ScientistPankaj: SpaceX to launch more Starlink satellites from Florida today. Watch live!

NASA to decide on Mars Sample Return plan in mid-2026 | Space Quiz! What aspect of quantum physics says two affected particles can instantaneously influence each other's "state" no matter how widely separated they are? | SpaceX to launch Starlinks from Florida today. Watch live!

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January 8, 2025

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The Launchpad

NASA to decide on Mars Sample Return plan in mid-2026

(NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)

NASA is considering two ways to get its precious Mars samples back to Earth, but the agency won't pick a winner for another 18 months or so. Analysis of those samples could reveal a wealth of data about Mars and its history - including, perhaps, whether the Red Planet has ever hosted life. NASA is therefore eager to get the Mars material - about 30 cigar-sized, sealed tubes containing rock cores and sediment - home, and then on to laboratories around the world. But doing so has proven to be more difficult, and far more expensive, than originally envisioned.

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Space Quiz! What aspect of quantum physics says two affected particles can instantaneously influence each other's "state" no matter how widely separated they are?

Learn the answer here!

SpaceX to launch Starlinks from Florida today. Watch live!

(SpaceX)

SpaceX is set to launch more of its internet satellites from Florida's Space Coast today (Jan. 8). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 21 Starlink spacecraft, including 13 with Direct to Cell capabilities, is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station during a nearly four-hour launch window opening at 10:27 a.m. EST (1527 GMT). SpaceX will broadcast the launch live beginning about five minutes prior to the liftoff both on its website and on the X social media network.

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Spaceflight

NASA, Sierra Space preparing Dream Chaser's 1st ISS flight

(Sierra Space)

The multiple-hour simulation on Dec. 5, 2024 matched up both Sierra Space and NASA Johnson Space Center controllers, said Jerry Jason, Dream Chaser flight director, told Space.com. "We're basically ringing out procedures," he told Space.com.

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Science & Astronomy

Quantum entanglement observed within individual protons

(Valerie Lentz/Brookhaven National Laboratory)

Scientists have used high-energy particle collisions to peer inside protons, the particles that sit inside the nuclei of all atoms. This has revealed for the first time that quarks and gluons, the building blocks of protons, experience the phenomenon of quantum entanglement.

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Technology

Watch India attempt its 1st space docking between satellites

(ISRO)

India will attempt its first-ever docking in orbit late Wednesday (Jan. 8), and you'll be able to watch the action live as it happens. Twin satellites, built by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), will try to link up in low Earth orbit on Wednesday night, and the docking is expected to be broadcast on a free livestream that you can watch starting at 9:30 p.m. EST (0230 Jan. 9 GMT). At the time of this livestream, it will be 8:00 a.m. on Jan. 9 India Standard Time.

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Search for Life

New oxygen reaction could aid search for alien life

(NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Scientists have discovered a new way oxygen can form in carbon-dioxide-rich atmospheres of worlds beyond our own - challenging assumptions about how we should search for life on other planets, and possibly about the origins of life itself.

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Star Trek

Raise a glass for 'Star Trek Cocktails: A Stellar Compendium'

(Titan Publishing / Paramount)

The holiday season might be over, but that should never dampen your spirits for becoming a master mixologist in the new year, and we've got the perfect recipe to help with those thirsty ambitions. London-based Titan Books is publishing a new beverage guidebook with a sci-fi twist on Jan. 8, 2025 titled, "Star Trek Cocktails: A Stellar Compendium." This beautifully-produced hardbound volume of 144 pages is sized at a convenient 5.48 x 8.6 inches and packs a potent punch of classic cocktail concoctions paired alongside inspirations and quotes derived from "Star Trek" TV shows and feature films.

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