Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 179

NASA is smashing out "very first" achievements with its Ingenuity helicopter and Perseverance rover that are currently exploring Mars.

It wasn't long ago that the small helicopter Ingenuity successfully took off from the Red Planet's surface, marking the very first flight of a spacecraft on another planet. Since then, Ingenuity has continued to push the boundaries of its distance and time in flight records. On April 30, Ingenuity commenced an 872-foot round trip. Audio and video was captured by Perseverance's SuperCam microphone.

NASA has since released the audio of Ingenuity's first flight, marking the first time the sound of another spacecraft hovering on Mars has been heard. At the start of the above video, you can hear the quiet hum of the helicopter's propellers as it prepares to take off. The video has been released on the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory YouTube Channel and states that "sound adds a new dimension to space exploration". For more information on this story, check out this link here.

A new report has surfaced that has revealed that the infamous Chernobyl nuclear facility has seen a steady increase in neutron emissions, concerned scientists gravely.

Back in 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear facility went into meltdown, causing one of the world's greatest disasters that has ever occurred. The meltdown was caused by a flawed reactor design combined with personal that weren't fully trained, as well as human incompetence. If you are interested in learning more about how and why Chernobyl happened, I highly recommend you watch the series "Chernobyl" on HBO.

Now, a new report in New Scientist details that sub-reactor room 305/2, which is thought to have large amounts of radioactive material, is increasingly producing more neutron emissions. Researchers recorded that room 305/2 has increased its neutron emissions by 40% since early 2016. Researchers are currently evaluating if the surge in the rooms production in neutron emissions will eventually decrease, or if human intervention is required.

A new report has shown the extent of Facebook's user data collection can lead pharmaceutical firms to be able to target directly to people that have health conditions.

The results come from The Markup's Citizen Browser project, a non-profit organization that is exploring how technology is affecting society. The researchers found from looking at 1,200 Facebook user's ad data that many ads for prescription drugs were targeted to users because they expressed "interests" in other topics such as "bourbon" and "oxygen". It was also discovered that Big Pharma companies used the keyword "awareness" to target ads to users that expressed interest in certain illnesses.

An example of this would be Zejula, which is a GlaxoSmithKline drug that is commonly used to treat ovarian cancer was discovered to be targeted to users who were interested in "cancer awareness". Additionally, The Markup estimated that the potential sales could be very large considering that Facebook's ad system states that nearly 203 million people have shown interest in "cancer awareness".

Back in 1977, Voyager 1, a deep space probe, was launched, and since then, the space probe has been traversing the stars, gathering and relaying information back to Earth.

Voyager 1 is humanity's most distant space probe, and recently it detected what has been described as a "hum" from outside of our solar system. At the moment, Voyager 1 is located around fourteen billion miles from Earth, and while the space probe was exploring interstellar space, it detected a "hum" that is suspected to have been caused by plasma or ionized gas.

Stella Koch Ocker, a doctoral student in astronomy at Cornell University, discovered the sound in Voyagers data pool from its Plasma Wave System. The sound is expected to have come from plasma shockwaves and was "very faint and monotone," according to Ocker. While researchers believe that the sound is coming from interstellar gas, it's yet to be confirmed what the source of the sound is.

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, alongside SpaceX, Axiom Space, and Virgin Galactic, will soon launch an entirely new industry - space tourism.

This year we could see Blue Origin and SpaceX take civilians to orbit, and while that would certainly be an incredible trip, a journey and multiple-day stay on the International Space Station (ISS) may be more appealing to some. NASA and Axiom Space have agreed that civilians can travel to the ISS, and Axiom's Mission 1 will take four astronauts aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule to the ISS to spend eight days aboard the floating laboratory.

The crew will include a former NASA astronaut and three businessmen, all of which will need to be approved by NASA and its international partners. Kathy Lueders, associate administrator for human exploration and operations at NASA Headquarters, said, "We are excited to see more people have access to spaceflight through this first private astronaut mission to the space station. One of our original goals with the Commercial Crew Program, and again with our Commercial Low-Earth Orbit Development Program, is that our providers have customers other than NASA to grow a commercial economy in low-Earth orbit."

China's Long March 5B rocket recently re-entered Earth's atmosphere, with the majority of the rocket burning up before remnants hit the Indian Ocean.

Now, Chinese media is firing back at the United States and NASA, saying that it's "anti-intellectual" to claim that debris from the out-of-control Long March 5B rocket was "risky". Global Times has published an op-ed that states, "During the nearly 60 years of space activities, the calculated fall of rocket debris has not caused casualties so far. In addition, the risks of falling rocket debris are the same, no matter whose rocket it is. It is seriously anti-intellectual to claim that China's rocket debris is especially risky."

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said that China was tracking the rocket's trajectory and issued public statements on its situation in advance. Additionally, Hua claimed that Beijing was being treated unfairly and pointed towards the debris that fell to Earth in Washington from a SpaceX launch in March. "American media used romantic rhetoric like 'shooting stars lighting up the night sky. But when it comes to the Chinese side, it's a completely different approach", said Hua.

Back in September 2016, NASA's $800 million OSIRIS-REx mission launched with the space probe arriving at the 1,650-foot-wide asteroid named Bennu in December 2018.

Once the OSIRIS-REx probe arrived at Bennu, it began a close-up study of the asteroid to determine the best possible location to spiral down and collect samples. In October 2020, the probe dove down to collect samples of the asteroid. The probe collected many samples such as dirt and gravel, so much, so the probe's sampling mechanism was unable to close correctly.

On May 10, the probe fired its main thrusters to begin its 1.4 billion-mile journey back to Earth, where its sample capsule will land in the Utah desert in September 2023. The journey from the asteroid to Earth will take probe two years, and throughout its journey, it will be traveling at a velocity of 595 mph. When the capsule is retrieved in 2023, it will be the biggest haul of space samples the US has received since Apollo moon rocks.

Space is littered with the remnants of attempts of human space exploration, whether the objects be spent rocket parts, small bolts, discontinued satellites, or just chips of paint.

Most of these objects pose a big risk to future space exploration for humans, as even the tiniest of space junk could be traveling at high speeds could obliterate a working satellite if the orbits crossed. Now, researchers are saying that Low Earth Orbit (LEO) is becoming overcrowded with space debris and that it should be a global priority to remove the junk.

Back in 1970, Donald Kessler, a retired NASA senior scientist for orbital debris research, predicted that as space rubbish increased, a collision would eventually happen that would cause more space rubbish, which would then start a domino effect that would lead to LEO being too dangerous for any space activities.

Coincidences can be viewed as very peculiar things, especially when the chances of one occurring are astronomically small.

When a coincidence occurs that has a very small chance to do so, some people are attracted to the idea that there is some kind of other power at play other than organic chance. An example of a coincidence like this is a "prediction" from Dr. Wernher von Braun, who wrote in his 1952 book Project Mars: A Technical Tale, that "a Martian government was created led by ten men, whose leader was elected by universal suffrage for five years under the name or title of Elon."

In the book, Dr. Wernher goes on to say that both sides of parliament will create laws that will be administered to the "Elon" and the cabinet. It seems that Dr. Wernher was referring to "Elon" being a form of position, rather than the name of the person. There is no direct connection between Wernher and Musk, and another thing to point out is that Musk wasn't even born at the time of the books writing, making it impossible for Wernher to be making a "prediction". Musk was born in 1971, the book was published in 1952.

There is no hard evidence of life being on any other planet other than Earth, but now researchers have found something that could be evidence of life.

According to a new paper published in the Advances in Microbiology, researchers have suggested that images captured of the surface of Mars show signs of fungal life existing. Researchers put forward the argument that patches of fungi that look like lichen, as well as spherical objects that resemble puffball fungi that is found on Earth. Additionally, the researchers show images of what they claim is bacteria growth occurring on the Opportunity rover.

Here's some of what the researchers wrote, "Fungi thrive in radiation intense environments. Sequential photos document that fungus-like Martian specimens emerge from the soil and increase in size, including those resembling puffballs (Basidiomycota). After obliteration of spherical specimens by the rover wheels, new sphericals-some with stalks-appeared atop the crests of old tracks."

Researchers have located what they now believe as the most recent evidence for volcanic activity on Mars.

NASA's InSight lander measured two earthquakes back in March. The lander was able to trace the quakes back to a region of Mars named the Cerberus Fossae, and now using images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, researchers believe that the Cerberus Fossae is the most recent evidence of volcanic activity on Mars.

Estimations have put the age of this volcanic deposit anywhere between 45,000 and 200,000 years old. On a geological scale, the age of the deposit is quite young, whether it be 45,000 or 200,000 years old, as volcanic rock elsewhere on Mars formed between 3 and 4 billion years ago. Additionally, Mars saw some volcanic activity regularly until around 3 million years ago. David Horvath from the Planetary Science Institute explains, "if we were to compress Mars geologic history into a single day, this would have occurred in the very last second."

Hubble is officially celebrating Mother's Day, and for all the mothers out there, the space telescope has published an incredible image of a region of space.

Hubble says that the region of space is known as 30 Doradus. It's located 170,000 light-years from Earth and has been the birthplace of millions of young stars. Hubble goes on to say that 30 Doradus has "raised" these young stars and that it's one of the largest "visible star-forming site in a neighboring galaxy."

The image that Hubble has captured with its Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys is roughly 650 light-years across. Hubble is able to look at individual stars, which allows astronomers to gather important information about the birth of the star and its evolution. 30 Doradus is described as a "star-forming factory", with any of the stars in the image being between 2 million to about 25 million years old. For more information on this story, check out this link here.

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has recently appeared on Saturday Night Live to host the show, and throughout his hosting, Musk revealed that he has Asperger's.

Musk's appearance on Saturday Night Live was highly anticipated, as many people believed that he would use his airtime time to promote topics such as dogecoin or cryptocurrency in general. During his opening monologue, Musk revealed that he was "making history tonight", as he is the first person to host Saturday Night Live with Asperger's, "or at least the first to admit it".

To most people's surprise, Musk didn't use his time on Saturday Night Live to promote dogecoin or any other cryptocurrencies. He instead used to make fun of certain aspects of himself in a humbling yet surprisingly comedic way. The only mention of dogecoin throughout the show was when Musk's mother mentioned that she didn't want to receive dogecoin as a Mother's day gift, to which he said, "it sure is". While Musk was on Saturday Night Live, the price of dogecoin was tumbling down, and over a 24-hour period, it dropped by 22%.

Over the last week, many people were concerned about China's out-of-control rocket crashing back down to Earth and potentially hitting an inhabited location.

Reports are now indicating that the Long March 5B rocket has crashed back down to Earth, with most of the rocket burning up upon entry to the atmosphere. Chinese state media have reported that the rocket has landed in the Indian Ocean on Sunday. According to China Manned Space Engineering Office-, the rocket re-entered the atmosphere at 10:24 a.m. Beijing time (0224 GMT) with the coordinates 72.47 degrees east and latitude 2.65 degrees north.

The U.S. Space Command has confirmed the re-entry of Long March 5B, but has said that it cannot verify if any debris impacted land or water. On its website, the U.S. Space Command said, "The exact location of the impact and the span of debris, both of which are unknown at this time, will not be released by U.S. Space Command."

IBM has come out swinging announcing their new 2nm process technology, with the latest marketing-hype-driven 2nm node achievement by IBM being heralded as the "world's first 2nm process".

The company explains that its new 2nm chip technology will help "advance the state-of-the-art in the semiconductor industry, addressing this growing demand. It is projected to achieve 45 percent higher performance, or 75 percent lower energy use, than today's most advanced 7 nm node chips". Quite the marketing pitch there, IBM.

But how real is this 2nm technology, and how did IBM seemingly leap past industry-leader TSMC which is so ahead of the game that Samsung could take until 2030 to even catch up. Our friends at Wccftech break it down, saying that in comparison Intel's 7nm process would be about the same as TSMC's 5nm node -- with TSMC's 5nm node not even having a 50% improvement over 7nm.

A new study has explored the possibility of microbe life, such as black mold fungus, being able to survive on Mars.

A new study published in the journal Advances in Microbiology has suggested that recently taken images show a fungus-like specimen growing on Mars. The images show a white amorphous specimen that appeared to be able to change shape, grow, and move. The images were captured over three Earth days, and one of the photos revealed hundreds of mushroom-like specimens.

Interestingly, one of the specimens was crushed by the rover's wheels, but then later inspection revealed that new spherical specimens were beginning to "grow" back. Not only are these specimens "growing" on the Martian surface, photos show the presence of white fungus-like specimens in an open rover compartment. It should be noted that this study is showing evidence towards life being able to exist on Mars, and is by no means is confirming any extraterrestrial life has been found. More evidence is needed for a confirmation of that.

Considering how large and vast the universe is, some scientists say that is inevitable that humans will find life on other planets.

At a recent press conference at the 2021 APS April Meeting, scientists have said that humans may find life on other planets in only a matter of years. According to the scientists, the construction of the James Webb Space Telescope could give scientists the instruments they need to find signs of life on other planets.

Caprice Phillips, a graduate student at The Ohio State University and author of the study, said, "What really surprised me about the results is that we may realistically find signs of life on other planets in the next 5 to 10 years". Caprice also stated, "My research suggests that for the first time, we have the scientific knowledge and technological capabilities to realistically begin to find the answers to these questions." For more information on this story, check out this link here.

A part of China's effort to build its own space station, the country recently launched its first module on the back of its Long March 5B rocket.

The launch was a success, but unfortunately, the Long March 5B rocket is now spinning out of control around Earth. The rocket is currently traveling at 16,000 mph, and officials are having a hard time tracking exactly where it will land. Long March 5B has been estimated to make entry back down to Earth anywhere between New York in the northern hemisphere and New Zealand in the southern hemisphere - a massive area for a potential crash landing.

According to the US space command, the rocket is expected to reenter Earth's atmosphere on May 8, but unfortunately, officials won't be able to pinpoint its crash landing location until a few hours before it hits land. The rocket weighs 21 tonnes, and while the majority of it will most likely burn up in Earth's atmosphere upon reentry, some pieces of the rocket won't, which could cause devastation if it hits a populated area.

The United States Army will now be able to spot enemies in the night much easier with its brand new night vision goggles that have been described as "technology stolen from aliens."

Last month a short video was posted to the US Army's Lancer Brigade Twitter account that showed what was described as "enhanced night vision goggle-binoculars". These night-vision goggles immediately reminded me of John McTiernan's 1987 movie "Predator", which saw a team of commandos being hunted by an extraterrestrial alien warrior in the Central American jungle.

Gizmodo reported that these new night vision goggles are called ENVG-B and are different from traditional night vision goggles that show a green background. ENVG-B can quickly adapt to lighting changes and show a white background as well as an outline of the target. These new night vision goggles allow the wearer to see through things such as dust clouds and any other potential obstructions that would otherwise be difficult for traditional night vision goggles.

The internet can birth some pretty interesting trends, but sometimes, the newest trend is something that you just shake your head at. Introducing the "high meat" trend.

The latest trend that has gained some traction online is people taking their diets to the extreme, and by extreme, I mean - eating meat that has sometimes been left to decomposed rotten meat that has sometimes been left for over a year. The trend has been dubbed eating "high meat", which is a reference to the reported feeling of euphoria you get once you bite into the rotten piece of flesh.

Now, eating uncooked meat has been around for quite some time, but usually, that uncut meat has gone through a fermentation process or has been dried. Eating fermented or dried meat is not the same as eating rotten meat. When meat begins to rot and decompose, it begins to grow harmful microbial life that can cause humans to be exposed to harmful bacteria such as staphylococcus aureus, or salmonella. There is also a high chance of developing food poisoning, which can result, in extreme cases, in hospitalization as well as days of pain, nausea, and vomiting.