Electrons are typically seen flitting around their atoms, but a team of physicists has now imaged the particles in a very different state: nestled together in a quantum phase called a Wigner crystal, without a nucleus at their core.
Plasma could be wrangled to collide photons and yield matter, according to physicists who ran simulations to explore the practical applications of a world-famous equation.
Nothing can travel faster than light, or 299,792,458 meters per second. But a certain group of particles acts as if it can, a team of physicists recently concluded, potentially paving the way for a powerful light source that could reveal new kinds of science.
Update: March 17 at 9:27 a.m. ET: Electron took flight at 6:38 p.m. ET on Thursday, March 16 and successfully delivered two Capella Space satellites to low Earth orbit.
In a disappointing turn of events, Rocket Lab is reconsidering its daredevil method of trying to catch and recover its Electron boosters mid-air using a helicopter.
Rocket Lab is riding the wave from last year’s success, gearing up for rapid back-to-back launches from sites in New Zealand and the United States. One of the planned launches will initiate a new partnership with U.S. space tech company Capella Space.
A new era of rocket launches from NASA’s facility on Wallops Island in Virginia began tonight with the much-anticipated launch of Rocket Lab’s Electron small-lift launch vehicle.