Researchers have developed an ultra-thin and ultra-flexible electronic material that could be printed and rolled out like newspaper, for the touchscreens of the future. The touch-responsive technology is 100 times thinner than existing touchscreen materials and so pliable it can be rolled up like a tube. To create the new conductive sheet, an RMIT University-led team used a thin film common in cell phone touchscreens and shrunk it from 3D to 2D, using liquid metal chemistry....

Cheaper clean-energy technologies could be made possible thanks to a new discovery. Led by Raymond Schaak, a professor of chemistry at Penn State University, research team members have found that an important chemical reaction that generates hydrogen from water is effectively triggered — or catalyzed — by a nanoparticle composed of nickel and phosphorus, two inexpensive elements that are abundant on Earth. The results of the research are published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society....

This contract, with a value of $3.19 billion, definitizes a letter contract awarded in June 2020 that authorized Northrop Grumman to order long-lead items and build twin boosters for the next six SLS flights. The period of performance extends through December 31, 2031. This includes production and operations for boosters for Artemis IV-VIII and design, development, test, and evaluation of a booster as part of Booster Obsolescence and Life Extension (BOLE) for Artemis IX....

Due to the late delivery of the spacecraft’s flight software and testing equipment, NASA lacks sufficient time to complete the testing required ahead of its remaining launch period this year, which ends on October 11. The mission team needs additional time to ensure that the software will function properly in flight. NASA selected Psyche in 2017 as part of the agency’s Discovery Program, a line of low-cost, competitive missions led by a single principal investigator....

This image includes newly published observations using an instrument designed and built at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Called the Goddard-IRAM Superconducting 2-Millimeter Observer (GISMO), the instrument was used in concert with a 30-meter radio telescope located on Pico Veleta, Spain, operated by the Institute for Radio Astronomy in the Millimeter Range headquartered in Grenoble, France. “GISMO observes microwaves with a wavelength of 2 millimeters, allowing us to explore the galaxy in the transition zone between infrared light and longer radio wavelengths,” said Johannes Staguhn, an astronomer at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore who leads the GISMO team at Goddard....

Shortly after the spacecraft’s October 2021 launch, the mission team realized that one of Lucy’s two solar arrays had not properly unfurled and latched. A series of activities in 2022 succeeded in further deploying the array, placing it into a tensioned, but unlatched, state. Using engineering models calibrated by spacecraft data, the team estimates that the solar array is over 98% deployed, and it is strong enough to withstand the stresses of Lucy’s 12-year mission....

When NASA returns to the Moon with Artemis, the agency and its partners will reach unexplored regions of the lunar surface around the South Pole, where it can get much colder at night than even on frigid Mars. Such surface conditions would be challenge for current spacecraft, which rely on energy-consuming heaters to stay warm. A technology demonstration being developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California may offer a solution that would enable exploration during the dark of lunar night, a period that spans about 14 Earth days....

On March 6, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft will swoop down within 933 miles (1,500 kilometers) of Titan to conduct its 100th flyby of the Saturn moon. Each flyby gives us a little more knowledge of Titan and its striking similarities to our world. Even with its cold surface temperatures of minus 290 degrees Fahrenheit (94 kelvins), Titan is like early Earth in a deep freeze. Since its 2004 arrival at Saturn, Cassini’s radar instrument has identified remarkable surface features on Titan....

Images of knobbly rocks and rounded hills are delighting scientists as NASA’s Curiosity rover climbs Mount Sharp, a 5-mile-tall (8-kilometer-tall) mountain within the 96-mile-wide (154-kilometer-wide) basin of Mars’ Gale Crater. The rover’s Mast Camera, or Mastcam, highlights those features in a panorama captured on July 3, 2021 (the 3,167th Martian day, or sol, of the mission). This location is particularly exciting: Spacecraft orbiting Mars show that Curiosity is now somewhere between a region enriched with clay minerals and one dominated by salty minerals called sulfates....

In this “Marias Pass” region, Curiosity successfully used its drill to sample a rock target called “Buckskin” and then used the camera on its robotic arm for multiple images to be stitched into a self-portrait at the drilling site. The rover finished activities in Marias Pass on August 12 and headed onward up Mount Sharp, the layered mountain it reached in September 2014. In drives on August 12, 13, 14 and 18, it progressed 433 feet (132 meters), bringing Curiosity’s total odometry since its August 2012 landing to 6....

Although Martian sunsets are uniquely moody, NASA’s Curiosity rover captured one last month that really stands out. As the Sun descended over the horizon on February 2, rays of light illuminated a bank of clouds. These “sun rays,” also known as crepuscular rays, from the Latin word for “twilight,” are bright streaks that occur when incoming light is partially obstructed by a cloud or tall feature on the horizon. It was the first time sun rays have been so clearly viewed on Mars....

A powerful new antenna has been added to the NASA Space Communications and Navigation’s Deep Space Network (DSN), which connects us to the space robots exploring our solar system. Called Deep Space Station 56, or DSS-56, the dish is now online and ready to communicate with a variety of missions, including NASA’s Perseverance rover when it lands on the Red Planet next month. The new 34-meter-wide (112-foot-wide) dish has been under construction at the Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex in Spain since 2017....

Destined to become the first aircraft to attempt powered flight on another planet, NASA’s Mars Helicopter officially has received a new name: Ingenuity. Vaneeza Rupani, a junior at Tuscaloosa County High School in Northport, Alabama, came up with the name and the motivation behind it during NASA’s “Name the Rover” essay contest. “The ingenuity and brilliance of people working hard to overcome the challenges of interplanetary travel are what allow us all to experience the wonders of space exploration,” Rupani wrote in her contest submission....

Now superheated by greenhouse gases, Venus’ climate was once more similar to Earth’s, with a shallow ocean’s worth of water. It may even have subduction zones like Earth, areas where the planet’s crust sinks back into rock closer to the core of the planet. “Venus is like the control case for Earth,” said Smrekar. “We believe they started out with the same composition, the same water, and carbon dioxide. And they’ve gone down two completely different paths....

On Earth, scientists can observe weather patterns, and more importantly can predict them, through the use of tens of thousands of weather observatories scattered around the globe. Up in the space surrounding Earth — a space that seethes with its own space weather made of speeding charged particles and constantly changing magnetic fields that can impact satellites – there are only a handful of spacecraft to watch for solar and magnetic storms....

For the first time, scientists have shown through direct satellite observations of the ozone hole that levels of ozone-destroying chlorine are declining, resulting in less ozone depletion. Measurements show that the decline in chlorine, resulting from an international ban on chlorine-containing manmade chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), has resulted in about 20 percent less ozone depletion during the Antarctic winter than there was in 2005 — the first year that measurements of chlorine and ozone during the Antarctic winter were made by NASA’s Aura satellite....

The test, conducted on the Fred Haise Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center, was the third of the year and part of an ongoing certification hot fire series. It also was the third test since an upgraded nozzle was installed on the RS-25 engine just prior to a February 8 hot fire. The redesigned engines provided by lead SLS engines contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne will be used on future Artemis flights to the Moon, beginning with Artemis V, as NASA continues its mission to explore the secrets of the universe for the benefit of all....

The demonstration test will allow engineering teams to confirm the repair to a hydrogen leak seen during an early September Artemis I launch attempt. It will also provide the chance for teams to assess updated propellant loading procedures and conduct additional evaluations. The demonstration will conclude when the objectives for the test have been met. Live coverage of the test will air on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website....

When it comes to powering an astronauts’ settlement, there are many factors to consider, writes correspondent Tien Nguyen in collaboration with ACS Central Science. The power source must be capable of being transported safely from Earth and of withstanding the harsh conditions of other worlds. Past space missions have used solar power as a scalable and renewable source of electricity, but the dark craters of the moon or the dusty surface of Mars may not offer enough light....

Record-Breaking Air Pollution in Nine Cities American Lung Association’s ‘State of the Air’ report finds climate change is driving increases in unhealthy air, 150 million people at risk. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Clean Air Act, which is responsible for dramatic improvements in air quality. Despite this, a new report from the American Lung Association finds nearly half of the nation’s population – 150 million people – lived with and breathed polluted air, placing their health and lives at risk....