As human spaceflight has advanced, so has the food that astronauts eat during their respective missions. This has evolved from dehydrated food during the Apollo missions to regular food that astronauts can get shipped from Earth. But an astronaut’s diet expanded thanks to a 2020 study published in Frontiers in Plant Science that evaluated space-grown lettuce in the International Space Station (ISS) with promising results. While that study exhibited “negative results” for human pathogens, a recent study published in Scientific Reports has demonstrated that human pathogens could infect space-grown lettuce, specifically leafy green vegetables, that could lead to food safety concerns during spaceflight from the microgravity conditions where the plants are grown. For the study, the researchers simulated microgravity conditions by rotating plants at 2 rotations per minute (RPM), 4 RPM, and unrotated and with and without S. enterica Typhimurium, which is a known salmonella bacterium, and later with Bacillus subtilis strain UD1022. The team analyzed changes in how much each bacteria invaded the plant’s pores, which function as the primary mechanism during photosynthesis for discharging oxygen and taking in carbon dioxide. Image of the plants that were analyzed under microgravity conditions for the study. (Credit: Evan Krape/ University of Delaware) In the end, they found that rotated plants in a microgravity environment enables salmonella to invade pores of rotated plants worse than unrotated plants, which the researchers note highlights food safety concerns for leafy green vegetables during spaceflight. “We need to be prepared for and reduce risks in space for those living now on the International Space Station and for those who might live there in the future,” said Dr. Kali Kniel, who is a Professor of Microbial Food Safety at the University of Delaware and a co-author on the study. “It is important to better understand how bacterial pathogens react to microgravity in order to develop appropriate mitigation strategies.” This study comes as NASA prepares to send astronauts back to the Moon for the first time since 1972 with the Artemis program. While the Moon still has some gravity (one-sixth of Earth), this study holds the potential to help scientists and future astronauts gain a better understanding of food safety concerns for long-term human spaceflight mission on the Moon, and potentially Mars. What new discoveries will researchers make about food safety concerns for spaceflight in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science! As always, keep doing science & keep looking up! Sources: National Air and Space Museum, Frontiers in Plant Science, Scientific Reports, ScienceDirect, Wikipedia, EurekAlert!, NASA

There’s been a lot of hype in the last couple of years about colonizing Mars and building a permanent scientific research base there that could bring humankind one step closer to becoming a multi-planetary civilization. But as most experts would agree, we’re still a long way away from achieving that goal, and perhaps the best place to begin learning is right here in Earth’s backyard; or more explicitly, the Moon. Image Credit: NASA NASA had put astronauts on the Moon’s surface before, specifically during the Apollo missions that transpired several decades ago, but those landings shouldn’t represent the be-all and end-all of lunar exploration. After all, those missions were relatively short-lived, and scientists still have many questions about our Moon that remain unanswered today. With that in mind, it makes sense to return the Moon because it would push science forward. As it would seem, NASA concurs: “We will go to the Moon in the next decade in a way we have never gone before,” said NASA’s acting administrator Jim Bridenstine. “We will go with innovative new technologies and systems to explore more locations across the surface than was ever thought possible. This time, when we go to the Moon, we will stay. And then we will use what we learn on the Moon to take the next giant leap - sending astronauts to Mars.” Related: Russia wants to build a lunar base by the 2030s In correspondence with this vision, NASA published a detailed outline on Tuesday regarding its plans to bring the Moon into focus throughout the next decade. The aforementioned outline encompasses each of the following proposed dates and goals: 2019 – Sending some of the first commercial equipment to the Moon to prepare for humankind’s return. 2020 – Demonstrate the capabilities of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft in a crewless manner via Exploration Mission-1 2022 – Fly astronauts around the Moon for the first time in five decades with NASA’s SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft via Exploration Mission-2 2022 – NASA will send the first component of the lunar-orbiting space lab called ‘Gateway’ to space 2023 – NASA will land a rover on the Moon to scout out potential resources for a science base on the lunar surface 2024 – NASA will use the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft to fly astronauts to the lunar-orbiting Gateway 2024 – NASA will test a lunar landing system for landing astronauts on the Moon’s surface 2026 – NASA will demonstrate a crewless lunar landing to validate its capabilities and safety 2028 – NASA will transport astronauts from the Gateway to the lunar surface to conduct the longest moonwalk in history (7 days) NASA draws much of its inspiration to revisit the Moon from the original Apollo missions, but the execution will be different this time around. The American space agency will utilize a reusable and sustainable architecture and summon the help of several acclaimed commercial partners to advance technology and scientific exploration more quickly than ever before. But perhaps most importantly, NASA wants to utilize the Moon’s resources to pave the way for permanent lunar settlement and apply everything we learn to similar missions that are being planned for Mars. Related: Here's what it might take to build a full-fledged lunar base Assuming NASA can meet all the deadlines mentioned above, humankind might get the chance to inhabit more than one space rock at a time. The new initiative will deploy and demonstrate all sorts of new technologies, including advanced new power systems, autonomous rovers and robotics, and the manufacturing of necessities from the resources available on the Moon. Indeed, things look bright for the future of space research, and so it ought to be interesting to see how things play out. Source: NASA

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved the first ever drug specifically for the treatment of postpartum depression--a common and often devastating condition for new mothers which interferes with the maternal-infant bond. The approval of the drug came after the success of two clinical trials."Postpartum depression is a serious condition that, when severe, can be life-threatening," noted the FDA's Dr. Tiffany Farchione, who is acting director of the Division of Psychiatry Products in the agency's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. "Women may experience thoughts about harming themselves or harming their child." The drug is called Zulesso (brexanolone) and would be delivered intravenously. "There is tremendous stigma around postpartum depression for women. Many women experience great shame and feel inadequate as mothers if they struggle with depression at a time that is supposed to be joyous ," says Dr. Martha Wald, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst at Duke University, in Winston-Salem, N.C. "Because of this stigma, many women choose to not seek help and endure great suffering in silence," she said. "Postpartum depression affects 15 to 20 percent of the general population, and at least half of this group goes untreated. As more targeted treatments like this become available, more mothers are likely to seek and benefit from treatment." Zulesso is different than any other antidepressant as it specifically acts on the main inhibitory neurotransmitter system of the brain, the GABA system. The drug also cocnatins an aturally occurring steroid in the body—allopregnanolone. "Allopregnanolone is known to modulate the stress response system in humans, which has been shown to be abnormally functioning in women with postpartum depression," explained Dr. Kristina Deligiannidis, the lead investigator on the clinical trials that led to Zulesso's approval. Source: MedicalXpress.com

When we burn fossil fuels for energy, such as coal, oil or natural gas, carbon dioxide (CO2) is released into the atmosphere. Luckily, not all of this anthropogenic CO2 stays in the atmosphere. The ocean is a natural sink for these emissions, and climate scientists have been eager to discover just how much human-made CO2 the ocean has taken on. A recent study by Nicolas Gruber, Professor of Environmental Physics at ETH Zurich, and a team of international scientists revealed how much anthropogenic carbon dioxide the ocean absorbed from 1994 to 2007. They discovered that during those 13 years, the ocean took up 31% of anthropogenic CO2—which is about 34 gigatons. These results mean that the CO2 sink is intact and has remained relatively stable for the past 200 years. However, scientists remain wary of CO2 saturation. As atmospheric CO2 increases, so does the quantity of CO2 absorbed by the ocean. Eventually, the functionality of the sink rises or falls as the point of CO2 saturation is reached. Continued monitoring will help scientists determine whether the ocean can continue its role as a sink and significant climate change moderator. The team of scientists also discovered regional differences in CO2 absorption rates. For example, the North Atlantic Ocean absorbed 20% less CO2 than expected during the years studied. Gruber believes this to be a result of climate variability, which caused the slowdown of circulation in that region. Similar fluctuations were cited in the Southern, Pacific, and Indian Ocean regions. As the ocean continues to operate as a CO2 sink, the chemistry of its water is changing. The additional CO2 acidifies ocean waters, leading to the dissolution of calcium carbonate. The study reported that the acidification reaches depths of more than 3,000 meters into the ocean, “deep into the ocean’s interior” as stated by Gruber. Shell-building marine animals such as corals, mussels, and snails need calcium carbonate. Without this building-block their shells are weakening and populations of these animals are declining, threatening a myriad of effects on delicately-balanced ocean ecosystems. In addition to monitoring the functionality of the marine sink, Gruber believes that “Documenting the chemical changes imparted on the ocean as a result of human activity is crucial, not least to understand the impact of these changes on marine life." Sources: PHYS ORG, Eureka Alert

Food and drug fraud is a global problem often affecting individuals in low-income regions and jeopardize the health and lives of their consumers. Detecting counterfeit or adulterated drugs and foods will not only save money but lives as well. Current fraud/fake detecting technological methods are expensive, energy-intensive, and largely unavailable other needed regions. To address this issue, researchers at the University of California engineered a simple new technique that can detect fake drugs from a video taken as the sample undergoes a disturbance. The technique is called "chronoprinting” and is similar to online photo tools used in image analysis algorithms for categorizing photos. Chronoprinting can inexpensively and accurately distinguish between pure samples from samples of inferior food and medicines—it is the unique connection between chemistry and computer science. Specifically, pure samples had a reliable chronoprint over multiple tests versus adulterated samples that produced different chronoprints. "The significant visual differences between the samples were both unexpected and exciting, and with them being consistent we knew this could be a useful way to identify a wide range of samples," says doctoral student, Brittney McKenzie. Findings of chronoprinting are presented in ACS Central Science and supported by grants from the National Science Foundation. "By basically converting a chemical sample to an image, we can take advantage of all the different image analysis algorithms that computer scientists have developed," says William Grover, an assistant professor of bioengineering in UC Riverside's Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering. "And as those algorithms get better, our ability to chemically identify a sample should get better, too." Learn more about chronoprinting: Source: ScienceDaily

Labroots believes in the sharing of knowledge, and we wish to highlight key celestial events for November 2023 that all skywatchers are sure to enjoy. The night sky is full of wonders, from our Moon to planets to objects both within and well beyond the reaches of our solar system, and the events listed below are sure to get you excited for the wonders of astronomy. Each event is labeled in all caps for the type of event (e.g., MOON, PLANET, COMET, etc.) to provide skywatchers additional excitement to catch these incredible events! November 3 (PLANET): Jupiter will be in opposition. This means the Sun, Earth and Jupiter will be lined up with Jupiter being the farthest of the objects. An object’s opposition means this is the most beneficial time to observe it, as it will be closest to Earth, along while being fully lit by the Sun, meaning it will be in its full phase. November 4 (PLANET): Saturn ends retrograde motion. This means Saturn’s path across the sky will stop going in reverse and start moving forward again. Retrograde motion is experienced for all planets since they all orbit at different speeds, so they appear to move backwards during specific times of our year. For example, Saturn began appearing to move backwards in the sky on June 17 and will end this period on November 4 of this year. November 5 (MOON): Last Quarter Moon. When observing from the Earth, this is when the entire left side of the Moon is lit while the right side is encased in darkness. November 6 (METEOR SHOWER): Peak of Southern Taurids meteor shower. This means the Southern Taurids meteor shower will be at its maximum and viewers are recommended to see them just after midnight with an estimated five meteors per hour and some are anticipated to be fireballs. November 9 (MOON and PLANET): The Earth’s Moon and the planet Venus will pass within 1-degree of each other. November 10 (COMET): The comet C/2023 H2 (Lemmon) will make its closest approach to Earth, also known as perigee, at 0.19 astronomical units (AU), or approximately 17,662,000 miles away. For context, the orbit of Mars is approximately 50 million miles from the Earth’s orbit, so Lemmon will be between Earth and Mars during its perigee. November 11 (MOON and STAR): The Earth’s Moon and the star Spica will pass within just over 2-degrees of each other. November 13 (MOON): New Moon. When observing from the Earth, this is when the entire Moon will be completely encased in darkness. November 14 (MOON, PLANET, and STAR): The Earth’s Moon will pass just over 1-degree from the planet Mercury and just under 1-degree from the star Antares. November 16 (PLANET and STAR): The planet Mercury will pass just over 2-degrees from the star Antares. November 18 (METEOR SHOWER, PLANET, and SUN): Peak of Leonids meteor shower. This means the Leonids meteor shower will be at its maximum and viewers are recommended to see them just after midnight with an estimated 10-15 meteors per hour and some are anticipated to be fireballs. Additionally, Mars will be in conjunction with the Sun, meaning the Red Planet will be on the opposite side of the Sun from Earth. This is clearly unobservable, but just a neat way to know where Mars will be located during this time. November 20 (MOON and PLANET): First Quarter Moon. When observing from the Earth, this is when the entire right side of the Moon is lit while the left side is encased in darkness. Additionally, the Moon will pass within just over 2-degrees from the planet Saturn. November 21 (METEOR SHOWER): Peak of Alpha Monocerotids meteor shower. This means the Alpha Monocerotids meteor shower will be at its maximum and viewers are recommended to see them just after midnight with variable number of meteors per hour and some are anticipated to be fireballs. November 25 (MOON and PLANET): The Earth’s Moon will pass just over 2-degrees from the planet Jupiter. November 27 (MOON and CONSTELLATION): Full Beaver Moon, which was given this name from Native American tribes in celebration of beavers. Additionally, the Moon will pass just over 1-degree from the constellation Pleiades. November 28 (METEOR SHOWER, PLANET, and STAR): Peak of November Orionids meteor shower. This means the November Orionids meteor shower will be at its maximum and viewers are recommended to see them just after midnight with three meteors per hour and some are anticipated to be fireballs. Additionally, the planet Venus will pass just over 3-degrees from the star Spica. Stay tuned for December 2023 celestial events! As always, keep doing science & keep looking up! Sources: Star Walk 2, EarthSky, Earth.com, EarthSky (1), In-The-Sky.org, NASA, ThePlanets.org, Almanac.com, NewScientist

One of the most important experiments astronauts are performing in space today is attempting to grow plants in space. Among those are edible vegetables, which you’ve probably by now seen astronauts munching on while aboard the International Space Station. Image Credit: International Space Station/NASA Learning to do this efficiently, and more importantly, on a larger scale, could one day help us with our future endeavor of colonizing other planets in our Solar System, such as Mars. This is an important step in space exploration, as having astronauts grow their own food would be much more cost-efficient than sending food supplies to other planets all the time. Although it’s possible to grow plants in space while in a controlled environment, it isn’t without its difficulties, and growing plants on a large scale in space may still provide to be even more difficult to do, as we really haven’t done it yet or know if it would work As pointed out in a study published in Botany Letters, current experiments have been confined to test subjects so limited in size that we don’t know how well large-scale agriculture will fare in a non-Earthly environment. We know that microgravity can have strange effects on plants, such as the flavor and seed structure, which means plants grown in space aren’t quite the same as plants grown on Earth. We are also limited on what we’re able to grow in space, which also continues to make agriculture in space difficult. Such problems can alter the nutritional value and other important characteristics of the plant that make it worth growing for astronauts. Nevertheless, recent studies have shown that space-grown plants are “safe” to eat and astronauts have already bitten into the first space-grown lettuce for science. The difficulties aren’t to say plants grown on other planets where gravity exists might not fare better, but so far, we have limited test trials to really have a good idea about plants grown in space. The study, led by Lucie Poulet and her colleagues from the University of Clermont-Ferrand, reveals that not enough is known yet about how long-term space-led agriculture will impact the growth of plants. Although we’ve tested in small scale, plants need adequate ventilation, light, and protection from the radiation that bombards the International Space Station. It’s easy to do that in a small testing box, but to have a full-sized farm for testing purposes on a floating laboratory in space is difficult to do. Expandable modules, such as the one by Bigelow that astronauts are testing in space at this point in time, may provide some use for this purpose, however we’re still in the middle of testing the longevity of these modules and their long-term performance is yet to be realized. Source: Science Daily

The Moon orbits the Earth just as the Earth orbits the Sun, but the Moon’s orbit is tidally-locked. In essence, this means that the Moon rotates once on its axis in the same amount of time that it takes to orbit the Earth; consequently, we always see the same face of the Moon. The face we don’t see from Earth’s surface is commonly called the ‘Dark Side’ of the Moon. While the lunar surface is no stranger to human visitors, we still know very little about the Moon’s Dark Side. Spacecraft have snapped pictures of it before, but a Chinese lander dubbed Chang'e-4 made history by becoming the first spacecraft to land on the Moon’s Dark Side to explore it in the name of science. Image Credit: China National Space Administration Citing a statement from the Chinese space agency, Chang'e-4 touched down on the lunar surface at 10:26 A.M. Beijing time (9:26 P.M. Eastern time) on Thursday. Soon after landing, engineers powered on the lander’s communication equipment and various observation instruments, one of which captured the image shown above. Related: The Moon is close, so shouldn't we colonize it instead of Mars? Hours after landing, the lander deployed its Jade Rabbit 2 rover to explore the Moon’s Dark Side in person. Its six wheels provide redundancy, ensuring that there are spares if one fails, and together they push the rover at speeds of up to 220 yards per hour. The rover can allegedly climb hills slanted up to 20 degrees and obstacles up to eight inches in height, making it ideal for crater and boulder exploration. Speaking of craters, the Von Kármán crater inside of the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin is one of the rover’s primary targets for scientific research. Once there, scientists will deploy the rover’s panoramic camera to discern its surroundings and use its Visible and Near-Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (VNIS) to investigate minerals at the base of the crater. Afterward, the rover’s onboard Lunar Penetrating Radar (LPR) will analyze the Moon’s sub-surface to help scientists paint a clearer picture of the Moon’s early history. Meanwhile, a Low-Frequency Spectrometer (LFS) at the landing site will investigate low-frequency radio waves from deep space to map out the cosmos. The Dark Side of the Moon is ideal for these types of explorations because the Moon itself blocks out much of Earth’s radio interference. Before last week, all lunar landings, both crewed and un-crewed, have transpired on the Earth-facing side of the Moon. The nickname ‘Dark Side’ is a bit of a misnomer because it receives plenty of sunlight; instead, it’s called that because of its ominousness and the fact that it’s out of the line of sight of Earth’s surface. With China’s space agency flexing its muscles after the latest achievement, it should be interesting to see how international space agencies respond. Will more countries visit the far side of the Moon now that China has already been there? Only time will tell. Source: BBC (1), BBC (2), Phys.org

NASA’s upcoming Space Launch System (SLS) rocket has seen delays time and time again due to several miscellaneous financial and manufacturing quandaries, but in a spark of good news just this past week, engineers with the American space agency have made significant progress on the project after assembling all the main structural components of the rocket stage. Image Credit: NASA/Steven Seipel “NASA has achieved a historic first milestone by completing the final join of the core stage structure for NASA’s Space Launch System, the world’s most powerful rocket,” commented Julie Bassler, the acting rocket stage manager for NASA’s SLS project. The assembly of the SLS rocket stage brings the project one step closer to fruition, but it’s far from finished. The next steps will involve attaching all four of the SLS rocket’s RS-25 engines, which were originally used by NASA’s now-retired space shuttle orbiter. Once they’re attached, NASA will follow up with various tests to ensure proper working order. “Now, to complete the stage, NASA will add the four RS-25 engines and complete the final integrated avionics and propulsion functional tests,” Bassler continued. “This is an exciting time as we finish the first-time production of the complex core stage that will provide the power to send the Artemis I mission to the Moon.” Related: NASA publicly acknowledges SLS rocket development issues Citing NASA’s official public statement regarding the matter, each of the SLS rocket’s components are bolted together with heavy-duty hardware. The final piece to be attached was the engine section, which will serve as the point of contact for the core stage’s four RS-25 engines. After the engines are attached, NASA will purportedly transport the core stage to the Mississippi-based Stennis Space Center, where the core stage can then be installed inside of the B-2 Test Stand for testing. There, engineers will fully fuel the rocket and ensure that the complex fuel system and powerful engines work as expected. Once completed, this rocket will become a key player in NASA’s upcoming Artemis-I mission, which will be the uncrewed maiden flight of the space agency’s SLS platform paired with the Orion spacecraft. Not only will this flight prove the SLS rocket’s capabilities, but it will prepare NASA for the Artemis-II mission, which will fly living astronauts to orbit around the Moon. “NASA and our contractor teams are making tremendous progress on every aspect of manufacturing, assembling and testing the complex systems needed to land American astronauts on the lunar surface by 2024,” Bassler said. “I am confident this hard work will result in a rocket that can provide the backbone for deep space transportation to the Moon and ultimately to Mars.” Related: Everything you need to know about NASA's Artemis missions Assuming everything goes according to plan, NASA may put astronauts on the lunar surface again by 2024, opening the door to lunar colonization and deep space travel for future generations. It should be interesting to see how everything pans out. If anything's certain, it's that all the lessons learned during the assembly of the first SLS rocket should make building the second, third, and so on of the SLS rocket platform much faster and more efficient on NASA's end. Source: NASA

As commercial spaceflight becomes readily available, more and more people will have access to space. In decades past, only a few, elite pilots with specialized training could brave the harsh space environment. Now, anyone with enough money can hop on a rocket and fly into outer space. With space travel becoming more accessible, scientists want to understand the long-term effects of simply being in outer space, especially with plans to colonize Mars in the near future. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, set out to answer this question. Once outside of Earth’s magnetosphere (the region around the Earth dominated by the planet’s magnetic field), living things start to experience galactic cosmic radiation or GCR. GCR is made up of high-energy nuclei of stable elements. It is estimated that astronauts will experience 10x more GCR exposure on deep space missions than they would aboard the International Space Station. There are very few humans that have been exposed to high levels of GCR, so these researchers used mice as a model. They modeled GCR in the lab by using a GCR simulation (produced and approved by NASA), then observed the cognitive and behavioral changes that occurred in the mice. What they found proved interesting: there was a difference in cognitive defects between the male and female mice that were tested. Male mice had defects in spatial learning after being exposed to GCR, whereas female mice experienced little to no defects. They also discovered a link between microglia and lasting defects in spatial learning. Microglial cells are found in the brain and spinal cord and make up about 10-15% of calls in the brain. GCR-induced learning deficiencies corresponded with microglia activation. Researchers found that when they depleted these microglia cells quickly after exposure to GCR, the spatial learning deficits of the male mice decreased. The depletion of the microglia was temporary, and after 15 days of treatment, microglia in the mice brains were able to return to normal levels. Finally, researchers were able to identify some biological markers that correlated to the increase and decrease of cognitive functions in the male mice. Blood monocyte levels taken after one week of GCR exposure can predict the long-term spatial learning effects seen in male mice (5 months later). This has more significant implications for human space travel, where astronauts have limited personnel and monitor their vitals. Predicting cognitive defects early on will allow astronauts to take preventative measures before it’s too late. Of course, these findings have only been shown in mice and need to be verified in human bodies before we start sending astronauts into deep space for long periods. It’s essential to do this research now— on the ground— to identify problems and solutions because the future of space travel is already upon us. We need to be prepared to meet it. Source: Science Advances

NASA recently helped add Germany as the 29th signatory nation for the Artemis Accords with a signing ceremony at the German Ambassador’s Residence in Washington D.C. on September 14, 2023, which comes after Argentina recently became the 28th signatory nation in July 2023, and adds to a growing list of nations who will be participating in the peaceful exploration of the Moon as NASA’s Artemis missions are prepared to land the first woman and person of color on the Moon, and the first humans on the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. “I’m thrilled to welcome Germany to the Artemis Accords family,” said Administrator Nelson. “Germany has long been one of NASA’s closest and most capable international partners, and their signing today demonstrates their leadership now and into the future – a future defined by limitless possibilities in space and the promise of goodwill here on Earth.” Signing on behalf of NASA was Administrator Bill Nelson and signing on behalf of Germany was the Director General of the German Space Agency at DLR, Dr. Walther Pelzer. Other relevant individuals in attendance included U.S. Department of State Acting Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, Jennifer Littlejohn; Executive Secretary of the U.S. National Space Council, Chirag Parikh; German Ambassador to the United States, Andreas Michaelis; and Federal German Coordinator of German Aerospace Policy, Dr. Anna Christmann. From left to right, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer, NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, National Space Council (NSpC) Executive Secretary Chirag Parikh, Federal Government Coordinator of German Aerospace Policy Anna Christmann, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, Director General of the German Space Agency at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Walther Pelzer, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs Jennifer R. Littlejohn, German Ambassador to the United States Andreas Michaelis, and ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst. (Credit: NASA/Keegan Barber) “Germany and the United States have been successful partners in space for a long time,” said Dr. Pelzer. “For example, German companies in the space sector are already central contributing to the Artemis program. The German signing of the Artemis Accords gives a further boost to this joint endeavor to carry out programs for the exploration of space. Thus, the Artemis Accords offer a multitude of new opportunities for industry and scientific research in Germany – and ultimately also across Europe.” Established in 2020, the Artemis Accords are designed to build upon the longstanding Outer Space Treaty for establishing a set of principles for the peaceful exploration of outer space, including the Moon, Mars, comets, and asteroids. Along with exploring outer space for peaceful purposes, the Artemis Accords also outline transparency, interoperability, emergency assistance, registration of space objects, release of scientific data, protecting heritage, space resources, deconfliction of activities, and orbital debris and spacecraft disposal as other core principles, as well. How will the Artemis Accords help humanity achieve successful exploration of outer space in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science! As always, keep doing science & keep looking up! Sources: NASA, NASA (1), NASA (2), United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, NASA (3)

Microbes can be used like little factories to churn out important or valuable chemicals. Now researchers are learning how to use bacteria to produce important metals. This process, called biomining, could be a practical and affordable way to obtain the crucial materials that will be needed to complete advanced space missions, such as those that will take humans to other planets. The Biorock project from the ESA (European Space Agency) sought to investigate whether microbes could be used to isolate rare earth elements from a type of rock called basalt, which is present on the Moon and Mars in abundance. Reporting in Frontiers in Microbiology, researchers have shown that not only can bacteria mine elements from basalt in space, but they do the job even more efficiently with the altered gravity on a spaceship. Under reduced gravity conditions, microbes biomined as much as 238 percent more vanadium from basalt compared to what they make in Earth's regular gravity. Vanadium is added to commercial steel to make it stronger and help it resist corrosion. That steel might be useful in construction on other planets. This process could be a way to get the materials we need, while avoiding the damage that can be caused by traditional mining practices that extract metals from the ground. “Mining is a necessary part of civilization, and it has been going on since people first started settling in villages and cities,” said principal Biorock investigator Charles Cockell, a professor at the UK Centre for Astrobiology at the University of Edinburgh. “Chemical methods of remediation can be very damaging, whereas bioremediation and bioleaching is environmentally friendly, and produces fewer toxins." Biomining doesn't take much energy, all that's needed is food for the microbes, he added. It can also be done in small spaces. In this work, the researchers grew microbes in a growth media with nutrients in an incubator on the international space station. The researchers chose some of those bugs to metabolize basalt or rocks in microgravity, simulating conditions on the Moon and Mars. More work will be needed to learn how this process works at larger scales, and whether it's feasible to perform this process an the surface of an asteroid, suggested Cockell. “These results will help us answer the mechanisms behind biomining and develop useful technology for Earth.” Sources: NASA, ESA, Frontiers in Microbiology

In a recent study published in Nature Communications, an international team of researchers discuss how impacts that planetary objects experience might affect porosity (the amount of empty space) and the potential for life more than previously thought. This study can potentially expand our understanding of planetary processes, and was conducted by researchers from Purdue University, Imperial College London, and the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. Planetary objects such as planets, moons, and asteroids are constantly hit by space rocks ranging from micrometeorites to house-sized boulders. The effect these impacts have on these objects could determine how they form, to include the potential for life. Using our Moon (Luna) as a testbed, the research team created simulations using data from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft to model how impacts can affect an object’s porosity, discovering that large impacts on Luna or other planetary bodies can affect surface structures, both in the immediate and distant vicinity of the impact. "NASA's GRAIL (Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory) mission measured the gravity of the moon and showed that the moon crust is very porous to very great depths," said Dr. Brandon Johnson, an Associate Professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at Purdue University, and a co-author on the study. "We didn't have a description of how the moon would get so porous. This is the first work that really shows that large impacts are capable of fracturing the moon's crust and introducing this porosity." Along with helping us better understanding how impacts affect the potential for life, another key potential of this study will be to help scientists determine where to look for this life, as well. "There's a lot to be excited about," said Mr. Sean Wiggins, a PhD student in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at Purdue University, and lead author on the study. "Our data explains a mystery. This research has implications for the early Earth and for Mars. If life existed back then, there were these intermittently big impacts that would sterilize the planet and boil off the oceans. But if you had life that could survive in pores and interstices a few hundred feet or even a few miles down, it could have survived. They could have provided these refuges where life could hide out from these kinds of impacts. These findings have a lot of potential for directing future missions on Mars or elsewhere. It can help direct searches, tell us where to look." Sources: Nature Communications As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!

Volcanic eruptions are one of the most awe-inspiring spectacles to witness. You are literally watching Earth at work as it spews out its insides onto the surface. As such, studying volcanoes are the best way to study the interior of the Earth as we can’t physically venture down into it. We’ve all seen eruptions videos from afar, up close with drones, and even from the International Space Station. Volcanoes are a wonder to behold, but what makes them so intriguing to study? While volcanoes can be a very destructive force, they are also a force of creation, as they are one of the primary reasons why life exists on our beautiful world. They are responsible for keeping the planet warm and the atmosphere thick so liquid water can exist here. The Earth’s land mass was built over billions of years by underground molten rock. Over time, this released gases into the atmosphere. In turn, this created Earth’s oceans, which allowed the first life forms to flourish. A volcano is formed when hot molten rock, ash, and gas escape from an opening in the Earth’s surface and is brought upon by the buildup of magma inside of the Earth. Eruptions are caused when this buildup gets so great that there is no other recourse than for the magma to erupt onto the surface. There are currently about 1,350 potentially active volcanoes worldwide, with many located along the Pacific Rim in what is known as the “Ring of Fire”. There are 161 potentially active volcanoes in the United States and its territories. In terms of other planets in our solar system, Jupiter’s moon, Io, is the most volcanically active body in the entire solar system, and far more active than the Earth. It has hundreds of active volcanoes, often erupting lava fountains dozens of miles (or kilometers) above the surface. While Earth’s volcanism is attributed to its molten outer core, volcanism on Io is attributed to what’s known as tidal heating. This phenomenon is the result of a tug-of-war between Jupiter's powerful gravity and smaller but precisely timed pulls from two neighboring moons that orbit farther from Jupiter – Europa and Ganymede. Another planetary body where volcanism used to be active is Mars, as just as Earth it was responsible for keeping the planet warm and maintaining a thick atmosphere, and possibly life. While recent research has postulated that Mars might be volcanically active today, the Red Planet is nothing more than a cold, dead world devoid of life on the surface. As always, keep doing science & keep looking up! Sources: NASA EPDC, One Geology Kids, United States Geological Survey, NASA Solar System Exploration, Space.com (1), Space.com (2)

What can samples collected from a comet almost 20 years ago tell us about the history of comets and our solar system? This is what a recent study published in Geochemistry hopes to address as a researcher from the Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) analyzed samples from Comet 81P/Wild 2 that were returned to Earth almost exactly 18 years ago today. This study holds the potential to help scientists not only gain greater insights into the origin and history of comets, but of our solar system, as well. Image of the Stardust sample return capsule being retrieved inside a protective covering after it was collected from its landing site at the U.S. Air Force Utah Test and Training Range in January 2006. (Credit: NASA) While Comet 81P/Wild 2 currently orbits in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, scientists have long hypothesized that the comet formed much farther out, possibly beyond the orbit of Neptune. Therefore, they interpreted that any samples collected from the comet would contain material from the interstellar medium before the formation of the solar system. However, the samples that returned to Earth from NASA’s Stardust mission have revealed material comprised of a variety of events that occurred during the early age of the solar system, as opposed to strictly before the solar system formed. Image of Comet 81P/Wild 2 that was taken by NASA’s Stardust mission on January 2, 2004, almost two years before the samples returned to Earth. The comet is estimated to be 3.1 miles (5 kilometers) in diameter and orbits in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. (Credit: NASA) “The Stardust samples, microscopic grains from a body less than two miles wide, contain a record of the deep past covering billions of miles,” said Dr. Ryan Ogliore, who is an associate professor of physics at WUSTL and sole author of the study. “After 18 years of interrogating this comet, we have a much better view of the solar system’s dynamic formative years.” For example, the comet’s materials are hypothesized to originate from a variety of different locations throughout the solar nebula as it slowly gathered material during its lifetime of a few billion years. Additionally, it was discovered that the amount of interstellar material that was previously hypothesized to comprise most of the comet was very little. How will the samples collected from Comet 81P/Wild 2 help scientists better understand the early solar system in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science! As always, keep doing science & keep looking up! Sources: Geochemistry, EurekAlert!, NASA, Wikipedia, Washington University in St. Louis

Somewhere on the red planet we know as Mars, NASA’s Curiosity Rover is driving around and studying the planet up close. Taking photographs, samples, and determining chemical makeup are only some of the things that the rover does on its free time, apart from taking selfies. But a recent Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science (AEGIS) software update for the rover, which was uploaded after development by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, now allows the rover to autonomously acquire targets for study via its laser spectrometer. Image Credit: NASA This is a major step up for the rover, as it can now make even more of its own decisions and operate more freely without human intervention. In a previous update, the vehicle’s navigation was made autonomous, but this is a step forward in making the instruments onboard the rover autonomous as well, which will allow NASA to focus their attention on other things while the rover searches for signs of life on its own. "This autonomy is particularly useful at times when getting the science team in the loop is difficult or impossible -- in the middle of a long drive, perhaps, or when the schedules of Earth, Mars and spacecraft activities lead to delays in sharing information between the planets," said robotics engineer Tara Estlin, the leader of AEGIS development at Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL). With this new autonomous feature, Curiosity can use its onboard laser to blast a rock, and then analyze the super-heated dust and vapor that gets released from it, all on its own. This process, which is performed by the onboard ChemCam, allows the rover to determine a chemical composition of a rock and send that information back to us here on Earth. "To select a target autonomously, the software's analysis of images uses adjustable criteria specified by scientists, such as identifying rocks based on their size or brightness," NASA explained in a statement. "The criteria can be changed depending on the rover's surroundings and the scientific goals of the measurements." In the last four years, NASA says that Curiosity has used its laser more than 350,000 times and that it has used its ChemCam to analyze the composition of as many as 1,400 rocks. It has also gone into safe mode a few times, giving NASA quite the scare, but engineers have always been able to reboot it remotely. The future of Martian exploration with Curiosity should be very bright, paving the way for human exploration in the future. Source: NASA via Big Think

NASA is preparing for next-generation deep space travel with its ultra-advanced Orion spacecraft, which is presumably the safest human-rated spacecraft ever made to date. The spacecraft has been transported by guppy plane over to Florida’s Kennedy Space Center after a long stay in New Orleans where its seven large segments were being welded together and built. Now safely in Florida, it’s being secured on the ‘birdcage,’ which is a new testing stand made for the Orion spacecraft. At the Kennedy Space Center, it will prepare for testing to ensure that the spacecraft will be safe and can withstand space-like conditions. After that’s completed, engineers will attach systems and subsystems to Orion to complete its build. “The module will receive its avionics; electrical power storage and distributions systems; thermal controls; cabin pressure control; command and data handling; communications and tracking; guidance, navigation and control; reaction control system propulsion; and flight software and computers,” NASA noted in a statement. Orion will eventually take astronauts to Mars, but before it does, NASA will be testing its safety with a test flight to the Moon. The first test flight will occur in 2018 and will be unmanned. At that time, the Orion spacecraft will orbit the Moon a few times before coming back to Earth. The Orion spacecraft will be affixed to NASA’s ultra powerful new SLS rocket when that time comes, and NASA expects to have astronauts travelling in the Orion Spacecraft as soon as 2020. Astronauts will first travel to the Moon, and will venture to Mars in the not-so-distant future. “The arrival of Orion is very exciting for us,” said Scott Wilson, NASA Orion production manager. “This is the first mission where the Orion spacecraft will be integrated with the large Space Launch System rocket. Orion is the vehicle that’s going to take astronauts to deep space.” ”At Kennedy, we are going to turn the pressure vessel into a fully operational spacecraft,” Wilson said. “We have a robust test program that is distributed across key facilities in several states. After we complete testing here, Orion will be sent to Plum Brook Station at the agency’s Glenn Research Center in Ohio for additional testing.” There is a lot of testing that still has to be done before the spacecraft is deemed space-worthy. Although the spacecraft is shiny and new, it’s still in the middle of its development and hasn’t yet been completed. After the build is finished, testing the spacecraft to ensure it’s worthy for the missions it will have placed in front of it are of utmost importance to ensure the safety of any astronauts that will ride inside of it. Source: NASA

If you have an autoimmune disease, your risk of heart disease automatically goes up. From the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM), in a study of almost one million people, researchers are providing conclusive evidence for people who need to pay extra close attention to their cardiovascular health. The IMIM study took place over six years, following a cohort of participants all between the ages of 35 and 85 and with no known history of heart disease. The goal was to calculate the risk of heart disease and overall mortality for people with autoimmune diseases, mainly rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and inflammatory bowel diseases, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. "We wanted to determine whether the risk of suffering a coronary heart disease, stroke, or overall mortality was increased in people suffering autoimmune inflammatory diseases,” explained principal investigator Maria Grau. With the study being as large as it was, Grau and her team also hoped to connect and calculate each individual disease with the incidence of specific pathologies. The study results showed that systemic disorders of connective tissue (SLE, RA) were associated with greater risk of both heart disease and overall mortality than inflammatory bowel diseases. However, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis were nonetheless linked to an increased risk of stroke and mortality. Grau says the unfortunate connection is due to the “interaction of inflammation, metabolic factors, therapy, and disease-related factors.” The new discovery isn’t all doom and gloom. The results bring to light potential new tools for predicting cardiovascular events. Grau suggests using autoimmune and inflammatory disease activity biomarkers as a way to anticipate the onset of adverse cardiac events such as heart attack or stroke. This approach could reduce the incidence or at least the severity of such events by shortening the time a person receives treatment. Factors that increase the risk of heart disease independently of autoimmune disease include diet and exercise habits, family history of disease, smoking, and high blood pressure. According to the present study’s results, people living with autoimmune or inflammatory diseases need to be particularly aware of these factors and their personal risk for heart disease. Prevention is nonetheless the best way to avoid heart problems, even for people who don’t have autoimmune diseases. The present study was published in the journal Heart. Source: Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute

An astrophysicist from UC Riverside (UCR) recently examined “two notable gaps in planetary science”, as noted by Dr. Stephen Kane, who is a Professor of Planetary Astrophysics at UCR, and lone author of the study. One gap includes a substantial size difference between the largest terrestrial planet, Earth, and the smallest gas giant, Neptune, with the latter being four times as wide and 17 times as massive, and nothing in between these two planets. “In other star systems there are many planets with masses in that gap. We call them super-Earths,” said Dr. Kane. The other gap regards the location between Mars and Jupiter, which is where the asteroid belt exists. “Planetary scientists often wish there was something in between those two planets. It seems like wasted real estate,” said Dr. Kane. Better understanding these two gaps could help scientists better understand the makeup of our solar system, as the continuous discovery of exoplanets throughout the cosmos “have revealed a large range of system architectures, many of which differ substantially from the solar system's model,” Dr. Kane notes in this paper. For the study, Dr. Kane used computer models to simulate the existence of a planet between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter that encompassed a mass range between 1 and 10 times the Earth’s mass, also known as a super-Earth, and an orbit between 2 and 4 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun, or between 2 and 4 Earth distances. Dr. Kane then observed the effects this super-Earth would have on the orbits of the eight planets. Unfortunately, the computer models spelled a terrible fate for our solar system. “This fictional planet gives a nudge to Jupiter that is just enough to destabilize everything else,” explains Dr. Kane. “Despite many astronomers having wished for this extra planet, it’s a good thing we don’t have it.” The reason why this nudge to Jupiter would spell doom for the rest of the solar system is due to the giant planet’s enormous gravitational influence, as it is 318 times as massive as the Earth. If Jupiter had its orbit disturbed even slightly, it would have a catastrophic cascading effect on every planetary body orbiting our Sun. The model’s simulations determined a null result if the super-Earth was placed at 3 AU, but Mercury will experience orbital instability if the super-Earth exists between 3.1 and 4.0 AU, with similar orbital instabilities occurring with Mars when the super-Earth exists between 2.0 and 2.7 AU. While the simulations also demonstrated “relatively small orbital perturbations” to both Jupiter and Saturn, the resulting angular momentum transferred to the outer planets could result in them being ejected from the solar system entirely at specific orbital resonance locations of the new planet. In astrophysics, an orbital resonance occurs when the orbital periods of two celestial bodies can be stated as a ratio of two integers. As an example, if Planet A conducts two orbits for every one orbit of Planet B, then these two bodies would be in a 2:1 resonance. In terms of this study, this means planetary ejection could occur when if the new planet shares an orbital resonance with one, or many, of the outer planets. If any of these scenarios aren’t dooming enough, this new super-Earth would alter the shape of the Earth’s orbit, which would result in cataclysmic climate alterations. If life doesn’t end entirely on Earth because of this, our planet would still be far less habitable than it is currently. While Dr. Kane said placing a super-Earth with a smaller mass directly between Mars and Jupiter, orbital stability could be maintained. However, slight adjustments in any direction and, “things would go poorly,” Dr. Kane said. Despite the gloomy findings, they gave Dr. Kane a newfound respect for the delicate mechanisms that help maintain order within our solar system. “Our solar system is more finely tuned than I appreciated before. It all works like intricate clock gears. Throw more gears into the mix and it all breaks,” said Dr. Kane. What new exoplanetary discoveries will help scientists better understand our own solar system in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science! Sources: The Planetary Science Journal, UC Riverside News, Astronomy & Astrophysics As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!

In a plea addressed to Mr. Trump — as well as President Obama and members of Congress — 365 companies and major investors emphasized their “deep commitment to addressing climate change,” in a joint letter announced on Wednesday in Marrakesh, Morocco, where global leaders are determining the next steps for the Paris deal at COP 22. American companies including Mars, Nike, Gap Inc., Levi Strauss, Unilever, L’Oreal, General Mills, Hewlett Packard, and Starbucks, have urged President-elect Donald J. Trump not to abandon the Paris climate deal, saying a failure by the United States to build a clean economy endangers American prosperity. “This is bigger than one person, one president,” the US secretary of state John Kerry said in Marrakech, before his last address to the UN climate summit being held there. “We have to figure out how we’re going to stop this.” Speaking in reference to Trump, Kerry said: “I ask you on behalf of billions of people around the world,” he said. “Do your own due diligence before making irrevocable choices. No-one has the right to make decisions that affect billions of people based solely on ideology or without proper input.” According to The Guardian, minutes before Kerry spoke, the US released the first long-term climate strategy under the Paris agreement, offering a blueprint for reducing national emissions by 80% by 2050, measured against 2005 levels. That presentation, like Kerry’s words, was given added urgency by the UN forecasting that 2016 will very likely be the hottest year on record, setting a new high for the third year running. Kerry said: “This year will contribute to the hottest decade in human history, which was preceded by the second hottest decade, which was preceded by the third-hottest decade. At some point even the strongest climate sceptic has to acknowledge that something is happening.” Leaders of global companies and state level politicians are also intent on setting the strong commitments of the Paris climate agreement in motion. Thomas Lingard, Climate Advocacy & Sustainability Strategy Director at Unilever, explained the need for the long-term planning component this way: “If you want to go on a journey, it helps to know where you’re going and how you’re going to get there. That’s true for any journey and it’s certainly true for the low-carbon transition.” “Flexibility in planning is necessary but it’s absolutely essential to start to figure out how nationals and sub-nationals are going to meet their targets. It’s one thing to sign an agreement that says we’re going to reduce 80 plus percent of our carbon emissions by 2050. It’s very much another thing to figure out exactly how to do that,” said Alex King, a Senior Policy Advisor to California’s Governor Jerry Brown. Kevin Rabinovitch, the global sustainability director for Mars Inc, said: “We are a food business. We have supply chains all over the world and at the base of every business is a farm, which is exposed to the climate. Since climate change affects the raw materials we buy, we are affected by it and if we don’t prevent the consequences that have been predicted, they will have a real impact for our business.” This is an important moment in global political and economic history, and we absolutely must come together to solve the immense challenges facing the planet. Climate change, water scarcity and deforestation are serious threats to society. It is imperative that global businesses, like Mars, do their part to face down those threats,” Barry Parkin, chief sustainability and health and wellbeing officer at Mars added. For businesses, the climate stakes are high. The New York Times explains how damage from climate change — especially from extreme weather events like hurricanes, flooding and drought — could shave as much as 5 percent off annual global gross domestic product by 2100, according to a study commissioned by the British government. Perhaps for this reason companies are so intent on encouraging Trump to stick to the Paris agreement. Even Fatih Birol, executive director of The International Energy Agency, issued a warning to Trump that policy should be based on the realities of the energy sector: “We give the same advice to all leaders across the world: making decisions about the energy sector needs good information and an overview of developments, including technological improvements. Any decision making, in my view, needs to look at the latest data across the sector very carefully.” He added: “Decisions taken [by governments] about the energy sector have very long lasting implications, and not just for this sector, but across the whole economy, and they have environmental and social impacts.” Source: The Guardian, The New York Times, Clean Energy News, Carbon-Pulse

SpaceX is perhaps best known for its reusable Falcon 9 rocket, the same variety that will be lofting astronauts into outer space from American soil on Wednesday for the first time since the Space Shuttle era almost a decade ago. But another of SpaceX’s projects that appears to be gaining steam is Starship, a space vehicle crafted out of shiny stainless steel that CEO Elon Musk hopes will one day play a part in interplanetary travel. One of the questions that comes up a lot is why SpaceX chose to use stainless steel as Starship’s primary build material, as its weight-to-strength ratio leaves a lot to be desired. This is the primary reason why most modern rocketry uses some form of aluminum alloy, as it’s both lighter and cheaper to send to space. But as it turns out, the answer to that is fairly simple: temperature tolerance. The whole idea behind Starship is to be an interplanetary vehicle, and this means that it’ll be subjected to both freezing and scorching temperatures as it ascends from and descends into planetary atmospheres, not once, but twice. As it turns out, this is where stainless steel shines, as it has a particularly good tolerance to temperature variances that many other materials simply can’t compete with. When starship enters Mars’ incredibly thin atmosphere, it will do so in such a way that the amount of drag is increased to slow the vehicle down as it falls. With drag comes heat, and in this case, more heat than even stainless steel can handle. SpaceX aims to cool Starship’s descent with a liquid methane pump underneath the Starship’s surface, which will essentially fight back against the heat similar to how humans sweat in the heat. As of now, the Starship prototypes aren’t much to write home about, but SpaceX intends to improve the manufacturing process as it goes to eventually build what some might call one of the most ambitious interplanetary space vehicles of its time. It should be interesting to see how this pans out… Related: SpaceX’s Starship will be a game-changer for deep space travel

The brain undergoes short-term and long-term changes following time in space. The corresponding study was published in Nature. The human brain adapts to new environments via neuroplasticity. Until now, however, little has been known about how brains cope in extreme environmental conditions, such as a change in gravitational forces. Knowing more about this is important for considering long-term spaceflight missions to the International Space Station (ISS) or future missions to Mars. To understand more about how being in space for extended periods of time may affect the brain, researchers examined magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data from 14 astronauts in a resting state before, shortly after, and eight months after spaceflight. “We found that connectivity was altered after spaceflight in regions which support the integration of different types of information, rather than dealing with only one type each time, such as visual, auditory, or movement information,” Postdoctoral Researcher Steven Jillings and Prof Floris Wuyts from the University of Antwerp, both authors of the study, in a press release. “Moreover, we found that some of these altered communication patterns were retained throughout eight months of being back on Earth. At the same time, some brain changes returned to the level of how the areas were functioning before the space mission," they added. In the paper, the researchers wrote that it is ‘somewhat surprising’ that connectivity changes in the brain sustained for at least eight months following a space mission, given that space travelers functionally readapt to Earth’s environment in a matter of days to weeks. They noted, however, that sustained changes may indicate a learning effect, whereas transient changes may suggest a readaptation after returning to gravitational levels on Earth. The researchers cautioned that their findings might be limited due to their small sample size, although additionally noted that this is inevitable as very few people travel to space. They further noted that post-flight MRI scans occurred an average of nine days after re-entry, meaning they could not necessarily detect changes before this point. Sources: Neuroscience News, Nature

Russian cosmonaut, Oleg Kononenko, has successfully carried out an experiment to engineer human cartilage in microgravity aboard the International Space Station. This is the first time human cartilage has been created outside of Earth. Although bioprinters can already produce human cells and tissue, they rely on gravity and scaffolds to bring them together. In space, of course, this presents an issue. To overcome it, a team of scientists devised a system that replaced gravity with magnetism to form the tissue. Inside a bespoke assembly machine, they were able to counteract the effects of microgravity and acceleration. While the cartridge cells themselves were not magnetic, the assembly's fluid was, meaning it could be used to hold cells in place to create tissue. Prior to the experiment, the Earth-bound scientists developed mathematical models and other simulations to understand how the process could work. They then developed spheroids based on human cartilage cells and sent them, alongside a custom made magnetic bioassembler, to the International Space Station for testing by Konenenko. The scientists hope that the same magnetic assembly method may be used to construct materials in space from both biological and inorganic materials in the future. This, they say, would be essential for long-term space travel, such as that needed to visit other planets, in the case of medical emergencies that may require the replacement of bones and other biological matter. "One could imagine not too far in the future that if we colonise Mars or do long-term space travel, we might want to do experiments where we build functional tissues in space and test them in extraterrestrial environments," says Utkan Demirci, a radiologist from Stanford University. Although developing instruments capable of this feat is some time off, the current study nevertheless points to methods that may significantly advance tissue engineering. In any case, coming after news that meat and fruits can now be grown in space as well, space travel is looking increasingly feasible. Sources: Science Alert, IEEE Spectrum

On April 9th, 2022, the International Space Station welcomed its very first private guests, marking the beginning of a new era in the future of human spaceflight. On April 8th, SpaceX rocket Falcon 9 carried four people on the Dragon Endeavour spacecraft for the private spaceflight company Axiom Mission (Ax-1) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Larry Connor, founder and managing partner of real estate investment firm The Connor Group from Ohio; Mark Pathy, CEO of investment and financing company MAVRIK from Canada; and Eytan Stibbe, a former Israeli Air Force pilot and founder of investment fund Vital Capital, from Israel, secured their seats by paying a few million USD for their first space voyage. These three were joined by an ex-NASA astronaut, Michael López-Alegría, who is now the chief astronaut at Axiom. Taking off to space is not as easy as taking a bus, train, or plane on Earth. All of them went through rigorous training spanning about 1000 hours. Out of their 10-day mission, they will spend eight days on the ISS. During this time, these crew members will be presenting 25 different scientific research and technology demonstrations, ranging from astrophysics to neuroscience, and they will spend about 100 hours doing this work. The idea is to create a portfolio that would provide critical insights into the state of advanced technologies in space, explicitly preparing Axiom for the world’s first commercial space module, which is scheduled to be launched in 2024. The ultimate plan of Axiom is to attach multiple modules to the ISS which will detach as an independent station eventually. This space station will become an important platform to conduct research in the microgravity environment, and space exploration of the Moon, and Mars. Moreover, this collaboration between NASA and the private sector for the space industry undoubtedly will revolutionize space travel in the coming years. Source: NASA news, Axiom, SpaceX

SpaceX is going to attempt another launch of one of the commercial space company’s reusable Falcon 9 rockets tonight at around 1:26 A.M. Eastern time from the Cape Canaveral launch site in Florida. Image Credit: SpaceX The rocket will be carrying a Japanese communications satellite known as JCSAT-16. This class of satellite is used for a variety of things; most notably, keeping an eye on changes in the atmospheric environment, such as checking radiation levels, gravitational changes, and magnetic field changes just to name a few. There are so many of these little guys in space that it’s hardly a milestone mission, but it’s a mission that has been deemed important enough to get the clearance to go into space nonetheless. SpaceX will be live-streaming the launch event on their web page, and we’ve embedded the video for you below if you want to tune in. The live stream will begin approximately 20 minutes prior to the launch. If for any reason the launch has to get postponed, whether it's because of poor weather conditions or an unseen malfunction prior to the launch, SpaceX will have a two-hour window before they'll have to postpone the launch for another day. The Verge reports that SpaceX has a backup launch date on August 15th if they can't meet their expectations today. After the rocket (hopefully) completes its primary mission successfully, it will then attempt to land, once again, on the surface of a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of Florida. Although SpaceX has seen its fair share of failures with this process in the last year or two, it has also redeemed itself by making the landing process far more streamlined and stable than it ever has been. This can be attributed to the company’s desires to test their limits in order to develop baselines and improve future reliability. SpaceX was recently granted a second guaranteed mission from NASA, so the company’s footprint in the space industry is growing and SpaceX’s future is looking very bright in terms of space exploration, as they share a common goal with NASA in the quest to put mankind on Mars. Source: SpaceX, The Verge, Wired

In a recent study published in Geosciences, a team of researchers led by The Ohio State University have examined dust gathered from glacier ice in Tibet in hopes of learning more about the Earth’s climate change history. This study holds the potential to not only help us better understand past climate change, but to predict future climate change, as well. "By looking at dust composition through the ice, we can extract information about Earth's environmental condition at the time the snow was deposited, and the ice was formed," said Dr. Emilie Beaudon, who is a senior research associate at the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, and a co-author on the study. "We might be able to learn if it was a relatively dry or wet period or try to infer where the dust originally came from, and thereby obtain information on past atmospheric influences." She also refers to the gathered samples as “cryo-dust”. For the study, the researchers utilized ice cores—drilled cylinders of ice gathered from ice caps and glaciers—to learn about the Central Asian dust cycle which can provide clues as to both biological and geological history in the region. The ice for this study was gathered from the Guliya Ice Cap in Northwestern Tibet. One of the goals of the study was to determine if the particles in the drilled ice originated from either the local region or something distant. "What we wanted to prove with these preliminary samples is that there is actual variability in their geochemistry and mineralogy," said Dr. Beaudon. "We found that it's not all the same dust coming from the same desert, and even in the same glacier, you don't always have the same material." Dr. Beaudon ultimately hopes to examine glacial records on planets other than Earth. "My goal is to acquire a lot of expertise in cryo-dust," said Dr. Beaudon. "If there are ever ice cores drilled or samples taken from Mars or any other planet, I hope to study them." Sources: Geosciences As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!

Moons occur throughout our solar system. The Earth only has one, but other sport several, including Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, to name a few. But given the idea that planets can capture and ultimately possess moons, is it possible for natural satellites in and of themselves to do the same? The idea of moons sporting their own moons isn’t new, but astronomers have yet to observe such an occurrence anywhere in our solar system. Theoretically, it’s possible for a moon to have its own moon, but the circumstances would be particularly challenging to produce, which might explain why such an occurrence has proven to be so elusive. Several factors determine a world’s eligibility for having a moon. Perhaps the most imperative is the world’s hill sphere, but also important is how such a moon would orbit that world. The hill sphere is essentially an invisible threshold that dictates how far away a moon can be before it becomes influenced more by the Sun’s gravitational pull than by the gravity of the world it orbits. The moon resides inside of the Earth’s hill sphere, which is why it continues to orbit the Earth instead of being pulled toward the sun. If a moon were to orbit another moon, then it would need to reside in that moon’s tiny hill sphere. As for the orbit, many moons are tidally locked to their host planets; this would make it more challenging for those moons to harbor their own moons because the latter would be drawn into the host moon’s surface by gravity more easily. Given the circumstances, the ideal moon candidate for hosting its own moon would be one with a more significant hill sphere and with a non-tidally-locked orbit around its host planet. But good luck finding that…

NASA astronauts first visited the Moon in the 1960s during the American space agency’s Apollo program, but fast-forward to modern times, and it almost seems like we’ve left Earth’s only natural satellite in the dust. That is… until recently. While the last several years have witnessed a growing interest in visiting the Martian surface, 2019 seems to be the year of the Moon. As it would seem, NASA is interested in putting humankind back on the lunar surface, perhaps permanently, in the form of a lunar base that would be used for scientific research purposes much like the International Space Station. The United States isn’t the only nation eyeballing the Moon as a scientific hotspot; so too are a plethora of others around the globe, including China and Israel to name a few. China recently became the first nation to land a spacecraft on the Moon’s Dark Side, while Israel only just recently launched a mission that would aspire to land on the lunar surface. But with the Moon gaining traction in the scientific community, what exactly is it that we expect to find there? For one, it’s an excellent place for humankind to learn how to perfect deep space exploration before traveling several months away to the red planet of Mars, but in addition to that, there’s still so much we don’t understand about the Moon that scientific exploration could shed some light on. It should be interesting to see how science might probe the Moon in the coming years, primarily as interest in exploring the Earth-orbiting space rock increases.