CaaC (John)

UK Space Agency funds tech for orbital awareness New approaches to tracking satellites and debris in orbit are to get a boost from the UK Space Agency. UKSA is giving over £1m to seven firms to help advance novel sensor technologies and the smart algorithms needed to interpret their data. Finding better ways to surveil objects moving overhead has become a high priority issue. With more and more satellites being launched, there's growing concern about the potential for collisions. A big worry is the burgeoning population of redundant hardware and junk in orbit - some 900,000 objects larger than 1cm by some counts, and all of it capable of doing immense damage to, or even destroying, an operational spacecraft in a high-velocity encounter. FULL REPORT

Bear from Ice Age found 'completely preserved' in the Russian Arctic The immaculately preserved remains of an Ice Age-era bear have been unearthed by reindeer herders in the Russian Arctic, researchers have said. The bear was revealed by the melting permafrost on the Lyakhovsky Islands in north-eastern Russia. With its teeth and nose intact, the bear is thought to be a species of brown bear that lived 22,000 to 39,500 years ago. It will be studied at the North-Eastern Federal University (NEFU) in the city of Yakutsk. FULL REPORT

Juventus are growing pessimistic about a move for Barca's Uruguay forward Luis Suarez, because of delays in the 33-year-old obtaining an Italian passport. (Goal)

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang: Arsenal captain signs new three-year contract https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/53802028

He's like Houdini, can vanish and come back again.

Tottenham are offering Napoli's Poland international striker Arkadiusz Milik a £90,000-a-week contract and £5m signing-on fee. (Footballer Insider)

Just finished watching the first John Wick, got to be a 9/10 for me.

I read that on another outlet this morning, and as Inger said "it would be either life, or some wonky, exotic, and completely unknown chemistry happening in the clouds of Venus" https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/so-astronomers-may-have-found-evidence-of-life-on-venus

Watched Knives Out last night with the wife, the wife quite enjoyed it was ok for me but one of them movies I would not watch again and Daniel Craig put me off a wee bit trying to imitate an American accent. Me 7/10 Wife 10/10

Tottenham have entered the race to sign Hellas Verona and Albania centre-back Marash Kumbulla. Both Chelsea and Manchester United have been linked with the 20-year-old. (L'Arena - in Italian)

Enjoy and I bet you will enjoy the time in your garden.

Wet & windy in this neck of the woods and a bit nippy.

'Rockets are hard': Elon Musk offers sympathy after Astra's spacecraft crash lands in Alaska A rocket launch attempt in Alaska ended in a massive explosion on Saturday when the launcher crashed seconds after lift-off. Astra, a launch vehicle company based in California, was carrying out the first orbital test flight for its Rocket 3.1, with no payload onboard, from the Pacific Spaceport Complex. The 12-metre launcher failed during the first-stage engine burn and came crashing down after 17 seconds in the air. The event was captured on camera by observers, including one who was pushed back by the intensity of the rocket’s explosion. The rocket's engines were fuelled with kerosene and liquid oxygen and could generate a thrust of 14,288 kg. “Preliminary data review indicates the rocket performed very well,” the company said. “Early in the flight, our guidance system appears to have introduced some slight oscillation into the flight, causing the vehicle to drift from its planned trajectory leading to a commanded shutdown of the engines by the flight safety system.” Astra aims to provide cost-effective rides for small satellites and can deliver payloads weighing between 50 to 150kg. Their Rocket 3.2 is already built and ready for an orbital test flight. “Over the next several weeks, we’ll be taking a close look at the flight data to determine how to make the next flight more successful,” said Astra’s representatives. SpaceX owner Elon Musk sent out a tweet shortly after the failure. He said: “Sorry to hear that. I’m sure you’ll figure it out though. Took us four launches to reach orbit. Rockets are hard.” On Saturday, a Chinese rocket also experienced a failed launch attempt after facing an anomaly. The Kuaizhou-1A rocket was carrying a remote sensing satellite, called Jilin-1 Gaofen. It was the country's fourth rocket launch failure this year. Others included the Long March 7A failure in March, Long March 3B in April and the Expace Kuaizhou-11 in July. https://www.thenational.ae/uae/science/rockets-are-hard-elon-musk-offers-sympathy-after-astra-s-spacecraft-crash-lands-in-alaska-1.1076938

Tottenham have had a loan bid rejected for 26-year-old Torino and Italy striker Andrea Belotti. (Sky Italia - in Italian)

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Manchester United have signed 16-year-old Alejandro Garnacho from Atletico Madrid. The striker will arrive from Spain later this week but will have to quarantine for 14 days. (Manchester Evening News)

Vera Rubin: Super telescope's giant camera spies broccoli How do you test the new sensor for the world's largest digital camera? You take a picture of broccoli, of course. This might sound bizarre but the intricate shapes found in the Romanesco version of this plant are a good check that you're capturing lots of detail. And for the camera that's to be fitted to the Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile - performance is everything. This 3.2 gigapixel device is going to help unlock some of the key outstanding questions in astronomy. Who knows? It might even get us closer to understanding those cosmic head-scratchers "dark energy" and "dark matter" which appear to be controlling the evolution of so much of what we see when we lookup. The full report & more pictures

My son said to watch this as I have seen Olympus Has Fallen so I watched London Has Fallen (2016), not bad and I will give it a 7/10, next up will be Angel Has Fallen.

The wife said that sounds like me snoring.