“The researchers modified this longstanding, high-intensity process to induce a gentler transformation that retains long polymer chains in their natural state, rather than cutting them into shorter chains. Resembling tangled spaghetti, their so-called rubber “tanglemer” endows the new product with heightened durability by outnumbering crosslinks with entanglements.”

“We used a low-intensity processing method, based on latex processing methods, that preserved the long polymer chains,” Nian said.

Glass control:
https://phys.org/news/2025-05-uncover-mechanism-enabling-glasses-brittleness.html

“Materials with self-adaptive mechanical responses have long been sought after in material science. Using computer simulations, researchers at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Hyderabad, now show how such adaptive behavior can emerge in active glasses, which are widely used as models for biological tissues.
The findings, published in the journal Nature Physics, provide new insights—ranging from how cells might regulate their glassiness to aiding in the design of new metamaterials.”

(“re-edited to replace all in-flight photography with modern HD transfers…”

Implications perhaps for solid rocket that resist cold….better seals?

Richard M: Ouch is right! This is another indication that there is great opportunity here for new rocket companies, should they get their rockets off the ground.

In NSSL Phase 2, the ULA Vulcan program has performed unsatisfactorily this past year. Major issues with the Vulcan have overshadowed its successful certification resulting in delays to the launch of four national security missions. Despite the retirement of highly successful Atlas and Delta launch vehicles, the transition to Vulcan has been slow and continues to impact the completion of Space Force mission objectives. To address these challenges ULA has increased its engineering resources and management focus to resolve design issues. Government and Federally Funded Research and Development Center personnel have increased involvement in technical and program management challenges. ULA has also lost launch opportunities on the NSSL Phase 3, Lane 1 contract due to not having a certified launch vehicle until April 2025. ULA completed certification of their Block 0 design for the Eastern Range on 25 March 2025 with open work. Risk reduction plans have been agreed to and signed between the Space Force and ULA to reduce known risks to flyable “Low-Medium” prior to the first NSSL Vulcan launch. The first NSSL Vulcan mission is USSF-106 with an ILC date in July 2025. Elevated mission risks are assessed and accepted by the Space Flight Worthiness Certification authority during the Flight Readiness Review (FRR) prior to every NSSL launch. The FRR is typically scheduled 1-2 weeks prior to launch.

For these programs, the prime contractors must re-establish baselines, establish a culture of accountability, and repair trust deficit to prove to the SAE that they are adopting the acquisition principles necessary to deliver capabilities at speed, on cost and on schedule.

Ouch.

Link to the testimony: https://armedservices.house.gov/uploadedfiles/14_may_on_fy26_national_security_space_programs_-_maj_gen_purdy_approved_for_release.pdf (excerpted remarks are located on page 9)

No comment yet from Tory Bruno.

The UAE hires Firefly’s Blue Ghost to land its Rashid-2 rover on the far side of the Moon

What do you know, it turns out there’s a business case for sending stuff to the Moon that does not involve a NASA contract….