Good morning. It's Tuesday, Oct. 15, and we're covering a $5B hunt for alien life on Jupiter's fourth-largest moon, the return of giant pandas to the nation's capital, and much more. First time reading? Join over 3.9 million intellectually curious readers. Sign up here.
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NASA launched its Europa Clipper spacecraft yesterday as part of a $5.2B mission to detect conditions for life on one of Jupiter’s 95 moons, Europa. The mission is NASA’s first to Jupiter since 2011 and the product of a yearslong partnership with SpaceX.
The launch—on SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket—took off at 12:06 pm ET from Cape Canaveral, Florida (watch video). The nearly 13,000-pound, 100-foot-long spacecraft will travel 1.8 billion miles to arrive in Jupiter’s orbit in April 2030. It will make 49 flybys of Europa—once every three weeks over roughly four years—to observe the icy moon’s composition. The instruments it will use include radar to penetrate Europa’s 10- to 15-mile deep ice sheet, anticipating a deep salty ocean underneath.
NASA’s mission comes after the April 2023 launch of Europe's Juice mission to explore three of Jupiter's moons: Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa. The Juice spacecraft will reach Jupiter in July 2031 and spend four years orbiting the planet and its moons. NASA’s spacecraft will arrive first, using a cosmic piggyback (see explanation). |
Tech Founder Murder Trial |
The trial of Nima Momeni, a tech consultant accused of murdering Cash App founder Bob Lee, began yesterday in San Francisco, more than 18 months after the 43-year-old tech executive was found fatally stabbed.
Momeni, 40, is accused of planning an attack April 4, 2023, tied to a dispute over his younger sister, Khazar. Surveillance video shows Lee entering a condo building where Khazar lives with her husband. Lee and Momeni then leave the building together around 2 am local time and drive off in Momeni's car. Lee was found stabbed around 2:30 am in the Rincon Hill neighborhood. See a timeline here.
Prosecutors allege Momeni took a knife from his sister's apartment, drove Lee to a secluded area, and stabbed him three times before fleeing. The defense argues Lee, under the influence of drugs, initiated the confrontation, and Momeni acted in self-defense. Momeni has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he faces 26 years to life in prison. The trial is expected to last until mid-December. |
Two 3-year-old giant pandas have officially begun their journey from China to the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, DC, where they will live for the next decade.
Male Bao Li (pronounced "BOW-lee") and female Qing Bao (pronounced "ching-BOW") are the latest bears to be temporarily sent to the US capital under a 52-year-old conservation partnership with China (see history). The cubs will quarantine for at least 30 days before making their public debut. The Smithsonian will pay an estimated $1M annually for the cubs. The bears' arrival comes after last year's departure of two adult pandas, Tian Tian and Mei Xiang, and their son Xiao Qi Ji (pronounced "t-YEN t-YEN," "may-SHONG," and "SHIAU-chi-ji," respectively).
Prior to Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, the first giant pandas arrived in the US in 1972, when China donated a pair as a diplomatic gesture to commemorate then-President Richard Nixon's historic visit. In 1984, China began leasing, rather than gifting, its pandas to zoos. At least 60 pandas are currently leased to roughly 20 countries, including at the San Diego Zoo in the US. |
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Sports, Entertainment, & Culture |
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> Sean "Diddy" Combs accused of multiple allegations of rape and sexually assaulting a minor as six new lawsuits filed against him (More) |
> Lilly Ledbetter, social activist who fought for equal pay for women, dies at age 86 (More) | Ka, independent rapper and producer who was also a firefighter and 9/11 first responder, dies at age 52 (More) |
> Kansas, Alabama, and two-time defending champions Connecticut lead men's college basketball preseason AP Top 25 poll (More) |
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> Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences awarded to trio of economists for their work on why some postcolonial countries flourished while others floundered (More) | Selection caps the 2024 Nobel Prizes; see recap here (More) |
> Adobe launches AI video generator that can extend existing footage by up to a few seconds; platform includes text-to-video and image-to-video capabilities (More) | Generative AI explained (More, w/video) |
> Paleontologists discover the oldest-known animal to display left-right asymmetry in its body; the over 500-million-year-old fossil sheds light on the evolution of single-cell organisms into complex animals (More) |
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> US stock markets close higher (S&P 500 +0.8%, Dow +0.5%, Nasdaq +0.9%); S&P 500, Dow notch fresh record highs (More) | Nvidia shares close at record high, with AI chipmaker's market cap approaching $3.4T (More) |
> Elliott Investment Management formally calls for Dec. 10 special meeting at Southwest Airlines; Elliot has an 11% stake in Southwest and has been pushing for the ouster of CEO Bob Jordan amid board shake-up (More) | True Value files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, plans to sell most of itself to rival Do It Best (More) |
> Tom Donohue, former US Chamber of Commerce CEO, dies at age 86; he led the business lobbying giant for more than two decades before retiring in 2021 (More) |
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> Trial begins against Delphi, Indiana, man charged in 2017 murders of two eighth graders (More) | Italy's Supreme Court overturns acquittals of roughly 20 people accused of covering up late Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's underage sex scandal (More, free w/email) | Canada, India expel each other's diplomats in dispute over 2023 murder of Sikh activist in Canada (More) |
> Investigation underway after federal authorities arrest Las Vegas man with unregistered firearms Saturday ahead of former President Donald Trump's rally near Coachella Valley, California; man reportedly had multiple fake IDs in his SUV (More) |
> China holds large-scale sea and air military drills surrounding Taiwan; comes less than a week after Taiwan's president reiterated island's sovereignty in a speech (More) | South Korea says North Korea allegedly preparing to demolish its northern half of roads connecting the two nations (More) |
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> The Case of Kasper Hauser
Popular Science | Staff. In the 1800s, a 16-year-old boy named Kasper Hauser arrived in Nuremberg, Germany, carrying two letters and a horrific story about his upbringing. For centuries, the case has fascinated forensic analysts, historians, and the public at large. (Watch)
> Vampires: Dead Paole
MonsterTalk | Staff. Could there be any scientific or medical basis for the cultural phenomenon of vampires? MonsterTalk examines the story of Arnold Paole, a Serbian suspected to have become a vampire after his death. (Listen) |
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