Category Archives: Space Exploration

A Harvard University professor is making the case that we're probably not alone in the universe. Astronomer Avi Loeb's new book "Extraterrestrial" examines the 2017 flyby of a space object that he believes was truly out of this world.

Watch Video: NASA attempts first ever mission to retrieve sample from asteroid

Cambridge, Massachusetts A Harvard University professor is making the case that were probably not alone in the universe. Astronomer Avi Loebs new book Extraterrestrial examines the 2017 flyby of a space object that he believes was truly out of this world.

At first people thought, Well it must be a rock, just like the asteroids or comets that we have seen before within the solar system,' Loeb told CBSN Bostons Paula Ebben. But as they got more data on it, it looks very weird.

The cigar-shaped object seen by telescopes was dubbed Oumuamua meaning a messenger that reaches out from the distant past in Hawaiian.

It was 10 times as long as it is wide and was traveling at speeds of 196,000 mph, researchers said at the time.

It didnt look like a comet, yet it behaved some like something that has an extra push, Loeb said.

NASA confirmed that its the first object ever seen in our solar system that is known to have originated elsewhere, but said its origins are unknown.

Loeb argues in his book that the object was probably debris from advanced alien technology space junk from many light years away. It may have been a type of light sail propelled by sunlight, a technology that humans are currently developing for space exploration.

Its possible that there is a lot of space junk out there or it is a probe, he said. We dont know because we didnt collect enough data, enough evidence and Im just alerting everyone to look for objects like that so that next time there is one coming by we will examine it more carefully.

Loeb said its time for researchers to look for potential messages in a bottle like Oumuamua instead of just searching for radio signals as evidence of other civilizations.

He said his ideas arent popular in the scientific community right now talking about potential extraterrestrial intelligence is out of the mainstream, and it should not be.

We should be open minded and search for evidence rather than assume that everything we see in the sky must be rocks, he said.

For those who doubt the existence of aliens, Loeb says to consider the odds.

We know that half of the sun-like stars have a planet the size of the Earth roughly the same distance from the star, so they can have liquid water on the surface thats the chemistry of life, he said.

That means that if you roll the dice billions of times in the Milky Way galaxy, were probably not alone, and moreover, were probably not the sharpest cookie in the jar, the smartest kid on the block.

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Space object likely came from alien world, Harvard professor says - WTOP

While we look forward to things calming down here on Earth, there's going to be plenty of activity in the heavens. Ars Technica put together an overview of plans that include everything from innovative rockets to private flights to the construction of a new space station. And three different nations have spacecraft scheduled to land on Mars in February!

The United Arab Emirates' first mission to the Red Planet, Mars Hope, is due to arrive on February 9. At this time, the spacecraft will make a challenging maneuver to slow down and enter orbit around Mars with an altitude above the planet as low as 1,000km. If all goes well, the spacecraft will spend a Martian year687 Earth daysstudying the planet's atmosphere and better understanding its weather.

China has not said when, exactly, that its ambitious Tianwen-1 mission will arrive at Mars, but it's expected in mid-February. After the spacecraft enters orbit, it will spend a couple of months preparing to descend to the surface, assessing the planned landing site in the Utopia Planitia region. Then, China will attempt to become only the second country to soft-land a spacecraft on Mars that survives for more than a handful of seconds. It will be a huge moment for the country's space program.

NASA's Mars Perseverance will likely be the last of three missions to arrive at Mars, reaching the Red Planet in mid-February and attempting a landing in Jezero Crater on February 18. This entry, descent, and landing phasemuch like with the Curiosity lander in 2012will be must-see TV.

Read what else 2021 has in store for space exploration at Ars Technica.

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An insane amount of cool space things happening in 2021 - Boing Boing

By Daniel Stolte, University of Arizona

Thursday

NASA has selected the University of Arizona to lead one of its four inaugural Astrophysics Pioneers missions. With a $20 million cost cap, the Aspera mission will study galaxy evolution with a space telescope barely larger than a mini fridge. The telescope will allow researchers to observe galaxy processes that have remained hidden from view until now.

Led by principal investigator Carlos Vargas, a postdoctoral researcher in UArizona's Steward Observatory, the Aspera mission seeks to solve a longstanding mystery about the way galaxies form, evolve and interact with each other. Intended for launch in late 2024, the space telescope is being specifically designed to see in ultraviolet light, which is invisible to the human eye.

NASAchose Aspera and three other missionsfor further concept development in the agency's new Pioneers Program for small-scale astrophysics missions.

The Aspera mission's goal is to provide the first-ever direct observations of a certain portion of the circumgalactic medium vast "oceans" of low-density gas that permeate and surround individual galaxies and in some cases even connect them, bridging large distances across the universe.

The familiar pictures of galaxies as luminous archipelagos floating in space, filled with millions or billions of stars, tell only a small part of their story, Vargas said.

"As telescopes have become more sensitive and have allowed us to discover more exotic types of gases, we now realize there is tons of stuff in between galaxies that connects them," he said. "Galaxies are undergoing this beautiful dance in which inflowing and outflowing gases balance each other."

Processes such as supernova explosions blow gas out of the galaxy, and sometimes it rains back down onto the galactic disc, Vargas said.

Previous observations of the circumgalactic medium, or CGM, revealed that it contains several different populations of gas in a wide range of densities and temperatures astronomers refer to as phases. But one of these gas phases has eluded previous attempts at studying it, and Vargas said it's important because it is believed to host most of a galaxy's mass.

"There is this intermediate form we refer to as warm-hot, and that is particularly interesting because it provides the fuel for star formation," he said. "No one has been able to successfully map its distribution and really determine what it looks like."

The Aspera mission is designed to home in on that missing chunk of the CGM that astronomers know must be there but haven't been able to observe.

"Aspera is an exciting mission because it will lead us to discover the nature of mysterious warm-hot gas around galaxies," said Haeun Chung, a postdoctoral research associate at Steward Observatory.

As the mission's project scientist, Chung leads the instrument team charged with building the new space telescope.

"Though small, Aspera is designed to detect and map faint warm-hot gas, thanks to recent technological advancements and the increased opportunity that small-sized space missions provide," Chung said.

Because the portion of the CGM that researchers refer to as warm-hot is thought to host the lion's share of the mass that makes up a galaxy, it is a crucial piece of the puzzle for understanding how galaxies form and evolve, Vargas said.

"If you care about how life evolved, you care about how galaxies evolve, because you can't have a planet without a star, and you can't have a star without galaxy," he said. "These all are very interconnected."

The Aspera telescope will be the only instrument in space capable of observing in the ultraviolet spectrum, with the exception of the Hubble Space Telescope, which has surpassed its expected mission lifespan by many years.

Vargas said his team chose the mission's name, Latin for "hardship," to highlight the extraordinary difficulties that have needed to be overcome to observe and study the CGM.

"People have been going for this 'missing' gas phase for decades," he said. "We aptly named our telescope to honor their efforts."

UArizona President Robert C. Robbins said the mission marks a new milestone in the university's long history of space exploration.

"Being selected for the first iteration of NASA's Astrophysics Pioneers program is a testament to our excellent track record in space exploration from providing the scientific approaches needed to tackle some of the most challenging questions in the universe, to developing innovative technology and providing successful management throughout the project," he said.

Elizabeth "Betsy" Cantwell, UArizona senior vice president for research and innovation, applauded Vargas's leadership of the mission.

"Dr. Vargas's leadership on the Aspera mission reflects the excellent caliber of researchers attracted to the University of Arizona. We are particularly pleased because Dr. Vargas represents the exemplary nature of scientific inquiry at a Research 1 Hispanic-Serving Institution like the University of Arizona," she said. "To receive this prestigious award so early in his career demonstrates Dr. Vargas's incredible capability, and I am thrilled to see our researchers expanding our understanding of a subject as fundamental as galaxy formation and evolution."

Cantwell added that the newly launched University of Arizona Space Institute provided the research team with support, and it will be building support for other large and impactful space initiatives as the institute grows.

"I'm tremendously proud to be part of a university that encourages and supports early career scientists like Carlos Vargas and Haeun Chung both post-doctoral researchers and the faculty members and engineers in their team, to successfully compete for ambitious missions like Aspera," said Steward Observatory Director Buell Jannuzi.

Aspera brings together an interdisciplinary and diverse team including researchers from Columbia University, the Universityof Iowa, and Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany. The UArizona team includes deputy principal investigator Erika Hamden, assistant professor of astronomy and assistant astronomer at Steward Observatory; mission manager Tom McMahon, head of Steward Observatory's engineering group; Peter Behroozi, assistant professor of astronomy; Ewan Douglas, assistant professor of astronomy; Dennis Zaritsky, professor of astronomy and deputy director of Steward Observatory; Aafaque Raza Khan, a graduate student at Steward Observatory; Dae Wook Kim, assistant professor in the College of Optical Sciences; and Simran Agarwal, graduate student in the College of Optical Sciences.

Corporate mission partners are Tucson-based companies Blue Canyon Technologies, a subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies, and Ascending Node Technologies.

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New Space Telescope Will Reveal Unseen, Dynamic Lives of Galaxies - UANews

Montreal, January 6, 2021 The space industry is increasingly turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to push and redefine the boundaries of what is possible in space exploration. AIxSPACE, an event dedicated to AI applications in the space industry, has therefore been launched by Euroconsult and Innovitech, experts in space and innovation respectively, to address these challenges. For this first edition, the event will be held virtually on January 18 and 19, 2021.

AIxSPACE will seek to provide an in-depth analysis of five key applications of artificial intelligence designed to significantly improve the space industry. The event will focus on how AI will define a new era for space innovation when applied to the following themes: deep space exploration, astronaut health, earth observation, satellite communications and connected aviation.

Applications of artificial intelligence in aerospace are already visible, while major space players are progressively integrating AI into their technologies. From autonomous decision making and predictive analysis to astronaut medical assistance, AI defines itself as an intelligent assistant collaborating across the industry and these collaborations open the two niche networks to each other like never before.

With a roster of more than 30 national and international opinion leaders from a variety of industry, government and academic backgrounds all working in the sector, AIxSPACE will be a unique opportunity to find answers to some of the most complex challenges facing the industry. Speakers will include

A complete overview of the program, as well as a detailed list of speakers at the event are available athttps://aixspace.ca/.

About Innovitech

For the past 30 years, Innovitech has established itself as a true actor of change in innovation strategy through the creation and management of specialized research consortiums in aerospace (CRIAQ, CARIC, GARDN) and in medical technologies (MEDTEQ). Our expertise in innovation and our knowledge about Montreals ecosystems makes us a top choice for innovation in the AI ecosystem. For more information:www.innovitech.com

About Euroconsult

Euroconsult is the leading global consulting firm specializing in space markets. We provide first-class strategic consulting, develop comprehensive research, and offer tailored training programs on topics related to satellite communications, space exploration, launch and manufacturing of satellites, etc.For more information:http://www.euroconsult-ec.com/

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AIxSPACE: a first step towards the transformation of the space industry by artificial intelligence, January 18 and 19, 2021 - GISuser.com

A team of researchers want to build robots out of ice and send them to space. The idea is that lacking a local repair shop the icy bots can use found materials to rebuild themselves.

Ice can be located all over the solar system, from the moon to the distant rings around Saturn. So researchers from the University of Pennsylvania are trying to figure out how to tap into that nearly unlimited resource for robotics.

NASA wants to send the robot dog, Spot, to space. The canine-bot can do many tricks from herding sheep to helping the NYPD in a hostage situation but it likely won't be able to repair itself. Where could it find enough materials to do the job?

Introducing IceBot, a concept robot that could be the future of robotic space exploration although the team says they've only just begun. The work is still very preliminary, reports IEEE Spectrum, however, their goal is to design a robot that can exhibit "self-reconfiguration, self-replication, and self-repair."

In a paper presented at the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) the team outlined several ways to create the bots out of ice, using additive and subtractive manufacturing processes.

Their first robot, a proof-of-concept Antarctic exploration robot, weighed 6.3 kilos, could roll up a 2.5-degree incline, and turn side to side. One caveat: they included regular batteries and actuators in their plans. But the bulk of the robot, and its structural parts and wheels were all built out of ice.

Devin Carroll told IEEE Spectrum that he and his co-author Mark Yim wanted to build the robots from found materials "as a way to add robustness to robotic systems operating in remote or hostile environments."

"We ultimately settled on ice because of the design flexibility it affords us and the current interest in icy, remote environments. Climate change has many folks interested in the Antarctic and ice sheets while NASA and other space exploration groups are looking to the stars for ice and water," he said.

Carroll sees the ice robots working in teams, where an explorer bot collects materials and the other bot acts as the mechanic.

"We can envision the exploration class of robot returning to a centralized location with a request for a plow or some other augmentation and the manufacturing system will be able to attach the augmentation directly to the robot," he said, adding that one of the biggest challenges is minimizing the amount of energy required to repair the robots.

There is still a lot of work to do before IceBot is space-ready. But this proof-of-concept robot is the first step in demonstrating that a robot made of ice could perform different tasks. For now, there are other exciting space feats to look forward to this year.

We'd love to hear from you! If you have a comment about this article or if you have a tip for a future Freethink story, please email us at[emailprotected]

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Robot Made of Ice Can Repair and Rebuild Itself - Freethink

Back in 1949, the year when parts of this here bike were born, humans were not even dreaming of becoming space explorers. The world was fresh out of the worst years of its existence, a time when most of the planets nations tried to obliterate each other in more or less creative and horrific ways.

The fast pace of space exploration was of course sung in literature and movies, but also on mundane objects such as teacups or T-shirts. And yes, even on cars and motorcycles.

This 1949 Harley-Davidson Panheadis one of the objects celebrating space exploration. It does so by displaying one of the most intricate and detailed custom paint jobs weve seen on such a project.

Despite the rather limited real estate available, the bike reeks space no matter where you look: there is a big NASA logo visible on one side, a couple of planets and a self-propelled astronaut on top of the tank, suns, moons, and alien UFOs on the side of the thank, and a fancy human spaceship on the frame.

The motorcycle is part of the larger lot of two-wheelers known as the Legends Motorcycles Museum collection. No fewer than 36 of them, including this one, are going under the hammer in April, during the massive Mecum auction, which is to be held in Las Vegas.

There is no estimate on how much the bike is expected to fetch, but those with a big enough passion for Panhead Harleys and space can boldly go where their competitors cannot, as this one is selling with no reserve.

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Space-Themed 1949 Harley-Davidson Panhead Is Truly Out There - autoevolution

Space is often referred to as the final frontier. Indeed, it is a frontier with massive opportunity for investors and that set can be accessed with the ARK Industrial Innovation ETF (NYSEArca: ARKQ).

The actively managed ARKQ invests in companies that potentially stand to benefit from increased adoption and utilization of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), including those involved with industrial robotics and automation, non-industrial robots, and autonomous vehicles. Space exploration is also one of the themes the ETF taps into and data confirm that exposure is increasingly relevant.

But over the years, the space industry has grown more complex. There are significantly more providers of satellite equipment and services, and the space market has expanded into new areas, such as space tourism, reports Business Insider. A new research note from Bank of America said the space economy would likely grow by $1 trillion in the next decade.

Space companies derive the majority of revenues directly from their involvement in the space industry, enabling investors to potentially capture this growing segment of the global economy. The Commerce Department is already throwing its support behind the American space industry with ambitious goals for regulatory reform and promotional efforts.

In our view, the space economy will likely grow by over $1tn in the next decade alone. While the COVID-19 pandemic has led to delays in some public and private programs (Arianespace, Rocket Labs, ESA), the outbreak has not appeared detrimental to overall investment, according to Bank of America.

Some of ARKQs space exposure is in sympathy form via the ETFs large weight to Tesla. Tesla founder Elon Musk also started SpaceX, a still private company looking to forge into space exploration and tourism.

If the companys estimates are accurate, SpaceX will be able to save as much as $20mn per Falcon 9 launch by recovering the first stage boosters and fairings, Epstein said. If a rocket completes 10 flights over its lifetime, the company will be able to save over $196mn given current price levels, notes Bank of America.

Additionally, theres a belief that the next wave of growth for the space industry will be coming from broadband internet communication. As a result, the amount of data being generated around the world with many of these new transformational technologies reliant on satellites means bringing some notable names back into play.

For more on disruptive technologies, visit our Disruptive Technology Channel.

The opinions and forecasts expressed herein are solely those of Tom Lydon, and may not actually come to pass. Information on this site should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any product.

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This ARK ETF Is Ready for the Space Industry Boom - ETF Trends

About a month after the new year has started on Earth, three spacecraft will pull into the vicinity of Mars. These explorers, which launched in July last year, will be heralds of a busy year of space exploration, launches and astronomical occurrences.

What follows is a preview of some of 2021s most notable expected events. Private companies and the worlds space agencies are likely to announce more. The Timess Space and Astronomy Calendar will help you keep up with these dates, and you can subscribe to it here.

While China has landed spacecraft on the moon three times in the last seven years, NASA has not landed there since 1972, the last Apollo mission. That could change in 2021, deepening the commercial transformation of American space efforts.

NASA has in the past decade relied on private companies to build and operate spacecraft that could ferry cargo, and now people, to the International Space Station. It is trying a similar approach with Commercial Lunar Payload Services. The program has contracted with a number of private companies to build robotic lunar landers that will carry cargo from NASA and other customers to the moons surface.

The first company, Pittsburghs Astrobotic, is scheduled to launch its Peregrine lander to the moon in June. It could be followed in October by Nova-C, a spacecraft built by Intuitive Machines of Houston.

NASA also has its eye on returning astronauts to the moon this decade. Its first step will be an uncrewed test flight of the massive Space Launch System built for future American deep space launches. The rocket has faced numerous delays and ballooning costs, but NASA still plans a journey in 2021 known as Artemis-1. It will send Orion, a capsule for astronauts, around the moon and back to Earth. That test is tentatively scheduled for November.

A second mission, Lucy, will launch in October and travel much farther, making flybys through Jupiters orbital path. There it will study the Trojans asteroids that travel in the same orbit as Jupiter but hundreds of millions of miles ahead or behind, trapped there by the giant planets gravity. Scientists think these space rocks could conceal secrets of how the solar systems outer planets were formed.

Human spaceflight was transformed in 2020 as SpaceX successfully launched a pair of crews to the space station. The company is likely to send more astronauts to orbit in 2021, and not all of them may be working for NASA and other government space agencies. Multiple companies are working with SpaceX to launch paying customers on the Crew Dragon capsule. One of them, Axiom Space, could send its first private tourists to the space station late in the year.

When NASA picked SpaceX to build transport for its astronauts, it also hired Boeing to do the same. During an uncrewed test to orbit in December 2019, a series of errors nearly led to the catastrophic loss of Boeings Starliner capsule. To make up for that unsuccessful flight, Boeing will carry out a second test flight as early as March.

Other human journeys to space also beckon this year. Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin may send paying customers on short trips to the edge of space and back in 2021. China could also start launching pieces of its next generation space station during the year, setting it on a course to have a regular human presence in low Earth orbit in the years to come.

If 2020 taught people anything, it was to expect the unexpected. While Covid-19 darkened the world as it traveled around the sun, humanity was surprised by views of Comet NEOWISE in the summer months and enthralled with the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn during the winter solstice. Its a big universe, and there is so much of it to be seen from our small part of it.

A lunar eclipse on May 26 will overlap with a period when the moon is closer to Earth than usual, what some call a super blood moon. People in Australia and on Pacific islands as well as in the Western United States will get the best views of the occurrence, and some of the event will be visible in other parts of the Americas as well as East and South Asia.

Most people in North America will have to wait until 2024 to experience the next total solar eclipse like the one in August 2017. But on June 10, some North Americans will get a taste of whats to come in three years when an annular solar eclipse darkens some skies.

Also known as a ring of fire eclipse, it happens when the moon is too far from Earth to fully obstruct the sun, leaving a halo of sunlight around its edges. This unusual eclipse will cross over the North Pole as it travels, and only people in small parts of Canada and Russia will get the full effect. But those willing to wake early enough on parts of the East Coast and wear their safety glasses will get to see a partial eclipse around sunrise that morning.

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Missions to Mars, the Moon and Beyond Await Earth in 2021 - The New York Times

Its no secret that many people worldwide had a strong feeling of good riddance when leaving 2020 behind.

The twin forces of an accelerating pandemic and a decelerating economy predominated in a year that also had plenty of troubles on other fronts, from wildfires to attacks in a number of nations on principles of democracy or human rights.

Yet, as a new year opens, its useful to note that some positive trends also took root or expanded in 2020, and if they continue, they may well brighten the future in far-reaching ways. Here are eight of them:

Space as a business. With all the focus on the pandemic and its fallout, it was easy to forget that 2020 marked the return of America launching people into space. How it launched them is even more historic. Ever since the end of the space shuttle, the U.S. had been relying on the Russian government to ferry its astronauts to and from the International Space Station. But in May, astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley lifted off from American soil in a spacecraft made not by NASA but by SpaceX the first time a private spacecraft had carried humans into orbit.

Its definitely a year of significant change, says Jonathan McDowell, astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts. SpaceX isnt the only private-sector player, and low-Earth orbit is not the frontier anymore.

Satellite statistics tell the story: Some 1,200 were launched into orbit this past year, he says, more than double the previous record. Much, but not all of that, is due to Starlink, SpaceXs program to put thousands of satellites into orbit to create near global access to the internet. Experts compare this growing commercialization to the mid-19th century private railroads that tamed the American West.

Other nations have also been busy, reflecting the growing internationalization of space. In December alone, Japans Hayabusa2 brought home asteroid samples, India launched a communications satellite, and Chinas Change 5 orbiter returned to Earth with the first moon rock samples in 44 years.

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The work-from-home movement. This trend was well underway before the pandemic, but lockdowns in the United States and in other countries forced many firms to allow their employees to work from home. Suddenly, the morning commute was replaced with daily Zoom meetings, conventions and conferences went digital, and travel became so rare for a time that Earth became quiet and scientists could hear natural seismic activity for the first time. And urban birds changed the way they sang.

If the pandemic eases this year and office towers do open up again, many experts believe workers will spend more days working from home than before the pandemic. Our best estimate is that we will see 25-30% of the workforce working at home on a multiple-days-a-week basis by the end of 2021, forecasts Global Workplace Analytics. Having learned to manage remotely, companies will encourage it, because it can save an average $11,000 per year for every employee who works at home half of the time, the research and consulting firm estimates.

And for workers? While working from home can have challenges, an October Pew Research Center poll found that in the U.S., nearly 9 in 10 jobholders who can work at home would like to do so more than rarely or never when the pandemic is over. This trend, coupled with the rise of online shopping, could also reduce traffic congestion.

Decarbonizing the economy. The lockdowns and the work-from-home trend also reduced fossil fuel emissions, and has meant that the world used an estimated 5% less energy in 2020 than in 2019, points out Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency. That wont avert climate change by itself. For example, the plunge in traffic worldwide last spring led to only a 17% decline in global daily emissions, a clear signal of how human activity of almost any kind creates emissions, even if its just staying at home browsing the internet.

But Mr. Birol is optimistic in part because political pressure to address warming is growing. Several European Union nations and the United Kingdom, for example, have included emissions-cutting projects in their stimulus and economic recovery programs.

And other nations, including the U.S., will join in, because green energy, particularly solar, is becoming cheaper than fossil fuels, he adds. Solar is the new king of the global electrical markets, he says. In 2020, for the first time, it accounted for half of all the new electrical capacity that was built in the year. In the next decade, renewable energy will account for more than 90% of the worlds new electrical capacity, he adds. I believe the energy world is changing in 2021.

Diversity. The United States elected its first female (as well as Black and South Asian) vice president, Democrat Kamala Harris, and at least 141 women to Congress, a record, mostly achieved because of unprecedented gains in the number of female Republican lawmakers, from 22 to at least 36. U.S. President-elect Joe Biden appointed Rep. Deb Haaland to lead the Interior Department, Americas first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary. Greece elected its first female president. New Zealands prime minister appointed that nations first Indigenous woman foreign minister. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo happily paid a 90,000 ($110,000) fine for having appointed too many women to management positions in city hall, breaking a French gender equity law.

Confronting racism. The killing of George Floyd, a Black man, at the hands of police set off a wave of protests as far away as Britain, Switzerland, and Brazil. In the United States, his death sparked a national conversation about institutional racism, which prompted governments and companies to take a number of symbolic steps: from removing statues of Confederate generals to retiring food brands and names of sports teams linked to racial stereotypes. Whether the stirring will lead to wider substantive change remains an open question.

Artificial intelligence. Researchers used artificial intelligence techniques to speed up the battle against the coronavirus. Within three months of the identification of COVID-19, humans were testing vaccines an unprecedented speed for vaccine development. In an even bigger potential development, DeepMind, the Google company whose AI program taught itself to beat chess grandmasters within hours, is now reliably predicting how amino-acid sequences of proteins will fold themselves, a huge leap for biology and biomedical research.

Middle East accords. The Trump administration brokered historic agreements in 2020 that led the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco to establish diplomatic ties with Israel in return for a pledge not to annex more of the West Bank, at least for now. The treaties underscore the increasing ties between Israel and conservative Arab states that oppose the rise of Iran. But these agreements came at a diplomatic price to the U.S., and have yet to lend momentum for new negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Anti-recession policy. Typically, governments pass stimulus programs after an economic plunge. But because the pandemic-related lockdowns were self-induced and predictable, several nations passed stimulus programs that amounted to a preemptive strike against recession. In the U.S., lawmakers passed the roughly $2 trillion CARES Act in March just as the pandemic was getting started, and it helped make the recession much less severe than many economists predicted. Will the 2020 experience cause governments to make preemptive moves when the next recession looms?

Most recessions are harder to predict than this one because we dont normally shut down much of the economy at once, writes Harvard economist Jason Furman in an email. But in principle, economic support for active, discretionary fiscal policy is growing. The traditional white knights in downturns central banks have limited firepower when interest rates are so low. But low interest rates also make it cheaper for governments to act instead, he adds.

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From home offices to space exploration, some 2020 trends were positive - Yahoo News

Most of us will remember 2020 primarily as the year of the great pandemic, but let's not forget how space exploration and astronomy had good years considering the circumstances. NASA astronauts blasted into space in May as part of SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule. New research revealed there might be more water on the moon than previously believed. Scientists debated whether or not Venus is harboring life in its clouds after discovering phosphine. Betelgeuse continued to dim, raising suspicions that it might soon go nova. Researchers noticed an excitingly oddseries of radio signals.

While 2021 won't magically reset our reality, there is a lot to look forward to next year, especially in the realm of space news. Even if you aren't a space enthusiast, it's amazing what experiencing a little wonder and awe can do for your mindset. It helps put into perspective our place in the world and reminds us that we are part of something bigger; learning about our universe is a great way to tap into that. If you're feeling like there's nothing to look forward to next year, consider adding one of these missions to your list.

NASA to launch Q-PACE

Originally planned to be launched earlier this month, the CubeSat Particle Aggregation and Collision Experiment (Q-PACE) is now scheduled to take off from the Mojave Air and Space Port on January 15, 2021. Q-PACE is a 3U CubeSat, a type of small, modular spacecraft, designed for studying the collision and aggregation of small particles in a chamber as part of a three-year microgravity experiment. The objective of the mission is to develop a database of small-particle interactions in microgravity at low velocity. This information will help researchers better understand the process of early coagulation which led to planet formations.

"The Q-PACE mission will last up to three years, providing the opportunity to study adhesion and fragmentation events that happen only rarely, such as near-simultaneous collision of three or more particles," NASA explains about the mission. "The mission will proceed over several phases with the introduction of different types of particles into the ETC, beginning with large solid spherical particles, and finishing with aggregates of micron-sized dust and chondrules."

Mars2020 will finally get to work

2021 will be the beginning of a new chapter in the field of Martian discoveries. Over the summer, the mission Mars2020 launched into space. But come February 18, 2021, the Perseverance rover will finally land on Mars' Jezero Crater. Its mission is expected to last 687 Earth days, or one Martian year.

According to NASA, the primary science objectives of Mars 2020 are "to identify past environments capable of supporting microbial life, seeking signs of possible past microbial life, collecting core rock and regolith samples and caching them on the surface for future missions, and testing oxygen production from the martian atmosphere."

One of the most exciting parts of the mission is that the collected samples will be returned to Earth. Sample return missions are extremely uncommondue to their expense; notably, there has never been a sample return mission from another planet.

"Returning samples of Mars to Earth has been a goal of planetary scientists since the early days of the space age, and the successful completion of this MSR [Mars Sample Return] key decision point is an important next step in transforming this goal into reality," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters. "MSR is a complex campaign, and it encapsulates the very essence of pioneering space exploration pushing the boundaries of what's capable and, in so doing, furthering our understanding of our place in the universe."

As part of the Mars2020 mission, NASA will also deploy the Ingenuity helicopter from the rover to study the Martian atmosphere. This will help NASAstudy how toproduce oxygen from Mars' carbon dioxide atmosphere, an important step for the future of human exploration on Mars.

The Parker Solar Probe will make two more Venus flybys

The car-size probe, which launched in 2018, is scheduled to make its fourth and fifth Venus flybys, in February and October, respectively, in 2021. The two flybys are part of a longer journey to arrive at its closest proximity to the sun in 2025.

As Salon previously explained, these flybys are unique as they are leveraging the gravity of Venus to slow the probe down for its arrival in a close orbit around the sun. The probe will do seven flybys over seven years.

"Though it sounds bizarre, the laws of physics allow for any two objects with mass to exchange their momentum in a manner that speeds one up while slowing the other down," Salon's Keith Spencerexplained previously. "This method that is frequently used to send spacecraft to distant reaches of the solar system without using as much fuel to speed up as they would have otherwise."

James Webb Space Telescope launch

On October 31, 2021, the nearly $9 billion James Webb Space Telescope the successor to the Hubble Telescope will launch from a port near Kourou, French Guiana. Its mission is to observe the first galaxies that formed in the early universe, in addition to see stars forming planetary systems. According to NASA, it will be the leading observatory of the 2020s and help thousands of astronomers worldwide.

"[James Webb] will study how the first stars were very different from the stars around us today, because there were no metals that make up the stars of today," said Massimo Stiavelli, Mission Head, Space Telescope Science Institute, in an interview with NasaSpaceflight.com."Stars had to make those. [James Webb] is the only telescope designed to study those early epochs."

The Lunar Polar Hydrogen Mapper will map water on the moon

Scientists previously suspected that water existed in the shadowy, cold parts of the moon such as its poles, where it would stay frozen but a pair of studies published in 2020 confirmed that there is a large amount of water on its sunlit regions, too. The Lunar Polar Hydrogen Mapper (LunaH-Map) will further our knowledge of water on the moon by orbiting the moon with the objective of determining the amount of water ice exists in the permanently shadowed lunar polar craters. It will do this by using a miniaturized neutron spectrometer to count epithermal neutrons. The shoebox-sized spacecraft will launch no later than November 2021.

Correction: A previous version of this article stated "687 Earth days, or one Earthyear." 687 Earth days is one Martian year.

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All the space exploration missions to look forward to in 2021 - Salon