Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 115

Officials have confirmed that the Sun has released a blast and a solar flare directly towards Earth, impact is expected to occur very soon.

SpaceWeather.com has reported that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has confirmed that the big sunspot called AR2936 has quadrupled in size over the last two days. Additionally, AR2936 is now facing towards Earth, with NOAA forecasters predicting a 20% chance of an M-class flare hitting Earth and a 5% chance of the more-powerful X-flare.

Now, reports indicate that in the early hours of January 30, a long-duration M1-class solar flare occurred, causing a coronal mass ejection (CME) to be hurled toward Earth. SpaceWeather.com writes that the CME is expected to arrive sometime between February 1-2. Officials forecast that moderate to low-level geomagnetic storms will happen upon impact, which may cause some issues for satellites. More positively, the CME impact can also cause auroras.

Palmer Luckey is unstoppable right now, where he changed the world by introducing mainstream VR headsets to the world selling his VR startup -- Oculus VR -- to Facebook many years ago now for over $2 billion. But now, his latest company -- Anduril Industries -- is taking domination to the skies, literally.

U.S. Special Operations Command has chosen Anduril Industries to write a $1 billion cheque for Anduril's counter-drone systems integration. The video above shows them off, and they are mighty impressive. The entire counter-drone system is powered by the Lattice OS, a Sentry tower, and a tiny unmanned drone called Anvil.

Once the AI and sensors are inside of the Sensor tower, a human operator far away (even in another country) presses a button and the Anvil drone flies away to intercept the enemy drone. The enemy drone might have explosives on it for example, so before it can reach its target, the Anvil drone straight up flies into it at huge speeds -- resulting in the enemy drone crashing to the ground.

A study has been published on the new app in the journal JAMA Network Open.

The app was developed by a research team from the University of California Santa Barbara, which uses a smartphone camera in conjunction with a diagnostic kit to accurately diagnose COVID-19 and flu virus infections. The app and methodology are freely available, and the app can achieve a diagnosis within 25 minutes.

The process is termed smaRT-LAMP, and uses a small volume of a patient's saliva with the diagnostic kit, which is then analyzed using the smartphone camera. The LAMP tests match the sensitivity and accuracy of PCR tests, but in a fraction of the time and with much less cost.

The University of Surrey and Space Power are collaborating to solve the problem of keeping satellites powered.

The team is working on a new space infrastructure project to develop laser technology that can beam solar power between satellites. The goal of the technology is to provide power to satellites that are in shadow and cannot receive solar energy directly from the sun at a given time. The collaboration aims to be able to commercialize the technology by 2025.

The project is part of the Space Research and Innovation Network for Technology (SPRINT) program. It will see a plug-and-play system developed that satellite manufacturers can incorporate into their low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites.

The Chinese aerospace company Space Transportation is developing the new space plane.

Known by its full name as Beijing Lingkong Tianxing Technology, the company has touted the plane as a "rocket with wings," which will be fully reusable and will be used for space tourism and high-speed suborbital transportation between different places on Earth. Ground tests are planned by 2023, with its first flight slated for 2024 and first crewed flight in 2025. It is expected to reach approximately 2,600 miles per hour (4,184 kilometers per hour).

Space Transportation was founded in 2018 and has since raised over $46.3 million toward its hypersonic space plane plans. On Space Transportation's website is an animated video showing a trip by the space plane with passengers on board. The plane takes off vertically before detaching from its rocket-powered wings, which return to the ground, as the rest of the plane makes its way to its destination before landing vertically on three deployable legs.

The rover is a collaboration between Toyota and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

The rover is dubbed the Lunar Cruiser, which pays homage to Toyota's Land Cruiser sport utility vehicle and is planned to launch late in the 2020s. By 2040, JAXA and Toyota have ambitions to help people live on the moon and to go live on Mars eventually.

The cruiser's design will allow users to eat, work, sleep and communicate all from within the vehicle, as one might with a car here on Earth. Toyota has also contracted Gitai Japan Inc. to develop a robotic arm for the Lunar Cruiser. The end of the arm allows for interchangeable tools to enable different functions, such as scooping, lifting, and sweeping.

Israel signed the Artemis Accords on January 26th.

The document to seal the deal was signed by the Israel Space Agency Director General Uri Oron in Tel Aviv. According to NASA's website, the Artemis Accords "describe a shared vision for principles, grounded in the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, to create a safe and transparent environment which facilitates exploration, science, and commercial activities for all of humanity to enjoy."

More than a dozen countries have signed the Artemis Accords, including: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Poland, the Republic of Korea, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States. Notably, China and Russia have opposed the accords, suggesting it violates the United Nations' Moon Treaty.

A new study published in the journal Global Change Biology discusses the future of forests.

Researchers from the University of Arizona have combined tree-ring data from the U.S. Forest Service with inventory data on ponderosa pines in Arizona to model the drivers of future tree growth. They predict a 56 to 91 percent decline in individual tree growth, decreasing each tree's individual capacity to remove carbon from the atmosphere.

Many factors influence the size trees will grow to, but the increasing temperature is the main factor in the case of the ponderosa pines. Trees have to transport water to their tops against gravity, and the system to transport water is put under more pressure as temperature increases. This effect is more pronounced the larger the tree in question.

The Japanese startup, Astroscale, founded in 2013, operates the ELSA-d mission.

ELSA-d, short for "End-of-Life Services by Astroscale demonstration," launched in March 2021 to test technology that could clean up the more than 36,500 pieces of space debris larger than 10cm in diameter that are currently in orbit. The mission comprises two spacecraft, a 386-pound (175 kilograms) "servicer" and a 37-pound (17 kg) CubeSat "client" that docks to the former magnetically. In August 2021, the servicer released and caught the client repeatedly.

The next phase of the ELSA-d mission is to complete an autonomous capture demonstration. On January 25th, 2022, the servicer released the client and began autonomous navigation operations to keep the client within a safe distance but did not successfully recapture the client. According to a tweet by Astroscale on January 26th, "anomalous spacecraft conditions" mean they will not complete the capture attempt until the anomalies are resolved. Both spacecraft are still operational and safely separated, orbiting nearby one another.

The Mars Express satellite captured the images.

The Mars Express is a space mission launched in 2003 and operated by the European Space Agency (ESA). Now, it has observed the Jovis Tholus shield volcano on the Martian surface, spotting numerous craters peppering the volcano's caldera. Jovis Tholus peaks at 2,990 meters and spans about 58 kilometers. Slightly off to the east of Jovis Tholus, given away in the color-coded topography image below, is a less-developed volcano causing the surface to bulge somewhat.

A large impact crater is found to the north of the volcanoes, spanning 30 kilometers in width. The impactor, an asteroid or comet, likely struck water or ice-saturated ground, indicated by the fluidized nature of the ejected material around the crater and the fractured floor within the crater. What appears to be an outflow channel along the fault line to the northwest of the crater provides further evidence that this was a watery region in the past.

The new video was published by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI).

Mounted onboard MBARI's remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), MBARI has captured new 4K ultra-high-definition (UHD) resolution footage of deep-sea life thousands of meters below the ocean's surface. MBARI began evaluating opportunities to upgrade from high-definition to 4K camera systems on its ROVs in 2018 and have since developed the new MxD SeaCam in collaboration with DeepSea Power & Light.

MBARI's ROVs have logged over 5,800 dives, accumulating over 27,600 hours of video from the deep sea. MBARI's last significant upgrade to its video capabilities was its transition to 1080i resolution, or 1920 by 1080 pixels, over 20 years ago. Now, the researchers behind MBARI are excited about the new scientific value that will be elucidated with the upgrade to 4K, 3840 by 2160 pixels, a resolution four times greater than what they could achieve previously.

A new study uncovering the viruses has been published in the journal Nature.

The Serratus Project is an international collaboration that has re-analyzed 20 million gigabytes of publicly available RNA sequencing data, which has led them to uncover almost ten times as many RNA viruses compared to what was previously known. Among those, nine new species of coronaviruses were found.

Using a supercomputer with the power of 22,500 CPUs in collaboration with the Cloud Innovation Center (CIC), data from 5.7 million biological samples over 13 years was analyzed. Within this collection, 132,000 RNA viruses were found, where only 15,000 had been previously identified. Dr. Artem Babaian, who led the research, estimated a traditional supercomputer would have taken over a year and hundreds of thousands of dollars to complete the research. In contrast, Serratus only took 11 days and $24,000.

A new study published in AGU Advances highlights the discovery.

Scientists previously believed that any flowing water on the surface of Mars evaporated around 3 billion years ago. Now, with the data gathered from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) over the last fifteen years, scientists believe water was flowing as recently as between 2 and 2.5 billion years ago.

Using the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) instrument aboard the MRO allowed the researchers to find chloride salts mineral evidence of water left over after it would have evaporated. The Context Camera and High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard the MRO allow the Mars terrain to be mapped, using the number of craters in an area to determine the age of a given surface. Analysis of the terrain allowed the team to date the salt deposits and tell when water was flowing in different areas.

Aboard the module is the Light Microscopy Module (LMM), and material from the InSPACE-4 and cell signaling in microgravity experiments.

The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on December 22nd, 2021, with a scheduled for undocking on January 22nd, 2021, followed by a splashdown on Earth the next day. The mission, CRS-24, was a resupply mission to the ISS and has brought back with it some scientific hardware and material from various experiments.

The Light Microscopy Module (LMM) is a powerful light imaging microscope launched to the ISS in 2009, which is now being retired, returning to Earth aboard the Dragon craft. It contributed to many experiments, which you can read about on NASA's website.

Researchers from the University of Stirling have published the new study in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology.

The researchers found that animals closer to the nuclear reactor in Chernobyl had more genetic mutations than those located further away. Analyzing freshwater crustaceans, Daphnia pulex, they found higher doses of radiation created greater genetic diversity in their populations.

Their findings indicate mutation outweighs natural selection as the key evolutionary force driving the Daphnia populations. They also found mutations from higher radiation zones could find their way into lower radiation zones and provide some of the genetic variations.

A new study using artificial intelligence has revealed the potential for more meteorite discoveries.

Almost two-thirds of all meteorites on Earth are found in Antarctica, where their dark color allows them to stick out amidst the snowy, barren landscape. Over time, they can become buried by snow, burying them in ice sheets that can help preserve them on land, or may flow toward the ocean and dump them in the water.

Some meteorites become exposed in areas of blue ice if factors such as wind are optimal, and most meteorites recovered in Antarctica have been found in these areas. This new study uses artificial intelligence to analyze the surface of Antarctica uses optical, thermal, and radar data to determine likely zones in which to find meteorites.

The remains of the rocket are from a Falcon 9 that launched in February 2015.

The rocket launched to deliver a NASA satellite, the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR), into orbit. Instead of returning to Earth, the rocket's second stage had flown far enough away that it entered into a chaotic orbit. It is estimated that it will crash into the far side of the moon on March 4th, 2022.

It is not the first time spacecraft have crashed into the moon, with NASA intentionally crashing the upper stage of an Atlas V rocket into the moon's south pole in 2009. Unintentionally, Israel's Beresheet probe and the Chandrayaan 2 lander both crash-landed on the moon while attempting to touch down.

A new study describing the link was published in the journal Genome Research.

The genes that could extend the lifespan of small organisms, such as fruit flies living ten percent longer, have now been found by the University College London (UCL) researchers to demonstrate a similar effect in humans. The genes are related to the creation of proteins in our cells and appear to be an example of antagonistic pleiotropy, where genes that help us in early life and through to child-bearing are selected for by evolution, despite ultimately shortening our lives.

The researchers used genetic data from previous studies involving 11,262 people who lived very long lives, to ages above the 90th percentile for their cohort. They found genes linked to two RNA polymerase enzymes, Pol I and Pol III, and some ribosomal protein genes that had reduced activity and were correlated with a likelihood of living longer.

The fetus was found inside the "Mysterious Lady" mummy from the Warsaw Mummy Project.

The fetus was discovered last year using a CT scanner, with the research team's findings being published in Journal of Archaeological Science, with a follow-up study now being published as well. The mummy was a member of the Theban community and was estimated to have died between 20 and 30 years of age while pregnant with a fetus between 26 and 30 weeks old. It is the only case ever found of an embalmed pregnant mummy.

The mummy was originally moved out of Egypt in 1826, but its true origins are unknown. The researchers found the mother did not die in childbirth. The fetus was remarkably well preserved but was not immediately found using X-rays during prior research, as its bones had mineralized. The mummification techniques used resulted in dropping blood pH levels, making the blood in the fetus more acidic, which led to the mineralization of the bones.

Canada has had a federal carbon tax since early 2019.

According to many politicians, economists, and activists, taxing corporations and consumers on their carbon emissions can effectively tackle climate change. Implementing these policies doesn't come without controversy, however, leading to revenue from the tax often being relayed to citizens in the form of income-tax credits or rebates.

Published in Nature Climate Change are the findings of a new survey of citizens of Canada, where these carbon-tax credits are issued. 17% of those surveyed across Ontario and Saskatchewan, and between 33 and 36 percent in B.C. and Quebec were unaware if they'd received any rebates. The rebates won't affect the perception of the carbon tax policies if it isn't apparent to the public they are receiving any benefits.