The Morning After: Mars soil samples and a panini press for weed

It's Monday morning, and we've had a space-centric weekend at Engadget. But while NASA is keeping busy, ESPN is axing its comment sections. Oh, and we test out a panini press for weed.

The lasers will help them keep track of gravitational anomalies.NASA's new climate-science satellites switch on their lasers

NASA's new climate-monitoring satellites are almost ready to keep an eye on our planet's ice sheets, atmosphere and ocean levels. On June 13th, the twin Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) satellites switched on their lasers in search of one another for the first time. That the satellites' lasers have to be pointed towards a coin-sized hole on each other over a distance of 137 miles while they orbit the Earth at 16,000 miles per hour makes the technology even more impressive.

The company's UK-based team that's already building ESA's ExoMars will work on the project.
Airbus is designing a Mars rover to return soil samples

NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) agreed to figure out whether it's possible to bring Martian soil samples back to Earth. Now, the ESA has granted Airbus a $5.2 million contract to design a concept for a rover that can collect those samples on the red planet. The space agency has chosen Airbus' team in Stevenage, England, because they're already building the ExoMars rover that's scheduled to head to our neighboring planet in 2021.

It argues that social networks are a better avenue.
ESPN axes its not-so-helpful comment sections

ESPN has been less than thrilled with reader discussions. The sports broadcaster has confirmed to Deadspin that it has dropped its Facebook-linked comment sections across its websites, with no plans to bring them back or archive the results. There are "more touchpoints than ever" for fans to share their opinions, a spokesperson said, and ESPN is creating social media material that "embraces these conversations."

Who knew you could juice cannabis flowers?
The Rosinbomb Rocket is a panini press for weed

The Rocket is a $600, 13-pound tabletop rosin extractor designed to squeeze and melt the THC crystals present on the surface of the cannabis flower into a solventless dabbable hash similar to shatter. So, kind of a panini press for weed.