French nuclear regulator halts assembly of huge fusion reactor | Science

France’s nuclear regulator has ordered ITER, an international fusion energy project, to hold off on assembling its gigantic reactor until officials address safety concerns. This month, the ITER Organization was expecting to get the green light to begin to weld together the 11-meter-tall steel sections that make up the doughnut-shaped reactor, called a tokamak. But … Read more

James Webb Space Telescope extends its tower assembly to make way for sunshield deployment

The James Webb Space Telescope is one step closer to finishing the deployment of its massive sunshield.  On Wednesday (Dec. 29), the huge new space observatory successfully extended its deployable tower assembly (DTA), a 48-inch-long (1.2 meters) shaft that connects the telescope’s two halves, NASA officials said in a statement.  The James Webb Space Telescope‘s … Read more