'The fate of Earth depends on a delicate balance': Our planet may survive the death of the sun after all, new models hint

• SpaceX successfully launched a 15,000-pound SiriusXM radio satellite into orbit from Florida's Space Coast on June 28. • The mission utilized a Falcon 9 rocket, marking the company's 76th launch of the current year.

• Northrop Grumman is scheduled to launch a rescue mission on June 30 to save NASA's Swift space telescope. • The mission will utilize a unique deployment method, launching a rocket from an airplane to boost the telescope's altitude.

• NASA astronaut Jessica Meir captured high-resolution images of towering thunderclouds while stationed aboard the International Space Station. • The photographs highlight the immense scale and dynamism of Earth's atmospheric weather systems from an orbital perspective.

• A new study suggests Earth may have been sending microbes to Venus for billions of years through asteroid impacts. • Researchers found that these microbes could survive the journey to Venus and end up in its clouds.

• A growing political movement targeting "woke" ideology is threatening the stability and funding of scientific research across the United States. • Critics argue that ideological interference in academia and government agencies risks compromising objective data and driving skilled researchers out of the country.

• NASA is preparing an unprecedented rescue mission to extend the operational life of the aging Swift observatory. • The mission aims to support the detection of cosmic explosions and transients, complementing new facilities like the Argus Array currently under development in Texas.

• NASA is planning a daring rescue mission to prevent a precious space telescope from plummeting back to Earth. • Separately, a University of Alberta study found that smartwatches are less effective at tracking heart health data for people with darker skin tones.

• A NASA Office of Inspector General audit revealed that canceled hardware contracts for the Artemis program reached a total of $5.9 billion. • The report highlights significant cost overruns and extended timelines, specifically noting a stage adapter that was on track to cost nearly $500 million.

• In 1947, a young Bedouin goatherd named Muhammad edh-Dhib accidentally discovered ancient jars containing the Dead Sea Scrolls while searching for stray livestock in a cave near Qumran in the Judean Desert. • This chance encounter triggered a decade of intensive cave exploration and manuscript recovery, uncovering some of the most significant archaeological texts in history.

• Researchers at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider have detected anomalous behavior in "penguin decays," which are incredibly rare particle transformations. • The observed results deviate from the theoretical predictions of the Standard Model, the foundational theory explaining the universe's fundamental particles and forces.

• China plans to double the size of its Tiangong space station by adding three new modules and a co-orbiting space telescope. • This expansion occurs as the International Space Station (ISS) nears the end of its operational life and prepares for a final splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.