NASA Awards Orbital Safety Analysis Support Services Contract

NASA, CSA (Canadian Space Agency), and the German Aerospace Center signed a joint statement of intent to begin coordinated, preparatory work toward an Earth-based demonstrator to learn how to grow crops on the Moon, which will be essential to helping astronauts go farther and stay longer in space. Space crops will provide deep space crews with whole-food nutrition and increase dietary variety. They can also absorb carbon dioxide, produce oxygen, and recycle water. These capabilities will become increasingly important as human missions extend farther from our home planet.

A review of more than 265,000 people found that cannabis use was associated with higher rates of both committing violence and becoming a victim of it. The researchers say the link is significant but does not prove cannabis itself is the cause.

Astronomers have found strong evidence that some mysterious, minutes-long X-ray flashes are produced when two neutron stars collide and create a magnetar. One record-setting event glowed in X-rays for nearly 10 minutes, potentially opening a new way to find these extreme cosmic mergers.

The Orionid meteor shower peaks in October as Earth passes through debris left behind by Halley’s Comet.