Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 134

Scientists speculate that underground fungal networks are a critical but largely overlooked component of global climate change and are looking to change that.

Researchers aim to collect ten thousand DNA samples from fungi by working with local communities worldwide, hoping to determine how their networks are being affected by human activity like global warming. With this, the researchers want to construct a global map of the networks.

Understanding how climate change affects fungal networks or mycelia is vital in ensuring their survival and the preservation of the ecosystems they exist within. Some fungi can help combat global warming by facilitating carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere by storing it in their roots underground. Providing nutrients to other plants also helps their growth, allowing them to sap more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Some fungi can instead produce carbon dioxide as they decompose organic matter for food, which helps to fuel global warming.

On November 30th, during the 181st Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, Angeles Salles of Johns Hopkins University will discuss how bats use echolocation to find prey and track and predict its trajectory.

Bats use echolocation to create echo snapshots of their environment, capturing it in discrete stages. They generate the sounds used for echolocation from their larynx or by clicking their tongues and process the echoes that return after sending out those noises. These noises are typically ultrasonic, so humans are unable to hear them.

Unlike predators that rely on visual cues, this allows bats to hunt in total darkness. Because they cannot track prey continuously as a predator would visually, the echo snapshots provide staggered sensory information on the prey as it moves through space. The bat's brain creates a predictive model that allows it to extrapolate the prey's trajectory based on its movement through the snapshots it receives.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is set to revolutionize in-space astronomy, picking up where Hubble will leave off with a host of new technologies.

One of the instruments about the JWST is the Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI), which requires special cooling down to 6 Kelvin, something that engineers cannot fully test here on Earth. Hubble observes the universe in the ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, up to about 1.8-micrometer wavelengths. MIRI, as the name implies, sees into the mid-infrared part of the spectrum and beyond. MIRI will be able to see between 5 and 28-micron wavelength light.

Every object the has warmth emits infrared radiation, and room temperature objects emit at ten microns. This radiation presents issues for MIRI, as its operation at such temperatures would radiate mid-infrared wavelengths that interfere with its ability to perceive the same wavelengths coming from space.

Following an internal SpaceX email obtained by Space Explored that revealed SpaceX CEO Elon Musk saying SpaceX could face bankruptcy in the future, a leaked video of the interior of Starship has surfaced.

The leaked email purportedly from Elon Musk states that Starship, the biggest rocket ever, is needed to get V2 Starlink internet satellites into orbit, and to get Starship operational, the production of Raptor engines needs to increase drastically. Musk describes the Raptor engine production situation as a "crisis", and writes, "What it comes down to, is that we face a genuine risk of bankruptcy if we can't achieve a Starship flight rate of at least once every two weeks next year."

Now, a leaked video also obtained by Space Explored showcases a rare look inside of the Starship launch vehicle. According to the publication, the video showcases a SpaceX employee recording the interior of the nosecone and that the interior is recognizable from exploded Starship prototypes. It should be noted that at the time of writing this SpaceX, nor Elon Musk has denied or confirmed the leaked stories are legitimate. If you are interested in reading more on this story, check out this link here.

According to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, the production of SpaceX's Raptor engines that will be equipped to its upcoming launch vehicle called Starship may cause SpaceX to face bankruptcy.

In an email obtained by Space Explored that was sent out to SpaceX staff over the Thanksgiving weekend by Musk, the CEO explains that the lack of Raptor engine product has caused a situation that has turned into something much worse than it was a few weeks ago. Musk describes the situation as a "crisis", and says he will be working on the Raptor production over the Thanksgiving weekend and requests any SpaceX staff that have free time to assist him.

"Unless you have critical family matters or cannot physically return to Hawthorne, we will need all hands-on deck to recover from what is, quite frankly, a disaster", reads the email. The email continues and mentions that the Raptor engines required to launch Starship is needed to launch V2 Starlink internet satellites as V2 Starlink satellites cannot be attached to SpaceX's current launch vehicle workhorse the Falcon 9. Starlink is needed to get V2 Starlinks into orbit, which SpaceX is relying on as cash inflow.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has chimed in on the recent controversy surrounding space debris caused by a Russian anti-satellite missile test.

On November 15, Russia tested an anti-satellite missile on one of its own satellites, which caused thousands of new space debris to emerge in Earth's orbit. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) can be heard being told by NASA Headquarters to prepare to launch back down to Earth and take shelter in spaceships such as SpaceX's Crew Dragon. NASA condemned the actions by Russia, to which the country responded by defending its actions with the minister-general Sergei Shoigu saying that the debris "don't pose any threat to space activities."

Currently, 1,500 pieces of space debris are being tracked. However, they all haven't been found and may take some time to be found. Astronomer Jonathan McDowell, who tracks satellites and debris objects, spoke to Insider and said, "If [a satellite] gets hit by one of the bigger pieces of debris... it could completely destroy the satellite into thousands of more pieces. You could see debris hitting the satellites, causing more debris that then hits more satellites."

NASA announced the cancellation of a scheduled spacewalk for astronauts aboard the International Space Station out of fear of space debris.

The space agency announced via its Twitter account that the spacewalk was canceled as there was a potential threat of space debris being a danger for astronauts Thomas Marshburn and Kayla Barron. The ISS astronauts were going on a spacewalk to replace a faulty antenna system. NASA has provided updates to its blog post on its website, where it writes that it received a "debris notification" before the spacewalk was meant to take place and decided to postpone the walk until further assessment of the situation has been done.

NASA has made no mention of the origin of space debris, and if they are from the recent anti-satellite weapon test that Russia conducted. The space debris caused by Russia's anti-satellite weapon test forced ISS astronauts to prepare to escape back down to Earth, and the communications of the event can be heard here.

A new release from the European Space Agency (ESA) has detailed the discovery of the closest pair of merging supermassive black holes to Earth.

The team of researchers behind the study that's been published in Astronomy & Astrophysics state that they have never found a pair of merging supermassive black holes as close as the pair that reside in the center of the galaxy NGC 7727. The galaxy resides in the constellation Aquarius and is around 89 million light-years away from Earth. Research indicates that the two supermassive black holes will become one in around 250 million years.

The lead author on the new study, Karina Voggel, an astronomer at the Strasbourg Observatory in France, says that merging black holes within NGC 7727 has broken the record for the closest pair of merging black holes to Earth by more than half the previous record holder. The record that was just broken was held by a pair of merging black holes 470 million light-years away from Earth, which is more than five times the distance than the two that were recently discovered.

A team of researchers have analyzed samples from an asteroid and found evidence that suggests Earth's earliest water came from space rocks and the Sun.

The team of researchers published a paper in the journal Nature Astronomy, and it outlines an isotopic analysis of samples from the asteroid Itokawa. This asteroid orbits the Sun every eighteen months, and researchers were interested in its isotopic composition to answer the question about how Earth's surface became 70% water.

For some time, scientists have thought that carbon-rich asteroids brought water to Earth, but the chemical fingerprint of the asteroids didn't quite match Earth's, hence why researchers are looking into different asteroids. The researchers in the recently published study found that the interaction between solar wind that's constantly produced by the Sun and dust particles from the asteroid samples caused the earliest water to begin forming on Earth.

Bernardinelli-Bernstein (BB) is the largest comet ever observed, and a new study from the University of Maryland shows it may have been active a lot longer than previously thought.

Comets are conglomerations of ice and dust left over from the formation of a solar system, and as one approaches a star, it will warm and begin to vaporize. A comet is active when the ice vaporizes, creating an envelope of dust and vapor around it known as the coma. The ice within the comet could be frozen water, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, or several other compounds, all requiring different conditions to vaporize.

BB is massive, at 100 kilometers across, and exists in our solar system further from the Sun than Uranus. Using the Transient Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) to examine previous observations of BB, researchers determined from its distance from the Sun and its size, BB's coma is made primarily from carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide can begin to vaporize up to five times farther from the Sun than where BB was first observed, suggesting BB has been active for significantly longer.

NGC 6891 exists in the constellation Delphinus, or the Dolphin, and is a bright, asymmetrical planetary nebula.

NGC 6891 is a bright, asymmetrical planetary nebula. It is made from gas that has been ionized by the central white dwarf star, stripping electrons from hydrogen atoms in the nebula. The glowing gas of the nebula results from light emitted as electrons lose energy recombining with hydrogen nuclei.

Hubble has captured this image, showing several structural elements, including a spherical outer halo, expanding faster than the inner nebula, and at least two ellipsoidal shells. Astronomers estimate from their motion that one of the shells is 4,800 years old, while the outer halo is 28,000 years old. Also revealed in the nebula's interior are filaments and knots surrounding the white dwarf star in the center. These elements indicate periodic outbursts radiating from the dying star.

A comet that was first discovered at the beginning of the year will soon approach Earth. It will be its first visit for about 70,000 years.

Gregory J. Leonard, a senior researcher at the Department of Planetary Sciences at the University of Arizona, discovered the comet at the Mount Lemmon Observatory, which has been appropriately named C/2021 A1 Leonard. The comet is now expected to make a close approach to Earth in December, and researchers are hoping that it will be close enough and bright enough to be visible with the naked eye. Researchers suspect that C/2021 A1 Leonard may be visible for several days despite the speed at which it will be traveling by Earth.

So, why hasn't it flown past Earth for 70,000 years? Research suggests that the comet's orbit is severely elliptical. A good way to envision this is to picture Earth's circular orbit around the Sun and change the circle shape into an oval. C/2021 A1 Leonard is due to enter the inner solar system, where it will then gain speed and be shot off in slingshot-like fashion by the immense gravity of the Sun back into deep space, where it will remain there for some tens of thousands of years.

A statement from the Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory (INL) are partnering with NASA to get a nuclear reactor onto the Moon within the next 10 years.

According to the statement, the INL is partnering with NASA to figure out a way to get a uranium-powered nuclear reactor to fit inside a 12-foot-long by 18-foot-wide rocket. Both agencies are currently seeking proposals from the private industry and the proposal has requirements, which are as follows; the reactor must be a uranium-powered nuclear fission reactor that weighs no more than 13,200 pounds, that gives at least 40 kilowatts of power for at least 10 years and has controls to make sure the temperature is regulated.

Setting up power plants on the surface of the Moon and having an abundance of energy is a part of NASA's plan to setup a sustainable human presence on the Moon by the end of the 2020s. For those considering entering a proposal, the deadline is February 19th, 2022.

Space weather forecasters announced that the Earth was going to be sideswiped by a blast from the Sun, and now the blast has arrived.

On November 27, forecasters predicted that a coronal mass ejection (CME) was going to hit Earth and possibly cause G1-class geomagnetic storms, and as predicted, the blast from the Sun hit Earth's magnetic field but didn't cause any geomagnetic storms. Instruments monitoring the Sun observed a plasma filament snapping, which caused a "canyon of fire" to be seen for more than six hours.

Spaceweather watches predicted that the CME could cause Arctic auroras to appear, which is a fantastic opportunity for incredible photographs. As Earth passed into the wake of the CME, a crack was opened in Earth's magnetic field, which caused the solar wind to hit the atmosphere, sparking an aurora to be created around the Arctic Circle. An aurora tour guide, Marianne Bergli, photographed the above aurora from Tromso, Norway. Bergli said, "My guests were a little skeptical at first ... then Boom! Wow, Fantastic. The colors were absolutely amazing."

The American Meteor Society (AMS) has confirmed multiple sightings of a fireball lighting up the night sky over multiple US states.

A new event has been confirmed on the American Meteor Society website details a fireball sighting reported by 34 individuals across L, AR, GA, MS, and TN on Sunday, November 28th, 2021, at around 23:50 UT. For those that don't know, a fireball is a meteor that has entered Earth's atmosphere and has begun burning up. For a meteor to be considered a fireball, it must shine brighter than the planet Venus.

The above video was captured and sent to the AMS by Justin Oden from Dora, Alabama. The video shows the fireball entering the field of view in the top right and exponentially getting brighter and brighter. The AMS event log states that Oden saw the fireball for around 3.5 seconds before it disappeared in the night sky. If you are interested in reading more about these fireball sightings, check out the AMS event log here.

A collection of images of the International Space Station (ISS) have been published by NASA, showcasing the floating laboratory in all its glory.

The images were taken back on November 8 when the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule Endeavor was leaving the ISS for a return journey back to Earth with four astronauts. Before Endeavor made its way back down to the surface of Earth, it did a complete 360-degree fly-around the ISS, which Space.com reports is a maneuver that hasn't been performed since NASA retired its space shuttle fleet back in 2011. So, why fly around the ISS?

Besides the fun that the astronauts would have had flying around the ISS, the maneuver was also practical as it assisted Endeavors navigation system and allowed for astronauts to take photos of the ISS from angles that aren't usually visible to ISS managers. The photos are truly stunning and capture an incredible feat the human civilization has achieved. The ISS is a $100 billion floating laboratory used by many nations around the world, and these images represent a successful joint effort between many countries. What an achievement!

Researchers have published a new study in The Astrophysical Journal, simulating tidal disruptions and analyzing their dependence on stellar and black hole mass.

Using supercomputer simulations, the research team modeled the outcome of eight different stars approaching a black hole with a mass of one million times our Sun. All of the stars are stretched and deformed by the gravitational forces of the black hole, undergoing spaghettification, with gravity destroying some entirely. When destroyed in a "tidal disruption event," the star is pulled apart into a long stream of gas and absorbed by the black hole.

The simulations are the first to combine realistic stellar density models with the physical effects of Einstein's general theory of relativity. Simulated stars had masses ranging from one-tenth to ten times the mass of the Sun. The team found that the star's survival depends more on its density than its mass alone.

Lin Meng won the grand prize for 2021's Science & SciLifeLab Prize for Young Scientists for her research into how city environments impact tree phenology.

"Phenology is the study of periodic events in biological life cycles and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate, as well as habitat factor," according to Wikipedia. Meng set out to determine how global warming and bright artificial lighting conditions in cities changed when trees started growing leaves in spring.

Previous research has shown that higher temperatures impact vegetation growth in cities, so the following question is how global warming affects that. Meng analyzed satellite data spanning 2001 to 2014 and 85 cities in the United States to find when trees began growing leaves. Trees "greened up" an average of six days earlier and were responding more rapidly to climate change in urban areas than in rural areas.

Prichal, the new Russian docking module, has successfully arrived at the International Space Station (ISS).

Prichal joined with Russia's Nauka module aboard the ISS at 15:19 UTC, slightly ahead of schedule, with the docking hooks closing at 15:25 UTC. The module arrived with around 2,200 pounds (1,000 kilograms) of cargo and supplies for the crew aboard the ISS.

The Prichal module expands the docking capabilities of the ISS, adding six new ports for the Russian portion, with five of them available for newly arriving spacecraft. It can also transfer fuel to Nauka, the module it has docked to after Progress 78, the previously docked spacecraft, left to make room for Prichal's arrival.

A crater may disappear long after a meteorite impact, but a new method of finding impact sites despite this has been uncovered.

Gunther Kletetschka of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute has identified the significantly reduced level of natural remanent magnetization in rock as the key to defining a meteorite impact site. Rocks naturally have 2-3% remanent magnetization, referring to the number of magnetic mineral grains they contain, typically magnetite, hematite, or both. When collecting samples from the Santa Fe Impact Structure in New Mexico (pictured above), Kletetschka found they contained less than 0.1% magnetism.

Kletetschka determined that during a meteorite impact, the plasma created and changes in the electrons within the atoms of the rocks being struck decreased their magnetism. The Santa Fe Impact Structure consists of many shatter cones, which are believed to form only when rock is subjected to high pressure and high-velocity shockwaves, for example, a meteorite impact. Before these telltale shatter cones are uncovered, this discovery allows scientists to identify an impact site that has eroded and become unrecognizable or define the extent of an already identified impact site.