Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 13

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.

Science can sometimes be quite boring, perhaps even lacking in traditional "fun," but sometimes science presents opportunities to have fun and push the envelope of what is possible.

NASA has collaborated with Missy Elliot to send the first hip-hop song to deep space via a test of its Deep Space Network (DSN), the world's largest and most sensitive telecommunications service. The DSN is comprised of a giant 112-foot-wide radio dish called the Deep Space Station 13. The antenna is located at the DSN's Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in Barstow, and on Friday, it blasted Ellitot's song "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" 158 million miles to Venus.

The transmission was made at the speed of light and it took nearly 14 minutes to reach Earth's neighboring planet. The collaborate, while seeming quite random at face value, was purposeful as NASA recognized Elliot's passion for space and pushing boundaries.

Asteroids and comets are some of the most dangerous things in the universe when it comes to the safety of Earth as a planet, which is why NASA has set up programs such as CNEOS or the Center for Near Earth Object Studies.

CNEOS is designed to be a ledger of all of the discovered near-Earth objects, providing a database on all of their orbits, locations, speeds, rotational speeds, and any other relevant information about the object. Programs such as this and others are set up because of the real danger these objects pose, and the most unsettling aspect of these objects is we don't know where they all are.

It was only in October last year NASA took to its website to share the infographic below about how many asteroids it estimates it has yet to discover. Now, a new study published on a pre-print server has detailed what is called "dark comets," which are icy objects just like normal comets, but instead, they do not exhibit any outgassing, which causes the iconic tail depicted in traditional comets.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been aboard the ISS for weeks longer than originally planned after Boeing's Starliner capsule began experiencing notable problems as it closed in on the ISS for docking.

NASA and Boeing have launched an investigation into the malfunctions of the Starliner capsule, identifying multiple helium leaks and now thruster problems. According to a recent news conference, Wilmore took over manual control of the Starliner capsule as it approached the ISS, as the handling quality of the spacecraft became degraded due to its thrusters temporarily becoming disabled.

More specifically, five out of 28 reaction control system thrusters were automatically disabled by Starliner's flight software as it detected the thrusters reached extreme temperatures. At the time, four thrusters came back online, but some didn't reach nominal operating levels. However, mid-last month, they were tested again, and thrust levels were close to normal. So, what happens now?

NASA and the European Space Agency have selected a new picture of the month, and this time around, it's an image snapped by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the world's most powerful space telescope.

The ESA explains via a blog post on its website that Webb has honed its extremely sensitive instruments in on an astronomical object called RX J1131-1231. This object is known as a quasar and is located approximately 6 billion light years away from Earth within the constellation Crater. The ESA writes it's one of the best "lensed" quasars discovered to date as the galaxy located in the foreground of the image smears the image of the background quasar, creating a bright arc and four objects.

What is causing this distortion? Astronomers call this effect gravitational lensing, which was first predicted by Einstein. Gravitational lensing, in a nutshell, is very similar to how a magnifying glass works. In space, objects that have mass bend space and time through gravity. This distortion through gravity creates a magnifying effect that enables astronomers to see further into space than they would without gravitational lensing.

Artificial intelligence-powered tools such as ChatGPT are only getting more sophisticated and impressive, but what happens when they get too good is that it's impossible to distinguish between humans and machines.

Unfortunately, that has already been achieved, or at least when it comes to AI voice generators. LiveScience spotted Microsoft quietly explaining it created an AI text-to-voice generator that was so powerful the company deemed it too unsafe to release to the public as the model was able to "generate accurate, natural speech in the exact voice of the original speaker". As you can probably imagine, having a tool available to the public would undoubtedly result in an increase in fraud, impersonations, etc.

Microsoft's dangerous AI model is called VALL-E 2, and in a pre-print paper posted on June 17 researchers explain the model marks a milestone in text-to-speech synthesis and it has achieved "human parity for the first time." What this means is Microsoft's internal benchmarks found VALL-E 2 was able to replicate human speech or even exceed it in some cases.

Scottsdale, Arizona, resident and astrophotographer Mark Johnston pointed his photography instruments at our local star and captured solar activity in great detail.

Using his 60mm hydrogen alpha-modified refractor, Johnston managed to snap some incredible images of the solar activity occurring on the surface of the Sun. More specifically, the images showcase the chromosphere, which is a thin layer of plasma that is positioned between the Sun's visible surface (the photosphere) and the corona (the Sun's upper atmosphere). Within the chromosphere are what we see in the images: swirls of filaments, prominences, and spicules.

Solar filaments are large regions of very dense, cool gas held in place by magnetic fields. These filaments can extend outwards beyond the surface of the Sun, which changes their name to solar prominences. As for spicules, these are dynamic jets of plasma within the Sun's chromosphere, and they are as wide as 186 miles and can travel between 9 and 110 miles per second.

At the end of last month Boeing's Starliner transported two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), and it was discovered both prior and during the launch the Starliner spacecraft was leaking.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were safely transported to the floating laboratory, and then it was later discovered Starliner had accrued more leaks throughout its voyage. NASA quickly launched an investigation into the space vessel and assured the public that Wilmore and Willians weren't in any way pressed for time to get back to Earth as the ISS had plenty of supplies for a prolonged stay.

What was more concerning was NASA's announcement on June 21 that it doesn't currently have any plans for a Starliner return journey. Now, NASA writes in a July 10 blog post that it's still working with Boeing to increase an understanding of Starliner's propulsion system before both of the NASA astronauts make the return journey home. These tests are being conducted on the ground at the agency's White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico.

There are many mysteries about the universe, and some don't reside millions of light-years away; some are just within our solar system and involve our local star, the Sun.

One of the mysteries surrounding the Sun includes the decades-old discovery of radio waves that present themselves in solar flares and massive solar eruptions called Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs). The aforementioned solar activity is a key driver in space weather experienced on Earth, which can impact satellite communications and other forms of technology on Earth's surface.

So, to answer these questions, NASA has launched the CubeSat Radio Interferometry Experiment (CURIE), which took off from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, on July 9, 2024. The CURIE mission involves two spacecraft that together are no larger than a shoebox, and these spacecraft will orbit Earth at a distance of two miles apart. NASA explains the separation between the two satellites will enable researchers to measure the tiny differences in the arrival time of radio waves following solar activity.