Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 182

Hubble has been in Earth's orbit for more than 30 years, and throughout its time being in space, it snaps some of the best images of the Milky Way.

Astronomers have released one of the best images that Hubble has ever taken to celebrate its 31st birthday, and it's of one of the brightest stars that is in our Milky Way galaxy. The star is called AG Carinae, and is about 70 times more massive than our Sun and is 1 million times brighter.

However, due to the AG Carinae's massive size, the star burns fuel very quickly, which causes it to expand in size, much like a hot air balloon. In the above image, you can see a large halo surrounding the star. This halo is glowing gas that was created by an eruption from the star about 10,000 years ago. NASA has said that stars such as AG Carniae are quite rare, and only around 50 of these types of stars are located in our local group of galaxies.

Space food is famously not that appetizing, as most of the things that astronauts eat come in tubes or packages that contain vital nutrients.

NASA has taken to its blog to update everyone on the happenings of the International Space Station (ISS), and this time we are taking a look at how the astronauts aboard the ISS were gifted with some fresh vegetables. Two of the four Vegetable Production System (Veggie) experiments, or space crop, were harvested on April 13. So, what did the astronauts bite into? Amara mustard greens and pak choi.

NASA's SpaceX Crew-1 mission commander, Michael Hopkins, used a paintbrush to pollinate the pak choi when it began to flower. These experiments led by the team aboard the ISS is foundational science that will be required when humans decide to take longer trips into space to visit new worlds. Developing a full understanding of growing plants in microgravity will be needed for prolonged space adventures, and especially if the plan is to populate a new world eventually.

So far, NASA's Mars helicopter has achieved three successful flight attempts, and during the second attempt, the small helicopter snapped some images.

The images taken mark the very first time a powered aircraft that's taken flight on an off-world planet and has taken pictures of what it sees below. The images were shared on NASA's website, and from what we can see, the view from Ingenuity is very awesome. From the above image, we can immediately notice tracks on the surface of the Red Planet, as well as a shadow, casted from Ingenuity.

You can notice around the shadow of the helicopter a circular indent in the sand. NASA states, "Wright Brothers Field" is in the vicinity of the helicopter's shadow, bottom center, with the actual point of takeoff of the helicopter just below the image." If you were wondering what the purpose of Ingenuity is, the answer is shockingly simple. Ingenuity's purpose is simply to prove that aircrafts can fly on Mars. It's not equipped with any scientific instruments but does sport a sensor that can capture images up to 4208px by 3120px in resolution.

Jeff Bezos owns the aerospace firm Blue Origin and is currently challenging NASA decision to give Elon Musk's SpaceX a high-dollar contract to design a moon lander for NASA.

Now, SpaceX CEO, Elon Musk, has taken to Twitter to poke some friendly fun at Amazon's head by replying to a New York Times report that stated Blue Origin had filed an official complaint with NASA over its decision to give SpaceX a $2.9 billion contract to build a moon lander.

Musk wrote on Twitter, ""Can't get it up (to orbit) lol", and then replied a second time with some play-on-words on Blue Origin's name, renaming the company to "blue balls" with a quick edit to an image. As you can probably imagine, the tweet garnered a lot of attention by Twitter users, which then led into a slew of more people mocking Blue Origin, some even pointing out that Blue Origin and Amazon do have "balls" - see below. For more information on this story, check out this link here.

A new horrifying species of spider has been found that appears to share characteristics of a black tarantula spider.

Originally, the Pine Rockland Trapdoor Spider was found at the Zoo Miami back in 2012, but now a second specimen has been found, confirming its existence. This type of spider is likely an "ambush predator", as similar species to this spider "create a web burrow down into soft and sandy substrate with a hinged door at the surface" - trapdoor spiders.

Zoo conservation chief Frank Ridgley said, "They spend their entire lives in that same burrow, waiting for prey to come past their trapdoor, then they lunge out from their camouflaged lair to grab their prey." Dr. Rebecca Godwin of Piedmont University in Georgia identified the spider as a new species and said that she believes it has a lifespan of more than 20 years. For more information on this story, check out this link here.

A 12-year-old that is very into science has conducted an experiment to see if he could make himself magnetic by eating magnets.

The young boy named Rhiley is extremely passionate about science, and according to his parents, he told his mother, "I tried to stick magnets to me, I wanted to see if this copper would stick to my belly while the magnets were in." Rhiley was then immediately rushed to the emergency room, where x-rays revealed that Rhiley swallowed 54 magnets that were in his stomach and bowel.

Surgeons were very concerned that the magnets could burn through tissues or vital organs, which could lead to fatal internal damage. Rhiley underwent six-hour surgery and was eventually released for recovery. That wasn't where the problems ended, though. Rhiley then spent the next ten days vomiting green liquid, leading to him having to be tub-fed and had to have a catheter inserted. Rhiley recovered in the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital. For more information on this story, check out this link here.

NASA has been flying its Mars helicopter, and each time the space agency has flown Ingenuity it has pushed its previous records. This third time is no different.

Space.com reports that NASA took the Ingenuity helicopter on its most ambitious flight yet, pushing the small helicopter to about 164 feet north of its home base, which is about half the length of a football field. During the second flight of Ingenuity, NASA pushed the small helicopter to 13 feet at 1.1MPH, but during its third flight, the helicopter reached 4.5MPH.

The achievement of flying Ingenuity on the surface of Mars shouldn't be understated, as flights such as these are now our foundation of proof for an aircraft being able to fly on Mars despite the planet's low atmospheric density. It's likely that the proof from these Ingenuity flights will usher in new methods for scientists and researchers to close the Red Planet by using drones or other small aircrafts. For more information on this story, check out this link here.

We don't have much longer to go before we hear about the "reality" of UFOs -- or off-world vehicles not made on this Earth, according to the person responsible for running the Pentagon's internal UFO program for 9 years.

Luis Elizondo, the former boss of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program and newly-minted whistleblower, said that his team worked out of the secretive fifth floor inside of the Pentagon's C Ring. Elizondo spokes exclusively with The New York Post, telling them that a "blockbuster document" revealing many more details about UFOs is coming in June.

This is because President Trump signed a $2.3 trillion appropriation bill for 2021 that mandated the Pentagon and spy agencies to file a report regarding "unidentified aerial phenomena" -- UAPs, or as most of the world knows them -- UFOs. Elizondo explains: "I think the government has acknowledged the reality of UAP. I think they all want answers and I think they are all willing to ask the hard questions".

SpaceX recently successfully launched four astronauts aboard its Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS), and while the mission was successful, it didn't go exactly as planned.

SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft was flying towards the ISS when the crew aboard encountered an unidentified object at around 13:30 EST that ended up coming as close as 28 miles from the craft. In contrast, 28 miles sounds like quite a distance back here on Earth, but in space, it's considered to be dangerously close. Thankfully, SpaceX's Dragon capsule safely passed the object on its way to dock with the ISS.

NASA spokesperson Kelly Humphries told Futurism, "The NASA/SpaceX team was informed of the possible conjunction by US Space Command. The object being tracked is classified as 'unknown.'" When the object was discovered, the crew aboard the spacecraft were ordered to put on their pressurized suits as it was believed that the object was on a collision course with the Dragon.

On Friday, President Biden announced a very ambitious plan to reduce US carbon emissions by 50% by 2030, and to achieve that, Americans may have to undergo some severe changes in terms of lifestyle.

President Biden vowed that his plan is the beginning of the long journey to reach 0% carbon emissions by no later than 2050 and that by 2030 current carbon emission levels would be reduced by 50% - 52%. The cut on carbon emissions will no doubt have to usher in many changes into American society, and as explained by DailyMail, some of those changes will be in what people eat, drive and have at your home.

For example, Americans may have to reduce the amount of red meat and other animal products they are consuming by a staggering 90%, which would severely impact the amount of diet-related greenhouse gas emissions, according to a study by Michigan University's Center for Sustainable Systems. How much red meat is that per day? Only 0.18 ounces, or roughly one average-sized burger per month. Other lifestyle changes would include making the switch to an electric car and refitting your home with an electric heat pump.

Researchers and scientists are tracking thousands of human-made objects that are orbiting around Earth that could potentially be very dangerous to functioning satellites.

Professor Moriba and his colleagues have created a near real-time map that is called AstriaGraph that tracks around 200 "super-spreaders", which are large rocket bodies that could potentially break into thousands of pieces. A video on the BBC website details that the AstriaGraphic system is tracking over 26,000 individual objects that range from the size of a smartphone to the size of the Space Station.

Of those objects, 3,500 are functional satellites, and the rest are considered space junk or rubbish. These "super-spreaders" that Prof Moriba is concerned about are used rocket parts that are "pretty much ticking time bombs" that will eventually explode or get hit by another object and become tens of thousands of pieces that will endanger functional satellites. If you want to read more on this story, check out this link here.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has dropped another listing for a company-wide recall that sold its product across the United States.

The voluntary recall is for Jule's Foods of Carlsbad as the products were found to be potentially contaminated with Salmonella. The FDA has confirmed that Salmonella was found in brie products that contained cashews, and according to the FDA listing, the company is working with the FDA to identify the source of the pathogen.

If you have consumed any of the recalled products that are listed below, you may get salmonellosis which has the following symptoms; diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and fever within 12 to 72 hours after consuming the product. The contaminated products were sold at grocery stores in the following states; Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Texas.

SpaceX is very close to receiving approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to fly 4,000 Starlink satellites at the same altitude in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

The space agency has already received approval from the FCC to launch 1,584 Starlink satellites at an altitude of 550 kilometers. Now, SpaceX is looking to bring in the already positioned Starlink satellites from 1,000 kilometers to 550 kilometers so they all line up together at the same altitude. In total, SpaceX will have 4,408 satellites at an altitude of between 540 to 570 kilometers.

FCC's acting chairwoman, Jessica Rosenworcel, has backed SpaceX's request to fly all of the Starlink satellites at the same altitude and has called for a vote, according to Bloomberg. Rival companies such as Amazon's Project Kuiper, ViaSat, OneWeb, and Telesat all have plans to launch their own satellites into low earth orbit. Visat said back in March that having 1,000's of satellites in low earth orbit would increase the chance of collisions, which would leave concerning debris in space.

Elon Musk has said that SpaceX's new rocket may be able to take people to the Moon by 2024, stating that the task is "doable".

According to Musk, SpaceX is currently underway developing its new rocket that will take the crown for the space company's biggest rocket yet. The new rocket is called Starship, and eventually, it will carry people to Mars, but the first stop is the Moon. During a press briefing on Friday last week, Musk said that Starship could fly its first humans to the Moon in "a couple years".

Here's what Musk said, "I tend to be somewhat optimistic with respect to schedules. I feel I should acknowledge this. So take that with a grain of salt. But I think it's not out of the question that it could fly people in a couple years." As for bookings, SpaceX has already taken a booking from Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, who will take a trip aboard Starship with eight friends to go around the Moon in 2023, marking the very first civilian passengers to step foot on SpaceX's Starship.

A new report indicates that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation may issue a Water Shortage Declaration that would usher in water cuts to primarily two states.

According to a report from Interesting Engineering, in August, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation may, for the first time in history, issue a Level 1 Water Shortage Declaration that would usher in mandatory cuts in water consumption.

In the last week, the Bureau released a 24-month long projection for the water contained in the Colorado River where it stated that both of the U.S.'s two largest reservoirs are sitting at 35.53% of its full capacity (Lake Powell), and 42.97% of its full capacity (Lake Mead). Additionally, models have indicated that by June 2021, the water level at Lake Mead will fall by 1,075 feet, which will trigger the Level 1 Water Shortage Declaration affecting Arizona, Nevada, and California.

The first supermoon of 2021 will happen this coming Monday, and if you want to spot the rare sighting, you will need to know the time.

The first supermoon will happen on Monday night, and it's known as the "Pink Moon". The naming comes from a pink spring flower that is found throughout North America and not what color the moon will actually appear. As for timing, the Pink Moon will be highest in the sky over at 11:32 pm Eastern Time Monday night and will also be "full" on Tuesday night as well.

Why does a supermoon happen? A supermoon occurs when the moon's orbit is closest to Earth, or more specifically, when it's within 90% of its pedigree (383,024km away). NASA says that supermoons occur only a few times a year, even though the moon only takes 27 days to orbit Earth fully. The moonrise will be at 7:24 pm in New York City. If you happen to miss this supermoon and are wondering when the next one will be, the next one will be on May 26.

It was only a few days ago that NASA achieved the first off-Earth flight with its small helicopter located on Mars.

The first flight from the small helicopter named Ingenuity consisted of the helicopter lifting off from the surface of the red planet, hovering for 30 seconds at just 10 feet, and then descending back down to the baron world. Now, NASA has completed the second flight for Ingenuity, and this time around, the flight consisted of 52 seconds, climbed to 16.5 feet, hovering, tilting, and moving side to side at a distance of 6.5 feet.

Officials with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California wrote on Twitter, "Go big or go home! The Mars Helicopter successfully completed its 2nd flight, capturing this image with its black-and-white navigation camera." Ingenuity project manager MiMi Aung of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California said, "Then Ingenuity will come to a stop, hover in place and make turns to point its color camera in different directions before heading back to the center of the airfield to land."

Sometimes it's hard to notice all of the fantastic inventions people make that are designed to make the world a better place.

So, if you are looking for a hit of positivity for today, take a look at 22 inventions that are designed to make the world a more livable and sustainable place for hopefully many years to come. The list is comprised of inventions such as whirlpool turbines, edible cutlery, water blobs, package-free shampoo, and toothpaste.

If you want to watch the video that takes a closer look at all of the inventions, head on over to the BusinessInsider article that can be found here. Other inventions that can be found in the video are edible spoons that taste like crackers, sea cleaning garbage catchers, biodegradable bags that can dissolve in water, and a push-bike-powered washing machine.

Black holes are a thing of mystery, but at the center of every galaxy, there is one, and sometimes when two galaxies merge, those two black holes begin to enter each other's orbits.

So, what happens when two black holes enter each other's orbits? NASA has released a new animated video on the NASA Goddard YouTube Channel that gives a simple yet beautiful visualization of what begins to happen. The orange black hole is 200 million times the mass of the Sun, and the blue black hole is about 100 million times the mass of the Sun.

As the black holes approach each other on their orbital path, the gravitational pull of the foreground black hole begins to "distort and redirect light emanating from the maelstrom of hot gas - called an accretion disk - that surrounds each one", NASA explains. Jeremy Schnittman, an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who created the visualization, said, "We're seeing two supermassive black holes, a larger one with 200 million solar masses and a smaller companion weighing half as much".

So far, only 12 humans have ever stepped foot on the surface of the moon, but let's say lucky number 13 wanted to be the first human to walk around the moon. How long would it take?

In a recently published space.com article, it states that astronauts that landed on the moon during the Apollo missions were bouncing around the surface at the pace of 1.4 mph. The lack of speed from these astronauts can be attributed to their spacesuits not being built for mobility.

In 2014, NASA simulated lunar gravity to measure how fast humans could move on the moon if given the right equipment. The participants of the experiment were able to walk at the speed of 3.1 mph, very close to the maximum walking speed humans can achieve on Earth at 4.5 mph.