Beijing (AFP) June 24, 2024
A Chinese probe carrying samples from the far side of the Moon is expected to return to Earth on Tuesday, capping a technically complex 53-day mission heralded as a world first. Beijing has not disclosed the spacecraft's estimated arrival time, but experts say it will likely touch down in a barren expanse of desert in the northern Inner Mongolia region at around midday (0400 GMT). It com

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jun 25, 2024
China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASC), the nation's leading space contractor, conducted a significant technological test on Sunday, bringing the company closer to its goal of building the nation's first reusable carrier rocket. The state-owned conglomerate announced that one of its subsidiaries, the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, used an experimental rocket to per

by Maria Iacobo | School of Architecture and Planning
Boston MA (SPX) Jun 25, 2024 A new MIT course this spring asked students to design what humans might need to comfortably work in and inhabit space. The time for these creations is now. While the NASA Apollo missions saw astronauts land on the moon, collect samples, and return home, the missions planned under Artemis, NASA's current moon exploration program, include establishing long-term bases

Canberra, Australia (SPX) Jun 25, 2024
Space exploration has always captivated our imagination, offering the promise of discovering new worlds and pushing the boundaries of human capability. As commercial space travel becomes more accessible, individuals with various underlying health conditions-including heart failure-may soon be among those venturing beyond Earth's atmosphere. This raises critical questions about the impact of spac

Rochester NY (SPX) Jun 25, 2024
The space environment is harsh and full of extreme radiation. Scientists designing spacecraft and satellites need materials that can withstand these conditions. In a paper published in January 2024, my team of materials researchers demonstrated that a next-generation semiconductor material called metal-halide perovskite can actually recover and heal itself from radiation damage. Meta

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Jun 25, 2024
Pegatron 5G, a leader in system integration in Taiwan, addressed the challenges and development opportunities of 5G O-RAN at the Open RAN Summit. The company also highlighted 5G O-RAN applications in smart factories, energy management, and education. For the maritime industry, Pegatron 5G introduced an application integrating low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite signals into a 5G network for ca

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jun 25, 2024
Firefly Aerospace, Inc., a space transportation company, has announced its Alpha Flight 5 (FLTA005) mission, named Noise of Summer, scheduled to launch no earlier than June 26. The launch window will open at 9 p.m. PST. "The Firefly team has rapidly matured our Alpha rocket and our responsive launch operations to deliver the dependable one-metric-ton rocket the market is demanding," said B

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Jun 25, 2024
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has observed a galaxy in an early stage of the universe. The light from the galaxy, J1120+0641, has taken nearly as long to reach Earth as the universe's age. Independent measurements have revealed a black hole at its center with a mass exceeding a billion solar masses. Recent observations aimed to identify an efficient feeding mechanism for this black hole,

Hamden CT (SPX) Jun 25, 2024
On Earth, you can look up at night and see the Moon shining bright from hundreds of thousands of miles away. But if you went to Venus, that wouldn't be the case. Not every planet has a moon - so why do some planets have several moons, while others have none? I'm a physics instructor who has followed the current theories that describe why some planets have moons and some don't. First,

Paris, France (SPX) Jun 25, 2024
Two large asteroids will safely pass Earth this week, coinciding with this year's Asteroid Day. Neither poses any risk to our planet, but one of them was only discovered a week ago, underscoring the need to enhance our detection capabilities for potentially hazardous objects. Asteroid 2024 MK, measuring between 120 and 260 meters, was discovered on 16 June 2024. It will fly past Earth on 2