Halo Infinite's retail version only contains an installer and acts as a DRM check--it doesn't include a playable game.

Players who get their Halo Infinite discs early still won't be able to play campaign. That's because the disc doesn't have a full playable game and instead is basically a physical key that proves ownership of the game. Halo Infinite's full campaign still has to be downloaded and even then it can't be accessed until 343i activates the switch on December 8.

The news was discovered by Digital Foundry's John Linneman, who criticized Microsoft's decision on Twitter. "My biggest complaint regarding Halo Infinite really is that the disc doesn't contain a playable game. This'll be the first Halo game you can't really own as a standalone copy. This is not a good trend and I hope MS reconsiders things like this."

NASA recently extended its existing contract with SpaceX to include additional missions to send astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).

SpaceX already has six crewed flights to the ISS using its Crew Dragon system planned as part of its contract with NASA. Now up to three more flights have been added to the contract. NASA solicited other companies before extending SpaceX's contract, but none met NASA's requirements.

"SpaceX's crew transportation system is the only one certified to meet NASA's safety requirements to transport crew to the space station, and to maintain the agency's obligation to its international partners in the needed timeframe," said NASA in a statement on December 3rd.

NASA has launched a sounding rocket from Norway to help understand the dense region of the upper atmosphere on Earth's sun-facing side.

There is a gap in Earth's magnetic field in a region known as the polar cusp. This gap allows solar winds from the sun to reach Earth's atmosphere, causes radio and GPS signals to behave strangely, and slows down spacecraft as they pass through this region. The air in this region is denser than elsewhere in spacecrafts' orbits around Earth, but it is not understood how or why.

The Cusp Region Experiment-2 (CREX-2) is funded by NASA and headed by Mark Conde from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute. The mission aims to understand the dynamics in the cusp, first set to do so in 2019 as part of The Grand Challenge Initiative's Project CUSP. However, it was delayed due to little solar activity, and the Covid-19 pandemic only served to delay the flight further. Now, CREX-2 was finally able to launch on December 1st from a launchpad in Andenes, Norway, at 3:25 a.m. EST.

On December 7th, 2021, NASA plans to launch and test its $320 million high-speed laser communications device.

The experimental device will be launched aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas 5 rocket as part of a US Space Force mission. It is attached to a Space Force STPSat 6 satellite, the primary payload for the Atlas 5 rocket, which is destined for a geosynchronous orbit above Earth.

Lift-off is due for a two-hour launch window opening at 09:04 UTC on Tuesday, December 7th, from Cape Canaveral. Previously scheduled for December 5th, the launch was delayed due to a leak in the launch pad's kerosene fuel storage system.

Researchers have recently used soft X-ray tomography (SXT) to render a high-resolution model of a cell and its internal structures in minutes.

Scanning electron microscopy is often used in cell imaging because it provides high-resolution nanoscale images. However, using scanning electron microscopes takes around a week to scan an individual cell, generating an enormous amount of data to analyze and interpret.

With SXT, scientists can create tomograms of a cell within five to ten minutes. When studying numerous cells, the significantly higher throughput makes SXT a much more practical analysis tool than the more data and time-intensive alternatives.

NASA has signed agreements with three separate U.S. companies to develop private commercial space stations.

Northrop Grumman's space station concept.

Blue Origin, Nanoracks, and Northrop Grumman have all been awarded contracts worth a combined $415.6 million. They come as part of NASA's Commercial Low Earth Orbit Destinations (CLD) program, which seeks to help the development of private space stations that may one day succeed the aging International Space Station (ISS).

"Building on our successful initiatives to partner with private industry to deliver cargo, and now our NASA astronauts, to the International Space Station, NASA is once again leading the way to commercialize space activities. With commercial companies now providing transportation to low Earth orbit in place, we are partnering with U.S. companies to develop the space destinations where people can visit, live, and work, enabling NASA to continue forging a path in space for the benefit of humanity while fostering commercial activity in space," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

An announcement from a CEO of a cryptocurrency exchange has revealed that $200 million in assets have been stolen from wallets.

BitMart CEO Sheldon Xia announced the news via Twitter, saying that the BitMart exchange has identified a "large-scale security breach" that involves the use of a stolen private key that was used to access an Ethereum (ETH) wallet and a Binance Smart Chain (BSC) wallet. According to PeckShield inc, a data analytics company, $100 million was stolen from the Ethereum wallet, and $96 million was stolen from the BSC wallet.

So, what was stolen? According to PeckShield, cryptocurrency coins such as Floki inu, Shiba inu, Elon, CRO, GALA, SAND, and more. As you can probably imagine, it wasn't very long after the hackers transferred the assets out of BitMarts wallets before they were on the market being sold, which resulted in a price dip for a range of coins. Following this hack, BitMart has suspended all withdrawals and deposits, and Xia has said that the company will compensate affected users with company funds.

Switzerland has officially approved the use of a coffin-shaped suicide machine that allows people to decide to kill themselves.

According to the company behind the machine, Exit International, the machine is called Sarco, which is short for sarcophagus and allows users to lay down in a coffin-shaped capsule that then reduces oxygen levels to fatal levels once the user initiates the process. The process takes less than a minute, and after the minute duration, death occurs through hypoxia and hypocapnia, which the Independent reports, "is intended to allow a person to die relatively peacefully and painlessly."

For those that don't know, assisted suicide is completely legal in Switzerland, as services such as Dignitas and Exit provide users with a digestible liquid drug that puts users in a deep coma that eventually results in death. Now, reports indicate that the Sacro has passed legal review, and according to Dr. Philip Nitschke, the creator of the Sacro, also dubbed "Dr. Death", "there are no legal issues at all" with the product and that discussions are currently underway with the goal to roll out the service to the public next year.

NASA is currently tracking on route to enter Earth's orbit, and it's estimated to be worth more than $5 billion.

The asteroid is dubbed "potentially dangerous," as is any space rock or comet that comes within the 4.65 million miles of Earth. The asteroid is dubbed 4660 Nereus, and while it is categorized as a "potentially hazardous" object, it will safely pass by Earth. The asteroid has a diameter of 1,085 feet and will break into Earth's orbit at a speed of 14,700 mph on Saturday, December 11, marking the closest the asteroid has come to Earth within 20 years.

When 4660 Nereus passes by Earth, it will be at a distance of 2.4 million miles, which is around 10 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon (238,855 miles). While 2.4 million miles sounds like an enormous distance when speaking in astronomical terms, it's quite small. According to the Asterank database that is currently tracking more than 60,000 asteroids, 4660 Nereus is estimated to contain $4.71 billion worth of nickel, iron, and cobalt.

For the entire duration of human existence, we have been trying to make sense of the planet we have been living on, called Earth.

Humans have come quite far in understanding the small blue planet we call home, and the solar system it resides in, but there is still a lot of questions that need answers. Researchers have discovered some quite outrageous facts about Earth throughout their research, and some of these discoveries have broken previously established understandings of our planet.

Below you will find five facts about Earth that aren't common knowledge, and some of them may even break preconceived ideas that teachers established during your early schooling years.