NASA's Lunar Ambitions Meet Unexpected Obstacles

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During NASA's Apollo program in the late 1960s and 1970s, humans landed on the moon using computers with significantly less processing power than modern smartphones.

Even after fifty years, landing on the moon remains a challenging feat. This fact has been reinforced by several significant missions in recent years. For instance, in 2019, Israel's Beresheet spacecraft crashed into the ancient lunar volcanic field known as the Sea of Serenity. Additionally, both Russia's Luna-25 mission and the Japanese lander Hakuto-R suffered the same fate, crashing into the moon's surface. On a positive note, India successfully celebrated becoming the fourth country to achieve a moon landing.

Regardless of their success, these endeavors are all part of a modern-day space race with a focus on lunar exploration. Several projects are scheduled to head toward the moon this year with the goal of achieving a soft landing. Unfortunately, the first commercial mission out of the United States did not go as intended.

Explorations

Astrobotic Technology shared the first image of the Peregrine lunar lander in space on Monday. The lander suffered "critical" propellant loss from a fuel leak after liftoff.

From Astrobotic

Pittsburgh-based company Astrobotic Technology, under a $108 million NASA contract, has scrapped plans for a soft landing of its Peregrine Mission One on the moon. The spacecraft, which successfully launched atop a new Vulcan Centaur rocket, experienced "critical" propellant loss from a fuel leak soon after liftoff, leading to the cancellation of the controlled moon landing scheduled for February 23.

NASA had anticipated that Peregrine 1 would achieve an initial victory for its Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, which is designed to reduce the expense of constructing a lunar lander, especially as the space agency is experiencing significant delays in sending astronauts back to the moon.

Individuals of Northern European descent have a higher susceptibility to the autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis, and a recent study analyzing DNA from ancient bones and teeth has provided insight into this phenomenon. By examining over 1,000 ancient genomes from a newly compiled database, researchers discovered a correlation between the risk of multiple sclerosis and a shared ancestry with the Yamnaya, a group of nomadic herders from the Bronze Age.

Researchers believe that these nomads, originating from the central European steppe, migrated westward and brought with them a genetic variant that originally provided defense against infectious diseases carried by domesticated animals. However, this variant has since evolved to impact modern diseases in a different manner.

Many of the caves containing Gigantopithecus blacki fossils are in the distinctive karst landscape of China's Guangxi region.

Yingqi Zhang

What led to the demise of the largest apes that ever lived?

A new study released this week has provided additional insights into the disappearance of Gigantopithecus blackia, a primate often referred to as the real King Kong due to its imposing height of nearly 10 feet (3 meters). By analyzing and dating fossils and sediment from the caves where the animal's remains were discovered, paleontologists were able to gain a better understanding of how changes in diet and the surrounding environment may have contributed to the species' extinction.

Gigantopithecus was discovered in 1935 after paleontologist G.H.R. von Koenigswald found large teeth being sold as "dragon bones" in a traditional medicine shop in Hong Kong.

Across the universe

The initial fast radio burst, or FRB, was found in 2007. Since then, researchers have identified numerous brief and intense bursts of radio waves lasting only milliseconds, originating from remote areas in the universe.

Many aspects of these rapid cosmic flashes and their sources remain mysterious. However, astronomers have now located the rare and incredibly powerful fast radio burst from one of the most distant points ever detected, linking it to an unusual cosmic environment: a group of galaxies shaped like a "blob."

The unexpected discovery could offer insight into what causes the mysterious radio wave bursts, a question that has puzzled scientists for years.

Once upon a planet

The oldest known fossilized skin is at least 130 million years more ancient than the previously oldest known example. The pebbled surface resembles crocodile scales.

Current Biology Mooney et al.

The worlds oldest known fossilized skin belonged to a species of reptile that lived before dinosaurs roamed Earth.

The skin fragment, with its pebbled surface resembling crocodile scales, is over 289 million years old - at least 130 million years older than the previously known oldest skin fossil. A new study published on Thursday revealed this discovery. Soft tissues like skin rarely fossilize, as they decay more easily than bone.

Hypothesis from the University of Toronto Mississauga suggests that the preservation of this sample can be attributed to the distinctive characteristics of its location: the Richards Spur limestone cave system in Oklahoma, known for yielding some of the oldest known examples of early terrestrial animals.

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China, in collaboration with the European Space Agency and other organizations, has initiated a mission to search for X-ray bursts from black holes and other high-energy cosmic events.

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A 106-year-old, three-masted sailing ship is retracing the influential voyage of British naturalist Charles Darwin, which greatly influenced his theory of evolution.

Researchers have newly identified an older and equally large relative of T. rex in New Mexico. If you enjoyed this information, sign up here to receive the next edition of Wonder Theory, presented by CNN Space and Science writers Ashley Strickland and Katie Hunt, exploring planets beyond our solar system and discoveries from the ancient world.