Aerospace

A novel technique can predict foggy conditions an hour before they appear

The sounds of the Mars InSight Mission control room during the tense minutes leading to the landing on the surface.

Researchers from MIT have flown a plane with no moving parts for the first time. It is powered by an "ion drive" which uses high powered electrodes to ionise and accelerate air particles, creating an "ionic wind." This wind drove a five-meter-wide craft across a sports hall. Unlike the ion drives which have powered space craft for decades, this new drive uses air as the accelerant. The researchers say it could power silent drones.

This video was reproduced with permission and was first published on November 21, 2018. It is a Nature Video production.

An aerial laser scan of more than 800 square miles of Guatemalan jungle revealed Maya buildings, canals, roads and bridges. Christopher Intagliata reports.

One of the main challenges with long-distance space flight is transporting enough oxygen for astronauts to breathe and enough fuel to power complex electronics

People need to understand the technology’s limitations to avoid misinterpreting what they see

Whether carting pizzas or passengers, small autonomous aircraft like the ones Amazon, Uber and others are testing need sophisticated traffic management to prevent collisions

Scientists are considering whether AI could help us search for alien intelligence in ways we haven’t even thought of yet

The U.S. Air Force’s Project Pluto sought to create nuclear-powered cruise missiles, but was terminated decades ago after second thoughts over the dangers

General Jay Raymond, Commander of Air Force Space Command, talks about keeping watch over space and cyber.

Researchers have found that engineered sugarcane could yield more than 2,500 liters of bio-jet fuel per acre of land

Quadcopter crashes with a helicopter and plane—the first-ever in the U.S. and Canada, respectively—show that such encounters are no longer hypothetical