It’s a brand new year and the space and science news are already piling up – I took a bit of a break over the holidays, but things kept happening and so there are lots of articles to catch up with. The big news had, of course, already happened shortly before Christmas with the successful landing of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, but there was still such a huge amount of interesting stuff that I decided to make the first 2016 edition of my space news roundup into a simple link dump without the usual comments.

The next event to look out for is on January 17 when SpaceX launches another Falcon 9, but this time from Vandenberg in California with a first stage landing attempt on a sea barge. Also, next week Tuesday to Thursday the BBC’s Stargazing Live returns, which I’ve written about over on DVDLog. And now, to the news. Lots of it!

» The year of the outer solar system: how space exploration reached new heights in 2015 (Guardian/Ian Sample)

» Vladimir Putin dissolved Roscosmos, Russia’s federal space agency (Engadget/Chris Velazco)

» The U.S. Just Produced its First Plutonium-238 in Nearly 30 Years (SpaceNews/Jeff Foust)

» We Do Need Russian Rockets, for a While Longer (SpaceNews/Jerry Grey)

» New Research Shows the Tardigrade Turns to Glass When It Dries Out (Futurism)

» SpaceX Releases New Photos of the Booster Landing (Bad Astronomy/Phil Plait)

» Speculation mounts over Elon Musk’s plan for SpaceX’s Mars Colonial Transporter (Geekwire/Alan Boyle)

» First launch from Vostochny Cosmodrome to be set after testing (SpaceDaily)

» Aliens, bunny-killing rovers, and a Moon base: What all is NASA “hiding”? (Ars Technica/Eric Berger)

» Historic First Falcon-9 to Land from Space Transported to KSC 39A for Testing (AmericaSpace/Mike Killian)

» Russia to scale back Space Programme as Economic Crisis Bites (Guardian

» Death rumors of Russian lunar program ‘greatly exaggerated’ – Deputy PM (MoonDaily)

» Stephen Hawking will help Virgin Galactic roll out second SpaceShipTwo on Feb. 19 (GeekWire/Alan Boyle)

» France, Germany Admit to Second Thoughts about Sticking with ISS (SpaceNews/Peter B. de Selding)

» Visible light from black holes detected for first time (Guardian/Ian Sample)

» LHC photon readings hint at Higgs boson’s big brother, but it’s too early to tell (GeekWire/Alan Boyle)

» Advanced Alien Civilizations Could Live in Globular Star Clusters (Nola Taylor Redd/Space.com)

» Arianespace Surpassed SpaceX in Commercial Launch Orders in 2015 (SpaceNews/Peter B. de Selding)

» NASA’s Next Major Space Telescope Project Officially Starts in February (SpaceNews/Peter B. de Selding)

» British astronaut’s first spacewalk set for Jan 15 (SpaceDaily)

» Student-Built Experiment Integrated onto NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Mission (SpaceDaily)

» SpaceX Jason-3 First Stage Falcon Will Attempt ASDS Landing at Sea (AmericaSpace/Mike Killian)

» Philae Status Report: Time is running out (ESA)

» Curiosity update, sols 1166-1217: First reconnaissance of Bagnold dunes (Planetary Society/Emily Lakdawalla)