For the first time, scientists spotted a "space hurricane" — a mass of plasma hundreds of miles above the North Pole, raining electrons, not water — using satellite data from 2014.
Why it matters: The new finding could help scientists learn more about how the Sun affects Earth's atmosphere, gathering more details on how space weather might harm satellites and other objects in orbit.
It will take between $30 million and $50 million to clean up the damage caused by the uncontrolled collapse of the Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico, according to a new report from the National Science Foundation.
Why it matters: The telescope — which collapsed in December 2020 — was key to many scientific discoveries, including the search for life and other planets in the universe, during its decades of use.
Russia and China today announced that the two nations plan to cooperate to create a scientific research station on the Moon.
Why it matters: Countries are turning their attention to landing people on the Moon in the coming years, and this partnership between China and Russia — a long-time U.S. partner in space — shows just how much the geopolitical landscape in space is changing.
Wealthy private citizens are increasingly becoming the arbiters of who can go to space — and some of them want to bring the average person along for the ride.
Why it matters: Space is being opened up to people who wouldn't have had the prospect of flying there even five years ago, but these types of missions have far-reaching implications for who determines who gets to make use of space and for what.
