EurekAlert! News by Subject: Space & Planetary - News by Subject: Space & Planetary

Space & Planetary

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 29-Jun-2025 03:11 ET (29-Jun-2025 07:11 GMT/UTC)

World’s first next-generation perovskite betavoltaic cell developed

DGIST (Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology)
Peer-Reviewed Publication

- Professor Su-Il In’s team at DGIST successfully develops a betavoltaic cell combining a perovskite absorber layer with a radioactive isotope electrode. - Expected applications include long-term power solutions for space exploration, medical devices, military equipment, and more. - Research featured as the cover article in Chemical Communications.

Journal: Chemical Communications

Understanding why galaxy clusters are warm may explain the origin of giant interstellar structures

Nagoya University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The XRISM science team, including members from Nagoya University in Japan, has explained how a galaxy cluster maintains its heat, despite emitting X-rays that cool the hot gas at its center. The group discovered the existence of a fast-moving, high-temperature gas flow in the center of the Centaurus cluster. The result suggests how the cool down of the hot gas is avoided and why clusters look like they do.

Journal: Nature

Electricity-generating bacteria may power future innovations

Rice University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A team led by Rice University bioscientist Caroline Ajo-Franklin has discovered how certain bacteria breathe by generating electricity, using a natural process that pushes electrons into their surroundings instead of breathing on oxygen. The findings, published in Cell last month, could enable new developments in clean energy and industrial biotechnology.

Journal: Cell

UC Irvine researchers challenge model governing deformation of materials under stress

University of California - Irvine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Irvine, Calif., May 1, 2025 — University of California, Irvine scientists have expanded on a longstanding model governing the mechanics behind slip banding, a process that produces strain marks in metals under compression, gaining a new understanding of the behavior of advanced materials critical to energy systems, space exploration and nuclear applications.

Journal: Nature Communications

Spacecraft that sweat? A cool new way to tackle atmospheric reentry

Texas A&M University

The Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University is partnering with Canopy Aerospace to develop and test a 3D-printed material that releases or “sweats” a coolant gas to protect spacecraft. This technology, part of a $1.7 million Air Force Small Business Technology Transfer grant, could enable the design of fully and rapidly reusable spacecraft.

Gaia spots odd family of stars desperate to leave home

European Space Agency
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The European Space Agency’s Gaia mission has spotted an unusual family of stars all strangely eager to leave home – a family we couldn’t have discovered without the star-surveying spacecraft, and one unlike all others we have spotted to date.

Journal: The Astrophysical Journal

Loss of genetic plant diversity is visible from space

University of Copenhagen - The Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Increased vegetation growth in European mountains, driven by climate and land use changes, reduces genetic diversity of medicinal plants, as shown by a new study using satellite data and genetic analyses on Greek mountain tea.

Journal: Current Biology

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