Science News Roundup: Exclusive-Biden administration drafting executive order to simplify space rules -sources; Study shows dinosaurs were 'struck down in their prime' by asteroid and more

Following is a summary of current science news briefs. Exclusive-Biden administration drafting executive order to simplify space rules -sources U.S. President Joe Biden's administration is drafting an executive order intended to streamline approval for private rocket launches amid a broader effort to bring legal and regulatory clarity for American companies on everything from space travel to private space stations, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the effort.


Devdiscourse News Desk | Updated: 10-12-2022 10:56 IST | Created: 10-12-2022 10:28 IST
Science News Roundup: Exclusive-Biden administration drafting executive order to simplify space rules -sources; Study shows dinosaurs were 'struck down in their prime' by asteroid and more
Representative Image Image Credit: Terry Zaperach

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Exclusive-Biden administration drafting executive order to simplify space rules -sources

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration is drafting an executive order intended to streamline approval for private rocket launches amid a broader effort to bring legal and regulatory clarity for American companies on everything from space travel to private space stations, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the effort. The order would be part of a push by the White House's National Space Council to modernize U.S. space regulation, which has failed to keep up with the increasingly ambitious pace of private-sector investment and development.

Japanese billionaire Maezawa picks K-pop star TOP, DJ Steve Aoki to join SpaceX moon trip

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa revealed on Friday that K-pop star TOP and DJ Steve Aoki will be among the eight crew members he plans to take on a trip around the moon as soon as next year, hitching a ride on one of Elon Musk's SpaceX rockets. Maezawa bought every seat on the maiden lunar voyage, which has been in the works since 2018 and would follow his trip on a Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) for a 12-day stint last year.

Study shows dinosaurs were 'struck down in their prime' by asteroid

The age of dinosaurs ended in cataclysm one spring day 66 million years ago when an asteroid 7.5 miles (12 km) wide hit Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, triggering the extinction of those remarkable beasts and about three-quarters of Earth's species. But were the dinosaurs already on the way out, with diversification faltering and rates of evolution sputtering, as some scientists have proposed? The answer is a definite "no," according to a new study that modeled food chains and ecological habitats in North America, the part of the world best represented in the fossil record from that time.

(With inputs from agencies.)

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