Controversial U.S. China Initiative gets new name, tighter focus on industrial espionage | Science

University scientists and civil rights groups in the United States are offering qualified praise for the federal government’s decision last week to rename and revise the China Initiative, a controversial, 3-year-old law enforcement campaign intended to prevent the Chinese government from stealing U.S.-funded technologies. “Dropping the name is good,” says Steven Pei, an electrical engineer … Read more

The Controversial China Initiative Is Ending, and Researchers Are Relieved

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced yesterday that it will effectively terminate the controversial China Initiative, a programme that sought to protect US laboratories and businesses from espionage. Instead, the programme will be broadened to cover other countries of concern and renamed. Scientists who spoke to Nature are relieved to see the initiative end—the programme frequently … Read more

China Plans Asteroid Missions, Space Telescopes and a Moon Base

China has had a bumper few years in space exploration, and its ambitions are about to get bolder. The China National Space Administration has released an overview of its plans for the next five years, which include launching a robotic craft to an asteroid, building a space telescope to rival the Hubble and laying the … Read more

Space junk: We don’t know whose rocket is about to hit the moon – that’s a problem

An old rocket will slam into the far side of the moon on 4 March and no one is accepting ownership of the space junk – similar objects could pose a safety risk for future crewed lunar missions Space 23 February 2022 By Jonathan O’Callaghan A representation of space junk in orbit around Earth ESA/ID&Sense/ONiRiXEL … Read more

China says moonbound rocket stage was not from 2014 lunar mission: report

China says a rocket stage set to slam into the moon on March 4 isn’t from one of its missions, contradicting several recent reports. Several independent observations suggest the rocket is from the Chang’e 5-T1 mission in 2014, following a misidentification that said the stage was part of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that launched … Read more

Mystery Deepens as China Denies Owning Space Junk Set to Crash Into Moon

China on Monday denied responsibility for a rocket set to slam into the Moon, after experts said the piece of space junk likely came from Beijing’s lunar exploration program. Astronomers initially thought the wayward object was a chunk of a SpaceX rocket that blasted off seven years ago and was abandoned in space after completing … Read more

Wild animals prized as delicacies in China contain a bevy of threatening viruses | Science

Wild animals sometimes found on the menu in Asian countries harbor a bewildering panoply of viruses, a new study has found—including many that can infect humans. Although none is closely related to the coronavirus that touched off the COVID-19 pandemic, the study sends a clear warning that other viral threats are lurking in the animal … Read more

China aims to complete space station, break launch record in 2022

China is aiming to eclipse a new national launch record set last year while also completing its three-module space station with six related missions in 2022. The China National Space Administration is preparing to launch two new space station modules, named Wentian and Mengtian, on separate Long March 5B rockets in the coming months.  The … Read more

Pig organ transplants: Team in China hopes to start first trial of pig skin grafts this year

After completing a human trial of modified pig skin grafts last year, a team in China hopes to start the first pig organ transplant trial later this year Health 9 February 2022 By Michael Le Page Trials using pig skin for human grafts could make the procedure more common wulingyun/Getty Images Several groups are vying … Read more