Wildfire Smoke Is Loaded With Microbes. Is That Dangerous?

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: If you’re unfortunate enough to breathe wildfire smoke, you’re getting a lungful of charred plant material, noxious gases, and — if the fire tore through human structures — incinerated synthetic materials. All across the board, it’s bad stuff, proven to be a severe detriment to human health, particularly for those with respiratory conditions…

Virgin Galactic Unexpectedly Aborted a Test Flight of Its Space Plane

CNN reports:
Virgin Galactic’s supersonic rocket plane was scheduled to fire into the upper atmosphere Saturday, but after climbing more than 40,000 feet over New Mexico attached to its mothership, the space plane made an unexpected turn toward home rather than shooting skyward. The company confirmed that the space plane, which was carrying test pilots CJ Sturckow and Dave Mackay, safely landed….

NASA’s Perseverance rover is midway to Mars

NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission has logged a lot of flight miles since being lofted skyward on July 30—146.3 million miles (235.4 million kilometers) to be exact. Turns out that is exactly the same distance it has to go before the spacecraft hits the Red Planet’s atmosphere like a 11,900 mph (19,000 kph) freight train on Feb. 18, 2021. Source:…

This day in 2013: The Day the Earth Smiled

Today is the anniversary of The Day the Earth Smiled, the 3rd-ever image of Earth from the outer solar system, taken by the great Cassini spacecraft on July 19, 2013. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/the-day-earth-smiled-2013-cassini-image-of-earth-moon-planets…

Residents puzzled by 40 ‘UFOs’ over Cornwall

People in and around Truro, England couldn’t believe their eyes when they looked skyward this morning. “It was bizarre,” said school minibus driver Wa… Source: https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/332545/residents-puzzled-by-40-ufos-over-cornwall…