moon

NASA has had enough of SpaceX and will offer the return to the Moon to other companies. Elon Musk has not taken it well at all

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NASA’s strategy to return to the Moon has just been blown up. In a series of television appearances and public statements, the acting administrator of the US space agency, Sean Duffy, has announced a change of course: NASA is going to reopen the public tender to build the manned lunar landing module (HLS), a contract that until now was held by SpaceX alone for the Artemis III and IV missions. Because. The official reason is transparent: “We are in a race against China,” confirmed Duffy in an interview with CNBC. And in this race, “SpaceX is falling behind.” “Competition and innovation are the keys to our dominance in space, so NASA will open HLS production to Blue Origin and other large American companies.” “The president and I want to reach the moon during this president’s term.” The decision ends NASA’s “all-to-SpaceX” bet and reopens a multibillion-dollar battle for the most crucial contract in modern space exploration. As expected, Elon Musk has not remained silent. The hell of space refueling. To understand NASA’s frustration, you have to look beyond the delays in Starship test flights. The real bottleneck is the mission architecture itself. As analyzes Daniel Marín in Eurekathe lunar version of Starship is a giant 52-meter rocket that cannot reach the Moon without first refueling in low Earth orbit. This operation is of unprecedented complexity due to Starship’s cryogenic liquid fuel, which tends to evaporate. This is not a simple fuel transfer; It requires multiple launches of tankers (up to 15 or 20) to fill one or several orbital tanks that will then transfer hundreds of tons of liquid methane and oxygen to the lunar Starship. It is a technology that has never been tested on this scale. While SpaceX continues to deal with problems with its prototypes (Musk assures that version 3 of Starship will be able put 100 tons of cargo into orbit in 2026, but that was precisely the promise with version 2), NASA has gotten nervous. Every SpaceX delay is an unforeseen victory for China, whose lunar program is advancing at a methodical pace to put astronauts on the Moon before 2030. The Chinese Lanyue lunar module is much simpler than Starship. Plan B is Blue Origin. Duffy’s statement is not a bluff. There are already at least two clear alternatives on the table that NASA is seriously considering. Plan B is Blue Origin. But when Duffy mentions Blue Origin, he is not referring to the Blue Moon Mk 2 HLS module that Jeff Bezos’ company is already developing for the future Artemis V mission (and which, ironically, also requires complex orbital refueling). As revealed Eric Berger in Ars TechnicaBlue Origin has been quietly developing a plan B: a modified version of its Blue Moon Mark 1 lander. This vehicle, originally designed for cargo only, would be adapted to carry crew. Its great advantage: it would not require refueling in space. It would be a much simpler and faster solution, that we had already mentioned in Xataka. Plan C is Lockheed Martin. Duffy also said “maybe others.” Those “others” are the giants of the traditional aerospace industry, with Lockheed Martin at the helm. Traditional NASA contractors have assured Duffy that they can build an Apollo-style lunar module in 30 months. The proposal, backed by analysis like this one from SpaceNewswould be based on proven technologies: storable propellants (that do not evaporate like cryogenic methane and hydrogen) and already operational subsystems, such as those of the Orion spacecraft. Bob Behnken, vice president of Lockheed Martin, told Ars Technica who are up for the challenge: “We have been working with a cross-industry team… to address Secretary Duffy’s request to meet our country’s lunar goals.” Does it stick? The price. A contract of this type, cost-pluscould skyrocket to $20 or $30 billion, compared to $2.9 billion in the original SpaceX contract. But for Duffy, price appears to be a secondary factor if it guarantees arriving before China. Elon takes out the flamethrower. Elon Musk’s reaction to the threat of losing his lunar monopoly has been visceral and has come in several waves of tweets. First, Musk defended his company’s work. “SpaceX is moving like lightning compared to the rest of the space industry. Plus, Starship will end up doing the entire lunar mission. Mark my words.” He then moved on to direct attack against your rival with an incendiary claim: “Blue Origin has never delivered a payload to orbit, let alone to the Moon.” The tweet was quickly corrected by Community Notes of X, who reminded Musk that Blue Origin did reach orbit with its NG-1 mission on January 16, 2025. From contempt to insult. Seeing what was coming at him, Musk began to despise the very objective of the Artemis III mission. “A permanently manned lunar science base would be much more impressive than a repeat of what Apollo already did incredibly well in 1969.” A clear message: the race that NASA wants to win is irrelevant. Finally, the SpaceX CEO responded directly to a post by Sean Duffy about the “race against China” with a meme of a Ugandan anti-LGBT activist repeatedly asking “Why are you gay?” A derogatory reaction that makes it clear how bad the announcement felt. Beat China or beat Trump? While the “race against China” is the public justification, Ars Technica suggests a much more mundane domestic political plot. Sean Duffy is not the permanent administrator of NASA, but rather the acting Secretary of Transportation. According to the outlet’s sources, Duffy is immersed in a “fierce internal battle” to keep the job permanently, a position that the billionaire and private astronaut Jared Isaacmanwho apparently has regained his good rapport with President Trump. Duffy’s television appearances would, in reality, be a political maneuver aimed at a single viewer: the president. By showing himself as a leader of action and results, willing to do anything to “beat the Chinese” and achieve a moon landing during Trump’s presidential term (which ends in January 2029), Duffy … Read more

NASA is so obsessed with defeating China that, instead of delaying its next flight to the moon, it has advanced it

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It seemed like him Artemis program It was intended to be delayed again and again, but NASA’s last movement betrays the enormous geopolitical pressure of the moment. Artemis II, the mission with which the United States will return to lunar orbit for the first time in more than 50 years, is no longer scheduled for April 2026. They have advanced the launch window to February 5. A declaration of intentions. This two -month advance is not a simple recalibration of the calendar of the Artemis missions. It is the NASA’s evening response to the feeling that the United States is staying behind the Methodical Lunar Program of China. NASA recognizes that “there is a desire that we are the first to return to the surface of the moon,” and Artemis II is a first step. The mission without a launic had been postponed from 2024 to 2025, and then to “not before April 2026”. Now the launch window opens two months before: on February 5, 2026, leaving as a deadline “not later April 2026”. Solving the ghosts of Artemis I. To understand why this advance is significant, you have to remember why Artemis II was delayed first. The main cause was the thermal shield of the Orion ship. After the return of the mission without crew Artemis I in 2022, NASA’s engineers found a disturbing surprise: the Orion shield had lost pieces of protective material. The gases generated by the heat of the reentry did not dissipate as planned, creating an overpressure that started fragments of the shield. After almost two years of research, NASA says having understood and solved the problem with “maximum trust.” Of course, the solution is quite simple: they have modified the trajectory of the ship in their return to the earth to prevent the high temperatures that caused the failure. Next to him, NASA has solved other minor failures such as liquid hydrogen leaks that plagued the launch attempts of Artemis I. The second space race. “The administration has asked us to recognize being in what is commonly called a second space race,” said the buliesha Hawkins, NASA’s attached administrator. His current boss, Sean Duffy, agency administrator and Trump’s Secretary of Transportation, has a more direct rhetoric: “We are going to win the Chinese on the moon.” The fear in Washington is that China, which plans to send its first astronauts to the lunar surface in 2030, the American Mission Artemis III is ahead. While the Artemis program accumulated delays (largely due to the slowness of the Spacex Starship ship, necessary for the Aunidation of Artemis III), the Chinese program advanced with a firm step and without making a lot of noise. Experts in China’s spatial capacities such as Dean Cheng have come to affirm which is “quite likely that the Chinese terrify on the moon before NASA.” Advance Artemis II (the previous step without alansimiza) is the form that NASA has to demonstrate that it is still in the game. What is Artemis II. Its main objective is to certify that the Orion ship and the SLS rocket can take humans to the moon safely. For ten days, American astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as Canadian Jeremy Hansenthey will go around the moon without landing, following a free return trajectory that will bring them back to the earth. The mission also has an important symbolic burden. They will be the first humans in more than 50 years to leave the orbit low terrestrial, traveling further than any other human being in history, more than 9,000 kilometers from the hidden face of the moon. From this unique perspective, They will carry out crucial geological observationsphotographing craters and old lava flows. They could even be the first humans to see with their own eyes the eastern basin, a gigantic structure on the boundary between the visible face and the hidden face of the moon. Their descriptions and data will be vital for the alunage of Artemis III. The great irony. The advance of Artemis II is a calculated movement. NASA shows the world that it has overcome its technical problems and is ready to accelerate. Artemis II is not just a step towards the moon, it is a sprint in a geopolitical career and for the control of lunar resources. The great contradiction is that, while NASA accelerates the overflight of Artemis II, its star mission, the alun of Artemis III planned for 2027, remains in serious trouble. Just a few days ago, the agency’s security advisors panel launched a blunt warning: They doubt that the modified version of the Spacex Starship is ready on time. His estimate is that he could accumulate a “year” delay. Therefore, the result of this space race is still open. Image | POT In Xataka | When the first human being stepped on the moon we all believed that he had abandoned the “earth.” We were wrong

Four astronauts were chosen in 2023 to see parts never seen from the moon. The wait is coming to an end

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After A long delayNASA’s Orion ship is practically ready for the first human flight to lunar orbit in more than half a century. American astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Jeremy Hansen are the four chosen to see the moon from an unprecedented perspective. What they don’t have yet: a definitive date. The Artemis II mission flight plan The first Crewing Mission of the Artemis program It is the equivalent of Apollo 8 in the new lunar race. Artemis II is not a mission of alunage, but an overflow of the moon with the crew as a novelty of the system. His main objective It is validating that the Orion ship and its rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), are safe to transport astronauts to deep space. The flight plan of about 10 days begins with a takeoff from Florida and two laps to the earth. The first orbit will last just 90 minutes. The second, much more elliptical, will be extended for almost 24 hours, leading to the crew at an altitude of more than 74,000 km to test the life support systems before flying to the moon. With all verified systems, the Orion Ship Service Module, a Contribution of the European Space Agencywill turn on its engine for a translunar injection that will drive the crew on a four -day trajectory to the moon. The four astronauts will pass about 7,400 km from the hidden face of the moon, traveling farther from the earth than any human being before them. From that point, they will see the moon in the foreground and our planet as a small blue marble to almost 400,000 km away. Thanks to a “free return” trajectory, the severity of the earth and the moon will be responsible for attracting the Orion ship back home without the need for large motor lit, a trip of another four days that will culminate with a meritorious with parachute in the Pacific Ocean. Along the way, They will beat the highest speed that has ever reached The human being. Four astronauts waiting since 2023 In April 2023, NASA He presented the world The four astronauts selected for the Artemis II mission. On the part of NASA, a veteran trio will travel that includes Commander Reid Wiseman and the pilot Victor Glover (both with experience at the International Space Station), as well as the Mission Specialist Christina Koch (the woman who holds the longest space flight record). On the part of the Canadian space agency, which is NASA’s first partner to participate in a manned mission of the Artemis program, the Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen will go, for whom Artemis II supposes his first trip to space. When these four astronauts were selected, Artemis II was scheduled by the end of 2024. The objective date is not before April 2026. The main reason for the delay is the Thermal shield of the Orion shipthat he did not behave in the expected way in his debut mission. While Artemis I was declared a success, the inspection of the Orion capsule after his return in 2022 revealed something disturbing: the thermal shield had lost great pieces of its protective material. After months of research, NASA identified the cause in December 2024: During the reentry, the gases generated within the ablative material of the shield could not escape correctly, accumulating pressure and causing some parts to detach. Artemis I was a mission without crew, but the phenomenon was not foreseen in the models of their engineers. This problem, together with other technical challenges in the battery and circuits of the life support, led NASA to Read the calendar a couple of timesdelaying Artemis II as of September 2025 and, subsequently, to the current date of April 2026. Everything is already perfectly rehearsed Far from being bored at home, the last days have been a frenzy of trials for the four astronauts. In early August, their costumes entered and entered together in its Orion capsule. Within the ship, already loaded with fuel, they connected to the life support systems and communications, simulating the conditions of the launch day. A few days later, the Orion capsule was transferred to the assembly building Where on August 27 they finished installing the launch abortion system, an escape tower designed to move away the rocket crew in case of emergency. That type of emergencies is also rehearsed. In June 2025, NASA and the United States Department of Defense They made large -scale rescue drills On the Florida coast. Helicopters, rescue paratroopers and recovery equipment practiced how to extract the crew of the capsule in the sea in the worst stage. In Houston, the mission control center has also released facilities. On August 15, the New Orion Mission Evaluation Rooma space where dozens of NASA engineers and its international partners will monitor each data of the ship during the flight. A few days later, they were already doing complete simulations from the new room. Although the main objective is technical, Artemis II will also be a scientific mission. The crew can see the moon from a unique perspective that no one has seen before with their own eyes. And for that reason he has received Intensive geological formation To make the most of the overflow. Although they will not step on the moon, they could be the first humans to see with their own eyes certain regions of the hidden face, such as the Eastern basin. And they have the important task of photographing impact craters and old lava flows, describing textures and colors to help scientists on land to plan the Artemis III mission, the first one that will step on the moon since 1972. If China He doesn’t get it before. Images | POT In Xataka | When the first human being stepped on the moon we all believed that he had abandoned the “earth.” We were wrong

install a nuclear reactor on the moon before China and Russia create its exclusion zone

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The Space race has warm upthis time in the heat of a nuclear reactor on the surface of the moon. And as already happened in the 60s, the urgency is not scientific, but fundamentally geopolitical. The Duffy directive. The break between Elon Musk and Donald Trump trunciated Jared Isaacman’s career as future NASA administrator. The current acting administrator of the Space Agency, Sean Duffy, is in turn Trump’s Secretary of Transportation, faithful to the priorities of the White House. In a movement that will mark the priorities of the agency, Duffy has launched an accelerated plan to build a small nuclear power plant on the moon. The directive urges NASA to have a satellite functional reactor by 2030. Why 2030. The main motivation is get ahead of the Chinese and Russia Alliance to build your own lunar reactor. “We are in a race towards the moon, a race with China. And to have a base on the moon, we need energy,” Duffy explained In a later press conference. The fear of Washington is explicit in the directive itself: “The first country to do so could declare an exclusion zone, which would significantly limit the United States for establishing the Presence of Artemis If I will not arrive first. “ A new plan. NASA was already working on a project called Fission Surface Power (FSP) with the intention of installing a 40 kW reactor on the surface of the moon at the beginning of the next decade. The new directive, published entirely By NASA Watch, raise the bet to a more efficient Bryton cycle turns and a minimum power of 100 kW. The dates are also more ambitious. The United States government requires NASA to be installed for the first 2030 quarter using a launch system of at least 15 tons of capacity. The reactor and all transportation logistics and installation will be open to the American private industry through a future public tender. More astronauts, less science. Nuclear energy will be crucial for any manned lunar base. The moon has a day and night cycle of approximately 29.5 terrestrial days, which means that any type of lunar colony faces two weeks of icy darkness. Solar energy is unfeasible to feed the life support equipment and heating that will keep astronauts alive. A fission reactor, on the other hand, would provide a constant and reliable source of energy. This Directive is the first important movement of Sean Duffy as an acting administrator, and reflects the change of course that began the 2026 Budgets of the White House: an increase in the funds for human exploration of deep space, especially if they can prevent China from getting to Marsand cuts of up to 50% in purely scientific areasincluding many of the probes that study the solar system. In Xataka | The United States was going to send the first woman to the moon. China is getting it more and more difficult

Jeff Bezos’s space company has advanced Spacex in a key milestone to go to the moon and Mars: zero evaporation

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One of the biggest obstacles to a mission to Mars is not the distance or travel time. It is the fuel. To send a manned ship, NASA estimates that dozens of Cryogenic propellant tons stored for weeks or months. But those liquids do not behave like on earth: in a vacuum, exposed to heat and without gravity, They are slowly evaporating even if the tank is perfectly sealed. That phenomenon, known as Boil-offforces to release the generated gas so that the pressure does not rise dangerously inside the tank. It is a constant loss that, in a long -term mission, can mean tons of tons of fuel lying to space. Therefore, developing tanks capable of preserving this propellant at safe pressure and without losses, which is known as zero evaporation technology, has become a technical requirement to go beyond the low orbit. Zero evaporation: the technical challenge that separates the orbit low from the rest of the solar system Blue Origin claims to have taken an important step To solve that problem. Jeff Bezos’ company has managed to maintain liquid oxygen and hydrogen in stable conditions, without evaporation, using Hardware flight prototype In earth tests (Blue Origin has not detailed whether it is vacuum thermal cameras or conventional banks). Dave clean announced itits CEO, as part of the lunar permanence program, stating that they already meet all the objectives set by NASA in this area. Click to see the publication in x The result is not less: we talk about conserving hydrogen at 20 Kelvin and oxygen to 90 Kelvin, two extreme temperatures, during sustained periods. This makes Blue Origin – which we know – the first private company that publicly and explicitly communicates a zero evaporation condition in cryogenic propelants. In the absence of this technology to vuele and demonstrate in orbit, what is achieved represents the most tangible advance so far towards tanks capable of storing liquid fuel without losses, a key piece to operate ships on the moon or Mars. Storing loss without space is not just a matter of good materials. It is a constant battle against physics. Even the best thermal insulation ends up giving in. Therefore, the path to zero evaporation goes through active solutions that cool the deposit from within. NASA has investigated two: The sub -housing jet and microgotes injectiontwo methods that allow to reduce the steam temperature and prevent internal pressure. Blue Origin has not detailed which of the two uses, but the logic points to the sub -deputy jet, The only tested method So far in microgravity by NASA. It consists of directing a very cold liquid jet where the steam is accumulated. When condensing it, it is avoided that the pressure rises and it is not necessary to release gas. It is a technologically complex system, but so far it has demonstrated greater efficacy and stability in test conditions. Long before Blue Origin announced its advance, NASA had already tested these systems In space. The ZBOT program, deployed aboard the International Space Station, allowed us to observe how a microgravity propellant tank behaves. One of its main discoveries was that the Interaction between the sub -housing jet and steam It does not follow the classic rules we know on earth. The Blue Origin cryogenic system during the ground tests of its zero evaporation technology In ZBOT-1, not only was it possible to control internal pressure with active mixture. Unexpected phenomena were also detected as cavitation, sudden formation of bubbles or flow alterations that could affect the stability of the system. That information – obtained with sensors, cameras and laser measurement systems – has served several companies, including Blue Origin, to design tanks capable of functioning stable in extreme environments. Spacex has not yet announced a zero evaporation solution as such. But that It does not mean that I am not working on it. In collaboration with NASA, The company has developed A cryogenic architecture oriented to reduced evaporation, which has already been validated in flight. In March 2025Starship made a Internal transfer of liquid oxygen in spacedemonstrating that he could move fuel and control his pressure without losing it excessively. NASA Artistic Recreation Although Spacex and Blue Origin are addressing the same general challenge – almaceinar propelants in space without losses – do not work with the same fuels or face the same level of thermal difficulty. Spacex uses liquid methane and liquid oxygen, while Blue Origin works with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. That difference is key. Liquid hydrogen must be maintained to one much lower temperature than that of methane or even that of oxygen. In addition, hydrogen is less dense, more prone to escape and much more difficult to isolate. Achieving zero evaporation conditions with hydrogen is therefore a major technical challenge. The advance announced by Blue Origin is not only significant by the result, but by the type of fuel with which it has achieved it. When talking about going to Mars, you often think of rockets, habitats or space costumes. But one of the most serious bottleneck is in something much more basic: conserve fuel. In a long -lasting mission, the propellant is not used at once. You have to store it, transfer it and, many times, keep it operational for weeks without being lost by evaporation. That makes zero evaporation technology a key piece for both future interplanetary missions and missions Artemis To the moon. Images | Blue Origin (1, 2) | POT | Xataka with Grok In Xataka | Spain is very excited about the three eclipses that will arrive between 2026 and 2028. The government is worried

that risotto eats on the moon. And they already investigate a supereno and more protein rice

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We continue to have the colonization of the bodies that surround us between eyebrow and eyebrow. For a while, Mars became the “Manifest destination” of the United Statesbut the moon has returned to the first position of extraterrestrial colonization. Is the reason for being of the Artemis missionand it is evident that the moon has much to offer in the form of minerals and energy. But to be able to establish ourselves in the satellite, there is a fundamental step: Cultivate food on the moon. And now Italy has presented The main ingredient of food on the moon: rice. Space farmers. NASA wants to return to the moon, Europe and Russia also. AND China is making great advances. And something that all nations are exploring is how to grow in the lunar soil, from potential food to tobacco, how is China exploring. Lunar soil is hostile because there are no nutrients, so in the past We have experienced with worms and fungi to do the first fertilization work. The idea is to make the regolito, Something very valuable To create materials and leading element of the lunar soil, it is more fertile, but while we find the way, from the Italian Space Agency (like) they have had another idea: to create varieties of dwarf rice by genetic edition to grow in the conditions of the moon. Miniarrocera. The initiative led by the Italian organism implies a joint investigation with universities such as Milan, Roma Sapienza and Naples Federico II, and the objective is to develop a variety of supersenan rice that grows in microgravity conditionsas well as in extremely reduced spaces such as those that can occur in lunar bases. The idea is to maximize production in an extremely narrow space, and that is why they seek to reduce the size of the plant as possible without affecting the amount of rice it can give. A rice plant can reach heights between 70 and 150 centimeters, but the research objective is that the maximum size of those lunar plants is about 10 centimeters. Overcome. Beyond achieving a very compact size, the project seeks to modify the genetics of the plant so that the resulting rice is more nutritious than what we have on Earth. For example, that has a superior protein contribution, something that the “normal” rice suffers. Samples of this miniarroz Difficult. For this project baptized as ‘Moon-Rice’, each of the centers deals with a task. The University of Milan isolates mutant varieties with dwarfism; The University of Rome identifies the best genes to achieve maximum performance despite the size and that of Naples contributes its experience in space crops (such as the Melissa project of ESAwhich simulates closed ecosystems to recycle air and water in long -term missions). But, although promising candidates have already been identified to modify, such as the Japanese dwarf variety kozosumikathis miniaturization presents multiple challenges. Alter the gibberelin of the plant (the plant hormone that allows regulating the height) can also affect production, being that balance between dwarfism and maximum productivity the balance so delicate that must be managed in the laboratory. Terrestrial applications. As it happens so many times when a technology is developed or explored for lunar use, we also see potential for use within the atmosphere. For example, developing a rice that occupies little space, that is more nutritious and more resistant than usual, can be useful for both Urban agriculture as, above all, for the development of crops in arid areas of the Earth. And, beyond this moon-rice that is in initial phases, it is evident that Italy is taking seriously lunar exploration. As a member of ESA, it is collaborating with other agencies that also have interest in the satellite. An example is the interest at the Mohammed Bin Rashid space center of the United Arab Emirates to promote exploration on the Moon, but also a contract With the Thales Satellite manufacturer Alenia Space to develop a habitability module to operate in the lunar base as part of the Artemis program. It only remains to be seen if, in that Lunar module of Italy, the risotto is the main dish. And, who knows, beyond being a source of food, that the ‘inhabitants’ of the moon see green can have positive effects on their mental health during long -term missions. Images | University of Milan, THAT In Xataka | To the big question about what the hell is in the hidden face of the moon, China has just given the first answers

In 1178 a monk realized that the moon “was beating as a wounded snake.” Today we know what those flashes are

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The current tools They allow to see the universe surrounding us with An unimaginable detail Just a few years ago, but humanity has millennia lifts the sky and wondering things. What we have closer is the moon, and almost a thousand years ago someone wondered why it shone as if it were an emergency light. Today we have the answer. More or less. Flash. Although we have always looked at the sky, it was not until 1608 when we could do it with some detail. At the same time, several lens manufacturers fought to become the Telescope inventorswhich was a tube with a convex lens as a goal, a concave as ocular and … it ends. In 1609, Galileo Galilei learned about the invention and decided to build his version, to which He took advantage of good. Discovered the Jupiter satellites And, among many other things (dangerous for its time) He also documented lunar craters. In those first observations in more detail, astronomers began to wonder something: why do the moon emit flashes? What they probably did not know is that they were not the first to realize those fleeting lights. Luna beats. Let’s go back half a millennium, until 1178, the year in which Canterbury Gervasioa monk, wrote The following: “On the afternoon of June 18, 1178, after sunset, when the moon had just become visible, a wonderful phenomenon was witnessed by five men or more. There was a bright new moon, their horns were inclined to the east and sudden sparks ”. He continued: “Meanwhile, the body of the moon, which was below, twisted, so to speak, with anxiety … the moon throbbed as a wounded snake. Then, it recovered its usual state. This phenomenon was repeated a dozen times or more, adopting the flame various random twisted forms. After these transformations, the moon, from horn to horn … acquired a blackish appearance” What does this say? “The author of this letter received this report from men who saw him with his own eyes, and are willing to put his honor under oath that they have not added or falsified anything in the previous story.” Quiet, Gervasio, we believe you. What he described is Know Like TLP, ‘Transient lunar phenomena“or” transient lunar phenomena. “ This is something that has fascinated astronomers for centuries, and basically it is flashes, brightness located somewhere in the lunar surface or even darkening of it. Its duration is brief, and there are several theories. Riddled. One of them points, directly, to the constant meteorite bombardment experienced by the satellite. It is the explanation most supported by evidence, and it makes all the meaning. It is estimated that the moon receives the direct impact of tens of thousands of meteorites every year. NASA Calculate That 33,000 meteorites hit the moon every year, with about 100 the size of a Pinpong ball reaching its surface with a force equivalent to about 3.2 kilos of dynamite. Studies like Neliota They have achieved relate Those impacts to the flashes we see from Earth. The frequency is about eight flashes per hour, but in times when there is a greater meteoric activity, the figure increases to twelve per hour. Impacts on the moon collected by Neliota and related to ‘flashazos’ Alternatives. There are currents of alternative thinking that relate these ‘flashazos’ with gas emissions of the lunar subsoil -as they can be radon emanationsgas that has a presence in the satellite- or by geological fluctuations. The bombardment remains the most accepted theory, but there are ‘flashazos’ than They would not be related With impacts. Whatever it is, and if that English monk of 850 years ago could find out about this, it would surely feel relieved to know that those beats of the moon, those palpitations as a wounded snake, were not the product of their imagination. Images | University of CanterburyNASA, THAT In Xataka | A meteorite fell in the Sahara in 2023. It has turned out to be the piece of moon that we needed to solve an old enigma

We are sending cannabis samples to space. They will be key to knowing if we can colonize the moon or Mars

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Throughout our short space race we have sent the most diverse things to space: from golf balls up to 2,000 small jellyfish (that returned being 60,000), going through latea piece of the Wright brothers, an electric car, a gorilla costume and a pizza. Today to this peculiar list we have to add about 150 cannabis seeds. The reasons? Strictly scientific. Mayasat-1. That is the name they receive both the mission (Integrated within Mission Possible 2025) as the incubator on board which have traveled seeds, algae and human DNA, among other things. In total, 980 samples of 11 different customers. The incubator has been developed by the Genoplant Research Institute in Slovenia, but who has decided to send cannabis seeds to space has been Martian Grow. Transport-14 | Image: Genoplant Mayasat-1 | Image: Genoplant Three laps. Before addressing the why of cannabis, it is convenient to understand what the mission has consisted, whose duration has been three hours. Mayasat-1 took off on Monday 23 at 23:50 aboard a Falcon 9 from Spacex from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. It reached a height of 520 kilometers (120 kilometers more than the International Space Station) and completed three laps around our planet. Specifically, through polar areas. Because? Because at the North and South poles exposure to radiation is very, much higher than that of Ecuador due to the magnetic field. The objectives. There are several, but they can be summarized as follows: Observe the survival of samples to radiation, microgravity and temperatures of space to have an idea of ​​its ability to resist extreme conditions. Investigate possible adaptations, such as genetic or structural changes, which may have occurred in response to the environmental stress factors. Study the possible implications for the cultivation of plants in space or advances in medicine. Serve as proof of concept for the realization of biological experiments in space. And now yes, cannabis. Božidar Radišič leads the initiative Martian Grow and works as a consultant at the Research Nature Institute in Slovenia. In statements collected by WiredRadišič believes that “sooner or later, we will have lunar bases and cannabis, with its versatility, it is the ideal plant to supply those projects.” In his own words, cannabis “can be a source of food, proteins, construction materials, textiles, hemp, plastic and medicines. I don’t think many other plants give us all these things.” But cannabis … Yes, it is associated with a very different recreational use, but its potential as a plant is tremendous. The Cannabis sativa l produces THC (tetrahydrocannabinol, the main psychoactive compound) and CBD (Cannabidiol, has no psychoactive effects), but these are only two of the More than 550 chemical compounds found to date. And although we do not know what effects each and every one of them has, we do know that the plant is surprisingly resistant. Image | Crystalweed Cannabis Hold on what you throw. Cannabis sativa is a plant that resists ultraviolet rays and gamma radiation (in fact, it is used in its industrial production to decontaminate it). It is also extremely versatile, being able to grow both in Mexico and India, Nepal, Netherlands or Afghanistan despite the fact that its origin is in the Himalayas. Nor is it a plant that needs too much water and can be grown in different types of soils. Their ballots to be a successful space crop are, therefore, abundant on paper. And why send seeds to space? We know that radiation and genetic mutation is able to generate new varieties of species with different properties. “So far more than 3,400 new varieties of more than 210 species of plants using genetic variation induced by radiation and improvement by mutations, “they explain from the International Atomic Energy Agency. For Radišič, that is precisely the key: “It’s about finding out if cosmic conditions affect cannabis genetics, and how they do it, and we may only discover it after several generations.” Radiation exposure can cause mutations, not all negative, not all positive. The key is to detect those that can play in favor of humanity. The problem, of course, is that we need more information. Image | Genoplant Further. We have already cultivated lettuce at the International Space Station, Thalian Arabidopsis on lunar soil and Sent seeds to spacebut all radiation exposure has been in low orbit (up to 2,000 kilometers high). The responses to the radiation of a plant at the International Space Station may not be the same as those of a plant on the moon (at 38,400 kilometers away) or on Mars (54.6 million kilometers). One of the projects that seek to explore how plants cultivated on the moon respond is Leafa NASA mission that will travel to our satellite in the mission Artemis III In 2027. Next steps. When the capsule returns, the Božidar Radišič team and the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Ljubljana will study the seeds, their possible mutations and adaptations to obtain results and see which compounds have altered and how. “Whether there are changes as if not, both results will be important for the future, so that we know how to grow cannabis in the space environment,” says Radišič to Wired. An important job. Colonizing the moon or Mars is not only a technological challenge, but also logistics. It is not viable to transport food to keep the population of another planet, so it is capital to learn to cultivate in lunar and Martian soils, completely inhospitable and hostile. There have been advances and research with different proposals For many yearsbut there is still no solution that seems perfect. Images | Genoplant In Xataka | We have found a plant capable of producing 40 cannabinoids. A closer plant evolutionarily to lettuce that to hemp

NASA set out to send a woman to the moon before China does. It is getting more and more

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While the possibilities for NASA to step on the moon again in 2027 fades, China advances with a firm and methodical step without changing its goal: sending astronauts to the lunar surface in 2030. Any of the two countries could end putting the first woman on the moonthe symbolic objective that the United States had marked with Artemis III. Another blow to Artemis. NASA depends on Spacex to achieve the first moaning manned since 1972. In the Artemis III mission, scheduled for mid -2027, two astronauts descend to the lunar surface in a starship ship adapted to land and take off on the moon. But Spacex has delay. He could not Demonstrate fuel transfer in orbit With a cistern starship, much less a loan without crew. With the catastrophic explosion of the starship 36 During a motor test, the program trial zone will have to be repaired. It is the fourth consecutive failure for the Spacex ship-cohete, which will undoubtedly add new delays to its commitments to NASA. Move the goal. The rumors of which Artemis III It could be reconfigured as a mission without alunsing They return to the fore. I would leave NASA with less maneuvering margin to arrive before China does it for the first time. Maybe that’s why the narrative has changed under the new administration: now the political objective is to plant a flag on Mars before China does. With the excuse of eliminating the diversity programs of federal agencies, the references to send to the first woman and the first man of color to the moon They have been erased of the NASA website. China follows its roll. For its part, the Crewing Space Agency of China (CMSA) has completed this week a crucial test of the ship that will take its astronauts to the moon. The early morning of June 17, in the Gobi desert, the Mengzhou ship’s escape system furiously turned on its solid fuel engines. The ship without crew was propelled at full speed from the platform, as it would do if there was an emergency with the rocket. At 20 seconds, He separated from the escape system and opened his parachute To perch again on land. It was a perfect abortion test. China did not perform a since 1998, with its current Shenzhou ship, which routinely carries astronauts to the Chinese space station. The second country on the moon. China wants to become the second country to step on the moon, before one of NASA’s partners in the Artemis missions, such as Jaxa or ESA. The calendar is clear And it has remained so far: in 2027, China will first launch the new heavy rocket CZ-10. In 2028, he will make a manned mission around the Moon (in this case, as a third country to do so, because Canada has a seat on the Artemis II mission). The first moonwill is scheduled by the end of 2030. The Mengzhou ship It will take three Chinese astronauts to the lunar orbitwhile the Lanyue ship, designed to be coupled with Mengzhou in orbit, will descend to the surface in the role of Alunizer. The firm steps of CMSA towards this objective reinforce the image of a robust program, well financed and with an immovable political objective, which increasingly contrasts with NASA Artemis. Image | CMSA, Xinhua In Xataka | After three failures, Spacex needed the new Starship to work out well. I was waiting for the worst explosion of all

A group of scientists has proposed to infect another world and see what happens as an experiment. His candidate: The Enced Moon

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While NASA’s rovers are still looking for clues on Mars, Jupiter, and Esturno, Saturn’s icy moons, of Jupiter, of Jupiter, They have become the main candidates to house microbial life outside the earth in the solar system. But what will we do if we discover that they are not inhabited? A controversial idea. Encard, with Your subsurface ocean and confirmed presence of crucial elements for lifeIt is a usual focus of scientific fascination. The European Space Agency Plan to send a probe there which would arrive in 2054. Anticipating a disappointment, a group of astrobiologists has launched a bold proposal: if it turns out to be uninhabited, we can consider “infecting it” deliberately with terrestrial microbes to observe how life spreads in a habitable but virgin world. An unprecedented experiment. Since they began to explore the solar system, large space agencies have taken very seriously not to contaminate other planets and satellites, building their probes in clean rooms to reduce the number of bacteria that could survive on board. This experiment would be to do the opposite. It would be the first planetary scale attempt to build a biosphere. It would force us to learn how to assemble complex ecosystems from scratch, which organisms are the most appropriate to do so and how they behave in extraterrestrial conditions. Why sow life in another world. Charles S. Cockell, Holley Conte and M. Dale detail their idea in an article published By Space Policy magazine. The group argues that, if future missions confirmed the absence of native life in Encela, the deliberate inoculation of the satellite would help us understand how life spreads in permanently dark oceans. Inoculation would allow to investigate how bacteria ecosystems were organized On the ground snowball or even If hydrothermal chimneys From a primitive land they could be the place where life arose on our planet during the early or early archaic times. A multiphendary economy. Entering a more speculative field, an inhabited brain could, in theory, become a source of materials for the exploration of the exterior system if humanity would become a multiparaneary species. The authors even mention the engineering of organisms as an option to make the new biosphere, transforming the ocean of the Saturn moon into a “biofuel production plant”, once our metanogenic bacteria have prospered. It could even resort to synthetic biology to design optimized organisms. Faster than terraft Mars. The experiment would, of course, a multigenerational company, but unlike Mars the terraftwhich would take centuries, the inoculation of an extraterrestrial ocean could be achieved with current technology and would be “much simpler and less expensive.” But there are also ethical implications. How many missions are needed to be sure that it is really uninhabited? Is such an experiment more valuable than studying the geological and geochemical processes of a virgin world? And perhaps it is also possible to ask: will we be able to guard a second biosphere, in addition to that of the earth, for multiple generations? It is worth thinking in the long term, but we must previously intensify our sense of responsibility for the Earth’s biosphere. Image | POT In Xataka | We have been looking for “habitable” places in space for decades. The Encelado Ocean paints better

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