Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen has warned Europe not to fall behind in the global space race and miss out on key technologies. Mogensen is set to become the first non-American pilot to steer the SpaceX Crew Dragon shuttle to the International Space Station. South Korea has cancelled the third flight of its homegrown space rocket due to technical problems, but successfully delivered a commercial-grade satellite into orbit on Thursday. Meanwhile, Dubai-based scientist Nisar Wani has cloned camels in an effort to cater to the region’s huge camel racing and beauty pageant industry.
As mentioned in a news article on recent science news, Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen has warned that Europe is at risk of falling behind in the global space race. Mogensen, who will be piloting Elon Musk’s next SpaceX mission in August, believes that Europe could miss out on key technologies. He hopes to one day fly into space on an independent European mission.
In other space news, NASA’s Juno probe has documented how Jupiter’s lightning resembles Earth’s. Despite the dramatic differences between the two planets, data obtained by Juno has provided fresh information on how the lightning processes on Jupiter are similar to those on Earth. This includes the generation of lightning within water clouds.
Meanwhile, South Korea is making strides in its efforts to become a key player in the space race. The country’s domestically produced space rocket successfully delivered a commercial-grade satellite into orbit on Thursday, marking a major step forward. However, the third flight of the rocket was cancelled on Wednesday due to technical problems.
In an interesting development, Dubai is cloning camels to cater to races and beauty pageants. Nisar Wani, who led the world’s first cloning of camels in 2009, is now replicating a few dozen a year at a Dubai lab. Camels are cherished in the Gulf region and can earn huge sums in beauty and racing contests. The lab collects eggs from the ovaries of slaughtered animals and matures them in the lab for 24 hours before cloning.
As the space race continues to heat up, it’s clear that countries and companies around the world are investing heavily in the industry. From astronauts warning about falling behind to countries making strides in their space programs, it’s an exciting time for space exploration.
