SpaceX’s hulking Falcon Heavy rocket returned to the skies Thursday evening, and this time it launched a mysterious spacecraft for the US military that will carry out cutting-edge research.

The rocket lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 8:07 p.m. ET, carrying the military’s X-37B space plane — which is uncrewed and operates autonomously — to unprecedented altitudes. The launch streamed live on SpaceX’s website. The side boosters returned to Earth and safely touched down.

It is not clear, however, exactly where the space plane is going.

The X-37B’s activities in space have long been the subject of fascination and speculation in the space community as amateur enthusiasts race to track its whereabouts and share theories about its activities.

Resembling a miniature NASA space shuttle with the windows blacked out, the reusable and fully autonomous X-37B has been known to carry out research on concepts such as relaying solar energy from space for use back on Earth and studying the effects of radiation on seeds used to grow food.

And this mission — the seventh trip to space for an X-37B plane — promises to be even more intriguing than earlier flights.

A powerful ride

This launch marked the first time the space plane has hitched a ride on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy, one of the most powerful operational rockets in the world.

Previously, the X-37B has launched on the SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle and the Atlas V rocket built by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

The Falcon Heavy produces more thrust than both of those rockets combined.

The launch via the Falcon Heavy could indicate that X-37B is destined for more distant orbits, perhaps even to the moon or Mars, suggested Paul Graziani, CEO of COMSPOC, a company dedicated to tracking objects in space.

If it does travel much deeper into the cosmos than earlier flights, it could be far more difficult for sky-gazers on Earth to determine where the vehicle is.

If the military doesn’t want people to track the X-37B, Graziani added, the vehicle can be hidden in the glare of the sun or by various other means — including changing its position often. The X-37B has already proven on previous flights that it’s capable of making multiple maneuvers in space.

COMSPOC will attempt to search for the vehicle if the spacecraft winds up in geosynchronous orbit, which lies about 22,400 miles (36,000 kilometers) from Earth and is where most massive communications satellites operate. Geosynchronous orbit is where the company focuses its sensors for tracking satellites, said Graziani and Bob Hall, COMSPOC’s director of operations integration.

“I think it’s one of the most interesting things that’s happened in space in a long time, whatever it’s going to do,” Graziani said of the X-37B launch.

Space technology innovations

The X-37B makes it possible for the United States to carry out experiments to understand how to improve ongoing and upcoming space operations and push the boundaries of what’s possible, according to a statement by Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations.

Among the research on board this mission is a NASA experiment that aims to find ways to sustain astronauts on future deep-space missions. Called Seeds-2, it will “expose plant seeds to the harsh radiation environment of long-duration spaceflight” and build on research carried out on previous X-37B missions.

Learning how to grow food in the harsh, soilless environment of outer space could be crucial for astronauts on lengthy missions to the moon or beyond — places where it’s more difficult to deliver fresh supplies.

It’s unclear how long the spacecraft will spend in orbit for this stint, though historically each X-37B flight has been longer than the last.

The X-37B has already spent more than 3,700 days in space on other uncrewed missions. When it returns to Earth, it will land on a runway, much like an airplane swooping down from the skies.

Challenging China

This launch came after more than two weeks of delays. SpaceX was prepared to lift off on December 10. The launch was pushed off twice because of weather and issues with the ground pad before SpaceX abruptly delayed the mission indefinitely to “perform additional system checkouts.”

But during the downtime, China — which the US government considers its chief competitor in a modern space race — sent its own secretive spacecraft into orbit.

Little about the spacecraft from China is known. Some in the industry speculate it is a doppelganger of the X-37B in form and function, though no official photos of the vehicle have been released.

China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency reported that the clandestine spacecraft launched aboard a Long March 2F rocket.

The agency’s post added only that during its stay in space, the vehicle will test out reusable space technology and carry out unspecified science experiments “for the peaceful use of space.”

It is not clear how long China’s space plane will spend in orbit.

The wave of attacks began overnight into Friday and struck nationwide, with blasts reported in the capital Kyiv, as well as at a maternity hospital in the central city of Dnipro, the eastern city of Kharkiv, the southeastern port of Odesa, and the western city of Lviv, far from the frontlines.

“It’s been a long time since we have seen so many enemy targets on our monitors in all regions and all directions,” Yurii Ihnat, spokesperson for Ukraine’s air force, told national television. “Everything was being fired.”

Russia used 158 drones and missiles, including hypersonic Kinzhal missiles, cruise missiles and Shahed drones, to strike targets in Kyiv, the east, south and west of the country, Ukraine’s air force said.

“Today the enemy has struck a powerful blow. There are downed targets, however unfortunately there are also casualties,” Ihnat added.

At least three people were killed and 28 injured, including 25 hospitalized, in Kyiv after Russia targeted a metro station and residential buildings. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said four people had been pulled from the rubble of a damaged warehouse in Shevchenkivskyi district, adding that rescue operations were ongoing.

Kharkiv was hit by a “massive attack,” Ukrainian Prime Minster Denys Shmyhal said, with more than 20 strikes reported in the region, including on a hospital. At least three people were killed and 11 injured in the strikes, according to regional military administration head Oleh Syniehubov.

At least four people were killed and 10 people were injured in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia, the regional military administration head Yurif Malashko said on Telegram. Emergency workers are still working to see if people are trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings. Malashko said the region had been targeted by 10 missiles, including Kinzhal missiles, of which one was intercepted.

Further south, a school building was hit in Odesa, injuring seven people, including a child. Three people were killed and 22 injured – including two children and a pregnant woman – in strikes elsewhere in the region, according to Oleh Kiper, head of Odesa region military administration. At least 18 people were hospitalized.

And in the central city of Dnipro, at least five were killed and more than 20 injured, officials said.

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said Russia had targeted “Ukrainian women, children, the elderly, and civilians” in the strikes.

“The crimes that Russia has committed in Ukraine today are its revenge for its inability to turn the tide of the battle in the fight against the Ukrainian defense forces,” it said in a statement.

Without referring directly to Friday’s attacks, the Russian Defense Ministry said its army had “carried out 50 group strikes and one mass strike with high-precision weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles” in the period from December 23 to 29, claiming it had only struck military targets.

The massive overnight assault comes just days after Ukraine struck a Russian Navy landing ship in Crimea on Tuesday, causing severe damage to the vessel in another major blow to Moscow’s Black Sea fleet.

But the onslaught also came shortly after Ukraine received the last package of military aid from the United States until Congress approves the Biden administration’s funding request.

Nearly two years since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky is facing a largely-stalled counteroffensive while Western aid has begun to dry up.

The head of Ukraine’s Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak, called for support as his country battles Russian airstrikes.

“A massive terrorist attack, rockets are flying at our cities again, and civilians are being targeted,” Yermak said in a Telegram post on Friday.

“Ukraine needs support. We will be even stronger, we are doing everything to strengthen our air shield. But the world needs to see that we need more support and strength to stop this terror.”

Prime Minister Shmyhal said the attacks “targeted social and critical infrastructure,” but praised the work of Ukraine’s air force.

“Ukrainian air defense forces have once again demonstrated a high level of professionalism. Most of the air targets were shot down. We thank the soldiers for saving lives.”

The US ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink, shared a screenshot on X, formerly Twitter, of the numerous air raid warnings sent to Ukrainian phones overnight.

“This is what Ukrainians see on their phones this morning,” she said. “As a result, millions of men, women, and children are in bomb shelters as Russia fires missiles across the country. Ukraine needs funding now to continue to fight for freedom from such horror in 2024.”

Bombers in the air

The Ukrainian Air Force said it recorded “the departure of 9 Tu-95MS strategic bombers from the ‘Olenya’ airfield in the Murmansk region of Russia.”

The Tu-95 bomber is a mainstay of Russia’s aerial attacks on Ukraine, able to launch cruise missiles against its neighbor out of the range of most air-defense systems.

In Kyiv, officials warned residents to take shelter as a “UAV threat” was detected in the area, a reference to drones.

Trains were halted as a building was damaged at Lukianivska subway station in central Kyiv, which is also operating as a shelter, Klitschko said.

Many were wounded and a search for victims is underway after a warehouse caught fire in the Podilskyi district of the capital region, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, Serhiy Popko, said in a Telegram post.

In the northeastern city of Sumy, numerous explosions were heard on Thursday evening local time following Russian shelling “of the border territories and settlements,” the administration in the area reported.

A residential building was hit and caught fire, Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said on Telegram Friday.

In Lviv, which borders Poland, at least 15 people were injured, with damage reported in 13 residential buildings and two schools, according to the head of Lviv region military administration Maksym Kozytskyi.

Friday’s widespread strikes followed Russia’s launch of 53 attacks across eastern Ukraine on Thursday, according to a Telegram post from the Ukrainian General Staff.

Russia launched dozens of airstrikes, wounding civilians and destroying civilian infrastructure, the post said.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he wished the “loud sound of explosions” heard across Ukraine Friday morning “could be heard all around the world.”

“In all major capitals, headquarters, and parliaments, which are currently debating further support for Ukraine. In all newsrooms, which are writing about ‘fatigue’ or Russia purportedly being ready for ‘negotiations,’” he wrote on X.

“These sounds are what Russia really has to say. Our only collective response can and must be continued, robust, and long-term military and financial assistance to Ukraine. Only greater firepower can silence Russian terror.”

SpaceX’s hulking Falcon Heavy rocket will return to the skies Thursday evening, and this time it’s launching a mysterious spacecraft for the US military that will carry out cutting-edge research.

The rocket is scheduled to lift off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 8:07 p.m. ET, carrying the military’s X-37B space plane — which is uncrewed and operates autonomously — to unprecedented altitudes. The launch will stream live on SpaceX’s website.

It is not clear, however, exactly where the space plane is going.

The X-37B’s activities in space have long been the subject of fascination and speculation in the space community as amateur enthusiasts race to track its whereabouts and share theories about its activities.

Resembling a miniature NASA space shuttle with the windows blacked out, the reusable and fully autonomous X-37B has been known to carry out research on concepts such as relaying solar energy from space for use back on Earth and studying the effects of radiation on seeds used to grow food.

And this mission — the seventh trip to space for an X-37B plane — promises to be even more intriguing than earlier flights.

A powerful ride

This launch will mark the first time the space plane has hitched a ride on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy, one of the most powerful operational rockets in the world.

Previously, the X-37B has launched on the SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle and the Atlas V rocket built by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

The Falcon Heavy produces more thrust than both of those rockets combined.

The launch via the Falcon Heavy could indicate that X-37B is destined for more distant orbits, perhaps even to the moon or Mars, suggested Paul Graziani, CEO of COMSPOC, a company dedicated to tracking objects in space.

If it does travel much deeper into the cosmos than earlier flights, it could be far more difficult for sky-gazers on Earth to determine where the vehicle is.

If the military doesn’t want people to track the X-37B, Graziani added, the vehicle can be hidden in the glare of the sun or by various other means — including changing its position often. The X-37B has already proven on previous flights that it’s capable of making multiple maneuvers in space.

COMSPOC will attempt to search for the vehicle if the spacecraft winds up in geosynchronous orbit, which lies about 22,400 miles (36,000 kilometers) from Earth and is where most massive communications satellites operate. Geosynchronous orbit is where the company focuses its sensors for tracking satellites, said Graziani and Bob Hall, COMSPOC’s director of operations integration.

“I think it’s one of the most interesting things that’s happened in space in a long time, whatever it’s going to do,” Graziani said of the X-37B launch.

Space technology innovations

The X-37B makes it possible for the United States to carry out experiments to understand how to improve ongoing and upcoming space operations and push the boundaries of what’s possible, according to a statement by Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations.

Among the research on board this mission is a NASA experiment that aims to find ways to sustain astronauts on future deep-space missions. Called Seeds-2, it will “expose plant seeds to the harsh radiation environment of long-duration spaceflight” and build on research carried out on previous X-37B missions.

Learning how to grow food in the harsh, soilless environment of outer space could be crucial for astronauts on lengthy missions to the moon or beyond — places where it’s more difficult to deliver fresh supplies.

It’s unclear how long the spacecraft will spend in orbit for this stint, though historically each X-37B flight has been longer than the last.

The X-37B has already spent more than 3,700 days in space on other uncrewed missions. When it returns to Earth, it will land on a runway, much like an airplane swooping down from the skies.

Challenging China

This launch comes after more than two weeks of delays. SpaceX was prepared to lift off on December 10. The launch was pushed off twice because of weather and issues with the ground pad before SpaceX abruptly delayed the mission indefinitely to “perform additional system checkouts.”

But during the downtime, China — which the US government considers its chief competitor in a modern space race — sent its own secretive spacecraft into orbit.

Little about the spacecraft from China is known. Some in the industry speculate it is a doppelganger of the X-37B in form and function, though no official photos of the vehicle have been released.

China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency reported that the clandestine spacecraft launched aboard a Long March 2F rocket.

The agency’s post added only that during its stay in space, the vehicle will test out reusable space technology and carry out unspecified science experiments “for the peaceful use of space.”

It is not clear how long China’s space plane will spend in orbit.

A host of Russian celebrities who turned up scantily clad at an “almost naked” themed party in Moscow are facing fierce backlash at a time when the country is at war in Ukraine and the authorities are pushing an increasingly conservative agenda.

The party, hosted by blogger Anastasia Ivleeva on December 20-21 at the Mutabor club in the capital, drew criticism from Orthodox Church officials and pro-war activists, as well as pro-Kremlin lawmakers.

One of the attendees, rapper Vacio (Nikolay Vasilyev), who showed up wearing a sock to cover his genitals, has been sentenced to 15 days in jail and fined 200,000 rubles (roughly $2,200) after a Moscow court ruled the event was aimed at “propagating non-traditional sexual relationships.”

Vasilyev was found guilty of offenses including “petty hooliganism.”

“Nikolay Vasilyev (better known as rapper Vacio) participated in a party at the ‘Mutabor’ nightclub, disrupted public order, used vulgar language, and disseminated publications in Telegram channels aimed at promoting non-traditional sexual relationships in mass media on the internet,” the court ruling said.

In recent years, the Kremlin has expanded a raft of anti-LGBTQ laws, a conservative shift that has intensified following the invasion of Ukraine. Last month, Russia’s Supreme Court declared the “international LGBTQ movement” an extremist organization.

The backlash against the party in Moscow comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin is increasingly focused on traditional values as opposed to what he has portrayed as the decadence and immorality of the West as he seeks reelection in March 2024.

Apologies issued amid angry reaction

Vasilyev is among those who attended the party to issue a public apology.

Organizer Ivleeva initially said the partygoers dress choices were their own, and claimed the event was a chance to showcase photos made during her tenure as the chief editor of the Russian edition of Playboy.

On Wednesday, Ivleeva released a new video lasting over 21 minutes where she tearfully apologized, seeking forgiveness and a second chance, or public condemnation.

A lawsuit seeking compensation of 1 billion rubles ($11 million) for moral damages was filed on Tuesday against Ivleeva for organizing the party, state news agency RIA Novosti reported.

One of the other attendees, pop star Anna Asti, had a New Year’s event at another club in Moscow cancelled, the venue said on its website.

“Dear friends, due to reasons beyond our control, the performance of Anna Asti has been rescheduled to a new date, which we will announce soon,” the message said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on Wednesday, stating: “Regarding this party, I ask for your mercy: let’s stay the only ones in the country not discussing this topic.”

An outspoken pro-war activist and Head of the Safe Internet League, Ekaterina Mizulina, thanked Russian police on Wednesday for their response, and shared Telegram screenshots of messages allegedly from concerned and outraged citizens.

“How do I explain to my nephew, who, while participating in a special operation, lost both legs and became disabled, what he fought for, and why he ended up disabled, for Ivleeva’s underwear?” one of the messages read, referring to the official Russian euphemism for its invasion of Ukraine.

“To host such events at a time when our young people are perishing in the military operations and many children are losing their fathers is cynical,” said Mizulina in her own post. “Our fighters on the front lines are certainly not fighting for this.”

Meanwhile, Vitaly Borodin, head of the Federal Project for Security and Anti-Corruption, expressed outrage, calling the event “sodomy, obscurantism, and LGBT propaganda,” urging the Minister of Internal Affairs to send police to the Mutabor nightclub.

A controversial ban on XL Bully dogs is set to come into force in England and Wales on Sunday, following a September announcement by the UK government amid a rise in fatal attacks involving the breed in the country.

The breed was added in September to the list of dogs banned in England and Wales under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.

According to the UK government’s website, starting December 31 it will be against the law to sell, abandon or let stray, give away and breed from an XL Bully dog, as well as to have an XL Bully in public without a lead and muzzle.

Under the new law, owners will have until February 1 to register them, as it will be a criminal offense to own a dog of that breed in England and Wales without a certificate of exemption.

The ruling does not apply to Scotland and Northern Ireland, with local media in the two constituent countries reporting an increase of rescues of the breed from England and Wales as a result.

According to guidelines published by the UK Government this month, the XL Bully breed type is a variant of the wider American Bully breed type, which was “developed through the crossing of various bull breeds, including the American Pit Bull Terrier.”

“The XL Bully breed type is typically larger (both in terms of height and body shape) and more muscular than other Bully breed variant types such as the ‘Micro’, ‘Pocket’, ‘Standard’ and ‘Classic’,” the UK government’s guidance read.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged to bring in a ban after a man died after being savaged by two XL Bully dogs in September. In a TV interview, Sunak called the breed “a danger to communities,” adding, “it is right that we take urgent action to stop these attacks to protect the public.”

Many owners and animal welfare advocates have defended the breed, stressing the importance of good training, while critics say they have been specifically bred to be highly aggressive and even responsible ownership is not enough to prevent from attacks on occasions.

A politician from the party of Russian President Vladimir Putin has been found dead in a courtyard outside his home, local media reported Thursday, adding to the growing list of Russian elites who have died under unclear circumstances in recent months.

Vladimir Egorov, a Tobolsk City Duma Deputy from the ruling United Russia party, was reportedly 46 at the time of his death, which was reported by Russian newspaper Kommersant, citing the press service of the Investigative Committee for the Tyumen Region in Russia.

There were no “external signs of criminal death” on Egorov’s body, investigators told Kommersant. The committee “could not confirm the information about the circumstances of the deputy’s death” to Kommersant, it said, as they are “still conducting an autopsy.”

Russian state media TASS meanwhile reported on Thursday that Egorov “was found dead in Tobolsk,” also citing the regional committee. And unofficial Telegram channel Baza – which has links to Russian security services – said Egorov’s body “was discovered in the courtyard of his house on Kedrovaya Street” on Wednesday.

Kommersant and TASS reported that investigators are still establishing the causes of Egorov’s death, while the Tobolsk City Duma published an obituary on its social media page Thursday saying that Egorov died “as a result of an accident.”

The Duma praised Egorov – its deputy chairman before his death – for providing “comprehensive support to the participants of the Special Military Operation and the families of military personnel” fighting in Ukraine and for taking “an active part in the social and political life of the city.”

He joins a list of prominent Russians who have died by suicide or in unexplained accidents in recent months and years, including several businessmen with ties to Russia’s two largest energy companies.

Among that group was Ravil Maganov, the chairman of Lukoil, Russia’s second biggest oil and gas company, which had previously taken the unusual public stance of speaking out against Russia’s war in Ukraine. Maganov died after falling out of the window of a hospital in Moscow, according to Russian state news agency TASS.

Russian sausage magnate-turned-lawmaker Pavel Antov, another member of the United Russia party who topped Forbes ranking of the 100 richest civil servants in Russia in 2018, died in India last December after falling from the third floor of his hotel, according to the Indian police.

Months before his death he had reaffirmed his support for Putin after denying he posted an anti-war message on WhatsApp, blaming an “unfortunate misunderstanding and a technical error.”

In May, Russian Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education Pyotr Kucherenko died after falling ill on a plane with a Russian delegation returning from a business trip to Cuba. A journalist who said he had spoken with Kucherenko in the months prior to his death said that Kucherenko had felt like a hostage of the Russian government and feared for his own safety.

Thousands of years ago, Earth’s magnetic field underwent a significant power surge over a part of the planet that included the ancient kingdom of Mesopotamia. People at the time probably never even noticed the fluctuation, but signs of the anomaly, including previously unknown details, were preserved in the mud bricks that they baked, new research has found.

When scientists recently examined bricks dating from the third to the first millennia BC in Mesopotamia — which encompassed present-day Iraq and parts of what is now Syria, Iran and Turkey — they detected magnetic signatures in those from the first millennium, indicating that the bricks were fired at a time when Earth’s magnetic field was unusually strong. Stamps on the bricks naming Mesopotamian kings enabled researchers to confirm the time range for the magnetic spike.

Their findings corresponded with a known magnetic surge called the “Levantine Iron Age geomagnetic Anomaly,” which took place between 1050 and 550 BC. It had previously been documented in artifacts from the Azores, Bulgaria and China using archaeomagnetic analysis — examining grains in pottery and ceramic archaeological objects for clues about Earth’s magnetic activity, scientists reported December 18 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“It is really exciting that ancient artifacts from Mesopotamia help to explain and record key events in Earth history such as fluctuations in the magnetic field,” said study coauthor Mark Altaweel, a professor of Near East archaeology and archaeological data science at the University College London’s Institute of Archaeology.

‘Human-made rocks’

When an ancient artifact contains organic matter, such as bone or wood, scientists can learn how old it is through radiocarbon dating, which compares ratios of decay preserved in carbon isotopes. But for inorganic artifacts — pottery or ceramic objects — archaeomagnetic analysis is necessary to reveal their age, said lead study author Matthew Howland, an assistant professor in the department of anthropology at Wichita State University in Kansas.

“Archaeomagnetic dating can be applied to any kind of magnetically sensitive materials that have been heated up,” Howland said. And its usefulness extends beyond archaeology.

“Geologists often use analysis of rocks to study Earth’s magnetic fields, but in more recent times when there’s not the possibility of studying very recent rocks because they haven’t had the time to form yet, we need to use archaeological artifacts,” he said. “We can think of mud bricks or pottery as human-made rocks to study Earth’s magnetic fields.”

Before this new study, there was little precise archaeomagnetic evidence from Mesopotamian artifacts dating to this time.

“The lack of data there really restricted our ability to understand the conditions of Earth’s magnetic field in that region,” Howland said. It also meant that archaeologists couldn’t accurately calculate the ages of many sites in Mesopotamia, “an incredibly important region in world archaeology.”

Magnetic attraction

Earth is surrounded by a magnetosphere — an invisible bubble of magnetism generated by the powerful churning of molten metals at Earth’s core. It prevents our atmosphere from being stripped away by solar winds blasting it from the sun. While the magnetosphere has been a constant presence for billions of years, its strength waxes and wanes over time. (Human health is not directly affected by magnetic field fluctuations, according to the US Geological Survey.)

Clay artifacts that were baked at high temperatures retain a “fingerprint” of Earth’s magnetism at the time in minerals such as iron oxide affected by magnetism. Retrieving that fingerprint involves a series of magnetic experiments that repeatedly heat and cool the object, exposing it to magnetic fields and then removing them. This process creates a series of new fingerprints, which are compared with the object’s original magnetic intensity.

Scientists can then match the object to a specific period of activity in Earth’s magnetic field.

“Overall, this is exciting work because it is helping us understand what Earth’s magnetic field is doing through time and will also help determine the age of artifacts that otherwise would be impossible,” said Cauê S. Borlina, a postdoctoral fellow in the department of Earth and planetary sciences at Johns Hopkins University. Borlina, who was not involved in the study, conducts research on ancient and modern magnetic fields, and their impact on planet formation and habitability.

The new analysis not only filled an important data gap—it also revealed new clues about that period’s magnetic anomaly.

Of the 32 stones that the researchers sampled, five bore stamps linking them to the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II, between 604 and 562 BC. Measurements of magnetism in the stones showed that the magnetic field strengthened quickly and intensely when the bricks were made. The stamps on the bricks therefore created a snapshot of a magnetic power surge that spanned just a few decades.

“The next steps are to continue this work, apply it to more mud bricks from Mesopotamia and further improve the curve that we can produce of the intensity of Earth’s magnetic field over time,” Howland said.

“But perhaps even more exciting is that archaeologists working at sites in Iraq and Syria can look at our data and apply the same techniques to undated artifacts,” he added. “This can help resolve a lot of the chronological debates that occur in the region, about the chronology of kings.”

Mindy Weisberger is a science writer and media producer whose work has appeared in Live Science, Scientific American and How It Works magazine.

Ali Hajimiri has spent a decade researching how to put solar panels in space and beam the energy down to Earth. Yet when the Caltech electrical engineering professor talks about his work, people always have three questions, usually in this order: Why not just put solar panels on Earth? Are you going fry birds in the sky? Are you building a Death Star?

Hajmiri jokes he plans to have the answers printed on a card. “I’m going to have it in my wallet to show people,” he said.

This year, Hajimiri and his team made a step towards making space-based solar a reality.

In January, they launched Maple, a 30-centimeter-long space solar prototype equipped with flexible, lightweight transmitters. The aim was to harvest energy from the sun and transfer it wirelessly in space, which they did, managing to light up a pair of LEDs.

But the “stretch goal” was to see if Maple could also beam down detectable energy to Earth. In May, the team decided to launch a “dry run” to see what would happen. On a rooftop on the Caltech campus in Pasadena, California, Hajimiri and the other scientists were able to pick up Maple’s signal.

The amount of energy they detected was tiny, too small to be useful, but they had succeeded in wirelessly beaming down power from space. “It was only after the fact that it dawned on us a little bit that, OK, well, this was something very special,” said Hajimiri.

Space-based solar may sound a wild, futuristic idea, but it is not new. As far back as 1941, it was described in a short story by science fiction writer Isaac Asimov. In the decades since, countries including the US, China and Japan have explored the idea — but for years it was written off. “The economics were just way out,” said Martin Soltau, CEO of the UK-based company Space Solar.

That may now be changing as the cost of launching satellites falls sharply, solar and robotics technology advances swiftly, and the need for abundant clean energy to replace planet-heating fossil fuels becomes more urgent.

There’s a “nexus of different technologies coming together right now just when we need it,” said Craig Underwood, emeritus professor of spacecraft engineering at the University of Surrey in the UK.

The problem is, these technologies would need to be deployed at a scale unlike anything ever done before.

What is space-based solar?

At its heart, space-based solar is a fairly straightforward concept. Humans could harness the enormous power of the sun in space, where it’s available constantly — unaffected by bad weather, cloud cover, nighttime or the seasons — and beam it to Earth.

There are different concepts, but it would work roughly like this: huge solar power satellites, each more than a mile long in diameter, would be sent into a very high orbit.

The satellite’s solar cells would capture the sun’s energy, convert it into microwaves and beam it down to Earth wirelessly via a very large transmitter, able to hit specific points on the ground with precision.

The microwaves, which can easily travel through clouds and bad weather, would be directed to a receiving antenna (or “rectenna”) on Earth made of mesh — “think of a sort of fishing net hung on bamboo poles,” Soltau said — where the microwaves would be converted back into electricity and fed into the grid.

The rectenna, approximately 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) in diameter, could be built on land or offshore. And because these mesh structures would be nearly transparent, the idea is the land underneath them could be used for solar panels, farms or other activities.

A single space solar satellite could deliver up to 2 gigawatts of power, roughly the same amount as two average nuclear power plants in the US.

An idea whose time has come?

Over the last decade, that has begun to change as companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin started developing reusable rockets. Today’s launch costs at around $1,500 per kilogram are about 30 times less than in the Space Shuttle era of the early 1980s.

And while launching thousands of tons of material into space sounds like it would have a huge carbon footprint, space solar would likely have a footprint at least comparable to terrestrial solar per unit of energy, if not a smaller, because of its increased efficiency as sunlight is available nearly constantly, said Mamatha Maheshwarappa, payload systems lead at UK Space Agency.

Some experts go further. Underwood said the carbon footprint of space-based solar would be around half that of a terrestrial solar farm producing the same power, even with the rocket launch.

But that doesn’t mean space-based solar should replace terrestrial renewables, he added. The idea is that it could provide “baseload” power that can be called upon around the clock to fill in the gaps when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine on Earth. Currently, baseload power tends to be provided by power plants running on fossil fuels or nuclear energy, which are able to operate with little interruption.

The power would be “very portable,” said Peter Garretson, a senior fellow in defense studies at the American Foreign Policy Council. It could be beamed from space to the top of Europe, for example, and then to the bottom of Africa.

Many advocates point to the potential it could offer developing countries with deep energy needs but a lack of infrastructure. All they would need is a rectenna. “It will provide real democratization of abundant affordable energy,” Soltau said.

Space-based solar could also help power remote Arctic towns and villages that lie in almost complete darkness for months each year, and could beam power to support communities experiencing outages during climate disasters or conflict.

The challenges

There is still a huge gulf between concept and commercialization.

We know how to build a satellite, and we know how to build a solar array, the UK Space Agency’s Maheshwarappa said. “What we don’t know is how to build something this big in space.”

Scientists also need to figure out how to use AI and robotics to construct and maintain these structures in space. “The enabling technologies are still in a very low technology readiness,” Maheshwarappa said.

Then there’s regulating this new energy system, to ensure the satellites are built sustainably, there’s no debris risk, and they have an end-of-life plan, as well as to determine where rectenna sites should be located.

Public buy-in could be another huge obstacle, Maheshwarappa said. There can be an instinctive fear when it comes to beaming power from space.

But such fears are unfounded, according to some experts. The energy density at the center of the rectenna would be about a quarter of the midday sun. “It is no different than standing in front of a heat lamp,” Hajimiri said.

And to build a satellite capable of doing harm to people, it would have to be many times bigger than the concepts currently being developed, Hajimiri said. “Anyone who tries to start building that, everyone else would know.”

That doesn’t mean questions shouldn’t be asked, he said. The idea is “to benefit humanity, and if it doesn’t, there’s no point.”

For some, however, the whole concept of space-based solar is misplaced.

For Lovins, promises that the system would be a great source of baseload power don’t hold up either. There are techniques to match energy demand to supply, rather than the other way around, without consumers even noticing. Having a huge power source that is producing all the time is “undesirably inflexible,” he said.

“Why spend money on something that has no chance of a business case if you succeeded, whose need will have been met before you could build it and whose most optimistic future cost estimates are the same as the current price of terrestrial solar power plus batteries?” he asked.

The future

But governments and companies around the world believe there is huge promise in space-based solar to help meet burgeoning demand for abundant, clean energy and tackle the climate crisis.

A development program able to demonstrate proof of concept is about five or six years away, Soltau said. It will then take another five or six years to industrialize and scale up the gigawatt-scale system to be fully operational.

Strong government support will be key, he said. “It’s an ambitious thing to create a brand new energy technology.”

In the US, the Air Force Research Laboratory has plans to launch a small demonstrator called Arachne in 2025, and the US Naval Research Laboratory launched a module in May 2020 aboard an orbital test vehicle, to test solar hardware in space conditions.

The China Academy of Space Technology, a spacecraft designer and manufacturer, is aiming to send a solar satellite into low orbit in 2028 and into high orbit by 2030, according to a 2022 South China Morning News report.

There’s been a burst of activity from the UK government. It commissioned an independent study which reported in 2021 that space-based solar was technically feasible, highlighting designs such as the UK-led CASSIOPeiA, a satellite 1.7 kilometers (1 mile) in diameter that aims to deliver 2 gigawatts of power. In June this year, the government announced nearly $5.5 million in funding to universities and tech companies “to drive forward innovation” in the space-based solar sector.

And Europe has its Solaris program, to establish the technical and political viability of space-based solar, in preparation for a possible decision in 2025 to launch a full development program.

“Obviously, before you build something, everything is speculation,” said Garretson, “but there are strong reasons to think that this might actually be economically possible and viable.”

Back in California, Hajimiri and his team have spent the last six months stress testing their prototype to extract data to feed into the next generation of design.

Hajimiri’s ultimate vision is series of lightweight, flexible sails, that can be rolled up, launched and unfurled in space, with billions of elements working in perfect synchronization to send energy where it is needed

He views their project as “part of this long chain of people who build upon each other’s work and help each other,” he said. “So we are taking an important step, perhaps, but it is not the last step.”

As the new year approaches, you might be thinking about buying a bottle of champagne to ring it in with a celebratory “pop.” But the climate crisis could ruin the party, new data suggests.

By 2050, these popular grape varieties may cease to exist, ClimateAi says. Using hundreds of global climate models, satellite data and field data, ClimateAi researchers are able to forecast the future of grapes used to make champagne and sparkling wine around the world.

A study published in 2020 warned that the number of regions currently growing wine grapes will shrink by more than half if global temperatures rise by 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The world will breach that threshold this century if deeper, sustained cuts to carbon pollution aren’t made soon, according to the UN Environment Programme. At 4 degrees of warming, up to 85% of these lands would no longer be viable to produce a decent drop.

“If we think about champagne specifically, it’s a very unique beverage,” said Will Kletter, vice president of operations and strategy at ClimateAi. “It requires warm, sunny days for robust flavor and cool nights to build up that acidity, which gives it that kind of crisp, refreshing taste that that we love.”

He added: “But as the climate warms, those warm sunny days can get maybe a bit too warm, and those cool nights go away.”

Global wine production in 2023 was at its lowest in 60 years. A lot of that decline was because of extreme weather events, many of which have been worsened by climate change, according to an annual wine production report by the International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV), published in November. Italy dropped from its position as the world’s leading wine maker due to several adverse weather events, including erratic rainfall that triggered downy mildew, as well as floods, hailstorms and drought, the report said.

At the pace at which the planet is warming, Kletter said wine growers need to start learning how to adapt — and potentially keep an eye out for viable, cooler locations further north — to keep the industry alive and growing.

In France’s Champagne region, wine growers in 2021 saw their smallest harvest since 1957 due to extreme weather events, from extreme heat to early frosting, as well as heavy rainfall, according to a Reuters report. This cost France a total of roughly $2 billion in sales, the report said.

But France has had a decent production year in 2023, producing well in the north, including in Champagne, the OIV report said, even though some vineyards in the south were hit with downy mildew, heat waves and drought.

How wineries are adapting

Dave and Lois Cho moved from California to Oregon’s Willamette Valley to start a winery in 2020, a particularly challenging year as the western US faced a historic, multi-year drought that triggered unprecedented water shortages and land-scarring wildfires.

They were determined to find a site with high elevation. That’s because a vineyard higher up will be cooler and receive more rain. It also means that grapes won’t ripen too early, as they do in the heat, allowing for more flavor and acidity to develop.

The wine industry uses a metric called growing degree days to measure how much heat is accumulating through the growing season and helps determine the speed at which grapes redeveloping. The Chos say the number of those “days” are rising, which accelerates the grapes’ ripening and pushes harvest seasons earlier.

As the West gets hotter and drier, many US wine producers like the Chos see Oregon’s Willamette Valley — roughly a nine-hour drive north of the famous wine-growing Napa Valley in California — as the country’s next major wine region.

“It’s like a moving train. If you’re trying to jump on a moving train, it’s really difficult,” Lois Cho said. “But in Oregon, it’s like we’re laying down the tracks, because there’s a lot of undeveloped land and untapped resources.”

Opportunity for new flavor

One of the questions for the wine industry now is whether traditional wine growers are willing to shift away from their regions and adopt new winemaking processes. ClimateAi’s Kletter said major wine producers need to consider whether there are emerging areas and opportunities to develop new vineyards and new flavors.

“That’s the wine adaptation playbook,” said Kletter, who once lived in France and is a huge sparkling wine fan. “I think this is actually an exciting opportunity for businesses and potentially consumers to get access to tasty wines that they may have never experienced before.”

But that’s challenging for regions like Bordeaux and Champagne in France, which are bound to their territories. By law, to be considered authentic “champagne,” the wine must come from the Champagne region. That’s why in other countries, including the US, similar drinks are called “sparkling wine.”

But for the Chos, their move to Oregon has inspired experimentation. In 2022, they co-fermented their grapes with apples to create a new flavor to their sparkling wine. It’s become quite a popular product among their 2022 wines, Lois Cho said.

“You can’t live in fear,” Dave Cho said. “There’s an opportunity for us to be creative.”

2023 was another unprecedented year — from a former US president being criminally indicted to a Speaker of the House of Representatives being removed — both for the first time the country’s nearly 250-year history.

Beyond politics, the US and Canada witnessed a suspected Chinese spy balloon float across North America; the world watched, listened and waited for any sign from the ill-fated Titan submersible on its voyage to the Titanic wreckage site; and every nation lived through increasingly extraordinary weather related to global climate change.

By our count, our top story of the year had almost 18 million readers — the news of the terrifying collapse of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin on January 2 and its aftermath.

As you can imagine, the war in Israel and Gaza — and the historic terror attacks that spawned it — dominated the list this year. And, tragically, there were too many mass shootings in America to remember.

But I was also surprised at how many off-beat stories made our list too — reminding us how much you need stories that not only inform, enlighten and explain, but delight, too.

As 2024 promises to be potentially even more unprecedented than 2023, we promise to deliver the essential news to keep you informed, the explanatory analysis to help you understand what the news means and the compelling stories to help you engage with the world, in its myriad moods and colors.

CNN Digital’s top 100 stories of 2023

1. Damar Hamlin’s health update live story January 3, 2023

2. Missing Titanic sub crew killed after ‘catastrophic implosion’ June 22, 2023

3. Lewiston, Maine mass shootings live story October 25, 2023

4. Arnold Schwarzenegger says friend Bruce Willis will be remembered as a ‘great star’ and a ‘kind man’ May 31, 2023

5. Missing Titanic sub search news live story June 21, 2023

6. Nashville elementary school mass shooting live story March 27, 2023

7. Rep. Kevin McCarthy wins House speakership vote live story January 6, 2023

8. Erythritol, an ingredient in stevia, linked to heart attack and stroke, study finds February 27, 2023

9. White homeowner accused of shooting Black teen who went to the wrong house in Kansas City will face 2 felony charges, officials announce April 17, 2023

10. Jeremy Renner accident January 2, 2023

11. Why everyone’s phone will alarm at 2:20 pm ET on Wednesday October 2, 2023

12. Damar Hamlin update live story January 4, 2023

13. Trump indictment on business fraud charges in Manhattan March 30, 2023

14. Matthew Perry death October 28, 2023

15. An El Niño winter is coming. Here’s what that could mean for the US September 25, 2023

17. Wagner head says group standing down live story June 24, 2023

18. Trump says he expects to be arrested Tuesday as New York law enforcement prepares for possible indictment March 18, 2023

19. At least 16 people dead, sources say, as a ‘person of interest’ is being sought in two shootings in Lewiston, Maine October 25, 2023

20. Hamas terror attacks live story October 7, 2023

21. 6-year-old shoots teacher January 7, 2023

22. Maine shootings investigations live story October 27, 2023

23. Israel-Hamas war live story October 9, 2023

24. Lisa-Marie Presley death January 12, 2023

25. McCarthy behind move to kick Pelosi out of her office, sources say – so he can move into it October 3, 2023

26. Israel-Hamas war live story October 8, 2023

27. Maui wildfires live story August 9, 2023

28. Titanic-bound submersible suffered ‘catastrophic implosion’ June 22, 2023

29. Chinese spy balloon live story February 4, 2023

30. 9-year-old daughter missing on camping trip October 2, 2023

31. Trump New York arraignment live story April 4, 2023

32. Tucker Carlson out at Fox News April 24, 2023

33. Titanic submersible live story June 20, 2023

34. Dalai Lama apologizes after video asking child to ‘suck’ his tongue sparks outcry April 11, 2023

35. Officials release violent video of Tyre Nichols arrest live story January 27, 2023

36. Chinese zoo sun bears viral controversy August 1, 2023

37. GOP deadlocked over House speaker vote live story January 4, 2023

38. Los Angeles mass shooting live story January 22, 2023

39. Israel-Hamas war live story October 10, 2023

40. Italy’s other leaning tower on high alert for collapse December 4, 2023

41. Exclusive: Georgia prosecutors have messages showing Trump’s team is behind voting system breach August 13, 2023

42. Jeremy Renner shares first photo since snow plowing accident January 3, 2023

43. Nashville private school shooting suspect had maps of building and scouted possible second attack location, police say March 27, 2023

44. Trump indictment live story March 30, 2023

45. ‘Total miscalculation’: China goes into crisis management mode on balloon fallout February 6, 2023

46. How much should you wash these items February 2, 2023

47. Exclusive: John Kelly goes on the record to confirm several disturbing stories about Trump October 2, 2023

48. GOP deadlocked over House speakership vote live story January 5, 2023

49. Tropical story Idalia August 30, 2023

50. Ireland will pay you $90,000 to move to a beautiful island home June 17, 2023

51. These Florida brothers ran one of the largest opioid ‘pill mills’ in US history. The FBI says it was linked to thousands of deaths February 2, 2023

52. Missing Titanic submersible live story June 23, 2023

53. Video shows Tyre Nichols calling for his mother, beaten by officers now charged in his death January 27, 2023

54. Japan zoo gibbon pregnancy mystery February 9, 2023

55. Israel-Hamas war live story October 12, 2023

56. Alabama mass shooting April 16, 2023

57. McCarthy ousted as Speaker of the House live story October 3, 2023

58. Pentagon tracking suspected Chinese spy balloon over the US February 2, 2023

59. Matthew Perry cause of death investigation October 29, 2023

60. Nikki Haley calls for changing retirement age for Americans who are now in their 20s March 9, 2023

61. Turkey earthquake live story February 6, 2023

62. Two US citizens kidnapped and found dead in Mexico March 7, 2023

63. Pennsylvania inmate search September 13, 2023

64. Damar Hamlin update live story January 5, 2023

65. FDA vaccine advisers ‘disappointed’ and ‘angry’ that early data about new Covid-19 booster shot wasn’t presented for review last year January 11, 2023

66. ‘Vampire straw’ confiscated from traveler at Boston airport April 30, 2023

67. Trump’s surrender in the Georgia 2020 election subversion case live story August 24, 2023

68. Tropical Storm Hilary batters California August 20, 2023

69. Israel-Hamas war live story October 11, 2023

70. US jet shoots down ‘unidentified object’ over northern Canada February 11, 2023

71. Tropical Storm Hilary live story August 20, 2023

72. Israel-Hamas war live story October 13, 2023

73. Earth’s inner core may have stopped turning January 25, 2023

74. Bowling Green college basketball player struck in handshake line following win March 24, 2023

75. Hurricane Idalia live story August 30, 2023

76. Thai bungee jumping accident video March 23, 2023

77. Joran van der Sloot Natalee Holloway plea October 18, 2023

78. Hurricane Hilary forecast August 18, 2023

79. Hurricane Idalia forecast August 29, 2023

80. Idaho suspect in student murders thoroughly cleaned vehicle January 6, 2023

81. Government shutdown deadline live story September 30, 2023

82. New Congress and House Speaker vote live story January 3, 2023

83. Takeaways from the first Republican primary debate August 23, 2023

84. ‘Presumed human remains’ found in wreckage of doomed Titan submersible June 28, 2023

85. A US federal agency is considering a ban on gas stoves January 9, 2023

86. 619-pound blue marlin disqualified in fishing competition June 19, 2023

87. Exclusive: Mar-a-Lago pool flood raises suspicions among prosecutors in Trump classified documents case June 5, 2023

88. Influencer dies after live-streaming himself drinking bottles of Chinese spirit Baijiu May 27, 2023

89. Bison calf euthanized after tourist encounter in Yellowstone May 31, 2023

90. Fox News’ sudden firing of Tucker Carlson may have come down to one simple calculation April 25, 2023

91. Covenant School shooter was under care for emotional disorder and hid guns at home, police say March 28, 2023

92. What we know about the unidentified object shot down over Alaska February 11, 2023

93. Louisville, Kentucky bank shooting live story April 10, 2023

94. Bear walks out of ocean onto crowded Florida beach June 11, 2023

95. Donald Trump has been indicted following an investigation into a hush money payment scheme. Here’s what we know March 30, 2023

96. Tropical storm Idalia forecast August 28, 2023

97. Idalia live story August 29, 2023

98. ‘White’ hydrogen discovery October 29, 2023

99. Alabama woman who went missing after reporting a toddler walking on the interstate has returned home, police say July 16, 2023

100. EXCLUSIVE: Trump captured on tape talking about classified document he kept after leaving the White House May 31, 2023