SpaceX's first Starlink satellite launch is set for today | Space Quiz! When was the first-ever image of black hole taken? | This Week In Space podcast: Episode 142 - 2025 in Space
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On Episode 142 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik talk about 2025 in space! It's going to be an exciting year, kicking off with the first launch attempt for Blue Origin's New Glenn heavy booster and another test flight of Starship. Then we'll see a new asteroid sampling mission from China, the first test flight of Blue Origin's Blue Moon lander to the moon, and the launch of the first-ever private robotic mission to Venus by Rocket Lab.
Researchers in South Korea are developing a constellation of satellites that could reveal what goes on in the vicinity of supermassive black holes like never before. The constellation, dubbed Capella, is a brainchild of Seoul National University astronomy professor Sascha Trippe. An expert in black holes, Trippe has grown frustrated with the limitations of humanity's existing instruments for observing black holes and concerned that unless major technological advances are made, research may soon reach a "dead end."
The year 2025 isn't even a week old and NASA is already gearing up for its first big announcement, this one about the agency's ambitious, yet beleaguered, Mars sample return mission. On Tuesday (Jan. 7), NASA's top brass will hold an audio-only press conference to update the public on its Mars sample return program. The media briefing will begin at 1:00 p.m. EST (1800 GMT), and you'll be able to listen in online via NASA's website.
It's no secret that science fiction writers are fond of rooting their imagined alien lifeforms on theoretical desert planets. These arid worlds have dominated the big screen in major blockbuster franchises like "Dune" and "Star Wars," the former of which is famous for its setting where deadly sandworms lurk beneath the surface. Unfortunately, however, fans hoping for such signs of life on desert worlds will probably be disappointed - at least, that's according to recent research conducted by NASA.
Since Disney acquired 20th Century Fox and its vault of valuable intellectual property back in 2019, the House of Mouse has been slowly tapping into its fresh stable of Fox film franchises to create mashups and crossovers with its more popular Marvel Comics characters and so far the results are electrifying.
