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Carlo Rovelli and Matteo Smerlak The world’s military expenditure has nearly doubled since 2000. It now amounts to about $2 trillion per year, more than half of which is from NATO countries. Now, with the war raging in Ukraine, countries are rushing to increase their budgets even more; Germany, for instance, recently announced a roughly … Read more
The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. The site of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in northern Ukraine has been surrounded for more than three decades by a 1,000-square-mile (2,600-square-kilometer) exclusion zone that keeps people out. On April 26, 1986, Chernobyl’s reactor number four melted … Read more
Satellites have captured images of a massive convoy of Russian military vehicles 40 miles long (65 kilometers) nearing the besieged Ukrainian capital Kyiv as the country continued its resistance against Russia on the sixth day of that country’s invasion. The images, captured Monday (Feb. 28), show the convoy stretching from the town of Prybirsk, in … Read more
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant and its surrounding area are showing increased radiation levels after heavy fighting between Ukrainian and Russian troops in the region, Ukrainian officials said Friday (Feb. 25) Online data from the Chernobyl exclusion zone’s automated radiation-monitoring system shows that gamma radiation has increased 20 times above usual levels at multiple observation points, which … Read more
Various satellites could be targets of the Russian military as it invades Ukraine, said the head of the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which operates the nation’s fleet of spy satellites. “I think we’re seeing pretty clearly that Russia is committed to doing what they want to do in Ukraine, and they want to win,” … Read more
Helicopters in Belgorod in Russia, as seen on Feb. 13, 2022. (Image credit: Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies) Satellites can see military activity in Russia from space. Russia’s military activity continues to spark international concern and conversation. Russia has now sent military troops into Ukraine for “peacekeeping” operations, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Monday … Read more
By David Hambling US Army M1 Abrams tanks use depleted uranium rounds Stocktrek Images, Inc./Alamy The maker of a controversial depleted uranium weapon used by the US Army has said that it is ceasing production. Depleted uranium (DU) is an extremely strong and dense metal that is able to pierce armoured vehicles, making it the … Read more
SpaceX sent a U.S. spy satellite to orbit today (Feb. 2) in the second of three planned launches over a four-day stretch. A two-stage Falcon 9 rocket topped with the National Reconnaissance Office’s (NRO) NROL-87 payload lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California today at 3:27 p.m. EST (2027 GMT; 12:27 p.m. local … Read more
A visualization of a “rocket cargo” vehicle launch from the Air Force Research Laboratory. (Image credit: Air Force Research Laboratory) SpaceX has won a contract, worth over $102 million, to transport military supplies and humanitarian aid around the world using a rocket. The U.S. Air Force awarded SpaceX the contract on Jan. 14. It’s a … Read more