Israeli minister tells US that large-scale Iranian attack expected, Axios reports
– Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that Iran is preparing for a large-scale military attack on Israel, according to a source familiar with their call. – Gallant’s ministry confirmed the call and said they discussed operational coordination and Israel’s readiness to face Iranian threats. – In response, Austin has […]
Mars Express orbiter takes a deep dive into ancient Red Planet lake
– The European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter recently captured new detailed images of a region on Mars called Caralis Chaos. – Scientists believe this area was once home to an ancient lake called Lake Eridania, which would have been over 1 million square kilometers in size – larger than any current lake on Earth. […]
Elon Musk Slammed for Filling Orbit With Space Junk
– Elon Musk’s SpaceX has launched over 6,000 satellites into low-Earth orbit as part of its Starlink internet constellation, and plans over 40,000 total satellites. – However, the impact of this many satellites in orbit is uncertain and regulation has not caught up with large commercial satellite constellations. – A new report from the environmental […]
NASA shuts down NEOWISE asteroid hunter after almost 15 years in space
– NASA has shut down the NEOWISE spacecraft after nearly 15 years of operations tracking near-Earth asteroids and comets in space. – NEOWISE was originally called the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission and launched in 2009 to scan the entire infrared sky. – In 2011 it was given a new mission called NEOWISE to […]
Iran is accelerating cyber activity that appears meant to influence the US election, Microsoft says
– Microsoft reported that Iran is accelerating its cyber activities that appear aimed at influencing the 2024 US election. – In June, Iranian hackers targeted a high-ranking official from a presidential campaign with a phishing email. They also attempted to access the account of a former presidential candidate. – Iranian groups have set up fake […]
Chinese rocket breaks apart in low-Earth orbit, creating a cloud of space debris, US Space Command says
– A Chinese Long March 6A rocket broke apart after launching on Tuesday, creating a cloud of space debris in low-Earth orbit. – US Space Command and other space debris tracking entities have detected over 300 pieces of debris from the breakup. – The breakup occurred at an altitude of around 503 miles. The debris […]
Afghan refugees worry as Iran continues forced deportation
– Many Afghan fled to Iran after the Taliban takeover in 2021 for fear of reprisals, as the Taliban have been carrying out human rights violations against former Afghan security forces and government officials. – An estimated 1 million Afghans fled to Iran after 2021, with 4.5 million Afghan refugees now in Iran, though only […]
Major Earth Systems on Track for Collapse, Scientists Find
A new study published in Nature Communications warns that major Earth systems important for stabilizing the climate are at risk of collapsing this century. Specifically, the Atlantic Ocean’s warming ocean currents, the Amazon rainforest, polar ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica face at least a 45% chance of collapsing by 2100 even if warming is […]
Fossils suggest even smaller ‘hobbits’ roamed an Indonesian island 700,000 years ago
Fossils discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores suggest that ancestors of an early human species known as “hobbits” were even smaller than previously thought. Hobbits, scientifically called Homo floresiensis, stood around 3 feet tall and lived between 60,000-100,000 years ago on Flores. They were discovered in 2003. New research on arm bone and teeth […]
Iranian brothers charged in alleged smuggling operation that led to deaths of 2 Navy SEALs
– Two Iranian brothers linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard have been charged in the US with terrorism offenses related to a smuggling operation that led to the deaths of two US Navy SEALs earlier this year. – The SEALs died while intercepting a ship in the Arabian Sea that was carrying Iranian-made weapon components intended […]