https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-is-recruiting-for-yearlong-simulated-mars-mission
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Well hurry up Nasa!! (Kidding)
I know they had several isolation experiments in the last 10-15 years, in the USA and in Russia, on safe ground in various mocked-up mars bases or simulated âspacecraftâ.
The crew members are carefully selected so their characters complement each other and they donât get âhomesickâ and so on, pretty interesting topic!
With very interesting results too. Usually it goes well in the first half and the crew is very diligent about keeping the environmental systems running.
Then, after longer time periods, some members start either sleeping too much or too little, and lose their concentration, or they fight and split into factions (e.g. over breaking the simulation to call an ambulance) and walk out.
But they keep repeating the experiment with different crews and it goes better every time, I have the impression. 
One is this When a Mars Simulation Goes Wrong - The Atlantic
And the other one was called mars-500.
Before that was Biosphere 2, where they thought, hey, all we have to do is put some fake lakes and soil and oxygen and plants into a dome, lock the door, and voila â I mean, how hard can it be to recreate a livable environment, amiright? 
well, they learned a 100 new things how the natural balance can tip pretty quickly. 
Even when they fail, these experiments are valuable, itâs better to fail in Antarktika, Hawaiâi, Arizona, or Moscow than on Mars.
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SpaceX Starbase
NASASpaceflight Starship update with static fire tests (SN20)
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NASA DART Mission Launch
Launch time: 06:20 UTC/GMT on Nov. 24th, 2021 (1:20 a.m. EST; 10:20 p.m. PST on 23rd)
Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) Mission 
NASA
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HG may have to update the carbon nanotube pic
Phys.Org: Novel color photography using a high-efficiency probe can super-focus white light into a 6-nanometer spot.
Novel color photography using a high-efficiency probe can super-focus white light into a 6-nanometer spot
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James Webb Space Telescope
After a few delays, the next launch is scheduled for December 24th, 2021.
Joint collaboration between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
NASA Twitter - @NASAWebb
ESA Twitter - @esa
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Please donât blow up, please donât blow up, pleeeeease donât blow up!!!
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Four mysterious structures discovered in a cluster of galaxies
University of Bologna astronomers have discovered 4 huge bubbles in the center of a galaxy RBS 797 cluster using NASAâs Chandra X-ray Observatory. As it is supposed, these mysterious structures could be caused by the activity of two supermassive black holes at a close distance from each other.
The explanation is that RBS 797 contains a pair of supermassive black holes that ejected jets in perpendicular directions almost simultaneously, that has been confirmed by the results of radio observations.
If it is confirmed that they are indeed black holes, then they will become the closest pair discovered ever.
Here you will find more detailed info on this research
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For those whoâd like to watch the launch
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Welcome to the forum!
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Though I am a newbie to here I already love this cozy place!
Thanks!
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Marsâ helicopter Ingenuity successfully made its 18th flight
having completed a 230 meters way to northern district of Seitah.
Seitah is a difficult to pass region for rovers because
of its sand crests. Therefore Ingenuity makes it possible to observe such
places.
Ingenuity has already passed about 3.8 km in general.
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So glad to hear that! We love it too! We nap between NMS missions but come to life when it is time for a new launch.
Seriously, so many interesting things happening in space right now. Exciting!
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A new kind of giant nebula discovered
University of Innsbruck scientists in Austria have discovered a new type of nebula that forms around binary stars.
The galactic nebula is a binary system consisting of a white dwarf and a normal star with a mass slightly less than the mass of the Sun. The giant shell consists of the material of the outer shell, discarded by a white dwarf about 500 thousand years ago.
Source: https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/abs/2021/12/aa39787-20/aa39787-20.html
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James Webb Space Telescope launch postponed for X-mas day
Previously JWST should have been launched on December, 24. Due to weather conditions its launch date was set for December, 25.
For those who are going to watch the launch hereâs a link:
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The largest group of wandering planets discovered
A group of scientists found 70 wandreing planets in the Milky Way.
For their research, they used data from ground-based and space telescopes over the past 20 years. In total, the found group may contain up to 170 planets.
The planets are located at the top of the constellations Scorpio and Ophiuchus. To detect them, astronomers processed have 80.8 thousand wide-angle images.
Wandering planet is a planet that locates in interstellar space and is not gravitationally associated with a star or brown dwarf. Over the past 20 years, about two dozen of such bodies have been discovered.
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