Latest news with #Tiangong
The Independent
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
China launches spacecraft to collect samples from asteroid near Mars
China has launched its Tianwen-2 mission, dispatching a spacecraft to gather samples from an asteroid near to Mars. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) anticipates that this mission will "yield groundbreaking discoveries and expand humanity's knowledge of the cosmos." Launched on Thursday from southern China via the Long March 3-B rocket, the Tianwen-2 probe is set to collect samples from the asteroid 2016HO3. Additionally, it will explore the main-belt comet 311P, situated beyond Mars. Shan Zhongde, the head of the CNSA, hailed the Tianwen-2 mission as a "significant step in China's new journey of interplanetary exploration." This ambitious decade-long mission is poised to offer valuable insights into the universe. The samples from asteroid 2016HO3 are expected to be returned in approximately two years. These asteroids, selected for their stable orbits, may offer clues about Earth's formation, including the origins of water. China earlier returned rock samples from the moon's far side back to Earth in a historic mission and has welcomed international cooperation. However, any cooperation with the U.S. hinges on removing an American law banning direct bilateral cooperation with NASA. The near side of the moon is seen from Earth and the far side faces outer space. The far side also is known to have mountains and impact craters and is much more difficult to reach. China also operates the three person-crewed Tiangong, or 'Heavenly Palace,' space station, making the country a major player in a new era of space exploration and the use of permanent stations to conduct experiments in space, especially since the station was entirely Chinese-built after the country was excluded from the International Space Station over U.S. national security concerns. China's space program is controlled by the People's Liberation Army, the military branch of the ruling Communist Party. The country's space program has grown rapidly in the more than 20 years since it first put a man in space, only the third country to do so under its own speed. The space agency has landed an unmanned explorer on Mars and a rover on the far side of the moon. It aims to put a person on the moon before 2030. A future Tianwen-4 Jupiter mission will explore Jupiter, although details haven't been released.
The Independent
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
China launches asteroid-bound spacecraft that could tell us where water comes from
China has launched the Tianwen-2 spacecraft, embarking on a mission to retrieve samples from an asteroid near Mars. According to the China National Space Administration, this mission aims to "yield groundbreaking discoveries and expand humanity's knowledge of the cosmos." The Tianwen-2 probe was launched on Thursday from southern China, utilizing the Long March 3-B rocket. The probe is tasked with collecting samples from the asteroid 2016HO3 and exploring the main-belt comet 311P, located beyond Mars. Shan Zhongde, head of the CNSA, stated that the Tianwen-2 mission marks a "significant step in China's new journey of interplanetary exploration." The decade-long mission is expected to provide insights into the cosmos. The samples from asteroid 2016HO3 are expected to be returned in approximately two years. These asteroids, selected for their stable orbits, may offer clues about Earth's formation, including the origins of water. China earlier returned rock samples from the moon's far side back to Earth in a historic mission and has welcomed international cooperation. However, any cooperation with the U.S. hinges on removing an American law banning direct bilateral cooperation with NASA. The near side of the moon is seen from Earth and the far side faces outer space. The far side also is known to have mountains and impact craters and is much more difficult to reach. China also operates the three person-crewed Tiangong, or 'Heavenly Palace,' space station, making the country a major player in a new era of space exploration and the use of permanent stations to conduct experiments in space, especially since the station was entirely Chinese-built after the country was excluded from the International Space Station over U.S. national security concerns. China's space program is controlled by the People's Liberation Army, the military branch of the ruling Communist Party. The country's space program has grown rapidly in the more than 20 years since it first put a man in space, only the third country to do so under its own speed. The space agency has landed an unmanned explorer on Mars and a rover on the far side of the moon. It aims to put a person on the moon before 2030. A future Tianwen-4 Jupiter mission will explore Jupiter, although details haven't been released.
South China Morning Post
28-05-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
China plans to arm Tiangong space station with self-defence bots, scientist says
China is developing a rapid-response space defence system to intercept suspicious spacecraft and push them away, according to a senior scientist. Advertisement If an unidentified object approaches China's Tiangong space station or other critical space infrastructure, a small robotic thruster could be deployed to latch onto the intruder and push it to a safer distance, said Sun Zhibin of the National Space Science Centre in Beijing. 'Sometimes another spacecraft may deliberately come close – maybe just to take a look – but it can still interfere with our operations,' Sun said during a public talk on the technological progress and plans for Tiangong, at Nanjing University of Science and Technology on Tuesday. 'In such cases, we first try to assess their intent. Then we choose how to respond – whether by dodging, adjusting our orbit, or releasing a small robot to grab and redirect the object,' he said while answering questions from the audience. In December 2021, China reported to the United Nations that its space station had to perform two evasive manoeuvres that year to avoid potential collisions with SpaceX's Starlink satellites According to the submission, Starlink-1095 and Starlink-2305 descended from their usual 550km (342-mile) orbits and entered Tiangong's operational zone around 380km, prompting emergency avoidance actions on July 1 and October 21. Advertisement
Forbes
23-05-2025
- Health
- Forbes
The Prototype: New Bacteria Discovered On Chinese Space Station
In this week's edition of The Prototype, we look at whether we should worry about spaceborne bacteria, a clinical trial for regenerating nerves after a traumatic injury, a new class of electronics and more. You can sign up to get The Prototype in your inbox here. A Chinese spacecraft returning from the Tiangong space station A previously unknown strain of bacteria is living on Chain's Tiangong space station, according to a study published this week. The new microorganisms were discovered on swabs taken from the station. The news immediately brought the novel (and movie) The Andromeda Strain into my brain, which is about a disease that makes it to Earth from space by way of a government satellite. Luckily, Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, reassured me that any microorganisms found in space aren't likely to cause a new pandemic. 'It's important to remember that the vast, vast majority of bacterial organisms are not going to cause any harm,' he said. One thing to consider about these types of microbes, he said, is that their ability to adapt to one extreme environment does not mean they will thrive in another environment that it's not adapted to.' And to determine whether such an organism might pose a disease risk, it's important to consider whether they can survive in human bodies. If they can, do they even cause any harm? Odds are, they don't, he said. 'Most bacteria that live on or in us aren't harmful,' he said. Even if a new microorganism adapted to space or some other environment were to cause disease, humans still wouldn't necessarily be helpless, Adalja said. That's because lots of microorganisms share characteristics with each other, meaning the study of a new pathogen's data, like its DNA, can help researchers determine ways to find a treatment or vaccine. Stay tuned. Auxilium Biotechnologies Over 300,000 people every year experience an accident that causes damage to their peripheral nerves–those that exist outside of the brain and spinal cord. These injuries can be serious and lead to disability in some cases. There's no easy way to treat them, either. When repairs are possible, they often require surgically grafting a portion of a healthy nerve from another part of the body to the injured one. Sometimes that canlead to difficult complications and side effects like chronic pain. San Diego-based Auxilium Biotechnologies has a different approach. It's developed a device it calls a NeuroSpan Bridge, which it hopes will enable damaged nerves to regenerate into health. It does this by physically guiding the nerves to grow in a single direction to repair the damage. The company announced this week that it will begin a clinical trial of 80 nerve trauma patients with its device. Nerves do actually regenerate naturally, CEO and cofounder Jacob Koffler, who is also a professor of neuroscience at UC San Diego, told me. But the problem is that 'the nerve goes wherever it wants,' he said. It doesn't necessarily reconnect with the rest of the healthy nerve. 'What we bring to the table is a technology that organizes regeneration' by guiding the regenerated nerves directly to the healthy one. The company has already successfully demonstrated the device in mice, so humans are the next step. The clinical trial will take about a year, Koffler said. If results are good, the company would then work to seek a green light from the FDA to commercialize its device. Scientists at Rutgers University have created 'intercrystals' - a new substance that could power the electronics of the future. It consists of two layers of graphene, each one atom thick, which are laid on top of a crystal made from boron and nitrogen. The result is a structural pattern in the chemistry that allows a very efficient transmission of electrons that can be refined on the atomic level. The researchers behind the discovery say it could someday lead to more efficient electronics materials such as sensors or transistors. Even more importantly–all the components are cheap. 'Because these structures can be made out of abundant, non-toxic elements such as carbon, boron and nitrogen, rather than rare earth elements, they also offer a more sustainable and scalable pathway for future technologies,' researcher Eva Andrei said in a press release about the discovery. NASA says that a 'cumulative multi-year budget reduction' will force cutbacks in crew size and scientific research on board the International Space Station. NASA is currently considering operating the U.S. portion of the station with a three person crew, rather than four. There are also fewer planned cargo flights to the International Space Station, which will reduce revenues for contractors like SpaceX and Northrop Grumman. It's not clear yet whether NASA will be able to continue to support private missions to the ISS, such as those from SpaceX purchased by Axiom Space. I wrote about Abel Avellan, whose company AST SpaceMobile is taking on SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Project Kuiper in the battle to provide broadband satellite internet directly to your smartphone. This would enable connectivity in remote areas and help the over 2.6 billion people who currently lack regular internet access o get online. In my other newsletter, InnovationRx, Amy Feldman and I looked at the FDA's new COVID-19 vaccine rules, Novartis's acquisition strategy, Medtronic's diabetes spinoff, Regeneron's purchase of 23AndMe, and more. Recycling electronics might get easier thanks to researchers at the University of Helsinki, who figured out a way to extract silver from old electronics with used cooking oil. Funding for scientific research is at its lowest point in 35 years, reports the New York Times, with nearly every field being impacted by the slowdown in grants from the National Science Foundation. Energy infrastructure projects tend to be over budget and behind schedule, a new study finds. Nuclear power plants are the worst offenders. If you want the best bang for your energy investment buck, build a solar power project–they tend to finish under budget or ahead of schedule. Researchers built a new kind of lithium battery that works by pulling carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Previous attempts at this kind of chemistry tended to be expensive and not work well, but the new version could allow them to scale cheaply. And good news for Elon Musk–they're ideal for Mars, where the atmosphere is 95% carbon dioxide. One of the downfalls of restrictive dieting to lose weight is that pretty soon you start craving certain foods–and once you give in after prolonged abstinence, you may start binging, which can derail your diet completely. A new study suggests a better way: eat what you crave. During the study, a group of people on a diet were encouraged to include the foods they love, even junk food, into otherwise balanced meals. That group of people not only lost more weight, they also reported fewer food cravings than those who didn't incorporate such foods into their meal plans. One of the comforts of the streaming era is the chance to finally get around to shows that you missed the first time. Right now, for example, I'm watching Boardwalk Empire, which aired on HBO from 2009 to 2014. The series is centered on organized crime and corruption in Atlantic City during the Prohibition era, using real-life characters like Al Capone, Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky. Steve Buscemi is excellent in the lead role and it's a great watch for anyone who's into a good mob drama. All episodes are streaming on Max–or HBO Max–or whatever we're calling it now.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Chinese astronauts add debris shields to Tiangong space station during 8-hour spacewalk (video)
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A pair of taikonauts have completed their first spacewalk aboard China's Tiangong space station, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA). Two Shenzhou-20 crewmembers performed the mission's first extravehicular activity (EVA) on Thursday (May 22). The duo worked outside the Chinese low-Earth orbit laboratory for eight hours, wrapping up at 4:49 a.m. EDT (0849 GMT; 4:49 p.m. local time in Beijing). Chinese astronauts Chen Dong and Chen Zhongrui served as the EVA's assigned spacewalkers, while their crewmate Wang Jie assisted from inside Tiangong with mission operators coordinating on Earth. Dong and Zhongrui exited the space station through the node cabin of the Tianhe module, marking the first time that airlock has been used for an EVA since Tiangong became operational. This was the 19th time taikonauts aboard Tiangong have conducted an EVA; many of these spacewalks have focused on installing debris shields to the station's exterior. With assistance from the station's robotic arm, Dong and Zhongrui successfully positioned a protective sheet on a designated exterior location on Tiangong. The pair also performed routine station maintenance and equipment inspections. RELATED STORIES: — 1,000 days in space! Core module of China's Tiangong space station hits milestone — China launches Shenzhou 20 astronauts to Tiangong space station (video) — Spacewalks: How they work and major milestones The Shenzhou-20 crew arrived at Tiangong on April 24, and are just about one month into their six-month-long mission. The trio replaced China's Shenzhou-19 astronauts, who returned to Earth on April 30. China has at least one more crewed mission planned for 2025. Shenzhou-21 is expected to launch sometime this fall. The Tiangong space station was completed in 2022 and has a continual occupancy planned for at least the next decade. The station presently consists of three main modules, but allows for China to launch more should they wish to expand the orbiting lab.
