Five Planets Are Retrograde, Here⁘s Everything You Need To Know

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Feeling a little tense and unruly? No, it's not just the silly season, there are five planets retrograde — including Mercury Retrograde, Mars Retrograde and more — so naturally, we're feeling it in a MAJOR way.

To help you wrap your head around everything that's going on cosmically RN , I've pulled together a lil summary of events to help you navigate your way through the chaos.

How to deal:  Don't run from your trauma — this is your chance to address it, unpack it, and find a path of healing. If things get too tough to handle, don't be afraid to speak to a trusted friend, relative or even a therapist.

What it means:  Uranus , hehe! Nah but seriously, this planet is no joke. It keeps us on our toes by shuffling the deck just when we've gotten comfortable. Expect the unexpected, basically.

How to deal: Shake off the negativity — stop thinking about what's not happening and start thinking about what you want to happen. Write down your goals for the future and start manifesting them.

What it means:  You know the drill! Communication gone crazy, busted up technology, mad transport delays etc. Have a read of our comprehensive guide for more.

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Bhutan's Roadmap For Space Frontier

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• **India

**: ISRO sets sights on Mars, announces plan to send first human mission to Red Planet in 2030, with Gaganyaan programme. • **United States

**: NASA's Artemis program to return humans to Moon by 2024, with SpaceX Starship development hitting major milestones in preparation for lunar landing. • **China

**: China's Tiantan-1 space station reaches orbit and begins operation, marking significant milestone in country's space program. • **United Arab Emirates

**: Dubai future-proofs lunar ambitions with launch of Emirates Martian mission, set to launch in 2024. • **Europe

**: European Space Agency (ESA) launches BepiColombo spacecraft towards Mercury, "poised to send first-ever spacecraft to the planet in 2025." • **Russia

**: Roscosmos launches Luna-25 space mission to the Moon's south pole... aiming to study cratered terrain and potential resources. • **Canada

**: Canada Space Agency launches robotic mission to search for signs of --- on Mars... utilizing ground-penetrating radar and sample analysis equipment.

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Although a late starter, Bhutan has set its sights on the space frontier with an ambitious space technology roadmap that aims to generate 300 jobs and contribute USD 150 million to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) within the next decade.

This is as per the Space Strategy 2034 developed by the Division of Telecom and Space (DoTS) under GovTech.

The DoTS hosted a stakeholder consultation workshop on December 11, Wednesday bringing together representatives from various agencies to refine Bhutan's five-year roadmap for space ecosystem development. This will serve as a foundational step toward achieving the broader objectives of the Space Strategy 2034.

GovTech Secretary Jigme Tenzing said space technology can be used to address pressing issues like climate change, natural disasters, and sustainable development. "Bhutan's emphasis on Gross National Happiness (GNH) can provide a unique perspective on space exploration, where the country can focus on ethical and sustainable space practices."

The space engineer of GovTech, Yeshey Choden, said stakeholders play a crucial role in building a thriving space ecosystem and collaboration is key to ensure a diverse and inclusive approach to space development. "Input from legal, economic, social, and technical and other experts is essential for its success," she said.

The GovTech space team, currently comprising 19 engineers, plans to expand its capabilities by addressing key challenges such as funding constraints, limited infrastructure, and a shortage of skilled personnel.

Stakeholders at the consultation raised critical issues, such as the absence of a comprehensive legal framework, which hinder international collaboration and foreign investment in the space sector.

Astronomers Spot Strange Exoplanet With A Tail

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Astronomers using the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii have made a startling finding: a distant exoplanet with a tail hundreds of thousands of miles long. Planet WASP-69 b is located 164 light-years away, and as it orbit, it is followed by a stream of escaping gas that forms a tail ⁘ making it look a little like a comet.

The planet is a type called a hot Jupiter , meaning it is a large gas giant that orbits very close to its star. So close, in fact, that a year there lasts less than four days and it has a blistering temperature of over 600 degrees Celsius.

This close proximity to the star also causes its most distinctive feature, the tail. Radiation from the star bombards the atmosphere of the planet, stripping away gases like hydrogen and helium. And as streams of particles from the star called stellar winds hit the planet, they pull these escaping gases into a tail shape. The tail has been observed to be more than 7.5 times the radius of the planet, meaning that it stretches for over 350,000 miles.

But it could be even longer as the researchers didn⁘t have enough telescope time to observe the full length of the tail. However, because it is formed by stellar winds, the tail could also shrink over time if the wind lessens.

Blue Origin Says New Glenn On Track To Launch Before End Of 2024

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Blue Origin says it's on track to launch its towering New Glenn vehicle before the year's end, though the company is still awaiting regulatory approval to conduct a final key test of the massive rocket. 

That test, called a "hot fire," involves powering up all seven of the first stage's BE-4 engines and firing them to full thrust while the rocket sits on the pad. The test is designed to mirror how the vehicle will operate during lift-off. If all goes to plan during the hot fire test, Blue Origin will move to integrate the fairing (the part of the rocket that holds the payload) as the final step before launch.

The 320-foot-tall rocket will be capable of carrying 45 metric tons (99,200 pounds) to low Earth orbit. This is more powerful than United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Centaur and SpaceX's Falcon Heavy in its reusable configuration. For comparison, SpaceX's Starship, the largest rocket ever built, is designed to carry 100-150 metric tons to LEO.

In the shorter term, getting New Glenn up and running is likely key to turning Blue Origin into a profitable business. While Blue Origin's financials are not public, and it benefits enormously from Bezos' personal fortune, the Amazon founder said during that same summit that he anticipates it one day growing into his biggest business yet.

"I think it's going to be the best business that I've ever been involved in, but it's going to take a while," he said.

This inaugural New Glenn mission was originally slated to fly a high-profile pair of satellites to Mars for NASA, for a launch window that opened in October. But the space agency ultimately decided to push back that mission to another New Glenn launch in the spring of 2025, citing potential issues that could arise should the rocket be delayed.

NASA's Boss⁘to⁘be Proclaims We're About To Enter An “Age Of Experimentation” ⁘ Ars...

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ORLANDO, Florida —On Wednesday, Jared Isaacman made his first public appearance since his nomination earlier this month to become NASA's next administrator. Although his remarks were short on specifics, Isaacman endorsed a vision that would signal radical departures from the way NASA does business.

He talked of commercial investment, a thriving space economy, and going fast and taking risks. These talking points are familiar to anyone who has listened to NASA's leadership in recent years, and there has been tangible progress in the agency's partnerships with commercial companies. However, NASA is leaving some commercial expertise on the field, or in this case, on the ground.

"I love all about the commercial space industry right now," Isaacman said in a discussion at the Space Force Association's Spacepower Conference in Orlando, Florida. "They're all generally doing the same thing, which is putting a lot of their own dollars on the line because they believe in the future that it holds."

It's not just launch. More startups are pursuing satellite manufacturing, Earth return vehicles, and commercial space stations. But rockets happen to be one of the most mature segments of the commercial space industry, and they attract a lot of attention.

"Blue Origin is putting a ton of their own money on the line," Isaacman said. "I love everything that Rocket Lab did, as kind of another small scrappy startup that's doing great things. And, for sure, SpaceX and their approach with a fully reusable first and second stage. Pretty awesome stuff."

Blue Origin and SpaceX were founded by Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, who made their first fortune in other businesses. Peter Beck, founder and CEO of Rocket Lab, didn't start out rich, but his company's success has made him a billionaire.

Isaacman, too, is a wealthy entrepreneur . According to Forbes, he has a net worth of $1.9 billion, primarily from his stake as founder of Shift4, a mobile payments platform he established when he dropped out of high school at the age of 16. Isaacman later earned his GED and a bachelor's degree in aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Bloomberg - Are You A Robot?

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Asteroid-Hunting NASA Spacecraft To Slingshot Around Earth Tonight. Watch It Live

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The asteroid hunting spacecraft Lucy will make its second gravity assist of Earth today, swinging by our pale blue dot on its way to a group of asteroids known as the Trojans.

Lucy is a spacecraft on a 12-year journey into the distant solar system , where it will investigate a group of asteroids to better understand the origins of the outer planets and the birth of the solar system. But Lucy needs a little push to get there, and its upcoming flyby is set to occur tonight around 11:15 p.m. Eastern Time, according to to a NASA statement .

It is a common assumption that once a mission launches, it is gone, never to be seen around these parts again. That is often untrue—spacecraft don't carry much fuel and often leverage the gravitational pull of solar system objects to hasten their travel to (relatively) faraway parts of the universe. Tonight, Lucy will do exactly that, slingshotting around Earth to gain the speed it needs for its journey to explore the Trojan asteroids.

As Lucy passes over Earth tonight, it will be traveling over 33,000 miles per hour (53,100 km/hr). Lucy will spend about 20 minutes traveling through Earth's shadow and may become visible once it emerges on the other side.

Earlier this week, the European Space Agency's BepiColombo spacecraft flew by Mercury for the fifth time , as the agency plans for the spacecraft's arrival in the planet's orbit in November 2026. This November, NASA's Parker Solar Probe made its final flyby of Venus, using our next-door-neighbor's gravity to fling itself to the surface of our star. Parker's closest approach of the Sun is set to occur on Christmas Eve.

Don Pettit packed a home-made tracker to space, allowing him to bless our timelines with long-exposure images.

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Mystery Of Pulsing Radio Waves From Deep Space May Be Solved

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Researchers for the first time have tracked a pulsing radio signal in space back to its original source — deep in our Milky Way galaxy.

The team, led by Natasha Hurley-Walker, has learned that at least one of the mysterious radio signals to reach Earth — they have puzzled scientists for half a century — originated from a red dwarf star.

Walker, in an essay for The Conversation , explained that the red dwarf was likely in orbit with another star, a white dwarf, which had its core explode a very long time ago.

The new research, now published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, identifies the slowest ever radio burst of its kind, which releases minute-long pulses about once every three hours. It is named GLEAM-X J0704-37.

Researchers harnessed two incredibly powerful radio telescopes, the Murchison Widefield Array of Western Australia and the MeerKAT in South Africa to trace back the frequencies to a red dwarf.

"These stars are incredibly common, making up 70% of the stars in the Milky Way, but they are so faint that not a single one is visible to the naked eye," Walker wrote.

As to how a red and white dwarf could create such a signal, it is similar to the nature of our own solar system, according to Walker.

"The red dwarf probably produces a stellar wind of charged particles, just like our Sun does," Walker added. "When the wind hits the white dwarf's magnetic field, it would be accelerated, producing radio waves."

She compared it to how solar winds interact with the Earth's magnetic fields to create the northern lights and low-frequency radio waves.

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Why Robots Are Not Effective Tools For Supporting Autistic People

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An autistic PhD candidate in computer science, Naba Rizvi is the lead author of an analysis of 142 papers published between 2016 and 2022 that focused on robots' interactions with autistic people. She and her colleagues found that almost all of the research excludes the perspectives of the autistic subjects, pathologizes them by using an outdated understanding of the neurotype, and contains little, if any, evidence that therapies delivered by robots are effective.

While most research on human-robot interaction starts by asking the subjects what their needs are, nearly 90% of the researchers in Rizvi's sample did not ask autistic people whether they want the technology. Fewer than 3% included autistic people in framing the theory being investigated, and just 5% incorporated their perspectives in designing research.

"Even clinicians are not convinced of their effectiveness, and minimal progress has been made in making such robots clinically useful," Rizvi writes. "In fact, research even suggests that this use of robots may be counterproductive and negatively impact the skills they are designed to hone in autistic end-users."

Most of the research the team reviewed was published in robotics journals, not autism reviews. Seventy-six of the studies used anthropomorphic or humanoid robots to teach social skills, while 15 relied on devices designed to look like animals. One used a robot to diagnose "abnormal" social interactions.

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The Next Decade In Astrophysics Could Reveal Our Solar System

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The latest Decadal Survey for Solar and Space Physics just dropped, and it is filled with goodies ranging from new missions to plans for space weather.

The report comes from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and it outlines top priorities for space agencies and affiliated institutions in better understanding the solar system in the next decade. The report draws on 450 papers from the science community as well as other events including presentations and town halls.

Decadal surveys are important; they outline science objectives for a wide array of scientists. In 2021, the academies outlined finding Earth-like exoplanets, understanding the universe's densest objects, and improving understanding of the birth and growth of galaxies as top astronomical priorities.

The following year, the report dedicated to planetary science and astrobiology concluded that a Uranus probe should be the highest priority mission. Last year, a report from the academies put a sustained human presence off-Earth on the docket.

This year's report covered the gamut of solar and space physics, including how to better track the dynamic environment of our solar system and better understand the star at its heart .

The report called for NASA to pursue a mission that would launch a constellation of satellites that would observe the space environment near Earth and a spacecraft that would image the Sun at its poles. The report identified the National Science Foundation's Next Generation Global Oscillations Network, a solar observatory network, as the highest-priority large construction project.

"Lack of progress in solar and space physics over the next decade could have devastating consequences to society, in part because it would inhibit our ability to predict and mitigate against potentially harmful space weather impacts," said committee co-chair Stephen Fuselier, acting vice president of the Southwest Research Institute's space science division, in an academies release.

Six-planet Parade To Light Up Night Sky In Early 2025

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The new calendar year is approaching, and the first two months will offer some sky-watching perks, as the night sky will light up with a six-planet parade alignment.

In January and February 2025, six planets will form a giant arc in the evening sky, according to the Farmer's Almanac . Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Venus, Neptune, and Saturn. Then at the end of February, Mercury will join the fun, replacing Saturn. 

The celestial event is called a "planetary parade" or ⁘planetary alignment⁘ and is a term used in astronomy to describe the event when several planets gather in a small sky area, Star Walk explains. A mini planetary alignment is three planets, small is four, and large is five or six planets. A great or full planetary alignment is all the solar system planets, and sometimes Pluto since Pluto has now been reclassified as a dwarf planet. 

As the planets orbit the solar system, different patterns of orbital speeds create closer alignments, such as the next two months when the planets align close together for night viewing. 

Aliens? Hardly. It's Been Us All Along, New Jersey!

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For the record, I've never bought into the alien hype. In 2020 and 2021, the Pentagon officially released videos of aerial phenomena that were captured by military pilots, which showed objects displaying unusual flight characteristics that were difficult to explain. These videos, known as the ⁘tic-tac⁘ videos, sparked renewed public interest and led to investigations by the U.S. government into the phenomenon.

In 2023, the U.S. Congress held hearings about UFOs, which were framed as part of a broader effort to understand⁘ unexplained aerial phenomena (UAP) . While the government has not confirmed any extraterrestrial origin for these objects, the term UAP is now used to describe them, emphasizing that these phenomena remain unexplained.

Now that we have had hundreds of drone sighting across New Jersey for the past few weeks, speculation is running high.

For me, I believe firmly that this is a military exercise and this backs up my belief that there are no aliens, it's been us all along.

For his part, after we asked our audience to flood his office with calls , Gov. Murphy issued a statement last week and then held a news conference this week.

Both were all about nothing. He reiterated that there is no known danger to the public, but that was about it.

Is it really possible that our military doesn't know where they are coming from? Some are speculating that the so-called drones are actually ⁘flying cars⁘ and it's a test for the future of traffic. We'll see.

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Satellite Giants Eye AIoT Revolution As Space-based Edge Computing Takes Off

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Space technology leaders and researchers gathered at TASTI 2024 to discuss how the convergence of AIoT, and satellite networks is reshaping industries from automotive to wildlife conservation while grappling with challenges of security and spectrum...

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Bezos's Blue Origin: A Bold Vision For The Future Of Space

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SpaceX Develops Latest Starship Milestone"** * NASA's Perseverance rover discovers evidence of ancient lake on Mars, sparking interest in potential astrobiology research (The New York Times, February 2022)

* China's Tiantan-1 space station reaches orbit, marking a major milestone in the nation's space program (Reuters, February 2022)

* SpaceX announces plans for multifunctional Starship, designed for both crewed missions to the Moon and Mars (SpaceNews, February 2022)

* India's Gaganyaan mission successfully tests crew capsule, paving way for human spaceflight (Press Trust of India, February 2022)

* Black Rock Desert in Nevada to host SpaceX's Starship test launch and landing facility (KTVU, February 2022)

* NASA's Parker Solar Probe reaches its farthest point from the Sun, providing unprecedented solar observations (Space. com... February 2022)

* South Korea and the European Space Agency collaborate on lunar lander mission (KoreaTimes, February 2022)

* Blue Origin announces new suborbital launch site in Texas, aiming to increase Reusability (CNBC, February 2022)

* U. S. Space Force selects ClearSpace One as partner for asteroid removal contract (SpaceNews... February 2022)

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The Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is taking his space venture hobby to another level. Speaking at The New York Times' DealBook Summit, Bezos emphasized that while Blue Origin isn't currently the best business, it has thepotential to surpass even his $2.3 trillion Amazon empire. Bezos takes his Blue Origin seriously by selling his Amazon stocks to fund Blue Origin.

New Shepard: It's a spacecraft for the purpose of space tourism and space research. The rocket is reusable, can land vertically after launch, and has ferried passengers and the company's billionaire founder, Jeff Bezos himself. Its reusability reduces the general cost of space travel to minimum cost.

Blue Moon: It is a lunar lander intended to fulfill humanity's curiosity about being present on the moon.

At the moment Space X run by Elon Musk has more flights and has more projects in comparison with Blue Origin which still experience setbacks and delays.

However, Blue Origin offers higher safety, cheaper cost, and lunar landing. Also, Blue Origin has more successfully test flights and escape system tests and its BE-4 engines are a breakthrough and already used in other rockets.

The space race is stiff with other players in the field include Lockheed Martin, Virgin Galactic and many more trying to alter the future of human development and history in outer space.

Expect 'Dramatic Changes' At NASA With Jared Isaacman At Helm

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Amid the backdrop of newly announced Artemis moon-mission postponements, analysts expect potential NASA administrator Jared Isaacman to shake up the agency from a private-businessman and private-astronaut perspective — "NASA needs to be prepared for dramatic changes."

Isaacman is the 41-year-old billionaire founder and CEO of Shift4 who partnered with Elon Musk's SpaceX to command and finance the groundbreaking Inspiration4  and  Polaris Dawn  commercial astronaut spaceflights. In September, he became the first private citizen to conduct a spacewalk in orbit during that latter mission, which launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

"This is definitely not the sort of standard NASA type of person that's spent years in the government," said Don Platt, director of the Florida Institute of Technology's Spaceport Education Center in Titusville. 

"It's definitely sort of, if you will, an outsider — obviously, with some pretty recent and interesting space experience," Platt said.

"I think that overall, he's going to definitely bring a very different perspective to NASA. And you know, hopefully that's a good perspective in terms of helping them get on track with their cost overruns and schedule problems that sort of have plagued them — especially on their big programs — over the last multiple decades," he said.

"Different perspective, different attitude, different background. I think that it's probably good for NASA, because we're definitely kind of spinning our wheels here trying to get back to the moon, for instance," he said.

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