Science, Space, Health & Robotics News - Page 1

Elon Musk has officially teased Starlink. MINI is coming, an ultra-portable Starlink satellite dish that fits in your backpack, streams multiple 4K videos simultaneously, and for gamers, you'll enjoy the 23ms latency.

Oleg Kutkov posted some photos of the new Starlink MINI dish and the new built-in router in a new post on X. Kutkov said that Starlink MINI measures 28.9 x 24.8cm (11.4" x 9.8") and has built-in Wi-Fi. He also confirmed that the router supports 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi with 802.11ax and 3x3 MIMO.

A former Neuralink employee has filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk's brain implant company following an incident with a monkey that was carrying Herpes.

Lindsay Short claims she was fired from Neuralink after she informed her superiors that she was pregnant. More specifically, Short described a hostile work environment that was plagued with "blame, shame, and impossible deadlines". Additionally, the former Neuralink employee said she was scratched through a glove by a monkey that was carrying the Herpes B virus. Short said she was never provided the appropriate protective equipment to work with Neuralink's test animals.

The lawsuit also states that her superiors threatened her with "severe repercussions" if she were to insist medical treatment again from the scratch. Furthermore, Short said she was fired from the company a day after she informed staff that she was pregnant but was promoted just two months earlier. It should be noted that Neuralink has undergone some public scrutiny regarding its testing methods, and treatment of its test animals.

A company that's dedicatedcated to removing space debris currently stuck in Earth's orbit has shared an image that is a stark reminder of a growing problem.

Japan's space agency, JAXA, has selected Tokyo-based Astroscale for its Commercial Removal of Debris Demonstration (CRD2) program. Astroscale is committed to the removal of space debris and part of its plan to destroy space junk is the Active Debris Removal by Astroscale-Japan (ADRAS-J) satellite, which snapped the above image of the upperstage of a rocket a distance of 164 feet.

The upper stage measures approximately 36 feet in length and has been in orbit for 15 years, after it reached orbit with an Earth-observation satellite in 2009. Observing space junk up close like this enables Astroscale to gather data on its movements and orientation before it carries the piece down into Earth's atmosphere where it will burn up.

SpaceX is closing in on the fifth launch of Starship, the world's largest and most powerful rocket that has ever taken to the skies.

The fifth launch of the rocket will mark a monumental milestone in Elon Musk's quest to create a rapidly reusable rocket capable of traveling to Mars, and it will likely be the riskiest flight Starship has undertaken yet. Starship recently completed its fourth test flight, where SpaceX successfully recovered both Starship and its booster, Super Heavy, after they splashed down in the ocean. The next step in reaching Mars is to get Super Heavy to land back on land.

Unlike SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, which can autonomously land back on a launch pad, SpaceX plans on catching Super Heavy with an enormous tower that has arms attached to it. Previously, it was reported that these arms were referred to as "chopsticks" and that they would be used to catch Super Heavy upon its descent to reduce ground impact and increase reusability.

Boeing's Starliner spacecraft made it to the International Space Station (ISS) last week, and now it has been caught in the foreground of a video that captures a stunning aurora appear over Earth.

Last week, the Starliner leaked its way to the ISS, delivering two NASA astronauts safely to the floating laboratory. NASA has since launched an investigation into the leaks that were detected prior, and post-launch. According to the space agency, the Starliner vessel was suffering from leaks that were traced back to its helium tanks, and after a preliminary analysis, NASA has determined there is enough helium, or fuel, in the tanks to make a return trip back to Earth.

Now docked at the ISS, Boeing's Starliner will remain there until June 22, where it will carry out engine tests to further evaluate its performance. ISS astronaut Matthew Dominick has shared videos and images of the newest addition to the floating laboratory, capturing a stunning video of the Starliner floating above a beautiful aurora happening in Earth's upper atmosphere. Dominick notes that you can even see the NASA astronauts within the Starliner lighting up its interior with their flashlights.

NASA has confirmed that it has received a message from a spacecraft located more than 15 billion miles away from Earth.

That spacecraft is none other than Voyager 1, which in 2023 began sending incomplete messages back to NASA headquarters as it continued its long journey through interstellar space. However, the space agency has now said the messages Voyager 1 has sent through are nominal and that scientific operations conducted by its four instruments have returned to stable levels.

More specifically, NASA engineers were required to reprogram the timekeeping software aboard Voyager 1 to ensure the legendary spacecraft executes its commands at the correct times. There is still some work that needs to be done, but it shouldn't be understated how much of a feat this recent correction has been. Voyager 1 is 15 billion miles away from Earth, or 24 billion kilometers. Any engineering at distances such as these is an achievement in itself.

NASA has taken to its official International Space Station X account to confirm it accidentally played panicking audio that made it appear International Space Station (ISS) astronauts were in an emergency.

The space agency admitted in the above post that at 5:28 pm CDT, it accidentally broadcasted audio from an on-ground training simulation on the NASA live stream, and the audio depicted a crew member experiencing effects related to decompression sickness. For those that don't know, decompression sickness happens when dissolved gases form bubbles inside the body's tissue and is commonly known by SCUBA divers.

As for astronauts, particularly the ones aboard the ISS, this emergency could have happened when an astronaut was transferring through an airlock decompression with a suit that wasn't properly sealed. However, all astronauts aboard the ISS are completely fine, and the audio that was heard on the NASA broadcast occurred while they were asleep.

Boeing has recently being going through a bit of trouble with its airline fleet after a fuselage panel blew off a 737 Max shortly after takeoff in early January. The event sparked a series of negative revelations about Boeing's manufacturing and quality control.

It appears the company's airline isn't the only aspect of its business experiencing issues, as Boeing's Starliner capsule, which delivered two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station, was found to be leaking helium. NASA is currently evaluating the situation and whether the capsule can be used as a transportation method back to Earth. NASA took to its blog and confirmed five helium leaks had been identified and that after the capsule docked with the ISS, any loss from the helium tanks was prevented.

Notably, the number of helium leaks increased from three to five, with two being identified after the capsule launched on June 5. Furthermore, one leak was identified before the launch, but both NASA and Boeing decided to carry out the launch before the problem was fixed. For those who don't know, helium is used by the spacecraft's thrusters to fire.

Last week amongst all of the Computex 2024 news Starship conducted the fourth test flight for the world's largest and most powerful rocket, Starship.

The company blasted Starship off from its launch facilities on June 6, with the main objectives of the test flight being flying Starship further than any test previously, and demonstrating capabilities to return and reuse Starship and its Super Heavy booster. SpaceX achieved the desired reusability demonstration by calmly splashing down Super Heavy in the Gulf of Mexico. More specifically, SpaceX was attempting to simulate a "virtual tower" with the splashdown of Super Heavy, as the next step will be landing the megalithic booster on land.

Additionally, SpaceX just wanted the Starship vehicle to survive reentry into Earth's dense atmosphere, which, during its descent, gets extremely hot from generated friction. SpaceX achieved more than it set out to do as a minimum, as Starship also splashdowned within a designated target area. Now, Elon Musk is already talking about Flight 5, and during a live stream on X, the SpaceX CEO said that Starship will be taking to the skies once again in "about a month".

The astronauts who were part of the first all-civilian space mission to orbit have been studied by scientists, and across three studies, it was found that they've become younger.

SpaceX was behind the Inspiration4 mission that was conducted in 2021, where four civilian astronauts were transported to orbit via a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. The team of four only spent a few days in space and, upon return, committed their bodies to science, intending to understand how the environment in space affects human physiology. Now, three studies have been conducted, and it was found that astronauts got genetically younger during their stay in space, but the effects were only shortlived.

Scientists looked at the astronauts' DNA and found aging markers called telomeres, which are caps that protect chromosomes known to shorten with age after being exposed to certain environmental factors and stress. However, during the time spent in space, the astronauts' telomeres elongated, indicating the aging of DNA decreased. Researchers believe the telomeres getting longer is a response to the higher radiation environment in space.