Published By: Soham Halder

Science & Space Roundup: Top News of the Day (March 19)

Here are today’s most important updates from the realm of Science and Space.

Safe at Last: Sunita Williams & Butch Wilmore Land After Unexpected Space Delay

Credit: X/@justinbroadcast

Astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have returned home after their eight-day mission to the International Space Station turned into a nine-month-long stay. They flew on a Boeing Starliner to space on June 5 last year and returned in SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft this morning. Williams was seen waving and flashing thumbs-up signs as she came out of the capsule. They were left stranded after the Starliner capsule suffered propulsion issues. Amid uncertainty over their return journey, NASA reassigned them to SpaceX's Crew-9 mission, and a Dragon spacecraft was sent in September with a two-member crew, instead of the usual four, to make space for the stranded astronauts.

FireSat in Orbit: How Google and SpaceX Are Revolutionizing Wildfire Detection

Credit: X/@Google

The FireSat project’s first satellite was successfully placed into low Earth orbit (LEO) last week and has officially made contact with engineers back at base. FireSat aims to have an LEO constellation comprising 50 satellites designed to help firefighters mitigate wildfires before they grow out of control. Rising temperatures due to climate change is expected to worsen droughts and spark potentially devastating wildfires in many parts of the world. In the face of such intense blazes, disaster management authorities are increasingly looking to newer technology and tools for early detection and mitigation of wildfires.

Toxic Infusion: Study Finds IV Drips Delivering Dangerous Microplastics into Patients

Drugs given to hospital patients using IV drip bags may contain thousands of dangerous plastic particles, a new study claimed. Intravenous infusion usually proceeds from plastic bottles. Many are made of polypropylene (PP), and filtering is applied to limit particle contamination. A total of 7,500 particles were estimated to be floating in each bag, which would have then been injected directly into a patient's bloodstream. In a standard IV drip used to treat dehydration, the researchers claim that this would rise to 25,000 particles. Additionally, during abdominal surgery, requiring multiple IV bags, the number would surpass 52,000. Scientists suggested that strict quality control measures were required during the production of IV drips to ensure that insoluble particles such as microplastics did not find their way into the bloodstream of patients.

Spring Equinox 2025 Is Here – Say Hello to Longer Days and Brighter Skies

Spring is finally just days away, bringing warmer days and blooming flowers. Thursday (2:31 PM IST, 20 Mar, 2025) is the first day of spring, or the vernal equinox, in the Northern Hemisphere. During an equinox, the center of the sun is on the same plane as the equator. After the vernal equinox in March, the Northern Hemisphere tilts toward the sun until the June solstice, when the sun begins to migrate back south. The word "equinox" comes from Latin, where equi means "equal" and nox means "night." It would be easy to assume that day and night would be of equal length of 12 hours each. However, that is not entirely true.