The top space stories of the week!

One NASA mission on Mars will be listening for the landing of the latest Red Planet rover, the CIA releases thousands of declassified UFO-related documents and a Japanese asteroid-studying spacecraft starts a new multi-year journey into the solar system. These are some of the top stories this week from Space.com.

Blue Origin successfully launches and lands its upgraded spacecraft.

Blue Origin's first upgraded New Shepard rocket and crew capsule launches on an uncrewed suborbital flight from the company's West Texas test site on Jan. 14, 2021. — Blue Origin’s first upgraded New Shepard rocket and crew capsule launches on an uncrewed suborbital flight from the company’s West Texas test site on Jan. 14, 2021. (Image credit: Blue Origin)

On Thursday (Jan. 14), Blue Origin successfully launched the reusable RSS First Step spacecraft in an uncrewed suborbital test flight from West Texas. It is the first upgraded New Shepard spacecraft for astronauts, and both its rocket and capsule successfully touched down after launch. Blue Origin is developing New Shepard to carry people and payloads to suborbital space and back.

Full story: Blue Origin’s 1st upgraded New Shepard spacecraft for astronauts aces launch (and landing)

Alarming benchmark for CO2 in 2021.

Factory emits CO2 into the atmosphere (Image credit: Unsplash)

The national meteorological service for the U.K., called the Met Office, made a recent forecast that suggests the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in Earth’s atmosphere will exceed a major threshold this year. CO2 stays in the atmosphere for a long time, according to forecast’s lead researcher, and emissions from previous years causes levels to continue increasing. In 2021, they expect a 50% increase in atmospheric CO2 since the start of widespread industrial activity in the 18th century.

Full story: Atmospheric CO2 will pass an alarming milestone in 2021

SpaceX Cargo Dragon splashes down in the Atlantic ocean.

The SpaceX Cargo Dragon resupply ship is pictured docked to the Harmony module's space-facing international docking adapter. At right, a portion of the JAXA Kibo laboratory module, the Experiment Logistics Module (Kibo's stowage facility), is pictured. — The SpaceX Cargo Dragon resupply ship is pictured docked to the Harmony module’s space-facing international docking adapter. At right, a portion of the JAXA Kibo laboratory module, the Experiment Logistics Module (Kibo’s stowage facility), is pictured. (Image credit: NASA)

SpaceX’s 21st space station cargo delivery mission for NASA wrapped up on Wednesday (Jan. 13) when a Cargo Dragon spacecraft returned to Earth off the coast of Florida. The Dragon CRS-21 mission launched on Dec. 6, 2020 and delivered 6,40 lbs. (2,903 kilograms) of supplies and science equipment to the crew onboard the International Space Station. This was the first Atlantic splashdown of a Cargo Dragon.

Full story: SpaceX’s upgraded Cargo Dragon supply ship makes 1st Atlantic splashdown

U.S. Navy videos of alleged UFO sightings were previously available but had not been officially declassified. (Image credit: U.S. Navy)

The CIA released more than 2,700 pages of declassified documents related to “unidentified aerial phenomena.” The documents were released following several Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests filed over the last 25 years, according to the operator of The Black Vault, an online repository of UFO-related documents.

Full story: CIA releases entire collection of UFO-related documents to truth-seeking website

Oldest and farthest known quasar is discovered.

This artistic visualization shows J0313-1806, the most distant (and therefore earliest) quasar ever found. (Image credit: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva)

Astronomers found the most distant quasar known to science. It’s so far away that the light reaching Earth from this quasar dates back to when the universe was just 5% of its current age. This quasar also hosts a supermassive black hole with a mass roughly the equivalent of 1.6 billion suns.

Full story: The most distant quasar ever found is hiding a seriously supermassive black hole

Japanese probe journeys to new asteroid targets.

An artist's depiction of the Hayabusa2 spacecraft after inserting its capsule into Earth's atmosphere for sample delivery. — An artist’s depiction of the Hayabusa2 spacecraft after inserting its capsule into Earth’s atmosphere for sample delivery. (Image credit: JAXA)

Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft is now on its way to a new asteroid after dropping off samples from its previous target to Earth in early December 2020. On Jan. 5, the mission team started powered navigation back out into the solar system to reach the 2,300-foot-wide (700 meters) asteroid (98943) 2001 CC21 for a flyby in 2026. A more in-depth visit to another space rock will occur in 2031, when it studies a small 100 feet (30 m) wide asteroid called 1998 KY26.

Full story: Japanese asteroid-sampling probe begins long trek to next space rock

Scientists find an old and hot ‘super-Earth’ in the Milky Way.

Artist’s rendition of TOI-561, one of the oldest, most metal-poor planetary systems discovered yet in the Milky Way galaxy. (Image credit: W. M. Keck Observatory/Adam Makarenko)

Scientists used data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii to find an exoplanet, about 50% larger than Earth, that orbits one of the oldest stars in the Milky Way galaxy. The system is located nearby, about 280 light-years from Earth. The exoplanet is about our planet’s size and density, but its average surface temperature of over 3,140 degrees Fahrenheit (1,726 degrees Celsius) means it is too hot to host any form of life as we know it.

Full story: Rocky ‘super-Earth’ planet spotted orbiting one of the Milky Way’s oldest stars

NASA is ready to test-fire megarocket engines.

NASA will test the engines of its SLS megarocket at the Stennis Space Center in a hot fire test on Saturday Jan. 16, 2021. (Image credit: NASA)

NASA plans to test-fire the four main engines of its next-generation heavy-lift booster, the Space Launch Systems (SLS) megarocket. This will be the final test in NASA’s ”Green Run” testing series that will check if the rocket is ready for its first launch, the Artemis 1 uncrewed mission around the moon. The upcoming hot-fire engine test will occur at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

Full story: NASA is finally ready to test-fire the engines of its SLS megarocket

Scientists study sunquakes and look for their origins.

NASA's powerful Solar Dynamics Observatory has taken its 100 millionth photo of the sun with its Advanced Imaging Assembly instrument. The space-based observatory hit the photo milestone on Jan. 19. 2015. — NASA’s powerful Solar Dynamics Observatory has taken its 100 millionth photo of the sun with its Advanced Imaging Assembly instrument. The space-based observatory hit the photo milestone on Jan. 19. 2015. (Image credit: NASA/SDO/AIA/LMSAL)

The sun releases acoustic energy in the form of waves that ripple along the sun’s surface. This solar seismic activity is triggered deep beneath the star’s surface, according to data from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. Scientists plan to study more sunquakes to identify the source that originates deep within the star.

Full story: Sunquakes likely triggered deep beneath solar surface

A NASA mission might hear the Martian landing of another mission.

Artist's illustration of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity landing via sky crane on Aug. 5, 2012. — Artist’s illustration of NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity landing via sky crane on Aug. 5, 2012. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

NASA’s InSight Mars lander is designed to listen for marsquakes, but its sensitivity means it may also pick up the waves made by NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover when it lands on the Red Planet’s surface in February 2021. The InSight mission will attempt to pick up the seismic activity of the rover’s landing from more than 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) away.

Full story: NASA’s InSight Mars lander may ‘hear’ Perseverance rover’s landing next month

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