Motherboard: The Dawn of Colossal Spacecraft May Be Nearer Than You Think

But for real astronauts, spaceflight is not quite so, well, spacious. Take the International Space Station (ISS), which is the largest spacefaring vessel ever built, as well as the most expensive single construction project in human history, costing the US alone around $100 billion. Its first module was launched in November 1998, and its first long-duration crew, consisting of three people, arrived onboard two years later.

With an internal pressurized volume of 32,898 cubic feet, roughly equal to the interior of a Boeing 747, the ISS is a far cry from the cavernous starships we’re used to seeing in science fiction and fantasy. That said, the station and its predecessors are enormously helpful testbeds in the quest to develop even more massive spaceships down the line. Like the Mir space station, which flew from 1986 to 2001, the modules of the ISS were launched separately and assembled in space, like some high-stakes orbital LEGO kit. [...]

The ability to reuse spacecraft in this way would drastically reduce the cost of robotic deep space exploration, while also spurring the kind of infrastructures crucial for human exploration to more distant worlds like Mars. It will take an enormous amount of money, time, and effort to build these orbital truck-stops, but the back-end payoff of paving a super-roadway in space would be well worth it, according to author and spaceflight advocate Howard Bloom.

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Al Jazeera: Number of refugees reaching Europe plunged in 2016

The number of refugees who arrived on Europe's shores plunged by nearly two-thirds last year, but the number of those who died on the often perilous journey in the Mediterranean Sea rose sharply, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the EU border agency Frontex has said.

About 364,000 people seeking work or refugee protection crossed the sea between January and December, compared to more than one million in 2015, Frontex said in a statement on Friday.

A sharp drop in arrivals to Greece outweighed record migration to Italy, it said.

The decrease was largely owing to a Turkey-EU deal whereby Ankara took back migrants who crossed by sea to the Greek islands and the EU resettled Syrian refugees living in Turkey. [...]

The trend shows that the central Mediterranean route linking the Sahara region to Southern Europe still operates at full capacity despite European efforts to stem the flow, IOM analysts said. 

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CityLab: Africa's First High-Speed Train Is Coming

The train from Tangier to Casablanca currently moseys down the coast of Morocco, making the journey in 4 hours and 45 minutes. When the North African nation’s new high-speed train debuts in June 2018, that trip will take less than half the time—2 hours and 10 minutes. It will be the first high-speed train for both Morocco and the African continent.

There’s much to be celebrated in the successful completion of this $1.9 billion project. Who doesn’t love a high-speed train—especially in comparison to those sucky U.S. trains? The high-tech rolling stock comes from French manufacturer Alstom, which supplied the 12 double-decker models; the funding came from Morocco, France, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. The high-speed line is in keeping with the Moroccan government’s focus on attracting foreign investment through megaprojects. From the world’s largest solar plant in the Sahara Desert to a new airport for the capital, recent development has been big and flashy. And it’s worked: Since 2011, foreign direct investment has increased by more than 11 percent. Tourism, which supplies close to 7 percent of GDP (more than twice the percentage in the United States), has also remained strong. [...]

Unemployment remains a major issue for Morocco, with a countrywide rate of over 20 percent. For young people, the figure doubles. Fabiani tells CityLab that the country’s urban/rural divide is particularly stark. “If you go outside the main cities,” he says, “the state of the roads is very poor, as is access to clean water, schools, and hospitals.” A high-speed train linking Morocco’s main urban centers will likely be out of reach, both geographically and financially, for the majority of Moroccans. “The people who will be able to afford it—residents of cities and professionals—are not that many,” he says, noting that the money and effort might be better spent on more effective education efforts.

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Al Jazeera: Iranian soldier lauded after risking life to save dog

A young Sunni soldier has become a national hero in Shia-majority Iran after being mutilated while trying to save a stray dog trapped in a minefield.

The story of Mohammad Bakhtar, 19, has gone viral in the country, with supportive tweets and photos pouring in since the incident at an Iranian military base last month.

On the freezing afternoon of December 17, Bakhtar noticed the dog caught in barbed wire around a minefield near an ammunition depot. Hearing the dog's plaintive cries, Bakhtar rushed over to free the injured animal - and seconds later, a mine exploded, shattering his right leg. [...]

Cyclist Kamal Rastkhani said that he had travelled more than 300 kilometres in snow and freezing weather to pay homage to Bakhtar "as the symbol of love for God's creatures".

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Quartz: Less bling, more mass ceremonies: A county in China is banning extravagant weddings

For Chinese of modest means, a big wedding can actually mean bankruptcy. As a result, one county in China is cracking down on extravagant events in order to build a “virtuous and frugal society.”

On Jan. 1, new rules in Taiqian county in China’s northern Henan province went into effect in hopes of curbing extravagant weddings and funerals. The local government is encouraging residents to hold simpler events, according to its rules (link in Chinese, registration required) that dictate guidelines from the value of gifts to the size of banquets. Violations could be punished by public shaming. [...]

Chinese netizens seem to have mixed feelings about the rules. On Weibo, China’s Twitter-esque social media (link in Chinese, registration required) site, one user said “the government is meddling in people’s lives too much.” But some believe it has the right intention. “Many parents are in debt because of the weddings of their sons. These vulgar practices should be abandoned!” said another user.

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