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Mars Daily

In 1952, Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase put a kitchen Waring blender to work at Cold Spring Harbor, spinning virus-infected bacteria fast enough to shear off the protein coats while leaving the injected DNA inside, and settled a decades-long argument by showing that genes are made of nucleic acid, not protein

In the summer of 1952, Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase used a $40 Waring kitchen blender at Cold Spring Harbor to strip virus coats off infected bacteria — and helped tip a decades-long argument toward DNA, not protein, as the molecule of heredity.

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Aerospace

On 12 August 2026, Heart Aerospace's X1 lifted off from Plattsburgh, New York, weighing more than 25,000 pounds with a 106-foot wingspan, and flew for 27 minutes on roughly $5 of electricity — the largest battery-electric aircraft ever to leave the ground

Heart Aerospace's X1 demonstrator, a 25,000-pound battery-electric aircraft with a 106-foot wingspan, flew for 27 minutes on roughly $5 of electricity — proving megawatt-scale electric propulsion works at commercial airliner size.

Space Scopes

On 14 April, the 5,000 fibre-optic eyes of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument locked onto a patch of sky near the Little Dipper and completed the largest high-resolution 3D map of the universe ever made, tracing dark energy's pull across 11 billion years of cosmic history

On 14 April 2026, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument at Kitt Peak finished the largest high-resolution 3D map of the universe ever made, cataloguing more than 47 million galaxies and quasars and tracing dark energy's pull across 11 billion years of cosmic history.

Terradaily

Terra reached its final Earth orbit on 24 February 2000 after 11 weeks of checkout and eight ascent burns, and mission scientists stopped nudging its inclination back in 2020, letting the satellite quietly drift out of its contained orbit as retirement approaches

Terra reached its designed orbit on 24 February 2000 after 11 weeks of checkout and eight ascent burns. In 2020 the flight team stopped fighting the drift. NASA now projects end-of-science in February 2027.

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The new frontier of exploration.

Mars Daily is an independent publication covering Mars missions, planetary science, rover discoveries, exploration technology, and the engineering behind every mission to the Red Planet. The site pairs a deep archive with current reporting on the research, agencies, companies, policy shifts, and technical breakthroughs shaping humanity's next destination. We employ modern AI technologies to support our editorial workflows; every published piece is editorially directed and reviewed.

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