From the tragedy of the space shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003 to the now-routine return of commercial spacecraft, heat shields—formally called thermal protection systems—are critical for protecting ...

Modern spaceflight rests on a deceptively simple idea: a machine that carries its own fuel and oxidizer, then hurls exhaust backward fast enough to push itself forward. The person who first turned ...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. —An experiment by Purdue University professor Steven Collicott, Ph.D., ended with success aboard the first suborbital rocket research flight by private company Blue Origin.

Three NASA-funded rockets are set to launch from Poker Flat Research Range in Fairbanks, Alaska, in an experiment that seeks to reveal how auroral substorms affect the behavior and composition of ...

Physics experiments have changed the world irrevocably, altering our reality and enabling us to take gigantic leaps in technology. From ancient times to now, here's a look at some of the greatest ...

Does the universe notice that we're paying attention to a quantum experiment? The answer goes against everything we thought we knew.

A proposed funding program for small- and medium-scale projects reveals insights into the science, logistical challenges, and future of particle physics research. Particle physicists have a reputation ...

The most beautiful experiment in physics, according to a poll of Physics World readers, is the interference of single electrons in a Young’s double slit. Robert P Crease reports Simply beautiful – the ...

There are precision measurements, and then there’s the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. In each of LIGO’s twin gravitational wave detectors (one in Hanford, Washington, and the ...

If photons possess more quantum states than expected, it would overhaul our understanding of all particle physics – and now physicists have identified a way to test this radical idea in an experiment.