Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 107

A team of researchers has found a new crater that seems to now be the largest impact crater on Earth that formed within the last 100,000 years.

The newly discovered crater is located in Northeast China and looking at the above image, a crescent-shaped geological structure can be seen that researchers have called the Yilan crater. A description of the crater has been published in the journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science and states that the geological structure was confirmed to be an impact crater caused by an asteroid between 46,000 to 53,000 years ago.

The crater has a diameter of about 1.15 miles, and beneath the 328 feet of lake and swamp that shrouds the impact zone, is close to a 1,000-foot-thick slab of brecciated granite, which is mainly composed of unconsolidated granite fragments. The rocks beneath the surface display classic evidence of a meteorite impact, as researchers found "shocked quartz, melted granite, glass containing holes formed by gas bubbles, and tear-drop shaped glass fragments-all indications of a high-intensity impact event", according to NASA.

The United States recently implemented new sanctions on Russia after the nation began its invasion into Ukraine.

These sanctions were designed to "degrade their aerospace industry, including their space program," according to US President Joe Biden, and were interpreted by the head of Russia's space program Dmitry Rogozin as an effort to "destroy cooperation on the ISS", and even resulted in Rogozin subtly threatening to crash the ISS into the US.

A map created by a historian of science that focuses on the history of nuclear weapons can estimate how much damage a nuclear bomb would create if it was dropped on a city of your choice.

A historian of science at the Stevens Institute of Technology, Alex Wellerstein, created an interactive map that uses declassified nuclear weapons effects data to estimate the damage caused by a variety of different nuclear weapons on populations around the world.

The map was originally released in February 2012, but since the ever-growing concerns regarding Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the recent reminders from Russia's President Vladimir Putin of the nation being the leading nation when it comes to nuclear weaponry, the map is a stark reminder of the power of nuclear weapons.

A recently published assessment of Russia's nuclear stockpile has revealed updated estimates for the nation's nuclear capabilities.

The Wall Street Journal has recently published a report stating that Russia's President Vladimir Putin has ordered a selection of Russia's nuclear arsenal to be put on high alert, following the growing tensions between multiple countries after Russia's invasion into Ukraine. The nuclear weapon assessment has been published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and was written by Hans M. Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project with the Federation of American Scientists, and Matt Korda, a senior research associate with the project.

According to the assessment, Russia's nuclear arsenal includes a stockpile of approximately 4,477 warheads, and of these, around 1,588 are strategic warheads that are currently deployed on a variety of missiles located in numerous heavy bomber bases. Additionally, the report states that approximately 977 strategic warheads, with a further 1,912 nonstrategic warheads, are currently held in reserves across Russia. The report also provides a table outlining the names of each of the offensive weapons, the total number of warheads, and more.

The leader of Russia's equivalent to NASA has taken to Twitter to remind NASA that Russia could let the International Space Station (ISS) crash into Earth.

Dmitry Rogozin recently took to Twitter to voice his opinion of the recent sanctions imposed on Russia by the US in response to the nation's invasion of Ukraine. Rogozin voiced his disdain for the newly implemented sanctions that US President Joe Biden said were designed to "degrade their aerospace industry, including their space program," as they put restraints on Russian high-tech exports.

Rogozin asked NASA on Twitter if it was attempting to "destroy cooperation on the ISS?", while also reminding the space agency that a docked Russian cargo spacecraft is used to keep the ISS at a safe altitude.

A study on the fossil fuel financing titled "If money talks, what is the banking industry saying about climate change?" has been published in the journal Climate Policy.

The top ten banks are the largest funders of fossil fuel organizations. Despite discussing climate change more in general, they haven't made any definitive action to reduce their impact on it. A total of $425.92 billion was spent in 2020 alone by banks such as JP Morgan Chase (U.S.), Barclays (U.K.), Toronto Dominion Bank (Canada), and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (Japan) on financing fossil fuels.

NASA has selected seventeen proposals for futuristic space technologies to receive funding.

The proposals are funded by the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, which fosters the development of early-stage studies to evaluate technologies for future aeronautics and space missions. Seventeen researchers from nine states have been awarded a total of $5.1 million, with twelve new projects receiving Phase I awards and five projects receiving Phase II awards to continue work on their concepts.

The increase has come following the Russian military's capture of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and Pripyat.

Ukrainian officials say the heavy fighting between Ukrainian and Russian troops in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone has led to increased radiation. The automated radiation-monitoring system in the area shows a 20-fold increase in gamma radiation above normal levels at multiple observation points. The cause has been attributed to radioactive dust thrown up by the movement of troops and heavy military equipment in the area.

The power plant is currently entombed in a concrete sarcophagus, surrounded by the New Safe Confinement structure shown in the picture above. Combat in the area has led to concerns that munitions may potentially damage these structures, threatening to release more radioactive material.

The images were captured by satellites from Planet, formerly known as Planet Labs.

The image above shows the Russian Navy in sailing in Mediterranean Sea towards Tartus, Syria at 7:57:57 UTC on February 24th, captured by a PlanetScope satellite. Planet Labs also provided a link to more information on the naval movements from NavalNews with the image.

Skysat also captured before and after shots from February 21st, 2022, and February 24th, 2022 of the Chuhuiv Air Base in Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine, and the Mykolaiv Air Base in Mykolaiv Oblast, Ukraine. Black smoke can be seen rising from the Chuhuiv Air Base after attacks, while smoke clouds have moved over the Mykolaiv Air Base due to nearby attacks.

Roscosmos Director-General Dmitry Rogozin has spoken out on Twitter against the sanctions targeting its space program.

The thread originally posted by Rogozin has been translated by Rob Mitchell for Ars Technica senior space editor Eric Berger, who shared the above translation. The tweets come in response to an array of sanctions imposed upon Russia on February 24th in the wake of its invasion into Ukraine. This includes those by U.S. President Joe Biden targeting, among other things, the Russian space program.

NASA has stated the sanctions "will continue to allow U.S.-Russia civil space cooperation," but Rogozin believes it could mean the end of the countries' cooperation aboard the ISS. Rogozin suggests the possibility of the space station crashing into Earth in an uncontrolled manner without Russian help, owing to the guidance and navigation capabilities of the station the Russian segment is responsible for, as well as the Russian Progress spacecraft, which periodically boost the station back into higher orbits.

U.S. President Joe Biden announced the new sanctions on Russia on Thursday, February 24th.

The sanctions will seek to "degrade" Russia's space program in response to the Russian military's invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions will impact Russia's space program, military, maritime industry, financial institutions, and citizens close to the Russian president Vladimir Putin. Biden says they are "purposely designed" to maximize the long-term economic impact on the country.

A study on the family tree titled "A unified genealogy of modern and ancient genomes" has been published in the journal Science.

Researchers from the University of Oxford's Big Data Institute have developed a method to combine genome sequences from many databases to create a genealogy network of almost 27 million ancestors. By developing algorithms to handle the massive amount of data, the team has taken a major step toward mapping the entire genealogy of the human race and how we are all related to one another.

The U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is concerned satellites may become a target for the Russian military.

Late last year Russia demonstrated its anti-satellite capabilities against one of its own satellites. Now, amidst the unfolding conflict in Ukraine, the head of the NRO warned commercial and government satellites are potential targets but did not mention any specific actions that might be taken against them, aside from citing GPS jamming as an example of a tactic Russia already employs.

A study on the problem titled "Death by Robots? Automation and Working-Age Mortality in the United States" has been published in the journal Demography.

Researchers from Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania have found evidence for a causal link between increased automation of U.S manufacturing and rising mortality in adults in the U.S. They found this to be largely driven by more "deaths of despair," such as suicides and drug overdoses, particularly for males and females aged between 45 and 54.

The Russian military has captured the area after beginning its invasion into Ukraine.

After battling with Ukrainian forces on three sides, the Russian military has gained control of part of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, including the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the abandoned city of Pripyat. According to Reuters, a Russian security source says the Russian military amassed in the exclusion zone before crossing into Ukraine, and wants to control the nuclear reactor to signal to NATO to not interfere militarily.

Astronomers will be able to watch a nearly 4,000 foot-wide asteroid pass by Earth next week, according to data provided by NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS).

The asteroid is 2001 CB21, and according to the NASA database, it is estimated to be up to 3,940 feet in diameter and will make its closest approach with Earth on March 4 at 2:59 am Eastern Time. During its safe but close approach with Earth, the asteroid is estimated to be traveling at 26,800 miles per hour and will be about 3 million miles from Earth, or about 12 times the distance between the moon and Earth.

As the asteroid makes its approach Gianluca Masi, an astronomer at the Virtual Telescope Project located in Italy, photographed the space rock on February 23, when it was around 6.2 million miles from Earth. The image can be seen above. Masi spoke to Newsweek and said that due to the ever-increasing technological upgrades that come to space telescopes, astronomers are able to locate smaller and smaller objects, which is why the number of "near-Earth objects" is increasing.

Russia has officially begun its invasion into Ukraine, and amid the explosions caused by the missiles launched, NASA has commented on the work-life balance of US astronauts and Russian cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Russia only recently began its move into Ukraine, with reports now saying that Russian troops are now moving into Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. The Independent has reported that NASA has said that despite the actions taken by Russia, US astronauts aboard the ISS will continue to work alongside Russian cosmonauts in order to ensure research in space remains the same.

Backing up the statement from NASA was the head of Russia's space program, Dmitry Rogozin, who said that sometimes he is completely unhappy with the "sometimes openly hostile US policy towards my country", but "regardless of disagreements between our countries," Roscosmos "will make every effort to continue as before." If you are interested in reading more about this story, check out this link here.

A study on the extinction event titled "The Mesozoic terminated in boreal spring" has been published in the journal Nature.

An international team of researchers has determined that the meteorite that crashed into Earth and wiped out the dinosaurs struck during the boreal (relating to the northern hemisphere) springtime. Around 66 million years ago, the meteorite crashed into Earth, creating the Chicxulub crater on what is now known as the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico, wiping out all non-avian dinosaurs, pterosaurs, ammonites, and most marine reptiles but allowing mammals, birds, crocodiles, and turtles to survive.

The team was able to study fossilized fish, which were buried by enormous waves resulting from the meteorite impact. The fossils were remarkably well preserved, with almost no geochemical degradation of their bones observed. Using the particle accelerator at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), the team analyzed the bones of the fish.

A study on the latest observations of the planet titled "BEBOP III. Observations and an independent mass measurement of Kepler-16 (AB) b - the first circumbinary planet detected with radial velocities" has been published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

A team of researchers led by the University of Birmingham have used the 193-centimeter telescope at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence in France to observe the rare exoplanet. The planet is called Kepler-16b and previously had only been observed by the Kepler space telescope. It is located roughly 245 light-years away from Earth and orbits around two stars, which both orbit each other to create a binary star system.

Existing in such a system means that any observer on the surface of Kepler-16b would witness two sunsets (and sunrises), as you would on the planet Tatooine in the Star Wars universe. Kepler-16b was the fourth confirmed circumbinary planet (orbiting two stars) found at the time of discovery in 2011, with nine currently known at the time of writing.

A study of the black holes titled "The Unanticipated Phenomenology of the Blazar PKS 2131-021: A Unique Supermassive Black Hole Binary Candidate" has been published in the journal The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Researchers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have observed two supermassive black holes orbiting one another every two years, nine billion light-years away. Both are hundreds of millions of times greater in mass than our Sun and are separated by about fifty times the distance between our Sun and Pluto. They are predicted to merge in approximately ten thousand years, which will send massive gravitational waves across the universe.

The black holes are found within a blazar dubbed PKS 2131-021, a type of quasar. Quasars are a type of active galactic nuclei (AGN) where the supermassive black hole(s) within siphons material from the accretion disc encircling it and shoots out massive jets. PKS 2131-021 marks the second known candidate for a pair of supermassive black holes caught merging, with the first candidate pair being the quasar OJ 287, whose black holes orbit one another every nine years instead of two.