It's summer but the Earth is extra far from the sun; Here's what that means
This event, known as aphelion, happens once per year typically around two weeks after the summer solstice in June. Although the Earth's distance from the Sun does not affect the seasons, aphelion does influence the length of summer in the Northern Hemisphere.
Because Earth moves in an elliptical orbit around the sun, being further away means it travels slower along its orbit. This increases the time it takes to get from the solstice, the beginning of summer, to the equinox, the end of summer, effectively making the season longer in the Northern Hemisphere, according to Timeanddate.com.
On Thursday, Earth will be over 94.5 million miles away from the sun. On average the planet sits at 93 million miles away, according to Earthsky.com.
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Business Wire
an hour ago
- Business Wire
Cerus Corporation Provides INTERCEPT Red Blood Cell CE Mark Application Update
CONCORD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cerus Corporation (Nasdaq: CERS) announced today a European regulatory update on the INTERCEPT RBC program. 'We are pleased to report that the European regulatory review for INTERCEPT RBC is advancing ahead of plan and that TÜV-SÜD, our Notified Body, has completed their review of the clinical module and transferred information to the State Institute for Drug Control (SÚKL) in the Czech Republic, for consultation. Reaching this meaningful milestone enables SÚKL to initiate its review of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) module. In addition, as we had anticipated, SÚKL has agreed to review our submission as the Competent Authority,' said William 'Obi' Greenman, Cerus' president and chief executive officer. 'We are looking forward to working collaboratively with both TÜV-SÜD and SÚKL to facilitate the completion of the review process for our enhanced CE Mark submission for the INTERCEPT RBC system.' Importantly, the clinical module that has now been successfully reviewed by TÜV-SÜD included the positive results from the U.S. Phase 3 ReCePI clinical trial, expanding Cerus' CE Mark submission to cover all patient indications for RBC transfusion. SÚKL will now review the API module in the application, before the submission goes back to TÜV-SÜD for completion of manufacturing facility audits and certification prior to CE Mark decision. Under the European Medical Device Regulation (MDR), the CE Mark submission review process for Class III devices such as the INTERCEPT RBC system is rigorous and involves both Notified Bodies and Competent Authorities. The Notified Body evaluates multiple aspects including the manufacturer's quality system and technical documentation to ensure adherence to European regulations. The Competent Authority is responsible for reviewing the active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing and safety. ABOUT CERUS Cerus Corporation is dedicated solely to safeguarding the world's blood supply and aims to become the preeminent global blood products company. Headquartered in Concord, California, the company develops and supplies vital technologies and pathogen-protected blood components to blood centers, hospitals, and ultimately patients who rely on safe blood. The INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets and plasma is available globally and remains the only pathogen reduction system with both CE Mark and FDA approval for these two blood components. In the U.S., the INTERCEPT Blood System for Cryoprecipitation is approved for the production of Pathogen Reduced Cryoprecipitated Fibrinogen Complex (commonly referred to as INTERCEPT Fibrinogen Complex), a therapeutic product for the treatment and control of bleeding, including massive hemorrhage, associated with fibrinogen deficiency. The INTERCEPT red blood cell system is under regulatory review in Europe, and in late-stage clinical development in the U.S. For more information about Cerus, visit and follow us on LinkedIn. INTERCEPT and the INTERCEPT Blood System are trademarks of Cerus Corporation. Forward-Looking Statements Except for the historical statements contained herein, this press release contains forward-looking statements concerning Cerus' INTERCEPT RBC programs and prospects, including statements relating to the anticipated completion of Cerus' CE Mark application review process for the INTERCEPT RBC system and other statements that are not historical fact. Actual results could differ materially from these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including, without limitation: the uncertain and time-consuming development and regulatory process, including the risks that (a) Cerus' submission to SÚKL may not satisfactorily address the issues in its prior submission that prevented CE Mark approval for the INTERCEPT RBC system, (b) Cerus may be unable to meet the additional applicable requirements to complete the CE Mark application review process for INTERCEPT RBCs in a timely manner or at all, and that Cerus may otherwise determine to substantially delay or abandon its efforts to seek CE Mark approval of the INTERCEPT RBC system, and (c) Cerus may otherwise be unable to obtain any regulatory approvals of the INTERCEPT RBC system in a timely manner or at all; Cerus' ability to maintain an effective, secure manufacturing supply chain, including the risk that Cerus may be required to engage and validate a new supplier for key components of the INTERCEPT RBC system, which would substantially delay the CE Mark application review process for INTERCEPT RBCs and/or a review decision thereon; commercialization and market acceptance of, and customer demand for, the INTERCEPT RBC system, if approved; successfully launching a new commercial product; Cerus' ability to demonstrate to the transfusion medicine community and other health care constituencies that pathogen reduction and the INTERCEPT Blood System, including the INTERCEPT RBC system, is safe, effective and economical; future opportunities and plans, including the uncertainty of Cerus' future capital requirements and the sufficiency of its cash resources and anticipated funding under its agreements with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response; as well as other risks detailed in Cerus' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including under the heading 'Risk Factors' in Cerus' Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, filed with the SEC on May 1, 2025. 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Scientific American
an hour ago
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How China Could Win the Race to Return Rocks from Mars
On May 14, 2021, China's Tianwen-1 lander plummeted from space to streak through the skies above Mars's vast plain of Utopia Planitia, with an aeroshell protecting it from the heat and plasma of its high-speed atmospheric entry. After unfurling its parachutes and pulsing its engines to zero in on an amenable landing site, the spacecraft touched down safely onto the Red Planet, where it deployed a rover, Zhurong, to explore the surrounding alien landscape. This engineering feat was hugely significant, confirming China as a major player in planetary exploration. With Tianwen-1's touchdown, China became the only other nation ever to successfully land on Mars besides the U.S. Moreover, the mission also paved the way for a far more ambitious and unprecedented project. That project, Tianwen-3, is set to launch via two Long March 5 rockets from Wenchang spaceport on the Chinese island of Hainan in late 2028. One launch will carry Tianwen-3's lander, while the other will transport the mission's Mars orbiter, which is also an Earth-return vehicle. The mission aims to collect samples of Martian rock and soil for delivery back to Earth, where subsequent studies could, potentially, redefine our understanding of life itself and our place in the cosmos. 'Tianwen-3 will be the first mission aiming to bring back material from another planet to search for signs of life,' says Li Yiliang, a professor of astrobiology at the University of Hong Kong and one of the authors of a paper published in Nature Astronomy on June 19 that offers new details on the mission. (Tianwen-2, another Chinese sample return mission, launched in May 2025 but is bound for a near-Earth asteroid as well as a comet; China has also pulled off two successful lunar sample return missions, Chang'e 5 and Chang'e 6.) On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. Tianwen-3 will use the same approach as Tianwen-1 to make planetfall in a yet-to-be-selected landing area. The vagaries of spacecraft engineering, however, demand the site should be somewhere in the midlatitudes of the planet's northern hemisphere; it also must be at an altitude of at least three kilometers below the planet's average elevation so that more of Mars's thin air can serve to slow Tianwen-3's descent. The lander will use proven tech from China's lunar explorations, drilling as deep as two meters for subsurface samples and scooping up material from the surface. Additionally, a helicopter drone—following the lead of NASA's pioneering Ingenuity flights —will collect selected additional rock and loose particle samples from within around 100 meters of Tianwen-3's landing site. The lander will operate for around two months on the surface, in which it will use scientific payloads such as a ground penetrating radar and a Raman spectrometer to gather more data on the broader geological context for collected samples. When the time comes, it will fire off a solid rocket booster to send a canister containing at least 500 grams of material into Mars orbit to dock with the waiting orbiter-returner spacecraft. The eventual return trip should bring Tianwen-3's samples home sometime in 2031. Once on Earth, the samples will be swiftly secured and transported to a custom-built Mars sample laboratory, where they'll be extensively analyzed while carefully following 'planetary protection' policies meant to prevent any potential otherworldly cross-contamination. Although Tianwen-3's objectives range from investigating Mars's interior to studying its wispy atmosphere, scientists working on the mission are most eager for what it might reveal about the planet's possible former or even extant life. If, in fact, anything ever dwelled on the Red Planet, then Tianwen-3's samples could conceivably contain various telltale signs of its presence—so-called biosignatures. A convincing biosignature could come in different types, Li says. For example, Tianwen-3's scientists will be seeking molecules directly produced by Martian organisms to fulfill known biochemical functions, akin to the DNA and RNA molecules that life-forms on Earth rely on to store and transmit genetic information. Another biosignature is biogenic isotope fractionation—the distinctive way that living organisms alter the natural ratios of stable isotopes in their ecosystems; on Earth, for instance, biochemical processes such as photosynthesis prefer the lighter carbon-12 rather than heavier carbon isotopes, leading to detectable shifts in the proportions of these isotopes with respect to the surrounding environment. A third approach, Li adds, would be to look for fossil evidence, such as the imprints that microbes may leave behind in mudstones and other fine-grained sedimentary rocks. China's astrobiological focus for its Martian explorations is 'a laudable, ambitious goal,' says Mahesh Anand, a professor of planetary science and exploration at the Open University in England. 'This is exactly what we have been recommending over the years: to look for any signs of biogenic activity or even just to understand that there was a habitable environment. 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And the spacecraft's landing ellipse—the area within which Tianwen-3 is most likely to touch down—spans some 50 by 20 kilometers, meaning a precision touchdown to visit any especially alluring targets is highly unlikely. But, largely because of its greater complexity and cost, MSR is under threat of cancellation from the Trump administration following years of delays and cost overruns. The project's potential elimination, however, would be only one of many grievous blows to NASA's science, the funding for which the Trump administration has proposed to cut by nearly half. 'The reason why NASA went with Perseverance as this first step was so that you would have this curated, intentionally selected and well-recorded process and contextual process of where these rocks came from,' says Casey Dreier, chief of space policy at the Planetary Society, a U.S. space science advocacy group. 'This isn't intended in any way to denigrate the achievements of the Chinese robotic program, but in general I think you can characterize a lot of [its] framing as symbol-driven and capability-focused over the direct science return.' China's more basic engineering-led plan, with the science trailing after, may put limits on the questions Tianwen-3 can realistically answer. But this methodical, step-by-step approach to progressively building and demonstrating critical capabilities is exactly what has now positioned China to take the lead in the race to return rocks from Mars. Meanwhile, the far more elaborate MSR has floundered. Dreier says that this moment, in which the U.S. appears to be ceding leadership in this area to China, will have implications for global space exploration. 'The U.S. needs to lead and work with its allies to continue to invest in these big, bold efforts to make potentially historic discoveries,' Dreier says. If the White House has its way, he adds, then Perseverance's samples might only find their way back to Earth after an even more complex, expensive and distant human spaceflight program led by SpaceX lands astronauts on Mars. Which means, for now, China will get its shot at a major first in space exploration. 'The way I look at it is that China is starting to explore Mars,' Anand says. The richer science on offer from a complex MSR-style plan is enticing, he says, but sticking to simplicity and clearly achievable near-term results 'probably has a higher chance of returning science than planning on something that might take decades.' U.S. and European scientists have for generations seen obtaining samples as a 'holy grail' for Mars exploration. For China, retrieving Martian material fits into the strategic framework of its broader, solar system-encompassing Tianwen program, the name of which translates to 'heavenly questions.' Beyond Tianwen-3 and its already-launched asteroid-and-comet-bound sibling Tianwen-2, there is also Tianwen-4, slated for liftoff around 2029, which will target the Jupiter system and its intriguing Galilean moon Callisto. Future missions in the Tianwen series, including to the ice giants Uranus and Neptune, are also under consideration. For Li, Tianwen-3 remains the Tianwen program's most compelling project, in part because its path to Mars and back is so straightforward; although lofty, its objectives still appear eminently within reach. 'It is important for humanity to understand its position in the solar system and the universe,' he says, because this would mark a profound milestone in human history. And, on the threshold of attempting to bring back the first samples from Mars—with the possibility of finding the first-ever evidence for alien life within them—China is now uniquely poised to achieve this milestone.
Fox News
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