NASA, NAACP Partner to Advance Diversity, Inclusion in STEM Fields

NASA and NAACP sign agreement to increase diversity in STEM fields, providing opportunities for underrepresented students. The partnership aims to inspire more young minds of color through NASA STEM education programs and mentorship. NAACP will incorporate NASA lessons into its ACT-SO program, while NASA will offer guidance and tours of facilities. Both organizations hope to pave the way for future Black scientists and engineers by increasing access to STEM opportunities.

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Can a Floating Device Transform Raindrops Into Electricity?

Raindrops aren’t just for filling reservoirs — they’re also tiny packets of energy, and scientists have been chasing ways to turn that energy into electricity for years. Now, a research team in China has developed a breakthrough device that could do just that more efficiently, using water not just as the source of energy, but as part of the power system itself. The new invention, created by researchers at the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, is a floating droplet electricity generator. Unlike traditional systems that rely on heavy, rigid materials, this one floats on a body of water and uses the water as both a structural support and a key electrical component. The result: a device that’s 80 percent lighter, 50 percent cheaper, and just as powerful. Their findings were recently published in National Science Review. How It Works Conventional raindrop generators typically involve a solid dielectric surface placed over a metal electrode. When raindrops hit the surface, they create a small electrical charge — sometimes hundreds of volts — but the setup is bulky and expensive. This new device, called a water-based droplet electricity generator (W-DEG), ditches the solid platform. It floats on water, which acts as a base and also serves as the conductive electrode. The water’s surface tension and incompressibility help absorb the impact of falling raindrops, allowing them to spread more efficiently across the dielectric film on top. The ions naturally found in the water carry the charge generated by the raindrop’s impact. The result: high peak voltages of up to 250 volts per droplet — similar to what traditional systems can achieve, but with much simpler and cheaper materials. Built to Withstand the Elements Durability is one of the W-DEG’s key advantages. The researchers tested the generator in a range of conditions, including temperature swings, varying salt levels, and even lake water with biological contaminants. Unlike many energy-harvesting devices that degrade under such stress, the W-DEG kept working. Part of the resilience comes from clever design. The team added drainage holes that allow water to flow down but not back up, helping the generator shed excess water and avoid performance loss from droplet buildup. Big Enough to Light a Room While most droplet generators built in labs have been limited in size, the team behind the W-DEG scaled their device up to 0.3 square meters — a record for this type of technology. That was enough to power 50 LEDs simultaneously and charge capacitors to useful levels within minutes. With future upgrades, the researchers say, floating generators could be deployed on lakes, reservoirs, or coastal waters, where they’d collect clean energy during rainfall — all without taking up any land. “By letting water itself play both structural and electrical roles, we’ve unlocked a new strategy for droplet electricity generation that is lightweight, cost-effective, and scalable,” said Professor Wanlin Guo, a corresponding author of the study. What Comes Next The implications go beyond powering small devices. The floating design could support water-based environmental sensors that monitor pollution, salinity, or temperature — especially in remote or off-grid locations. There are still engineering challenges ahead. Outdoor raindrops vary in size and speed, which may affect power output. Scaling up the dielectric films while keeping them stable in real-world environments will also require more work. But the concept itself — using natural water as both a support and an electrical element — opens the door to a new class of renewable technologies. “This opens the door to land-free hydrovoltaic systems that can complement other renewable technologies like solar and wind,” Guo said. In short, we may be one step closer to turning rainy days into a reliable, sustainable source of electricity.

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Scientists Discover Time Crystal That Reveals New Way To Order Time

Physicists have uncovered a new form of temporal structure that defies conventional ideas of how matter behaves over time — a “time rondeau crystal” that pulses in a rhythm of both chaos and order. The new discovery, published in Nature Physics, expands our understanding of time crystals — exotic states of matter first theorized in 2012 by Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek and experimentally observed a few years later. But unlike previous time crystals that pulse in regular, predictable intervals, this version doesn’t repeat in the same way each time. Instead, it follows a kind of structured irregularity — chaotic up close, ordered from afar. “In this work, we reveal the existence of new types of temporal order, arising from non-periodic but structured drives,” wrote the research team, led by Leo Joon Il Moon of the University of California, Berkeley, and Paul Schindler of the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Germany. The result is what they call a time rondeau crystal — a nod to the musical form known as a rondeau, where a repeating theme alternates with contrasting sections. Just as Mozart’s Rondo alla Turca loops around a recurring melody, this time crystal revisits a long-range pattern despite having unpredictable micro-variations within each cycle. How it works The team created the crystal inside a diamond, focusing on nitrogen-vacancy centers — tiny gaps in the atomic structure where a nitrogen atom sits next to an empty spot in the lattice. By exciting these defects with lasers, they manipulated the nuclear spins of nearby carbon-13 atoms, effectively turning the diamond into a controllable quantum system. Using a precision waveform generator, they drove the nuclear spins with tailored sequences of pulses — some periodic, some random, some in-between — and watched the system respond. Despite the messy, non-repeating drive inputs, the researchers found a surprising pattern: the crystal’s overall state repeated cleanly at regular intervals when viewed stroboscopically — once per drive cycle. In other words, the system looked chaotic up close but revealed a hidden symmetry when zoomed out. The time crystal maintained this hidden order for several seconds — long enough, in quantum terms, to be notable — before decaying. Order in disorder The breakthrough lies in how the system exhibits coexisting order and disorder. Within each drive cycle, the response is noisy and irregular. But from one cycle to the next, the same long-range pattern returns. This phenomenon echoes another mathematical oddity known as a time quasicrystal, which also exhibits non-repeating but structured patterns, much like a Penrose tiling. But the rondeau crystal goes a step further by weaving together apparent randomness and strict periodicity in a single system. To demonstrate how precisely they could control the crystal’s behavior, the team even encoded a message — “Experimental observation of a time rondeau crystal. Temporal Disorder in Spatiotemporal Order” — into the pulse sequences using ASCII code. Why it matters There’s no immediate application for this kind of time crystal, but the implications are intriguing. It opens the door to a new class of materials and timekeeping systems that don’t rely on regular rhythms, but still maintain reliable long-term structure. “Our experiments,” the team wrote, “open a promising new avenue to investigate temporal order, demonstrating the long-lived stable coexistence of long-range temporal order and micromotion disorder at short timescales.” It also raises questions about what other exotic forms of time-based order might be lurking in quantum systems — patterns we can’t see until we learn to look from the right angle, or at just the right moment in time.

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Jimmy Kimmel Hosts Fundraisers to Honor Late Friend and Bandleader Cleto Escobedo

Three days after the death of Cleto Escobedo, his longtime bandleader and childhood best friend, Jimmy Kimmel is turning his grief into action. The Jimmy Kimmel Live! host announced two charitable fundraisers on Nov. 14 in memory of Escobedo, who died at age 59 on Nov. 11. One will benefit UCLA Medical Center, where Escobedo received care, and the other will support The Animal Foundation in Las Vegas, honoring his love of animals. “Cleto was always kind and eager to help others,” Kimmel wrote on Instagram alongside photos of Escobedo — one with his family and dog, and another of the two men laughing with their saxophones. “As we mourn his loss, we have started two fundraisers to celebrate his life and give back.” The first fundraiser supports patients and families at UCLA who need financial help during treatment. “Together we can help vulnerable patients and families in need of financial assistance during hard times,” Kimmel wrote. A statement on the fundraiser’s page thanks the doctors and nurses at UCLA who “worked tirelessly and generously to give him the best care.” The second fundraiser supports The Animal Foundation in Las Vegas, Escobedo’s hometown, where he adopted several rescue dogs over the years. His family described him as “a beloved friend, father, and animal lover whose heart was always open to pets in need.” “Cleto would have loved his friends and family helping to provide safety, healing and homes for pets in need,” the message reads. Escobedo’s bond with Kimmel ran deep. The two met as children and remained inseparable for more than 50 years. When Jimmy Kimmel Live! launched in 2003, Escobedo and his band, Cleto and the Cletones, became a signature part of the show — with Cleto’s father occasionally joining on saxophone. “To say that we are heartbroken is an understatement,” Kimmel said when confirming his friend’s death. “Cleto and I have been inseparable since I was nine years old. The fact that we got to work together every day is a dream neither of us could ever have imagined would come true.” Fighting back tears, Kimmel opened the Nov. 11 show with an emotional tribute, calling it “the hardest monologue” he’s ever had to deliver. He later canceled the Nov. 12 and 13 tapings out of respect for Escobedo and the crew. “Everyone loves Cleto ... everyone here at the show,” he said. “We are devastated by this. It’s not … it’s just not fair.” Escobedo, who once called Jimmy Kimmel Live! “the best gig ever,” credited his father with inspiring his music career. In a 2021 featurette, he said he picked up the saxophone because his dad played. “He was a musician for many years, he was on the road a lot before I was born. And then when I started going to school, he quit playing just so he could be home with me and got a job as a busboy at Caesar’s Palace and worked there for 30 years.” As the tributes pour in and the fundraisers grow, Kimmel is focused on what Escobedo would have done — support others. “Cherish your friends,” he wrote. “And please keep Cleto’s wife, children and parents in your prayers.”

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Michael J. Fox Says Family’s Support Keeps Him Going: “They’ve Always Been There for Me”

Michael J. Fox says the thing keeping him going — through the years, through the struggle, through Parkinson’s — is his family. The 64-year-old actor opened up during an exclusive interview with PEOPLE at the “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson’s” benefit in New York City on November 15, sharing how much he relies on the support of his wife Tracy Pollan and their four children. “They’re so supportive and so great,” Fox said of Pollan and their children: Sam, 36, Aquinnah and Schuyler, both 30, and Esmé, 24. “All these people are friends of mine, family, and it’s really great to see them. I walk on the red carpet surprised to see them, and I think, ‘Well, why should I be surprised?’ They’ve always been there for me, and they continue to be for me, year after year.” Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991 and made the diagnosis public in a PEOPLE cover story. In 2000, he launched the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, which has since grown into the world’s largest nonprofit funder of Parkinson’s research, with over $2.5 billion invested in scientific advancements. This year marks the foundation’s 25th anniversary. “You don’t know how much you need until you know how much it took,” Fox said in a previous interview. “I’m so happy with what we’ve done. So happy to see advancement.” The November fundraiser, held at Cipriani South Street, featured co-chairs Fox and Pollan and brought out a wide range of support from friends and celebrities alike. Denis Leary hosted the night, with performances by Jackson Browne, Nikki Glaser, and Jon Stewart. Guests included Meg Ryan, Clark Gregg, Julianna Margulies, Richard Kind, Katie Couric, and Willie Geist. Pollan, 65, also spoke to PEOPLE at the event, echoing her husband’s praise for their children. “They’re just incredibly supportive,” she said. “Michael is so optimistic, which is wonderful and really helps him, but it’s really important to also understand that this is a huge challenge. It’s very difficult for the family, for the caregivers and, obviously, for the patient. It’s not easy. It’s hard for them, but they show up and they’re there for us.” Fox’s optimism, paired with unshakeable family support and years of tireless advocacy, continues to define his journey. But he’s clear-eyed about the difficulty of it too. The battle isn’t simple. Still, for Fox and his family, showing up is what matters. And they keep doing exactly that.

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Epilepsy Implant Trial Offers Hope to Mother and Son in This New UK Study

A young man from Cumbria has become one of the first people in the UK to receive a brain implant designed to monitor epilepsy — and for his family, it’s already making a difference. Adam Atkinson, 22, from Whitehaven, had the device implanted two months ago at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle. It’s part of a six-month national trial testing whether brain implants can provide better seizure tracking than current methods. For Adam’s mother, Vicki Brown, the technology has offered something they haven’t had in a long time: “This just gives you a little bit of hope,” she said. Adam has lived with a rare condition called seronegative autoimmune encephalitis since he was 15. One of the effects is drug-resistant epilepsy, which causes frequent seizures — often the kind that don’t involve convulsions but still seriously affect awareness. Known as absence seizures, these episodes cause Adam to suddenly go vacant and lose track of his surroundings. Until now, doctors have relied on seizure diaries — essentially self-reporting — or short-term hospital monitoring with EEG machines to study seizure activity. But both have major limitations, said Dr Rhys Thomas, who is leading the North East and Cumbria portion of the trial. “It gives us an unprecedented opportunity,” he said of the implant. “Right now, we usually just ask people to keep a diary. But you miss so much that way.” An EEG, the standard hospital test for monitoring brain activity during seizures, requires patients to be hooked up to equipment and may not capture anything if the person doesn’t have a seizure during the short window they’re being monitored. It also doesn’t track what’s happening the rest of the time — especially during sleep. Since the implant was fitted, doctors discovered something crucial about Adam’s condition: he’s having seizures at night, while asleep — something no one knew before. “That’s the kind of thing that changes how we treat someone,” Dr Thomas said. If doctors know when and how often seizures are happening, especially the ones patients aren’t aware of, they can tailor treatment more precisely. For Adam, getting used to the implant has taken time, but he says it’s become part of daily life. The device is always active, continuously monitoring his brain activity and transmitting data remotely to doctors. The trial, which includes six participants from the North East and Cumbria, is still in early stages, and the big question is whether the benefits justify the cost. “Is this an expensive toy? Is it a luxury?” Dr Thomas said. “Or is this a technology that is worth the cost and worth investing in?” For families like Adam’s, it already feels worthwhile. “Before this, it felt like there wasn’t much else we could do,” said Ms Brown. “Now, at least, it feels like we’re moving forward.”

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Wheelchair User Adapts Strictly Dance Routines to Inspire Others

When Fay Crockett was diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis at 16, she thought her dancing days were over. Nearly a decade later, she’s not only dancing again — she’s adapting Strictly Come Dancing routines for wheelchair users and sharing them with thousands online. “I never imagined this would become part of my life,” says Crockett, now 25. “But my wheelchair has come to represent freedom, especially when it allows me to do things I love like dance.” Crockett began dancing as a child, long before her ME — also known as chronic fatigue syndrome — forced her to give up in-person classes and eventually rely on a wheelchair. The neurological disease affects around 390,000 people in the UK and can cause extreme exhaustion, pain, and mobility issues. For Crockett, it meant a period of being bedbound. But even then, she never stopped dancing — at least in her head. “Whilst I was stuck in bed I used to choreograph dances in my head to every piece of music I heard,” she said. “From that moment, I knew that if I ever got the chance to dance again, I would do everything I could to make it happen.” That chance came during the pandemic. Like many dancers and instructors, Crockett noticed a shift to online classes and realised she could participate — and even teach — from home. She earned several dance qualifications, launched her own weekly online classes, and began adapting Strictly Come Dancing routines to suit her wheelchair. By 2023, she was posting these adapted routines to her TikTok page. The response surprised her. “My videos were liked, shared, and commented on by celebrities, professional dancers, judges, and choreographers,” Crockett said. “I never expected the response I received.” Among her many supporters were dancers from the Strictly cast itself. Her growing popularity eventually earned her a feature on the BBC’s behind-the-scenes companion show It Takes Two. Crockett’s choreography process starts with watching Strictly performances and identifying which styles can be adapted. “I take note of which dances or styles might work best, avoiding routines that rely heavily on lifts or long periods in hold,” she said. Routines with strong upper-body movement, she added, usually “catch my eye.” She then breaks the dance down into accessible segments and records each video in one take. But her journey to embracing dance — and her wheelchair — wasn’t simple. After her diagnosis, Crockett says she was “incredibly reluctant” to accept that she needed a wheelchair. “There were the constant stares, the occasional judgmental comments, and the deep fear of being seen by anyone I knew – a reflection of my own, very human, internalised ableism,” she said. At first, she tried returning to ballet classes in person, but the travel took too much of a toll on her body. It was only when she began dancing from home that things started to click again. “Dance will always look different for me, but it's mine again. That, to me, is everything.” Crockett now hopes to see a wheelchair user competing on Strictly Come Dancing one day — not as a novelty, but as part of the show’s continued evolution. As her online audience grows and her routines continue to inspire, Crockett says the goal is simple: to make dance feel possible for people who’ve been told it isn’t. And in doing so, she’s not just reimagining choreography — she’s helping reframe what freedom can look like.

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Waste Disposal Workers Just Rescued And Adopted Kittens From a Woodpile

Four tiny kittens are lucky to be alive — and even luckier to have landed in homes with the workers who saved them. Oreo, Biscuit, Mittens and Bob were just three weeks old when they were unknowingly transported five miles in a skip full of wood to the Tancred waste transfer station near York. The two-tonne load was just minutes from being dumped by industrial shovels when the kittens' faint cries stopped everything. “They’re the luckiest cats to be around,” said Yorwaste driver Nik Smith, who had picked up the skip and was on-site when the meows were heard. He and his colleagues found the litter buried inside the pile, which also contained a half-eaten rabbit — possibly brought in by the kittens’ mother. There were no microchips, and the vet confirmed they were likely feral. But despite the close call, the kittens came out of it healthy. Just hungry. So began a stretch of bottle-feeding and round-the-clock care by Smith and his coworkers. Smith ended up keeping Bob, who he describes as “a terror.” His fellow workers Andrew Pattinson and Alan Dyer adopted the others. Pattinson took home Mittens, despite initial concerns about how she’d get along with his new English bull terrier puppy. Turns out there was no need to worry. “But obviously he's the boss now,” Pattinson said. Dyer, already a cat owner, had been thinking about adding a third to the family. Instead, he took two — Oreo and Biscuit. “I thought, ‘oh, they're really cute kittens, really young, really small,’” he said. Now four months old, the pair are thriving. Biscuit is the mellow one. Oreo? “Boss of the house,” Dyer said. He’s not exaggerating. “Biscuit, once he's had his dinner, he'll just come up, climb up on my chest or on my shoulder, and just goes to sleep,” Dyer added. No one knows exactly where the kittens came from. As a hooklift driver, Smith collects skips from all over North Yorkshire, so their original location is a mystery. The kitten rescue isn’t the first time Yorwaste employees have stepped in to help animals. Back in June, another driver pulled over on the A59 during rush hour traffic to rescue a lone duckling running down the road. He took the duckling home, named him Ruffles, and eventually found him a companion named Bourbon. Now, with their homes full of pets, Smith, Pattinson and Dyer haven’t ruled out taking in more rescues. But they’re keeping things in check — sort of. “Don’t you send the photos to my wife or she’ll say bring it home,” Pattinson joked. Smith’s response? “Never say never.”

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Photographer Sparks Viral Connection With Strangers Through Unique Photoshoots

When Brooke LeVesque picked up a camera six years ago, it was just a creative outlet. By 2021, she’d turned it into a full-time career. And in October 2025, a single photoshoot changed everything. LeVesque, 25, had been photographing couples and moments of love for years. But a friend's request led her to try something new — photographing two total strangers meeting for the first time. The idea was simple: skip the dating apps, the curated bios, the filtered selfies, and see what happened when two people just… met. What started as a favor has now become a full-blown project — and something of a social media phenomenon. “I’ve had over 1,600 applications so far, which just shows how many people are craving something real – a genuine spark, not a swipe,” LeVesque told PEOPLE. The project is based in Ocala, Florida. Applicants fill out a form with questions about their personality and interests, and LeVesque carefully pairs them up for a blind photoshoot. The strangers don’t know each other’s names. They meet for the first time on camera. LeVesque calls the series "stranger sessions." She never expected it to blow up. One particular shoot — her second — did just that. It featured 27-year-olds Ali Oswalt and David Barrett, two strangers whose chemistry was hard to ignore. In the photos, they laugh, slow dance barefoot in the sand, even attempt the famous lift from Dirty Dancing. It’s cinematic. And when they jumped into Lake Weir at the end, it felt like something straight out of a Nicholas Sparks film. Even the weather seemed to lean into the drama. Rain poured down, but the two refused to stop. “Ali and David’s photoshoot was memorable for many reasons,” LeVesque said. “They immediately connected, to the point where they couldn’t stop talking to one another.” The shoot racked up more than 3.5 million views on TikTok. Commenters were captivated by their chemistry, flooding the post with reactions like “I believe in love again” and “They have to get married.” And then came the question everyone was asking: did they stay in touch? Oswalt and Barrett gave it a shot, spending time together after the session. But ultimately, they decided friendship suited them better. “After getting to know each other more, we decided we’d be better off as just friends,” Oswalt told PEOPLE. Barrett said the experience was “like nothing I’ve ever done or felt before,” adding that when he first saw Oswalt, “she was so beautiful it took me a second to focus, but once I did, I didn’t want the session to end.” The outcome might not have been the fairytale fans were hoping for, but the magic of that single meeting — and the images that captured it — was enough to keep people watching. Since then, LeVesque has completed four more stranger sessions, and she’s not slowing down. Her inbox keeps filling, her schedule keeps booking, and the strangers keep showing up. “These sessions aren’t about perfect matches or fairytale endings,” she said. “They’re about taking a risk, being open, and letting yourself be seen.” What people respond to, she believes, isn’t just the possibility of romance — it’s the hope of connection. A reminder that even in a disconnected world, something real can still happen. Even between strangers. Even in the rain.

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Couple Adopts Blind, Deaf Dog Who Plays Special Role in Their Wedding

Meghan and Matt Rogers didn’t plan on adopting a blind and deaf dog. They certainly didn’t plan on making him a central part of their wedding. But Benjamin, an aging bully mix with a tuxedo bandana and a quiet presence, had other plans. The couple first connected with Benjamin through Wags & Walks, a Nashville-based animal rescue group. The dog had landed in their care after spending time in a shelter, and he was in rough shape — blind, deaf, suffering from seizures, and in need of a family willing to take him in for what time he had left. “We were a little nervous about having a blind and deaf dog and knowing how to communicate and make sure all his needs were met,” Meghan told PEOPLE. “I just didn’t want to set either of us up for failure.” Despite the hesitation, they brought Benjamin home that same night. “Ultimately, I know it’s cliché, but even though I was nervous, in the back of my mind I knew I was going to say yes,” she said. The couple had previously fostered a few dogs through the organization, but Benjamin was different. Adjusting to life with him wasn’t simple. He wasn’t affectionate at first and had trouble settling into his new environment. But gradually, something shifted. “My favorite memory of Benjamin would have to be when I knew he finally felt love and safe with us,” Matt said. “He wasn't very affectionate, but he fell asleep on my lap while I was rubbing his head and was just comfortable, maybe, for the first time in his life.” As the couple continued planning their wedding, they realized Benjamin had become family — and they couldn’t imagine having the ceremony without him. A traditional wedding with a dog who hated car rides wasn’t going to work, so they came up with an alternative: an intimate backyard ceremony with close family, right at home. “In his tuxedo bandana, he just wandered around outside,” Meghan recalled. “But once I walked up to meet Matt, the most amazing thing happened. Despite being completely blind and deaf, Benjamin walked up directly between us, like he just knew he needed to be there.” “It literally brought us all to tears,” she said. “It was so special. He could sense something was happening, and I like to think it was his stamp of approval.” Benjamin died the following weekend. The couple says the timing felt meaningful — like he had waited until after the wedding to say goodbye. “It still brings tears to my eyes,” Meghan said. “He held on just long enough, and it’s that much more meaningful that it was our last weekend with him.” The loss still lingers. Meghan says she misses seeing him sunbathe, knowing that was his happy place. But what stays with her even more is how much he changed their lives — and how much he taught them. “We would do it again in a heartbeat,” she said. “Our lives are forever changed because of him.” For others thinking about taking in an older animal, Meghan didn’t hesitate. “DO IT,” she said. “We truly can’t tell you how much Benjamin taught us about patience and perseverance, and to just enjoy the little things. They say old dogs can't learn new tricks, but they can sure teach some.”

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How This Giant Inflatable Bag Could Catch Asteroids And Space Junk

In the shadow of collapsing mines and climate-choked supply chains, some entrepreneurs are looking up — literally. Asteroids, rich in metals and minerals, are being eyed as a sustainable solution to Earth’s increasingly destructive mining practices. And one company, TransAstra, believes it’s found a low-cost way to catch them: a giant space bag. Yes, a bag. Based in California, TransAstra is designing inflatable Capture Bags that can snare everything from watermelon-sized debris to house-sized asteroids. The bags are made from aerospace-grade materials like Kevlar and aluminum, and they come in six sizes — from one that fits in a coffee cup to a version that could enclose a 10,000-ton asteroid. The company’s founder, Joel Sercel, an aerospace engineer who once taught at Caltech, says asteroid mining is one of the hardest problems in space — but it’s also one of the most promising. “To solve the asteroid mining problem, you actually have to solve four other problems: detect, capture, move, and process,” Sercel said. “We have tech in all those areas.” So far, TransAstra has raised $12 million in private venture capital and secured another $15 million through contracts and grants with NASA and the U.S. Space Force. With more than 20 patents and a new one filed almost monthly, the company has already completed a test of its Capture Bag aboard the International Space Station — minus any asteroid grabbing — and is now building a much larger, flight-ready version with support from NASA. Why Mine Asteroids? Asteroids contain precious and industrial metals — platinum, nickel, cobalt, and more — in concentrations often far richer than Earth’s mines. Unlike terrestrial mining, which is tied to ecological damage, political instability, and dwindling reserves, asteroid mining offers the potential for high-yield, off-world extraction — especially if the materials are used directly in space. Sercel doesn't believe in hauling resources back to Earth. His vision is bolder: mine and manufacture in space, creating the infrastructure to support satellites, spacecraft, and future missions using local materials instead of shipping everything from Earth. A Giant Bag With Big Ambitions TransAstra’s Capture Bags are central to this plan. The system is simple in concept: a spacecraft approaches an asteroid, releases the bag, which then inflates around the target, enclosing it safely. The bag is leak-proof and designed to accommodate a range of shapes, sizes, and even tumbling motion — something robotic arms often struggle with. The largest version could wrap around a small building. Right now, the company is developing a 10-meter Capture Bag — large enough to handle decommissioned satellites or a 100-ton asteroid. The engineering phase is nearly complete, with flight testing expected soon. Before any asteroid missions, however, the technology will get a test run in a more immediate space hazard: orbital debris. Thousands of defunct satellites, rocket parts, and fragments orbit the Earth at dangerous speeds. Cleaning up this “space junk” is becoming a priority for space agencies — and it’s where TransAstra hopes to prove its tech. “That 10-meter bag will be big enough to find satellites in graveyard orbits and move them to a safer place,” Sercel said. “It’s a risk mitigator for the full asteroid mining mission.” The First Space Gold Rush? TransAstra’s asteroid detection effort is already underway with its Sutter telescope network, named after the California site where gold was first discovered in 1848. The telescopes are scanning the skies from Arizona, California, and Australia, with a fourth site planned in Spain. The focus: small, slow-moving asteroids in Earth-like orbits around the sun. “These objects drift very slowly by the Earth,” Sercel explained. “We already know where hundreds of them are, and we’re planning on going and getting the first one in 2028.” That timeline is ambitious. Other private asteroid mining companies, like Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries, raised millions but folded before they could get a spacecraft off the ground. To date, only government missions from NASA and JAXA (Japan’s space agency) have successfully returned asteroid samples — and those cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Still, outside observers say TransAstra’s approach shows promise. Eleonora Botta, an aerospace engineering professor at the University at Buffalo, noted that the flexibility of the bag system is a major strength: “This versatility is valuable for asteroid capture and even more so for managing space debris.” She added that successfully scaling the technology for large missions will be a significant engineering challenge, but one the company seems poised to take on. John Crassidis, a NASA consultant and space debris expert, also sees potential. “If it works, then it’ll really open the doors for asteroid mining,” he said. “The big question is: can they find enough asteroids to make it cost feasible? We’ll find out — 2028 is pretty ambitious in my opinion, but I hope they make it.” Mining the Future While mining the stars might still sound like science fiction, the building blocks are starting to fall into place. With space becoming more congested and climate pressures intensifying here on Earth, ideas like TransAstra’s no longer feel so far-fetched. As Sercel puts it: “We think that the prospecting of asteroids will lead to the gold rush to space.” If he’s right, the next great mineral boom may not happen underground — but somewhere just beyond Earth’s orbit, tucked inside an inflatable bag.

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