May 3 (UPI) — SpaceX launched another group of 23 satellites from Kennedy Space Center on Thursday night via a Falcon 9 rocket, adding to the Starlink megacluster of Internet satellites now in low-Earth orbit.

The launches have become nearly routine as have the return of reusable fuel cell booster rocket to a drone awaiting below.

Thursday night, the booster, guided by short rocket bursts, returned from its mission after spending a million pounds of kerosene fuel in about 8 minutes, deployed triangular legs and settled gently on the drone ship called A Shortfall of Gravitas.

It was this booster’s 19th mission, according to SpaceX. The 19th reusable mission for the booster is just one shy of the company’s reuse record, which was set last month.

Starlink, SpaceX’s broadband company, currently has more than 5,800 active satellites in low-Earth orbit, making up the Internet satellite constellation.

The Florida launch was the second half of a SpaceX double header Thursday. On the other side of the country, a Falcon 9 carried a pair of two Earth-observation satellites for a company called Maxar from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base.

SpaceX has launched 43 orbital missions so far this year. 29 of those missions have been devoted to building out the Starlink megaconstellation.

As a result of the climate crisis, global warming is driving up temperatures around the world—and bumblebees, like humans, are struggling to cope with homes that can’t beat the heat.

In a new article published in Frontiers in Bee Science, scientists identify rising heat as a potential culprit for the decline in bumblebee populations worldwide, compromising bumblebees‘ ability to construct livable nests in which healthy larvae can develop.

“The decline in populations and ranges of several species of bumblebees may be explained by issues of overheating of the nests and the brood,” said Dr. Peter Kevan of the University of Guelph, Canada, lead author of the article.

“The constraints on the survival of the bumblebee brood indicate that heat is likely a major factor, with heating of the nest above about 35 degrees Celsius being lethal, despite the remarkable capacity of bumblebees to thermoregulate.”

There are many bumblebee species around the world, living in many different environments. Lots of these species are in a decline linked to climate change, but identifying a causative factor has proven difficult.

However, by reviewing the literature, Kevan and colleagues identified a critical commonality between these species, regardless of geographic range: the optimal temperature of their nests, 28–32 degrees Celsius.

“We can assume that the similarity reflects the evolutionary relatedness of the various species,” said Kevan.

Because this characteristic appears to be common between so many species, it may have limited evolutionary plasticity, meaning the bumblebees would find it hard to adapt to rising temperatures, and would struggle to remain within their thermal neutral zone—a point at which staying the right temperature requires minimal metabolic expenditure. Heat stress that takes a species out of this range is dangerous.

“Excessively high temperatures are more harmful to most animals and plants than cool temperatures. When conditions are cool, organisms that do not metabolically regulate their body temperatures simply slow down, but when temperatures get too high metabolic processes start to break down and cease,” said Kevan. “Death ensues quickly.”

Reviewing 180 years of literature, Kevan and colleagues found that bumblebees seem to be able to survive at up to 36 degrees Celsius and develop optimally at around 30–32 degrees Celsius—though this might differ between species and biogeographical conditions. While bumblebees have some behavioral adaptations that allow them to thermoregulate, this may not be enough to deal with climate change.

Additionally, the bumblebee colony also acts as a “superorganism,” where reproductive fitness is dependent on the collective survival and reproduction of the colony rather than individual bees.

One bumblebee may cope better with the heat than another, but if the nest is too hot to raise healthy larvae the whole colony suffers, regardless of individual bumblebees’ adaptation.

On a wing and a prayer

“The effect of high nest temperatures has not been studied very much, which is surprising,” said Kevan. “We can surmise that nest temperatures above the mid-30s Celsius would likely be highly detrimental and that above about 35 Celsius death would occur, probably quite quickly.”

Studies of honeybees show that higher nest temperatures compromise bee queens’ strength and reproductive ability, and lead to smaller worker bees in poorer condition. If heat has a similar effect on bumblebees, so that colonies produce less healthy offspring at a higher temperature, then global warming could be directly leading to their decline.

To ensure that bumblebees continue to thrive, the scientists call for more research into what they say is an understudied aspect of bumblebee ecology: nest morphology, material properties, temperature, and thermoregulation. It may be possible for some bumblebee colonies to adapt their nest site choice and form or behavior to cool their nests.

Ground-penetrating radar could help study ground-nesting species, while flow-through respirometry analysis of nests at different temperatures might help scientists gauge the stress placed on the bee colonies inside. We need both to understand how different colonies cope with the same conditions and how different species cope with different conditions, including whether some bumblebee species have broader thermal neutral zones, affording them more resilience.

“We hope that future scientists may take the ideas we present and apply them to their own research on bumblebee health and conversation,” concluded Kevan.

WENCHANG, Hainan, May 3 (Xinhua) — The Chang’e-6 lunar probe is scheduled to be launched between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. (Beijing Time) on Friday, with the preferred launch window targeted at 5:27 p.m., the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said.

The Chang’e-6 mission is tasked with collecting and then returning samples from the moon’s mysterious far side to Earth — the first endeavor of its kind in the history of human lunar exploration.

The Long March-5 Y8 rocket, which will carry the Chang’e-6 probe, has begun the process of taking on liquid oxygen cryogenic propellant at the Wenchang Space Launch Site on the coast of China’s southern island province of Hainan, the CNSA added. This propellant will serve as fuel for the carrier rocket.

The Chang’e-6 spacecraft comprises an orbiter, a lander, an ascender and a returner.

The mission will carry four payloads developed through international cooperation. Scientific instruments from France, Italy and the European Space Agency are aboard the Chang’e-6 lander, while a small satellite from Pakistan is aboard the orbiter.

About 50 guests from 12 countries and international organizations have been invited by the CNSA to attend a workshop focusing on the international payloads carried by Chang’e-6 and witness the launch in Hainan.

An impact crater known as the Apollo basin, located within the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the moon, has been chosen as the primary target landing and sampling site for the Chang’e-6 mission.

After the spacecraft reaches the moon, it will make a soft landing. Within 48 hours after landing, a robotic arm will be extended to scoop rocks and soil from the lunar surface, while a drill will be used to bore into the ground. Scientific detection work will be carried out simultaneously.

After the samples are sealed in a container, the ascender will take off from the moon and dock with the orbiter in lunar orbit. The returner will then carry the samples back to Earth, landing in Siziwang Banner in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The entire mission is expected to last about 53 days, the CNSA said.  ■