Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 174

China is moving towards creating unlimited clean energy by designing and building an artificial Sun here on Earth.

A team of researchers at the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) have said via Chinese state media that a new world record has been set for nuclear fusion temperature and how long that temperature was held. Reports indicate that the new world record, set by EAST, is 120 million degrees Celcius and was held for 101 seconds. For reference, the Sun is approximately 150 million degrees Celcius and will burn for billions of years.

So, why are researchers trying to create a Sun here on Earth? If researchers can manage to replicate a Sun here on Earth, they will be able to harness the energy that it produces and thus be able to provide cities with endless clean energy. Essentially, if researchers can provide enough pressure to the reaction to keep it going indefinitely, they would have considerably assisted the world's fossil fuel problem, which is a limited resource.

Someone has bid a whopping $28 million for a seat next to Jeff Bezos on the first Blue Origin space tourist flight.

Blue Origin is founded by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, and recently held an auction for a seat on the first commercial trip to space. The auction was held on June 12, and an undisclosed person bid $28 million for a seat on Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket that is scheduled to take its first flight on July 20.

The auction winner will be joining Jeff Bezos on the first flight, along with Bezos' brother, Mark Bezos. So, what will the trip entail? Blue Origin will be sending the New Shepard rocket to the altitude of 62 miles above average sea level where it will then release the capsule containing the tourists. For 10 minutes the tourists will experience weightlessness before the capsule begins to safely decent back down to Earth via a parachute.

NASA has been the king of Mars images with its Perseverance rover being the main rover pulling most of the weight.

But now NASA might have a challenger on its hands, as the China National Space Administration has released new images from its recently touched down Mars rover named Zhurong. Since Zhurong touched down on the Red Planet, it has been exploring its surface, and along the way, it has been snapping some gorgeous images of the baron surface of Mars.

According to China's state media outlet Xinhua, a new collection of images has been released and within that collection is a very special image. The image is a selfie of the Zhurong rover positioned next to the lander, and what makes the image so special is that it was snapped with a wireless camera that was stationed on the surface of the planet at a distance. Xinhua states, "Zhurong also used a separable camera to take a selfie with the landing platform".

NASA is planning the construction of a new telescope that is designed to give Earth a new level of planetary defence.

NASA has said the new telescope will be called the Near-Earth Object Surveyor, or NEO Surveyor for short. The NEO Surveyor is designed to monitor near-Earth objects such as asteroids, and will relay information back to NASA about objects' position, trajectory, etc. The NEO Surveyor will track objects that are within 30 million miles of Earth, and so far, researchers believe there are 25,000 near-Earth-objects within that vicinity.

Amy Mainzer of the University of Arizona said, "We think there are about 25,000 NEOs large enough to wipe out an area like Southern California. Once they get bigger than about 450 feet in diameter, they can cause severe regional damage. We want to find these, and as many smaller ones as possible." Near-Earth asteroids that are approaching Earth radiate heat signatures that the NEO Surveyor will be able to detect as it's equipped with heat-sensitive cameras. For more information on this story, check out this link here.

The International Space Station (ISS) is a floating laboratory home to many experiments and a small group of astronauts.

Now, the ISS has some new creatures aboard the floating lab, and they have been dubbed "space pups". The "space pups" are actually mice that were born from frozen sperm that was kept on the ISS for six weeks prior to the birth. Why were mice born on the ISS? Researchers are exploring the question if fertility in space is different from here on Earth. Gravity and radiation being the main factors that are being tested.

So far, researchers know that sperm behave differently in microgravity and that the radiation in space can be potentially harmful as well. The researchers took mice sperm, sealed it in vials, freeze-dried it, and sent it to the ISS. The mice sperm spent a considerable amount of time aboard the ISS and then was transported back to Earth, where it was then used to impregnate mice. The researchers on Earth found no abnormalities in the pups the mice on Earth gave birth to. The very same goes for the space pups that were birthed on the ISS.

China has just launched its first "asteroid hunter" satellite into space, with the new satellite taking its journey into the black beyond with three other satellites.

Lifting off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center located in north China, the Long March 2D rocket took off with the Yangwang-1 spacecraft at 11:03PM EDT (0303 GMT, or 11:03AM local time, Friday, June 11). Chinese space resources company Origin Space is the company behind the launch, with the satellite being China's first optical space telescope -- capable of collecting visible and ultraviolet light to detect near-Earth asteroids.

Origin Space wants to create a "treasure map" of potential space resources, using the new "asteroid hunter" satellite to scan around using its various sensors and wide field of view to take in all that data. The company launched its NEO-1 satellite in April 2021, designed to release and collect a small target -- chunks of an asteroid.

I can't believe that I'm even typing this, and it feels like I'm saying that more the last few months than in my 11 years working for TweakTown -- but Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas suggested during a congressional hearing that the US could fight climate change by altering the orbit of the moon.

Yes.

Altering the orbit... of the moon...

A team of researchers has managed to uncover multiple different items that date back hundreds of years.

Archaeologists with the Glacier Archaeology Program in Norway were inspecting the Lendbreen glacier that's located in Norway's Breheimen National Park, and made some shocking discoveries. According to the findings that were posted to the researchers' Facebook Page called "Secrets of the Ice", the archaeologists uncovered a 500-year-old candle box along with spears, horse snowshoes, walking sticks, dog leashes, mittens, and the remains of a dog.

The Facebook post states that the wooden box is made out of pine, and inside was beeswax. The researchers state in the post that what is seen in the below image is the remains of a beeswax candle that's dated anywhere between 1475 - 1635 AD. Candle boxes and beeswax candles were commonly used throughout the area during that time as a source of light, and now researchers are able to confirm that such candles and candle boxes were used between the aforementioned time periods. For more information on this story, check out this link here.

Senior administration officials who are close to the coming UFO report headed for Congress have said that the report won't disclose any alien link to the recent UFO videos.

According to a report by The New York Times, "senior administration officials" who were briefed on the coming report scheduled for Congress by June 25 have said that the report won't reveal any evidence that links the UFO sightings to extraterrestrial life. US intelligence agencies will deliver the report to Congress, and most of its contents will be revealed to the public.

However, some parts of it will remain classified, but the Times reports that the parts that will remain classified "will not contain any evidence concluding that the phenomena are alien spacecraft". If the objects seen in the now-famous Navy pilot videos aren't extraterrestrial life, then what is it? The Times reports that these UFOs may be hypersonic technology that has been developed in China or Russia. For more information on this story, check out this link here.

Have you ever wondered how expensive toilets can get? Well, I bet you never thought a toilet could be worth millions of dollars.

International Space Station (ISS) astronauts are installing the world's most expensive toilet aboard the floating laboratory. The new toilet arrived aboard the ISS back in September of last year and is a massive upgrade over the current one that is on the ISS. The new toilet is much smaller, lighter, and has been better equipped for female use.

The new toilet, dubbed the Universal Waste Management System (UWMS), will cost $23 million and features handholds and foot restraints instead of the thigh straps that are on the old toilet. NASA received feedback from ISS astronauts regarding the old toilet and made the appropriate changes, stating, "Everyone positions themselves differently while 'going,' and consistent astronaut feedback indicated that the traditional thigh straps were a hassle." The new toilet won't be replacing the old toilet, so now the ISS has two toilets for its growing crew!

NASA's small but study, Mars helicopter has successfully completed its seventh flight. This time Ingenuity has explored a new area.

NASA launched Ingenuity off the surface of Mars and took it 350 feet south to inspect a possible landing location that has only been seen from orbiting spacecrafts. The mission took Ingenuity to a completely new terrain that was then captured on the helicopter's navigation camera for further research. NASA announced that the mission was a success, giving Ingenuity its seventh flight badge.

When Ingenuity touched down on Mars with Perseverance, the new Mars rover, NASA planned that the small helicopter would only have five flights, as that's all it was designed to do. However, Ingenuity doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon, and recently it encountered a shock test that gave NASA researchers some insight into just how strong the helicopter is - more on that story here. Ingenuity is currently stationed in the new landing location, awaiting orders. If you are interested in reading more about this story, check out this link here.

The current sanctions against the Russian space sector by the United States have caused Russia's space chief to threaten to leave the International Space Station (ISS).

A new report by NBC has revealed that Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin has said during a Russian government hearing that Russia will withdraw from the ISS in 2025 if the United States doesn't immediately lift the current sanctions imposed on Russia. Rogozin goes on to say, "If the sanctions ... remain and are not lifted in the near future, the issue of Russia's withdrawal from the ISS will be the responsibility of the American partners."

Additionally, Rogozin said that Russia cannot launch some of its satellites its construct due to US sanctions stopping it from importing a certain microchip set. "We have more than enough rockets but nothing to launch them with. We have spacecraft that are nearly assembled, but they lack one specific microchip set that we have no way of purchasing because of the sanctions." Lastly, Rogozin says that the US and Russia need to work together, and if the sanctions aren't lifted immediately, Russia will pull out of the ISS and deploy its own space station.

Researchers have run the numbers on a theoretical large hadron collider being constructed on the Moon, and according to the results, it would be much more powerful than the one we currently have on Earth.

A new pre-print study has explored the possibility of a large hadron collider being constructed on the Moon, and according to the results of the study, the Circular Collider on the Moon (CCM) would be able to generate a proton-proton center-of-mass collision energy of 14 PeV. In the study, the researchers estimated that the CCM would be 6,835 miles long, which is much bigger than the one currently on Earth that measures in at 16.6 miles.

The study found that if a large hadron collider was constructed on the Moon, it would be able to generate 1,000 times more energy than the one at CERN, assuming the dipole magnetic field was 20 T. Having a large hadron collider of this size may pave the way for unprecedented particle physics discoveries that could help physicists, and the human race as a whole, better understand the universe and how it came to be. If you are interested in reading more about this story, check out this link here.

NASA's Juno spacecraft has flown past Jupiter's largest moon, and on its way, it has snapped some awesome pictures of it.

On June 7, NASA's Juno orbiter flew past Jupiter's largest moon named Ganymede. The recent flyby by Juno has marked the closest spacecraft to fly past Ganymede in two whole decades. The orbiter snapped some pictures of the moon with its JunoCam imager and its Stellar Reference Unit, revealing the surface of the moon in remarkable detail.

From the images taken by Juno, we can see craters, its terrain, and long structural features that NASA says are "possibly linked to tectonic faults." Juno Principal Investigator Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio said, "This is the closest any spacecraft has come to this mammoth moon in a generation. We are going to take our time before we draw any scientific conclusions, but until then we can simply marvel at this celestial wonder."

We're all waiting for the coveted UFO report from the Pentagon, which will discuss all things UFOs and UAPs (or unidentified flying objects aka unidentified aerial phenomena) -- we've got astrophycistist Neil deGrasse Tyson adding in some of his thoughts with CNN recently.

During the interview with John Berman on CNN, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson was asked about the "ring of fire" solar eclipse, the upcoming UFO report from the Pentagon, and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) about physically moving the moon to fight climate change -- no, I'm not kidding and neither was he. You can see that in the CNN video above, and Tyson's comments.

Tyson's comments about UFOs kicks off at around the 2:28 mark, where Neil deGrasse Tyson said to CNN's John Berman: "I wish we had better evidence than monochromic fuzzy Navy video, if we're being visited by aliens -- you know, we upload 6 billion high-resolution color photos and videos to the internet every day. We have unwittingly crowdsourcing the observation of the planet, and I want better evidence than that... and just because you don't know what it is, doesn't mean you then know what it is ".

This week the world will be able to see the very first solar eclipse of 2021, and here's how anyone can watch it happen!

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Earth and the Sun at a very precise angle, hence why it only happens once a year. If you want to view the eclipse in person, you will need to be located in the Northern hemisphere, preferably in Canada, northern Russia, or Greenland, as you will see the total solar eclipse. If you are stationed in North America, Europe, or Asia, you will see a partial solar eclipse, and if that's not good enough for you, then there is an easy solution.

Through the power of the internet, anyone can enjoy the solar eclipse from the comfort of their own home, and while it doesn't come close to how gorgeous the eclipse is in real life, it's better than not seeing it at all. Above is a link to a livestream by timeanddate that will begin at 5 a.m. EDT (1000 GMT), tune in to see the "Ring of Fire" solar eclipse. If you are interested in reading more about the coming solar eclipse, check out this link here.

NASA has successfully created one of the most detailed maps ever of the impacts of carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the Los Angeles region.

NASA used the Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3 (OCO-3) instrument that is located on the International Space Station to gather data of carbon dioxide levels. NASA has compiled its gathered data and has created an animated video displaying the levels of CO2 throughout each region.

The yellow regions represent the highest levels of CO2, and as Phys.org reports, "Yellow indicates atmospheric CO2 elevated by five or more molecules out of every million molecules of air or five parts per million. That's equivalent to the amount that global atmospheric CO2 is rising globally on average every two years."

This coming Thursday, Earth will be blessed with the first solar eclipse of 2021, and according to one astronomer, it will look like the Star Wars "death star".

The first solar eclipse of 2021 will have a 100-minute viewing window, but unfortunately, not the entire planet will be able to enjoy its beauty. People that are located in the Northern hemisphere, and predominately those living in Canada, northern Russia, and Greenland, will be able to see a total solar eclipse. The total solar eclipse will look like a "Ring of Fire", or as Jackie Faherty, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, said, it will look like "the 'Death Star".

Now, it should be noted that if you aren't living in Canada, northern Russia, or Greenland, you will still be able to see the solar eclipse, just not the total solar eclipse. Residents in North America, Europe, and Asia will be able to see a partial solar eclipse that will look like the moon has taken a bite out of the Sun. Faherty also said, "Most people might not realize that these eclipses chase each other", referring to the recent super blood moon.

NASA is in the middle of the entire UFO + UAP debacle, where "unidentified aerial phenomena" (which is now the politically correct term for UFO, I guess) are blasted all over the headlines.

Bill Nelson recently became the new boss of NASA and in a new interview with CNN Business, Nelson was asked about UFOs. CNN asked: "Americans have long been fascinated by UFOs, and the public has seen the videos that our Navy pilots have taken, and they've heard their accounts. Do you think that we have been contacted by extraterrestrials?"

He of course gives a great non-answer to the last bit about being contacted by extraterrestrials, so he's fitting into his role at NASA well in his first month. Nelson said: "Well, I have talked to those Navy pilots, and they are sure that they saw something. And of course we've seen their video from their jets. What is it, we don't know".

The Hubble Space Telescope is some of the best 'eyes' we have on the universe, and the images it can capture are nothing short of breathtaking.

Launched 30-years-ago, the Hubble Space Telescope captures space phenomena in unprecedented detail. Every day the space telescope is observing the universe as far as it can muster. The data that it relays back to researchers on Earth allows them to better understand the countless mysteries that layout in the cold dark void.

The most recent image released by Hubble has made it onto my own wallpaper, and once you see it, it may make it onto yours. Hubble has snapped a ridiculously good image of the spiral galaxy NGC 691, which is about 120 million light-years from Earth. NASA explains that "this galaxy is a member of the NGC 691 galaxy group named after it, which features a group of gravitationally bound galaxies." If you are interested in reading more about this story or would like to download the image in full resolution, check out this link here.