Essay: No, Elon, we should not go to Mars
US Catholic commentator THOMAS REESE says, in an article first published on Religion News Service, it makes more sense to spend money saving the Earth from climate change, ecological destruction and international conflicts than it does going to Mars…
SpaceX’s Starship explodes in space, again raining debris over Caribbean
Reuters SpaceX’s massive Starship spacecraft exploded in space on Thursday minutes after lifting off from Texas, prompting the FAA to halt air traffic in parts of Florida, in the second straight failure this year for Elon Musk’s Mars rocket program. Several videos on social media showed fiery debris streaking through the dusk skies near south […]
Trump vows again to take back Panama Canal, talks of “Manifest Destiny” in space
Washington DC, US Reuters Newly sworn-in President Donald Trump vowed on Monday that the United States would take back the Panama Canal as he delivered an inauguration speech in which he invoked the 19th century expansionist doctrine of “Manifest Destiny.” Doubling down on his pre-inauguration threat to reimpose US control over the canal, Trump again […]
Trump pledges to save America from decline, vows swift border crackdown
Updated: 10:50am (AEDT) Washington DC, US Reuters An emboldened Donald Trump declared that “America’s decline is over” as he reclaimed the presidency on Monday, promising a crackdown on illegal immigration and portraying himself as a saviour chosen by God to rescue a faltering nation. “From this moment on, America’s decline is over,” Trump, 78, said […]
Martian subsurface harbours oceans’ of life-giving liquid water
Singapore Reuters A study released Monday using data from NASA’s Mars InSight lander shows evidence of liquid water far below the surface of the fourth planet, advancing the search for life there and showing what might have happened to Mars’ ancient oceans. The lander, which has been on the Red Planet since 2018, measured seismic […]
UN flags 127 major climate-warming methane plumes this year
Dubai, United Arab Emirates Reuters A United Nations-led effort to use space satellites to detect methane leaks from fossil fuel infrastructure has alerted governments to 127 major methane plumes across four continents since its launch at the start of this year. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, with 80 times the warming power of carbon […]
Scientists surprised by source of largest quake detected on Mars
Washington DC, US Reuters On 4th May, 2022, NASA’s InSight lander detected the largest quake yet recorded on Mars, one with a 4.7 magnitude – fairly modest by Earth standards but strong for our planetary neighbor. Given Mars lacks the geological process called plate tectonics that generates earthquakes on our planet, scientists suspected a meteorite […]
Living income gaps: In Africa’s fields, a plan to pay fair wages for chocolate withers
ANGE ABOA and MAYTAAL ANGEL, of Reuters, report on the plight of cocoa farmers in the Ivory Coast and Ghana…
NASA formally retires Mars InSight lander after four-year mission
Los Angeles, US Reuters NASA has formally retired its Mars InSight lander, the first robotic probe specially designed to study the deep interior of a distant world, four years after it arrived on the surface of the red planet, the US space agency announced on Wednesday. Mission controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Los […]
Chinese spacecraft acquires images of entire planet of Mars
Beijing, China Reuters An uncrewed Chinese spacecraft has acquired imagery data covering all of Mars, including visuals of its south pole, after circling the planet more than 1,300 times since early last year, state media reported on Wednesday. China’s Tianwen-1 successfully reached the Red Planet in February, 2021, on the country’s inaugural mission there. A […]