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Plato, the European Space Agency’s mission to discover Earth-like exoplanets, successfully passed a first round of tests designed to ensure that the spacecraft is fit for launch. As this video shows, the tests consist of vigorously shaking the spacecraft to mimic the powerful jolts and vibrations that Plato will experience during launch.

These so-called ‘vibration tests’, are arranged in three parts. In this clip, we see the phase when the spacecraft, mounted on a ‘quad’ shaker, is jolted up and down (Z axis). In the other two stages, on top a ‘lateral’ shaker, the spacecraft is jiggled back

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 15, 2026
For decades, GPS has been treated as a stable, almost invisible layer of modern technology - always present, always reliable. Yet as 2026 approaches, subtle but meaningful changes are beginning to reshape how global navigation systems operate behind the scenes.

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 15, 2026
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Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Jan 15, 2026
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Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 15, 2026
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Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 14, 2026
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Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 15, 2026
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Berlin, Germany (SPX) Jan 15, 2026
Since the James Webb Space Telescope began science operations in December 2021 some 1.5 million kilometres from Earth, astronomers have been puzzled by compact, intensely red sources scattered through its deep images of the early universe. These so called little red dots appear when the universe is only several hundred million years old, then seem to vanish about a billion years later, prompting

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 15, 2026
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