Daily News update on – Science

Space.com

Astronomers have detected an abundance of water in the form of gas in a disk of planet-forming material that surrounds a distant star. The disk appears to contain hundreds of times more water than in all of Earth’s oceans.

Space.com

United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) new rocket could fly for the first time less than two months from now. In a call with reporters on Feb. 23, ULA CEO Tory Bruno announced that the company is targeting no earlier than May 4 for the debut launch of Vulcan …

Space.com

It was the first-ever mission for the SLS, the most powerful rocket ever to launch successfully, and just the second for Orion, after an uncrewed test flight to Earth orbit back in 2014. (That previous Orion mission lifted off atop a United Launch Alliance …

Space.com

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 40 broadband satellites to orbit for the U.K. company OneWeb on Thursday (March 9) and came back to Earth for a pinpoint touchdown. The two-stage Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida …

Space.com

For a few weeks starting on Thursday (March 9), skywatchers have the opportunity to catch a glimpse of a ghostly celestial glowing pyramid of light illuminating the night sky over Earth. This phenomenon …

Space.com

NASA will get a funding boost next year, if all goes according to plan. The White House’s federal budget request for fiscal year 2024, which was released today (March 9), allocates $27.2 billion to NASA. That’s $1.8 billion more than the agency got …

CNN

Astronomers recently spotted the 2023 DW asteroid, depicted in a rendering. The space rock is more than 11 million miles from Earth. NASA. Sign up …

CNN

Booty-shaking worker bees guide their fellow workers to pollen by a form of communication known as “waggle dancing” — performing steps that map out where food is located and how far it is from the hive.

Scientific American

For radioastronomers, the far side of the Moon could be the last unspoilt refuge in the Solar System. Planet Earth — and all the human-made electromagnetic noise it spews out into space — stays permanently below the horizon, so that any radio …

Phys.Org

It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it. In this case, the “job” is the breakdown of lignin, the structural biopolymer that gives stems, bark and branches their signature woodiness. One of the most abundant terrestrial polymers on Earth, …