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

Vaccine Inequality Has Shut Vulnerable People Out of Plans to Save the Planet

For decades a global economic system based on the conversion of nature into profit has been accelerating inequality, environmental destruction and climate change. Hundreds of millions of people are vulnerable to (seemingly) natural disasters, including pandemics caused by the emergence of novel pathogens. By exacerbating xenophobic nationalism and precipitating vaccine apartheid, COVID-19 has intensified these … Read more

NASA Plans a Fiery End for the International Space Station by 2031

The International Space Station’s final nine years are going to be busy. NASA just released a report outlining the big-picture goals for the rest of the orbiting lab’s operational life, which is expected to end with a controlled deorbit in January 2031. These goals are: enabling deep-space exploration, conducting research to benefit humanity, inspiring our species to … Read more

Axiom plans to build a movie studio module for the International Space Station by 2024

U.K.-based Space Entertainment Enterprise (SEE) has announced plans to launch a movie production studio module intended to connect to the International Space Station (ISS).  The company, which is co-producing Tom Cruise’s upcoming unnamed space movie, has commissioned Houston-based Axiom Space to build an inflatable space station module that contains a production studio — including a … Read more

Why People Won’t Rethink Holiday Plans during a Pandemic

In November and December of 2020, with COVID cases rising across the nation, state and city leaders across the U.S. imposed restrictions to curb the spread ahead of the holiday season. The Centers for Disease Control even recommended that people stay home. Despite these warnings, over six million Americans traveled by air the week of … Read more

Boeing plans to launch its Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station in May 2022

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The next launch of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is slated for May 2022, company officials announced on Monday (Dec. 13). That is if everything goes as planned.  Teams from both Boeing and NASA have spent the last four months combing over data and inspecting valves on the Starliner spacecraft in an effort … Read more

Gene-edited food: UK plans to embrace technology shouldn’t harm animal welfare, say ethicists

Gene-edited foods may one day be sold in UK shops, but ethicists warn that using the technology in livestock may exacerbate animal welfare issues if, for example, it leads to the creation of disease-resistant animals that can be housed together more densely Environment 1 December 2021 By Adam Vaughan Gene editing could exacerbate animal welfare … Read more

UK Net Zero Strategy: Government refuses to share details of what impact its carbon emissions plans will have

The UK government Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has turned down a freedom of information request that would allow independent scrutiny of its plan for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions Environment 1 December 2021 By Adam Vaughan Sizewell B nuclear power station in Suffolk, UK Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images The UK government … Read more