More recently, an international think-tank of over 30 physicists called Applied Physics has inched closer to a working concept by laying out the math behind what they call a physical warp drive. But in order to overcome many of the energy violations that have haunted previous efforts, their concept is unable to go faster than the speed of light.

Of course, traveling at 90% light speed would make trips to other planets possible. But even this potentially breakthrough design (dubbed the Martire-Bobrick warp drive for the two authors behind the concept Alexey Bobrick and Gianni Martire) is still purely theoretical.

Now, a new player has entered the fray, and unlike most of the others working in this field, he says he is ready to run an experiment on his theory right now. Ladies and gentlemen, meet the university professor and Provost of the University of Houston-Victoria, and the man who may finally crack the warp drive puzzle, Dr. Chance Glenn.

The Engineer

Dr. Chance Glenn recently won the 2022 Permission to Dream Award at the Space Cowboy Ball in Austin, Texas, an award previously given to Jeff Bezos. The award was presented by SpaceX’s Gwynne Shotwell, who also won an award

(Credit: Thomas Colvin/University of Houston-Victoria).

“I’m a huge Star Trek lover,” the impressively calm and cool Glenn told The Debrief when discussing his interest in warp drive. “I was drawn by the future that it projects.”

Glenn says he is partial to the original series “by far” and has identified with one character in particular.

“Mr. Spock is my guy,” said Glenn. “I tried to be him.”

Like Spock, Glenn is undoubtedly left-brained, having earned a number of degrees in electrical engineering, including a Masters and a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University. But unlike Mr. Spock, Glenn embraces his creative side as well, including writing and recording music. He says that he actually knows of many engineers like himself that are drawn to the mathematical nature of music and that he often finds unexpected inspiration for his engineering work when creating a tune. Although he didn’t say so, one could almost imagine the theme of Star Trek The Original Series playing in the background when he decided to take a look at warp drive.

“I took a closer look at (Einstein’s Theory) General Relativity and all of that,” said Glenn, which led him to try to work out exactly how one would go about building a warp drive. Oh yeah, and the massive media coverage around UFOs over the last few years had an impact as well.

“There was actually some DARPA research a few years ago where they were actually looking at this,” explained Glenn, “and it may even intersect with this seriousness that DOD and NASA have gotten around UFOs, or UAPs, to see how were they doing it? If there are vessels flying around, how are they doing it? So that got my interest”

The first thing Glenn noticed was the massive amounts of negative energy required in the faster-than-light concepts, including the more popular models of Alcubierre and White, as well as those published by Dr. Eric Lentz.

“I said, ‘well, if the shaping function was complex, with a larger imaginary part, then it would make all of the energy density requirements positive,’” Glenn told The Debrief. “And I modeled that and got some results that are positive. That’s what’s shown in the paper.”

Of course, being an engineer at heart and by trade, Glenn knew he would have to go beyond simple theory if, as Captain Picard might say, he was going to “make it so.”

“Mathematics and all of that is cool,” Glenn said with a sly grin, “but there is nothing like proving it.”

The Proof

According to Glenn, he labored for some time to come up with a viable way to test his new theory before landing on a class of material known as dielectrics.

“I know from my RF (radio frequency) background that dielectrics can be complex,” Glenn told The Debrief. “So if you put an RF signal through a dielectric material, that could be a way to implement this, implement a shaping function, having whatever characteristics you want.”

He says he found this approach particularly intriguing since it seemed to address the negative energy issue. And he says, he didn’t see anyone else taking this route.

“The difference (between his model and others) is, I’ve identified a material which I think can take us there, and that mathematically fits what the equations are saying,” Glenn told The Debrief. “A lot of the (warp theories) out there haven’t speculated actually how they would do these things,” he added. “Nobody has looked at it that way that I was able to find.”

The self-described ‘engineer with a physicist’s heart’ says he looked around for a material that had the exact properties he would need, and “lo and behold,” one of them is something called ethylene glycol. For those of us not trained in chemistry, he explained that ethylene glycol is more commonly known as antifreeze. That’s right, Star Trek fans. Not the fictional dilithium crystals or anti-matter used to power the starship Enterprise, but good old-fashioned, your-grandpa-keeps-a-can-in-the-garage, anti-freeze.

Glenn says that the realization that such a simple material could unlock the door to warp drive motivated him to begin to design an actual lab experiment, one that could be performed with present-day tools and materials.

“I am, at the present time, working on conducting that experiment using an interferometer to measure any changes that you may see,” Glenn told The Debrief, “because that’s how they’re measuring gravitational waves now.”

For reference, gravitational waves were theorized way back in 1916 by Albert Einstein. Still, they were not proven to exist until 2015, when researchers used the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Observatory (LIGO) run by The California Institute of Technology (Cal Tech) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to actually observe real gravitational waves in space. It was a discovery nearly 100 years in the making and one that won the researchers involved a Nobel Prize.

As a matter of fact, the group from Applied Physics recently proposed a method for detecting an alien warp drive-enabled spacecraft using LIGO, a story covered by The Debrief.

“My planned experiment (involves) pumping an RF chamber with a laser beam running through it,” explained Glenn, “and if somehow, even slightly, space/time is distorted in some way, it could be detected.”

Of course, the observably brilliant yet humble engineer makes it perfectly clear that his first goal is to see that warping of space/time and not the construction of an actual warp spaceship.

“In the lab, I don’t want to see a warp bubble shooting by at ten times the speed of light,” Glenn told The Debrief. “I can’t detect it anyway.”

Fortunately, the experiment he does plan to run is something he is almost ready to execute.

The Experiment

The actual design of Glenn’s lab experiment is rather straightforward. It involves building a chamber, filling it with anti-freeze, blasting that chamber with RF energy, and measuring the impact with a laser interferometer, just like LIGO.

“If it can concentrate (the RF energy) into a particular spot, which the chamber I am designing allows us to do, that may be enough, at the atomic level, I’m only speculating, could be the thing that actually bends space/time.”

Of course, Glenn points out that there are a number of variables he has to take into account, variables that he is currently writing into his experiment.

“If I’m trying to measure stuff at such a small level, and a small resolution, there are a lot of variables that could affect the results,” he explained. “Like heat, or vibrations on the table could make the laser beam look like it’s being jostled or moved, but it (might not) be what you think.”

The key to making sure he is actually seeing what he hopes to see is pulsing the RF signal. That’s because pulsing the signal not only allows for the tuning and shaping of the RF to improve performance and reduces the overall energy required (a stalling point for many warp theories) but also gives a method for making sure any perturbance of space/time witnessed is a result of the RF and not some outside force.

“I want to pulse it so that if I see distortions based on those pulses, I know that I’m doing it,” explained Glenn, “and not the train that is riding down the tracks 20 miles away.”

The Warp Drive Propulsion

The first step, Glenn explained, is finishing the design of the chamber to make sure the RF energy is concentrated at a single point. To accomplish this task, he is using a design software tool known as COMSOL. And, he says, he is already about 75% of the way through that work.

Next, as is the case in pretty much every visionary engineering endeavor, Glenn will need to secure the funding to perform his experiment. Fortunately, his pre-proposal to the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a grant has already been accepted for review. If it is approved, the professor says there should be more than enough funding to build his chamber, pour the concrete for his stable test table, buy the cutting-edge interferometer and other tools, and compensate all of the people he will need to pull it off.

Of course, in his position as provost at the university, Glenn could just appropriate the resources and people and do it right there on campus. But if he receives the NSF grant, he wants to create a dedicated facility off campus to avoid any conflicts of interest. Towards that end, he has also received some support from other warp theorists who are excited about his idea.

“Dr. White has opened up his (Eagleworks) lab to us if we need it,” said Glenn, “so there is always that option.”

The professor also noted that his initial paper outlining his theory has garnered him some rather high-profile allies that are supporting his efforts to test his warp drive concept.

“The exciting thing is, SpaceX is indirectly involved,” Glenn told The Debrief. “I am actually working with someone who is connected to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), so NASA, and also connected to SpaceX. They are centered at Texas A&M’s technology and engineering center.”

Whichever route he takes, Dr. Glenn says his experiment should be conducted very soon.

“I’m hoping to run initial experiments in the 1^st half of 2023,” said Glenn. “Maybe sometime in March or early spring.”

The Vision

Along with being a fan of Star Trek and an engineer who loves a good challenge, Glenn says there is a larger driving force behind his work. It is the idea of access to space for all.

“We look at all of these ideas, like building colonies on Mars or hotels in space, and we wonder if any of this is going to be accessible to the average person or if it is going to be another case of the haves versus the have-nots,” explained Glenn.

He calls his idea “space for everyone” and has even chartered an organization whose primary goal is to make sure everyday people can reap the rewards of trillion-dollar asteroids or colonies on the moon.

“I am representing a group called the Morningbird Foundation,” said Glenn. “Our goal is to make sure everyone benefits from access to space, not just the wealthy.” If this idea sounds familiar, that’s because it is more or less one of the primary factors that motivated Gene Roddenberry to create the original Star Trek series.

So, although we don’t know if Dr. Glenn will be successful in warping space/time, it sounds like he may have already realized his first dream: to actually become Mr. Spock.

To that, we say good luck with your experiment, Dr. Glenn. We can’t wait to report the results.

Until then, live long and prosper.

• Read This to Learn About the Star Trek-Inspired Company Trying to Build a Working Warp Drive Spacecraft
• Christopher Plain is a novelist, comedian, and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on Twitter, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him directly at christopher@thedebrief.org.

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{ https://thedebrief.org/category/space/ }

16-01-2026 om 22:49 geschreven door peter  

On January 14, an unprecedented event in NASA history took place. For the first time, the aerospace administration terminated a manned space mission ahead of schedule due to health problems of one of the Crew-11 mission participants. For confidentiality reasons, NASA is not disclosing his name or details of his diagnosis. According to unofficial sources, the astronaut in question is Michael Fincke.

But although evacuation to Earth is an unprecedented event for NASA, it is far from the first such case. Yes, cosmonauts and astronauts undergo thorough medical examinations, but they are still human beings. It is no secret that even healthy people can unexpectedly experience health problems under certain circumstances. Moreover, space explorers work in extremely harsh conditions and are exposed to factors such as weightlessness, increased radiation levels, and confinement in a closed space – not to mention significant stress.

In this article, you will learn about the most famous cases in history when medical problems directly affected the course of space expeditions.

Cold and disobedience, Apollo 7

At the dawn of the space age, NASA did not have a preflight quarantine for astronauts. The Apollo 7 mission clearly demonstrated the shortcomings of this practice. Shortly after launch, mission commander Walter Schirra came down with a cold. Later, the rest of the crew also developed symptoms. Colds in zero gravity were much more severe than on Earth. Aspirin from the onboard first aid kit did not help, and it was impossible to clear their noses and ears.

It is worth noting that Apollo 7 was a very difficult mission. It was supposed to demonstrate that NASA had recovered from the loss of three astronauts who died in a fire during Apollo 1 testing, and that after all the changes made, the spacecraft was safe for flight. The crew was under a great deal of pressure. And illness only exacerbated the situation.

From a technical point of view, the flight itself went brilliantly: the astronauts completed absolutely all of their tasks, paving the way to the Moon. The flip side of the coin was that communication between Mission Control (RKA) and the astronauts was very difficult and accompanied by a number of conflicts. The final straw was the landing. Mission Control (RKA) demanded that the astronauts put on their helmets in case of depressurization of the spacecraft. But the crew refused to do so, citing concerns that the increase in pressure could cause their eardrums to rupture due to their airways still being blocked. The astronauts wanted to be able to perform the Valsalva maneuver to equalize the pressure in their ears. As a result, they refused to obey a direct order and did not put on their helmets.

This had direct consequences. Even before the flight, Wally Schirra announced that he would soon be leaving NASA, so the aerospace administration was unable to impose any serious sanctions on him. However, for the other two crew members, Donn Eisele and Walter Cunningham, this flight was their last. NASA management decided to no longer allow astronauts who did not follow orders to fly into space.

Moon allergy

Scientists and engineers working on projects to create lunar settlements have identified a number of problems that need to be solved before colonization of Earth’s satellite can begin. But actual flights have revealed another problem that no one had thought about before, and that could seriously complicate long-term stays on the Moon. We are talking about allergies to lunar dust.

The fact is that lunar dust is completely different from Earth dust. It consists of very fine and extremely sharp particles – after all, there is no atmosphere or water on the Moon to smooth them out. Lunar dust is extremely sticky. It easily sticks to spacesuits and equipment, which creates a number of problems. It can also cause allergies.

Harrison Schmitt, a member of the Apollo 17 mission, saw this for himself. When he took off his spacesuit after returning to the lunar module, he developed hay fever – an allergic reaction caused by inhaling dust particles. The next day, the allergy had almost disappeared, allowing the astronaut to continue his work. However, as it soon became clear, Cernan’s case was not unique. Later, the same symptoms appeared in a person who worked with the astronauts’ spacesuits after their return to Earth.

It is possible that long-term inhalation of dust could have even more serious consequences for humans and cause lung disease. Therefore, designers of modern lunar missions are taking this factor into account and looking for ways to combat dust.

Skylab strike

Information about the so-called Skylab “strike” can easily be found on the Internet. It is claimed that on December 28, 1973, in protest against an overly busy work schedule, the station crew (astronauts Gerald Carr, Edward Gibson, and William Pogue) cut off communication with Mission Control (RKA) and spent the entire day relaxing and looking at Earth.

What really happened? For all the astronauts at the station, it was their first flight into space. At the same time, NASA had drawn up an overly ambitious work plan for them. This led to the crew falling behind schedule and the psychological atmosphere becoming very tense. It is claimed that this is precisely why the astronauts broke down at some point and went on strike.

But in reality, everything was much more complicated. Communication was lost not for a day, but for an entire orbit. According to the astronauts, this was due to a mistake – they confused who was responsible for maintaining contact with Earth that day. The available records of the conversations also do not confirm that the crew refused to work. In fact, there was a dialogue between the crew and Mission Control (RKA) about the problems that had arisen – something like the first psychotherapy session in space. At first, the crew reported everything they did not like and what needed to be changed first. Then Mission Control (RKA) openly told the crew about everything that was bothering them.

The changes introduced after this discussion yielded results. As a result, the second half of the mission turned out to be much more productive than the first. In some respects, the crew even managed to exceed the initial plan. After this flight, NASA began to pay much more attention to the psychological aspects of space travel, realizing that they were just as important as the crew’s physical health.

The Skylab mission became the starting point for numerous medical studies devoted to human behavior in space. Its results are still actively used in the selection and training of crews for long-term expeditions. The most obvious legacy of this mission was the introduction of the practice that at least one member of a space expedition must have experience flying in orbit.

The mysterious return of Soyuz-21

Despite all the problems, the Skylab crew remained at the station until the end of their scheduled stay. The same cannot be said about the crew of Soyuz-21. In July 1976, it docked with the Salyut 5 military orbital station. It was assumed that crew commander Boris Volynov and flight engineer Vitaly Zholobov would spend 60 days aboard the station. In reality, they returned to Earth after only 49 days.

The reason for the early return of Soyuz-21 is still shrouded in rumors. According to Volynov, after an emergency arose at the station, Zholobov began to suffer from severe headaches, and his condition continued to deteriorate. By the time the Mission Control Center decided to terminate the expedition early, he was unable to put on his spacesuit by himself. As for the reasons for his deteriorating health, a strange smell was cited, which was presumably caused by a nitric acid leak. Because of this, the next expedition boarded Salyut-5 wearing respirators. However, the cosmonauts did not detect any smell or leaks.

However, according to popular opinion, the real reason was the difficult psychological situation and conflict between the crew members, which led to the early termination of the mission. Later, Zholobov denied some of the rumors surrounding the flight, but at the same time stated that he had essentially taken on the problems that had arisen for Volynov, who was in command of the mission.

Astronaut sickness

While there are many gray areas in the history of Soyuz-21, there is no doubt about the main reason for the early termination of the Soyuz T-14 expedition: cosmonaut Vladimir Vasyutin fell ill. While on board the Salyut-7 station, he developed symptoms of prostatitis.

The treatment administered on board the space station after consultation with doctors was unsuccessful. The cosmonaut’s health deteriorated rapidly. As a result, on November 21, 1985, Soyuz T-14 returned to Earth. Instead of the planned 200 days, the flight lasted only 64 days.

According to the widely accepted version, Vasyutin knew about his illness and concealed it, attempting to treat himself, and the responsibility lies solely with him. However, there is also an alternative opinion, according to which, given the thoroughness of medical examinations, regardless of his wishes, the cosmonaut would never have been able to hide a chronic illness from doctors, and that this was an acute illness that suddenly developed during the space flight.

Regardless of whether Vasyutin knew about his illness or not, it led to the failure of a very ambitious expedition and the cancellation of a number of missions planned for Salyut 7. Subsequently, only one spacecraft visited the station, after which it was mothballed and, a few years later, fell out of orbit. Shortly after returning to Earth, Vasyutin himself was removed from the cosmonaut corps due to health reasons and never flew into space again.

• Posted in Articles, Questions

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16-01-2026 om 22:09 geschreven door peter  

Wormholes are often imagined as tunnels through space or time—shortcuts across the universe. But this image rests on a misunderstanding of work by physicists Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen.

In 1935, while studying the behavior of particles in regions of extreme gravity, Einstein and Rosen introduced what they called a "bridge": a mathematical link between two perfectly symmetrical copies of spacetime. It was not intended as a passage for travel, but as a way to maintain consistency between gravity and quantum physics. Only later did Einstein–Rosen bridges become associated with wormholes, despite having little to do with the original idea.

But in new research published in Classical and Quantum Gravity, my colleagues and I show that the original Einstein–Rosen bridge points to something far stranger—and more fundamental—than a wormhole.

The puzzle Einstein and Rosen were addressing was never about space travel, but about how quantum fields behave in curved spacetime. Interpreted this way, the Einstein–Rosen bridge acts as a mirror in spacetime: a connection between two microscopic arrows of time.

Quantum mechanics governs nature at the smallest scales such as particles, while Einstein's theory of general relativity applies to gravity and spacetime. Reconciling the two remains one of physics' deepest challenges. And excitingly, our reinterpretation may offer a path to doing this.

A misunderstood legacy

The "wormhole" interpretation emerged decades after Einstein and Rosen's work, when physicists speculated about crossing from one side of spacetime to the other, most notably in the late-1980s research.

But those same analyses also made clear how speculative the idea was: within general relativity, such a journey is forbidden. The bridge pinches off faster than light could traverse it, rendering it non-traversable. Einstein–Rosen bridges are therefore unstable and unobservable—mathematical structures, not portals.

Nevertheless, the wormhole metaphor flourished in popular culture and speculative theoretical physics. The idea that black holes might connect distant regions of the cosmos—or even act as time machines—inspired countless papers, books and films.

Yet there is no observational evidence for macroscopic wormholes, nor any compelling theoretical reason to expect them within Einstein's theory. While speculative extensions of physics—such as exotic forms of matter or modifications of general relativity—have been proposed to support such structures, they remain untested and highly conjectural.

Two arrows of time

Our recent work revisits the Einstein–Rosen bridge puzzle using a modern quantum interpretation of time, building on ideas developed by Sravan Kumar and João Marto.

Most fundamental laws of physics do not distinguish between past and future, or between left and right. If time or space is reversed in their equations, the laws remain valid. Taking these symmetries seriously leads to a different interpretation of the Einstein–Rosen bridge.

Rather than a tunnel through space, it can be understood as two complementary components of a quantum state. In one, time flows forward; in the other, it flows backward from its mirror-reflected position.

This symmetry is not a philosophical preference. Once infinities are excluded, quantum evolution must remain complete and reversible at the microscopic level—even in the presence of gravity.

The "bridge" expresses the fact that both time components are needed to describe a complete physical system. In ordinary situations, physicists ignore the time-reversed component by choosing a single arrow of time.

But near black holes, or in expanding and collapsing universes, both directions must be included for a consistent quantum description. It is here that Einstein–Rosen bridges naturally arise.

Solving the information paradox

At the microscopic level, the bridge allows information to pass across what appears to us as an event horizon—a point of no return. Information does not vanish; it continues evolving, but along the opposite, mirror temporal direction.

This framework offers a natural resolution to the famous black hole information paradox. In 1974, Stephen Hawking showed that black holes radiate heat and can eventually evaporate, apparently erasing all information about what fell into them—contradicting the quantum principle that evolution must preserve information.

The paradox arises only if we insist on describing horizons using a single, one-sided arrow of time extrapolated to infinity—an assumption quantum mechanics itself does not require.

If the full quantum description includes both time directions, nothing is truly lost. Information leaves our time direction and re-emerges along the reversed one. Completeness and causality are preserved, without invoking exotic new physics.

These ideas are difficult to grasp because we are macroscopic beings who experience only one direction of time. On everyday scales, disorder—or entropy—tends to increase. A highly ordered state naturally evolves into a disordered one, never the reverse. This gives us an arrow of time.

But quantum mechanics allows more subtle behavior. Intriguingly, evidence for this hidden structure may already exist. The cosmic microwave background—the afterglow of the Big Bang—shows a small but persistent asymmetry: a preference for one spatial orientation over its mirror image.

This anomaly has puzzled cosmologists for two decades. Standard models assign it extremely low probability—unless mirror quantum components are included.

Echoes of a prior universe?

This picture connects naturally to a deeper possibility. What we call the "Big Bang" may not have been the absolute beginning, but a bounce—a quantum transition between two time-reversed phases of cosmic evolution.

In such a scenario, black holes could act as bridges not just between time directions, but between different cosmological epochs. Our universe might be the interior of a black hole formed in another, parent cosmos. This could have formed as a closed region of spacetime collapsed, bounced back and began expanding as the universe we observe today.

If this picture is correct, it also offers a way for observations to decide. Relics from the pre-bounce phase—such as smaller black holes—could survive the transition and reappear in our expanding universe. Some of the unseen matter we attribute to dark matter could, in fact, be made of such relics.

In this view, the Big Bang evolved from conditions in a preceding contraction. Wormholes aren't necessary: the bridge is temporal, not spatial—and the Big Bang becomes a gateway, not a beginning.

This reinterpretation of Einstein–Rosen bridges offers no shortcuts across galaxies, no time travel and no science-fiction wormholes or hyperspace. What it offers is far deeper. It offers a consistent quantum picture of gravity in which spacetime embodies a balance between opposite directions of time—and where our universe may have had a history before the Big Bang.

It does not overthrow Einstein's relativity or quantum physics—it completes them. The next revolution in physics may not take us faster than light—but it could reveal that time, deep down in the microscopic world and in a bouncing universe, flows both ways.

More information: Enrique Gaztañaga et al, A new understanding of Einstein–Rosen bridges, Classical and Quantum Gravity (2026). DOI: 10.1088/1361-6382/ae3044

• This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
• Provided by The Conversation
• This story was originally published on Phys.org.

{  Phys.org. }

16-01-2026 om 21:52 geschreven door peter  

Is this how the world will end? Earth could be VAPORISED by the sun as it expands, scientists warn

• READ MORE: Astronomers spot an unexpected ‘ghostly object’ 

By WILIAM HUNTER, SENIOR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY REPORTER

Scientists have discovered a mysterious 'iron bar' in the heart of a nearby nebula that could offer a glimpse into Earth's grizzly fate.

The strip of ionised iron atoms was spotted stretching across the Ring Nebula, located 2,283 light-years from Earth.

Experts are baffled about how it formed, as scientists have never seen anything like it before. 

But they say it could be the remains of an Earth-like rocky planet that was vaporised by a dying star.

When stars like our sun run out of nuclear fuel at the end of their lives, the outer layers balloon to enormous size even as the core shrinks and cools.

Eventually, the core becomes a tiny white dwarf without enough gravity to hold the star together, and the outer layers are shed to leave behind a planetary nebula.

In about five billion years from now, our sun will undergo the same transformation as it swells into an enormous Red Giant and swallows Earth.

In a new paper, researchers say this never-before-seen structure in the Ring Nebula could reveal what Earth would look like after being destroyed by the sun.

Scientists have spotted a mysterious iron 'bar' at the centre of the Ring Nebula, and it could offer a glimpse of Earth's grim future 

In this new study, scientists looked at the Ring Nebula using a new tool called the Large Integral Field Unit (LIFU), mounted on the William Herschel Telescope.

This is essentially a bundle containing hundreds of fibre-optic wires that allow scientists to look at the different wavelengths of light, or spectra, across the entire face of the nebula.

Lead author Dr Roger Wesson, of Cardiff University and University College London, says: 'By obtaining a spectrum continuously across the whole nebula, we can create images of the nebula at any wavelength and determine its chemical composition at any position.

'When we processed the data and scrolled through the images, one thing popped out as clear as anything – this previously unknown "bar" of ionised iron atoms, in the middle of the familiar and iconic ring.'

The strip of ionised iron atoms was spotted stretching across the Ring Nebula, located 2,283 light-years from Earth

Astronomers believe that the Ring Nebula formed when a dying star shed its outer layers about 4,000 years ago

The researchers aren't actually sure how this strange bar might have been formed, but there are two likely scenarios.

Either the bar was made by some unknown process during the ejection of the nebula as the parent star collapsed, or it is an arc of plasma resulting from the vaporisation of a rocky planet caught up in the star’s earlier expansion.

'We know that there are planets around many stars, and if there were planets around the star that formed the Ring Nebula, they would have vaporised when the star became a red giant,' Dr Wesson told the Daily Mail.

'And the mass of iron in the bar is about what you'd expect from the vaporisation of a planet: if Mercury or Mars were vaporised, that would give a bit less iron than the bar in the Ring, while if Earth or Venus were vaporised, it would give a bit more.'

If the latter is true, then this strange structure could be a fascinating look at how our planet might appear to astronomers billions of years in the future.

Main-sequence stars like our sun are stable because the inward forces of gravity are matched by the outward push of nuclear fusion reactions in the core.

However, when the star runs out of hydrogen fuel, it can't sustain that reaction and the outer layers start to collapse inwards.

The pressure from this collapse creates such intense heat that it can fuse helium atoms into carbon, releasing a surge of energy that kickstarts nuclear fusion in the outer layers.

One possible explanation is that the iron bar is the remains of a rocky planet that was engulfed by its star as the outer layers expanded to form the nebula. Earth is likely to suffer this same fate when the sun starts to run out of fuel in five billion years' time

The outer layers then expand and cool into what is known as a Red Giant, becoming anywhere from 100 to 1,000 times larger.

When this happens to our sun in about five billion years' time, scientists think it is very likely that Earth will be destroyed.

As the sun expands, Earth will either be vaporised by the intense heat or torn to pieces and pulled in by the powerful gravitational tidal forces.

In a paper published last year, scientists found that stars which had already expanded into red giants were much less likely to host large, close–orbiting planets like Earth.

Overall, 0.28 per cent of stars surveyed were home to a giant planet, with the youngest stars in the sequence having planets more frequently.

However, for stars that had already grown enough to be classed as red giants, just 0.11 per cent were home to planets.

When this does happen, Earth might be smeared into something very much like the iron bar seen in the Ring Nebula.

However, the researchers say they still need a lot more evidence before they can say for certain whether the bar was left by a planet.

In about five billion years, scientists say that the sun will burn the last of its hydrogen fuel. When this happens, it will expand to about 200 times its current size to become a red giant and destroy Earth (artist's impression)

Dr Wesson says: 'A vaporised planet is a possibility. But it's not the only possibility, and we'd have to work out how the iron ended up in a bar shape if it did come from a planet. 

'More likely, there are iron "bars" waiting to be found in other nebulae. The more we can find, the more information we will have to determine how they formed, so we're hunting for more of them!'

In the future, the researchers hope to use the LIFU tool to find more nebulae with similar features, to try to figure out where the bar might have come from. 

Co-author Professor Janet Drew, of University College London, says: 'We definitely need to know more - particularly whether any other chemical elements co-exist with the newly-detected iron, as this would probably tell us the right class of model to pursue. 

'Right now, we are missing this important information.'

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO EARTH WHEN THE SUN DIES?

Five billion years from now, it's said the Sun will have grown into a red giant star, more than a hundred times larger than its current size. 

Eventually, it will eject gas and dust to create an 'envelope' accounting for as much as half its mass.

The core will become a tiny white dwarf star. This will shine for thousands of years, illuminating the envelope to create a ring-shaped planetary nebula.

Five billion years from now, it's said the Sun will have grown into a red giant star, more than a hundred times larger than its current size

While this metamorphosis will change the solar system, scientists are unsure what will happen to the third rock from the Sun.

We already know that our Sun will be bigger and brighter, so that it will probably destroy any form of life on our planet.

But whether the Earth's rocky core will survive is uncertain. 

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16-01-2026 om 20:38 geschreven door peter  

Black hole awakens after 100 million years of silence – and it's erupting like a cosmic VOLCANO

• READ MORE: Little red dots are 'the most violent forces in the universe'

By WILIAM HUNTER, SENIOR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY REPORTER

Astronomers have captured the moment a 'reborn' supermassive black hole awakened after 100 million years of silence.

Incredible images show the black hole erupting like a 'cosmic volcano', with enough force to reshape its entire host galaxy.

While almost all galaxies host a monstrous supermassive black hole at their heart, few produce such spectacular explosions of superheated plasma.

Spanning almost one million light–years, these plumes of cosmic lava are nearly 10 times wider than the Milky Way.

Lead researcher Dr Shobha Kumari, of Midnapore City College in India, says: 'It's like watching a cosmic volcano erupt again after ages of calm.'

The researchers say their radio images aren't just impressive to look at, but also reveal the hidden violence of the 'messy, chaotic struggle' at the galaxy's core.

The black hole, dubbed J1007+3540, lives inside an enormous galaxy cluster filled with extremely hot gas.

This creates a constant battle between the explosive power of the black hole and the crushing pressure of the surrounding galaxy.

Scientists have captured the moment a supermassive black hole roared back to life after 100 million years of silence, erupting like a 'cosmic volcano' 

Supermassive black holes are the ultra–dense cores of dead stars that collapsed in supernova explosions, with masses up to 10 million times larger than that of the sun.

Their gravitational pull is so strong that not even light can escape beyond the point of no return known as the 'event horizon'.

Typically, the supermassive black holes at the centre of most galaxies are relatively stable, with the surrounding matter orbiting at a safe distance.

However, these monstrous objects can sometimes start to feed on the surrounding clouds of gas that fill the galactic core and become 'active'.

As matter swirls inwards towards the event horizon like water circling a drain, it starts to move incredibly quickly, and friction heats it to enormous temperatures.

Eventually, these forces become so powerful that the black hole starts shooting a jet of superheated plasma into space that produces a blast of electromagnetic radiation.

This ejects a huge amount of the matter falling into the black hole, which is why astronomers sometimes call black holes 'messy eaters'.

In their new paper, published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, scientists used the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) in the Netherlands and India's upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (uGMRT) to look for radio emissions from J1007+3540.

The supermassive black hole, dubbed J1007+3540, has now become active, shooting a jet of plasma almost 10 times wider than the Milky Way out into space (illustrated)

Why do black holes 'erupt'?

Most supermassive black holes are considered 'dormant', which means they aren't actively feeding on matter.

However, when a black hole starts to feed on matter, it becomes 'active' and begins to produce radiation.

This is because matter swirling around the black hole is superheated to the point that it is shot out in a jet.

This plasma produces large amounts of X–rays and radio radiation that can be detected from Earth as an eruption.

These images showed a compact, bright inner jet of radio–emitting magnetised plasma that is the telltale sign of the black hole's recent awakening.

The researchers also discovered just how profoundly the intense pressures at the heart of the galaxy cluster were shaping the black hole.

As the jets are pushed outwards, they are bent, squeezed and distorted by their extreme environment.

As their radio images show, the topmost 'northern lobe' of the jet has been compressed into a curve that seems to have been shoved sideways by the gases.

However, the astronomer's observations didn't just reveal the secrets of this black hole's current eruption.

Just like the volcanoes here on Earth, J1007+3540 has a long and violent history of eruptions.

Just outside the bright inner jet, astronomers spotted a cocoon of older, faded plasma.

This is the leftover debris from past eruptions that has been squeezed and distorted by the hostile environment.

Uniquely, the researchers discovered the remains of previous 'eruptions' surrounding the active black hole (artist's impression). This suggests that this cosmic volcano has erupted multiple times in the past 

Dr Kumari says: 'This dramatic layering of young jets inside older, exhausted lobes is the signature of an episodic AGN [Active Galactic Nucleus] – a galaxy whose central engine keeps turning on and off over cosmic timescales.'

In our own galaxy, the supermassive black hole at the galactic core is currently dormant.

Read More

• Newly discovered galaxy cluster could rewrite our understanding of the universe, experts say 

However, scientists do believe that the black hole, known as Sagittarius A*, could make a similar eruption.

If this were to happen, Sagittarius A* would produce its own jets or plasma that could fundamentally reshape the universe.

While Earth would likely be protected from any radiation, a direct hit from one of those jets would be strong enough to wipe out life on Earth.

But there's no need to worry as scientists think this won't happen until the Milky Way collides with our neighbouring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), in 2.4 billion years.

BLACK HOLES HAVE A GRAVITATIONAL PULL SO STRONG NOT EVEN LIGHT CAN ESCAPE

Black holes are so dense and their gravitational pull is so strong that no form of radiation can escape them - not even light.

They act as intense sources of gravity which hoover up dust and gas around them. Their intense gravitational pull is thought to be what stars in galaxies orbit around.

How they are formed is still poorly understood. Astronomers believe they may form when a large cloud of gas up to 100,000 times bigger than the sun, collapses into a black hole.

Many of these black hole seeds then merge to form much larger supermassive black holes, which are found at the centre of every known massive galaxy.

Alternatively, a supermassive black hole seed could come from a giant star, about 100 times the sun's mass, that ultimately forms into a black hole after it runs out of fuel and collapses.

When these giant stars die, they also go 'supernova', a huge explosion that expels the matter from the outer layers of the star into deep space. 

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16-01-2026 om 20:00 geschreven door peter  

One of the most ambitious hunting expeditions in history — the search for signals from extraterrestrial civilizations — is getting a new lease on life. The SETI@Home project, which has attracted more than 2 million enthusiasts from around the world, is completing its analysis of a colossal array of data collected by the legendary Arecibo telescope. Despite the destruction of the observatory, scientists now have a unique “golden hundred” of candidate signals for detailed verification.

The idea of searching for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) faces a fundamental problem: space is filled with radio noise from stars, gas, and other natural sources. It is incredibly difficult to pick out a possible technological signal from this chaos. In 1999, a team of scientists decided to enlist the help of the entire planet. They asked volunteers to install a special program on their home computers that would analyze real data from Arecibo in the background. They expected 50,000 participants, but ended up with a true global collective mind — millions of people from 100 countries used their home computers to help science.

The Legacy of Areisibo

Over the course of 21 years, volunteers sifted through the information and identified more than 12 billion “interesting” signals. Now, this list has been narrowed down to the 100 most promising ones. Their detailed verification has been entrusted to a new giant — the Chinese FAST radio telescope, the world’s largest single-dish antenna. This is a symbolic passing of the baton from the late Arecibo, who in 1974 sent the famous message about humanity into space.

So far, none of the candidate signals has provided irrefutable evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence. However, as project co-founder David Anderson notes, this work is of immense value: “If we don’t find aliens, we can say that we have established a new level of sensitivity. We have a long list of things we would do differently.”

Path to future discoveries

SETI@Home has concluded as a large-scale experiment in citizen science. It has not only sifted through cosmic noise, but also created an invaluable database of knowledge and methodologies. This experience will serve as a foundation for future, even more accurate searches, proving that the most complex scientific problems can be solved through the combined efforts of all humanity.

Earlier, we explained the reasons behind humanity’s failure to detect extraterrestrial life to date.

• According to berkeley.edu

• Posted in News, Tech

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15-01-2026 om 22:23 geschreven door peter  

Little red dots in deep space are 'the most violent forces in the universe', study finds - solving a mystery that has baffled scientists for decades

• READ MORE: Scientists are baffled by a blast from a supermassive black hole

By WILIAM HUNTER, SENIOR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY REPORTER

Scientists have solved one of the universe's great mysteries as they finally reveal the identity of the 'little red dots' in deep space.

Ever since the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) started peering back into the dawn of the universe, experts have been perplexed by the appearance of these tiny red dots.

Astronomers found hundreds of the faint lights in images from when the universe was only a few hundred million years old, without any clue what they might be.

Now, scientists from the University of Copenhagen have revealed that the JWST's little red dots are actually 'the most violent forces in nature'.

According to a new study, published in the journal Nature, the red dots are actually supermassive black holes concealed in 'cocoons of ionised gas'.

As these young black holes feed on their cocoon, the swirling matter creates a vast amount of heat and radiation that shines out through the cloud of gas.

Lead author Professor Darach Watson says: 'We have captured the young black holes in the middle of their growth spurt at a stage that we have not observed before.

'The dense cocoon of gas around them provides the fuel they need to grow very quickly.'

Scientists say that the mysterious 'little red dots' discovered by the James Webb Space Telescope (pictured) are actually ancient supermassive black holes 

When the first little red dots were discovered, they presented a baffling puzzle for astronomers of the early universe.

The dots first appear in images from around 13 billion years ago, and simply disappear about a billion years later.

At first, scientists thought that the dots must be very young galaxies in their earliest stages of formation.

However, this didn't fit with our understanding of how the universe evolved after the Big Bang, as the first galaxies shouldn't have been visible until much later.

Others suggested that the dots might be black holes, ultra-dense bodies formed by the collapse of enormous stars, but there was another problem.

Scientists couldn't explain how any black hole could have become big enough to form a red dot so soon after the Big Bang.

Professor Watson's solution is that the black holes that form little red dots are actually much smaller than previously thought.

He says: 'When gas falls towards a black hole, it spirals down into a kind of disk or funnel towards the surface of the black hole.

Ever since the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) started peering back into the dawn of the universe, astronomers have been perplexed by the appearance of these tiny red dots

Now scientists say that these dots are actually young black holes wrapped in a cocoon of ionised gases, giving them a distinctive red glow 

'It ends up going so fast and is squeezed so densely that it generates temperatures of millions of degrees and lights up brightly.'

'The red colour arises because the UV and X-ray radiation from the central black hole is absorbed and reprocessed by the ionised gas around it, which gives it the characteristic red colour and spectra that look reminiscent of a star. 

Professor Watson and his co-authors looked at the spectral emission lines, the 'fingerprint' of the light being released, from several little red dots.

Just as they had suspected, these spectral lines were missing much of their UV and X-ray radiation, suggesting that the light was passing through a cloud of gas. 

More importantly, this data also shows that little red dots are far smaller than previously thought.

 Professor Watson told the Daily Mail: 'They are quite small - only a few light days or weeks at most. 

'The only mechanism we know in the universe that can dump that much energy in such a small volume is a BH.'

In fact, their analysis shows that the masses of these objects are about 100 times lower than astronomers had assumed.

Even though they are up to 10 million times more massive than the sun, these black holes are still around 100 times smaller than previously estimated. This makes them much more consistent with theories about the evolution of the universe (artist's impression)

Even though these would be some of the smallest black holes ever discovered, they are still up to 10 million times more massive than the sun and have diameters of over 6.2 million miles (10 million km).

However, that is still 'small' enough to be consistent with our understanding of how black holes formed after the Big Bang.

The researchers say this discovery could shed light on how black holes appeared so quickly in the early universe.

These young black holes' feeding frenzies could allow them to grow at speeds close to the maximum theoretical rate, known as the Eddington Limit.

That could explain why astronomers have started to discover black holes with masses up to a billion times greater than the sun, just 700 million years after the Big Bang.

'We found that the black hole masses are 10 to 100 times smaller than previously supposed, and that they are accreting gas at the limit, so these facts ease up very much on the problem of how they grow so fast,' says Professor Watson. 

'These black holes are more like one of the missing links between stellar mass black holes and the real monster black holes that lie in quasars that are 1000 times larger than the Little Red Dots.'

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15-01-2026 om 22:07 geschreven door peter  

China applies to launch 200,000 satellites into space, sparking concerns they plan to build a 'mega-constellation'

• READ MORE: NASA sets historic date for returning Americans to the moon

By WILIAM HUNTER, SENIOR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY REPORTER

China has applied to launch almost 200,000 satellites into space, sparking concerns that the nation seeks to build a 'mega-constellation'.

On December 29, a newly formed body called the Institute of Radio Spectrum Utilisation and Technological Innovation filed applications for two satellite constellations.

Each of these enormous collections of spacecraft, dubbed CTC-1 and CTC-2, would contain 96,714 satellites spread over 3,660 different orbits.

If completed, China's new mega-constellation would dwarf even SpaceX's bold ambition to put 49,000 Starlink satellites in orbit.

Together, CTC-1 and CTC-2 would be the largest assembly of satellites ever put in orbit, and would effectively lock competitors out of a region of low-Earth orbit.

With Chinese authorities remaining quiet about the satellites' intended use, experts have raised concerns that the constellation may pose a security or defence threat.

As reported by China in Space, the Nanjing University of Aeronautics claims that the satellites will focus on: 'Low-altitude electromagnetic space security, integrated security defence systems, electromagnetic space security assessment of airspace, and low-altitude airspace safety supervision services.'

This suggests the constellations may play a similar role to the SpaceX Starshield satellites used by the US military for secure tracking and communications.

China has filed an application to launch almost 200,000 satellites into orbit, sparking concerns that the country might be building a mega-constellation (stock image) 

These applications were filed with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), a UN body that allocates spectrum allowances in space.

With the applications filed, other operators will need to demonstrate to the ITU that new satellites in this orbit won't interfere with the constellation's operations.

These satellites may have any number of benign functions, from tracking extreme weather and providing navigation for aircraft to offering Starlink-style communication services.

However, the applications come at a time of increasing tension between the space ambitions of China and the US.

Not only are the two nations racing to be the first to establish a permanent presence on the moon, but they are also competing for dominance in the field of low-Earth orbit.

Military satellites form part of the so-called 'kill mesh', an automated network linking sensors, satellites, communications systems and weapons.

In the war in Ukraine, satellite communications and the ability to jam the enemy's own satellites have been critical to shaping the conflict.

Additionally, analysts have recently become concerned that the behaviour of China's satellites is becoming increasingly erratic and dangerous.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army has increasingly pursued space capacity to provide communications and surveillance. Experts are concerned that this new constellation could form part of that capacity 

The constellation may be similar to Starlink's Starshield system for secure communications, which has been used to great effect by Ukrainian troops fighting Russia's invasion (pictured) 

China appears to be testing several 'fast movers' capable of moving around the geostationary orbit belt (GEO), lifting falling satellites back into orbit or potentially sabotaging US space assets.

Speaking at an event at Chatham House in March, Chief Master Sergeant Ron Lerch, deputy chief of Space Operations for Intelligence with the U.S. Space Force, said: 'There are a number of what the Chinese refer to as these experimental communication satellites that are out in GEO, and yet these GEO satellites.

'They’re sliding, or they’re moving very frequently across the GEO belt, which is a behaviour that is very uncharacteristic of a satellite that’s intended to provide satellite communication.'

Mr Lerch added: 'We [U.S. Space Force] see great risk right now because of the unprecedented growth, as well as the unmanaged competition.'

For its part, China has been clear that it sees space as a legitimate frontier for competition with the US.

As early as 2021, President Xi Jinping claimed that space was an 'important strategic asset for the country that must be well managed and utilised and, more importantly, protected.'

China now has approximately 1,000 satellites in orbit, marking a significant increase from around 40 satellites in 2010.

While these two new constellations might become part of China's growing military space presence, the more serious worry is that they may be part of a 'land grab'.

China has been clear that it sees space as a legitimate area for competition, with President Xi Jinping (pictured) calling space 'an important strategic asset for the country'

By staking their claim with the ITU, the Institute of Radio Spectrum Utilisation and Technological Innovation has effectively locked off a huge section of GEO.

Under the ITU's rules, they must launch at least one satellite within seven years of the initial filing, with another seven years to complete launching all the satellites.

China might have legitimate aims to build the constellations, but there is nothing preventing China from filing a 'dummy' application to lock off a section of space for later use.

Victoria Samson, Chief Director of space security and stability for Secure World Foundation, told New Scientist: 'It is possible they’re just trying to create some space for later on.'

This would not be the first time that a nation has attempted such a manoeuvre.

In 2021, Rwanda filed an application for a constellation of 327,000 satellites in 27 orbits that it had absolutely no realistic ability complete.

Similarly, it seems extraordinarily unlikely that China even has the capacity to complete CTC-1 and CTC-2 if it wanted to.

China's commercial sector can currently produce about 300 spacecraft per year, with plans to expand up to 600, while the state can produce several hundred more.

China does not have the rocket launch capacity to realistically complete this project, launching only 94 rockets last year. This makes it likely that the application is a form of 'land grab' to secure orbital space for future use. Pictured: A Chinese Long March-2F rocket launches in October 2025

However, China would need to launch 500 satellites per week, every week, for seven years to get 200,000 satellites in orbit.

In 2025, China launched a record 92 rockets into space but hundreds, if not thousands, would be needed to complete the project.

Even within China, experts don't seem to seriously believe that this project will ever be completed.

Yang Feng, General Manager of commercial satellite maker Spacety, told China Daily: 'Leading in terms of filing applications does not mean surpassing in final execution.

'Turning these plans into operational constellations faces major challenges in terms of systems engineering, manufacturing and launch capacity.'

This makes it more likely that China is simply attempting to secure a large section of orbit for later use.

Perhaps ironically, this move comes just weeks after China lambasted SpaceX for creating 'safety and security' concerns by locking off sections of orbit with its own satellite constellations.

'With the unchecked proliferation of commercial satellite constellations by a certain country, in the absence of effective regulation, has given rise to pronounced safety and security challenges,' a Chinese representative said at an informal UN Security Council event.

THE NINE FIRMS WORKING ON NASA'S RETURN TO THE MOON

Astrobiotics' Peregrine lander is one of the many in the running

Astrobotic Technology : The Pittsburgh-based firm was founded in 2008 by Carnegie Mellon professor Red Whittaker. It was among the many teams that participated in Google’s $20 million Lunar XPrize, which shut down this year without a winner.

Astrobiotic’s lunar lander, dubbed Peregrine, stands on four shock-absorbing legs and attaches to the launch vehicle via a standard clamp.

'The Peregrine Lander precisely and safely delivers payloads to lunar orbit and the lunar surface on each mission,' the firm says.

'Payloads can be mounted above or below the decks, and can remain attached or deployed according to their needs.'

Deep Space Systems: The systems engineering company from Colorado is long been a subcontractor to NASA and other aerospace giants, including Lockheed Martin. 

The firm develops everything from plans and interface control documents to ground software tools for missions. Deep Space Systems says it focuses on the ‘the design, development, integration, testing and operations of science and exploration spacecraft.’

 Their lunar lander concept is a rover that appears to feature smaller scouting robots that can be deployed.

Draper: The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based laboratory is a not-for-profit research and development organization. Draper develops everything from autonomous systems and biomedical solutions to systems. 

Notably, Drapers accomplishments include a device that measures cabin air on the International Space Station to check for volatile organic compounds.

The firm’s concept lander, dubbed Artemis-7, will sit on four mechanical legs to carry out sample collection and return.

Firefly Aerospace: Firefly showed off a concept for a commercial launch vehicle and a lunar lander. 

While the firm hasn’t released much detail just yet, it appears to be a three-stage system upon which the lander sits at the very top.

Intuitive Machines: The Houston-based firm also unveiled a concept lander that looks much like R2D2. 

The Nova-C lander is the key component of its Lunar Payload and Data Service plan. It’s capable of 24/7 data coverage, and can hold a payload of at least 85 kg.

The firm says it can land anywhere on the moon.

The Houston-based firm also unveiled a concept lander that looks much like R2D2 (left). Firefly showed off a concept for a commercial launch vehicle and a lunar lander (right)

Lockheed Martin: The aerospace giant unveiled its McCandless Lunar Lander, named after late NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless.

Lockheed Martin named its lunar lander after late NASA astronaut, Bruce McCandless

It’s ‘capable of transporting large payloads weighing hundreds of kilograms – including stationary scientific instruments, deployable rovers, or even sample return vehicles – to the surface of the Moon,’ the firm says.

‘The lander uses a proven propulsive landing approach that relies upon on-board radars and a set of rocket thrusters firing 10 times a second to slow to just five mph before touching down. 

'Once on the lunar surface, the lander can provide power, communications and thermal management for sophisticated payloads.’

Masten Space Systems: Masten’s XL-1 is a ‘small, single use lander’ that can carry 100-kg payload.

‘The XL-1 is designed to offer a mission duration that is minimally sufficient to land on the lunar surface, transmit payload activation commands, and activate the payload release/deployment mechanism,’ the firm says.

Masten’s XL-1 is a ‘small, single use lander’ that can carry 100-kg payload

Moon Express: Cape Canaveral-based Moon Express was previously pegged to develop a fleet of low-cost robotic spacecraft that can be assembled like Legos.

The initial spacecraft, known as MX-1E,is a similar size and shape to the R2D2 droid from Star Wars. It will hop across the lunar surface on its legs.

Last year, the firm said it hoped its ‘Harvest Moon’ expedition will take place by 2020, including the first commercial sample return mission, which also begins the business phase of lunar resource prospecting.

Orbit Beyond: The New Jersey firm unveiled a four-legged concept lander that could soon be used to deliver payloads to the moon. The firm has yet to reveal more details on the project.

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15-01-2026 om 21:43 geschreven door peter  

NASA has carried out the first-ever medical evacuation of astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS), rushing a four-person crew back to Earth after an in-orbit health emergency.

The Crew-11 capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, California at approximately 3:41am ET on Thursday, ending a roughly 10-hour return flight after leaving the ISS the day prior.

The return was prompted by a medical issue that NASA flight surgeons determined could not be fully treated in microgravity.

On board were NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov. 

The spacecraft fired its engines to deorbit at 2:50am before enduring a fiery re-entry through Earth's atmosphere, deploying four parachutes to slow its descent into the ocean moments before splashdown.

A recovery vessel with medical personnel retrieved the capsule at sea, conducted immediate health assessments, and transported the astronauts by helicopter and jet to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston for further evaluation.

The American space agency has declined to identify the affected crew member or disclose the nature of the condition, citing medical privacy.

NASA administrator Jared Isaacman decided to bring the crew home early out of an abundance of caution, noting that the astronaut's medical episode was considered 'serious' and would require additional medical care on Earth. 

The spacecraft fired its engines to deorbit at 2:50am before enduring a fiery re-entry through Earth's atmosphere, deploying four parachutes to slow its descent into the ocean

Crew-11 before leaving the ISS. Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov (Back left), NASA astronaut Mike Fincke (Front left), JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui (Front right), and NASA's Zena Cardman (Back right)

A live press briefing was held about one hour after the crew returned to Earth, where Isaacman said the crew member of concern is doing fine, and NASA will release more when possible.

NASA's chief medical officer, Dr James Polk, said last week they were in stable condition and were not in any immediate danger. 

He noted that the astronaut's medical condition had nothing to do with an upcoming spacewalk on January 8, which was cancelled, or any other operations on board the station. 

Boats swarmed the capsule as it bobbed on top of the water, which pulled the craft towards a recovery vessel in the distance, following splashdown.

The capsule was then hoisted onto the vessel, and the SpaceX ground team quickly went to work cooling it down and removing any debris that may have attached to the hatch door during the descent. 

The hatch was opened at 3:19am, giving the astronauts their first breath of fresh air since launching to the ISS on August 1.

Medical doctors were the first to meet the crew for a quick routine health check. 

Fincke was the first to emerge from the capsule, followed by Cardman, Platonov and Yui. 

The SpaceX Dragon capsule hit the water at 3:41am, brining the four-person Crew-11 home

The return capsule was hoisted onto a recover vessel that was waiting nearby in the Pacific Ocean

The crew spent 10 hours soaring through space before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean. Pictured is Crew-11 inside the capsule

'It's so good to be home,' said Cardman, the capsule commander. This was her first space mission.

Each astronaut was put on a stretcher, as they had been in zero-gravity for more than 100 days, and then carried off for more medical tests.

The four astronauts who were evacuated had been trained to handle unexpected medical situations, said Amit Kshatriya, a senior NASA official, praising how they have dealt with the situation. 

Crew-11 is set to stay overnight at a medical facility outside of San Diego. 

Michael Fincke was the first to emerge from the capsule (PICTURED)

Pictured is cosmonaut Oleg Platonov after emerging from the capsule

The four astronauts were scheduled to leave after Crew-12 arrived on a new SpaceX Dragon capsule no earlier than February 15.

Until their arrival, a group including NASA astronaut Chris Williams, who arrived at the ISS aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in November 2025, will be maintaining the station.

The evacuation followed NASA's Spaceflight Human-System Standard, which mandates contingency return procedures whenever onboard medical resources are insufficient.

Although statistical models have long predicted that such an event could occur roughly once every three years, the plan has never before been used.

Located 250 miles above Earth, the ISS functions as a testbed for research that supports deeper space exploration, including eventual missions to return humans to the moon and onward to Mars. 

The ISS is set to be decommissioned after 2030, with its orbit gradually lowered until it breaks up in the atmosphere over a remote part of the Pacific Ocean called Point Nemo, a spacecraft graveyard.

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15-01-2026 om 21:02 geschreven door peter  

Astronauts evacuated early from the International Space Station (ISS) due to a medical issue were seen for the first time back on Earth in the early hours of Thursday morning after their SpaceX Dragon craft splashed down off the Californian coast.

NASA has not given details on who within Crew-11 was experiencing the issue or what the specific problem was, citing patient privacy. Officials have emphasized that it was not an emergency.

Why It Matters

This was the first evacuation prompted by a medical issue in NASA’s near 68-year history, and the first from the ISS since it became continuously inhabited in 2000.

What To Know

Splashdown occurred at 12:41 a.m. PT (3:41 a.m. ET) in calm waters off San Diego, following a nine-and-a-half-hour ride back to Earth. Crew members had been away from Earth for 167 days. The hatch opened at 1:10 a.m. PT (4:10 a.m. ET).

The crew, launched in August, were scheduled to remain on the ISS until late February. But the mission was canceled on January 7, meaning a planned spacewalk by Zena Cardman and Michael Fincke the next day did not take place.

The ailing astronaut is “stable, safe and well cared for,” outgoing space station commander Fincke said earlier this week via social media. “This was a deliberate decision to allow the right medical evaluations to happen on the ground, where the full range of diagnostic capability exists.”

NASA astronaut Fincke was first to exit the craft before his fellow American, and mission commander, Cardman. JAXA (the Japan’s space agency) astronaut Kimiya Yu and then Roscosmos (Russia’s space agency) cosmonaut Oleg Platonov followed.

Crew members were given an initial medical check by a SpaceX medical doctor as they disembarked, NASA said. The space agency’s live footage of the event showed all four crew members were carried away on stretchers.

Pennsylvanian Fincke, a veteran of three previous ISS trips, was seen smiling and giving a thumbs-up as he was helped on to a stretcher.

NASA astronauts Mike Fincke gives a thumbs-up.

Mission commander Cardman, a Virginia native who was on her first ISS mission, was also seen smiling as she waved and pointed to someone out of shot.

Yu gave a double wave as he was pushed away on a stretcher. He had just completed 300 days in space across two missions, NASA said.

Platonov raised his arms and gave a double thumbs-up as he was carried away.

NASA and Roscosmos take turns transporting each other’s astronauts or cosmonauts between Earth and the ISS under one of few remaining cooperation agreements between the United States and Russia following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yu.

What People Are Saying 

NASA announced on January 8 that the early evacuation would take place, saying: “NASA announced on Thursday its decision to return the agency’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission to Earth from the International Space Station earlier than originally planned as teams monitor a medical concern with a crew member currently living and working aboard the orbital laboratory.”

Asked at a January 8 news conference about the medical issue, NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said: “This was a serious medical condition; that is why we’re pursuing this path. [The] Crew member’s stable. As we mentioned, we’re not electing an emergency deorbit. But obviously, as we’ve already communicated, the capability to diagnose and treat this properly does not live on the International Space Station. And I think there’s pretty broad agreement across our experts here on the ground, as well as the crew members in space. So I think there’s complete alignment around that point.”

“Our timing of this departure is unexpected,” NASA astronaut Zena Cardman said before the return trip, “but what was not surprising to me was how well this crew came together as a family to help each other and just take care of each other.”

What Happens Next

NASA was scheduled to hold a news conference at 2:45 a.m. PT (5:45 a.m. ET).

Update 1/15/2026 6:17 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with more information.

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Common ground isn’t just possible—it’s essential. Our readers reflect America’s diversity, united by a desire for thoughtful, unbiased news. Independent ratings confirm our approach: NewsGuard gives us 100/100 for reliability, and AllSides places us firmly in the political center.

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15-01-2026 om 18:24 geschreven door peter  

A human space probe has brought back an ancient extraterrestrial visitor from the moon, rewriting the early history of the solar system. 

China's Chang'e-6 spacecraft made history in June 2024 by returning the first-ever samples from the moon's far side, a region humans had never explored before.

In a new study, scientists examined the dusty soil from an ancient crater called the Apollo basin and found seven tiny rock pieces that didn't belong to anything that naturally formed on the moon's surface.

These small fragments turned out to be leftovers from ancient asteroids that crashed into the moon billions of years ago.

Unlike normal moon rocks, these pieces came from watery asteroids that floated into space between Mars and Jupiter, making them true 'extraterrestrial relics' from outside our planet.

Moreover, scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences discovered that the relics came from the same type of space rocks that likely delivered chemicals necessary to spark life on planets like Earth billions of years ago.

Asteroids like these delivered water and other key ingredients to the moon early in its history, possibly helping create its thin water ice deposits we see today.

On a larger scale, the new findings have rewritten our understanding of how space rocks shaped the Earth and moon, since Earth's meteorite finds are limited by our atmosphere and gravity, burning up potential samples before they can be studied.

China's Chang'e-6 lander (pictured) returned to Earth in June 2024 and scientists have just uncovered an extraterrestrial relic deposited by an asteroid in the moon samples 

The samples (pictured) are completely foreign compared to the makeup of the moon, meaning asteroids likely brought the ice water found on the lunar surface

The far side of the moon is the hidden half we never see because our planet and the moon are tidally locked, meaning we always see the same face from our perspective.

Specifically, the team identified these seven fragments as leftovers from a rare type of asteroid called CI-like carbonaceous chondrites.

At the heart of these mysterious samples were tiny green crystals called olivine, which look like olive-shaped gems and make up the backbone of the asteroids they came from.

Finding olivine in these space rocks was special because it's loaded with water trapped inside, plus just the right mix of iron, zinc, and other metals not seen across the relatively dry moon.

The samples matched the composition of other nearby asteroids that astronomers and recently studied, including Ryugu, studied by Japan's Hayabusa2 mission, and Bennu, studied by NASA's OSIRIS-REx.

The research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) noted that most of the rocks ever taken back from the moon formed there over time.

Scientists knew the new samples from Chang'e-6 didn't form on the moon because of their makeup and hidden chemical fingerprints, which included 10 to 20 percent water trapped in clay-like minerals, amino acids, and tar-like carbon compounds.

Scientists also uncovered lightweight gases like hydrogen, nitrogen, and sulfur, making these relics from space resemble soggy sponges carrying the seeds of oceans and air.

The Chinese lander collected over four pounds of rocks from the lunar surface after successfully landing on the moon's far side in May 2024

Typical Moon rocks are mostly dry black lava stone and white feldspar, made from iron-heavy minerals, calcium, aluminum, and titanium, with almost no water at all.

'This finding supports the hypothesis that asteroids played a role in delivering water and other volatiles to the lunar surface,' the researchers wrote.

Experts believe these asteroid bits crashed into the moon's far side over four billion years ago, during the chaotic formation of the early solar system, when giant impacts blasted materials across planets.

The discovery appeared to prove that a similar process involving water-carrying asteroids took place on the moon that scientists suspect occurred on Earth at the dawn of time.

One theory argues that asteroid collisions like the ones found on the moon are believed to have slammed into our planet as well, creating oceans and scattering amino acids - the basic ingredients that kickstarted tiny life forms in Earth's warm pools.

Scientists believe the same asteroid rain hit other planets, too, like Mars, where it might have created ancient rivers and maybe even early microbes hiding underground today.

Even icy moons like Europa around Jupiter could have gotten a life-giving boost from these asteroids, delivering heat, water, and chemicals deep into their frozen oceans to brew something organic.

NASA, China, and India have all announced that they will be sending additional missions to the moon before 2030, including manned missions by the US.

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{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/index.html }

14-01-2026 om 23:07 geschreven door peter  

NASA has announced that America is now just weeks away from a historic return to the moon for the first time in over 50 years.

The space agency revealed on Tuesday that the earliest Artemis II, the first manned mission to the moon since 1972, will launch on February 6.

NASA officials noted that the official launch window for Artemis II will remain open from January 31 to February 14, with several alternate dates also being picked out.

The mission will take NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen on a 10-day journey around the moon and back to Earth.

The Artemis II mission will not land on the moon's surface. The first lunar landing in the Artemis program is scheduled for Artemis III, currently planned to take place in 2027. 

Artemis II can't launch on just any day. The timing will depend on precise orbital mechanics, such as where Earth and the moon are positioned, rocket performance, and weather conditions near the launch site at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

February 7, 8, 10, and 11 have been chosen as potential backup launch dates. If something prevents the launch in February, NASA has also picked out dates in early March and April for the upcoming moon mission.

Artemis II will be the first space mission with a human crew in 53 years to go beyond low Earth orbit.

(From left to right) Astronauts Jeremy Hansen, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, and Christina Koch pose in their flight suits for the Artemis II mission, scheduled for February 2026

NASA's new moon rocket lifted off from Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on November 16, 2022. It was the first test fight of the Artemis program

As early as February 6, the astronauts will launch from Cape Canaveral in an Orion spacecraft, carried by NASA's powerful Space Launch System (SLS) rocket system.

They'll first orbit Earth a couple of times to test the life support equipment and then head toward the moon for a lunar flyby, a close pass without orbiting or landing.

The spacecraft will use the moon's gravity to slingshot back toward Earth in a 'free-return trajectory', meaning if anything goes wrong, it can safely return without extra use of its engines.

The main goal of the mission will be to prove the rocket, spacecraft, and systems work perfectly with humans on board, paving the way for Artemis III's landing next year.

NASA is less than a week away from the first part of this historic event, the rollout, set to begin as soon as January 17.

The fully stacked SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft are scheduled to 'roll out' from NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center.

It's a four-mile trip that uses a giant crawler-transporter to carry the rocket and can take up to 12 hours to complete.

Once at the pad, teams will connect power and fuel lines and do final rocket testing before the astronauts start their walkthrough for the flight.

NASA's SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, which will carry the Artemis II spacecraft, is seen inside High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida

Read More

• Extraterrestrial relics found in samples from the moon's far side 

Once Artemis II is on the launch pad, NASA crews will go through what's called a 'wet dress rehearsal' and 'tanking' procedure.

They'll load the SLS rocket with over 700,000 gallons of super-cold liquid hydrogen and oxygen, which act as the propellants that ignite and blast the craft into space.

NASA will even run through a fake countdown to launch, practice holds and restarts, and then safely drain the tanks of the fuel until it's time for the real launch.

The rehearsal tests the space agency's fueling procedures and helps check for any problems with the rocket, such as leaks in the rocket tanks or valves.

If any problems are spotted, NASA will likely need to run multiple rehearsals and possibly delay the launch.

In September 2025, former NASA Administrator Sean Duffy publicly announced that 'about a year and a half' after the Artemis II mission, the Artemis III astronaut mission would 'land and establish a long-term presence of life on the moon led by America'.

He continued by saying that what astronauts learn from the renewed missions to the moon will help in future efforts to 'put American boots on Mars'.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/index.html }

14-01-2026 om 22:50 geschreven door peter  

Story by Greg Wehner

NASA plans to return humans to deep space next month, targeting a Feb. 6 launch for Artemis II, a 10-day crewed mission that will carry astronauts around the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years.

"We are going — again," NASA said Tuesday in a post on X, saying the mission is set to depart no earlier than Feb. 6.

The first available launch period will run from Jan. 31 to Feb. 14, with launch opportunities on Feb. 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11.

If the launch is scrubbed, additional launch periods will open from Feb. 28 to March 13 and from March 27 to April 10. For the former, launch opportunities will be available on March 6, 7, 8, 9 and 11, and for the latter on April 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

• NASA SAYS AMERICA WILL WIN ‘THE SECOND SPACE RACE’ AGAINST CHINA

NASA's new moon rocket lifts off from Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022. This launch is the first flight test of the Artemis program.

AP Newsroom© John Raoux/AP Photo

The mission is scheduled to lift off from Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard the Space Launch System, the most powerful rocket the agency has ever built.

Preparations are underway to begin moving the rocket to the launch pad no earlier than Jan. 17. The move involves a four-mile journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B aboard the crawler-transporter 2, a process expected to take up to 12 hours.

"We are moving closer to Artemis II, with rollout just around the corner," Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator for NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, said. "We have important steps remaining on our path to launch and crew safety will remain our top priority at every turn, as we near humanity’s return to the Moon."

• TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY DUFFY TO ANNOUNCE NUCLEAR REACTOR DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR THE MOON

The crew of NASA’s Artemis II mission (left to right): NASA astronauts Christina Hammock Koch, Reid Wiseman (seated), Victor Glover, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

Fox News© Fox News

The 322-foot rocket will send four astronauts beyond Earth orbit to test the Orion spacecraft in deep space for the first time with a crew aboard, marking a major milestone following the Apollo era, which last sent humans to the Moon in 1972.

The crew includes NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, making Artemis II the first lunar mission to include a Canadian astronaut and the first to carry a woman beyond low Earth orbit.

After launch, the astronauts are expected to spend about two days near Earth checking Orion’s systems before firing the spacecraft’s European-built service module to begin the journey toward the Moon.

• BLUE ORIGIN LAUNCHES NEW GLENN ROCKET TO MARS AFTER DELAYS

A full moon was visible behind the Artemis I SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft at Launch Complex 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 14, 2022. The first in an increasingly complex series of missions, Artemis I tested SLS and Orion as an integrated system prior to crewed flights to the Moon.

Fox News© Fox News

That maneuver will send the spacecraft on a four-day trip around the far side of the Moon, tracing a figure-eight path that carries the crew more than 230,000 miles from Earth and thousands of miles beyond the lunar surface at its farthest point.

Instead of firing engines to return home, Orion will follow a fuel-efficient free-return path that uses Earth and Moon gravity to guide the spacecraft back toward Earth during the roughly four-day return trip.

The mission will end with a high-speed reentry and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, where NASA and Department of War teams will recover the crew.

Artemis II follows the uncrewed Artemis I mission and will serve as a critical test of NASA’s deep-space systems before astronauts attempt a lunar landing on a future flight.

NASA says the mission is a key step toward long-term lunar exploration and eventual crewed missions to Mars.

Original article source: 

• NASA returns humans to deep space after over 50 years with February Artemis II Moon mission

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{ Fox News }

14-01-2026 om 22:27 geschreven door peter  

For decades, the idea of people living on Mars has felt like a distant fantasy, limited by the brutal cost of hauling everything from Earth and the difficulty of building safe shelters on a hostile world. That picture is starting to shift as engineers quietly solve the hardest part of the problem: how to construct real infrastructure using Martian soil itself. A cluster of new techniques for making bricks, concrete and even self-assembling structures from local material is turning the dream of a permanent foothold on the Red Planet into a practical engineering challenge rather than a science fiction plot.

The new Martian brick that changes the equation

The most striking development is a method that lets future settlers turn raw Martian dust into solid building blocks without importing heavy equipment or binders from Earth. NASA scientists have announced a way to create robust bricks on Mars using only local dust, minerals and a small amount of human sweat, effectively turning the grit under an astronaut’s boots into structural material. In reports shared in Jul, the agency described how this process could produce dense, durable bricks that lock together into walls and radiation shields, cutting out the need to ship conventional construction materials across interplanetary space.

What makes this so disruptive is not just the chemistry, but the logistics. Launching one kilogram of cargo from Earth is already expensive, and a settlement would need thousands of tons of material for habitats, storage and shielding. By relying on Martian dust and minerals, the NASA approach slashes that mass requirement and lets crews scale up construction as they go, brick by brick, instead of waiting for resupply. The technique, detailed in a Facebook group post on NASA scientists, frames human presence not as a fragile outpost, but as a growing worksite where the planet itself becomes the raw stock for expansion.

From improvised shelters to full Martian communities

Once you can make a single brick, the next question is whether you can build entire neighborhoods. Follow up work has shown that scientists have successfully created bricks strong enough to support not just small test structures, but the foundations of full-scale habitats. Using similar principles that combine Martian dust with minimal additives, researchers have demonstrated blocks that could be stacked into domes, tunnels and multiroom shelters capable of housing crews for months at a time. The same Jul reporting on NASA’s work has been echoed in other technical communities, where engineers argue that these bricks could underpin entire communities on Mars rather than just emergency bunkers.

That shift in ambition matters because it changes how mission planners think about timelines. Instead of shipping prefabricated modules for every new crew, agencies could send a compact starter kit of tools and rely on local brick production to expand living space, storage and even agricultural enclosures. The idea that settlers might one day walk through streets lined with structures made from Martian dust is no longer a poetic metaphor, but a scenario grounded in lab-tested materials. One widely shared discussion of how scientists have successfully created bricks robust enough for entire communities captures how quickly the field has moved from proof of concept to city-scale thinking.

Self-building tech and shape-optimized structures

Material is only half the story. The other half is how to assemble it in a place where human labor is scarce, dangerous and expensive. In June, a study from Texas A&M University, working with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, introduced a self-building technology that could let habitats on Mars assemble themselves from modular components. The concept uses robotic systems and smart joints that lock together autonomously, guided by algorithms that account for Martian gravity and the properties of regolith, which consists of dust, sand and rocks. Instead of astronauts spending weeks in bulky suits stacking bricks, swarms of machines could raise walls and roofs while crews focus on science and survival.

At the same time, structural engineers are rethinking what Martian buildings should look like in the first place. Rather than copying Earth-style boxes, they are designing shape optimized structures that use arches, shells and curved forms to handle pressure differences and radiation with far less material. One detailed analysis shows that such structures can remarkably reduce the energy and material required for construction, while also eliminating the need for large imports from Earth. The study argues that these optimized geometries, when combined with in situ concrete and regolith-based bricks, can lead to sustainable colonization on Mars by aligning architecture with the physics of the environment. The case for these designs is laid out in research that notes how Such structures reduce both energy and imported mass, a crucial advantage when every kilogram counts.

When I put these threads together, the picture that emerges is of a construction ecosystem that is both automated and highly efficient. Self-building systems from Texas and the University of Nebraska, Lincoln can handle the assembly, while shape optimized shells minimize the amount of Martian material that needs to be processed in the first place. That combination does not just make habitats cheaper, it makes them faster to deploy, which is vital in the narrow windows when launch trajectories and Martian seasons line up in favor of new arrivals.

Concrete, 3D printing and the rise of in situ manufacturing

Bricks and shells are powerful tools, but long term settlements will also need heavy duty infrastructure: landing pads, radiation bunkers, pressure locks and industrial floors. Here, researchers are turning Martian soil into a kind of waterless cement known as AstroCrete. Studies of future Mars settlements, often described as the Red Planet’s first towns, point out that All the key ingredients for this material, including regolith, certain salts and even biological components, will be available in relative abundance in Martian environments. AstroCrete made from Martian regolith and human byproducts behaves like a tough concrete that can be cast into slabs and beams without relying on scarce water, which is too valuable to waste on construction. One technical overview notes that All of these components can be sourced locally, making AstroCrete a cornerstone of Martian civil engineering.

Alongside concrete, 3D printing is emerging as the workhorse for turning raw regolith into precise parts. Techniques originally developed for products as mundane as an airless basketball are being adapted to extraterrestrial construction. One analysis of advanced additive manufacturing notes that this approach not only reduces the need for carrying heavy payloads from Earth, but also offers the potential for rapid prototyping and adaptability to the unique Martian environment. The same logic that lets engineers print a complex lattice for a sports ball can be applied to printing pressure vessels, support trusses and custom connectors on Mars, all tuned to local gravity and temperature swings. The broader promise of this method is captured in work showing how 3D printing can cut launch mass from Earth while boosting flexibility on site, a point underscored in coverage of how printing directly from regolith reduces the need to ship bulky components from Earth.

A broader blueprint for sustainable colonization

Behind these individual breakthroughs sits a larger strategic shift in how space agencies and researchers think about Mars. Instead of treating each mission as a one-off expedition, planners are sketching a comprehensive blueprint for colonization that assumes permanent, growing infrastructure. A recent synthesis of this thinking argues that Technological evolution is central to making Mars habitable in a sustainable way. It highlights Key advancements in propulsion, in situ resource utilization, closed-loop life support systems and advanced robotics as the pillars of a long term presence. In that framework, construction technologies like regolith bricks, AstroCrete and self-building habitats are not side projects, but core enablers of a settlement that can expand without constant resupply. The same work on Technological evolution on Mars makes clear that construction, life support and robotics must advance together if colonization is to move beyond flags and footprints.

Self-building systems, shape optimized structures and in situ materials are already being woven into that broader roadmap. In June, the work from Texas and the University of Nebraska, Lincoln on self-assembling habitats was framed explicitly as a bridge from science fiction to operational reality, showing how regolith-based modules could be deployed in advance of human crews. Combined with NASA’s Jul breakthroughs on Martian bricks and the growing body of research on sustainable concrete, these developments suggest that the hardest part of colonizing Mars may no longer be the rockets, but the patience to test and refine the tools that will turn dust into cities. As I look across the emerging blueprint, the shocking part is not that colonization is possible, but that the practical pieces are arriving faster than the public conversation has caught up, quietly making a permanent human presence on Mars feel less like a fantasy and more like an engineering deadline.

More from Morning Overview

{ Morning Overview }

14-01-2026 om 18:44 geschreven door peter  

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

13-01-2026 om 23:58 geschreven door peter  

Asteroid Behaving Strangely

{ https://futurism.com/category/space }

13-01-2026 om 21:15 geschreven door peter  

Story by Kouceila Rekik

Credit: NASA | The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel© Daily Galaxy US

The Gateway, NASA’s upcoming lunar space station, is one step closer to reality as engineers have successfully powered on its solar electric propulsion system, a spacecraft engine designed to orbit and maneuver around the Moon. This achievement marks a major milestone in NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to establish a sustainable human presence on the lunar surface and prepare for future missions to Mars.

Building The Power And Propulsion Element

At the heart of the Gateway lies the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE), developed under the supervision of NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Construction and assembly are led by Lanteris Space Systems in Palo Alto, California, where teams have integrated the spacecraft’s main electrical system within protective panels. This ensures the hardware can withstand the harsh environment of deep space.

Once fully operational, the PPE will generate up to 60 kilowatts of electricity,enough to supply power for communications, navigation, and orbital adjustments. The engine’s advanced solar electric propulsion allows for continuous, efficient thrust powered by sunlight, offering an innovative alternative to traditional chemical propulsion.

The system’s propulsion capability is built around three 12-kilowatt thrusters developed by L3Harris and four 6-kilowatt BHT-6000 thrusters by Busek. Together, these thrusters provide the necessary maneuverability to maintain the Gateway’s orbit and reposition it as needed for lunar missions. Redwire, another NASA partner, is responsible for the roll-out solar arrays, lightweight, flexible panels that convert sunlight into electrical energy.

Jsc2025e087964~large

© Daily Galaxy US

This hardware will power not only the Gateway’s core functions but also its visiting spacecraft and future science payloads, forming the energetic backbone of NASA’s next-generation lunar operations.

The Gateway’s Role In NASA’s Artemis Program

The Gateway is a cornerstone of NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time since Apollo 17. Unlike the International Space Station, the Gateway will not be permanently crewed. Instead, it will serve as a modular outpost, orbiting the Moon in a highly stable near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO).

• Related video: Update On the Em Drive, And NASA's Creating The Coldest Place In The Universe (Joe Scot

This orbit provides ideal access to both the lunar surface and deep space, making it an essential platform for testing life-support systems, radiation protection, and advanced propulsion technologies. Astronauts visiting the Gateway will conduct scientific experiments, prepare landers for surface missions, and evaluate long-duration spaceflight conditions, all critical for future crewed missions to Mars.

NASA envisions Gateway as an international collaboration, involving key contributions from ESA (European Space Agency), JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), and CSA (Canadian Space Agency). Each partner will deliver specialized modules, robotics, and technology to create a truly global platform for exploration.

Engineering A Sustainable Future Beyond Earth

NASA’s decision to rely on solar electric propulsion for the Gateway is both a technological and environmental breakthrough. Unlike conventional rockets, which burn large quantities of fuel in short bursts, this system produces continuous, gentle thrust using electricity derived from sunlight. Over time, it can achieve impressive velocities with minimal resource consumption, an essential feature for long-duration missions far from Earth.

The Gateway will also act as a proving ground for autonomous operations, as it will often function without a human crew onboard. This autonomy will be vital for deep-space missions where communication delays make real-time control impossible. The spacecraft’s design prioritizes efficiency, durability, and adaptability, ensuring it can operate safely and independently in lunar orbit for years at a time.

Through its partnership with Lanteris, L3Harris, Busek, and Redwire, NASA is cultivating a powerful ecosystem of innovation that bridges public and private sectors. These collaborations are essential for building the infrastructure required for humanity’s next leap: establishing a permanent foothold on another world.

{ The Daily Galaxy }

13-01-2026 om 20:34 geschreven door peter  

NASA has announced the date of the world’s first medical evacuation from the ISS. The Dragon spacecraft with the Crew-11 mission team will undock from the station on January 14.

The medical issue aboard the ISS became known on January 7, when NASA canceled a spacewalk scheduled for the following day. Astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman were supposed to participate in the spacewalk.

Shortly thereafter, the aerospace administration announced that it would bring the Crew-11 mission team home early in order to better diagnose and treat this medical issue. NASA did not disclose which astronaut had fallen ill or what the problem was, citing privacy concerns. According to unofficial reports, it is 58-year-old Mike Fincke. This is his fourth flight into space and his third long-term assignment to the ISS.

At a subsequent press conference, NASA Chief Medical Officer James Polk declined to name the astronaut or disclose his diagnosis. However, he provided the following general description of the situation:

“This is not an operational issue. This was not an injury that occurred in the pursuit of operations,” Polk said. “It’s mostly having a medical issue in the difficult areas of microgravity, and with the suite of hardware that we have at our avail to complete a diagnosis.”

According to NASA’s plan, Crew-11 will leave the ISS on the evening of January 14. The next day, the spacecraft will splash down in the Pacific Ocean, where it will be picked up by the Shannon ship. Overloads during re-entry into the atmosphere can create additional risks for the astronaut — but NASA has well-developed scenarios for this case and instructions for ground crews.

After the departure of Crew-11, for the first time in many years, the ISS crew will be reduced to just three people. NASA astronaut Christopher Williams and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikayev will remain on board the station.

The launch of the next manned spacecraft to the ISS (Crew-12 mission) is currently scheduled for February 15. However, NASA is considering the possibility of postponing the date if possible.

• According to Space

• Posted in Launches, News

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{  https://universemagazine.com/en/articles-en/ }

12-01-2026 om 21:48 geschreven door peter  

The 'universal language' that could let us speak to aliens: Researchers reveal the best way to communicate with extraterrestrial life

• READ MORE: Scientist reveals what our first contact with aliens will look like

By WILIAM HUNTER, SENIOR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY REPORTER

A group of Australian scientists have revealed how we may be able to learn to speak with aliens, and the answer is found right here on Earth.

If we do make contact with extraterrestrial life, it will likely require sending messages across vast distances of interstellar space.

The question for astronomers looking out for distant civilisations is how this communication would even be possible if we don't share a language.

Now, scientists say we might be able to develop a 'universal language' with an unlikely inspiration: The humble honeybee.

With six legs, five eyes, and a radically different social structure, scientists say that bees are among the closest things we have to aliens here on Earth.

Although humans and bees have wildly different brains, we have both evolved complex methods of communication and cooperation.

More importantly, new research shows that bees also have another very important thing in common with humans, which is the ability to do maths.

Based on this surprising discovery, scientists believe that mathematics could be the basis of a universal language.

Scientists say we might learn how to communicate with aliens by studying the concepts that we share with honey bees 

One of the big problems for communicating with aliens is the enormous distances involved.

Given that the nearest star to the sun is 4.4 light-years away, it would take an absolute minimum of 10 years to send a message and get a reply.

This makes it impractical to try to learn an alien's language from scratch, like in the sci-fi movie Arrival.

Instead, scientists want to develop a universal language that can be understood by any species, regardless of how they communicate.

To find a solution to this puzzle, the researchers asked how we might communicate with one of the most alien-like species on Earth.

Co-author Dr Adrian Dyer, of Monash University, told the Daily Mail: 'Because bees and humans are separated by about 600 million years in evolutionary time, we developed very different physiology, brain size, culture.'

However, despite these enormous differences, both humans and bees seem to have a similar basic understanding of mathematics.

In previous studies, Dr Dyer and his co-authors found that bees have the ability to learn mathematical concepts.

Scientists have found that bees can learn to add and subtract in specialised tests, giving credence to the idea that mathematics might be a universal language 

The researchers set up experiments in which bees could participate in maths tests to receive a reward of sugar water.

During these trials, bees showed the ability to add and subtract, categorise quantities as odd or even, and even demonstrated an understanding of 'zero'.

Incredibly, bees even demonstrated an ability to link abstract symbols with numbers, in a very simple version of how humans learn the Arabic numerals.

The fact that such a different organism shares mathematical concepts with humans lends evidence to the theory that mathematics could be a universal language.

The idea that mathematics could be the basis of alien communication is not a new theory.

In fact, the covers of the Golden Records, which accompanied the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 space probes launched into deep space in 1977, were carved with mathematical and physical quantities.

Likewise, when researchers broadcast the Arecibo radio message into space in 1974, it contained 1,679 zeros and ones, ordered to communicate the numbers 1 to ten and the atomic numbers of the elements that make up DNA.

However, scientists weren't sure whether aliens would have similar enough mathematical concepts to understand these messages.

If bees can understand maths, then aliens might share those same universal concepts. That means attempts to communicate with mathematics, such as the cover of the golden disks on Voyager One and Two, could be successful 

In their new paper, the researchers argue that their evidence from bees suggests that maths really is universal.

Dr Dyer says: 'When we tested bees on mathematical type problems, and they could build an understanding to solve the questions we posed, it was very interesting, and convincing that an alien species could share similar capabilities.'

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• Scientists discover 26 new bacterial species in NASA's cleanrooms - 'stop and re-check everything' 

'Now we know maths can be solved by bees, we have a solid basis to think about how to try to communicate with alien intelligence.'

As to what that language might look like, Dr Dyer says it may be very similar to the mathematics most of us use every day.

'Mathematics, which was first developed by philosophers to communicate complex problems more efficiently, is already a language we humans use every day.

'At a simple level, binary coded information would be a start, then, like we humans learn language through many "baby steps", we learn with another species to build a commonly understood language framework.'

How the Drake Equation is used to hunt aliens

The Drake Equation is a seven-variable way of finding the chance of active civilizations existing beyond Earth.

It takes into account factors like the rate of star formation, the amount of stars that could form planetary systems, the number potentially habitable planets in those systems.

The equation includes recent data from Nasa's Kepler satellite on the number of exoplanets that could harbor life.

Researchers also adapted the equation from being about the number of civilizations that exist now, to being about the probability of civilization being the only one that has ever existed.

Researchers found the odds of an advanced civilization developing need to be less than one in 10 billion trillion for humans to be the only intelligent life in the universe.

Unless the odds of advanced life evolving on a habitable planet are astonishingly low, then humankind is not the only advanced civilization to have lived. 

But Kepler data places those odds much higher, which means technologically advanced aliens are likely to have existed at some point.

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12-01-2026 om 18:43 geschreven door peter  

Humanity receives mysterious 10-second signal from unknown source in deep space

• MORE:  Stephen Hawking's chilling alien doomsday prediction spreads as scientist issues alarming warning

By CHRIS MELORE, US ASSISTANT SCIENCE EDITOR

A 10-second signal from one of the most distant points in the universe has been detected by humanity, and scientists are still trying to understand its origins.

Two Earth satellites have confirmed that the mysterious signal came from a point 13billion light-years away from Earth, likely coming from an exploding supernova when the universe was only 730million years old.

The farther away something is in space, the longer its light (or signal) takes to reach us, so when humans see a very distant explosion or star, we're actually looking at what happened there billions of years ago, like a time machine showing us the past.

In this case, scientists believe this high-energy gamma-ray burst, which they've named GRB 250314A, came from the earliest supernova ever recorded from the dawn of time.

Gamma rays are invisible and ultra-powerful forms of light. They are the most energetic source of radiation known in the universe, which is produced by massive stellar explosions, appearing as super-bright flashes from our planet.

Scientists are still unsure why this ancient supernova from the early universe looks almost exactly like the exploding stars seen in our nearby modern universe today. 

If this explosion is the true source of the signal, researchers from NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) expect early stars to be bigger, hotter, and produce much more volatile explosions than the mysterious signal suggested. 

Andrew Levan, lead author of a new study on the signal from Radboud University in the Netherlands, said: 'There are only a handful of gamma-ray bursts in the last 50 years that have been detected in the first billion years of the universe. This particular event is very rare and very exciting.'

A gamma-ray burst named GRB 250314A (Pictured) is believed to the be the source of a mysterious signal received from 13billion light-years away

An artist's impression of the supernova GRB 250314A as it was exploding during the first billion years after the Big Bang

The signal was first discovered on March 14, 2025, when the Space Variable Objects Monitor (SVOM) satellite picked it up as a sudden flash of high-energy light from deep space.

However, two studies on the possible source of this distant signal have just been released.

The probe is a joint project between scientists in France and China designed to spot these kinds of bursts throughout the cosmos.

The signal scientists recorded was a short, powerful burst of gamma rays, which are invisible waves of energy stronger than X-rays and capable of passing straight through the human body, damaging cells, DNA, and tissues.

Since this burst likely came from an exploding star 13billion light-years from Earth, however, the gamma rays that reached Earth were far too weak to pose any danger to people.

This burst lasted only about 10 seconds because gamma-ray bursts are like quick fireworks in space, releasing a huge amount of energy in a very short time before fading away.

Unlike random noise or background static in space, which is constant and weak, these gamma-ray bursts stand out as super-bright, focused beams with a unique pattern that human satellites have been built to recognize.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) confirmed the discovery about three and a half months later, during the summer of 2025, by taking detailed pictures and measurements of the fading glow of the explosion, which could still be seen in space.

The 10-second signal was recorded in 2025 by the Space Variable Objects Monitor (SVOM) satellite, operated by France and China

'Only Webb could directly show that this light is from a supernova — a collapsing massive star,' Professor Levan added in a statement from NASA. 

Other sources of mysterious space noise like this might include solar flares or cosmic rays, but gamma-ray bursts are much rarer and come from massive events like star explosions that scientists are able to track down billions of years after they take place.

Levan added that JWST is so advanced that scientists believe it'll be able to find more signals from when the universe was only five percent of its current age, which is roughly 14billion years old now.

To this point, scientists know very little about the first billion years of the universe, what was happening in space during this time, or how stars behaved and died throughout the cosmos.

Until now, it was thought that following the Big Bang, the massive explosion believed to have kickstarted everything in existence, early stars lived much shorter lives and contained fewer elements than stars like our sun do today. 

However, in December 2025, the new studies published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics analyzed detailed observations from the Webb Telescope and found that this supernova from 730 million years after the Big Bang had the same brightness and radiation signature as exploding stars billions of years later.

Nial Tanvir, a professor at the University of Leicester in the UK, added: 'Webb showed that this supernova looks exactly like modern supernovae.'

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12-01-2026 om 18:33 geschreven door peter