A solar sail is no longer just a graceful idea for propellant-free flight; it is becoming a materials and deployment problem that engineers are finally learning how to solve. That shift matters ...

In 1949, famed mathematician and physicist John von Neumann delivered a series of addresses at the University of Illinois, where he introduced the concept of the "universal constructor." The theory ...

Researchers from Tuskegee University, Alabama, have developed a new photonic crystal (a kind of ...

Scientists have successfully tested a material design for light sails using photonic crystals that could achieve 20% the speed of light ...

Most space missions rely on chemical rockets for propulsion. Rockets must carry fuel, which increases spacecraft mass and limits their speed and travel distance. For decades, researchers have explored ...

James is a published author with multiple pop-history and science books to his name. He specializes in history, space, strange science, and anything out of the ordinary.View full profile James is a ...

The recently discovered interstellar object 3I/Atlas is set for a close flyby of Mars in October, where it can be observed by orbiters around the planet. Reading time 2 minutes In June, a mysterious ...

A few days ago, an inscrutable interstellar interloper made its closest approach to Mars, where a fleet of international spacecraft seek to unravel the red planet’s ancient mysteries. Several of the ...

The Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) is being launched later this month to study the outer reaches of the heliosphere which defines where our solar system ends and interstellar space ...