceX will launch 49 Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket today. Watch it live!

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX is gearing up to launch its first rocket of 2022 on Thursday evening (Jan. 6) and you can watch the action live online.  The private spaceflight company will launch a stack of 49 Starlink satellites on one of its previously flown Falcon 9 rockets. (The company is expected to confirm … Read more