Thursday, December 17, 2020

China lands its Moon rocks in Inner Mongolia | Science | AAAS

China's Chang'e-5 mission made a triumphant return around 1 p.m. EST today, landing in the middle of the night on the dark frozen plains of Inner Mongolia, Chinese state media reported . The capsule's return marks the first time China has collected rocks from the Moon—and the first time any nation has accomplished the feat since 1976.

Chang'e-5 sampled near Mons Rümker, a 70-kilometer-wide volcanic mound on the Moon's near side, which may have erupted as recently as about 1.3 billion years ago. Although scientists won't know exactly how much rock the mission collected until the capsule is opened, the mission did sample what is believed to be the youngest terrain from Mons Rümker, says Long Xiao, a planetary geoscientist at the China University of Geosciences.

Publisher: Science | AAAS
Date: 2020-12-16T14:25:00-05:00
Author: Paul Voosen
Twitter: @newsfromscience
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And here's another article:

Extraterrestrial hiking - Following the tracks of NASA's Curiosity rover | Christmas Specials |

H OW YOU came to be on this flat desert plain at this time does not matter. What matters is the landscape around you.

To the north there is what appears to be a rim around the world, brightened by morning-lit dust at its base, darker as it rises into the sky. In some places it is a disordered, stepping-stone staircase of hummocky hills; in some it has a steep, solid face. However they are reached, though, its heights are strangely continuous and peculiarly even in stature: a scarp, not a mountain range, one that curves as it stretches to the left and right, the east and west.

Publisher: The Economist
Twitter: @TheEconomist
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Searching for stardust: How to find micrometeorites in your gutters | New Scientist

IT WAS a warm summer morning in the countryside near Oslo and Jon Larsen decided to have breakfast outdoors. He carefully wiped down the white plastic table on his patio and went inside to collect his meal. Then, as he sat down to eat, he noticed a tiny black speck on the table. “It was glittering in the sun,” he says. “I thought, wow, what is this?”

That was 2009. Fast forward a decade and Larsen has managed to pull off something many thought impossible. He has shown that merely by scouring ordinary urban spaces, you can find your own micrometeorites – tiny specks of extraterrestrial dust that have been floating around since the birth of the solar system, billions of years ago. These days, his collection comprises more than 3000 specimens and he boasts a large fan base of urban space-dust hunters.

Publisher: New Scientist
Author: Joshua Howgego
Twitter: @newscientist
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Hayabusa2 mission confirms return of an asteroid sample, including gas, to Earth - ABC17NEWS

The Hayabusa2 mission successfully collected a sample from a near-Earth asteroid and returned it to Earth — as well as the first gas sample from deep space, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency , or JAXA.

The sample was dropped off on Earth by a capsule on December 6 in South Australia. Teams from JAXA were able to retrieve the capsule where it landed and conduct some preliminary tests of gas in the capsule before it was sent to Japan.

Publisher: ABC17NEWS
Date: 2020-12-15T21:03:37 00:00
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And here's another article:

The Socialism of Freeman Dyson - The Wire Science

On February 28, just a few weeks before the United States plunged into lockdown, the world lost the visionary physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson. Although widely celebrated for his expansive scientific achievements, eulogisers have given scant attention to his progressive political imagination and longtime identification as a pacifist and socialist.

Five years ago, when the New York Times asked him which writers he'd invite to a literary dinner party, Dyson chose three women he already knew so he "would not need to waste time on formal introductions": the classical archeologist Joan Breton Connelly, the science fiction writer Mary Doria Russell, and me.

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Publisher: The Wire Science
Date: 2020-12-17T02:29:37 00:00
Twitter: @TheWireScience
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World's first gas sample from deep space confirmed

The initial analysis team will continue with opening the sample container and performing a detailed analysis of the molecular and isotopic composition of the collected gas. Explore further

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NASA funds research into alien technological civilizations

"Technosignatures relate to 'signatures' of advanced alien technologies similar to, or perhaps more sophisticated than, what we possess," said Avi Loeb, a professor of science at Harvard and one of the grant recipients.

"Such signatures might include industrial pollution of atmospheres, city lights, photovoltaic cells (solar panels), megastructures or swarms of satellites."

"The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence has always faced the challenge of figuring out where to look," said Adam Frank, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Rochester, and the primary recipient of the grant. "Which stars do you point your telescope at and look for signals?

Publisher: USA TODAY
Author: Doyle Rice
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Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin's Regular Press Conference on December 17, 2020

The Advisory Council is composed of international celebrities from all over the world, including former dignitaries, scholars and experts, etc. The main function of the body is to provide intelligence support for the BRF and relevant international cooperation.

China News Service: In the early hours of December 17, Chang'e 5 lunar mission return ed to Earth after collecting moon samples . We noted that the European Space Agency (ESA) official noted that the mission is of great significance. Do you have any comment?

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