Lifeboat Foundation

At approximately 18:17 CET (17:17 UTC) on Wednesday, February 21, 2024, ESA’s ERS-2 satellite completed its atmospheric reentry over the North Pacific Ocean. No damage to property has been reported.

ESA’s second European Remote Sensing satellite, ERS-2, was launched almost 30 years ago, on April 21, 1995. Together with the almost-identical ERS-1, it provided invaluable long-term data on Earth’s land surfaces, ocean temperatures, ozone layer, and polar ice extent that revolutionized our understanding of the Earth system. It was also called upon to monitor and assist the response to natural disasters.

“The ERS satellites have provided a stream of data which has changed our view of the world in which we live,” said ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes, Simonetta Cheli. “They have provided us with new insights on our planet, the chemistry of our atmosphere, the behavior of our oceans, and the effects of mankind’s activity on our environment – creating new opportunities for scientific research and applications.”

For more than a decade, an abandoned piece of a Japanese rocket has been speeding uncontrolled around Earth, at risk of colliding with active satellites and causing havoc in orbit.

Researchers are working on ways to improve the effectiveness of currently approved bile duct cancer, also called cholangiocarcinoma, treatments and finding early success in the development of more targeted therapies. Read more on the AACR Blog:

To overcome this issue, researchers are exploring next-generation FGFR inhibitors. During the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium in January 2024, phase II clinical trial results were announced for tinengotinib, a FGFR1-3 inhibitor that binds to FGFR in a way that blocks FGFR2 fusion and rearrangement, preventing the mutations that cause resistance to treatment. Of the patients in the trial whose tumors had developed resistance to a previous FGFR inhibitor, 37.5% demonstrated a partial response with tumor reductions ranging from 40.7% to 54.6%. A phase III trial for the drug candidate kicked off in December 2023.

Other next-generation FGFR inhibitors are in various stages of development, including RLY-4008 (phase I/II trial), erdafitinib (phase IIa), KIN-3248 (phase I/Ib), derazantinib (phase II), tasurgratinib (phase II), and HMPL-453 (phase II).

Continue reading “Finding the Right Targets to Treat Biliary Tract Cancers” »

A European Space Agency satellite is expected to reenter and largely burn up in Earth’s atmosphere on Wednesday morning.

The agency’s Space Debris Office, along with an international surveillance network, is monitoring and tracking the Earth-observing ERS-2 satellite, which is predicted to make its reentry at 3:53 p.m. ET Wednesday, with a 7.5-hour window of uncertainty. The ESA is also providing live updates on its website.

“As the spacecraft’s reentry is ‘natural’, without the possibility to perform manoeuvers, it is impossible to know exactly where and when it will reenter the atmosphere and begin to burn up,” according to a statement from the agency.

NEJM Journal Watch Oncology and Hematology Associate Editor David Ilson was on hand at the 2024 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium and highlights the latest research in colorectal, neuroendocrine, and esophagogastric cancers.

Important new studies with the potential to impact clinical practice were presented at the 2024 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium held January 18 to 20 in San Francisco. NEJM Journal Watch Oncology and Hematology Associate Editor David H. Ilson, MD, PhD, was on hand and reports on some of them.

COLORECTAL CANCER

Continue reading “ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium 2024” »

The ADRAS-J satellite, which weighs 150 kilograms (330 pounds), lifted off on top of an Electron rocket from Rocket Lab’s launch site in New Zealand at 9:52 am EST (1452 GMT; 3:52 am local New Zealand time on February 19).

Lift-off for #OnCloserInspection! ADRAS-J is on its way to orbit. pic.twitter.com/1cu9BI7BBp — Rocket Lab (@RocketLab) February 18, 2024

Continue reading “Rocket Lab, Astroscale launch historic mission to monitor space junk” »

Astroscale’s ADRAS-J spacecraft, a demonstration satellite that could inform future space junk cleanup efforts, is now in orbit after a successful launch from New Zealand on Sunday. The satellite was sent to space atop an Electron rocket from Rocket Lab. Its mission, which was selected by Japan’s space agency (JAXA) for Phase I of the Commercial Removal of Debris Demonstration program, will see ADRAS-J rendezvous with an old Japanese rocket upper stage that’s been in orbit since 2009.

There it goes! 🛰️👋

ADRAS-J is now in orbit, ready to start its mission of rendezvousing with an aging piece of space debris and observing it closely to determine whether it can be deorbited in future.

The H3’s main missions are to secure independent access to space and be competitive as international demand for satellite launches grows. “We made a big first step today toward achieving that goal,” Yamakawa said.

The launch is a boost for Japan’s space program following a recent streak of successes, including a historic precision touchdown on the moon of an unmanned spacecraft last month.

The liftoff was closely watched as a test for Japan’s space development after H3, in its debut flight last March, failed to ignite the second-stage engine. JAXA and its main contractor Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have been developing H3 as a successor to its current mainstay, H-2A, which is set to retire after two more flights.

WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin is experiencing a growth spurt in an unexpected corner of its business: small satellites. While traditionally known for its expertise in GPS and giant geostationary (GEO) satellites, the company has quietly built a backlog of 100 smallsats on order from Department of Defense and intelligence customers.

“This is probably a different picture than many of you may have in our minds” about what the company does, Johnathon Caldwell, head of Lockheed Martin’s military space business, told a military conference Feb. 14.

Speaking at the Air & Space Forces Association’s Warfare Conference in Aurora, Colorado, Caldwell said a greater focus on small satellites began with the company’s pursuit of Space Development Agency contracts. SDA is building a proliferated mesh network of satellites in low Earth orbit for the Defense Department, and unlike traditional cost-plus defense programs, the agency demands fixed-price bids from satellite manufacturers.