Scientists have identified supermagnetic macrophages in the livers of homing pigeons (Columba livia domestica) that appear essential for navigation when the Sun is not visible, pointing to an entirely new mechanism for animal magnetoreception.
The post Pigeons May Sense Earth’s Magnetic Field Using Superparamagnetic Immune Cells in Their Livers appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.
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:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/joint-session-of-congress-tallies-electoral-votes-84211317-70a1e5f868934d94ab55ea89c42a7f46.jpg "Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images")
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Jupiter dominates the Solar System’s architecture. At about 318 times Earth’s mass and orbiting far beyond Mars, it acts as a gravitational gatekeeper, tugging on asteroids and comets that might otherwise stay put or never reach the inner planets. Remove Jupiter from the picture and Earth’s impact environment would change in complicated ways. It would […]
The post If Jupiter Disappeared Would Earth Face More Asteroid Hits? appeared first on Curiosmos.
SpaceX launched the first test flight of its upgraded Starship rocket and Super Heavy booster Friday, with mostly positive results.
The powerful rocket, propelled by 33 methane-fueled main engines, climbed away from SpaceX's Starbase launch facility in South Texas at 5:30 pm CDT (6:30 pm EDT; 22:30 UTC) Friday. Within a few seconds, the 408-foot-tall (124-meter) rocket, the largest ever built, cleared the launch tower and turned onto an eastward heading over the Gulf of Mexico.
Starship splashed down on target in the Indian Ocean a little more than an hour later to conclude the first flight of the latest version of SpaceX's stainless-steel mega-rocket. Starship V3 fared better on its debut than the first flights of Starship V1 and V2 in 2023 and 2025. Both past versions of Starship broke apart during launch on their inaugural flights.
© SpaceX
SpaceX launched the first test flight of its upgraded Starship rocket and Super Heavy booster Friday, with mostly positive results.
The powerful rocket, propelled by 33 methane-fueled main engines, climbed away from SpaceX's Starbase launch facility in South Texas at 5:30 pm CDT (6:30 pm EDT; 22:30 UTC) Friday. Within a few seconds, the 408-foot-tall (124-meter) rocket, the largest ever built, cleared the launch tower and turned onto an eastward heading over the Gulf of Mexico.
Starship splashed down on target in the Indian Ocean a little more than an hour later to conclude the first flight of the latest version of SpaceX's stainless-steel mega-rocket. Starship V3 fared better on its debut than the first flights of Starship V1 and V2 in 2023 and 2025. Both past versions of Starship broke apart during launch on their inaugural flights.
© SpaceX
There are more opportunities to access space than ever, thanks to a bevy of commercial rockets, some with reusable boosters, led by SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9. So why is NASA launching fewer telescopes and planetary science missions than it did a quarter-century ago?
The answer is complex. It is not necessarily the money. The space agency's science budget this year is $7.25 billion, roughly the same as it was in 2000, adjusted for inflation. This is despite attempts by the Trump administration to drastically reduce NASA science funding.
In the early months of his tenure, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman's focus has been on human spaceflight and the Moon. This isn't terribly surprising given NASA's wildly successful Artemis II mission carrying four astronauts around the Moon last month. Since taking office in December, Isaacman has announced an overhaul of the Artemis program, canceling a space station to be built in orbit around the Moon in favor of construction of a base on the lunar surface.
© NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
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