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A Sustainable Development Goal for space?

Scientists have called for the designation of a new United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) with the aim to conserve and sustainably use Earth’s orbit, and prevent the accumulation of space junk.

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Discovering hidden wrinkles in spacecraft membranes with a single camera

Exiting Earth’s gravity takes an enormous amount of fuel and power. Due to this, spacecraft strapped to rockets are limited in their carry capacity and every gram must be accounted for.

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Planets without plate tectonics could still be habitable

It has been thought that plate tectonics were a significant factor in the shaping of our planet and the evolution of life. Mars and Venus don’t experience such movements of crustal plates, but then the differences between the worlds is evident.

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Water and carbon dioxide detected in the atmosphere of a hot super-Neptune exoplanet

Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have characterized the atmosphere of a hot super-Neptune exoplanet designated WASP-166 b. As a result, they found that the atmosphere of this alien world contains water and carbon dioxide. Their findings were reported Dec. 31 on the arXiv preprint server.

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SpaceX sends up 1st Kennedy Space Center launch of the year

SpaceX completed its first launch from Kennedy Space Center for the year on Wednesday morning. A Falcon 9 carrying 21 Starlink satellites lifted off at 10:27 a.m. Eastern time from KSC’s Launch Pad 39-A.

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Japan startup hopeful ahead of second moon launch

Japanese startup ispace vowed its upcoming second unmanned moon mission will be a success, saying Thursday that it learned from its failed attempt nearly two years ago.

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US astronauts upbeat seven months into eight-day mission

Two US astronauts who have been stuck for months on the International Space Station (ISS) said Wednesday they have plenty of food, are not facing a laundry crisis, and don’t yet feel like castaways.

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NASA to test solution for radiation-tolerant computing in space

Onboard computers are critical to space exploration, aiding nearly every spacecraft function from propulsion and navigation systems to life support technology, science data retrieval and analysis, communications, and reentry.

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Dormancy: Life’s first survival strategy?

The early Earth was an extreme place. Asteroids pommeled the surface. Volcanoes spewed lava and carbon dioxide. The thick, toxic atmosphere lacked oxygen. Yet, in this turmoil, life emerged.

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Astronaut set to patch NASA’s X-ray telescope aboard space station

NASA astronaut Nick Hague will install patches to the agency’s NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) X-ray telescope on the International Space Station as part of a spacewalk scheduled for Jan. 16. Hague, along with astronaut Suni Williams, will also complete other tasks during the outing.

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Debris falling from the sky: More often, more risk

It is still not clear what exactly fell onto a Kenyan village last month, but such events are likely to become increasingly common given the amount of space debris drifting above the planet.

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NASA lander to test vacuum cleaner on moon for sample collection

Among all the challenges of voyaging to and successfully landing on other worlds, the effective collection and study of soil and rock samples cannot be underestimated.

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NASA joins telescope, instruments to Roman spacecraft

Technicians have successfully integrated NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s payload—the telescope, instrument carrier, and two instruments—to the spacecraft that will deliver the observatory to its place in space and enable it to function while there.

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JAXA’s first wooden satellite deploys from space station

In December 2024, five CubeSats deployed into Earth’s orbit from the International Space Station. Among them was LignoSat, a wooden satellite from JAXA (Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency) that investigates the use of wood in space. Findings could offer a more sustainable alternative to conventional satellites.

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Helical magnetic fields: A universal mechanism for jet collimation?

New observations from the National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s (NSF NRAO) Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (NSF VLA) provide compelling evidence supporting a universal mechanism for the collimation of astrophysical jets, regardless of their origin.

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