Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 188

As apart of the Artemis program that will be sending the first woman and the next man to Moon's surface, NASA has announced it's looking for private companies to acquire some lunar dirt.

The announcement was made on the NASA website, and says that the space agency will pay private companies to "collect a small amount of Moon 'dirt' or rocks from the lunar surface". According to the NASA website, private companies will be required to put in a proposal with the space agency, as well as provide imagery of the collection and collected materials, and location data.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, "We are putting our policies into practice to fuel a new era of exploration and discovery that will benefit all of humanity". The goal of collecting lunar surface samples is to expand our knowledge of the Moon's surface, which will then benefit all of humanity as the knowledge will be relevant in the future years to come with the Artemis program. If you are interested in reading the blog post for yourself, check out this link here.

If you are like me, you really like high detail images of the beauties of space, and what object to capture in glorious high-detail than our Sun?

Above, we have an image of a sunspot, which is created by pockets of magnetic activity on the Sun's surface. These magnetic fields then trap stellar plasma and create a cool region located in the center. These spots can result in a coronal mass ejection (CME), or solar flares.

Researchers used the GREGOR telescope located at the Teide Observatory in the Canary Islands to capture this stunning image of a sunspot. While the spot itself may seem small, it should be noted that they can be thousands of kilometers wide, essentially meaning that the spot we are looking at could potentially swallow the entire Earth. If you want more information on this topic, check out this link here.

If you are like me, and you love to see the beauty of space, then you are in the right place because NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is at it again.

So, what are we looking at? According to the Hubble Space Telescope website, the above image is of a globular cluster called NGC 1805. We are looking at a tight group of thousands of stars located near the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy 163,000 light-years away from the Milky Way. NASA describes the image to be similar to a how a beehive works.

Here's what NASA stated, "The stars orbit closely to one another, like bees swarming around a hive. In the dense centre of one of these clusters, stars are 100 to 1000 times closer together than the nearest stars are to our Sun, making planetary systems around them unlikely." The reason we are seeing two different types of star colors is because blue stars are shining brightest in near-ultraviolet light, and red stars are near-infrared. If you are interested in learning more about this gorgeous globular cluster, check out this link here.

You might not have heard about NuScale, but I think you will over the next few years -- as the nuclear energy startup has just crossed a milestone for its modular nuclear reactor design.

NuScale has become the first American modular design to get to this point, reports Popular Mechanics. NuScale's new design uses a classic nuclear fission water reactor technology, but in a super-small footprint, versus the gigantic sizes of nuclear power plants worldwide.

Marc Nichol, senior director of new reactors at the Nuclear Energy Institute explains: "The approval of NuScale's small modular reactor design is not only a monumental milestone for NuScale but is a crucial step for the future of the industry. As the first U.S. small modular reactor design to be issued a [Final Safety Evaluation Report], NuScale is pioneering the way for additional innovative advanced nuclear technologies under development".

One of the common ways NASA decommissions an out-of-use satellite is to direct it straight at Earth's atmosphere.

That process has now been recently used on one of NASA's most old school satellites, the OGO-1. If you have never heard of this satellite, don't stress, because it was launched all the way back in 1964. The satellites mission has long since been completed, but now the space agency has officially removed the satellite from orbit by directing straight towards Earth's atmosphere.

The OGO-1 was designed to observe Earth from outside Earth's atmosphere, and more specifically, as NASA explains, was designed to study the planet's magnetosphere - "the region of space surrounding Earth that is controlled by Earth's magnetic field." NASA says that the satellite was relaying scientific data for five years, and in 1969 it was placed in standby mode when the satellite was unable to relay said data. In 1971 the satellite mission was officially terminated, and now on August 29th, 2020, it erupted into a fireball upon entry into Earth's atmosphere.

NASA has taken to its Twitter account to remind everyone of the power of deep space telescopes, and the sheer accomplishment of humans successfully having them observe deep space.

Above is NASA's recent post, and as you can see, the image seems like some sort of veil draped across the sky, but what is it exactly? According to NASA, what we are looking at here is actually the remnants of a star that once sat in the northern constellation of Cygnus. The image, which has been captured with the power of the Hubble Space Telescope, shows us what is left of that supernova blast located 2,400 light-years away.

The star is that exploded is far larger than our Sun, in fact, its 20 times larger, and the explosion itself is estimated to be between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago. Since the initial explosion, the remains of the star have stretched more than 60 light-years from its center. If you are interested in more information about this image, check out NASA's blog post here.

This past Saturday (August 29th), the launch of the newest US spy satellite was unfortunately delayed, and a new attempt at the launch won't be taken until a week's time.

According to Space.com, the launch of the new US spy satellite called NROL-44 was aboard the Delta IV Heavy rocket constructed by United Launch Alliance (ULA). United Launch Alliance said they had to abort the mission just three seconds before the planned launch due to a failure with the rocket's ignition sequence. A representative with the ULA said the team is currently reviewing all of the data to establish a correct path forward.

While the launch was aborted, ULA president and CEO Tory Bruno said on Twitter that "the bird is in good health", and that even though the mission was aborted, the system "functioned as intended to protect the vehicle and payload." As for the satellite itself, no one besides the National Reconnaissance Office and the US military knows what the exact purpose of the NROL-44 satellite is. The National Reconnaissance Office oversees all US spy satellite operations and has kept a very tight seal on NROL-44's mission and design.

The White House has just announced a large $1 billion plan to build out over 12 federal research facilities, where they will have the sole task of researching AI (artificial intelligence) and quantum computing.

A few issues have plagued the US in these areas, with a lack of talent in AI and quantum information science -- and then the Trump administration stopping high-skilled H-1B visa holders from coming into the US. This move by the Trump administration wants to see the US stop from falling behind other countries.

AI and quantum computing is the future, with the Trump administration and White House concerned that the US falling behind could be a matter of national security. This is where the $1.2 billion National Quantum Initiative Act comes into play, with 5 of the new research centers inside of the Department of Energy gets $625 million to play with a bunch of exciting technologies.

Astronomers have located an asteroid that is on track with colliding into Earth, and the expected collision date is a day before the U.S election.

If 2020 wasn't already filled with surprise curve balls, it certainly is now, or its at least close to it. Now, to add on top of everything the world has already experienced, scientists have identified an asteroid called 2018VP1, and according to the Center for Near Objects Studies at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory its trajectory is on course to collide with Earth on November 2nd, which is one day before the presidential election scheduled for November 3rd.

Palomar Observatory in California found the asteroid back in 2018, hence the name it picked up. The observatory believes there's three potential impacts "based on 21 observations spanning 12.968 days", luckily, the observatory believes there's only a 0.41% chance that it will actually hit our planet. Additionally, NASA researchers don't consider 2018VP1 a "potentially hazardous object".

I've referred to Elon Musk as the 'real life Tony Stark' for years and years now, but now the man is actually going to do it -- put Jarvis in or around our heads through a BCI and Neuralink.

BCI and Neuralink? BCI = Brain Computer Interface, and Neuralink = the Elon Musk founded company that is making it happen. Neuralink is building out its brain computer interface, or BCI, with a robot that would surgically install it -- and all its required components, into your brain.

Once the BCI chips and components are installed into your brain (I can't believe I'm typing this) they will provide you with what would be the totally next generation of computing -- BCI. Giving you the ability of controlling computers and other technology devices with just your thoughts.

We are beginning to hear more about TSMC's next-gen 3nm process technology, with the company detailing it during its annual Technology Symposium.

TSMC, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, has detailed its new 3nm (N3) process node. The company said it would go into risk production in 2021, and then into mass production in the second half of 2022. In between now and then, it will have 5nm (N5) which it also provided some details on.

The new 5nm node will be followed up by the 5nm+ (N5P) -- and somewhere in the middle of that we have the 4nm (N4) node -- both N5P and N4 will be enhanced versions of N5 -- which is already in high volume manufacturing.

NASA has taken to its 'NASA Goddard' YouTube channel to release a great guide to 'near-light-speed travel', and what you need to consider.

The video NASA has released is quite funny, as it has assumed the viewer has already worked out how humans can travel at near light speed, which is 186,282 miles per second (299,792 kilometers per second). At the moment, humans haven't yet worked out how to effectively transport humans throughout the cosmos at those speeds, but NASA's video gives some pointers to consider once we figure it out.

The animated video touches on some facts that will need to be considered once humans reach this level of travel. NASA reminds us of travel times, the distances between popular destinations, and shielding for the spacecraft. If you are interested in watching the video for yourself, check out the above link. On a personal note, I really like these short animated videos containing a nice bite-size amount of interesting facts. If NASA happens to read this, keep doing these!

NASA has announced that an SUV-sized asteroid just made the closest-known approach to Earth, but it didn't collide with the surface.

According to a NASA blog post found on its website, an SUV-sized asteroid just fly by Earth, and as NASA states, this fly-by has marked the closest Near-Earth Asteroid. The asteroid is named Asteroid 2020 QG, and measures in at roughly 10 to 20 feet (3 to 6 meters) across, which is very small by asteroid standards.

Asteroid 2020 QG passed Earth at just 1,830 miles (2,950 kilometers), and if it happened to be on the trajectory with Earth, it would have become a fireball and broken up in Earth's atmosphere. Paul Chodas, director of the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, said, "It's really cool to see a small asteroid come by this close, because we can see the Earth's gravity dramatically bend its trajectory. Our calculations show that this asteroid got turned by 45 degrees or so as it swung by our planet."

It's not every day that you hear environmental officials telling the public to kill life, but sometimes that is the best course of action to defend against an invading creature.

Wildlife authorities across the Eastern United States are now telling residents to be on the constant lookout for the bug seen in the above image. This species of bug is called a spotted lanternfly, and they are native to Asia, but unfortunately, they spreading in select areas across the United States. Wildlife authorities have warned that the spotted lanternfly can severely impact many native US plant species, including grapevines, apple trees, and hops.

According to the New York State Departments of Agriculture and Markets, Environmental Conservation, and Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, the spotted lanternfly is a big threat to over 70 plant species found in America. So, what is the correct course of action? Well, anyone who sees one of these bugs should file a report as officials want to keep track of the spread. Additionally, if you spot one of these bugs, you can always introduce it to the bottom of your shoe.

If you have ever seen lightning before, you would know its color just how fast it is, but what if you looked up at the sky and saw red lightning?

Well, red lightning isn't fake; in fact, it's actually a phenomenon scientists have been studying since 1989 when it was first discovered. The red lightning is called "sprites", and has been spotted on every continent except for Antarctica. Sprites only last a tenth of a second and are generally never seen by those observers on the ground, unless you are hunting for them like Stephen Hummel is.

Hummel is an expert on dark skies at the Austin McDonald Observatory, and back at the start of July, Hummel captured an incredible photo while he was on his vantage point on Mount Locke in the Davis Mountains of West Texas. Sprites usually look like alien jellyfish-style creatures hanging down from the above atmosphere, but in fact, they are the product of super-fast lighting bursts that occur 37 to 50 miles in the sky. If you are interested in more information, check out this link here.

You don't need to be a scientist to understand that the mining industry is, at least to some degree, impacting Earth negatively. So, how do we solve this problem?

Well, there are a few ways humans can solve the pollution issue from the mining industry, and one of them is to take our mining ventures off Earth and into space. As explained by Kurzgesagt in the above video, many of the metals found in very common devices are metals that are ripped out of Earth, and through the extraction process there's a loss of "biodiversity soil erosion, and contamination of surface water, groundwater, and soil."

Luckily, these same metals are also found in space but are trapped inside the surface of asteroids. If humans pooled their resources together to attempt landing on one of these asteroids to harvest its resources, and when considering the sheer size and resource capacity of some asteroids floating close to Earth, we could potentially rule out any mining done of Earth altogether. The idea would be to change one of the resource-heavy asteroids' trajectory and redirect it, so it was much closer to Earth.

It looks like the next big technological leap for mankind could be wireless power transmission, something New Zealand-based Emrod is working on right... now.

Emrod has created a method of both safely, and most importantly, wirelessly transmitting electrical power over long distances without the need of copper wire. Emrod is now in the starting stages of working with New Zealand's second-largest power distributor with this technology.

Wireless power isn't something new -- with Nikola Tesla first playing around with it in the late 1800s and then powered light bulbs over two miles away with a gigantic 140-foot Tesla coil in the 1890s. But now Emrod is coming out of nowhere and doing something very similar, with the backing of a gigantic power company in New Zealand.

This is quite possibly one of the largest game-changing discoveries of the last few decades, where scientists have effectively turned red bricks into supercapacitors.

How? By coating the bricks with a polymer containing intrusive nanofibers, that turn red bricks into something that can both conduct, and store electricity. The red brick is made up simple red clay, which is a key part of researchers making this discovery.

The researchers explained: "The red color of a brick originates from hematite, a pigment first utilized by humans 73,000 years ago and serving today as a low-cost naturally abundant inorganic precursor for catalysts, magnets, and alloys. State-of-the-art energy storage materials are also produced from hematite".

At the start of the year, astronomers were observing a massive star dimming, and the original synopsis was that it was about to explode.

Since then, astronomers think they have determined the cause of one of the brightest stars in the night sky rapidly dimming, and the reason is that Betelgeuse ejected a large hot dense cloud of material into space that later cooled to form dust. This cooled dust cloud then covered most of the star's light, which from Earth made it look like it was dimming.

If you are wondering what Betelgeuse is, it's a red supergiant, which is the largest form of star. To put things into perspective for just how big the red supergiant is, if Betelgeuse were in the center of our solar system its surface would reach out to Jupiter. Additionally, astronomers suspect that Betelgeuse's life is coming to an end, which will result in the red supergiant going supernova and explode.

I think at this point we all know UFOs are real and it's only a matter of time before we're introduced to another race of beings from somewhere so far away we can't even fathom it. We knew the Pentagon's UFO department would turn dark to light in regards to UFOs soon, but soon is now very soon.

CNN is now reporting that the Pentagon is forming a new task force that will investigate UFO sightings by US military aircraft, "according to two defense officials". Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist will oversee the task force, which will "be officially unveiled in the next few days, according to the officials".

Previously on UFOs we had Eric W. Davis who was a consultant on the Pentagon's UFO program, describing the mysterious UFOs as "off-world vehicles not made on this earth". That article blew up so much that Joe Rogan himself even shared it, with the The New York Times article titled 'No Longer in Shadows, Pentagon's U.F.O. Unit Will Make Some Findings Public' detailing it all.