A small, new-generation satellite designed and built at the University of Iowa has re-entered Earth’s atmosphere, after a successful mission to search for matter believed to be missing since the birth of the universe. The mini satellite, called HaloSat, was designed and built by a team led by Philip Kaaret, professor and chair in Department of Physics and Astronomy. HaloSat was the first astrophysics-focused and competitively selected CubeSat mission funded by NASA’s Astrophysics Division. 

Scott Baalrud, associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, offers insights into plans submitted to the U.S. Department of Energy to develop fusion energy, a virtually limitless, carbon-free energy source that has been elusive to create.

A team of scientists has detected sudden bursts of cosmic rays around the Voyagers. The bursts, they report, are caused by shock waves emanating from solar eruptions that spew particles out at a million miles an hour. The shock waves take more than a year to reach the Voyagers, but when they do, they excite cosmic-ray electrons nearby. Scientists have observed similar phenomena closer to home, around Earth and our planetary neighbors, but never in interstellar space.