Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 166

A report published on Monday by The New York Times has revealed that China may be constructing more than 100 hundred nuclear silos in an effort to expand the country's nuclear arsenal.

According to scientists from the non-profit global think tank, the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), China is currently constructing up to 110 nuclear silos near the city of Hami, located in the eastern part of the country's Xinjiang province. The report revealed that the discovery was made through satellite images of the area, and according to researchers, the construction site likely began around March.

This discovery has come after the US found that China was building 119 nuclear silos near Yumen last month. According to FAS researchers Matt Korda and Hans M. Kristensen, "The silo construction at Yumen and Hami constitutes the most significant expansion of the Chinese nuclear arsenal ever." Song Zhongping, a former People's Liberation Army instructor, told the South China Morning Post that nuclear silos were outdated and "these fixed silos" were discarded.

Reports have surfaced about an "unusually large" meteor turning the night sky from pitch black into daytime.

CNN has reported that the meteor caused the night sky over southern Scandinavia to become illuminated last Sunday. As the meteor entered Earth's atmosphere, the friction caused by it plummeting towards Earth causes it to burn up and break apart. The sound of the meteor entering the atmosphere could be heard over a large area of 62 miles, according to Steinar Midtskogen, a spokesperson for the Norwegian Meteor Network.

On top of the loud sound, Midtskogen said that door and hatches were blown open by an airblast caused by the meteor. The Norwegian Seismic Array (NORSAR) said it "recorded the airblast hitting the ground as a seismic event," However, "No damage has been reported, though," Midtskogen said. Meteorologists are saying that the meteor most likely fell around 15 miles out from Oslo, the capital of Norway and that it "entered Earth's atmosphere at a speed of about 15 km/s (9.3 miles per second) and it fragmented in a series of bright flashes between 35 and 25 km (22 and 15.5 miles) above ground".

A massive comet named Bernardinelli-Bernstein may now very well be the largest comet humans have ever discovered.

The team of astronomers from the University of Pennsylvania announced their discovery back in June, and according to the announcement, the comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein, or C/2014 UN271, will make its closest approach to the sun in 2031. Astronomers believe the comet is anywhere between 62 to 124 miles in diameter, and at the moment, it's 1.8 billion miles away or around the same distance between Uranus and the sun.

Bernstein said in a statement, "We have the privilege of having discovered perhaps the largest comet ever seen - or at least larger than any well-studied one - and caught it early enough for people to watch it evolve as it approaches and warms up. It has not visited the planets in more than 3 million years." If you were planning on viewing the comet when it makes its approach to the sun in 2031, you will most likely need a large amateur telescope to see it,according to CNN.

There have been numerous reports of a thunderous sonic boom being heard, as well as a bright flash in the night sky followed by a streak of fire.

Several hundred witnesses in North Texas have reported seeing a fireball streak across the night sky at around 9:00 pm local time on Sunday. According to the American Meteor Society, there have so far been 213 reports of the fireball, with the majority of the witnesses being in northeastern Texas, but some coming from Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana.

Most people who were lucky enough to witness the fireball streaking across the sky reported that it only lasted for 3 - 4 seconds before disappearing. So, what is it? For those who don't know, a fireball is a meteor as bright as the planet Venus, and according to NASA, fireballs are a common occurrence on Earth but usually pose no danger. Upon entering Earth's atmosphere, these meteors can measure more than 3 feet in diameter, but as it plummets to Earth's surface, the friction from the atmosphere causes it to burn up.

A Redditor has "unwrapped" the iconic image that was taken during the Apollo 11 moon landing with Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong.

The image is of Buzz Aldrin after exiting the lander and, since its publishing, has become one of, if not the most famous image of an astronaut to date. Now, a Redditor has used the reflection seen in Aldrin's visor to create a 360-degree panorama that allows viewers to see what Aldrin saw when the image was taken. The panoramic image can be viewed here.

The editor used high-resolution images of the landings that can be seen here. With these images, the editor color corrected them and used the original images as a reference. Additionally, the editor says that "I started photoshopping the black lines out of it, and as I saw the tool start to put random, fake pixels in its place, I just couldn't do it. What makes this process exciting for me is the fact that this is real. If I get any inkling whatsoever that something like this is fake or false, my interest in it completely evaporates. This is great because it's real!."

We all know about Air Force One and that it will take the President up and into the clouds and secure, in the case of an attack on US soil -- or in the throws of a nuclear war.

Well, Russia has stepped up by reportedly making two next-gen Doomsday planes in preparation of a nuclear war. According to Russian government news agency RIA, the Russian Air Force and Space Forces will have two airborne commanding posts based on the Il-96-400M plane.

The new Il-96-400M is a revamped version of the Il-96 long-haul, wide-body civilian jetliner, with an Il-96 variant used by President Vladimir Putin, as his primary means of travel by air. The new Doomsday planes will be capable of flying for longer distances than their predecessors and would communicate with strategic nuclear forces at a distance of around 3700 miles (5955km).

Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos has said to NASA's administrator that his company will waiver $2 billion in payments from NASA.

According to an open letter sent to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos has said that his company is willing to waiver $2 billion in payments from NASA for this financial year and the next two in return for a fixed price contract for the construction of a lunar lander. This offer from Bezos is a hail-mary attempt to get a reversal on NASA's decision to award a $2.9 billion lunar lander contract to SpaceX.

The letter reads, "This offer is not a deferral, but is an outright and permanent waiver of those payments". Adding, "This offer provides time for government appropriation actions to catch up." Blue Origin feels as if it was cut out from being an option for the $2.9 billion contract that was given to SpaceX and that NASA moved the goalposts at the last minute, according to a Blue Origin spokesperson that spoke to Engadget.

NASA has announced that the Hubble Space Telescope has located one of the biggest signs of life on a distant moon in our solar system.

NASA has announced via its website that the Hubble Space Telescope has found evidence of water vapor in the atmosphere of one of Jupiter's moons. The moon is named Ganymede, and according to NASA, a team of scientists re-examined archived data on the moon and found that observations made back in 1998 weren't matching what scientists were expecting.

After examining all of the data, researchers found that when it reaches noon on Ganymede, the moon's ice surface becomes so "sufficiently warm that the ice surface releases (or sublimates) some small amounts of water molecules. In fact, the perceived differences in the UV images are directly correlated with where water would be expected in the moon's atmosphere", per NASA.

NASA's Martian helicopter has taken my flights during its time of the Red Planet, but how far has it traveled in total?

According to a post from the NASA JPL Twitter account, NASA's Mars helicopter named Ingenuity recently completed a flight that pushed its total distance traveled to the 1-mile mark. The flight that pushed Ingenuity to the new milestone was over an area called "Raised Ridges," and according to NASA, it's the most complex flight for the small helicopter yet.

Additionally, NASA says in the post that this flight to Raised Ridges will feature ten distinct waypoints and also a record altitude for Ingenuity at 40 feet. The goal of Ingenuity checking out Raised Ridges was to provide NASA with enough images of the terrain so the space agency can decide if the area is worth a visit from the Perseverance rover. If you are interested in reading more about this story, check out this link here.

NASA has announced that it will be choosing SpaceX to launch its new alien-hunting mission to a distant moon.

NASA has announced that it awarded SpaceX with a $178 million launch contract for its Europa Clipper satellite mission. The mission will send the Clipper satellite to Jupiter's ice-covered moon named Europa in search of alien life. NASA plans on flying past the distant moon 45 timers, and with each pass, the satellite will observe the moon and relay any data back to Earth.

Originally, NASA planned on using Boeing's Space Launch System (SLS) launch vehicle for the mission. However, due to scheduling problems, NASA has selected SpaceX to power the mission, and by choosing SpaceX, the space agency will save as much as $1.5 billion in total. SpaceX will be using its Falcon Heavy to launch Europa Clipper in 2024, and it will take six whole years for the satellite to reach the moon. If you are interested in reading more about this story, check out this link here.

An international research project will be exploring the cosmos in search of "extraterrestrial technological civilizations".

The project is called the Galileo Project and is led by Avi Loeb, a Professor of Science in the Department of Astronomy at Harvard University. The objective of the project is to investigate and acquire any evidence of past or still active "extraterrestrial technological civilizations" or ETCs. The multi-institutional team of scientists will analyze data from astronomical surveys and telescope observations of the cosmos.

With the provided data, the research team will then craft new algorithms using artificial intelligence to establish if there is any evidence of interstellar travelers, alien-built satellites, and unidentified aerial phenomena. Loeb said in the statement, "Science should not reject potential extraterrestrial explanations because of social stigma or cultural preferences that are not conducive to the scientific method of unbiased, empirical inquiry. We now must 'dare to look through new telescopes,' both literally and figuratively."

If you haven't already seen it, there is a video of a creature walking across the Cass River in Michigan. That video went viral across all social media as people believed it was Bigfoot caught on film.

Now, the Rocky Mountain Sasquatch Organization, who are expert Bigfoot hunters, have analyzed the video and given their thoughts on its authenticity. The video is only four seconds long and shows a large human-like creature wadding through the river and seemingly holding something in its arms. Many people have claimed that the creature is actually Bigfoot. However, the experts don't seem very convinced.

According to the expert in the video above, there are many explanations for the creature. Examples include; a hunter wearing fishing gear carrying a dog, a person with a mosquito net or face covering, or a person wearing hip waders. However, the Rocky Mountain Sasquatch Organization voiceover says, "There's a side profile screenshot that plainly shows the nose exposed to the air and it's the same colour as the rest of it."

Between 2004 and 2021, there have been 144 incidents of what US intelligence agencies deem as Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) or more commonly known as Unidentified Flying Object (UFO).

The Department of Defense Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force has confirmed in its report that of these 144 incidents they 143 could be categorized into five separate categories; Airborne clutter, Natural atmospheric phenomena, classified US programs, Foreign adversary systems, and other. Of the 144 UAP reports, observers "logged 80 reports with multiple sensor observations, 11 reports of near misses, and 21 reports of "unusual flight characteristics", per usafacts.org.

Additionally, the report reveals that 18 of the 144 reports cited the UFOs having what was described as advanced aerospace capabilities. The report states that some of the objects reported were capable of producing radio signals, remaining completely still or moving suddenly without any "discernable means of propulsion." If you are interested in reading more about UFOs, check out some of the articles below.

Jeff Bezos and his crew recently took the first crewed trip aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket, but if Bezos and the crew were hoping to get awarded their "astronaut" badge, they will be sorely disappointed.

Since the launch of Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space trip and now Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin launch, there has been public debate over whether or not Branson and Bezos actually went to "space", and if they are astronauts. Branson and his crew reached the 53 mile altitude mark, and Bezos flew 66.5 miles up. For context, the US recognizes space at the 50 mile mark, however, the international altitude for space is 62 miles - known as the Karman Line.

Since Bezos and his crew flew above the Karman Line, does that qualify them to be astronauts? Well, Virigin Galactic pilots who flew the VSS Unity to 53 miles were awarded with "astronaut wings" by the Federal Aviation Administration. However, Bezos and no one from Blue Origin qualified, despite reaching a higher altitude. Why?

NASA has created a new type of balloon that could be a cheap alternative to launching new space telescopes.

The project is being headed by a team of researchers from Durham, Toronto, and Princeton Universities and is named the Superpressure Balloon-born Imaging telescope or SuperBIT for short. So, what is this balloon, and why is it impactful? The SuperBIT balloon is the size of a football field, and when filled with helium, it raises the equipped .5m telescope to 24 miles altitude, where it then will be above 99.5% of Earth's atmosphere.

It's important that the telescope is above the majority of Earth's atmosphere as clouds and other weather patterns can interfere with pictures and general observations. NASA recently created a "superpressure" balloon that can contain helium for months, which would allow the space telescope to maintain altitude for an extended period of time and thus enable astronomers to snap delicious images of the cosmos.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is showcasing an astronomical phenomenon in a new image that causes the appearance of galaxies to warp, magnify and even duplicate.

The image above was taken by NASA/ESA's Hubble Space Telescope and shows what NASA describes as "tell-tale" arcs caused by gravitation lensing. So, what is this astronomical phenomenon? Gravitation lensing happens when the light from a distant galaxy gets warped or distorted by the gravitational pull of an astronomical object.

For instance, the image above shows a galaxy cluster named MACSJ0138.0-2155, and according to NASA, MACSJ0138.0-2155 has "lensed" the galaxy MRG-M0138, which is located 10 billion light-years away and has run out of the gas required to create new stars. NASA describes this distant galaxy as a "slumbering giant".

NASA has announced that a relatively large asteroid will be making a "close" fly-by with Earth over the weekend.

NASA has said that the asteroid is around the same size as the Great Pyramid of Giza tall and that it will pass by Earth safely on Sunday. NASA named the asteroid 2008 GO20, and it will fly 2.8 million miles from Earth at the speed of 18,000 mph. Reports are indicating that the asteroid could be anywhere between 318 and 720 feet in diameter.

For reference, the Great Pyramid of Giza is 450 feet tall, and if a space object that is larger than 490 feet in diameter comes within 4.6 million miles of Earth, it's labeled as a potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA). As LiveScience reports, NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies monitors all known PHAs and to put the distance of how far away 4.6 million miles, its 19.6 times the distance between Earth and the moon. If you are interested in reading more about this story, check out this link here.

NASA's Europa Clipper mission objective is to find sources of life on a distant moon within our solar system, and SpaceX will be the one to launch it.

On Friday, NASA announced that it has confirmed the launch date for its upcoming Europa Clipper mission and that SpaceX has been awarded the $178 million launch contract. NASA's objective is to fly past a Jupiter moon named Europa 45 times, and with each pass, observe it for any signs of alien life. NASA will get as far down as 16 miles from the moon's surface as NASA researchers believe that the moon could have a global ocean that may host alien life.

NASA has awarded SpaceX a $178 million launch contract, and in October 2024, Europa Clipper will be carried off Earth aboard SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket. NASA plans to capture high-resolution images of the surface of the moon in hopes of being able to figure out the composition of its thick icy crust. Europa Clipper's objective is to gather data on the oceans so researchers can find out how salty it is and its depth. If you are interested in reading more about this story, check out this link here.

Joe Rogan, the host of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, has poked some fun at Amazon founder Jeff Bezos over the design of Blue Origin's rocket.

For those that don't know, Bezos recently took Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket to space along with three other crew members. The trip was a success and marked Blue Origin's first crewed trip to space. However, the achievement doesn't come without any jokes, and what better comedian to make the jokes than Joe Rogan.

Rogan posted an image of the Moon onto his Instagram, saying the following, "If you look close you can see the spot where Jeff Bezos plans to land his giant robot space dick and become the first man to jack off on the moon." Rogan is clearly poking some friendly fun at the "phallic" design choice of Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket. If you are interested in learning more about Blue Origin's trip to space with Bezos, check out this link here.

Researchers have announced that they have discovered multiple ancient viruses after testing a sample from a 15,000-year-old glacier.

According to the study, researchers took samples from the Guliya ice cap, a 15,000-year-old glacier located in China's Tibetan Plateau. The researchers found genetic codes for 33 different viruses, and of those 33 viruses, 28 of them have never been seen before.

Matthew Sullivan, a co-author of the study and a professor of microbiology at Ohio State, as well as the director of Ohio State's Center of Microbiome Science, said, "These viruses have signatures of genes that help them infect cells in cold environments - just surreal genetic signatures for how a virus is able to survive in extreme conditions."