image: Meteorites from the backside of asteroid 2008 TC3 as Jenniskens found them on the ground in the Nubian Desert of Sudan. Photo: P. Jenniskens view more
Credit: SETI Institute/NASA Ames Research Center
August 8, 2022, Mountain View, CA -- When a small asteroid enters Earth's atmosphere from space, its surface is brutally heated, causing melting and fragmenting. Therefore, it was somewhat of a mystery why the rocks near the surface survive to the ground as meteorites. That mystery is solved in a new study of the fiery entry of asteroid 2008 TC3, published online today in Meteoritics and Planetary Science.
"Most of our meteorites fall from rocks the size of grapefruits to small cars," says lead author and meteor astronomer Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center. "Rocks that big do not spin fast enough to spread the heat during the brief meteor phase, and we now have evidence that the backside survives to the ground."
In 2008, a 6-meter-sized asteroid called 2008 TC3 was detected in space and tracked for over 20 hours before it hit the Earth's atmosphere, creating a bright meteor that disintegrated over the Nubian Desert of Sudan. The breakup scattered a shower of meteorites over a 7 x 30 km area. Jenniskens collaborated with University of Khartoum professor Muawia Shaddad and his students to recover these meteorites.
"In a series of dedicated search campaigns, our students recovered over 600 meteorites, some as big as a fist, but most no bigger than a thumbnail," says Shaddad. "For each meteorite, we recorded the find location."
While conducting grid searches perpendicular to the asteroid path, the researchers were surprised to find that the larger fist-sized meteorites were spread out more than the smaller meteorites. Teaming up with NASA's Asteroid Threat Assessment Project (ATAP) at NASA Ames Research Center, they decided to investigate.
"While the asteroid approached Earth, its brightness flickered from spinning and tumbling," says theoretical astronomer Darrel Robertson of ATAP. "Because of that, asteroid 2008 TC3 is unique in that we know the shape and orientation of the asteroid when it entered Earth's atmosphere."
Robertson created a hydrodynamic model of the entry of 2008 TC3 into Earth's atmosphere that showed how the asteroid melts and breaks up. The observed altitudes of meteor brightness and dust clouds were used to calibrate the altitude of phenomena recognized in the model.
"Because of the high speed coming in, we found that the asteroid punched a near vacuum wake in the atmosphere," says Robertson. "The first fragments came from the sides of the asteroid and tended to move into that wake, where they mixed and fell to the ground with low relative speeds."
While falling to the ground, the smallest meteorites were soon stopped by friction with the atmosphere, falling close to the breakup point, while larger meteorites were harder to stop and fell further downrange. As a result, most recovered meteorites were found along a narrow 1-km wide strip in the asteroid’s path.
"The asteroid melted more and more at the front until the surviving part at the back and bottom-back of the asteroid reached a point where it suddenly collapsed and broke into many pieces," said Robertson. "The bottom-back surviving as long as it did was because of the shape of the asteroid."
No longer trapped by the shock from the asteroid itself, the shocks from the individual pieces now repulsed them, sending these final fragments flying outwards with much higher relative speed.
"The largest meteorites from 2008 TC3 were spread wider than the small ones, which means that they originated from this final collapse," said Jenniskens. "Based on where they were found, we concluded that these pieces stayed relatively large all the way to the ground."
The location of the large meteorites on the ground still reflects their location in the back and bottom-back part of the original asteroid.
"This asteroid was a mixed bag of rocks," said co-author Cyrena Goodrich of the Lunar and Planetary Institute (USRA). Goodrich led a team of meteoriticists who determined the meteorite type of each recovered fragment in the large mass area.
The researchers found that the different meteorite types were spread randomly on the ground, and therefore were also spread randomly in the original asteroid.
"That agrees with the fact that other meteorites of this kind, albeit on a much smaller scale, also contain random mixtures," said Goodrich.
These results may also help understand other meteorite falls. Asteroids are exposed to cosmic rays while in space, creating a low level of radioactivity and more near the surface.
"From that radioactivity, we often find that the meteorites did not come from the better-shielded interior," said Jenniskens. "We now know they came from the surface at the back of the asteroid."
More information
Peter Jenniskens, Darrel Robertson, Cyrena A. Goodrich, Muawia H. Shaddad, Ayman Kudoda, Anna M. Fioretti, Michael E. Zolensky (2022) Bolide fragmentation: What parts of asteroid 2008 TC3 survived to the ground? Meteoritics and Planetary Science:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/maps.13892
About the SETI Institute
Founded in 1984, the SETI Institute is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary research and education organization whose mission is to lead humanity's quest to understand the origins and prevalence of life and intelligence in the Universe and share that knowledge with the world. Our research encompasses the physical and biological sciences and leverages data analytics, machine learning, and advanced signal detection technologies. The SETI Institute is a distinguished research partner for industry, academia, and government agencies, including NASA and the National Science Foundation.
Meteoritics and Planetary Science
Computational simulation/modeling
Bolide fragmentation: What parts of asteroid 2008 TC3 survived to the ground?
4-Aug-2022
Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.
Customer data is a precious and now highly regulated corporate asset. As a result, companies need regular security audits to make sure they are properly protecting their clients’ private information, complying with federal regulations, and avoiding liability and costly fines.
Not surprisingly, the market for compliance management software is large and growing, valued at $32.1 billion in 2020 and projected to reach $74.8 billion by 2028, according to Tested Market Research.
Drata is a relatively newly launched and fast-growing company providing an advanced security and compliance automation platform with the mission to help companies maintain the trust of their users, customers, partners, and prospects.
Drata Co-Founder and CEO Adam Markowitz.
DrataFounded in 2020 by Adam Markowitz, Daniel Marashlian, and Troy Markowitz, the San Diego-based company helps companies streamline their SOC 2 (a voluntary compliance standard developed by the American Institute of CPAs, which specifies how organizations should manage customer data) compliance audit process through continuous, automated control monitoring and evidence collection, resulting in lower costs and time spent preparing for annual audits.
“Trust is kind of the theme of my career,” says Drata Co-Founder and CEO Adam Markowitz. He landed his dream job in 2008 at Aerojet Rocketdyne working on NASA’s space shuttle engine program after graduating from college by creating a portfolio of his accomplishments and capabilities for his job interview to prove his skill and earn the trust of his employers. He would later help build the CV portfolio idea into a program NASA would use to help students prove their skills to employers.
When that program was discontinued at NASA in 2011, Markowitz would team up with Daniel Marashlian, and Troy Markowitz to form their own company called Portfolium in 2013 that would further build on the CV portfolio idea into a separate company. Portfolium quickly found market traction selling into universities and grew to a network of more than 5 million students. The company was acquired in 2019 by Instructure.
“To sell to Universities, we had to prove that their data was safe and secure and we took the time, resources and effort to build a system to automate the process. After the acquisition, myself and the same co-founders came back together in 2020 to start Drata and basically help companies stand up and maintain their security compliance posture, so they could earn the trust of those they want to do business with,” says Markowitz.
Today, Drata is one of the fastest growing SaaS companies. Within the first two months of formally launching in January of 2021, they brought on their first 100 customers. Over the next 18 months they would count 1,000s of customers and bring on over 250 employees in both the US and globally as they expand internationally.
“It's definitely the rocket ship that people describe made possible by the muscle memory of the early team coming back together, having solved a similar problem for ourselves in our prior life. The speed at which we've been able to execute, I think, is 100% attributed to trust as the foundation of our core values. We’re in the business of trust and our product helps companies build trust with their customers. We breathe, live and sleep trust here,” says Markowitz.
That growth trajectory has allowed the company to attract $128.2 million in venture funding to date. Its latest Nov. 8, 2021 $100 million B Round led by ICONIQ Growth, with additional investments from Alkeon Capital and Salesforce Ventures, already valued the company at $1 billion. Additional investors include GGV Capital, Cowboy Ventures, Leaders Fund and others. “We're also able to attract investors like SDCI, a group of about 50 CISOs from Silicon Valley's top tech companies, so that extra endorsement helps show the world what we're up to, and this new way of doing things,” says Markowitz.
Markowitz grew up in Los Angeles. His father worked in special effects for the film industry. He grew up playing competitive team sports, which helped shape his competitiveness and learning the importance of teamwork and leadership. “I attribute the obsessive, kind of relentless mentality to my mother. My dad provided the perspective and appreciation for the selflessness aspect of being a CEO. My dad always said he's never worked a day in his life. He loves what he does. I also have two older siblings, which I think helped a lot growing up. Watching them gave me the confidence to try anything and starting a company is one of the hardest things you can do,” says Markowitz.
He moved to San Diego where he graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a degree in structural engineering and aerospace structures and later earned his masters in astronautical engineering from the University of Southern California. After graduating he was hired by Aerojet Rocketdyne as an aerospace engineer in 2008 after creating the CV Portfolio program that would serve as the basis for the future development of the two companies he co-founded.
As for the future? “Our mission is to help ensure the future of trust in the cloud, by really leading the way when it comes to continuous automated compliance, which is new. So the vision is to be the trust layer between great companies and those they do business with and to be that real time system of record for a company's security compliance posture. On top of that, we think we could build unlimited applications, all centered around trust,” concludes Markowitz.
DMATS Award
MCLEAN, Va., Aug. 01, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Global defense and technologies partner HII (NYSE: HII) has been awarded the Decisive Mission Actions and Technology Services task order under the General Services Administration One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services multiple award, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract. Support under this task order includes technology, development, integration, collaboration and sustainment support. It also includes threat and specialized analysis and analytics support, as well as operations integration and operational effects support.
This task order has a ceiling value of $826 million with a total period of performance consisting of a one-year base period and four, one-year option periods.
“Advancing U.S. national security is HII’s highest priority,” said Andy Green, president of HII’s Mission Technologies division. “We are proud to partner with the Department of Defense and its mission partners to deliver critical integrated technology services to counter and deter current and emerging global threats.”
A photo accompanying this release is available at: https://hii.com/news/hii-decisive-mission-actions-dod.
Under this task order, HII’s Mission Technologies division will support all DOD service components, component research labs, components of the DOD Fourth Estate, National Intelligence Agencies and Combatant Commands.
“The award of this task order further accelerates HII’s ability to support DOD in developing the next generation of technology innovation,” said Garry Schwartz, president of HII’s C5ISR business group. “We look forward to providing the department integrated services to solve the most challenging security threats facing our nation.”
About HII
HII is an all-domain defense and technologies partner, recognized worldwide as America’s largest shipbuilder. With a 135-year history of trusted partnerships in advancing U.S. national security, HII delivers critical capabilities ranging from the most powerful and survivable naval ships ever built, to unmanned systems, ISR and AI/ML analytics. HII leads the industry in mission-driven solutions that support and enable an all-domain force. Headquartered in Virginia, HII’s skilled workforce is 44,000 strong. For more information, visit:
Contact:
Greg McCarthy
202.302.1202
gregory.j.mccarthy@hii-co.com
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/63502672-8e68-4793-bacc-fd3d76c4f5d5
Nasa’s long-awaited return to the Moon could begin as soon as 29 August, and the excitement was hard to miss even in the sober voices of Nasa officials and engineers during a press conference Wednesday.
“The Saturn five took us to the moon, half a century ago,” Nasa Administrator Bill Nelson said. “Now, as we embark on the first Artemis test flight, we recall this agency’s storied past, but our eyes are focused not on the immediate future, but out there.”
Artemis is Nasa’s new Moon program, and the upcoming flight on 29 August is dubbed Artemis I. It will be an uncrewed test flight to test Nasa’s huge Moon rocket, the Space Launch System, or SLS, and the Orion spacecraft, which will fly to, around, and beyond the Moon before returning to Earth 42 days later.
It’s a mission that will pave the way for Artemis II in the spring of 2023, a crewed lunar flyby, and Artemis III in 2025, which will fairly land humans on the lunar surface for the first time since 1972.
“NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the moon,” Nelson said in his remarks on Wednesday. “On these increasingly complex missions, astronauts will live and work in deep space. And we’ll develop the science and technology to send the first humans to Mars.”
Nelson and other Nasa officials provided an overview of the Artemis I mission and answered questions from the media about the upcoming test flight.
The SLS rocket and Orion are currently housed in the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center, but will “roll out” to launch complex 39B around 18 August, according to Nasa Artemis Mission Manager Michael Sarafin.
“That will signal that launch is near,” he said.
The entire 32-story rocket and launch platform will be positioned over the flame trench at the launch complex by 27 August, and tanking operations, loading the rocket with liquid hydrogen fuel and liquid oxygen propellant, will begin the morning of 29 August. If they launch is scrubbed, Nasa has follow up launch windows on 5 and 6 September.
If all goes for launch, SLS will list off on a plume fire generating 8.8 million pounds of thrust, 15% more powerful than the Saturn V rocket of the 1960s and 70s, Mr Nelson pointed out.
“The 32-story tall rocket will climb its way up through the atmosphere and in two minutes all the solid propellant the boosters will be consumed and will be jettisoned, as well as all the liquid fuel in eight minutes, and the core stage will be jettisoned,” Mr Sarafin said. The rocket’s upper stage and Orion will make a lap around the Earth as Orion extends its solar arrays to get off battery power, and if all looks good, “At that point the rocket has done its job and now Orion is on its way to the moon.”
Unlike the Apollo missions, which entered an equatorial orbit around the middle of the Moon, Artemis 1 will enter a polar orbit, “an elliptical orbit around the moon that is as if it is the face of a clock facing us,” Mr Nelson said. But it won’t stay there, and will continue out another 38,000 miles from the Moon.
“Orion will be some 270, 275,000 miles from Earth at that point at its farthest point,” Mr Sarafin said. “It’ll be farther than any human capable spacecraft has ever gone.”
All of which will be in service to the four main objectives for the Artemis I mission, according to Sarafin.
One objective is to demonstrate the SLS rocket and Orion can safely fly as intended, another is to collect as much data on the flight as possible. The third is to deploy small satellites to conduct science and take images of the mission to share with the public.
The final, and most important object is to test the Orion Spacecraft’s heat shield.
“After its long flight test, Orion will come home faster and hotter than any spacecraft has before, ‘’ Mr Nelson said. “It’s going to hit the Earth’s atmosphere at 32 times the speed of sound,” using friction to bleed off all the energy imparted to it by the massive SLS rocket at the time of launch.
It will take about 20 minutes from the point of peak heating until Orion slows enough for its parachutes to open, according to Mr Sarafin. “Then it will splash down at about 20 miles an hour in the Pacific,” he said. “A US Navy-NASA team will receive the awaiting spacecraft and will retrieve all the data off of it.”
Nasa will push Artemis I faster and harder than it would a flight with humans aboard, according to Mr Nelson, all in service of learning as much as possible ahead of the first human missions back to the Moon.
And the Artemis program itself is designed as an experimental training ground where Nasa can learn all it can about the technologies and human operations necessary to go far beyond the Moon in an eventual crewed mission to the Red Planet.
“We’re going back to the moon in order to learn to live and work to survive,” Mr Nelson said. “We’re going to learn how to use the resources on the moon in order to be able to build things in the future as we go not a quarter of a million miles away, not a three day journey. But millions and millions of miles away, on a months and months, if not years journey.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a exact closed-door meeting with leaders of the agency's counterterrorism center, the CIA's No. 2 official made clear that fighting al-Qaida and other extremist groups would remain a priority — but that the agency's money and resources would be increasingly shifted to focusing on China.
The CIA drone attack that killed al-Qaida’s leader showed that fighting terrorism is hardly an afterthought. But it didn’t change the message the agency's deputy director, David Cohen, delivered at that meeting weeks earlier: While the U.S. will continue to go after terrorists, the top priority is trying to better understand and counter Beijing.
One year after ending the war in Afghanistan, President Joe Biden and top national security officials speak less about counterterrorism and more about the political, economic and military threats posed by China as well as Russia. There's been a quiet pivot within intelligence agencies, which are moving hundreds of officers to China-focused positions, including some who were previously working on terrorism.
The last week makes clear that the U.S. has to deal with both at the same time. Days after Ayman al-Zawahri was killed in Kabul, China staged large-scale military exercises and threatened to cut off contacts with the U.S. over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan.
The U.S. has long been alarmed by China’s growing political and economic ambitions. China has tried to influence foreign elections, mounted campaigns of cyber and corporate espionage, and detained millions of minority Uyghurs in camps. Some experts also think Beijing will in coming years try to seize the self-ruled democratic island of Taiwan by force.
Intelligence officials have said they need more insights on China, including after being unable to definitively pinpoint the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic. Beijing has been accused of withholding information about the origins of the virus.
And the war in Ukraine has underscored Russia's importance as a target. The U.S. used declassified information to expose Russian President Vladimir Putin's war plans before the invasion and rally diplomatic support for Kyiv.
Supporters of the Biden administration approach note that the U.S. was able to track and kill al-Zawahri is evidence of its capabilities to target threats in Afghanistan from abroad. Critics say the fact that al-Zawahri was living in Kabul, under the apparent protection of the Taliban, suggests there's a resurgence of extremist groups that America is ill-equipped to counter.
The shift in priorities is supported by many former intelligence officers and lawmakers from both parties who say it’s overdue. That includes people who served in Afghanistan and other missions against al-Qaida and other terrorist groups.
Rep. Jason Crow, a former Army Ranger who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, said he believed the U.S. had been overly focused on counterterrorism over the last several years.
“A far greater existential threat is Russia and China,” said Crow, a Colorado Democrat who serves on the House Intelligence and Armed Services committees. Terrorist groups, he said, “will not destroy the American way of life ... the way China can.”
CIA spokesperson Tammy Thorp noted that terrorism “remains a very real challenge.”
“Even as crises such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and strategic challenges such as that posed by the People’s Republic of China demand our attention, CIA will continue to aggressively track terrorist threats globally and work with partners to counter them,” Thorp said.
Congress has pushed the CIA and other intelligence agencies to make China a top priority, according to several people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence matters. Pushing resources toward China has required cuts elsewhere, including in counterterrorism. Specific figures were unavailable because intelligence budgets are classified.
In particular, lawmakers want more information about China's development in advanced technologies. Under President Xi Jinping, China has committed trillions of dollars in investment on quantum science, artificial intelligence and other technologies that are likely to disrupt how future wars are fought and economies are structured.
As part of the shift, congressional committees are trying to better track how intelligence agencies spend their funding on China, seeking more detail about how specific programs contribute to that mission, one person familiar with the matter said.
“We are late, but it's good that we're finally changing our focus into that region,” said Rep. Chris Stewart, a Utah Republican who serves on the House Intelligence Committee. “That means in people, in resources, in military assets, and in diplomacy.”
The CIA last year announced it would create two new “mission centers” — one on China, one on emerging technologies — to centralize and Boost intelligence collection on those issues. The CIA is also trying to recruit more Chinese speakers and reduce wait times on security clearances to hire new people faster.
Inside the agency, many officers are learning Chinese and moving into new roles focused on China, though not all of those jobs require language training, people familiar with the matter said.
Officials note that intelligence officers are trained to adapt to new challenges and that many were moved more quickly into counterterrorism roles after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Advances from counterterrorism work — including better use of data and different sources of intelligence to build networks and identify targets — are also useful in countering Russia and China, former officers said.
“It’s the analytics and targeting machine that has become extraordinary,” said Douglas Wise, a former CIA senior officer who was deputy chief of operations at the counterterrorism center.
The CIA's Counterterrorism Center, renamed the Counterterrorism Mission Center in a 2015 reorganization, remains a point of pride for many people who credit its work for keeping Americans safe from terrorism after Sept. 11. CIA officers landed in Afghanistan on Sept. 26, 2001, and were part of operations to displace the Taliban and find and kill leaders of al-Qaida including Osama bin Laden.
And 13 years after a double agent tricked officers pursuing al-Zawahri and blew himself up, killing seven agency employees, the CIA killed him in a strike with no reported civilian casualties.
The CIA was also involved in some of the darkest moments of the fight against terrorism. It operated secret “black site” jails to hold terrorism suspects, some wrongly, and was found by a Senate investigation to have used interrogation methods that amounted to torture. Elite Afghan special operations units trained by the CIA were also accused of killing civilians and violating international law.
There's long been a debate over whether counterterrorism pulled intelligence agencies too far away from traditional spying and whether some of the CIA's work in targeting terrorists should instead be done by special forces under the military.
Marc Polymeropoulos is a retired CIA operations officer and former base chief in Afghanistan. He said he supports a greater focus on China and Russia but added, “There’s no reason to diminish what we had to do."
“This notion that somehow all the CT work we did, somehow that was wrong, that we took our eye of the ball — just remember on Sept. 12 what everyone was feeling,” he said.
Re-orienting the agencies toward more of a focus on China and Russia will ultimately take years and require both patience and recognition that the agency’s culture will take time to change, Wise said.
“For decades, we have been doing counterterrorism,” Wise said. “We’ve got to have a rational plan to make this adaptation, which doesn’t take so long that our enemies can exploit a glacial process.”
Nomaan Merchant, The Associated Press
Acquisition Includes TAVNEOS® (avacopan), a First-in-Class Medicine for Patients With Serious Autoimmune Disease
Tavneos Adds to Amgen's Decades-Long Leadership in Inflammation and Nephrology
THOUSAND OAKS, CA and SAN CARLOS, CA, USA I August 4, 2022 I Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) and ChemoCentryx, Inc., (NASDAQ: CCXI), a biopharmaceutical company focused on orally administered therapeutics to treat autoimmune diseases, inflammatory disorders and cancer, today announced that the companies have entered into a definitive agreement under which Amgen will acquire ChemoCentryx for $52 per share in cash, representing an enterprise value of approximately $3.7 billion.
"The acquisition of ChemoCentryx represents a compelling opportunity for Amgen to add to our decades-long leadership in inflammation and nephrology with TAVNEOS, a transformative, first-in-class treatment for ANCA-associated vasculitis," said Robert A. Bradway, chairman and chief executive officer at Amgen. "We are excited to join in the TAVNEOS launch and help many more patients with this serious and sometimes life-threatening disease for which there remains significant unmet medical need. We also look forward to welcoming the highly skilled team from ChemoCentryx that shares our passion for serving patients suffering from serious diseases."
"A fierce commitment to improving human lives is the bond that unites Amgen and ChemoCentryx today," said Thomas J. Schall, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of ChemoCentryx. "Last year, after 25 years of proud history, we at CCXI delivered on our founding promise with the approval of TAVNEOS for patients with anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody-associated vasculitis (ANCA-associated vasculitis). It is an honor to now join Amgen's great mission, and together begin a bright new era bringing landscape-shaping medicines like TAVNEOS to those who will benefit most."
TAVNEOS is an orally administered selective complement component 5a receptor inhibitor. It was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in October 2021 as an adjunctive treatment for adult patients with severe active ANCA-associated vasculitis, specifically granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) and microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) (the two main forms of ANCA-associated vasculitis), in combination with standard therapy.
ANCA-associated vasculitis is an umbrella term for a group of multi-system autoimmune diseases with small vessel inflammation. Inflamed vessels may rupture or become occluded giving rise to a broad array of clinical symptoms and signs related to a systemic inflammatory response which may result in profound injury and dysfunction in the kidneys, lungs and other organs.
Amgen is a leader in inflammation and nephrology. The company's inflammation portfolio includes Otezla®, ENBREL®, TEZSPIRE®, AMGEVITA™ (a biosimilar to HUMIRA®), RIABNI™ (a biosimilar to Rituxan®), and AVSOLA® (a biosimilar to REMICADE®). Amgen's pipeline includes four innovative Phase 2 inflammation medicines – efavaleukin alpha for systemic lupus erythematosus and ulcerative colitis, ordesekimab for celiac disease, rocatinlimab for atopic dermatitis and rozibafusap alfa for systemic lupus erythematosus – as well as ABP 654, a biosimilar to STELARA® that is in Phase 3 development. Amgen's nephrology portfolio includes EPOGEN®, Aranesp®, Parsabiv® and Sensipar®.
U.S. sales of TAVNEOS in the first quarter of 2022, the first full quarter of sales, were $5.4 million. TAVNEOS is also approved in major markets outside the U.S., including the European Union and Japan. Vifor Fresenius Medical Care Renal Pharma Ltd. will retain exclusive rights to commercialize TAVNEOS outside the U.S., except in Japan where Kissei Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. holds commercialization rights and Canada where Otsuka Canada Pharmaceutical holds commercialization rights.
In addition to TAVNEOS, ChemoCentryx has three early-stage drug candidates that target chemoattractant receptors in other inflammatory diseases and an oral checkpoint inhibitor for cancer.
The transaction has been unanimously approved by each company's board of directors. The transaction is subject to ChemoCentryx stockholder approval, regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Amgen management will comment further on the ChemoCentryx transaction on its Q2 earnings call today.
PJT Partners acted as financial advisor to Amgen and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is serving as its legal advisor. Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC acted as financial advisor to ChemoCentryx, and Latham & Watkins LLP is serving as its legal advisor.
About Amgen
Amgen is committed to unlocking the potential of biology for patients suffering from serious illnesses by discovering, developing, manufacturing and delivering innovative human therapeutics. This approach begins by using tools like advanced human genetics to unravel the complexities of disease and understand the fundamentals of human biology.
Amgen focuses on areas of high unmet medical need and leverages its expertise to strive for solutions that Boost health outcomes and dramatically Boost people's lives. A biotechnology pioneer since 1980, Amgen has grown to be one of the world's leading independent biotechnology companies, has reached millions of patients around the world and is developing a pipeline of medicines with breakaway potential.
Amgen is one of the 30 companies that comprise the Dow Jones Industrial Average and is also part of the Nasdaq-100 index. In 2021, Amgen was named one of the 25 World's Best Workplaces™ by Fortune and Great Place to Work™ and one of the 100 most sustainable companies in the world by Barron's.
For more information, visit www.amgen.com and follow us on www.twitter.com/amgen.
About ChemoCentryx
ChemoCentryx is a biopharmaceutical company commercializing and developing new medications for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases and cancer. ChemoCentryx targets the chemokine and chemoattractant systems to discover, develop and commercialize orally administered therapies. In the United States, ChemoCentryx markets TAVNEOS® (avacopan), the first approved orally administered inhibitor of the complement 5a receptor as an adjunctive treatment for adult patients with severe active ANCA-associated vasculitis. TAVNEOS is also in late-stage clinical development for the treatment of severe hidradenitis suppurativa and C3 glomerulopathy (C3G). Additionally, ChemoCentryx has early-stage drug candidates that target chemoattractant receptors in other inflammatory and autoimmune diseases and in cancer. For more information about ChemoCentryx visit www.chemocentryx.com.
About TAVNEOS® (avacopan)
TAVNEOS (avacopan), approved by the FDA as an adjunctive treatment of ANCA-associated vasculitis, is a first-in-class, orally administered small molecule that employs a novel, highly targeted mode of action in complement-driven autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. While the precise mechanism in ANCA vasculitis has not been definitively established, TAVNEOS, by blocking the complement 5a receptor (C5aR) for the pro-inflammatory complement system fragment known as C5a on destructive inflammatory cells such as blood neutrophils, is presumed to arrest the ability of those cells to do damage in response to C5a activation, which is known to be the driver of ANCA vasculitis. TAVNEOS's selective inhibition of only the C5aR leaves the beneficial C5a pathway through the C5L2 receptor functioning normally.
ChemoCentryx is also developing TAVNEOS for the treatment of patients with C3 glomerulopathy (C3G), severe hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) and lupus nephritis (LN). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted TAVNEOS orphan drug designation for ANCA-associated vasculitis and C3G. The European Commission has granted orphan medicinal product designation for TAVNEOS for the treatment of two forms of ANCA-associated vasculitis: microscopic polyangiitis and granulomatosis with polyangiitis (formerly known as Wegener's granulomatosis), as well as for C3G.
About ANCA-Associated Vasculitis
ANCA-associated vasculitis is an umbrella term for a group of multi-system autoimmune diseases with small vessel inflammation. Inflamed vessels may rupture or become occluded giving rise to a broad array of clinical symptoms and signs related to a systemic inflammatory response which may result in profound injury and dysfunction in the kidneys, lungs and other organs. Prior to the approval of TAVNEOS, treatment for ANCA-associated vasculitis was limited to courses of non-specific immuno-suppressants (cyclophosphamide or rituximab), combined with the administration of daily glucocorticoids (steroids) for prolonged periods of time, which can be associated with significant clinical risk including death from infection.
U.S. PRESCRIBING INFORMATION
TAVNEOS (avacopan) is indicated as an adjunctive treatment of adult patients with severe active anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (granulomatosis with polyangiitis [GPA] and microscopic polyangiitis [MPA]) in combination with standard therapy including glucocorticoids. TAVNEOS does not eliminate glucocorticoid use.
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
Contraindications
Serious hypersensitivity to avacopan or to any of the excipients
Warning and Precautions
Hepatotoxicity: Serious cases of hepatic injury have been observed in patients taking TAVNEOS, including life-threatening events. Obtain liver test panel before initiating TAVNEOS, every 4 weeks after start of therapy for six months and as clinically indicated thereafter. Monitor patients closely for hepatic adverse reactions, and consider pausing or discontinuing treatment as clinically indicated (refer to section 5.1 of the Prescribing Information). TAVNEOS is not recommended for patients with active, untreated and/or uncontrolled chronic liver disease (e.g., chronic active hepatitis B, untreated hepatitis C, uncontrolled autoimmune hepatitis) and cirrhosis. Consider the risk and benefit before administering this drug to a patient with liver disease.
Serious Hypersensitivity Reactions: Cases of angioedema occurred in a clinical trial, including one serious event requiring hospitalization. Discontinue immediately if angioedema occurs and manage accordingly. TAVNEOS must not be re-administered unless another cause has been established.
Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) Reactivation: Hepatitis B reactivation, including life threatening hepatitis B, was observed in the clinical program. Screen patients for HBV. For patients with evidence of prior infection, consult with physicians with expertise in HBV and monitor during TAVNEOS therapy and for six months following. If patients develop HBV reactivation, immediately discontinue TAVNEOS and concomitant therapies associated with HBV reactivation, and consult with experts before resuming.
Serious Infections: Serious infections, including fatal infections, have been reported in patients receiving TAVNEOS. The most common serious infections reported in TAVNEOS group were pneumonia and urinary tract infections. Avoid use of TAVNEOS in patients with active, serious infection, including localized infections. Consider the risks and benefits before initiating TAVNEOS in patients with chronic infection, at increased risk of infection or who have been to places where certain infections are common.
Adverse Reactions
The most common adverse reactions (≥5% of patients and higher in the TAVNEOS group vs. prednisone group) were: nausea, headache, hypertension, diarrhea, vomiting, rash, fatigue, upper abdominal pain, dizziness, blood creatinine increased, and paresthesia.
Drug Interactions
Avoid coadministration of TAVNEOS with strong and moderate CYP3A4 enzyme inducers. Reduce TAVNEOS dose when co-administered with strong CYP3A4 enzyme inhibitors to 30 mg once daily. Monitor for adverse reactions and consider dose reduction of certain sensitive CYP3A4 substrates.
Please see Full Prescribing Information and Medication Guide.
Additional Information
This report may be deemed solicitation material in respect of the proposed acquisition of ChemoCentryx by Amgen. ChemoCentryx expects to file with the SEC a proxy statement and other relevant documents with respect to a special meeting of the stockholders of ChemoCentryx to approve the proposed merger. Investors of ChemoCentryx are urged to read the definitive proxy statement and other relevant materials carefully and in their entirety when they become available because they will contain important information about ChemoCentryx, Amgen and the proposed Merger. Investors may obtain a free copy of these materials (when they are available) and other documents filed by ChemoCentryx with the SEC at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov, at ChemoCentryx's website at https://chemocentryx.com or by sending a written request to ChemoCentryx at 835 Industrial Road, Suite 600, San Carlos, CA 94070, Attention: Legal.
Participants in the Solicitation
ChemoCentryx and its directors, executive officers and certain other members of management and employees may be deemed to be participants in soliciting proxies from its stockholders in connection with the proposed merger. Information regarding the persons who may, under the rules of the SEC, be considered to be participants in the solicitation of ChemoCentryx's stockholders in connection with the proposed merger will be set forth in ChemoCentryx's definitive proxy statement for its special stockholders meeting. Additional information regarding these individuals and any direct or indirect interests they may have in the proposed Merger will be set forth in the definitive proxy statement when and if it is filed with the SEC in connection with the proposed merger.
SOURCE: Amgen
WESTMINSTER, Colo., August 04, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Maxar Technologies (NYSE:MAXR) (TSX:MAXR), provider of comprehensive space solutions and secure, precise, geospatial intelligence, announced it received a Phase A study contract from NASA for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) Spacecraft mission. During the ten-month contract, Maxar will develop the spacecraft concept, mature necessary technologies, conduct analysis on robotic servicing and payload accommodations, help define the potential performance, risks, costs and development schedule for a three-satellite, next-generation constellation of weather monitoring satellites.
"Maxar is excited to work on designing NOAA’s next-generation weather monitoring spacecraft," said Chris Johnson, Maxar Senior Vice President and General Manager of Space. "This contract builds on our legacy of manufacturing the first- and second-generation GOES satellites, which operated beyond their expected lifetimes. Maxar is committed to helping customers use spacecraft and space-based data to study weather patterns and mitigate climate change, and this GeoXO study contract is the next evolution of that work."
Maxar’s flight-proven 1300-class platform serves as the basis for the company’s Phase A Study contract. Today, there are 90 Maxar-built spacecraft operating on orbit that use the 1300-class platform. This platform provides the precision, stability, reliability and assured operations that NOAA requires for the GeoXO mission.
The GeoXO program will continue Earth observations from geostationary orbit, providing vital information to address major environmental challenges in the United States. GeoXO will also leverage new capabilities to address emerging climate issues that threaten the security and well-being of every American.
Maxar previously built the first-generation and second-generation Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES), which were known for their high performance, longevity and reliability. Contracted to build a constellation of three satellites in the 1970s, Maxar (then Ford Aerospace) built GOES-A, -B and -C for NASA’s Office of Space Science Applications. They were later renamed GOES 1, 2 and 3. Maxar also manufactured five more weather monitoring satellites for NOAA: GOES 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12, which were launched in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
About Maxar
Maxar Technologies (NYSE:MAXR) (TSX:MAXR) is a provider of comprehensive space solutions and secure, precise, geospatial intelligence. We deliver disruptive value to government and commercial customers to help them monitor, understand and navigate our changing planet; deliver global broadband communications; and explore and advance the use of space. Our unique approach combines decades of deep mission understanding and a proven commercial and defense foundation to deploy solutions and deliver insights with unrivaled speed, scale and cost effectiveness. Maxar’s 4,400 team members in over 20 global locations are inspired to harness the potential of space to help our customers create a better world. Maxar trades on the New York Stock Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange as MAXR. For more information, visit www.maxar.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may contain forward-looking statements that reflect management's current expectations, assumptions and estimates of future performance and economic conditions. Any such forward-looking statements are made in reliance upon the safe harbor provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results and future trends to differ materially from those matters expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements, including those included in the Company’s filings with U.S. securities and Canadian regulatory authorities. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, other than as may be required under applicable securities law.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220804005965/en/
Contacts
Investor Relations Contact:
Jonny Bell
Maxar Investor Relations
1-303-684-5543
jonny.bell@maxar.com
Media Contact:
Kristin Carringer
Maxar Media Relations
1-303-684-4352
kristin.carringer@maxar.com
When Sunny Shergill was named technical theater director at Clayton Valley Charter High School (CVCHS), he returned to his alma mater determined to give students the best training possible at the high school level. With an aging wireless intercom system that was struggling to make the grade, Shergill convinced school officials to purchase a CrewCom wireless intercom system from Pliant Technologies (opens in new tab).
Clayton Valley Charter High School is a tuition-free, public charter school located in Concord, CA. For Shergill, his goal in acquiring the CrewCom system was two-fold. “First, our school wanted to provide the students in our Tech program with industry standard equipment and the best hands-on experience possible,” said Shergill. “Secondly, we required full-campus coverage. We run multiple events on the same day at various locations and we needed to be able to deploy our communication system throughout the campus, which is very large. With our old system, every time we did an event, we needed to disassemble our rack or have a rolling rack, which was difficult. When the decision was made to find something that would fit our needs better; I knew we needed to look at Pliant and its CrewCom system.”
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Shergill first came across Pliant’s CrewCom system at an industry conference and was immediately intrigued. “We knew about Pliant and CrewCom, but we didn’t know enough to pull the trigger. We did a lot of research and reached out to industry friends and colleagues who helped convince us CrewCom was the way to go,” added Shergill. “Ultimately, what sold us was the CrewCom system’s frequency band. CrewCom runs in the 900MHz frequency and being in a high school, our IT department appreciated the fact that we weren’t adding more 2.4GHz antennas all over the place. The number of packs that we could get on a single Radio Transceiver [RT] and how incredibly easy the RTs are to deploy also played a vital role in choosing CrewCom.”
CVCHS purchased one CrewCom Control Unit (CU) that is centrally located on campus, six radio transceivers that are located throughout the campus via Cat 6 and fiber, 12 radio packs along with Pliant headsets. The CrewCom system is quite busy at CVCHS. In addition to the schools’ five theatrical productions each year, the system is also used at the stadium for football games, in the gymnasium, pep rallies, the outdoor amphitheater and several one-off events including variety shows and student leadership clubs.
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“We are definitely utilizing our CrewCom system quite a bit,” added Shergill. “We don’t run a show or event without it. CrewCom is put through the paces on a daily basis. Students drop them, they fall off belts, get knocked off tables and we have not had any fails from damage. In addition, the audio clarity is super clear. We utilize the CrewCom during football games and our comms are a lot clearer than whatever the coaches are using. We can hear on top of thunderous cheering, loud marching bands, and blaring PA speakers, all with clarity and without any issues. It’s a cost-effective solution that has quickly turned out to be a great purchase.”
In addition to its regular use on campus, Shergill has also found another potentially very important use. “The CrewCom system is in our emergency plan as a back-up communication device for the campus," said Shergill. "Because the CrewCom system is deployed campus wide, we added it on to our emergency preparedness plan just in case our existing radio system goes down and we still need to communicate with our campus security or administration. We are finding new uses for it as we go.”
Proposed acquisition drives growth by bringing leading sickle cell disease expertise, portfolio and pipeline to Pfizer with potential combined worldwide peak sales of more than $3 billion
Potential to address the full spectrum of critical needs in the underserved sickle cell community
Transaction valued at $68.50 per Global Blood Therapeutics share in cash, for a total enterprise value of approximately $5.4 billion
NEW YORK, NY & SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA I August 08, 2022 I Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) and Global Blood Therapeutics, Inc. (GBT) (NASDAQ: GBT) today announced the companies have entered into a definitive agreement under which Pfizer will acquire GBT, a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development and delivery of life-changing treatments that provide hope to underserved patient communities, starting with sickle cell disease (SCD). The acquisition complements and further enhances Pfizer’s more than 30-year heritage in rare hematology and reinforces the company’s commitment to SCD by bringing expertise and a leading portfolio and pipeline with the potential to address the full spectrum of critical needs in this underserved community. Pfizer intends to continue to build on the companies’ shared commitment to and engagement with the SCD community.
Under the terms of the transaction, Pfizer will acquire all the outstanding shares of GBT for $68.50 per share in cash, for a total enterprise value of approximately $5.4 billion, including debt and net of cash acquired. The Boards of Directors of both companies have unanimously approved the transaction.
SCD is a lifelong, devastating inherited blood disorder impacting millions of people worldwide, predominantly in populations of African, Middle Eastern and South Asian descent. GBT developed Oxbryta® (voxelotor) tablets, a first-in-class medicine that directly targets the root cause of SCD. Oxbryta was approved in the United States in November 2019 and is also approved in the European Union, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Great Britain. Net sales for Oxbryta were approximately $195 million in 2021. Leveraging its global platform, Pfizer plans to accelerate distribution of GBT’s innovative treatment to parts of the world most impacted by SCD.
In addition, GBT is developing GBT021601 (GBT601), an oral, once-daily, next-generation sickle hemoglobin (HbS) polymerization inhibitor in the Phase 2 portion of a Phase 2/3 clinical study. GBT601 has the potential to be a best-in-class agent targeting improvement in both hemolysis and frequency of vaso-occlusive crisis (VOC). GBT’s promising pipeline also includes inclacumab, a fully human monoclonal antibody targeting P-selectin which is being evaluated in two Phase 3 clinical trials as a potential quarterly treatment to reduce the frequency of VOCs and to reduce hospital readmission rates due to VOCs. Both GBT601 and inclacumab have received Orphan Drug and Rare Pediatric Disease designations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). If approved, GBT’s pipeline and Oxbryta have the potential for an SCD franchise that could achieve combined worldwide peak sales of more than $3 billion.
“Sickle cell disease is the most common inherited blood disorder, and it disproportionately affects people of African descent. We are excited to welcome GBT colleagues into Pfizer and to work together to transform the lives of patients, as we have long sought to address the needs of this underserved community,” said Albert Bourla, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Pfizer. “The deep market knowledge and scientific and clinical capabilities we have built over three decades in rare hematology will enable us to accelerate innovation for the sickle cell disease community and bring these treatments to patients as quickly as possible.”
“Today is an exciting milestone that accelerates GBT’s mission to discover, develop and deliver life-changing treatments that provide hope to underserved patient communities,” said Ted W. Love, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer, GBT. “Pfizer will broaden and amplify our impact for patients and further propel much-needed innovation and resources for the care of people with sickle cell disease and other rare diseases, including populations in limited-resource countries. We look forward to working together with Pfizer to serve our communities and advance our shared goal of improving health equity and expanding access to life-changing treatments to create a healthier future for all.”
Pfizer expects to finance the transaction with existing cash on hand. The proposed transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of regulatory approvals and approval by GBT’s stockholders.
Due to the proposed transaction, GBT will not hold its previously scheduled conference call to discuss its second quarter 2022 financial results. The company will file its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ending June 30, 2022 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announcing those results on August 8, 2022.
Pfizer’s financial advisors for the transaction are Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, with Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz acting as its legal advisor. GBT’s financial advisors for the transaction are J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Centerview Partners LLC, with Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP and Goodwin Procter LLP acting as legal advisors.
About Sickle Cell Disease
Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a lifelong, debilitating inherited blood disorder characterized by hemolytic anemia, acute pain crises and progressive end organ damage. Acute pain crisis, or vaso-occlusive crisis (VOC), occurs when sickled red blood cells irritate the lining of blood vessels and cause an inflammatory response leading to vascular occlusion, tissue ischemia and pain. Complications of SCD begin in early childhood and are associated with shortened life expectancy. Early intervention and treatment of SCD have shown potential to modify the course of this disease, reduce symptoms and events, prevent long-term organ damage, and extend life expectancy. Historically, there has been a high unmet need for therapies that address the root cause of SCD and its acute and chronic complications. While rare in developed markets, there are 4.5 million people living with SCD globally and more than 45 million people living with the sickle cell trait. SCD occurs particularly among those whose ancestors are from sub-Saharan Africa, though it also occurs in people of Hispanic, South Asian, Southern European and Middle Eastern ancestry.
About Oxbryta® (voxelotor)
Oxbryta (voxelotor) is an oral, once-daily therapy for patients with sickle cell disease (SCD). Oxbryta works by increasing hemoglobin’s affinity for oxygen. Since oxygenated sickle hemoglobin does not polymerize, Oxbryta inhibits sickle hemoglobin polymerization and the resultant sickling and destruction of red blood cells leading to hemolysis and hemolytic anemia, which are primary pathologies faced by every single person living with SCD. Through addressing hemolytic anemia and improving oxygen delivery throughout the body, GBT believes that Oxbryta has the potential to modify the course of SCD.
In November 2019, the FDA granted accelerated approval for Oxbryta tablets for the treatment of SCD in adults and children 12 years of age and older, and in December 2021, the FDA expanded the approved use of Oxbryta for the treatment of SCD in patients 4 years of age and older in the United States. As a condition of accelerated approval for patients ages 4 and older in the United States, GBT will continue to study Oxbryta in the HOPE-KIDS 2 Study, a post-approval confirmatory study using transcranial Doppler (TCD) flow velocity to assess the ability of the therapy to decrease stroke risk in children 2 to 14 years of age.
In recognition of the critical need for new SCD treatments, the FDA granted Oxbryta Breakthrough Therapy, Fast Track, Orphan Drug, and Rare Pediatric Disease designations for the treatment of patients with SCD. Additionally, Oxbryta received the prestigious 2021 Prix Galien USA award for “Best Biotechnology Product” from The Galien Foundation.
Oxbryta has been granted Priority Medicines (PRIME) designation from the European Medicines Agency (EMA), Oxbryta was designated by the European Commission (EC) as an orphan medicinal product for the treatment of patients with SCD, and Oxbryta was granted Promising Innovative Medicine (PIM) designation in the United Kingdom from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). In February 2022, the European Commission (EC) granted Marketing Authorization for Oxbryta for the treatment of hemolytic anemia due to SCD in adult and pediatric patients 12 years of age and older as monotherapy or in combination with hydroxycarbamide (hydroxyurea). The MHRA has granted Oxbryta marketing authorization in Great Britain for the treatment of hemolytic anemia due to SCD in adult and pediatric patients 12 years of age and older. In addition, the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has granted marketing authorization for Oxbryta for the treatment of SCD in adults and children 12 years of age and older.
Please click here for Important Safety Information and full Prescribing Information including Patient Information for Oxbryta in the U.S.
About Pfizer: Breakthroughs That Change Patients’ Lives
At Pfizer, we apply science and our global resources to bring therapies to people that extend and significantly Boost their lives. We strive to set the standard for quality, safety and value in the discovery, development and manufacture of health care products, including innovative medicines and vaccines. Every day, Pfizer colleagues work across developed and emerging markets to advance wellness, prevention, treatments and cures that challenge the most feared diseases of our time. Consistent with our responsibility as one of the world's premier innovative biopharmaceutical companies, we collaborate with health care providers, governments and local communities to support and expand access to reliable, affordable health care around the world. For more than 170 years, we have worked to make a difference for all who rely on us. We routinely post information that may be important to investors on our website at www.Pfizer.com. In addition, to learn more, please visit us on www.Pfizer.com and follow us on Twitter at @Pfizer and @Pfizer News, LinkedIn, YouTube and like us on Facebook at Facebook.com/Pfizer.
About Global Blood Therapeutics
Global Blood Therapeutics, Inc. (GBT) is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development and delivery of life-changing treatments that provide hope to underserved patient communities, starting with sickle cell disease (SCD). Founded in 2011, GBT is delivering on its goal to transform the treatment and care of SCD, a lifelong, devastating inherited blood disorder. The company has introduced Oxbryta® (voxelotor), the first FDA-approved medicine that directly inhibits sickle hemoglobin (HbS) polymerization, the root cause of red blood cell sickling in SCD. GBT is also advancing its pipeline program in SCD with inclacumab, a P-selectin inhibitor in Phase 3 development to address pain crises associated with the disease, and GBT021601 (GBT601), the company’s next generation HbS polymerization inhibitor. In addition, GBT’s drug discovery teams are working on new targets to develop the next generation of treatments for SCD. To learn more, please visit www.gbt.com and follow the company on Twitter @GBT_news.
SOURCE: Pfizer
South Korea set off for the moon on Thursday. But it doesn’t want to stop there.
“We are also considering using the moon as an outpost for space exploration,” Kwon Hyun-joon, director general of space and nuclear energy at South Korea’s Ministry of Science, said in a written response to questions. “Although we hope to explore the moon itself, we also recognize its potential to act as a base for further deep space exploration such as Mars and beyond.”
South Korea’s lunar spacecraft, named Danuri, was launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida, setting out on a roundabout but fuel-efficient path that will have it arriving at the moon in mid-December. There, it will begin an orbit at an altitude of 62 miles above the moon’s surface. The main mission is scheduled to last for one year.
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Originally known as the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, the mission was given the name Danuri after it became the winning entry in a naming contest. It is a portmanteau of the Korean words for “moon” and “enjoy.”
Danuri will join spacecraft from NASA, India and China that are currently exploring Earth’s companion. Much like the United Arab Emirates, which launched toward Mars on a Japanese rocket in 2020, South Korea is the latest country with a small but ambitious space program to set out on a beyond low-Earth orbit. And also like the UAE’s Hope orbiter, the Danuri mission is intended to make meaningful scientific contributions to global efforts to explore and understand the solar system.
Kwon said the main goal of the Danuri mission was to develop basic technologies like the design of orbital trajectories, deep space navigation, a high-thrust propulsion system and a 35-meter antenna to communicate with distant spacecraft.
But the spacecraft’s scientific payload is sophisticated and will aid scientists in South Korea and globally in studying the moon’s magnetic field, measuring its quantities of elements and molecules like uranium, water and helium-3 and photographing the dark craters at the lunar poles, where the sun never shines. In addition to providing one of the instruments, called ShadowCam, NASA chose nine scientists to participate on Danuri.
One of its most important scientific instruments is a magnetometer. The moon’s interior no longer generates a magnetic field, but it once did, and that primordial field is preserved in lava flows that hardened during this era.
Ian Garrick-Bethell, a professor of planetary science at the University of California, Santa Cruz and a participating scientist on the Danuri mission, said that the early magnetic field appears to have been surprisingly strong — potentially even as much as double the strength of Earth’s current magnetic field.
Garrick-Bethell said it was puzzling that “such a small little iron core could have generated such a strong magnetic field.”
He is hoping that after the spacecraft’s primary mission of one year is complete, South Korea could choose to move Danuri much closer to the moon’s surface, within 12 miles or less, where the magnetometer could get a much better look at the magnetized rocks.
“Even a few passes at those low altitudes could help constrain how strongly magnetized those rocks are,” he said.
Garrick-Bethell is also looking to use the magnetometer to study magnetic fields generated within the moon as it is buffeted by the solar wind, a stream of charged particles emanating from the sun.
The rise and fall in the strength of the magnetic field in the solar wind induces electric currents in the moon, and those electric currents in turn generate magnetic fields that will be measured by Danuri. The characteristics of the magnetic field will give hints of the structure and composition of the moon’s interior.
This work also requires combining measurements with those made by two NASA spacecraft, THEMIS-ARTEMIS P1 and P2, which travel around the moon on highly elliptical orbits, so they can measure the changes in the solar wind while Danuri measures the induced magnetic fields closer to the surface.
“What we would learn from that is kind of a global map of the interior temperature and potentially composition and maybe even water content of the deep parts of the moon,” Garrick-Bethel said.
Scientists will use another of Danuri’s instruments, a gamma-ray spectrometer, to measure quantities of different elements on the moon’s surface. Danuri’s device can pick up a wider spectrum of lower energy gamma rays than similar instruments on earlier lunar missions, “and this range is full of new information to detect elements on the moon,” said Naoyuki Yamashita, a New Mexico-based scientist who works for the Planetary Science Institute in Arizona. He is also a participating scientist on Danuri.
Yamashita is interested in radon, which forms from the decay of uranium. Because radon is a gas, it could travel from the moon’s interior to its surface. (This is the same process that sometimes causes the buildup of radon, which is also radioactive, in the basements of houses.)
The amounts of the radioactive elements could provide a history explaining when various parts of the moon’s surface cooled and hardened, Yamashita said, helping scientists to work out which of the moon’s lava flows are older or younger.
The Korean Aerospace Research Institute, South Korea’s equivalent of NASA, will use Danuri’s high-resolution camera to scout the lunar surface for potential sites for a robotic lander mission in 2031, Kwon said.
A second camera will measure polarized sunlight bouncing off the lunar surface, revealing details about the size of particles that make up the lunar soil. Because constant bombardment by solar wind, radiation and micrometeorites breaks the soil apart, the size of grains found in a crater could give an estimate of its age. (Smaller grains would suggest an older crater.)
The polarized light data will also be used to map abundances of titanium on the moon, which could one day be mined for use on Earth.
NASA supplied one of the cameras, a ShadowCam, which is sensitive enough to pick up the few photons that bounce off the terrain into the moon’s dark, permanently shadowed craters.
These craters, located at the moon’s poles, remain forever cold, below minus 300 degrees Fahrenheit, and contain water ice that has accumulated over the eons.
The ice could provide a frozen history of the 4.5 billion-year-old solar system. It could also be a bounty of resources for future visiting astronauts. Machinery on the moon could extract and melt the ice to provide water. That water could then be broken apart into oxygen and hydrogen, which would provide both air to breathe for astronauts and rocket propellants for travelers seeking to travel from the moon to other destinations.
One of the main purposes of ShadowCam is to find the ice. But even with Danuri’s sophisticated instruments, that could be challenging. Shuai Li, a researcher at the University of Hawaii and a Danuri participating scientist, thinks the concentrations might be so low that they will not be obviously brighter than areas not containing ice.
“If you don’t look at it carefully, you might not be able to see it,” Li said.
Jean-Pierre Williams, a planetary scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, and another participating scientist in the Danuri mission, is hoping to produce detailed temperature maps of the craters by combining the ShadowCam images with data gathered by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
NASA’s orbiter, which has been studying the moon since 2009, carries an instrument that records temperatures of the lunar surface. But those measurements are blurred over a fairly large area, about 900 feet across. The resolution of a ShadowCam is about 5 feet per pixel. Thus, the ShadowCam images used together with computer models might make it possible to tease out temperature variations on the surface.
“With this data we can map out local and seasonal temperatures,” Williams said. That, in turn, can help scientists understand the stability of water and carbon dioxide ices in the crater.
Researchers will have to wait several months for the science to begin. The spacecraft is taking a long, energy-efficient route to the moon. It first heads toward the sun, then loops back around to be captured in lunar orbit on Dec. 16. This “ballistic trajectory” takes longer but does not require a large engine firing to slow the spacecraft when it gets to the moon.
South Korea has an extensive military missile program and has placed several communications and earth observation satellites in low-Earth orbit since launching its first in 1992. And it has been expanding its domestic rocket launching capabilities so that future missions may not need to rely on SpaceX, or on other countries, to get to space. In June, the Korean Aerospace Research Institute successfully placed several satellites in orbit with the second flight of Nuri, its homegrown rocket.
“We will take on challenging projects such as lunar landers and asteroid exploration,” Kwon said.
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