Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 12

The speed at which you can charge your phone can always be improved, and it appears we are about to showcase what the future of fast charging will look like with a new battery charging technology scheduled to be unveiled on August 14.

Realme will unveil the Realme 320W SuperSonic battery charging system, according to posts on Weibo and X, formerly Twitter. According to the teaser posts, the new charging system will be the "world's fastest charge ever," and users will now be able to "say goodbye to long waits and hello to lightning fast-power." Unfortunately, there isn't any official to go by yet, so these claims from Realme are just that, claims.

However, the brand did unveil a 240W charging system that was capable of charging a 4,600mAh battery in under 10 minutes. This incredible speed can be attributed to the combination of GaN charging technology, special USB cables, and several chipsets managing power, cooling, thermals, etc. Considering the 240W system from last year can charge a 4,600 mAh battery in under 10 minutes, we can expect the 320W to come with some pretty big improvements.

YouTube Music is moving toward adopting more social features that make interacting with the music streaming service much more communal.

The new feature will enable a user to share a pinnable playlist called a shareable personal radio, which will be updated daily with the latest songs the user has listened to and their general music tastes. The personalized ratio will be displayed on the user's profile, showcasing the top songs, playlists and videos, but it can be shared to friends via link or added to a library, and anyone with a link will be able to save this personalized radio.

Based on current reports, the new YouTube Music feature isn't available for everyone globally and is rolling out in stages. A way to check if the feature has been enabled for your region will be navigating to your profile, then "Privacy and location" under "Channel Settings," then "Enable public stats," or "Enable public personal radio." It appears these features are automatically disabled when they become available.

Perceptive, the company behind the world's first fully automated dental procedure, has provided some details on its new revolutionary robotics system.

The company explained in a press release that its new robotics system is AI-driven and recently completed the world's first fully automated dental procedure on a human using its advanced dentistry system. Notably, the new robotics system uses a combination of AI-driven 3D imaging software and robotic arms that are designed for quick but precise restorative dentistry.

According to the report, the robot is capable of performing some surgeries completely independently, and basic tasks such as crown placements can take as little as 15 minutes instead of the current procedure that takes two separate visits of one hour each. As previously mentioned, the robot uses 3D volumetric data to diagnose the target area and conceive an applicable treatment.

The last time we heard about the second human patient undergoing a Neuralink brain implant, the story was that they had to be canceled for the surgery due to the discovery of unforeseen medical issues.

However, it appears Neuralink found the right applicant as Elon Musk has revealed during an interview the company has successfully implanted its second Brain-Computer-Interface (BCI) into a human patient. Musk revealed the news on a recent 8-hour-long episode of the Lex Fridman Podcast, where the Neuralink founder sat down for an hour and a half to discuss the goal of BCIs, their potential at curing previously incurable diseases, and societal impacts of the technology being integrated with people that don't have any medical issues.

During the interview, Musk revealed the surgery with the second patient went "extremely well" and the implanted BCI is "working very well." Musk said Neuralink has detected 400 electrodes on the second patient's BCI, which are essentially the bridge between the device and the human brain's electrical signals.

Tractor beams are one of the most iconic pieces of science-fiction technology, most likely popularized through movies and TV shows such as Star Wars, Star Trek, and anything to do with advanced alien lifeforms operating UFOs.

While those pop-culture depictions of tractor beams are certainly very far away, researchers may be able to create a small tractor beam that would be used for health benefits. A team of researchers penned a new study in the scientific journal ACS Photonics, which details the creation of a tractor beam that's specifically designed to target cells that could lead to health complications. The invention would reduce the invasive nature of removing tissue through physical slicing, and thus, the chance of infection and further health complications.

The team used three strands of light that were twisted together like a Raspberry Twister, but the light formed together into a small tunnel or tube. These three forms of light are created by passing normal light through a surface that has an extremely thin nanopatterned silicon placed over a small plane of glass. The result is a triple helix solenoid beam that works like a tractor beam, except it's extremely thin.

NASA's Mars rover has discovered a rock on the surface of the Red Planet that shows possible signs of ancient life once existing on Earth's desolate neighbor.

The team monitoring the progress of NASA's Perseverance rover, which landed in the Jezero Crater in early 2021, is excited over the discovery of a rock that shows three signs of possible evidence of ancient microbial life once existing on Mars. The signs the rover discovered are often associated with the Earth's fossilized record of microbes living in the subsurface, and never before has NASA found all three together.

NASA explains via the above video that one of the first signs of possible microbial life is the discovery of calcium sulfate veins running up and down the rock. Calcium sulfate veins are "clear" evidence that water once ran through the rock. This discovery coincides with the overall theory that Mars was once home to large quantities of running water systems that caused the landscape observed by Perseverance to resemble dried up river systems similar to what is seen on Earth.

On July 11, SpaceX encountered a critical failure problem on one of its Falcon 9 rockets. The problem resulted in a Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly (RUD) protocol to be initiated, or boom.

SpaceX has taken to its website and X account to share an update on the review process following the failure of a Falcon 9 rocket. Notably, SpaceX's Falcon 9 is the company's workhorse rocket, having already launched 24 times this year and more than 350 times since its debut in 2010. During that time it has only experienced one catastrophic in-flight failure.

However, on July 11, a critical failure occurred during the first burn of Falcon 9's second-stage engine. SpaceX explains a liquid oxygen leak developed within the simulation around the upper stage engine, with engineers later discovering the cause of the leak was a crack in a sense line for a pressure sensor that's attached to the vehicle's oxygen system. The sense line cracked due to "high loading from engine vibration and looseness in the clamp that normally constrains the line."

NASA has taken to its website to detail newly snapped images of an exoplanet called Epsilon Indi Ab, which the space agency says is one of coldest exoplanets it has observed to date.

An international team of astronomers pointed Webb's extremely powerful infrared instruments at the exoplanet Epsilon Indi Ab, which is approximately 12 light-years away from Earth and within the constellation of Indus. The planet orbits the K-type star known as Epsilon Indi A, which is approximately the same age as our Sun, only slightly cooler. The team used Webb's MIRI instrument, which stands for Mid-Infrared Instrument, to directly image the exoplanet and reveal its interesting properties.

The space agency explains Epsilon Indi Ab is one of the coldest exoplanets to be directly detected, measuring an extremely freezing temperature of 35 degrees Fahrenheit, or 2 degrees Celsius. Notably, Epsilon Indi Ab is the closest planet to Earth that is more massive than Jupiter, and is the twelfth closest exoplanet to Earth known to date.

The average household in the United States enjoys a reasonably fast internet speed of 245 Mbps, which translates to 30 megabytes per second. This kind of internet speed makes light work of new games that weigh 100GB, but what about the internet speeds in space? Or specifically the ISS? How long would it take for astronauts aboard the ISS to download Call of Duty: Modern Warfare?

NASA has recently put its network to the test under the HDTN project, which has successfully streamed 4K UHD video between NASA's PC-12 aircraft, optical ground stations, a satellite, and finally, the International Space Station (ISS). During the test, NASA recorded speeds of more than 900 Mbps or 112.5 megabytes per second.

So, what happened? NASA began testing its network in May by firing lasers from a small single-engine aircraft while it flew over Lake Erie. The target was a ground station in Cleveland, Ohio, which then relayed the 4K video to NASA's White Sands Test Facility. From there, the 4K video was blasted to NASA's Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) satellite, which was then sent to the ISS.

Yellowstone National Park sits atop the largest super volcano on the continent, and while it is considered to be a dormant volcano it still causes geological events across the park, such as hydrothermal geysers.

Yellowstone is home to more than half of the world's geysers and contains the tallest active geyser, the Steamboat Geyser, which erupts every 90 minutes. Geyser explosions are commonplace in Yellowstone, but not every day is there a significant explosion caught on video. The large explosion took place in the Biscuit Basin, and reports indicate it was a hydrothermal explosion and (luckily) wasn't a catalyst to awaken the dormant super volcano.

A hydrothermal explosion is a rapid ejection of boiling water, steam, mud, and rock fragments. The event occurs when pockets of fluids rapidly transition to steam, and since vapor particles are much larger than water particles, extreme pressure is placed on the surrounding rocks. Pressure reaching a proverbial "boiling point" and boom. Mud, boiling water, and steam are all launched outwards. The above video shot by visitors at the park shows them running in fear as the explosion is taking place.

A team of researchers discovered a new source of oxygen at the bottom of the ocean, and it's discovery has led to more questions being asked than answered.

The discovery was detailed in a new paper published in the scientific journal Nature Geoscience, which explains the new oxygen source is called "dark oxygen," which is likely a reference to dark matter in astronomy as it can be measured but not seen. Much like dark matter, researchers first discovered dark oxygen when they discovered oxygen levels at the seafloor were rising, which would be impossible at depths of 13,000 feet, particularly without any photosynthetic processes.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has taken over the tech industry to the point where even someone who isn't interested in the developments of technology has heard the term "AI".

AI, or machine learning, has been around for quite some time but just wasn't a popular engineering term. Nonetheless, developers and engineers have been using machine learning in various ways for many years now, and one industry in particular, space exploration, adopted the technology as soon as it was possible as it enabled rovers and landers to carry out landings and surface movement autonomously.

NASA's Perseverance rover is one of these off-world rovers, and for the past three years, it has been testing out an AI that enables the rover to search for and identify specific minerals and rocks embedded in the surface of Mars. The system uses an instrument called the "Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL)," which is a spectrometer that uses light to identify the composition of a rock.

During Tesla's annual shareholders meeting company CEO Elon Musk touched on the highly anticipated humanoid robot currently being developed at Tesla, and how much money is expected to be generated from its public release.

The news on Tesla's humanoid robot Optimus has been released in drips and drabs, with the last big update surfacing in December last year when Tesla unveiled its new generation of Optimus robots that introduced a range of improvements compared to its predecessors. Since then, we haven't really got any new information on Optimus besides the shirt-folding video that Musk clarified isn't a representation of what Optimus can do right now autonomously but certainly will be able to do in the future without a specific environment.

Musk has recently touched on Optimus during Tesla's annual shareholders meeting, where he said he expects limited Optimus production to begin in 2025, and the first batch of "thousands" humanoid robots will be moved into Tesla factories to begin work by the end of the year. Musk also said hypothetically, the sales of Optimus robots, which are priced anywhere between $20,000 and $30,000, could increase Tesla's market capitalization by as much as $20 trillion.

For space travel to become an affordable reliable form of transportation Earth needs to be able to communicate quickly and efficiently with our destinations, which will be at first then Moon and then Mars.

Establishing a high-speed data network between Earth and the Moon will enable real-time communication, navigation, and monitoring of missions through sending and receiving audio, images, and video. To achieve this, a team of researchers at the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) and the Beijing Institute of Spacecraft System Engineering proposed a network comprised of 30 satellites and three lunar ground stations.

This network would enable 20 or more travelers to simultaneously communication with Earth in the aforementioned formats. In addition to the communication abilities, the network would also enable researchers to track objects as small as 3 feet in diameter in the region between Earth and the Moon. The project by China is aiming to be rolled out in three stages.

When you think fast, you typically think of sports cars or the speed of a bullet, but do you ever think about satellites, or more specifically, space probes?

The question as to what is the fastest human-made object can answered by understanding the incredible speed of NASA's Parker Solar Probe, a space probe sent to the Sun to relay data back to Earth about its intense environment and activity. The goal of the Parker Solar Probe is to provide researchers with more information on the evolution of our local star, and since it has been orbiting the Sun, it has been providing vital information about its habits and 11-year cycle.

Parker Solar Probe's Wide Field Imagery for Solar Probe (WISPR) camera passing through a CME

SpaceX encountered a problem with one of its Falcon 9 rockets last week when the workhorse launch vehicle didn't reach its intended orbit.

It shouldn't be understated the rarity of a problem with Falcon 9, as the workhorse rocket has launched twenty-four times in just 2024 and more than 350 times since its debut in 2010. During that time it has only experienced one catastrophic in-flight failure, and its lack of failures is what earned its reliability badge.

However, during a launch last week, SpaceX discovered the Falcon 9 was leaking liquid oxygen, which resulted in it being unable to reach the designated orbit for the Starlink satellites and ultimately a RUD protocol being initiated by SpaceX - Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly (RUD), or boom. SpaceX managed to get into contact with some of the Starlink satellites and tried to raise their orbits using the satellite's ion thrusters. Unfortunately, that didn't work, as there was too much atmospheric drag.

A new paper published in Nature details the creation of a new type of electrostatic flyer, which uses sunlight to power its propulsion system and achieve flight.

In the new paper, a team of researchers from China's Beihang University explained that the newly designed flyer uses an electrostatic propulsion system consisting of a motor, a 4-inch propeller, a high-voltage power converter, and solar cells. The above video explains that the motor consists of a rotor and a stator. The stator is made up of eight pairs of alternating positive and negative electrodes arranged in a ring.

Each of these electrodes has a brush attached to it that transfers charge to the rotor blades. When a high direct-current voltage is applied to the electrodes, electrostatic fields are generated and drive the rotor. As the rotor spins, its blades alternatively pass over the positive and negative electrodes, transferring charge and continuing the rotation. This process keeps the propeller spinning.

Residents in and around New York City had the opportunity to catch a rare astronomical event confirmed by NASA's Meteor Watch.

Earth's atmosphere is beaten up by asteroids of various sizes every day, with the majority of these entries taking place over oceans where humanity is unable to see them. Additionally, when an asteroid enters Earth's atmosphere and begins to build up heat from the friction generated by piercing dense atmosphere, it will eventually catch on fire, earning it the "fireball" title. These fireballs are difficult to see during the daytime and are commonly called "shooting stars" at night.

NASA estimates that 48.5 tons of space rocks fall through Earth's atmosphere every day, with the vast majority of the material being burned up by our planet's dense atmosphere. As for the New York City fireball, NASA estimates the space rock was around 1 foot in diameter and traveled at an astonishing 38,000 mph upon entry, far exceeding the speed of sound.

South Korea has announced it will begin deploying laser weapons systems designed to intercept drones from North Korea, which have been causing headaches for years in South Korea.

South Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration said it will deploy at least one anti-air laser weapons system, something it called "Block-I", by the end of 2024, and many more of them in the years to come. The agency said in a statement that its new Block-I system is capable of launching precision attacks on small incoming drones and multi-copters.

The system was reportedly developed by South Korean company Hanwha Aerospace, with a cost of just 2000 won (which is around $1.50 USD) per shot. An agency official who requested anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media regarding the issue, said: "We face North Korea on our doorstep and its drones pose present threats to us, so that's why we've been aiming to build and deploy laser weapons soon to cope with them".

New research published by an international team of researchers in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Astronomy on July 15, 2024, details the discovery of the first lunar lava tube.

For at least 50 years, researchers have speculated about the existence of lava tubes beneath the surface of the moon, which lends to the wider and well-established theory that the moon is still volcanically active. Until recently, scientists haven't found any evidence of such tubes, which are formed by flowing lava, but a team of international researchers have used data gathered by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) to claim the first lunar lava tube has been found.

The team used the Miniature Radio-Frequency (Mini-RF) instrument aboard the LRO to collect complex data on a pit located in Mare Tranquillitatis. Using a new signal processing technique to study the data, the team found evidence of a cave structure beneath the pit that would be a result of flowing lava. The team estimates the cave to be nearly 100 feet in length. Above is an image of an empty lava tube from the perspective of the LRO.