No Arctic-science events are scheduled for today.

“We get ever closer to bringing our connectivity services to some of the world’s hardest to reach places,” said Neil Masterson, CEO with OneWeb. The 36 satellites are part of a planned fleet of 648 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites required to cover the globe. More interesting for people, shipping and businesses up north is the soon operational network covering all regions north of 50 degrees latitude. Those satellites will be up by the end of June and services will be online from the end of this year.

The U.S. Army’s Arctic Strategy, “Regaining Arctic Dominance,” generates a renewed focus on increasing the Army’s ability to operate in extreme cold weather, mountainous, and high-altitude environments such as those prevalent in Alaska. The Arctic strategy lays out goals to equip and train forces, cooperate with Arctic allies and partners, and improve quality of life for those stationed in Arctic regions. With many of the permanent Army forces in the Arctic and sub-Arctic stationed in Alaska, United States Army Alaska will once again become the hub for cold-weather operations.

Sponges: They are considered to be one of the most primitive forms of animal life, because they have neither locomotion organs nor a nervous system. A team around deep-sea scientist Antje Boetius has now discovered that sponges leave trails on the sea floor in the Arctic deep sea. They conclude that the animals might move actively - even if only a few centimeters per year. They are now publishing these unique findings in the journal Current Biology.

The aquatic animal known as the sponge is often described as entirely sessile: once they've settled in a spot and matured, they aren't generally thought of as moving around. But, according to a new study in the journal Current Biology on April 26—in which researchers describe mysterious trails of light brown sponge spicules (spike-like support elements in sponges) across the Arctic seafloor—that isn't always so.

The Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee (IARPC) has released a draft of the Arctic Research Plan 2022-2026 for public review in the Federal Register. The comment period will close on June 11, 2021. The draft plan addresses the most pressing Arctic research needs that require a collaborative approach and that can advance understanding of the Arctic, inform policy and planning decisions, and promote the well-being of Arctic and global communities. Download the plan and learn how to comment at iarpccollaborations.org/draft-plan.html

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), the Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, will convene a nomination hearing to consider the presidential nomination of Dr. Eric Lander to be Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).

This event is hosted by the Arctic Domain Awareness Center. This workshop will be an assessment of the future maritime transportation system of the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort sea regions.

Free webinar on Women Communicating Arctic Science: Gender in Transdisciplinary Research. In this webinar, you will hear from Dr. Alexandra Middleton about Arctic science communicated by women, the heart and sense dilemma, and Dr. Amy Lauren Lovecraft about whether gender matters in transdisciplinary Arctic research.

The Japanese and Icelandic organizers of this ministerial continue to plan for an in-person ministerial, in Tokyo, but have moved the dates from November 21-22, 2020 to May 8-9, 2021 because of Covid-19. Since the last Arctic Science Ministerial in 2018, changes in the Arctic ecosystem and the resulting impacts locally and globally have been severely felt. Considering the need for climate change mitigation, adaptation, and repair measures, the relevance of an international Arctic Science Ministerial has never been greater. It is necessary to strengthen scientific cooperation and collaboration among both Arctic and non-Arctic States in order to develop our understanding of the rapid changes impacting the Arctic. The First Arctic Science Ministerial (ASM1) was hosted by the United States in 2016, and two years later, the Second Arctic Science Ministerial (ASM2) was co-hosted by Germany, Finland, and the European Commission. ASM3 will be co-hosted by Iceland and Japan.

IARPC has released a draft of the next five-year Arctic Research Plan, which will span from 2022-2026. We are now asking the public to comment on the draft plan by June 11, 2021. To provide additional information about the draft plan contents and development, we are hosting a series of one-hour information sessions. A webinar May 17, 10am AKT / 2pm PT will focus on Priority Area 4: Risk Management and Hazard Mitigation.

DHS S&T's Centers of Excellence (COE) Summit is set and focused on Homeland Security Challenges: Evolving Threats & Dynamic Solutions. This event is a special opportunity for COE researchers to connect and network with DHS components, federal, state, and local stakeholders, as well as industry partners to present current and emerging solutions to threats and challenges faced by DHS. Attendees can visit the Innovation Showcase, where COE and vendor partners showcase research breakthroughs, new products and tools to assist operational decision-makers and dynamic solutions to secure our Homeland.

ADAC will conduct the Center's Program Year 7 Annual meeting to focus on U.S. Coast Guard Project Champions, key stakeholders and the community of Arctic science and technology researchers. Included in the Program Year 7 Annual meeting are planned guest speakers from HQ U.S. Coast Guard, DHS S&T and senior Arctic Research leadership in Washington D.C.

For the first time, a Regional Conference on Permafrost will be combined with the bi-annual 19th International Conference on Cold Regions Engineering. This conference is hosted by the US Permafrost Association, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the International Permafrost Association, the Permafrost Young Researchers Network, and the University of Colorado Boulder. A complete list of planned sessions is available here.

Organizers announce, that due to the coronavirus outbreak, the 2nd Symposium on Polar Microbes and Viruses has been postponed to 2022. This symposium will bring together molecular microbial ecologists specializing in different organism groups to share our latest results and discuss methodological problems, as well as future prospects in the field, including practical international collaborations. The environmental focus will be on cryospheric environments including sea ice, glaciers, ice sheets, and permafrost, but excellent research in other polar environments is also invited. The methods to be discussed will focus on 'omics' techniques, ranging from single cells to metagenomes, but research using additional methods is encouraged as well.