A robot developed by NASA in preparation for missions to Mars is returning to the USA following a decade at the University of Edinburgh.

Light sails propelled by radiation from high-power lasers offer a possible route to fuel-free space propulsion. However, existing designs face tradeoffs between reflectivity, heating, and weight. A recent study presents a nanoscale, multi-dielectric photonic crystal light sail that reflects propulsion laser light while remaining largely transparent to other wavelengths. The proof-of-concept membrane integrates multiple materials and demonstrates a scalable design strategy for laser-driven spacecraft systems.

A new study by researchers at the SETI Institute suggests stellar “space weather” could make radio signals from extraterrestrial intelligence harder to detect. Stellar activity and plasma turbulence near a transmitting planet can broaden an otherwise ultra-narrow signal, spreading its power across more frequencies and making it more difficult to detect in traditional narrowband searches.

“SETI searches are often optimized for extremely narrow signals. If a signal gets broadened by its own star’s environment, it can slip below our detection thresholds, even if it’s there, potentially helping explain some of the radio silence we’ve seen in technosignature searches,” said Dr. Vishal Gajjar, Astronomer at the SETI Institute and lead author of the paper.