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An international group of scientists wants you to join Asgardia — the first space nation

A new country called Asgardia, named after Norse mythology’s city in the skies, could be the first nation ever created in space. The hope is to embark on a mission to mine asteroids and defend Earth from dangerous meteorites, space debris, and other threats.

That is, if everything goes according to an uncertain, open-ended, and audacious plan put forth by its founders.

The group behind the Asgardia project includes space experts based out of Canada, Romania, Russia, and the United States, and they announced their sovereign ambitions from a press conference in Paris on Wednesday.

First-Ever Discovery: Complex Organic Molecules Found on Rosetta’s Comet

In Brief.

The ESA’s Rosetta comet orbiter has found complex, solid organic molecules in dust particles that came of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, lending credence to the theory that organic compounds, or even life itself came from the stars.

Over the past few months, the ESA’s Rosetta orbiter has been feeding us valuable data on comets: where they come from, what they’re made of, how they work, and so on. But its time is nearly at an end, with a kamikaze dive towards the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko scheduled for later this month.

Scientists study a Martian meteorite with a little help from 3D printing

A 3D-printing company is aiding NASA by using its additive manufacturing technology to create an accurate replica of a meteorite located 34 million miles from Earth.

Measuring approximately 2 feet in length, the meteorite known as Block Island was first discovered on Mars by the Exploration Rover Opportunity in 2009. Studying it is an important part of furthering our knowledge about Mars and other planets, but at present the prospect of bringing it to Earth to examine u close is out of the question.

Fortunately, the Mars rover was able to take images and measurements to transmit back home, and this data has now been used by Mcor Technologies, an Ireland-based 3D-printing company, to create a life-size Block Island model.