Science & Technology

New York; 15 Jan 2019; GANASHAKTI: January 22nd will see an especially rare lunar occurrence take place that sounds like a deep-cut album track off of an early Iron Maiden album, maybe 'Piece Of Mind' or 'Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son'.

A super blood moon is a combination of two lunar occurrences - a super moon and a lunar eclipse, whilst the wolf part comes from traditional names for each full moon.

A super moon is when the moon passes at its closest point to Earth while on a full moon, and happens roughly three times a year.

15 Jan 2019; AFP: Hong Kong scientists claim they have made a potential breakthrough discovery in the fight against infectious diseases -- a chemical that could slow the spread of deadly viral illnesses.

A team from the University of Hong Kong described the newly discovered chemical as "highly potent in interrupting the life cycle of diverse viruses" in a study published this month in the journal Nature Communications.

15 Jan 2019; AFP: A small green shoot is growing on the moon in an out-of-this-world first after a cotton seed germinated on board a Chinese lunar lander, scientists said Tuesday.

The sprout has emerged from a lattice-like structure inside a canister since the Chang'e-4 lander set down earlier this month, according to a series of photos released by the Advanced Technology Research Institute at Chongqing University.

15 Jan 2019; DW: Iran announced on Tuesday that one of its satellites had failed to reach the "necessary speed" to achieve orbit.

Telecommunications Minister Mohammed Javad Jahromi told Iranian state television that the rocket carrying the satellite had passed the first and second launch stage, but that it had developed problems in the third phase.

MOSCOW, January 14. /TASS/. The Spektr-R space radio telescope’s transmission device failure may have been caused by cosmic radiation accumulated in the spacecraft’s electronics during the past eight years, a source in the Russian space industry informed TASS on Monday.

"The specialists cite the influence of the radiation dosage accumulated during the flight period in the satellite’s electronic component base as a possible cause for the failure of the Spektr-R receiving and transmitting device," the agency’s source informed.

BEIJING, January 14. /TASS/. China is ready to cooperate with Russia in operating its yet-to-be created orbital station and to let some other countries participate in similar projects, the secretary-general of the China National Space Administration, Li Guoping, told a news conference on Monday.

MOSCOW, January 14. /TASS/. The onboard systems of Russia’s radio telescope Spektr-R operate normally according to the United States’ research data reception station, Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said on Monday.

"A research data reception station in the United States has managed to identify the carrier frequency of the separate research data transmitter of the space apparatus Spektr-R, which is indirect evidence the onboard systems operate in accordance with the built-in algorithm," Roscosmos said.

BEIJING, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- China will launch the Chang'e-5 probe by the end of this year to bring moon samples back to Earth, a senior official of the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced Monday.

The Chang'e-4 mission realized the first-ever soft-landing on the far side of the moon, and its success has inaugurated the fourth phase of China's lunar exploration program.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s space agency says another attempt by its specialists to establish contact with an orbiting radio telescope has failed.

The Spektr-R satellite is continuing to transmit signals, but scientists have been unable to control the satellite since Friday.

Alexander Bloshenko, an adviser to the Roscosmos space agency, was quoted by the state news agency Tass as saying that Sunday’s attempt to restore contact had failed. Another attempt is expected on Monday.

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. space technology firm SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, will lay off about 10 percent of its more than 6,000 employees, according to media reports.

The cuts were cited in an email sent to employees.

In a statement, a company spokesman confirmed the layoff without specifying how many employees will be released.

"To continue delivering for our customers and to succeed in developing interplanetary spacecraft and a global space-based Internet, SpaceX must become a leaner company," said the statement of the company.