Science

The ESA has chosen its large-class science mission themes for the timeframe between 2035 and 2050. The missions fall under the Voyage 2050 umbrella and will focus in part on moons orbiting some of the massive planets in the solar system. The mission will also investigate temperate exoplanets and the early universe. ESA director of science Gunther Hasinger says that the selection of Voyage 2050 themes is pivotal for the ESA science program.

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A group of researchers at Thomas Jefferson University have provided the first evidence that RNA segments can be written back into DNA. The discovery has the potential to change some of the central assumptions in biology and may have implications impacting many fields of biology. The discovery could open the door to other studies to help scientists understand the significance of a mechanism that's able to convert RNA messages into DNA in our own cells.

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NASA announced on Friday that it has approved a new infrared space telescope called the Near-Earth Object Surveyor or NEO Surveyor. The telescope moves to the next step of mission deployment at the JPL after a successful review moved the project past the preliminary design phase. NEO Surveyor was a mission proposed to help discover and characterize near-earth objects that could be potentially hazardous to the Earth.

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If you were wondering how much it would cost to hitch a ride into space alongside Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin has the answer. Bidding for the first passenger seat on the inaugural crewed flight of New Shepard has closed, and it turns out there are some space enthusiasts with very deep pockets.

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NASA has announced that it used freeze-dried mouse sperm that spent months aboard the ISS to fertilize mouse overy eggs back on earth. The result of the experiment are a group of baby mice NASA has dubbed "space pups." Japanese researchers are behind the experiment, with the results published this week in a new paper.

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NASA has announced that it is seeking proposals for a pair of new private astronaut missions, with the destination being the ISS. NASA says that the two missions are part of the agency's efforts to open space to more people than ever before. The opportunities will allow US commercial companies to continue to play a central role in establishing a sustained presence in low-Earth orbit through the NASA Commercial LEO Development Program.

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Astronomers have made a very interesting discovery that has been dubbed the Giant Arc. The newly discovered crescent of galaxies spans 3.3 billion light-years and is described as one of the largest known structures in the universe. The massive size of the ark of galaxies is challenging some of the basic assumptions astronomers hold about the cosmos.

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NASA has announced that it has chosen three different scientific payloads under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, which is a component of the Artemis program. The Artemis program aims to send humans back to the moon for the first time since the Apollo era. One of the three missions NASA has chosen will be landing on the far side of the moon facing away from Earth.

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Experts with the Medical University of Vienna have announced the first 'bionic bird.' Building on work previously only see on humans, the team implanted a permanent bionic limb in a bearded vulture, restoring its ability to walk and fly via a prosthetic foot. The procedure involved osseointegration, which involves attaching the bionic limb directly to the skeleton.

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A newly published video shows the dramatic increase in ice chunks breaking free from the large ice shelf holding back the Pine Island Glacier in Antarctica. With the rate of icebergs breaking free increasing over the past few years, scientists warn that the time it takes before the glacier falls into the ocean may be significantly reduced.

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The Moon has two 'sides,' one that perpetually faces the Earth and another that perpetually faces away from our planet. Many refer to this as the Moon's far side, one that hasn't gotten as much attention from scientists as the part we can directly observe. That has slowly changed, however, and now NASA plans to join the work.

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China's space agency has released new images taken by its Mars rover, including a panorama of the landing site where Zhurong first touched down on the red planet. The images include a selfie of the rover, which the China National Space Administration (CNSA) took using a special, detachable camera.

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