ScienceNow: Researchers eager to hitchhike on a military/civilian weather satellite mission had their hopes dashed today. The Department of Defense has dropped a number of climate sensors from a satellite program as part of a restructuring of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS). The program had suffered schedule delays and billions in cost overruns (Science, 2 June, p. 1296), and the Pentagon says the overall changes will help save about $2.4 billion.
The finding that the Saturnian moon may host layers of icy slush instead of a global ocean could change how planetary scientists think about other icy moons as well.
Modeling the shapes of tree branches, neurons, and blood vessels is a thorny problem, but researchers have just discovered that much of the math has already been done.
January 29, 2026 12:52 PM
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