Telegraph: Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShip Two, a rocket designed to carry tourists into space, made its first solo glide flight yesterday. Previously, the aircraft had only flown attached to the wing of its mother ship. On Sunday, SpaceShip Two and its two pilots were carried up to an altitude of 14 000 meters, released over the Mojave Desert, and flew for 11 minutes before landing at an airport runway. The “flight marks another key milestone towards opening the space frontier for private individuals, researchers, and explorers,” said John Gedmark, executive director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation.
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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