Fiery

America's first attempt to land on the Moon in 52 years came to a fiery end today as the privately owned and operated Peregrine 1 spacecraft entered the Earth's atmosphere and burned up at 3:59 pm EST somewhere over the South Pacific.The end of Peregrine Mission One was confirmed on Twitter by the Canberra station of NASA's Deep Space Network, which had been tracking the spacecraft and acting as a telemetry relay for Astrobotic Systems, owner of the vehicle. The station had been monitoring the Doppler signal from…

The Peregrine lunar lander is coming back home to die. Astrobotic’s shiny gold spacecraft is on a trajectory towards Earth, where it is expected to burn up in the planet’s atmosphere to conclude its tragic demise.China's Plan to Land Astronauts on the MoonPeregrine has been operational for more than a week, and the spacecraft is stable and responsive, according to Astrobotic. With zero chance of it being able to land on the Moon, however, the company has decided to terminate the mission. In an update shared on Saturday…

On December 30, 2023, NASA's Juno deep space probe made the closest flyby of Jupiter's moon Io in over two decades. The robotic spacecraft passed within 930 miles (1,500 km) of the volcanic satellite, returning closeup images of the south pole.Launched on August 5, 2011, Juno is three years into its extended mission to study the giant planet Jupiter and its moons. Though the latest Io flyby is the closest for Juno, it is not the closest on record. That was achieved by the Galileo probe in 2001 when it sped by Io at a…

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck's New Year celebration in St Barts took an unexpected turn. The power couple was spotted having a tense discussion during a shopping spree in Gustavia, St Barts. The drama unfolded as they explored high-end boutiques, focusing on Bulgari jewellery. TOPSHOT - US singer and actress Jennifer Lopez and husband US actor Ben Affleck arrive for Elle's 2023 Women in Hollywood celebration, at Nya Studios in Los Angeles, California, on December 5, 2023. (AFP) JLo, 54, and Ben, 51, dove into…

This image revealing the north polar region of the Jovian moon Io was taken on October 15 by NASA’s Juno. Three of the mountain peaks visible in the upper part of image, near the day-night dividing line, were observed here for the first time by the spacecraft’s JunoCam. Credit: Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS, Image processing by Ted StrykThe orbiter has performed 56 flybys of Jupiter and documented close encounters with three of the gas giant’s four largest moons.NASA’s Juno spacecraft will on Saturday, December…

Typical scenes of fires triggered by warfare activity in ancient China. (Provided by authors.) Credit: Zhang et al.A study of Tianchi Lake sediments shows that warfare, rather than natural factors, became the primary driver of increased fire occurrences along the Silk Road over the past 2,000 years.Impact of War on Fire Frequency Along the Silk RoadHuman activities such as intentional burning, agriculture, pastoralism, and metallurgy can affect the frequency of fire in an ecosystem. Guanghui Dong, Aifeng Zhou, and…

The Biden administration proposed new tax guidelines today aimed at making it cheaper to produce hydrogen as a less-polluting alternative to fossil fuels. The tax credit comes with strict stipulations around using newly constructed sources of clean energy to produce hydrogen, as opposed to more polluting sources.The guidelines elicited strong reactions from clean energy advocates and industry today, some celebrating, others outraged. Some experts said new guardrails are needed to ensure that the Biden administration’s…

Today, Tapan Sinha’s name may sound rather obscure to most. Even after a fairly intense Google search, only a sketchy, half-hearted Wikipedia page and a few academic essays appear. In contrast, there is voluminous material available on Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen. Perhaps 2024, Sinha’s centenary year, will put the spotlight once again on the filmmaker who has been unjustifiably overshadowed by his three Bengali peers. PREMIUM Film director Tapan Sinha in a photograph dated 22 October 1989. (HT…

Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ private space venture, is ready to fly its New Shepard rocket again after over a year of being grounded. The company this week announced the rocket’s first cargo mission since its booster went up in flames in a liftoff malfunction back in September 2022.Google’s AI Isn’t a Gimmick, It’s the Future | AI UnlockedOn Tuesday, Blue Origin revealed that it’s targeting a launch window that opens on Monday, December 18, for New Shepard’s liftoff. The NS-24 mission will carry 33 science and research…

Satellite view of Malaspina Glacier on the southeastern coast of Alaska captured on October 27, 2023, by the Operational Land Imager-2 on Landsat 9.An unexpected color palette reveals the features of an iconic glacial landscape in southeastern Alaska.To human eyes, glacial ice typically looks white tinged with blue. But in this false-color satellite image, the rippled ice of Alaska’s Malaspina Glacier appears more fiery than frosty.Satellite Imaging Reveals Unique HuesThis view of Malaspina Glacier on the southeastern…