China successfully conducted the maiden flight of its Long March 5 rocket this month, which is a heavy-lifting type of rocket designed for taking objects up to 26 tons into low Earth orbit (LEO) or 15 tons into geostationary orbit. Image Credit: China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation This geostationary orbit rating is perfect for helping China to advance the construction of its upcoming Tiangong-3 space station, which won’t be quite as big as the International Space Station, but will still be relatively large compared to other previous China-only space stations. Operations at said space station are expected to begin sometime in 2022. Comparing Long March 5 to United States’ rocket technology, the SpaceX Falcon 9, which has been used on several International Space Station resupply missions, can carry 22 tons into LEO, but an upcoming Falcon Heavy rocket will boost that number up to 54 tons. The Long March 5 is China's tallest ever rocket, standing a full 57 meters tall. It launched from the Wenchang launch center on Hainan Island at approximately 8:43 A.M. EDT on November 3rd. According to Chinese news agencies, very little is known about what kind of payload was on the new Long March 5 rocket, but speculation seems to pointing in the direction of experimental electric propulsion spacecraft. These kinds of spacecraft would be perfect for traveling to the Moon or even Mars because it works for a long time and can accelerate to high rates of speed while in space. Many nations are experimenting with this kind of propulsion, including the United States, and one of the most recent examples to be featured is an Ion Drive engine created by Dr Patrick Neumann. One can only speculate on what the rocket may have been carrying, but the bigger picture here is that China is advancing their rocket technology just like the rest of the world so they can send larger things into space. China’s space agency, as usual, operates in a secretive manner and doesn’t share many details with the rest of the world. The launch served primarily as a test launch to ensure that the rocket could safely get itself into space without any problems. Following a series of additional test flights, China may deem the rocket stable enough for future space missions. A video of the rocket launch is available to watch below: Source: Space.com

One of the projects NASA is currently responsible for is developing the Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lifting rocket. This rocket will be incredibly powerful, enabling the space agency to launch crewed capsules into deep space for distant space missions, such as those to Mars. Image Credit: NASA/MSFC The powerful rocket will be capable of sending astronauts beyond Earth’s orbit, which is a necessary step for getting mankind to another planet. Related: NASA successfull test-fires an SLS rocket booster On the other hand, while the first test launch of this monstrous rocket was originally planned for November of 2018, NASA is expecting some delays and has come out with the official word that a test launch will be pushed back until early 2019 or later. The delays are to address problems in the rocket’s core design, in which cracking issues and other safety hazards have been observed. As we've learned with rocket failures in the past, these aren't the kinds of technical difficulties you want to flip a coin on. These types technical problems could put future astronauts at risk of catastrophic failure and death if a green light were to be given for a launch without first properly addressing the concerns. While the 2018 delay was bad enough, since Congress wanted to see a launch as soon as 2016, the official word that another delay is inevitable means that NASA has reached a saddening 3-year delay in test-launching the SLS rocket. In the meantime, third-party space companies like Blue Origin and SpaceX are already developing more powerful rockets that will be capable of lifting heavy (crewed) payloads into deep space. Blue Origin recently detailed their New Glenn rocket, while SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket has been detailed for quite some time. It’s possible that the U.S. government may force NASA to take a different approach to space travel given all the delays that they’re experiencing despite Congress’ growing impatience. Unfortunately, NASA’s budget is only so large and there are also other priorities the space agency is obligated to focus on. NASA is expected to re-think their entire plan and release a new schedule some time in September. Source: The Verge

There was a catastrophic rocket explosion on SpaceX’s home launch pad not too long ago during a point in time when the rocket’s engines weren’t even running yet, and there was no clear sign as to what may have caused it. Despite how difficult it was proving to unravel the mystery of what caused it, preliminary reports from the space agency’s investigative efforts, which involved multiple other organizations like NASA and the United States Air Force, have revealed that it may have been an issue with the fuel tanks during fueling, as the fuel probably reacted with the material in the tanks. Image Credit: SpaceX Regardless of what might have caused it, the one thing on SpaceX’s mind right now is getting back up and running. It might be a while, up to a year, before SpaceX gets to send another rocket on its moderately-damaged home launch pad, but that won’t stop the commercial space company from borrowing another one. You may remember that SpaceX wanted to borrow one of the United States Air Force’s launch pads; one located in the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. If approved as expected by the Federal Aviation Administration, the event would have taken place already on December 16th, but some delays have pushed plans back a little while longer. Now, SpaceX estimates that their next Falcon 9 rocket launch will take place in January instead. Although this pushes back a lot of future plans until 2018, the move is still a lot better than having to wait 12 months for the company’s own launch pad to be repaired. Most of the wait comes the fact that SpaceX is required to go through the testing stages of their Falcon 9 rocket once again to ensure their space vehicle is safe for liftoff. The last thing the United States government wants to see is another SpaceX rocket exploding for no apparent reason. These kinds of anomalies are even more scary when you start to think that a Falcon 9 or Falcon Heavy rocket may one day carry astronauts to space, whether it’s to the International Space Station, or to another planet like Mars. Since the January ETA only leaves SpaceX with no more than a month to test their rocket for safety and prepare it for liftoff, the estimate may be a little bit over-hopeful, but it shouldn’t be too long before SpaceX gets to launch another rocket. Hopefully the commercial space company can get its own launch pad completed as they wait. Source: Space.com

SpaceX reportedly signed a $700 million contract with NASA in December of 2015 to ship cargo to the International Space Station a total of five times in the near future. This isn’t the first time that SpaceX has obtained a contract through NASA – there was also a time in 2008 when the company scored a contract and agreed to produce equipment for taking supplies to space. Most of the details of the contracts are confidential, so there’s little known about what SpaceX will be taking to space, but the signing does show that NASA has the intent to use SpaceX for future space objectives. "We order resupply flights from our commercial providers via the contract modification process based on the mission needs to resupply the international space station," said Cheryl M. Warner, NASA spokeswoman. Despite both successes and failures, SpaceX remains one of the most reliable American commercial space companies that can provide the technology NASA needs to get its supplies into space. Another American commercial space company, Orbital ATK, also helps to provide NASA with space delivery services, although NASA seems to tap into SpaceX a lot more. Getting American commercial space companies to provide NASA with the resources it needs would make the United States a lot less dependent on Russia and their Soyuz spacecraft for getting astronauts to and from space, and that’s eventually one of the goals for NASA in the long term. SpaceX has been experimenting a lot with reusable rocket technology as of late, and their latest Falcon 9 rocket is equipped to land after finishing its primary mission. Although the Falcon 9 was able to land beautifully on solid ground one time, all other recent attempts to land the rocket on a drone ship at sea have been much less successful. Reusable rockets, if they can be perfected, will be perfect for NASA and their shipment needs, because they are significantly less expensive. Rather than paying $16,000,000 every time a new rocket needs to be used, SpaceX could just use the same rocket over again, but re-fuel it for the minimal cost of $200,000. Combined with NASA’s recently-enlarged budget, this may mean more potential for space missions in coming years, which is perfect for the company’s growing interest in deep space missions, like sending human beings to Mars in the next few decades. Source: Space News

Artemis is a bold new mission by NASA to push humanity forward in its ongoing quest to achieve long-term deep space travel. Artemis will begin by utilizing the Moon as the starting ground, and later, develop a gateway that could facilitate the transport of humans to more distant places, like Mars. Perhaps one of the most iconic components of the Artemis mission is NASA’s upcoming ‘SLS’ rocket. Image Credit: NASA SLS, which is short for Space Launch System, will be the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built. Powering this behemoth rocket will be four flight-proven RS-25 engines, which are the same type of engine that powered NASA’s iconic (and now retired) space shuttle for three decades. Perhaps unsurprisingly, these RS-25 engines were given some upgrades to better suit the mission at hand. The SLS rocket in and of itself is far from complete, but the rocket’s first core stage has been fully assembled and is now ready to undergo rigorous testing to ensure its readiness for space travel. Just this past week, NASA loaded the SLS first core stage onto its Pegasus barge so that it can float its way up the Mississippi river from the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana to the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Related: Here's why NASA's Artemis mission is so important After the SLS first core stages arrives at its destination, it will undergo a test campaign that NASA calls the ‘Green Run,’ which will involve proving the operational function of the first core stage for the first time. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this also means testing the stage’s four RS-25 engines, allowing them to burn for approximately the same amount of time they would if the first core stage were being launched into space. If everything goes according to plan, then the SLS first core stage will move on to its next destination: Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. There, engineers will attach the SLS’s side-mounted booster rockets and Orion capsule, readying it for an imminent test launch from the space agency’s Launch Pad 39-B. A second SLS first core stage is already under construction as the first undergoes its initial round of testing. It’ll be a few more years before humans fly into space or visit the Moon on the SLS rocket platform, but assuming NASA’s ambitions are as realistic as they say they are, the wait will certainly be worth it. Source: NASA via BBC

When it comes to meteorites hitting the Earth, it’s a safe bet that they could have come from nearly anywhere. Outer space is vast, and with that in mind, not all meteorites are bound to come from the same place. One meteorite that struck the Tagish Lake in Canada 16 years ago is getting quite a bit of attention recently after scientists said that it could be a remnant of the Kuiper Belt. The findings of the study appear in the Astronomical Journal. Image Credit: Michael Holly; Creative Services; University of Alberta For those who don’t know, the Kuiper Belt is way out past Pluto in our Solar System. It’s like the asteroid belt in many ways, but it’s a lot further away, and that’s currently where NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is hanging out these days. This means the little meteorite would have had to travel quite a distance to get here because it took New Horizons almost 10 years to get from Earth to where it is now. The conclusion that the space rock could be from the Kuiper Belt comes from the rock being very different from other meteorite samples that have been collected around the world. Most are believed to come from the nearby Asteroid Belt between Jupiter and Mars, but their composition is far different from this Tagish sample. It’s reported that the content of the space rock is more abundant near gassy planets than solid ones, and this would seem to support the hypothesis being brought to the table. So how did it get here? One theory suggests that a fifth giant planet, like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, was once in our Solar System, but isn’t anymore. It may have thrown off the gravitational forces at work on the space rock and sent it flying into another direction (towards Earth). Because the Kuiper Belt is so far away, it’s hard to know for sure what space rocks are like in the region. Nevertheless, New Horizons is scheduled to tango with a Kuiper Belt Object known as KBO 2016 MU69 in the future, which may offer some insight as to the makeup of rocks in these areas and provide a comparison platform. Source: New Scientist

NASA has been working hard on the next generation of solar system-based internet for over a decade, and it seems to have paid off, so far... Image Credit: NASA Fast forward to the day where we actually start sending human beings on deep space missions, such as to the Moon, or to Mars, to live there permanently or for long periods of time, we will need a way to keep in touch with them and for them to stay connected. NASA’s new DTN (Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking) internet system is the first step in this direction, and it has already been set up on the International Space Station as of the end of June. Because space is a relatively hostile environment, internet signals like we rely on here on Earth would not be as reliable in space. Instead, the DTN system allows for margin of error by providing a reliable “store and forward” data connection that is less susceptible to data loss from interrupted connections. Information that is lost can be retransmitted multiple times over again until it is finally received, and this new networking plan is perfect for space, because where there are a lot of interruptions, we need a reliable way to make sure all of the data gets from point A to point B. NASA worked closely with Dr. Vinton Grey Cerf, one of the leading pioneers of what we know today as the modern internet, to come up with this new data transfer protocol. "Our experience with DTN on the space station leads to additional terrestrial applications especially for mobile communications in which connections may be erratic and discontinuous,” said Dr. Cerf. “In some cases, battery power will be an issue and devices may have to postpone communication until battery charge is adequate. These notions are relevant to the emerging 'Internet of Things'. " Now that the network has been set up on the International Space Station, all we have to do is take it with us everywhere else that we go, and it’ll create a spider web of network connections in our Solar System just like the world wide web that we know today. There are certainly bright times just ahead of us, and through science, we get to watch it all unfold. Source: NASA

NASA astronauts haven’t launched from American soil since the Space Shuttle program’s retirement in 2011. Instead, they’ve been riding shotgun in Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft to get there. Plans to alleviate the United States’ dependence on Russia for sending astronauts to the International Space Station are underway. Agreements have already been signed between NASA and commercial space companies Boeing and SpaceX to make it happen, and it’s just a matter of time before it does. Image Credit: NASA But you need more than just fancy new space vehicles like Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon to put astronauts on the International Space Station. You also need brave men and women that are willing to participate in these vehicles’ first crewed flights. Over the weekend, NASA introduced the nine astronauts that would fill these shoes. Out of those nine, some will participate in the space vehicles’ first crewed test flights, while the others will participate in the space vehicles’ first crewed missions to the International Space Station. “Today, our country’s dreams of greater achievements in space are within our grasp,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. “This accomplished group of American astronauts, flying on new spacecraft developed by our commercial partners Boeing and SpaceX, will launch a new era of human spaceflight. Today’s announcement advances our great American vision and strengthens the nation’s leadership in space.” Related: Boeing wants to race SpaceX to Mars The astronauts NASA hand-picked for the first crewed flights of these magnificent American-made spacecraft include: Christopher Ferguson Douglas Hurley Eric Bowe Josh Cassada Michael Hopkins Nicole Aunapu Mann Robert Behnken Sunita Williams Victor Glover “The men and women we assign to these first flights are at the forefront of this exciting new time for human spaceflight,” added Mark Geyer, the director of NASA’s Houston-based Johnson Space Center. “It will be thrilling to see our astronauts lift off from American soil, and we can’t wait to see them aboard the International Space Station.” Precisely when these events will transpire is not yet set in stone, but the recent announcement shows that NASA is moving forward with plans and fulfilling promises that will ensure America’s presence on the International Space Station for the sake of space-based scientific research. Source: NASA

The Legged Exploration of the Aristarchus Plateau (LEAP) mission is a concept study funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) to design a robot to explore some of the most challenging lunar terrains. Patrick Bambach of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany presented about the project’s progress at the Europlanet Science Congress (EPSC) 2022 in Granada. The Aristarchus Plateau is a region of the Moon that is extremely rich in geologic features, but is incredibly challenging to access. To access this interesting region on the Moon, the team has trained a four-legged robot through artificial intelligence. This robot is based on the legged robot ANYmal, developed at ETH Zurich, a public research university in Zurich, Switzerland, and its spin-off ANYbotics. The team hopes the robot will be integrated onto ESA’s European Large Logistic Lander (EL3), which is currently scheduled to land on the Moon multiple times from the late 2020’s to the early 2030’s. This robot should make it easy to investigate exciting regions of the Moon which are important for studying the geologic history and evolution of the Moon, such as ejecta around craters, fresh impact sites, and collapsed lava tubes, where material may not have been altered by space weathering or human impact. Traditional rover designs have limitations that the team are trying to overcome. For example, the Mars rover Spirit got stuck in sand and had its mission terminated. They are hoping to avoid such problems and design a robot to explore terrain with loose soil, large boulders, and even steel slopes, which are particularly difficult for a robot with wheels. ANYmal has another advantage to rovers in that it can move in different walking gaits. This will allow the robot to cover large distances in short amounts of time and to climb steep slopes. Additionally, the robot will be able to deploy scientific instruments and recover in the unlikely event of a fall. The robot can also use its legs as tools: to dig channels in the soil, to flip over small rocks – and even boulders – for further inspection, and to pick up samples. The robot has been trained using a Reinforcement Learning approach in a virtual environment which simulates the lunar terrain, its gravity, and dust properties. It has also been taken out for a hike! In the virtual environment, ANYmal started to use a jumping-like mode of movement, much like the Apollo Astronauts when they walked on the Moon. Thus, the artificial intelligence of the robot realized that jumping can be a much more efficient mode of travel than walking on the Moon. Source: Europlanet Society

Scientists have long sought to determine how life first arose on our planet, and finding an answer to that question could help us find life on other planets. Now, a major breakthrough has been announced. Researchers have discovered that ribonucleic acid or RNA, an essential molecule that bridges DNA and proteins, can form spontaneously on basalt glass, which could be easily found all over our planet about 4.35 billion years ago. Basalt glass is also common on Mars. These findings have been reported in Astrobiology. Co-study author Steven Benner, PhD, of the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution noted that research communities that are investigating the origins of life have taken different approaches. "One community revisits classical questions with complex chemical schemes that require difficult chemistry performed by skilled chemists," Benner noted. But to other scientists, this complex chemistry seems unlikely to have occurred naturally. The team of study Elisa Biondi, PhD took a simpler approach. They showed that when nucleoside triphosphates percolate through basaltic glass, they will spontaneously form RNA nucleotides that are one to two hundred nucleotides long. Ancient Earth had plenty of basaltic glass, noted study co-author Stephen Mojzsis, PhD. "For several hundred million years after the Moon formed, frequent impacts coupled with abundant volcanism on the young planet formed molten basaltic lava, the source of the basalt glass," continued Mojzsis. "Impacts also evaporated water to give dry land, providing aquifers where RNA could have formed." Those collisions also put nickel on the Earth. The researchers determined that nucleoside triphosphate can emerge from nucleosides and activated phosphate that is found in either nickel or lava glass. Basalt contains borate too, which can control triphosphate formation. Other parts of the RNA-creation process can also be explained with this simple hypothesis. Benner noted that borate can control ribose formation, and ribose is the 'R' in RNA. Basic carbohydrates that would have certainly been present in the atmosphere of primitive Earth might have been stabilized by sulfur dioxide from volcanoes. When they rained down onto the Earth's surface, rich reservoirs of organic chemicals were produced, which could have interacted with abundant basalt glass. This geological model may help explain how some carbon molecules eventually gave rise to RNA, and life as we know it. A common theory, explained in the video, suggests that RNA was the molecule that put life on the map. In cells, RNA nucleotides transcribed from DNA are used by cellular machines to generate proteins. "Important questions remain," noted Benner. "We still do not know how all of the RNA building blocks came to have the same general shape, a relationship known as homochirality." The bonds linking nucleotides can also vary when material is generated on basaltic glass, which researchers are still investigating. Since all of the material discussed in this research is present on Mars, it raises the possibility that this may have occurred there too. Sources: Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution, Astrobiology

When you think about it, just about every single photo that you find on the Internet that depicts our solar system fails to do so accurately and to scale. That’s why a group of friends have worked together to create a real scale model of the solar system in the middle of a dry desert in Nevada. They picked the location they did because it’s huge, and that much space is necessary to accurately create a scale model of the solar system. All of these pictures that you find on the Internet don’t accurately show the size of the planets relative to the actual amount of space that their orbits take up, and so the point of this project is to put it all into perspective. By using the large dry lakebed, the guys behind the scale model used lights, marbles, a time-lapse camera, and a car to make it all happen. The Sun, being at the center of it all, was about a meter and a half in diameter. Most of the planets were just glass marbles, and with the scale model being about 4.2 miles in diameter, you can imagine that those planets were not easy to see. To fix that problem, the team set up a time-lapse video from a mountain far away so they could record their car driving around the scale model with a light, making it possible for you to visualize just how large our solar system actually is. The distance between each planet isn’t so great at the beginning of our solar system, but when you start to get past Mars, the distances jump dramatically. Pluto, the dwarf planet that New Horizons just flew past and took pictures of, was more than 3 billion miles away from the Earth, and if you measured the entire diameter of the path Pluto orbits, it would be more than 6 billion miles, because you also have the count the distance between the Earth and the Sun. “So if we’ve made our model correctly, your perspective from where Earth is on the model will match your perspective from standing on real Earth,” said Wylie Overstreet, one of the lead designers of the to-scale model. “So if you look back at the Sun, you will see that the model Sun and the real Sun are the exact same size, and that’s how you can tell that the proportions are correct.” Although the team didn’t include Pluto in their scale model (they stopped at Neptune, the last known true planet in our solar system), you could easily visualize that Pluto would have an even greater orbiting distance than Neptune in the model. The distances, even in the scale, are so great that the team had to use a car to get from point to point in the scale model. The scale also represents how hard it is to see the Sun’s light from distant planets, despite the fact that it’s as large and as bright as it is in our Solar System. It’s a wonder that at such a great distance, it still has any gravitational effect on the distant planets at all, but these wonders are exactly what make our solar system awesome and interesting to study. Source: To Scale

As scientists are learning more about microbes existing in the higher echelons of the Earth's atmosphere, they are becoming increasingly curious about how similar life may thrive on other planets. "We humans really are bottom-dwellers underneath an ocean of atmosphere above our head, and we really don't know where Earth's biosphere boundary stops at extreme altitudes," says David Smith, from NASA's Ames Research Center in California. "It seems just about anywhere we sample with NASA aircraft and balloons, we find signatures of microbial life." Microbes tend to reproduce on the Earth's surface before being swept up into the atmosphere, where they continue to exist amid certain challenges. Those at the lower troposphere, for example, are at risk of drying out- something that clouds, acting as mobile water hotspots, help to prevent. At the stratosphere, however, in the absence of clouds, conditions are harsher. Drier and more acidic, microbes typically need to hunker down into a dormant state while there. How long microbes stay intact while in various parts of the atmosphere, and whether they do anything meaningful in terms of activity, growth, or reproduction, is still unknown. Nevertheless, given their ability to survive there, scientists are curious whether assessing atmospheric life on Earth may help us understand whether it can exist elsewhere in our Solar System too. Whereas Earth's surface is a bountiful haven for microbes to thrive before venturing into the atmosphere, other planetary surfaces are often more hostile and may be unable to nurture microbial life in the same way. For such planets, life would thus have to remain in the atmosphere permanently. For this to be the case, they would need to be able to reproduce. "A challenge to life that is unique to life in the atmosphere is that because you're floating, you're constantly losing some of your life that is up there, just to gravitational settling over time," says Diana Gentry, a research scientist at Ames. "In order for life to be able to persist long-term in an atmosphere, it has to be able to reproduce fast enough to make up for those losses." On top of reproduction, microbes would also require a sufficient water supply. Whereas the Earth has clouds made from water vapor, other planets' clouds have different, less nurturing compositions. The clouds of Venus, for example, are sulfuric acid, while those on Mars are primarily carbon dioxide. This isn't to say that other sources of water may not exist. For example, researchers recently suggested that there may be liquid droplets between 30 and 37 miles from the surface of Venus that could act as a haven for microbes amid its otherwise acidic and hot environment. Nevertheless, further research into such possibilities, as well as on whether microbes can reprduce in the atmosphere, will be necessary to best understand the possibility of microbial life on other plants. Such research could both be made from both further investiagting the microbes on and aroundearth, and from future missions to other planets. Sources: Space.com, LabRoots

Space junk is a growing problem. The orbital altitudes of Earth are getting so cluttered as we send more stuff into space that we may not be able to sustain space launches unless we find a way to de-clutter our surroundings. Image Credit: WikiImages/Pixabay There have been a host of ideas thrown around in the space community about what we can do to mitigate the space junk problem by rounding all the junk up and then attempting to de-orbit it all, such as: Using large nets to capture space junk Grabbing onto passerby space junk with robotic arms Using harpoons to jab and lasso space junk While none of these ideas have come to fruition just yet, it’s mostly because the implementation of these kinds of space junk removal tactics takes a lot of time and patience, especially considering the fact that nets are limited in size, while arms and harpoons are much slower and less effective. Related: Japan's attempt to clean up space junk proves unsuccessful To circumvent this problem, The European Spsace Agency is weighing in heavily on the idea of using magnetic space tugs. Not only can we use the power of magnets again and again, but their effectiveness would be both swift and efficient. Image Credit: Philippe Ogaki via ESA The magnetic field would need to be strong enough to work like a tractor beam in many of your favorite Sci-Fi movies, but if it could be accomplished, we may be able to safely de-orbit space junk without it ever having to make physical contact with our clean-up spacecraft. The idea takes advantage of a special device onboard most satellites called a magnetorquer, which is a strong electromagnet that uses the Earth’s magnetic field to help it stay aligned with the planet properly. Since the external materials of most space junk is non-magnetic, the magnetorquer could serve as a viable magnetic target for such a magnetic tug concept. All the magnetic force would have to do is shift the direction of the space junk ever-so-slightly, or slow it down in its orbital path, and it could end up hurdling back towards the Earth and burning up in the atmosphere. Many of these space junk objects are dead satellites weighing several tons, so the magnets would need to be powerful. On the other hand, even cleaning up the smaller stuff scattered around from collisions and smaller launches would help. Related: Video shows Chinese space junk entering the Earth's atmosphere According to researchers that have been testing the feasibility of such an idea, it just might work, and could be effective on influencing space junk anywhere from 10-15 meters away from the magnetic tug spacecraft. It should be interesting to see if we can use magnets to solve the space junk problem once and for all, as it would be the only saving grace we have if we’re ever to move forward with long-term space transportation; especially the sort that goes to other planets like Mars. Source: ESA

When you try to go on a road trip, you typically try to pack light; you want just the necessities to get you through the trip so you don’t have to lug your entire house with you. Doing so not only reduces the burden on you to remember everything, but it also helps with your fuel economy. Astronauts in space have to think along the same lines, and as you can imagine, it can be a little bit trickier than simply packing up and hopping in the car and leaving. Astronauts have to pack light because rocket boosters can only handle so much weight, and also because the International Space Station only has so much room on it. 3D printing may be very useful in this respect, allowing astronauts to simply print what it is that they need at any given time, rather than having to pack it with them. 3D printing is also one of the ways NASA might make the components necessary for habitation on Mars in the next several decades. The advantages of having a 3D printer in space are endless. The power to make anything you want at any time is incredibly useful, it’s just a matter of packing the printing supplies, which are going to be significantly more Tetris-friendly than multi-shaped objects that get packed for space missions. 3D printing has a wide array of uses and has been used for growing human tissue, growing replacement body parts for animals, and even for building bridges. With that being said, such a versatile capability will surely prove its usefulness in space; right? Soon, astronauts will get to find out. Carried aboard the recent rocket launch to the International Space Station, which brought NASA astronaut Jeff Williams and Roscosmos’ Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin there, is a small 3D printer that will be tested onboard the International Space Station. The 3D printer, which was provided by Made In Space, was provided along with some feedstock, which means it will be used to 3D print objects on the International Space Station, setting records for some of the first 3D-printed objects in space. NASA is confident that the testing about to take place on the International Space Station with 3D printing will set a precedent in survival away from Earth. “Space exploration is a lot like a camping trip—if something goes wrong or there’s an emergency, you’ve got to go home to fix it,” says Jason Dunn, Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of Made In Space. “3-D printing will allow independence from Earth. Raw materials pack down way tighter than built-out objects.” It should be interesting to see what some of the first 3D-printed objects in space will be. Clearly, there is tons of wiggle room for this industry to take off in space (no pun intended). Source: Wired

It began with the Apollo 11 Lunar module, signaling the historic first manned landing on the moon. In subsequent Apollo missions there were Lunar Rover vehicles, capable of traversing the rocky moon landscape. The Mars Rover captivated a global audience in the new millennium, racing over the red planet's surface. Could the next big thing be an underwater adventure to the watery depths of an alien sea? Perhaps. At the recent 2015 NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Symposium in Cocoa Beach, Florida, NASA the Titan Submarine Phase I Conceptual Design was presented which outlines a possible mission to Saturn's largest moon, Titan to explore the seas of liquid hydrocarbons.Titan is the only moon in our solar system that has a proper atmosphere composed largely of nitrogen and methane. It's pressure is 1.5 times that of Earth and it's temperature is a chilly 290 F but it could still hold clues to the beginning of life here on Earth. Thanks to fly-bys of Voyager and Cassini and the Huygens probe landing, we know that there are three polar seas on Titan composed of methane and ethane but with a consistency similar to liquefied natural gas. The largest of these is Kraken Mare covering 154,000 square miles and ranging from 525 to perhaps 1000 feet deep.NASA's conceptual Titan submarine design unveiled at NIAC is based on experience gained from the building and operation of drone submersibles on Earth. It weighs about 1 ton and uses conventional electric propulsion, modified for the gravity of Titan and its mission would be about 90 days long.Because of its elongated shape, the sub would need to be delivered to the surface of Titan using a winged spacecraft lifting body that could survive a hypersonic entry into Titan's atmosphere. The craft would then have to make a water landing on the surface of Kraken Mare and release the sub to sink on its own. Due to the huge amount of data that needs to be sent to Earth, the submarine needs a large dorsal fin that includes a planar phased-array antenna and mast camera. The plan is to have it surface for 16 hours per day to communicate and relay data back to Earth.Similar to submarines on Earth, ballast tanks would still be used but their design is as yet undetermined because of the differences between the earth seas and the liquid gas seas on Titan.In addition, the lower gravity on Titan and the possible depth of Kraken Mare means that any nitrogen in the ballast tanks could liquefy resulting in a loss of buoyancy. For this reason, the tanks would need to use a piston to allow in and expel liquid rather than relying on air pressure as in a conventional submarine.While NASA did not give full details of the mission objectives of a Titan submarine, it is likely that the study of the structure of Kraken Mare as well as the abundant organic chemicals it contains would be a priority. Since Titan is considered to be a very early and almost embryonic version of our planet, any knowledge gained could lead to clues of how life on Earth began.

Scientists may have created a diagnostic test that can identify as many as one-fifth of potential autism spectrum disorder cases. If developed, such a test could allow for early intervention that may enable clinicians to improve outcomes for affected individuals and their families. Autoantibodies are antibodies that act against the cells of one's own body, sometimes as part of normal housekeeping or other functions, but sometimes erroneously. Maternal autoantibodies that are thought to act against proteins in the developing fetus have also been associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In one study, researchers linked specific maternal autoantibodies to certain features of autism, like significantly impaired language skills for some autoantibodies, and increased levels of irritability for others. This new study, which was reported Molecular Psychiatry, used computational tools to analyze biological samples from 450 moms of kids with ASD and 342 moms of typically-developing kids. This work identified autoantibodies that react with eight abundant fetal brain proteins, and the researchers used this data to create a diagnostic tool. "The implications from this study are tremendous. It's the first time that machine learning has been used to identify with 100 percent accuracy MAR (maternal autoantibody-related) ASD-specific patterns as potential biomarkers of ASD risk," said lead study author Judy Van de Water, a professor of rheumatology, allergy, and clinical immunology at the University of California. Davis. "The big deal about this particular study is that we created a new, very translatable test for future clinical use," added Van de Water. This test uses maternal blood samples in an ELISA platform. Previous work by this group showed that maternal autoantibodies reacted with seven proteins in the developing brain of the fetus including collapsin response mediator proteins 1 and 2 (CRMP1, CRMP2), guanine deaminase (GDA), and stress-induced phosphoprotein-1 (STIP1). In this study, the three top reactivity patterns associated with MAR ASD were identified as CRMP1+GDA, CRMP1+CRMP2, and NSE+STIP1. CRIMP1+GDA was the most commonly identified pattern. "For example, if the mother has autoantibodies to CRIMP1 and GDA, her odds of having a child with autism is 31 times greater than the general population, based on this current dataset. That's huge," explained Van de Water. "There's very little out there that is going to give you that type of risk assessment." The presence of CRIMP1 was linked to a greater likelihood of severe ASD cases as well. "We can envision that a woman could have a blood test for these antibodies prior to getting pregnant. If she had them, she'd know she would be at very high risk of having a child with autism. If not, she has a 43 percent lower chance of having a child with autism as MAR autism is ruled out," Van de Water said. Van de Water also wants to know more about the physiological impact of maternal autoantibodies and is using animal models to investigate. "We will also use these animal models to develop therapeutic strategies to block the maternal autoantibodies from the fetus," she added. "This study is a big deal in terms of early risk assessment for autism, and we're hoping that this technology will become something that will be clinically useful in the future." Sources: AAAS/Eurekalert! via University of California - Davis Health, Molecular Psychiatry

David Handy is a PhD student in Biological Sciences at the Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech) studying how bacteria assists in plant growth and how this can be useful in space crop production, and comes after Handy earned his B.S. in Astrobiology in 2019, also from Florida Tech. ”I was steered toward science by high school biology and chemistry teachers who were very influential in the beginning,” said Handy. “Due to my diverse interests in science, especially space sciences and biology, that led to me finding the field of astrobiology, which led me to Florida Tech. In my junior year I joined Dr. Andrew Palmer’s lab working on plant growth in Martian regolith simulant (a.k.a. fake Mars dirt). While I did not foresee going into plant work before that, Dr. Palmer's enthusiasm for the work and for mentoring students had me hooked.” Handy said he has since fallen in love with both the work and the people within the fields of space biology and plant science. He praises Dr. Palmer for encouraging his students, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels, to attend conferences, with Handy saying he has had “nothing but positive” interactions with other individuals within plant science. Handy said his Martian research led him to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) where he met Ralph Fritsche and Trent Smith via Florida Tech’s Space Act Agreement, during which time he suspected his dream job might be at KSC. “After finishing my bachelor's, during my first semester of grad school, I managed to snag an internship at KSC, working in the same spaces as Ralph and Trent,” said Handy. “I got to meet just about the entire team of plant scientists and microbiologists at KSC, and those 4 months solidified KSC, in those labs, as my current dream job.” Handy said he chose this path because he wants to continue doing scientific research, and later a professor. “In the field I want to go into, if I want to be the one calling the shots on what experiments I do, designing methods, all of that, I need the Ph.D. to back it up,” said Handy. “Not to mention that astrobiology is such a niche field, virtually all positions that can claim the title "astrobiologist" require a Ph.D.” Handy said the primary reason for returning to Florida Tech for grad school was because of the connections with KSC. “The research I do now is a continuation of the work I did during my internship, and Florida Tech allows me to maintain contact with the colleagues I met during that time,” explains Handy. “One of them, Dr. Gioia Massa, is even on my Ph.D. committee. The other reason is the professors in biology here. Dr. Palmer, of course, is an amazing advisor, and the other professors I work with here are always so eager to help and talk with me about my work.” Handy said one of the most obvious challenges that grad students face is economics, stating that since they don’t get paid that well this can make the prospect of grad school limited and difficult for a lot of students. He said he’s fortunate to have parents who are willing to support him, along with having roommates to share the cost of living. Handy said his goal after grad school is to be a research scientist, with his goal at KSC. But he said he was recently introduced to the agricultural biotech industry, where he said he could easily apply his work on growing plants in space to help improve Earth’s agriculture. “My ‘plan A’ is to work as a research scientist until I get closer to retirement age, then "retire" to be a professor so that I can help educate the next generation of research scientists,” said Handy. “The ‘plan B’ would be to go directly into a position as a professor at a university performing research and teaching, being a mentor to students the way Dr. Palmer and others here have been to me.” Handy said his goal in 5-10 years is to be a NASA scientist creating methods to feed astronauts in space while studying how such approaches can also be applied here on Earth. “My goal is to use space to ‘think outside the box’ with how food can be grown in austere environments, because if we can grow food on the Moon or Mars, we can use those same technologies to grow food in deserts, or inner cities, or other areas where growing food is difficult, and the community is therefore reliant on shipments,” he said. As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!

Researchers at NASA are learning more about the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano days after its deadly eruption. NASA researchers, led by Jim Garvin and Dan Slayback, are investigating the cause of the unprecedented explosion on January 15, 2022. The eruption occurred near the Kingdom of Tonga, a Polynesian country consisting of more than 169 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and triggered tsunamis and power outages that affected 80% of the population. The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano, more commonly shortened to the Tonga volcano, rose above the water in 2015. It connected the two existing islands of Hunga Tonga and Hunga Ha’apai to create a single new island. In late December 2021, the volcano began its eruption, which was business as usual for a volcano of this nature. However, the more significant blast came on January 15, 2022, and the explosion obliterated the island, leaving only two small landmasses in its wake. The eruption was one of the largest recorded to date. NASA researchers estimate that the blast was hundreds of times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945. The amount of energy released was equivalent to an explosion of 4 to18 megatons of TNT. For comparison, the Mt. St Helens eruption had a power of 24 megatons of TNT, and Krakatoa had an explosion with the same force of 200 megatons of TNT. “That number is based on how much [land] was removed, how resistant the rock was, and how high the eruption cloud was blown into the atmosphere at a range of velocities,” explains Garvin, chief scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The team of NASA researchers was able to understand the power of the explosion by synthesizing data from different sources. Before the explosion, they had mapped the geography of the volcano above and below the waterline by observing radar from the Canadian Space Agency, optical data from the satellite company Maxas, and sonar-based water-depth measurements. The type of island created by the Tonga volcano is called a Surtsey island. Initially, the researchers were excited to study this kind of volcano because there aren’t many modern examples of Surtsey islands due to the islands quickly eroding after formation. Surtseyan eruptions occur under shallow water and cause unique interactions between the magma and water, creating a slurry of water, steam, and volcanic rock. Usually, only a small amount of magma comes in contact with water in a normal Surtseyan eruption, but the Tonga eruption was different. Researchers predict that something weakened the rock foundation of the island and allowed massive amounts of water to contact the lava. This mixing of incredibly hot lava (1000 °C) with normal water temp (20 °C) caused a powerful explosion, which was further magnified in the confined space of the magma chamber. “This was not your standard Surtseyan eruption because of the large amount of water that had to be involved,” Garvin said. “In fact, some of my colleagues in volcanology think this type of event deserves its own designation. For now, we’re unofficially calling it an ‘ultra Surtseyan’ eruption.” The eruption was even seen in space, captured by the NOAA GOES-West satellite. These graphics from Reuters Graphics give a helpful comparison between the size of the explosion and many common landmasses. The initial eruption was a cloud of ash 24 miles across, approximately twice the length of Manhattan. Half an hour later, the ash cloud was more than 200 miles in diameter, and one hour after the initial explosion, it was over 400 miles wide. For comparison, the blast was almost the same size as the country of Spain and would have almost completely covered the state of Florida, USA. Currently, there is very little communication with the Kingdom of Tonga, but officials report that at least three people have died in the ensuing tsunamis. Public health officials are also worried about the blanket of ash covering the island. Ash can contaminate freshwater supplies, and exposure to such levels of volcanic ash could cause health problems such as breathing difficulties and respiratory irritation. Currently, Tonga is receiving contactless foreign aid to prevent the spread of COVID-19 on their islands. The team at NASA is eager to learn more about the Tonga eruption since it could teach us more about the landscape of mars. There are similar-looking features on Mars in several regions of the planet, so understanding the eruption could give us clues about how the red planet’s landscape was formed. “Small volcanic islands, freshly made, evolving rapidly, are windows in the role of surface waters on Mars and how they may have affected similar small volcanic landforms,” Garvin said Sources: NASA, Reuters Graphics, BBC, CNN

Labroots recently shared key celestial events for November 2023 which offered skywatchers an opportunity to witness 16 days of events that included numerous meteor showers, comets, and planetary encounters. Now, Labroots wishes to share with you 22 days of celestial events for December 2023 that will ensure astronomy fans will not be disappointed. 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! December 1 (MOON and STAR): The Earth’s Moon will pass between 1-2 degrees from the star Pollux, which is located just under 34 light-years from Earth and resides within the constellation Gemini. December 2 (MOON, STARS, and METEOR SHOWER): The Earth’s Moon will pass between 3-4 degrees from the Beehive Cluster, which is an open cluster of stars located approximately 577 light-years from Earth and is approximately 15 light-years in diameter. Additionally, the Phoenicids meteor shower will be at its peak with a variable number of observable meteors per hour. December 4 (PLANET): The planet Mercury will be at its greatest elongation, meaning it will be orbiting at its farthest from the Sun, which provides the best time to observe Mercury since it will be outside the Sun’s glare. December 5 (MOON): Last Quarter Moon. When observing from the Earth, skywatchers will see the entire left side of the Moon being lit while the right side is shrouded in complete darkness. December 6 (METEOR SHOWER and PLANET): The Phi Cassiopeiids meteor shower will be at its peak with a variable number of observable meteors per hour. Additionally, the planet Neptune will end its retrograde motion, meaning it stops appearing to move backwards in the sky and begin the move in the opposite direction. December 7 (METEOR SHOWER): The Puppid-Velids meteor shower will be at its peak with approximately 10 observable meteors per hour. December 8 (MOON and STAR): The Earth’s Moon will pass between 2-3 degrees from the star Spica, which is located approximately 260 light-years from Earth and resides within the constellation Virgo. December 9 (MOON, PLANET, and METEOR SHOWERS): The Earth’s Moon will pass between 3-4 degrees of the planet Venus. Additionally, the December Monocerotids and Sigma Hybrids meteors showers will each be at their peaks with approximately 3 and 7 observable meteors per hour, respectively. December 12 (MOON and PLANET): New Moon. When observing from the Earth, the entire Moon will be completely shrouded in darkness. Additionally, the Moon will also pass between 3-4 degrees from the planet Mars. December 14 (METEOR SHOWER, MOON, and PLANET): The Geminids meteor shower will be at its peak with approximately 150 observable meteors per hour. Additionally, the Earth’s Moon will pass between 4-5 degrees from the planet Mercury. December 16 (METEOR SHOWER): The Comae Berenicids meteor shower will be at its peak with approximately 3 observable meteors per hour. December 17 (MOON and PLANET): The Earth’s Moon will pass between 2-3 degrees from the planet Saturn. December 19 (MOON and PLANET): First Quarter Moon. When observing from the Earth, the entire right side of the Moon is lit while the left side is shrouded in darkness. Additionally, the Earth’s Moon will pass just over 1-degree from the planet Neptune, along with experiencing lunar occultation of Neptune, meaning Neptune will pass behind the Moon and re-emerge from the other side. December 21 (ASTEROID): Asteroid Vesta will be in opposition, meaning it will be on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun, offering excellent observing opportunities. December 22 (MOON, PLANETS, and SUN): The Earth’s Moon will pass between 2-3 degrees from the planet Jupiter. Additionally, the planet Mercury will be at inferior conjunction with the Sun, meaning Mercury will pass directly in front of the Sun. December 23 (METEOR SHOWER): The Ursids meteor shower will be at its peak with approximately 10 observable meteors per hour. December 24 (MOON and STARS): The Earth’s Moon will pass just over 1-degree from the Pleaides, which is an open star cluster located approximately 444 light-years from Earth. December 25 (COMET): MERRY CHRISTMAS! Comet 62P/Tsuchinshan will pass through perihelion, meaning it’s closest approach to the Sun. December 27 (MOON): Full Cold Moon, which is the name given by the Mohawk Native American culture to imply extremely cold temperatures of the year. December 28 (MOON, STAR, and PLANETS): For the second time this month, the Earth’s Moon will pass between 1-2 degrees from the star Pollux, which is located just under 34 light-years from Earth and resides within the constellation Gemini. Additionally, the planet Mercury will pass less than one-quarter-degree from the planet Mars. December 29 (MOON and STARS): For the second time this month, the Earth’s Moon will pass between 3-4 degrees from the Beehive Cluster, which is an open cluster of stars located approximately 577 light-years from Earth and is approximately 15 light-years in diameter. December 31 (PLANET): The planet Jupiter will end its retrograde motion, meaning it will cease to appear moving backwards in the sky and begin moving in the opposite direction. Stay tuned for January 2024 celestial events! As always, keep doing science & keep looking up! Sources: Labroots, Star Walk 2, Wikipedia, EarthSky, TheSkyLive.com, Earth.com, In-The-Sky.org, Wikipedia (1), TheSkyLive.com (1), EarthSky (1), In-The-Sky.org (1), NASA, EarthSky (2), Wikipedia (2), Wikipedia (3), Almanac.com

What causes quakes on the Moon, also called moonquakes, and what can they teach us about quakes on other worlds? This is what NASA’s Farside Seismic Suite (FSS) hopes to address as engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) recently finished assembling the microwave-sized payload that is slated to land on the far side of the Moon sometime in 2026 as part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative. What’s unique about FSS is this will not only mark the first time since the Apollo missions that seismic measurements will be directly obtained from the Moon’s surface, but this same technology was also used on the Mars InSight lander, which was responsible for detecting more than 1,300 marsquakes, with the InSight mission unfortunately ending in 2022. “FSS will offer answers to questions we’ve been asking about the Moon for decades,” said Dr. Mark Panning, who is the principal investigator for FSS at JPL and was a project scientist for the InSight mission. “We cannot wait to start getting this data back.” Image of JPL engineers and technicians preparing NASA’s Farside Seismic Suite for testing in simulated lunar gravity, which is approximately one-sixth the gravity of Earth. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech) Upon landing at Schrödinger basin, which is located near the lunar south pole on the far side of the Moon, FSS will perform the first seismic measurements from the lunar far side using the suite’s two seismometers: the Very Broadband seismometer (VBB) and the Short Period sensor (SP), which exhibit 30 times the sensitivity of the seismic instruments used on the Apollo missions. This means FSS will be able to record micrometeorite impacts on the lunar surface, which could prove beneficial to future human exploration, specifically the upcoming Artemis missions to the lunar south pole. “We learned so much about Mars from this instrument, and now we are thrilled with the opportunity to turn that experience toward the mysteries of the Moon,” said Dr. Philippe Lognonné from the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris and instrument lead for VBB, co-investigator on FSS, and was the principal investigator for InSight’s seismometer. What will FSS teach scientists about the Moon’s seismic activity 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 JPL, NASA JPL (1), Wikipedia, NASA

In the ongoing effort for developing more efficient and cost-effective spacecraft engines, NASA recently performed a successful 251-second (4 minutes and 11 seconds) test of the 3D-printed Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE), resulting in greater than 5,800 pounds of thrust. This test demonstrates the technological capabilities for landing on the Moon or Mars along with sustained engine burns for deep-space missions and holds the potential to enhance propulsion systems for future space missions. Image of the 251-second hot fire test of a full-scale Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE) combustor recently tested by engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, resulting in more than 5,800 pounds of thrust. (Credit: NASA) “The RDRE enables a huge leap in design efficiency,” said Thomas Teasley, who is a combustion devices engineer and team lead for the RDRE testing at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. “It demonstrates we are closer to making lightweight propulsion systems that will allow us to send more mass and payload further into deep space, a critical component to NASA’s Moon to Mars vision.” What makes the RDRE design unique is its higher power-to-fuel ratio than traditional rocket engines being used today, meaning it can produce greater amounts of power while burning less fuel, thus making the RDRE more efficient and cost-effective, as well. This most recent test comes after Marshall engineers performed the first-ever hot fire test of the RDRE in the summer of 2022. During that test, the RDRE was fired over a dozen times for a total of almost 10 minutes of ignition time. During that test, the RDRE was able to generate more than 4,000 pounds of thrust for over one minute at full throttle while succumbing to 622 pounds per square inch within a test chamber, which was the highest pressure rating for this engine design ever achieved at the time. These tests come as NASA is ramping up their Artemis program with the goal of sending humans back to the Moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972, along with landing the first woman and person of color on the lunar surface, as well. How will RDRE help future space missions 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, Air Force Research Laboratory, NASA (1), NASA (2)

As astronauts lose muscle mass due to the microgravity environment in space, could there be a way to monitor it so they can take necessary steps to prevent further muscle loss? This is what a recent study published in Scientific Reports hopes to address as a team of international researchers investigated the use of a novel handheld device capable of monitoring an astronaut’s muscle health while in space. This study holds the potential to help astronauts, aerospace physiologists, and researchers better understand the long-term impacts of microgravity on the human body and how to identify signs of muscle degradation. For the study, the researchers enlisted 12 astronauts who were living onboard the International Space Station (ISS) during their mission cycles, which is typically six months, to use the MyotonPRO hand-held device to monitor their muscle health ranging from before their mission to afterwards. The MyotonPRO is a non-invasive tool designed to monitor muscle stiffness while astronauts perform their daily exercise regimens, which have been routine since the early days of human spaceflight with the goal of maintaining muscle mass throughout their missions. In the end, the researchers discovered that most muscle mass measured with MyotonPRO maintained their stiffness, including thighs, back, neck, and shoulders. However, the device found decreased muscle stiffness in the lower legs, specifically the Tibialis Anterior, which is responsible for walking and running. Additionally, various calf muscles exhibited polarizing effects, meaning some muscles increased in stiffness while others decreased during their missions. The team notes this indicates future exercise regimens should be more targeted towards lower legs muscles, specifically since astronauts will be walking on the Moon and Mars, someday. Thus, the MyotonPRO could prove essential for monitoring astronaut muscle health for long-term human spaceflight. “Being able to perform inflight muscle health checks will allow the astronauts to see which muscles are losing strength and adjust their exercise program accordingly,” said Dr. Maria Stokes, who is a Professor of Neuromusculoskeletal Rehab at the University of Southampton and a co-author on the study. “Being able to personalize exercises like this will be crucial on future long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars.” How will the MyotonPRO help monitor astronaut muscle health for long-term human 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: Scientific Reports, Myoton, EurekAlert! Featured Image: NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, Expedition 32 flight engineer, seen exercising on the International Space Station in August 2012. (Credit: NASA)

Numerous theories have evolved over the years as to how the Earth’s Moon came to be, with one early theory suggesting our Moon formed as a sister world as the Earth was forming, while a second theory stated our Moon initially formed somewhere else in the solar system, eventually being captured by Earth orbit. However, these theories failed to explain the difference in composition between the two planetary bodies. Eventually, the scientific community accepted that our Moon formed from a collision between Earth and a Mars-sized object called Theia, known as the giant-impact hypothesis. But the length of time the Moon took to coalesce has been argued for years. In a recent study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, an international team of researchers led by Durham University use supercomputer simulations to theorize that the Earth’s Moon formed in a matter of hours after a Mars-sized object collided with the Earth, which opposes longstanding theories that it took months, or even years, to fully coalesce into the bright sphere we know it as today. This study holds the potential for helping us better understand planetary body formations and evolution, even for our own planet. "This opens up a whole new range of possible starting places for the Moon's evolution," said Dr. Jacob Kegerreis, a postdoctoral researcher at NASA's Ames Research Center, and lead author of the study. "We went into this project not knowing exactly what the outcomes of these high-resolution simulations would be. So, on top of the big eye-opener that standard resolutions can give you misleading answers, it was extra exciting that the new results could include a tantalizingly Moon-like satellite in orbit." For the study, the researchers used high-resolution computer simulations that surpass previous, lower-resolution simulations, allowing the researchers to observe certain behaviors that previous simulations might have missed. "The more we learn about how the Moon came to be, the more we discover about the evolution of our own Earth," said Dr. Vincent Eke, a researcher at Durham University, and a co-author on the study. "Their histories are intertwined -- and could be echoed in the stories of other planets changed by similar or very different collisions." Sources: Planetary Science Institute, Natural History Museum, The Astrophysical Journal Letters As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!

By analyzing over 1,000 samples of the marine environment, researchers have reconstructed the genomes of 25,000 novel microorganisms. This data has revealed thousands of gene clusters in a new family of marine bacteria that point the way to new compounds, which could have applications in a variety of fields. This new family of bacteria is part of a phylum called Eremiobacterota, which had been thought to only live on land. But this work, reported in Nature, has clearly shown otherwise, as "these bacteria are ubiquitously and abundantly distributed throughout the ocean water column," noted co-corresponding study author Shinichi Sunagawa, a professor at ETH Zürich. The research was made possible by the Tara Oceans campaign, which gathered all of the samples used in the study. The Tara Oceans expedition ran from 2009 to 2013. Scientists traveled to different ecosystems around the oceans of the world, collecting water and environmental data. It has helped us learn more about plankton as well as the cornucopia of organisms including viruses, prokaryotes and eukaryotes that live in the sea Samples that were taken during the trip were analyzed later in various ways, including with imaging and DNA sequencing tools. There is so much data from the effort, the archives are open for researchers to explore, use, and analyze. Though Eremiobacterota have only now been shown to exist in the ocean, first study author Lucas Paoli, ETH Zürich researcher, noted that they may comprise up to six percent of all the bacteria in some parts of the ocean. This research has highlighted how little we know, and how much we still have to learn about marine microbes, though new technologies and expeditions are helping to change that, added study co-author Josep M. Gasol of the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC). The study authors also characterized two of the novel biosynthetic gene clusters that were revealed by this work, one for phospeptin and the other, pythonamide. The investigators noted that the enzymology and structure of the bioactive compounds was unusual. "Thanks to the integration of thousands of microbial genomes from different expeditions, it has been possible to investigate which microorganisms have great genetic potential, which will serve to explore new bioactive molecules," said study co-author and ICM-CSIC researcher Silvia G. Acinas. "Some of them could be used in new therapies, while others could help to improve certain biotechnological processes, and by extension, our life quality in the future." Sources: Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC), Nature

Research has shown that bacteria are more lethal and resistant to antibiotics when exposed to microgravity (a lack of gravity), such as in space. Microgravity has been shown to promote biofilm formation of bacteria. This is when bacteria grow and stick to each other, as well as stationary surfaces, from a matrix of polymer substances produced by a densely-packed cell colony. Biofilms are known not only to increase antibacterial resistance among bacteria but their ability to infect. They have already been known to grow on and attach to equipment on space stations, causing them to degrade. For example, biofilms have affected the Russian Mir space station's navigation window, air conditioning, oxygen electrolysis block, water recycling unit, and thermal control system. If left unresolved, prolonged exposure to these biofilms can lead to malfunction- something that could have particularly devastating effects during long-haul space flights, like those to Mars. Microgravity also seems to distort the structure of bacteria. Reducing certain bacteria in size, their smaller surface area leads to fewer molecule-cell interactions, which then lessens the effectiveness of antibiotics. A lack of gravity may also alter their behavior- such as sedimentation and buoyancy, and thus change the way they take in nutrients and are targeted by drugs. This could lead both to increased drug resistance and infectiousness in space. Although difficult problems to overcome, microgravity also has some benefits. For example, under a lack of gravity, it is easier to grow molecular crystals both larger and more symmetrically than on Earth, making them more effective at treating certain illnesses, including various cancers and Parkinson's disease. Although space as an environment poses many challenges, the more humans spend time there and are able to conduct experiments, the more likely we will be to overcome any problems. Although bacteria may be more deadly in space, perhaps drugs created there will be more potent. Sources: Science Alert, Environmental Microbiology, Nature

Scientists from the University of Granada used hair samples to monitor cortisol in a cohort of over 100 pregnant women and made a fascinating discovery: Women experiencing stress before and during conception are twice as likely to give birth to a girl than a boy. Cortisol is a steroid hormone that is used as an indicator of stress levels. It is commonly measured in the blood, saliva, or urine, but analyzing cortisol deposits in hair can serve as a tool to track cortisol levels historically over time. The team of researchers obtained hair samples from participants from before conception to week 9 of their pregnancies to identify if the stress was a determinant of the baby’s sex. They found that mothers of girls had nearly double the amount of hair cortisol concentrations than mothers of boys. “The results we found were surprising, as they showed that the women who had given birth to girls presented higher concentrations of hair cortisol in the weeks before, during, and after the point of conception than those who had boys,” said study lead María Isabel Peralta Ramírez. The study represents one of the first in the field to examine the complex physiological connections between stress and sex determination. Though follow-up studies will need to be conducted to dig deeper into the mechanisms behind this curious observation, the authors propose two possible theories. One is that cortisol may modify the concentrations of sex hormones such as testosterone which could influence sex determination. Secondly, cortisol levels in the mother may favor X chromosome-carrying sperm to penetrate the cervical mucus over those with Y chromosomes. The X chromosome sperm (that determines a baby will be female) are thought to be more resilient than their Y chromosome counterparts. “There are other possible hypotheses that attempt to explain this phenomenon. Among the strongest theories is the idea that there are more terminations of male fetuses on medical grounds during the first weeks of gestation in situations of severe maternal stress. That said, in light of the design of these studies, it is recommended that the results are corroborated in greater depth,” commented Peralta. Sources: Universidad de Granada, Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease.

Both NASA and the United States Air Force recognize approximately 80 kilometers above the Earth’s surface as the so-called ‘boundary’ after which you enter outer space. But the topic on where Earth’s atmosphere ends and where space begins has been long debated among scientists. And, spoiler alert, we still don’t have an official designation. The Earth’s atmosphere is comprised of various layers, including the Troposphere, the Stratosphere, the Mesosphere, the Thermosphere, and the Exosphere. The first four are somewhat easy to identify, in that: Earth’s weather transpires in the Troposphere Commercial airlines fly in the Stratosphere Space rocks burn up in the Mesosphere Astronauts and the International Space Station reside in the Thermosphere On the other hand, the Exosphere is much more challenging to define, because particles from the Earth’s atmosphere tend to wander somewhat far into outer space. Initially, it was thought that these particles wandered up to 200,000 kilometers into outer space, but new measurements obtained with the Solar Wind Anisotropies instrument (SWAN) suggest that the exosphere might extend up to 630,000 kilometers into space. The new data suggests that the Earth’s atmosphere is much larger than initially thought, and perhaps more importantly, that even the Moon resides in the Earth’s massive atmosphere. Given the latest findings, one might even say that no human as ever left Earth’s atmosphere, and that may never change until astronauts venture to another planet, such as Mars, to conduct scientific exploration elsewhere in the solar system. Much of the world continues to debate where the Earth’s atmosphere ends and where space begins due to the lack of an official standard concerning the matter, but perhaps the latest findings will help bring closure to that debate once and for all.

First premiering on SyFy on December 14, 2015, the critically acclaimed outer space drama known as The Expanse quickly gained a large fanbase. This following reached full-blown cult status when the show was canceled after Season 3, and loyal fans of the show petitioned Amazon Video to pick it up. This included literally flying an airplane over Amazon HQ with a sign reading, “#Save The Expanse”. Luckily, Amazon heard the call and picked up the show for Season 4, ultimately renewing it for an additional fifth and sixth season. However, all good things must come to an end, and The Expanse is currently airing its sixth and final season, with the final episode having been released on Amazon Video just a few hours before this publication. The show has yet to be greenlit for a seventh season. The Expanse takes place hundreds of the years in the future after humanity has successfully colonized the solar system. Having grown up on Star Trek, anytime someone mentions the words “sci-fi,” “space,” and especially “futuristic,” I immediately envision warp drive, teleportation, phasers, photon torpedoes, tractor beams, and all the other fancy shenanigans that I always thought went with futuristic science fiction. Everything within the Star Trek universe is also so clean and perfect, with humanity at peace and happily exploring the galaxy while the show would constantly jab at past “problems” from the 20th century as being long behind us. Quests for money and power and fighting over our petty differences are a thing of the literal past, and I would constantly tell myself, “This is the future, and I can’t wait for it!” This is where The Expanse really caught my attention, though, as the show conveys a future where we’re still squabbling and fighting amongst ourselves over the aforementioned problems, and this is where I believe we needed this show. There’s also no warp drive, and literally no mention of humanity even trying to expand beyond the confines of our solar system. All of the fancy “futuristic” tech I was long-accustomed to seeing was nowhere to be found. The purpose of The Expanse was to remind us that while space exploration is exciting, it can also be very, very difficult, both politically and technologically. As travel to space becomes more and more accessible to everyday individuals, most notably with the launch of Inspiration 4 and the recent Blue Origin suborbital flights of Wally Funk, William Shatner, Michael Strahan, and Laura Shepard Churchley, we deserved The Expanse to give us something to strive for in terms of not only what humanity can achieve, but also the problems we can address now so we can possibly avoid the bleak and war-filled future conveyed in this fantastic show. While it conveys a future that mirrors our present in many ways, it also serves as a warning that this is what we could face if we don’t address the problems of today. As The Expanse wraps up its time on the air, this gives us time to reflect, and this reflection can absolutely bring about a positive future for humankind. Sources: Deadline, Deadline, The Verge, Space.com (1), Space.com (2), CNN, Space.com (3)