TYB
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-sets-briefings-for-next-international-space-station-crew-missions-2/
https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/commercial-space/commercial-crew-program/
NASA Sets Briefings for Next International Space Station Crew Missions
Feb 18, 2025
NASA and its partners will discuss the upcoming Expedition 73 mission aboard the International Space Station during a pair of news conferences on Monday, Feb. 24, from the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Mission leadership will participate in an overview news conference at 2 p.m. EST live on NASA+, covering preparations for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 launch in March and the agency’s crew member rotation launch on Soyuz in April.
Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.
NASA also will host a crew news conference at 4 p.m. and provide coverage on NASA+, followed by individual crew member interviews beginning at 5 p.m.
This is the final media opportunity with Crew-10 before the crew members travel to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for launch.
The Crew-10 mission, targeted to launch Wednesday, March 12, will carry NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov to the orbiting laboratory.
NASA astronaut Jonny Kim, scheduled to launch to the space station on the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft no earlier than April 8, also will participate in the crew briefing and interviews.
Kim will be available again on Tuesday, March 18, for limited virtual interviews prior to launch. NASA will provide additional details on that opportunity when available.
For the Crew-10 mission, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft will launch from Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy.
The three-person crew of Soyuz MS-27, including Kim and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
United States-based media seeking to attend in person must contact the NASA Johnson newsroom no later than 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 21, at 281-483-5111 or at jsccommu@mail.nasa.gov. U.S. and international media interested in participating by phone must contact NASA Johnson by 9:45 a.m. the day of the event.
U.S. and international media seeking remote interviews with the crew must submit requests to the NASA Johnson newsroom by 5 p.m. on Feb. 21. A copy of NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online.
Briefing participants include (all times Eastern and subject to change based on real-time operations):
Kim is making his first spaceflight after selection as part of the 2017 NASA astronaut class.
A native of Los Angeles, Kim is a U.S. Navy lieutenant commander and dual designated naval aviator and flight surgeon.
Kim also served as an enlisted Navy SEAL. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the University of San Diego and a medical degree from Harvard Medical School in Boston.
He completed his internship with the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
After completing the initial astronaut candidate training, Kim supported mission and crew operations in various roles, including the Expedition 65 lead operations officer, T-38 operations liaison, and space station capcom chief engineer.
Follow @jonnykimusa on X and @jonnykimusa on Instagram.
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Selected by NASA as an astronaut in 2013, this will be McClain’s second spaceflight. A colonel in the U.S.
Army, she earned her bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, and holds master’s degrees in Aerospace Engineering, International Security, and Strategic Studies.
The Spokane, Washington, native was an instructor pilot in the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter and is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, Maryland.
McClain has more than 2,300 flight hours in 24 rotary and fixed-wing aircraft, including more than 800 in combat, and was a member of the U.S. Women’s National Rugby Team.
On her first spaceflight, McClain spent 204 days as a flight engineer during Expeditions 58 and 59, and completed two spacewalks, totaling 13 hours and 8 minutes.
Since then, she has served in various roles, including branch chief and space station assistant to the chief of NASA’s Astronaut Office. Follow @astroannimal on X and @astro_annimal on Instagram.
The Crew-10 mission will be the first spaceflight for Ayers, who was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2021. Ayers is a major in the U.S. Air Force and the first member of NASA’s 2021 astronaut class named to a crew.
The Colorado native graduated from the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs with a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and a minor in Russian, where she was a member of the academy’s varsity volleyball team.
She later earned a master’s in Computational and Applied Mathematics from Rice University in Houston. Ayers served as an instructor pilot and mission commander in the T-38 ADAIR and F-22 Raptor, leading multinational and multiservice missions worldwide.
She has more than 1,400 total flight hours, including more than 200 in combat. Follow @astro_ayers on X and @astro_ayers on Instagram.
With 113 days in space, this mission also will mark Onishi’s second trip to the space station.
After being selected as an astronaut by JAXA in 2009, he flew as a flight engineer for Expeditions 48 and 49, becoming the first Japanese astronaut to robotically capture the Cygnus spacecraft.
He also constructed a new experimental environment aboard Kibo, the station’s Japanese experiment module.
After his first spaceflight, Onishi became certified as a JAXA flight director, leading the team responsible for operating Kibo from JAXA Mission Control in Tsukuba, Japan.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the University of Tokyo, and was a pilot for All Nippon Airways, flying more than 3,700 flight hours in the Boeing 767. Follow astro_onishi on X.
The Crew-10 mission will also be Peskov’s first spaceflight.
Before his selection as a cosmonaut in 2018, he earned a degree in Engineering from the Ulyanovsk Civil Aviation School and was a co-pilot on the Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft for airlines Nordwind and Ikar.
Assigned as a test cosmonaut in 2020, he has additional experience in skydiving, zero-gravity training, scuba diving, and wilderness survival.
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NASA Sets Launch Coverage for Missions Studying Cosmic Origins, Sun
Feb 18, 2025
NASA will provide live coverage of prelaunch and launch activities for SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer), the agency’s newest space telescope.
This will lift off with another NASA mission, Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere, or PUNCH, which will study the Sun’s solar wind.
The launch window opens at 10:09 p.m. EST (7:09 p.m. PST) Thursday, Feb. 27, for the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that will lift off from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
Watch coverage on NASA+. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.
The SPHEREx mission will improve our understanding of how the universe evolved and search for key ingredients for life in our galaxy.
The four small spacecraft that comprise PUNCH will observe the Sun’s corona as it transitions into solar wind.
The deadline for media accreditation for in-person coverage of this launch has passed. NASA’s media credentialing policy is available online.
For questions about media accreditation, please email: ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov.
cont.
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-sets-launch-coverage-for-missions-studying-cosmic-origins-sun/
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/spherex/
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/punch/
https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2025/news-2025-110
https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2025/02/flickers-and-flares-milky-ways-central-black-hole-constantly-bubbles-with-light/
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ada88b
Webb Reveals Rapid-Fire Light Show From Milky Way's Central Black Hole
February 18, 2025 11:00AM
The supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way appears to be having a party, complete with a disco ball-style light show.
Using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, a team of astrophysicists has gained the longest, most detailed glimpse yet of the “void” that lurks in the middle of our galaxy.
They found that the swirling disk of gas and dust (or accretion disk) orbiting the central supermassive black hole, called Sagittarius A*, is emitting a constant stream of flares with no periods of rest.
The level of activity occurs over a wide range of time — from short interludes to long stretches. While some flares are faint flickers, lasting mere seconds, other flares are blindingly bright eruptions, which spew daily.
There also are even fainter changes that surge over months.
The new findings could help physicists better understand the fundamental nature of black holes, how they get fed from their surrounding environments, and the dynamics and evolution of our own galaxy.
The study published in the Feb. 18 issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
“In our data, we saw constantly changing, bubbling brightness,” said Farhad Yusef-Zadeh of Northwestern University in Illinois, who led the study. “And then boom! A big burst of brightness suddenly popped up.
Then, it calmed down again. We couldn’t find a pattern in this activity. It appears to be random. The activity profile of this black hole was new and exciting every time that we looked at it.”
Random Fireworks
To conduct the study, Yusef-Zadeh and his team used Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) to observe Sagittarius A* for a total of 48 hours in 8- to 10-hour increments across one year.
This enabled them to track how the black hole changed over time.
While the team expected to see flares, Sagittarius A* was more active than they anticipated. The observations revealed ongoing fireworks of various brightnesses and durations.
The accretion disk surrounding the black hole generated five to six big flares per day and several small sub-flares or bursts in between.
Two Separate Processes at Play
Although astrophysicists do not yet fully understand the processes at play, Yusef-Zadeh suspects two separate processes are responsible for the short bursts and longer flares.
He posits that minor disturbances within the accretion disk likely generate the faint flickers.
Specifically, turbulent fluctuations within the disk can compress plasma (a hot, electrically charged gas) to cause a temporary burst of radiation.
Yusef-Zadeh likens these events to solar flares.
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“It’s similar to how the Sun’s magnetic field gathers together, compresses, and then erupts a solar flare,” he explained.
“Of course, the processes are more dramatic because the environment around a black hole is much more energetic and much more extreme.
But the Sun’s surface also bubbles with activity.”
Yusef-Zadeh attributes the big, bright flares to occasional magnetic reconnection events — a process where two magnetic fields collide, releasing energy in the form of accelerated particles.
Traveling at velocities near the speed of light, these particles emit bright bursts of radiation.
“A magnetic reconnection event is like a spark of static electricity, which, in a sense, also is an ‘electric reconnection,’” Yusef-Zadeh said.
Dual ‘Vision’
Because Webb’s NIRCam can observe two separate wavelengths at the same time (2.1 and 4.8 microns in the case of these observations), Yusef-Zadeh and his collaborators were able to compare how the flares’ brightness changed with each wavelength.
Yet again, the researchers were met with a surprise. They discovered events observed at the shorter wavelength changed brightness slightly before the longer-wavelength events.
“This is the first time we have seen a time delay in measurements at these wavelengths,” Yusef-Zadeh said.
“We observed these wavelengths simultaneously with NIRCam and noticed the longer wavelength lags behind the shorter one by a very small amount — maybe a few seconds to 40 seconds.”
This time delay provided more clues about the physical processes occurring around the black hole.
One explanation is that the particles lose energy over the course of the flare — losing energy quicker at shorter wavelengths than at longer wavelengths. Such changes are expected for particles spiraling around magnetic field lines.
Aiming for an Uninterrupted Look
To further explore these questions, Yusef-Zadeh and his team hope to use Webb to observe Sagittarius A* for a longer period of time, such as 24 uninterrupted hours, to help reduce noise and enable the researchers to see even finer details.
“When you are looking at such weak flaring events, you have to compete with noise,” Yusef-Zadeh said. “If we can observe for 24 hours, then we can reduce the noise to see features that we were unable to see before.
That would be amazing. We also can see if these flares repeat themselves or if they are truly random.”
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Secret ingredient from space found in unearthed Iron Age ornaments
Wednesday 19 February 2025 07:10 EST
Early Iron Age ornaments unearthed in Poland have been found to contain iron from meteorites, suggesting the ancient inhabitants of the region were adept at working the metal much earlier than thought.
The research, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, found that about 26 specimens of ornaments, including three bracelets, an ankle ring, and a pin unearthed at an ancient Polish cemetery contained meteoritic iron.
“This modest number of specimens nevertheless forms one of the biggest collections of meteoritic iron products at one archaeological site worldwide,” researchers say.
Scientists suspect people from the Lusatian Culture dated to about 750BC and 600BC deliberately smelted and used iron from meteorites to produce a specific pattern on their jewellery.
In the research, archaeologists assessed artefacts from two Early Iron Age cemeteries – Częstochowa-Raków and Częstochowa-Mirów – both located in southern Poland just about 6km apart.
They used different techniques, including X-ray fluorescence and electron microscopy, to determine the elemental composition of the ancient artefacts.
Researchers found that four of the 26 artefacts, including three bracelets and a pin, were made of meteoric iron, likely from a single meteorite source.
They found that the objects used iron from both smelted ore as well as a meteorite.
The smelted iron, scientists suspect was obtained by trade, possibly from the south-west ores likely from either the Alpine or Balkan ranges, but forged locally.
This raw material, they say, was supplemented by the extra-terrestrial iron.
Subsequent analysis revealed that the iron artefacts were made from a type of “extremely rare” space rock with a high nickel content called an ataxite meteorite.
“Extensive examination suggests that most likely only one single source of meteoritic iron was used,” scientists wrote.
The meteoric iron “was simply used as an iron ore,” they say.
The findings hint that the ancient inhabitants of southern Poland knew how to work iron much earlier than previously thought.
They also suggest meteoritic iron was likely no longer of the same symbolic value as it had in the Bronze Age before the discovery of iron smelting.
“We suggest that the meteoritic iron was deliberately used to produce a specific pattern on iron jewellery – a millennium before the supposed invention of wootz and Damascus steel,” researchers wrote.
Despite being a small find, the findings make southern Poland one of the world’s most saturated meteoric iron archaeological sites on par with ancient Egyptian sites.
https://www.the-independent.com/news/science/archaeology/iron-age-ornaments-space-b2700832.html
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352409X25000148?via%3Dihub
Sidus Space Mourns the Death of Board Member Richard Berman
February 19, 2025 08:30 AM EST
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.(BUSINESS WIRE)Sidus Space (NASDAQ: SIDU) announced today that Richard Berman, a member of the Sidus Board of Directors, has passed away.
Mr. Berman had been a director of Sidus since January 2024. Mr. Berman’s business career spanned over 40 years of venture capital, senior management, and merger & acquisitions experience.
Carol Craig, Chief Executive Officer and Chairperson of Sidus, stated, “Sidus Space mourns the loss of Richard Berman, a valued member of our Board of Directors.
Richard brought a wealth of knowledge and experience that helped guide our company’s growth and vision.
His impact will not be forgotten, and we extend our heartfelt sympathies to his family and those who knew him.”
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250219304177/en/Sidus-Space-Mourns-the-Death-of-Board-Member-Richard-Berman
https://investors.sidusspace.com/
Neat-o
Rocket Lab launches sharp-eyed Earth-observation satellite to orbit
February 19, 2025
Rocket Lab launched a high-resolution Earth-imaging satellite toward low Earth orbit this evening (Feb. 18).
An Electron vehicle carrying the first "Gen-3" satellite for the geospatial intelligence company Blacksky lifted off from Rocket Lab's New Zealand site today at 6:17 p.m. EST (2317 GMT; 12:17 p.m. on Feb. 19 local New Zealand time).
Electron deployed the satellite into a circular orbit 292 miles (470 kilometers) above Earth about 55.5 minutes after liftoff as planned, Rocket Lab announced via X.
Rocket Lab, which likes to give its launches playful names, called today's mission "Fasten Your Space Belts."
"'Fasten Your Space Belts' will be Rocket Lab's ninth launch overall for BlackSky across multiple launch contracts beginning from 2019," Rocket Lab wrote in a prelaunch mission description.
"The mission will introduce their newest 35cm high-resolution Gen-3 satellites to orbit, allowing them to greatly enhance and optimize their geospatial intelligence capabilities."
"Fasten Your Space Belts" was Rocket Lab's second launch of 2025. The company launched a total of 16 missions last year — 14 with the 59-foot-tall (18 meters) Electron and two with HASTE, a modified, suborbital version of the rocket that serves as a testbed for hypersonic technology.
"Fasten Your Space Belts" was part of a spaceflight one-two punch today. SpaceX launched yet another batch of its Starlink internet satellites just four minutes later, at 6:21 p.m. EST (2321 GMT).
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/rocket-lab-launch-blacksky-first-gen-3-satellite
https://twitter.com/RocketLab/status/1892005158030278881
SpaceX Starlink mission lands rocket off coast of The Bahamas for 1st time
February 18, 2025
A Falcon 9 rocket lofted 23 Starlink craft to low Earth orbit today, lifting off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 6:22 p.m. EST (2322 GMT).
The rocket's first stage made its descent back to Earth eight minutes after liftoff, landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions, stationed in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of The Bahamas.
SpaceX has traditionally parked its droneships in the open ocean, but it recently signed a deal with The Bahamas that will open new opportunities to the company.
"Our new landing collaboration with The Bahamas will enable Falcon 9 to launch to new orbital trajectories," SpaceX wrote via X on Feb. 7.
"This is significant for the Bahamas in so many ways," said Deputy Prime Minister of The Bahamas Isaac Chester Cooper, during the SpaceX stream.
"It's the first international landing in the Bahamas — in the Exuma sound is significant in and of itself.
It puts us at the cutting edge of of innovation, and it gives us a small country of 400,000 people an opportunity to participate in the aerospace industry. This is huge."
Today's flight was be the 16th for this Falcon 9 booster, according to a company mission description. Nine of its 15 launches to date have been Starlink missions.
SpaceX streamed the launch live on their website and through their social media account on X. A replay is available on the SpaceX's Starlink 10-12 mission page.
This was the 21st Falcon 9 launch for SpaceX so far in 2025, 15 of them Starlink flights.
The company has also launched one test flight of its huge Starship megarocket this year, on Jan. 16. It was the seventh liftoff overall for Starship, which is still in development.
The most recent Falcon 9 mission, which occurred on Saturday (Feb. 15), set a new reusability record: It was the 26th liftoff for that rocket's first stage.
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/spacex-starlink-launch-first-rocket-landing-bahamas
https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=sl-10-12
https://www.space.com/entertainment/space-movies-shows/captain-america-brave-new-world-introduces-adamantium-into-the-mcu-but-did-it-come-from-space-in-the-comics
'Captain America: Brave New World' introduces adamantium into the MCU, but did it come from space in the comics?
February 19, 2025
The fourth Captain America movie, Captain America: Brave New World, is finally out and has been met with middling critical reviews.
Despite that, fans are already dissecting every new character and plot development that's transpired as they eagerly await The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Thunderbolts.
Most intriguing is the introduction of adamantium in this movie, which is fascinating because of how it differs from the comic book lore.
Adamantium is part of the comic book-y, 'fun first' science found in the long-running universe.
From vibranium to recurring alien threats, the vast Marvel Cinematic Universe takes many elements from Marvel's take on outer space.
That said, the metal that covers Wolverine's skeleton had an entirely different origin in the comic books and the X-Men movies.
Last year's Deadpool & Wolverine made sure to partially bring the Fox universe's (now dubbed Earth-10005) characters into the larger MCU multiverse.
There, adamantium is a man-made steel alloy. In the 616 timeline, however, we've just found out its origin is as alien as vibranium's, and Earth's scientists are considering it an all-new element.
Mild spoilers ahead for Captain America: Brave New World.
Red Hulk's appearance in the fourth Captain America movie brings back the quite silly Marvel science of gamma rays to the forefront of the MCU.
In fact, many would argue it's more of a sequel to 2008's The Incredible Hulk than a Captain America movie, despite the title.
The main 'MacGuffin' of the plot, adamantium, is found on the massive Celestial body that was half-born in the middle of the Indian Ocean at the end of 2021's Eternals.
Tiamut's frozen body is now called 'Celestial Island' by Earth's governments, and of course, everyone has rushed to investigate it.
With tensions between the Wakandans and the rest of the world rising in recent times due to their strict control over vibranium, many nations see the discovery of adamantium (said to be somehow even stronger and more malleable) as the golden opportunity to remain relevant in the rapidly escalating weapons and technology race.
Moreover, with extraterrestrial and augmented threats ever-present, humans are looking for every advantage they can get their hands on.
While Eternals wasn't a success and the chances of a direct sequel are currently slim, Marvel Studios has found a way to bring a huge part of it back in a way that answers burning questions and sets up the future.
In Captain America: Brave New World, the adamantium is little more than a plot device that gets the story going and sets the stage for new political tensions.
Needless to say, evildoers also want to get their hands on it, and while we haven't seen the 616 iteration of the metal in action yet, we're fairly sure that it'll play a huge role in the post-Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars saga going forwards.
The comic books (and the aforementioned X-Men flicks) introduced adamantium in an entirely different way: It's a virtually indestructible man-made steel alloy that just isn't found in nature.
The United States government created it, and the composition remains a secret. Moreover, the traditional origins of adamantium depict it as dense and rigid in a way that makes it hard to work with.
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Captain America's shield, partially made of vibranium in the comics, was one of the few objects known to have stopped adamantium.
On the other hand, the MCU's own version of the metal, an actual pure element that happened naturally outside of Earth, has been teased to be highly adaptable and potentially destructive against vibranium armor and weapons.
Hokey science explanations aside, it all comes down to narrative needs; this late into the MCU, a 'more dangerous' metal was needed, and it all might spell trouble for Wakanda and its closest allies.
The comic books also worked with a number of different versions of adamantium over the years, namely proto-adamantium (the one created to use on Captain America's first shield), true adamantium (the one present in Wolverine via the Weapon X program), the more cost-effective adamantium steel, and several multiversal variants.
In any case, the metal's origins were always linked to mankind and the mutants, not outer space.
What does adamantium mean for Earth-616's future?
We know for a fact a new X-Men movie, likely set in the main MCU continuity (aka 616), is happening shortly after Avengers: Secret Wars is released.
The question we face now is whether Wolverine will be part of the original roster or not.
Moreover, what are the actual chances of Disney and Marvel choosing to keep Hugh Jackman's now-multiverse-hopping Logan around, maybe even mentoring a new generation of mutants after losing his own elsewhere?
In that case, the Weapon X project wouldn't factor into the plot at all because there would be no need for another Wolverine.
However, adamantium has many uses, and with projects like Armor Wars still waiting to be made, there are plenty of story arcs where it could be used to throw Earth-616 into chaos which doesn't come from outer space or the multiverse.
What about the mutant-hunting Sentinels? We've yet to learn about the origin of the mutants in the main continuity despite some multiversal teases, but the public's reaction to them probably won't be kind.
A third and final theory that's quite compatible with the rest is that Doctor Doom, who we're expecting to be the big multiversal threat in Doomsday, will be making bad use of some of that adamantium when he arrives.
Remember when Ultron upgraded himself by using vibranium? If 616's adamantium is as strong and flexible as it looks, that sounds like a resource that a megalomaniac, multiverse-threatening villain would want to get his hands on.
Likewise, the Avengers could gain the upper hand thanks to it, so all bets are off right now.
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I want to believe — but yet another massive search for alien technosignatures just turned up nothing
February 19, 2025
Hunting for alien civilizations isn't a matter of just waiting around for them to show up; it's the business of combing through enormous volumes of data to look for peculiar signals.
The good news is that astronomers have developed an efficient method for doing exactly this. The bad news is that they haven't found anything … yet.
It seems like a somewhat reasonable assumption that if other civilizations are out there in the universe, eventually they will discover how to emit powerful radio broadcasts.
Radio waves are capable of traversing great interstellar distances, so they make a great calling card. This is the foundational assumption for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). Strange radio signals might be a sign of an artificial transmission from an alien species.
But our Milky Way galaxy is swimming in radio emissions of all sorts, from exploding stars to the vibrational hum of the galaxy's magnetic field.
Plus, humanity has developed a particular fondness for radio transmissions, so any radio search for aliens must deal with enormous quantities of human-caused signals.
Previous SETI searches have scanned large areas of the sky and flagged anything interesting that popped up.
Then, researchers have combed through the flagged results by hand, searching for signs of artificial transmission while ruling out potential causes of human-made interference.
Previous SETI searches have also come up totally empty — which isn't a big surprise, since this semimanual technique limits how much data any one research team can process.
Enter COSMIC, the Commensal Open-source Multi-mode Interferometric Cluster. COSMIC is a computer and software system that piggybacks on that of the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array, the iconic radio array located in the desert of New Mexico.
COSMIC is designed to automate the process of SETI searches as much as possible.
By combining fast processing and a series of restrictive filters, the system searches signal after signal, deciding if it's likely to be artificial and, if it is, determining if it matches the signature of a known terrestrial source.
In particular, COSMIC searches for radio signals that are very tightly focused, suggesting that they come from a very small source, like a planetary surface.
Next, it looks for Doppler shifting of that radio signal. If the signal comes from a planet, the motion of the planet will either redshift or blueshift the signal, depending on whether the planet is moving away from or toward us when the signal was emitted.
If the system finds a signal matching these properties, it is flagged and advanced to the next stage of filtering.
Next, the astronomers behind COSMIC know the properties of terrestrial radio emission. This unwanted artificial emission follows particular statistical properties.
If the flagged signal of interest matches those properties, the signal is rejected. Any remaining signals are then flagged for further review.
The COSMIC system is a part of the VLA Sky Survey, which completed a scan of roughly 82% of the Northern Hemisphere's sky.
All told, the COSMIC system analyzed over 950,000 individual pointings of the telescope. Although the system initially flagged thousands of potentially interesting signals, none survived all of the filtering steps.
In other words, a deep radio search of a good chunk of the Northern Hemisphere found no artificial radio signals.
Although this is initially discouraging, this result still represents an important advance in our search for alien life.
We can use this data to narrow down the probabilities of life appearing on any one planet, and we now have a valuable tool for collecting and processing data in future surveys, which might turn up something much more interesting.
https://www.space.com/alien-radio-signals-search-empty
https://www.seti.org/
Sheinbaum: US drone flights operate at govt's request
February 19, 2025
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum stated on Wednesday that US drone flights used to spy on drug cartels operate "at the request of the Mexican government," responding to controversy sparked by recent international media reports.
She emphasized that these operations are part of a “long-standing collaboration” between Mexico’s Armed Forces and US agencies.
Sheinbaum defended security cooperation with Washington but stressed that it takes place within an established coordination framework.
She also questioned why US media portrayed the use of drones as an imposition when, in reality, it follows binational protocols.
Regarding her relationship with the Trump administration, Sheinbaum affirmed that ties with the US will remain strong, expressing willingness to accept US support in combating drug cartels but insisted that any cooperation must respect Mexico’s sovereignty and existing agreements.
https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Sheinbaum:-US-drone-flights-operate-at-govt's-request/63565961
IDF says drone strike in south Lebanon killed Hezbollah operative handling weapons
February 19, 2025 4:39 pm
The IDF confirms carrying out a drone strike in southern Lebanon’s Ayta ash-Shab earlier today, killing a Hezbollah operative.
The operative was targeted after he was identified handling weapons, the military says.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/idf-says-drone-strike-in-south-lebanon-killed-hezbollah-operative-handling-weapons/
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-842789
Russian Drone Barrage Cuts Power in Ukraine’s Odesa Region
19 Feb 2025, 05:00 PM IST
Russia hit Ukraine’s southern port city of Odesa with a massive drone strike overnight, just hours after top officials from the Kremlin and the US concluded their first round of talks aimed at ending the war.
The attack injured at least four people and left 160,000 without power and heating in Odesa with temperatures dropping well below freezing, local authorities said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the attack was the latest evidence against Russian claims that its military wasn’t targeting the country’s civilian infrastructure as the war approaches its three-year mark.
The Ukrainian leader placed it in the context of Tuesday’s meeting in Saudi Arabia between negotiators dispatched by President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
“Just yesterday, after the infamous meeting in Riyadh, it became known that Russian representatives once again lied about not attacking the energy sector,” Zelenskiy said in a post on X on Wednesday following the barrage.
“Russia is run by pathological liars, and they cannot be trusted — they must be pressured for the sake of peace.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday brushed off what he described as a proposal from the US to suspend attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
He said Moscow’s troops never endangered civilian power systems and only hit military facilities.
Ukraine wasn’t invited to attend the US-Russia talks in the Saudi capital, leaving Zelenskiy concerned that the US approach will hurt his country’s interests.
US special envoy Keith Kellogg arrived in Kyiv early Wednesday to continue consultations on ending the war as Zelenskiy ditched his plans for a trip to Riyadh, where he expected to be briefed on the talks.
Russia launched 167 unmanned areal vehicles of different types and two Iskander missiles over Ukraine overnight, out of which 106 drones were shot down, Ukraine’s Air Defense said in a post on Telegram.
Meanwhile, Ukraine continued its string of attacks against Russia’s energy infrastructure with a drone strike hitting the Syzran refinery in Russia’s Volga region overnight.
The attack didn’t result in casualties or major damage, according to local governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev.
Russia’s largest oil producer Rosneft PJSC, which owns the facility, didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Ukraine has intensified its attacks in Russia over the past several weeks, targeting not just oil-processing plants but also crude-pipeline infrastructure including the Andreapol pumping station on the Baltic System Pipeline-2 route, and the CPC pipe delivering mainly Kazakh crude oil to the Black Sea shore.
The strikes are intended to complicate oil logistics for Russia and curtail fuel supplies to its military forces occupying Ukrainian territories, Ukraine’s General Staff of the Armed Forces said earlier this week.
https://www.livemint.com/news/world/russian-drone-barrage-cuts-power-in-ukraine-s-odesa-region-11739964603152.html
Rosneft refinery in Syzran hit by drone attack, no casualties
February 19, 2025
During the night of 18th February, the refinery in Syzran, owned by Rosneft, was targeted by drones. This information was provided by the governor of the Samara region, Vyacheslav Fedorishchev.
Operational and emergency services are currently attending to the situation at the site. Fortunately, no casualties were reported, according to "Kommersant".
The refinery in Syzran has a processing capacity of approximately 8.9 million tonnes of oil per year. It produces a wide range of petroleum products, including motor fuels, aviation kerosene, and bitumen.
The plant employs over 2,200 people. Following the attack, around 10:00 PM Greenwich Mean Time, a drone attack threat was declared in the Samara region.
The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations issued a warning about the ongoing threat of drone attacks. Residents of the region are urged to remain alert.
The situation is being closely monitored, and services remain prepared to respond if necessary.
https://www.msn.com/en-ie/news/world/rosneft-refinery-in-syzran-hit-by-drone-attack-no-casualties/ar-AA1zljCh