Turbulent 1st moments of a black hole's life captured in new simulations

Paul Sutter
Wed, December 27, 2023 

An illustration of a primitive black hole forming.


Astronomers have figured out how some dying stars kick baby black holes out of the womb — and it's not pretty.

These rare black holes get a significant kick when their parent stars die in a cataclysmic explosion, rocketing the newborn gravitational gluttons out at incredible speeds, a new study found.

The findings could shed light on the enigmatic first moments of a black hole's life.


Black holes and neutron stars are born in the hearts of massive, dying stars. When stars with at least eight times the mass of the sun near the ends of their lives, they fuse iron in their cores. Intense pressures turn that iron core into a proto-neutron star, a clump of neutrons about the size of a city. That clump can temporarily halt the gravitational collapse of the rest of the star. In turn, this stall-out usually triggers a supernova explosion. But pressures can sometimes rise in the hearts of those explosions, smashing that proto-neutron star down into a black hole.

What happens next is anyone's guess. Previous computer models of supernovas simulated only less than a second of that process — just enough to capture the explosion itself. And observations of real black holes and neutron stars suggest all sorts of funky physics. Some neutron stars move at over 3.4 million mph (5.4 million km/h), indicating that they got violently kicked out during the explosion process, while others move 30 times slower, suggesting a more serene birth process.

Black holes, on the other hand, almost always have low "kick" velocities, even though the circumstances of their creation are much more violent.

Related: James Webb telescope discovers oldest black hole in the universe

A team of astronomers elucidated the awkward newborn period of black holes and neutron stars by running 20 computer simulations of supernovas. The simulations ran long enough to show how each object was "kicked" by its parent star. Their work was published to the preprint database arXiv Nov. 20 and has been submitted to The Astrophysical Journal for peer review.

The astronomers discovered a tight relationship between the properties of the parent star prior to the explosion (known as the "progenitor") and the resulting neutron star or black hole. When the parent star isn't very massive and isn't very compact — meaning its outer layers are enlarged relative to its core — the supernova happens very suddenly and in nearly a perfect sphere, leading to a slow-moving neutron star.

On the other hand, very massive, compact progenitors take longer to go supernova, and when the explosions occur, they're not very symmetrical. This produces a fast-moving, kicked neutron star emerging out of the chaos. The researchers also found that larger neutron stars tend to get kicked harder, meaning that more of a compact progenitor's mass in the core winds up in a neutron star.

Progenitors also send neutron stars spinning, and the researchers found that, generally, the greater the kick, the greater the spin. So if the progenitor star exploded asymmetrically, then the irregular explosion not only pushes out the neutron star but also spins it up. This may explain the origins of magnetars, which are rapidly spinning, supermagnetized neutron stars.

Two formation mechanisms explain how black holes get kicked. In one case, the progenitor doesn't fully explode, but the pressure on the core ramps up to the point that a black hole forms. These black holes are rather large — roughly 10 solar masses, on average — and barely get kicked. Most black holes fall into this category.

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But black holes can also form via a second pathway. In some cases, the progenitor star fully explodes and carries off a lot of mass, leaving behind a smaller black hole of roughly three solar masses. Interestingly, these black holes receive incredible kick velocities, greater than 2.2 million mph (3.6 million km/h), the study found. These fast-moving black holes are quite rare, though.

The research makes an important connection between what we can observe (neutron stars and black holes moving around the universe) and what we can't (namely, the details of the progenitor explosion process itself). By surveying the properties of neutron stars and black holes, astronomers will be able to work toward painting a complete picture of the stellar life cycle.


Earth's intense gravity may rip space rocks apart, reducing the risk of 'planet killer' asteroids

Abha Jain
Wed, December 27, 2023 

This graphic shows the orbits of all the known Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs), numbering over 1,400 as of early 2013.


Every year, dozens of asteroids come closer to our planet than the moon is, and yet catastrophic collisions are exceedingly rare. Now, a new study proposes that Earth has a built-in defense system — its intense gravitational forces — that it uses to tackle asteroid interlopers.

The enormous masses of planets and their moons mean they exert tremendous gravitational forces on nearby objects. The differences in gravity these objects experience, called tidal forces because astronomers used them to explain how the moon causes tides on Earth, can be so strong in some cases that the objects get ripped up ― a process called tidal disruption.

In 1994, space enthusiasts got a firsthand glimpse of the awesome power of tidal disruption when pieces of the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, torn apart by Jupiter's tidal forces during a close encounter two years earlier, crashed into the gas giant. But for decades, astronomers couldn't find evidence that Earth and other terrestrial planets tidally disrupt passing asteroids or comets.


Related: 'Planet killer' asteroids are hiding in the sun's glare. Can we stop them in time?

Mikael Granvik, first author of the new study and a planetary scientist at Sweden's Luleå University of Technology, has long been searching for these gravitationally ripped-apart near-Earth asteroids (NEAs). "Some ten years ago we looked for families of NEAs that would have formed in such tidal disruptions, but didn't find any," Granvik told Live Science in an email. A follow-up study explained why: Any fragments formed this way would "mix with the background so quickly" that identifying a specific family is impossible, he said.

The hunt for gravitationally torn asteroids remained at a dead end untilGranvik had a flash of insight. In 2016, he helped create a model that calculated the trajectories of asteroids of different sizes to determine their numbers at different distances from the sun.

Granvik and his colleagues compared their model's results with seven years' worth of asteroid observations collated by the Catalina Sky Survey, a NASA-funded Arizona telescope-based program that detects NEAs. But their estimates vastly underpredicted the numbers of certain asteroids ― those spotted at the distances at which Earth and Venus orbit the sun. Most of these missed asteroids were pretty small, chugging along roughly circular paths around the sun, more or less within the same plane as the orbits of Earth and Venus.

With NASA's Eyes on Asteroids, you can watch all the known near-Earth asteroids and comets as they orbit the Sun. Updated twice daily with the latest tracking data, the web-based application will automatically add new near-Earth object discoveries for you to explore.

Then came Granvik's eureka moment. He realized these oddball asteroids could be tidally disrupted fragments of larger asteroids.

To check this idea, Granvik and co-author Kevin Walsh, a researcher at theSouthwest Research Institute in Colorado, considered a scenario where asteroids that encountered rocky planets lost between 50% and 90% of their mass, generating streams of fragments. Now, their model correctly accounted for the previously unexplained asteroids, suggesting they had been created by tidal disruptions. They described the findings in a new study, which has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters and is available on the preprint database arXiv.

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"While individual families are hard to find, the combination of multiple families will produce a signature that we can identify," Granvik said. Additional simulations showed such fragments hung around a really long time, lasting an average of 9 million years before colliding with the sun or a planet or getting kicked out of the solar system.

Tidal disruption caused by Earth may help tackle asteroids, but it creates problems too, by generating more NEAs that are likely to strike our planet. Don't panic, though — because these fragments are smaller than 0.6 mile (1 kilometer) in diameter, "they don't pose an extinction-level threat," Granvik said. However, they do "increase the possibilities for Tunguska-level and Chelyabinsk-level events" — the two largest asteroid impact events in recent history.


NASA Charts Mission to Apophis, the Near-Earth Asteroid Named for the Egyptian God of Chaos

Cassidy Ward

SYFY
Wed, December 27, 2023

NASA Charts Mission to Apophis, the Near-Earth Asteroid Named for the Egyptian God of Chaos


There’s never a good time for an asteroid to hit, but there might be a worst time. In the 2021 film Asteroid (streaming now on Peacock), a family moves from the big city to their new home in the country just before learning that an asteroid is poised to strike that exact spot.

In real life, NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) keeps an eagle-eyed watch on the orbiting objects which might pose a threat. They’ve got a list of potential impactors and it’s constantly being updated with new discoveries and up to date orbital information to calculate the probability of a dangerous dust up in the near future. For a while, the asteroid Apophis, named for the Egyptian serpent god of chaos, was public enemy number one (that has since changed with new data) and now NASA is kicking off a mission to visit one of our closest asteroid neighbors.

NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX Mission to the Asteroid Apophis

Digital illustration of OSIRIS-REx's Return

OSIRIS-REx Return Photo: NASA

The OSIRIS-Rex mission to the asteroid Bennu successfully wrapped up a few months back when the spacecraft returned to near-Earth space and dropped off a package filled with tiny asteroid rocks. While scientists are busy studying the contents at Johnson Space Center in Houston, the spacecraft is happily bending its path toward its next target.

RELATED: The Asteroid Apophis Isn’t Likely to Hit Earth. But if it Did, What Could we Do?

The original mission was a smashing (literally) success which involved orbiting Bennu for years, mapping the surface, touching down to grab a handful for ourselves, and returning to Earth. When it got back home, the spacecraft’s instruments were still running smoothly, and it had about a quarter of its fuel left in the tank. So, scientists spun up an extended mission to Apophis.

With a new mission and a new name – Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security - Apophis Explorer – the newly dubbed OSIRIS-APEX is on a winding path toward the asteroid Apophis. Meanwhile, Apophis is on its way toward us, and the two will rendezvous during the asteroid’s close pass with our planet in 2029.

The asteroid, which measures approximately 340 meters (1,115 feet) across at its widest point, will arrive in April of 2029 and is expected to pass within 32,000 kilometers (20,000 miles) of the Earth. That’s less than a tenth the distance from here to the Moon. That’s also the closest pass for an asteroid of this size that scientists have ever known was going to happen in advance.

“OSIRIS-APEX will study Apophis immediately after such a pass, allowing us to see how its surface changes by interacting with Earth’s gravity,” said Amy Simon, the mission’s project scientist, in a statement.

OSIRIS-APEX Will Study How Asteroids Change After a Close Pass with Earth

A diagram showing our solar system and the asteroids that surround the Earth

A scientific diagram shows the asteroids surrounding earth. Photo: NASA/JPL/CNEOS

OSIRIS-APEX will start taking pictures of the asteroid’s surface about two weeks before closest approach and it will stay with Apophis for about a year and a half. During that time it will do many of the same things it did at Bennu, gathering scientific data which could help us understand how asteroids form and how they change as they move around the solar system.

The spacecraft will use its onboard instruments to map the surface of Apophis in great detail, much like it did with Bennu. Toward the end of the mission, OSIRIS-APEX will descend to within 16 feet of the surface and fire its thrusters to kick up some dust and get a look at what’s going on beneath the hood. It did something similar at Bennu, using the scattershot effect to gather the sample. The extended mission is operating on the dregs of the primary mission and doesn’t have enough fuel or the hardware required to gather another sample and bring it home. But the science it gathers during and after the asteroid’s close approach will give us unprecedented access to this sort of potentially dangerous interaction.

RELATED: Astronomers Find a Dozen Unexpected Space Objects Way Outside the Kuiper Belt

Between now and April 2029, the spacecraft will circle the solar system getting gravity assists from the Earth and the Sun to move it into position for the arrival of Apophis.

No, Apophis Won’t Hit Earth in 2068

Chicxulub Asteroid Impact

Photo: MARK GARLICK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty Images

When Apophis was first discovered, our understanding of its orbit was not well constrained. The possible paths it might take in the future were wide and some of them brought the asteroid into contact with the Earth.

The worry was that the 2029 pass might alter Apophis’ orbit such that it smacked into us on a subsequent lap around the Sun. The 2068 pass had astronomers particularly worried for a little while. However, as previously mentioned, the folks at CNEOS and scientists around the world spend a lot of time checking out objects like Apophis to dial in on what they are doing and what they will do. Thanks to years of additional research, we now know that Apophis won’t strike the Earth for at least the next century. Beyond that, orbits become increasingly difficult to predict and our certainty begins to wane.

“A 2068 impact is not in the realm of possibility anymore, and our calculations don’t show any impact risk for at least the next 100 years,” said Davide Farnocchia from CNEOS, in a statement. “With the support of recent optical observations and additional radar observations, the uncertainty in Apophis’ orbit has collapsed from hundreds of kilometers to just a handful of kilometers when projected to 2029. This greatly improved knowledge of its position in 2029 provides more certainty of its future motion, so we can now remove Apophis from the risk list.”

If you were hoping to recreate Asteroid (streaming now on Peacock) in your own life, you’re going to have to find some other space rock.

Private Peregrine moon lander is stacked on ULA Vulcan rocket ahead of Jan. 8 launch
Robert Lea
Wed, December 27, 2023 

The Peregrine prior to being loaded atop the ULA Vulcan rocket.


The Peregrine lunar lander has completed all its launch milestones and has been stacked atop the Vulcan Centaur rocket that will carry it to space.

The launch of the first United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, is set for Jan. 8, 2024, with Astrobotic's Peregrine lunar lander expected to attempt a landing on the moon on Feb. 23, 2024.

The landing will make history as not only is Peregrine Astrobotic’s first lander mission, but this is also (possibly) set to be the first time a private spacecraft has set down on the moon, pending the progress of other missions as well (such as an Intuitive Machines launch aboard SpaceX set for no earlier than mid-February.)


"If you've been following the lunar industry, you understand landing on the Moon’s surface is incredibly difficult. With that said, our team has continuously surpassed expectations and demonstrated incredible ingenuity during flight reviews, spacecraft testing, and major hardware integrations," Astrobotic CEO John Thornton said in a statement from the company. “We are ready for launch and for landing.”

Related: Japan's SLIM 'moon sniper' lander arrives in lunar orbit for Christmas

Rocket scientist and president of ULA, Tony Bruno, celebrated the final steps toward the launch of the private lunar lander with a stunning time-lapse video shared on his X feed (formerly Twitter) on Dec. 22.

Though Peregrine has come through three weeks of important final checks and fueling needed to be achieved prior to launch, there is a whole new set of milestones for the spacecraft to clear after blast-off.

These will begin shortly after launch when the lander will separate from its Vulcan rocket carrier and will power on, following which it will establish communication with ground control on Earth. This communication will flow through the NASA Deep Space Network system to the Astrobotic mission control center in Pittsburgh, allowing Peregrine's operators to determine its position, orientation, and operating health.

Following this and around 40 minutes after separation, ground control will begin sending commands to the lunar lander's propulsion system. One of the first series of commands will tell the thrusters to reorientate Peregrine so its energy-harvesting solar panels are directed toward the sun, allowing them to start powering up the spacecraft's battery.

The team at Astrobotic will then perform maneuvers in Earth's orbit that prepare Peregrine for insertion into an orbit around the moon. The spacecraft will maintain a stable lunar orbit, performing system checks before heading for a historic touchdown at the end of February.

Related

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—55 years after Apollo 8’s Christmas at the moon, a new Artemis crew readies for launch (exclusive)

"I have high praise for the professionalism, dedication, and technical expertise demonstrated by the Astrobotic team throughout the complex multi-year Peregrine development program," Peregrine Mission One Director Sharad Bhaskara said in the statement. "Evolving Peregrine from a paper concept to a fully tested spacecraft ready for launch is a remarkable achievement for a small business."


10 exhilarating spaceflight missions to watch in 2024

Samantha Mathewson
Thu, December 28, 2023 

In the dark of night, a rocket blasts fire from its engines, sending plumes of smoke jetting out as it climbs the launch tower out of frame.

Next year is bound to be packed with exciting spaceflight missions, from long-awaited rocket launches to incredible moon missions — including some that'll dabble in lunar landers and crewed flights — a new Jupiter probe headed to the beyond and even a demonstration flight of a new International Space Station resupply spacecraft. With that in mind, here are a few particular missions we're looking forward to in 2024.

1. Moon Missions

The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) mission on Sept. 6. Currently en route to the lunar surface, the spacecraft is scheduled for a Jan. 19 landing inside the moon's Shioli Crater. The SLIM mission aims to demonstrate a landing with a precision of less than 330 feet (100 meters) from the target. If successful, the spacecraft’s touchdown will mark the first-ever soft lunar landing for a Japanese spacecraft, and make Japan the fifth country to soft-land on the moon after the Soviet Union, the United States, China and India.

A company named Astrobotic Technology is also targeting the moon next year, with plans to launch its first lunar lander on Jan. 8, followed by a Feb. 23 landing attempt. The Peregrine lunar lander will carry 20 commercial and government payloads, including a small lunar rover developed by Carnegie Mellon University scientists and a set of smaller rovers provided by the Mexican Space Agency.

The launch window for Intuitive Machines' IM-1 lunar mission opens mid-February. This spacecraft aims to touch down near the south pole of the moon, requiring specific lighting conditions that are only available in the region for a handful of days each month. In partnership with SpaceX, the IM-1 mission will be the company's first attempted lunar landing as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which will later support the space agency’s Artemis program and plans to establish a sustainable human presence on the moon.

China’s Chang'e 6 mission is expected to launch in 2024, representing the country's second sample return mission. The lander will collect material from the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin on the far side of the moon. This mission follows the successful Chang'e 5 lunar sample return mission, which launched in 2020.

2. Artemis 2

If all goes to plan, humans are also going to be headed back to the moon in 2024. NASA's Artemis 2 lunar mission will send the first astronauts around the moon in nearly 50 years. Slated to launch no earlier than November 2024, the eight-day mission will fly four astronauts around the moon aboard an Orion spacecraft using a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.

Venturing some 6,400 miles (10,300 kilometers) beyond the far side of the moon, the Artemis 2 mission represents the first crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972. The Artemis 2 crew includes NASA commander Reid Wiseman, NASA pilot Victor Glover (the first person of color to leave low Earth orbit), NASA mission specialist Christina Koch (the first woman to make the trip) and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen (the first non-American to make the trip).

3. Vulcan Centaur Rocket

Vulcan Centaur rocket launching

After multiple delays over five years, the first flight of the United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket is scheduled for Jan. 8. The rocket has been fully assembled at Cape Canaveral, Florida, in preparation for its inaugural flight, which will carry multiple payloads, including Astrobotic Technology's aforementioned Peregrine lunar lander.

Standing 202 feet (62 meters) tall, Vulcan Centaur is the successor to the ULA's Atlas V and Delta IV rockets with an advanced capability to carry a payload of up to 7.7 tons to geostationary orbit. For its Jan. 8 launch, the rocket will also carry a payload from the space memorial company Celestis, which includes the remains of cast members of the original "Star Trek" television series — Nichelle Nichols, DeForest Kelley and James Doohan — as well as series creator Gene Roddenberry, his wife Majel Barrett Roddenberry and recurring series actor Majel Barrett Roddenberry.

4. Sierra Space Dream Chaser

NASA and Sierra Space expect to launch a demonstration mission of the company's Dream Chaser spacecraft in 2024 using the ULA Vulcan Centaur rocket. Dream Chaser is a private reusable spacecraft designed to send cargo and astronauts to low Earth orbit. The first uncrewed flight of the shuttle-shaped spaceplane will be to the International Space Station. Dream Chaser is scheduled to deliver over 7,800 pounds of cargo for this demonstration mission, but is capable of carrying upwards of 11,500 pounds. It can also ferry experiment samples, trash and other cargo from the orbiting lab back to Earth. If all goes well, Dream Chaser will be a key part of NASA's commercial resupply services program.

5. Polaris Dawn

The Polaris Dawn mission — a private human spaceflight mission operated by SpaceX on behalf of Jared Isaacman, the founder of payment provider Shift4 — is scheduled to launch no earlier than April 2024. Isaacman and three others will spend several days in low Earth orbit on a Crew Dragon spacecraft.

Polaris Dawn is the first of three planned missions in the Polaris program, which aims to conduct scientific experiments, raise money for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, and to perform the first commercial spacewalk using SpaceX-designed spacesuits. Commanded by Isaacman, the Polaris Dawn crew includes one veteran astronaut and businessperson, two SpaceX personnel experienced in crewed and uncrewed launches and mission operations, and a former combat pilot.

6. Starship IFT-3

a giant rocket lifts from its launchpad, smoldering plumes of smoke erupt around

SpaceX's Starship rocket is gearing up for its third flight, IFT-3, within the first quarter of 2024. The IFT-3 of Ship 28 and Booster 10 aims to validate critical technologies essential for future lunar and interplanetary missions. This mission follows the company's second flight test (IFT-2) on November 18, 2023, which demonstrated successful hot staging but experienced telemetry loss after eight minutes of flight. Each flight test provides valuable data, from which the company can learn and adapt future attempts. That said, a critical test planned for IFT-3 is the propellant transfer utilizing two different tanks within Starship.

7. Ariane 6

The European Space Agency (ESA) aims to launch its Ariane 6 rocket in the middle of 2024. Recent tests were completed on Dec. 7 and Dec. 15, which entailed launch operation preparedness for the rocket's inaugural flight. While the Dec. 7 test of the rocket's upper stage was aborted shortly after what seemed to be a normal liftoff, the Dec. 15 test of the rocket's core and upper stages went smoothly.

The practice countdown ran as planned, concluding with a four-second firing of the core stage's Vulcain 2.1 engine. The cause of the abort during the Dec. 7 test is still under investigation, with an update expected to arrive mid-January. However, ESA does not expect this will impact the Ariane 6 schedule, with additional tests of the rocket's launch system slated for early 2024.

8. New Glenn’s ESCAPAGE Launch

The first launch of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket appears promising for 2024 after a long history of delays since 2020. The two-stage heavy-lift rocket stands more than 320 feet (98 meters) tall, with the capability to haul nearly 100,000 pounds (45 metric tons) of payload into low-Earth orbit. New Glenn is designed to be a reusable launch vehicle for up to 25 missions. Slated for its inaugural flight is NASA's Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) mission to study Mars' magnetosphere.

This ESCAPADE mission consists of two identical small spacecraft that will collect two-point observations simultaneously to better understand how energy and plasma enter and leave the magnetosphere, and how they interact with solar wind. It will take roughly 11 months for the ESCAPADE probes to arrive at Mars post-launch.

9. Europa Clipper

Artist's rendering of the Europa Clipper spacecraft above the surface of Europa.

NASA plans to send a spacecraft to explore Jupiter's moon Europa in 2024. Aptly named the Europa Clipper, the spacecraft will study the icy Jovian moon to determine whether its underground ocean is habitable. It is scheduled to launch on Oct. 6, 2024, atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket and arrive at Jupiter on April 11, 2030.

The spacecraft will orbit Jupiter, instead of Europa, due to radiation concerns. Europa (the second large moon out from Jupiter) lies deep inside the planet's magnetosphere, where charged particles generated by the gas giant’s powerful magnetic field could harm the spacecraft's electronics. Once it reaches Jupiter, the spacecraft will make nearly 50 flybys of Europa — one of the most promising places in the solar system to search for life beyond Earth — with its closest approach of only 16 miles (25 kilometers) above the moon’s surface, allowing for a tantalizing close-up view of the moon's subsurface oceans.

10. Boeing Starliner

The first crewed test flight of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft is tentatively scheduled for mid-April. The eight-day mission includes test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni William, who will travel to the International Space Station on the reusable capsule. Manufactured by Boeing, Starliner consists of a reusable crew capsule and an expendable service module. The spacecraft is designed to transport crew to low-Earth orbit and will be used for NASA's Commercial Crew Program. For its first test flight, Starliner will launch on a ULA Atlas V rocket.

Boeing has struggled with delays to launch its first crewed test flight for years. The company announced the vehicle will be ready by March; however, NASA ultimately determines the timing of the launch, and due to traffic at the space station, the opportunity for Starliner to liftoff to the orbiting lab will be no earlier than April 2024.


Japan is close to becoming the 3rd nation to land on the moon in the 21st century. The US isn't one of them.

Jessica Orwig
Wed, December 27, 2023 



An illustration of JAXA's SLIM spacecraft on the moon.JAXA

Japan is weeks from attempting to land its SLIM spacecraft on the moon.


If SLIM succeeds, it will become the first Japanese spacecraft to land on the moon.


And Japan would be the third country, behind China and India, to land on the moon this century.

On Monday, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency announced its SLIM moon lander had reached a crucial milestone in its historic mission: The spacecraft started to orbit the moon.

Over the next several weeks, SLIM — short for Smart Lander for Investigating Moon — will tighten its orbit, inching closer to the lunar surface.

Then, on January 19, 2024, the nation is scheduled to attempt what only a couple of other nations have achieved before it.

Japan will try to land SLIM on the lunar surface, solidifying the country's place in the history books as the third country to softly land on the moon in the 21st century. The other two countries are China and India.

JAXA's SLIM spacecraft will start a vertical decent to the lunar surface once it has descended to about 4.4 miles above the surface.JAXA

When it comes to the modern moon race, the US is lagging, so far.
Japan's historic moon mission

If Japan succeeds in January, SLIM will become the first Japanese spacecraft in history to softly land on the moon.

Japan has sent a couple of impactors and orbiters to the moon in the past, but this is the first time the nation has sent a landing module with rover-like probes to explore the lunar surface in unprecedented detail.


A photo of Shioli crater, where Japan plans to make history. James Stuby based on NASA image - Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera observation

You heard that right, probes — plural. SLIM is carrying two small probes on board. If all goes according to plan, they'll deploy from the landing module after touchdown to explore the surface beyond the landing point.

One probe uses a hopping mechanism and the other is sphere-like and changes shape to move around, per VOA news.

The larger probe on the left uses a hopping mechanism to move around whereas the smaller, baseball-sized probe on the right changes its shape to help it roll around.JAXA

What makes this mission even more historic is the pinpoint landing Japan wants to achieve.

The spacecraft is targeting an impact crater on the moon called Shioli crater, and Japan plans to land SLIM to within 328 feet of its target. That's an "unprecedentedly high-precision landing," JAXA, Japan's space agency, said earlier this month.

For comparison, NASA's Apollo 17 module landed over 80 miles from its target, and India's Chandrayaan-3 lander had a target window over 3.8 square miles.

It's missions like Japan's SLIM, India's Chandrayaan-3, and China's Chang'e's 3, 4, and 5, that are pushing the boundaries of what landing on the moon looks like in the 21st century.

That leaves the US toward the back end of the pack.

The US hasn't landed anything on the moon since 1972

Eugene Cernan was the last man to walk on the moon.

Harrison Schmitt/NASA

The last time the US landed something on lunar grounds was Apollo 17 astronauts Harrison Schmitt — the first scientist on the moon — and Eugene Cernan — the last man to walk on the moon.

In the decades since NASA has crashed some spacecraft into the lunar surface and sent others into lunar orbit.

But when it comes to landing on the moon and exploring its surface in unprecedented detail — NASA has left that for other space agencies to handle, at least for now.

To be fair, it's not like NASA isn't making giant strides in space exploration. Over the decades, NASA has landed more rovers on Mars than what India and China have landed on the moon, combined.

Moreover, NASA aims to catch up to other countries in the modern moon race in a big way very soon.

NASA's Artemis program plans to land the first humans near the moon's south pole in 2025 and achieve sustainable lunar exploration by the mid- to late-2020s.


The crew of NASA's Artemis II mission (left to right): NASA astronauts Christina Hammock Koch, Reid Wiseman (seated), Victor Glover, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. Artemis II will not land on the moon but Artemis III is scheduled to.NASA

But NASA's Artemis program has already been delayed for multiple reasons, many related to the additional complexities and costs that come with crewed missions.

Meanwhile, the main theme emerging from the modern moon race recently is building on a budget. Both Japan and India focused on building small, lightweight spacecraft to help keep costs low.

Japan's SLIM weighs 1,540 pounds (with fuel) and cost about $120 million to develop. India's Chandrayaan-3 lander weighed nearly 3,750 pounds and cost an estimated $75 million.

Will the US catch up, or will budgetary constraints, politics, and technical issues continue to hold the nation back?


Japan's SLIM lander beams moon images home before Jan. 19 landing (photos)

Robert Lea
Wed, December 27, 2023 

The first images of the moon and the lunar surface as seen by Jaxa's SLIM lander.


After arriving in orbit around the moon on Christmas Day, Japan's Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) moon lander has beamed back its first images of the lunar surface.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) revealed the monochrome but highly detailed images of the crater-pocketed moon surface on its X feed, formerly Twitter.

The images were created after the spacecraft was successfully inserted into lunar orbit at 2:51 a.m. EST (0951 GMT or 4:51 p.m. Japan time) on Monday (Dec. 25).

Related: Japan's SLIM 'moon sniper' lander arrives in lunar orbit for Christmas

"SLIM successfully completed main engine injection at 16:51 and successfully entered lunar orbit! Below is an image sent from SLIM near the moon," JAXA officials wrote.

SLIM launched on Sept. 6, along with JAXA's X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM). While XRISM remained in orbit around Earth, conducting its mission to investigate cosmic X-ray sources, SLIM left our planet for an elliptical orbit, circling the moon roughly once every 6.4 hours.

This orbit brings the lander as close to the lunar surface as around 373 miles (600 kilometers), with the spacecraft swinging out as far as 2,485 miles (4,000 km) from the moon.

The 8.8-foot-long (2.7 meters) spacecraft is set to touch down on the moon on Jan. 24. If SLIM's lunar landing is successful, it will make Japan the fifth country after the Soviet Union, the U.S., China, and India to make a lunar landing successfully.

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After successfully setting down on the moon, SLIM will verify the technology needed for landings on the moon and also solar system planets, as well as conducting up close and personal investigations of the lunar surface with a small-scale probe, according to JAXA.

"By creating the SLIM lander, humans will make a qualitative shift towards being able to land where we want and not just where it is easy to land, as had been the case before," the space agency wrote in a mission description. "By achieving this, it will become possible to land on planets even more resource-scarce than the moon."

SpaceX successfully launches two rockets hours apart

Mark Moran
Thu, December 28, 2023 

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is raised to a vertical position as it is prepared to launch the Galaxy 37 communications satellite for Intelsat from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida on Wednesday, August 2, 2023. Photo by Joe Marino/UPI


Dec. 28 (UPI) -- Less than three hours after the launch of a mysterious space plane atop a Falcon Heavy rocket, SpaceX launched a second launch Thursday night, at 11:01 p.m. EST, deploying its latest batch of Starlink internet satellites into low-Earth orbit.

The secretive space plane went into orbit earlier in the evening via a Falcon Heavy rocket as part of a payload that also includes scores of living plant seeds that are part of NASA's mission to understand the effects of long-duration spaceflight on humans and how those plants grow in space. It was the shortest time between launches at Cape Canaveral since 1966.

Thursday night's launch, in which the Falcon 9 rocket rode a blazing column of fire, which was broadcast live, leaves SpaceX just shy of 100 launches in 2023, at 98. The company has added substantially to the number of broadband satellites it has put in orbit and created competition in the Internet service provider market. SpaceX's final mission for 2023, number 99, is scheduled to launch Saturday from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

That's an increase of nearly 70% over last year's total, when SpaceX carried out 61 launches, and that was double what it achieved in 2021. Most of the launches are of Falcon 9 rockets, but SpaceX has also launched a small handful of Falcon Heavy rockets, such as the one that carried the space plane into orbit Thursday night.

As of last month, the Starlink internet satellite constellation consisted of more than 5,200 broadband-providing small satellites in low-Earth orbit. The company has said it intends to deploy as many as 12,000 satellites for Starlink, and is seeking approval to launch as many as 42,000 in the years to come. Critics of the high volume technology have blamed the plethora of satellites for creating space junk, light pollution and low Earth hazards for other spacecraft.

For SpaceX, which has become well known for reusing its spacecraft infrastructure, Thursday night's launch was the 12th flight for this first-stage booster, which returns to Earth and lands aboard a vessel in the water after blasting the rocket into orbit. In this case, the booster landed on a drone ship 'A Shortfall of Gravitas' about eight and a half minutes into the flight.

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 23 Starlink satellites into orbit in final flight of 2023

Robert Lea
Thu, December 28, 2023 

A rocket launching in the blackness.


SpaceX launched its latest batch of satellites on Thursday night (Dec. 28) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The 23 Starlink broadband internet spacecraft were carried to low Earth orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket at 11:01 p.m. EST (0401 GMT Friday, Dec. 29).

This wasn't the only SpaceX mission today, however. The company also launched a Falcon Heavy rocket carrying the secretive X-37B spaceplane earlier in the evening.

Related: SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launches mysterious X-37B space plane for US Space Force after delays

A rocket booster sits on a droneship after landing from space

The Starlink launch (known as 6-36) was the company's 98th and final planned launch for this year.

The 98 SpaceX launches in 2023 are include 91 Falcon 9 blast-offs, five Falcon Heavy launches, and two lift-offs for the company's Starship launch system. SpaceX carried out 61 launches in 2022 — 60 for Falcon 9 rockets and just one Falcon Heavy launch — and achieved 31 launches in 2021 and 26 in 2020, all of which were Falcon 9 rockets.

SpaceX will just miss out on closing out 2023 with 100 launches, with the next mission for the company planned for Tuesday (Jan. 2). SpaceX's first launch of 2024 will see a further 21 Starlink spacecraft carried to low Earth orbit by a Falcon 9 rocket, which will lift off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

Related

— SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellites ‘leak’ so much radiation that it’s hurting radio astronomy, scientists say

— Will Artemis 2 launch to the moon in 2024? NASA has a lot of work ahead

—SpaceX Falcon Heavy seen from space waiting on launch pad (photos)


The Dec. 28 Starlink launch was the 12th flight for this first-stage booster, according to SpaceX, which has also carried CRS-24, Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13F, OneWeb 1, SES-18 and SES-19 cargo to space, as well as conducting seven previous Starlink missions.

As of November 2023, the Starlink mega constellation consisted of over 5,200 operational broadband internet-providing small satellites in low-Earth orbit. SpaceX intends to deploy as many as 12,000 satellites for Starlink, with the company hoping they will be allowed to expand this to as many as 42,000 units.

History-making SpaceX Falcon 9 booster mostly destroyed in post-flight topple

Robert Z. Pearlman
Wed, December 27, 2023 

The remains of SpaceX's first Falcon booster to fly astronauts into orbit are seen atop the droneship "Just Read the Instructions" after a mishap following the stage's record 19th launch.


The first U.S. commercial rocket to launch astronauts into orbit has met its end after being destroyed during its latest post-flight recovery.

Referred to by SpaceX by its serial number, B1058, the Falcon 9 first stage was being transported back to shore after its record-setting 19th flight when "the booster tipped over "due to high winds and waves," the company reported on X, the social network previously known as Twitter, on Sunday (Dec. 25).

Two days earlier, the stage had helped launch 23 of SpaceX's Starlink broadband satellites before successfully touching down on the company's droneship "Just Read the Instructions," which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Florida.

Photos shared online of the returning ship revealed that only the lower segment of B1058 remained, with three of its four landing legs still deployed and all nine of its Merlin engines still intact.

"We are planning to salvage the engines and do life leader inspections on the remaining hardware. There is still quite a bit of value in this booster. We will not let it go to waste," wrote Jon Edwards, SpaceX's vice president of Falcon launch vehicles, on X on Tuesday (Dec. 26).

Related: SpaceX: Facts about Elon Musk's private spaceflight company

a booster sitting on top of a drone ship
Seen after landing from its first flight in 2020, B1058 was the only Falcon 9 first stage to be adorned with the NASA "worm."

(Image credit: SpaceX)


Lost with the upper segment of B1058 was a unique, tell-tale marking that it had been used to launch the first astronauts for NASA. The booster was the only stage in SpaceX's fleet to be adorned with the space agency's "worm" logotype.

On May 30, 2020, B1058 lifted off for the first time on SpaceX's Demo-2 (DM-2) mission carrying NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley aboard the company's Crew Dragon capsule "Endeavour." The two-month long mission to the International Space Station was the first to launch American astronauts from the United States since the end of NASA's space shuttle program in 2011.

Since that flight, B1058 was used in the launch of SpaceX's 21st cargo delivery to the space station (CRS-21), a dedicated satellite launch for South Korea (ANASIS-II), two shared ride satellite launches (Transporter-1 and Transporter-3) and 14 Starlink missions. The stage, like the other "Block 5" boosters in SpaceX's fleet, had been certified for 20 launches.

"This one reusable rocket booster alone launched to orbit two astronauts and more than 860 satellites, totaling 260+ metric tons, in about 3.5 years," SpaceX posted on X.

SpaceX's Falcon 9 first stage B1058 is seen launching (at left) and landing on Dec. 23, 2023, completing its 19th re-flight. (Image credit: SpaceX)


Other Falcon 9 first stages might have survived the rough sea conditions given improvements made to their landing legs.

"We came up with self leveling legs that immediately equalize leg loads on landing after experiencing a severe tippy booster two years ago on Christmas," wrote Kiko Dontchev, SpaceX's vice president of launch, on X. "The fleet is mostly outfitted, but 1058, given its age, was not. It met its fate when it hit intense wind and waves resulting in failure of a partially secured OG ["octograbber" hold-down clamp] less than 100 miles [160 kilometers] from home."

"One thing is for sure we will make lemonade out of lemons and learn as much as possible from historic 1058 on our path to aircraft like operations," he wrote.

With the loss of 1058, SpaceX is believed to have 16 flight-proven, active Falcon 9 first stages still remaining and three pending their first use.

SpaceX plans to salvage the nine Merlin engines from what remains of its first Falcon 9 booster to fly 19 times, including the company's first flight with astronauts aboard. Seen here, the wreckage atop the droneship

Fans of the company reacted to the news of 1058's destruction with regrets that it had not made it into the Smithsonian or another museum to be preserved.

To date, SpaceX has retired four of its earlier-flown Falcon 9 stages for public display. B1019, the first to return to its launch site for a successful landing, today stands outside the company's headquarters in Hawthorne, California. B1035, which launched two Dragon cargo missions to the International Space Station, is now exhibited on its side at Space Center Houston in Texas.

B1023, which helped launch Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster into space as a side booster on the first Falcon Heavy rocket launch, is now a part of "Gateway: The Deep Space Launch Complex" attraction at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. And B1021, the first booster to be re-flown and the first to land on a droneship, was just recently installed outside Dish Network's headquarters in Littleton, Colorado.

A SpaceX rocket booster was ruined after toppling over in rough waters

Haley Tenore
Wed, December 27, 2023

A SpaceX Falcon 9 booster was ruined during transit back to port over the weekend.


The booster had launched over 860 satellites and two people into orbit, according to SpaceX.

SpaceX is down a rocket booster after a Christmas snafu.

One of its Falcon 9 boosters, B1058, tipped over after landing on its drone ship while being transported back to Cape Canaveral, Florida, according to SpaceX. The booster, an older model that lacked some of the auto-stabilization leg features, fell over due to rough rough waters and turbulent winds, the company said.

Wind and turbulent waters can make landing more difficult, SpaceX's VP of launch, Kiko Dontchev, wrote on X.

"Tippy boosters occur when you get a certain set of landing conditions that lead to the legs having uneven loading," Dontchev wrote. "Heavy wind or sea state then cause the booster to teeter and slide which can lead to even worse leg loading."

"We will make lemonade out of lemons and learn as much as possible," Dontchev added.

Newer versions of Falcon boosters are less likely to tip over thanks to better landing legs designed to better self-level themselves.

This particular Falcon 9 booster finished its 19th and final mission on December 23. It transported over 860 satellites into space over the past three and a half years, the space company said.

It also transported astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station in 2020. This was the first manned American flight into space since the end of the space shuttle program in 2011 and SpaceX's first manned mission.

SpaceX VP for Falcon Launch Vehicles Jon Edwards told the Orlando Sentinel that SpaceX won't let the rest of the booster "go to waste." He said the company plans to recover the engine and inspect the rest of the booster's remaining hardware.

Despite B1058's bumpy landing that left it unusable, SpaceX isn't slowing down anytime soon.

On Thursday evening, a launch window is scheduled to open for SpaceX's Falcon Heavy ship carrying the Space Force's mysterious X-37B space plane to orbit, Florida Today reported.

A launch window for the Starlink 6-36 mission is also expected to open between late Thursday night and early Friday morning, according to Florida Today. If conditions permit, a Falcon 9 will launch from Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

SPACE WAR

US military space plane blasts off on another secretive mission expected to last years

MARCIA DUNN
Updated Thu, December 28, 2023 

This undated photo provided by the U.S. Air Force shows an X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The U.S. military's X-37B space plane blasted off on Thursday, Dec. 28, 2023, on another secretive mission that’s expected to last at least a couple of years.

(U.S. Air Force via AP, File)

The U.S. military's X-37B space plane blasted off Thursday on another secretive mission that’s expected to last at least a couple of years.

Like previous missions, the reusable plane resembling a mini space shuttle carried classified experiments. There's no one on board.

The space plane took off aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center at night, more than two weeks late because of technical issues.

It marked the seventh flight of an X-37B, which has logged more than 10 years in orbit since its debut in 2010.

The last flight, the longest one yet, lasted 2 1/2 years before ending on a runway at Kennedy a year ago.

Space Force officials would not say how long this orbital test vehicle would remain aloft or what's on board other than a NASA experiment to gauge the effects of radiation on materials.

Built by Boeing, the X-37B resembles NASA’s retired space shuttles. But they're just one-fourth the size at 29 feet (9 meters) long. No astronauts are needed; the X-37B has an autonomous landing system.

They take off vertically like rockets but land horizontally like planes, and are designed to orbit between 150 miles and 500 miles (240 kilometers and 800 kilometers) high. There are two X-37Bs based in a former shuttle hangar at Kennedy.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

See a Rover’s Day on Mars in 10 Seconds

Isaac Schultz
Thu, December 28, 2023 

The Front Hazcam view of Mount Sharp.

What were you doing on November 8, 2023? I couldn’t say for myself, but I can tell you what NASA’s Curiosity rover was doing: sitting still on its 4,002nd day on Mars, taking snapshots of the Martian surface.

Now, mission team members at Jet Propulsion Laboratory have stitched together two series of frames from the rover’s front and rear Hazcams to create a unique video capturing time’s passage on the Red Planet.

Later in the day, the camera’s exposure times are over a minute, which causes noise in the images that look a bit like snow. (We can assure you, it is not snowing on Mars.) Around eight seconds into the Rear Hazcam view, a cosmic ray hit the camera sensor, causing a black splotch in the image.

Other visual artifacts may be due to Martian dust that has settled on the camera lenses over Curiosity’s 11-year tenure on the planet. And though the Hazcam views capture Mars in black-and-white, NASA publishes plenty of color images taken by Curiosity.

Curiosity keeps trudging along on Mars’ surface thanks to the dogged work of NASA engineers. Earlier this year, the rover got a major software update—the first significant one since 2016—which scientists hope will increase its driving speed and reduce wear on its wheels, which may keep the mission active for even more years to come.

Medieval weapon — over 4 feet long — unearthed in town square in Sweden, photos show

Aspen Pflughoeft
Wed, December 27, 2023 

People crisscrossed a town square in Sweden. Cars drove through. Birds flew over, occasionally stopping to peck for food.

Underneath the hubbub of modern life, a medieval secret went unnoticed — not anymore.

Archaeological excavations of the Lilla Torg square in Halmstad found 49 graves from the medieval period, according to a Dec. 19 blog post from the Cultural Environment of Halland. The burials originally rested under a convent that functioned from 1494 to 1531.

One grave stood out from the others: the grave of a very tall, elite man.

Archaeologists uncovered the skeleton of a 6-foot-2 man with a longsword resting on his left side, officials said. The sword was well-preserved and measured over 4 feet in length.

Photos show archaeologists holding the huge sword. It appears a bit crusty with brown rust or dirt stuck to it. The darker black-brown of the blade is visible in some sections.

An x-ray image of the sword showed an inlaid decoration of two crosses, archaeologists said. The crosses were likely made of precious metal. A photo shared by the Cultural Environment of Halland on Facebook shows this x-ray.

The remnants of the at least 500-year-old weapon measure about 4-feet-3, but the total length of the sword is unknown, the blog post said.

Swords are rarely found in medieval graves, the Cultural Environment of Halland said in a Facebook post. The presence of a sword indicates that the deceased was an elite or high-class person.

Archaeologists removed the sword, wrapped it up and sent it to a lab for preservation and further study. Excavations at the square are ongoing.

Halmstad is about 270 miles southwest from Stockholm.

Google Translate was used to translate the blog post from the Cultural Environment of Halland. Facebook Translate was used to translate the posts from the Cultural Environment of Halland.

Factbox-Vietnam's 'bamboo diplomacy' shifts into higher gear
Reuters
Wed, December 27, 2023 

FILE PHOTO: 13th national congress of the ruling communist party of Vietnam in Hanoi

HANOI (Reuters) - Communist Party-ruled Vietnam has upgraded ties with the world's top powers, including former foes, China and the United States, as part of its "bamboo diplomacy", which it has pro-actively pursued since 2021 to navigate rising global tensions.

After a string of deals this year and last, the Southeast Asian country's top partners include the United States, China, India, South Korea and Russia, which for decades has supplied most of Vietnam's military equipment.

Below are details of Vietnam's increasingly dynamic foreign policy approach and its most important diplomatic agreements over the last 12 months.

WHAT IS 'BAMBOO DIPLOMACY'?

A regional manufacturing powerhouse, Vietnam is an increasingly strategic player in global supply chains.

To bolster this position, the country's most powerful figure, Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, used in 2021 the imagery of "strong roots, stout trunk, and flexible branches" of the bamboo plant to describe Vietnam's foreign policy approach of having "more friends, fewer foes".

CHINA

Vietnam and China earlier this month agreed to build a community with a "shared future" during a visit to Hanoi by Chinese President Xi Jinping, his first to an Asian country this year.

The two nations signed 36 cooperation documents in areas such as transport infrastructure, trade, security and digital economy, and published a joint declaration with wide-ranging commitments.

China is Vietnam's largest trading partner and a vital source of imports for its manufacturing sector, but the two communist countries have been for years embroiled in disputes in the South China Sea - the latest in May. Tensions have subsided somewhat more recently as Beijing's attention has focused on another claimant in the waterway, the Philippines.

UNITED STATES

Vietnam and the United States elevated in September their relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, the highest level in Vietnam's ranking, and announced closer cooperation on semiconductors and critical minerals during a visit to Hanoi by U.S. president Joe Biden.

The United States, which is the top importer of Vietnam's goods, pushed for the upgrade as part of its strategy to secure uninterrupted access to global supply chains and to contain China in the South China Sea.

JAPAN

Vietnam and Japan in November upgraded their relations to Vietnam's top tier during a visit by Vietnamese president Vo Van Thuong to Tokyo, agreeing to boost security and economic cooperation.

Japanese multinationals, including Canon, Honda, Panasonic and Bridgestone, are among the largest foreign investors in Vietnam.

SOUTH KOREA

Vietnam and South Korea elevated their ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in December 2022 during a visit to Seoul by then Vietnamese president Nguyen Xuan Phuc, focusing on trade, investment, defence and security.

South Korea is the largest source of foreign investment in Vietnam, with Samsung Electronics being the largest single foreign investor in the country where it assembles half its smartphones.

In June the two countries signed 17 additional agreements, including on security and critical minerals during a visit to Vietnam by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.

VATICAN CITY

Vietnam and the Vatican agreed in July to have the first post-war resident papal representative in Hanoi during a visit to meet Pope Francis by Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong. The representative was appointed in December.

Home to nearly 7 million Catholics, Vietnam broke relations with the Vatican after the Communists took over the reunited country at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. Talks to appoint a papal representative had started in 2009.

TRADING HUB

Vietnam is part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) economic union and has free trade deals with the European Union, Britain, Chile and South Korea. In July it added Israel to its list of free-trade partners.

It is also a member of wider trade pacts, including the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which includes Canada, Australia and Mexico, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) which includes China and Japan.

WHO'S NEXT?

In 2024, Vietnam is expected to upgrade ties with Australia to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

A visit to the country next year by French President Emmanuel Macron is also being considered, as the former colonial power seeks to boost ties on security and infrastructure development.

(Reporting by Khanh Vu and Francesco Guarascio; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor)

Mexico's weed 'nuns' want to take the plant back from the narcos

Wed, December 27, 2023 


By Sarah Kinosian

(Reuters) - Beneath each full moon on the outskirts of a village in central Mexico, a group of women in nun habits circle around a roaring fire, cleanse themselves with burned sage, and give thanks for the moon, animals, and plants.

Then they inhale deeply from a joint and blow clouds of marijuana into the flames.

Despite their clothing, the women are not Catholic or any other religion. They are part of an international group founded in 2014 called Sisters of the Valley, which has pledged to spread the gospel of the healing powers of cannabis.

In the United States, where around two dozen states have legalized recreational marijuana, the group has also launched a successful small business, selling CBD tinctures, oils and salves online, and raking in over $500,000 last year.

But in Mexico, where a drug war has ravaged the country and Christianity is embedded in society, the image of a marijuana-smoking nun is more an act of rebellion, the women say.

The sisters frequently post on social media, primarily Instagram, where they can be seen caring for cannabis crops, giving workshops, and attending cannabis-related events.

Their product sales are a fraction of that of their U.S. sisters - around $10,000 annually.

While prominent online, the women - five in total - are cautious about giving away too much about the location of their operations. They conduct business out of a two-story concrete false storefront with one finished room.

Because cannabis sits in a legal gray area in Mexico and much of its production is still tied to criminal organizations, they worry police or local gangsters could arrive to threaten or extort them.

On a recent weekend when Reuters visited, the curtains remained drawn. Bundles of marijuana dried in clandestine crevices – hanging from a tucked-away laundry line, or hidden in the stove.

"The Sisterhood is in a totally different context here in Mexico – because of how religious the country is and because of the plant's ties to cartels," said one of the nuns, who uses the moniker "Sister Bernardet" online and asked not to give her name for fear of reprisal. In her main job as a homeopathic practitioner, she prescribes marijuana to her patients with cancer, joint pain and insomnia.

"We want to take the plant back from the narcos," she said.

The Sisters fashion themselves after a lay religious movement, the Beguines, that dates back to the Middle Ages. The group, made up of single women, devoted itself to spirituality, scholarship and charity, but took no formal vows.

The Sisters globally say they wear habits to project uniformity and respect for the plant, but they also know it catches media attention.

Under the guidance of Alehli Paz, a chemist and marijuana researcher working with the group, the Sisters in Mexico grow a modest crop.

They pot plants in old paint buckets and place them in rows between four unfinished concrete walls on a rooftop.

Once grown, the Sisters move the plants to walled-off private gardens they identified with help from supportive older women in the community.

Their participation is limited to weekends they can steal away from their lives. Powered by a seemingly never-ending stream of joints and packed pipe bowls, the women spend time at the farm pruning plants, producing cannabinoid salves or weighing and storing different strains, labeled and dated, in old glass coffee jars.

They also visit others in Mexico City pushing for full legalization in the growing cannabis community, or give workshops that touch on everything from how to make weed infusions to the chemistry behind the plant.

Business potential aside, they argue that the fight against drugs in Latin America has been a failure, leading to widespread violence and mass incarceration.

But in a roughly 75% Catholic majority, conservative country locked in a drug war with criminal groups for nearly 20 years, joining the Sisters has created tension in nearly all of the women's families.

Its founder in Mexico, who calls herself "Sister Camilla" online and declined to give her name, grew up in an evangelical household and left home at 16 due, in part, to her mother's strict religious code, she said. When she started Sisters of the Valley Mexico, the relationship became even more strained.

"It was hard for her to accept," she said. "She had certain ideas, heavily shaped by religion."

But today, after lengthy discussions about the plant and the legalization movement, her mother is pivotal to the group's operations, helping to maintain the farm and offering other logistical support, she said.

For another nun who works as a church secretary, uses the moniker "Sister Kika" and asked her name not be used, the mission is clear. "It's time to put an end to this stupidity," she said.

(Photography by Raquel Cunha; Reporting and writing by Sarah Kinosian; Additional reporting by Andrea Rodriguez; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)