Science News, Discoveries & Research Updates

Texas’ Venus Aerospace Opens New Rocket Propulsion Test Stand

Modern Mechanics 24 News Desk September 12, 2026 5:01 pm

Venus Aerospace has opened a new propulsion test stand at the Houston Spaceport to expand testing of its rotating detonation rocket engine. Supported by the Texas Space Commission, the facility allows Venus to perform higher-thrust and longer-duration tests. The company says the added capacity will help advance its propulsion systems toward future defense and space applications.

Artistic reconstruction of the extinct Miracinonyx trumani, an ancient North American cat related to modern pumas.

Scientists Find America’s ‘Cheetah’ Was Actually a Puma Relative

Modern Mechanics 24 News Desk September 7, 2026 5:26 pm

A new study has changed what scientists know about the extinct “American cheetah,” Miracinonyx trumani. DNA evidence shows that the animal was more closely related to modern pumas than cheetahs. Researchers also found that northern populations living in the Yukon ate almost exclusively fish, showing how the predator adapted to very different environments.

War on Earth Could Spill Into Space: China Models Moon Orbit Conflict Scenarios

Ritambhara K September 7, 2026 3:36 pm

Chinese aerospace researchers have examined how military competition on Earth might extend into the space between Earth and the moon.

ISRO’s GSLV-F17 Soars: How EOS-05 Will Watch India’s Skies From 36,000 KM Up

Ritambhara K September 5, 2026 4:15 pm

India launched the EOS-05 Earth observation satellite aboard its GSLV-F17 rocket on Friday, placing the spacecraft into a Sub-Geosynchronous Transfer

US Space Force Picks Leonardo DRS Sensor to Track Fast-Moving Threats in Orbit

Ritambhara K September 3, 2026 5:44 pm

The US Space Force has selected Leonardo DRS to develop a space-based sensor designed to detect, track and target fast-moving

STREAMLINE uses artificial intelligence and supercomputing to model interacting particles inside atomic nuclei.

Argonne Uses AI to Solve a Tough Nuclear Physics Problem

Modern Mechanics 24 News Desk September 1, 2026 7:01 pm

Argonne National Laboratory is part of STREAMLINE, a research project using AI and supercomputers to tackle a major nuclear physics problem. Researchers are training neural networks to model the complex behavior of protons and neutrons inside atomic nuclei. The approach can scale to about 100 interacting particles, compared with roughly a dozen for some earlier methods, potentially enabling more realistic nuclear simulations.

NASA’s Roman Telescope Launches to Explore the Dark Universe

Modern Mechanics 24 News Desk September 1, 2026 6:25 pm

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket and is heading toward an orbit about one million miles from Earth. The infrared telescope will survey huge areas of the universe and study dark matter, dark energy, and exoplanets. Its Wide Field Instrument can capture 300-megapixel images, while the mission will send about 1.4 terabytes of data each day.

AI chip representing magnetic SOT-MRAM memory technology for edge computing

Texas Engineers Test Magnetic Memory for Faster Edge AI

Modern Mechanics 24 News Desk September 1, 2026 6:14 pm

Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin and TSMC have tested SOT-MRAM, a magnetic memory technology designed for energy-efficient AI. The chips completed write operations in just 2 nanoseconds while using 2 picojoules of energy per write. The technology could eventually help sensors, robots, and other edge devices run AI locally with less reliance on data centers.

Satellite in orbit representing China’s space-based computing cloud network

China Launches Space Computing Cloud for In-Orbit Services

MM24 News Desk September 1, 2026 4:59 pm

China has put a new orbital computing cloud into regular service, led by Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. The platform allows users to run computing tasks and process data in space, reducing the need to send all satellite data back to Earth. BUPT says the system has already completed hundreds of computing tasks for more than 100 users.