The International Space Station (ISS) is not only the largest and most sophisticated orbiting research facility ever built, it is arguably the most important research facility we have. With its cutting-edge facilities and microgravity environment, the ISS is able to conduct lucrative experiments that are leading to advances in astrobiology, astronomy, medicine, biology, space weather and meteorology, and materials science.

Unfortunately, the cost of transporting experiments to and from the ISS is rather expensive and something only a handful of space agencies are currently able to do. To address this, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Tiger Corporation partnered in 2018 to create a new type of container that would cut the cost of returning samples to Earth. With the success of their initial design, JAXA and Tiger are looking to create a reusable version that will allow for regular sample returns from the ISS.

With the findings detailed in two Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society papers, a group of astronomers, led by the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) and Macquarie University, reported the first radio observations toward the galactic plane using the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP), developed and managed by CSIRO—Australia's national science agency. The region mapped by the researchers includes the entire area of the Stellar Continuum Originating from Radio Physics In Ourgalaxy (SCORPIO) survey, one of the exploration projects of the Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) program, which will use the new ASKAP telescope to make a census of radio sources of the whole southern hemisphere.

As part of the preliminary activities for the EMU project, radio astronomers pointed the ASKAP's antennas in the direction of the Scorpion's tail. At the time observations were carried out, the interferometer wasn't yet fully deployed (15 of the 36 antennas were then operational), and these were used to image an area of about 40 square degrees. The so-called SCORPIO field was included among the first scientific targets of ASKAP, thanks to preliminary work conducted by the Italian team using the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA).