Science

NASA is putting out a call for more astronaut shuttles, expanding the Commercial Crew program with additional missions beyond those already agreed with SpaceX and Boeing. The request for "safe, reliable, and cost-effective human space transportation services to and from the International Space Station" comes as the US space agency looks ahead to the future of the ISS and, beyond that, missions to the Moon and further afield.

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Researchers from the National University of Singapore Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Institute for Health Innovation & Technology have worked with partners from other organizations to develop a new smart wearable sensor. The wearable sensor can assess chronic wounds in real-time at the point of care wirelessly via an app. The wearable sensor is described as the world's first to detect temperature, pH, bacteria type, and inflammatory factors specific to chronic wounds.

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Researchers have studied a piece of amber that has a complete and well-preserved tiny crab captured inside. It's believed that the crab crawled out of the water and onto the land and became trapped in the amber about 100 million years ago. The discovery is the oldest known modern-looking crab in the fossil record.

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Astronomers have detected something for the first time that is believed to the common in young developing solar systems. A team led by researchers at MIT has discovered evidence of a massive planetary impact in a nearby star system known as HD 17255. In that star system, researchers believe a planet similar in size to the Earth and a smaller impactor body likely collided within the last 200,000 years.

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NASA's Lucy spacecraft may have launched successfully earlier this month, but the mission to scope out eight distant asteroids continues to be impacted by the probe's malfunctioning solar array. Lucy blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Saturday, October 16, but it was when the spacecraft separated from the rocket that the issue arose.

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A robotics researcher from the University of Notre Dame, Yasemin Ozkan-Aydin, has created four-legged robots that look like robotic ants. The robots were inspired by biological systems such as the collective behavior of ants, honeybees, and birds that work together to solve problems and overcome obstacles. The multi-legged robots designed by the researcher can maneuver in difficult environments and accomplish tasks collectively.

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On October 9, a massive solar storm resulted in a coronal mass ejection (CME) being thrown into space and set on a path towards Earth. When material from the CME arrived at Earth and collided with the magnetosphere, it created some beautiful auroras in parts of the world that don't typically see that phenomenon. A CME is essentially an explosion on the sun that expands into the solar system and speeds up the solar wind.

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NASA and SpaceX have announced that they have changed the launch date for the Crew-3 mission. The launch is now targeting Sunday, October 31 at 2:21 AM ET. The Crew-3 mission will see four astronauts head to the ISS. In addition, a backup launch date of 1:10 AM EDT on Wednesday, November 3, has been announced.

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Researchers have observed a white dwarf about 1400 light-years from Earth that is switching on and off. The observation marks the first time a white dwarf has been observed as it switches on and off. Scientists observed the object using a satellite designed to hunt for planets.

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NASA has announced that it has chosen a new proposal for an additional space telescope that will be used to study the recent history of star birth, star death, and how chemical elements within our galaxy formed. The mission is a GammaRay telescope called the Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI).

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NASA has confirmed that its Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) is preparing to launch later this fall. The launch will happen no earlier than November 22 from Florida. LCRD arrived in Florida in May and is currently fully integrated into the host spacecraft, and is ready for final testing before being sent into space.

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NASA's Perseverance Rover is on the surface of the Red Planet, conducting science operations looking for evidence of ancient microbial life and water in the distant past. Among the instruments and tools aboard the rover are a pair of microphones that NASA uses to record sounds on the Red Planet. NASA's microphones add a new dimension to the exploration of Mars and so far have recorded hours of sounds.

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