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Japan Will Launch an X-Ray Telescope and a Moon Lander: How to Watch

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Japan Will Launch an X-Ray Telescope and a Moon Lander: How to Watch

JAXA, the Japanese space agency, is gearing up to launch two very different space missions from one rocket: a new X-ray telescope that will spy on some of the hottest spots in our universe, and a small experimental robotic moon lander.

The telescope is called X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission, or XRISM for short (pronounced like the word “chrism”). The lunar mission is called Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM. Here’s what you need to know about the launch.

XRISM and SLIM are expected to launch from an H-IIA rocket from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center on Sunday at 8:26 p.m. Eastern time (it will be Monday at 9:26 a.m. in Japan). JAXA is providing a livestream in both Japanese and English on the agency’s YouTube channel starting around 7:55 p.m. Eastern time.

SLIM’s trip to the moon makes the timing tight: There are only a few minutes each day when Earth’s orientation is just right for the spacecraft to get on a trajectory that will put it in lunar orbit. Consequently, JAXA has a reserved launch period through Sept. 15, in case any delays in liftoff cause the mission to miss its launch window.

It is a telescope about the size of a bus. JAXA is collaborating with NASA on the mission, with additional participation from the European Space Agency. XRISM will study cosmic X-rays, which unlike other wavelengths of light can only be detected from above Earth’s atmosphere, which shields us from the harmful radiation.

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XRISM will use state-of-the-art spectroscopy to measure changes in the brightness of celestial objects at different wavelengths. This data will reveal information on the motion and chemistry of some of the most extreme cosmic locales, like the material swirling around black holes, the blistering plasma permeating galaxy clusters and the remnants of exploding massive stars.

A key tool aboard XRISM is Resolve, an instrument that will collect spectroscopic data with far more resolution than X-ray observatories orbiting the Earth do. Resolve must be cooled to just a fraction above absolute zero in order to measure tiny changes in temperature when X-rays hit the instrument’s surface.

A second instrument named Xtend will operate simultaneously to photograph the cosmos with a resolution comparable to the way our eyes might perceive it if we were to have X-ray vision. While Resolve zooms in, Xtend will zoom out, providing scientists with complementary views of the same X-ray sources over a larger area.

SLIM is a compact robotic moon lander with no astronauts aboard. It’s about the size of a small food truck and weighs more than 1,500 pounds at launch.

The lander’s mission is not primarily scientific. Rather, it is to demonstrate a pinpoint navigation system, aiming to set down within about the length of a football field of a targeted landing site. Developing better landing technology would enable future spacecraft to land closer to rugged terrain that is of scientific interest.

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The space telescope will be placed in an orbit approximately 350 miles above Earth. Once there, researchers will spend the next few months turning the instruments on and running tests of their performance. Science operations will begin in January, and initial results from this data are expected in about a year.

You’ll have to be patient with SLIM on its trip toward the Shioli crater on the moon’s near side. The spacecraft will be taking a long, roundabout journey of at least four months that requires less propellant. SLIM will take several months to reach lunar orbit, then spend a month circling the moon before attempting to set down on the surface.

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LAX passenger arrested after running onto tarmac, police say

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LAX passenger arrested after running onto tarmac, police say

A Los Angeles International Airport passenger was arrested early Saturday morning after he became irate and ran out of Terminal 4 onto the tarmac, according to airport police.

The passenger appeared to be experiencing a mental health crisis, said Capt. Karla Rodriguez. “Police responded and during their attempt in taking the suspect into custody, a use of force occurred,” she said.

The man, who was not identified, was arrested on suspicion of battery against a police officer and trespassing on airport property, she said. He was taken to a nearby hospital for a mental health evaluation.

A video obtained by CBS shows a shirtless man in black shorts running on the tarmac past an American Airlines jetliner with a police officer in pursuit. The officer soon tackles the man and pushes him down on the pavement.

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Video: How SpaceX Is Harming Delicate Ecosystems

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Video: How SpaceX Is Harming Delicate Ecosystems

On at least 19 occasions since 2019, SpaceX’s operations have caused fires, leaks and explosions near its launch site in Boca Chica, Texas. These incidents reflect a broader debate over how to balance technological and economic progress against protections of delicate ecosystems and local communities. The New York Times investigative reporter Eric Lipton explains.

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Live poultry markets may be source of bird flu virus in San Francisco wastewater

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Live poultry markets may be source of bird flu virus in San Francisco wastewater

Federal officials suspect that live bird markets in San Francisco may be the source of bird flu virus in area wastewater samples.

Days after health monitors reported the discovery of suspected avian flu viral particles in wastewater treatment plants, federal officials announced that they were looking at poultry markets near the treatment facilities.

Last month, San Francisco Public Health Department officials reported that state investigators had detected H5N1 — the avian flu subtype making its way through U.S. cattle, domestic poultry and wild birds — in two chickens at a live market in May. They also noted they had discovered the virus in city wastewater samples collected during that period.

Two new “hits” of the virus were recorded from wastewater samples collected June 18 and June 26 by WastewaterSCAN, an infectious-disease monitoring network run by researchers at Stanford, Emory University and Verily, Alphabet Inc.’s life sciences organization.

Nirav Shah, principal deputy director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that although the source of the virus in those samples has not been determined, live poultry markets were a potential culprit.

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Hits of the virus were also discovered in wastewater samples from the Bay Area cities of Palo Alto and Richmond. It is unclear if those cities host live bird markets, stores where customers can take a live bird home or have it processed on-site for food.

Steve Lyle, a spokesman for the state’s Department of Food and Agriculture, said live bird markets undergo regular testing for avian influenza.

He said that aside from the May 9 detection in San Francisco, there have been no “other positives in Live Bird Markets throughout the state during this present outbreak of highly-pathogenic avian flu.”

San Francisco’s health department referred all questions to the state.

Even if the state or city had missed a few infected birds, John Korslund, a retired U.S. Department of Agriculture veterinarian epidemiologist, seemed incredulous that a few birds could cause a positive hit in the city’s wastewater.

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“Unless you’ve got huge amounts of infected birds — in which case you ought to have some dead birds, too — it’d take a lot of bird poop” to become detectable in a city’s wastewater system, he said.

“But the question still remains: Has anyone done sequencing?” he said. “It makes me want to tear my hair out.”

He said genetic sequencing would help health officials determine the origin of viral particles — whether they came from dairy milk, or from wild birds. Some epidemiologists have voiced concerns about the spread of H5N1 among dairy cows, because the animals could act as a vessel in which bird and human viruses could interact.

However, Alexandria Boehm, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University and principal investigator and program director for WastewaterSCAN, said her organization is not yet “able to reliably sequence H5 influenza in wastewater. We are working on it, but the methods are not good enough for prime time yet.”

A review of businesses around San Francisco’s southeast wastewater treatment facility indicates a dairy processing plant as well as a warehouse store for a “member-supported community of people that feed raw or cooked fresh food diets to their pets.”

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