Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 198

An announcement from the European Space Agency (ESA) has revealed that the ExoMars mission will be delayed for a further two years as further testing is needed to be done.

According to the announcement, several parts of the spacecraft still need to crucial testing completed before it's given the green light to be sent off to the red planet. Since more testing is needed, the ExoMars mission will miss its launch window for 2020 and will need to wait until sometime between August and October in 2022 for another opportunity. Why do they have to wait so long? Well, that is because of the orbital cycles of Earth and Mars.

Space agencies can only launch spacecrafts to the red planet when the orbital cycles of Mars and Earth are at their closest points to each other. Launching it at any other time would require unnecessary amounts of fuel. The rover is being held back from launch this year to have its parachutes tested, which are used to ensure that the craft lands safely on the red planet. ESA director Jan Woerner said just yesterday, "Launching this year would mean sacrificing essential remaining tests. This is a very tough decision, but I am sure the right one."

Astronomers have used the Very Large Telescope (VLT) to discover a new exoplanet that is so hot that it rains iron instead of water.

The planet is called WASP76b, and is an ultra-hot giant exoplanet that's dayside temperature of more than 2,600 degrees Celsius (4712F). This temperature is high enough that it can melt metals such as iron, but what happens is that strong winds push the iron vapor to the other side of the planet where it is cooled and turns into tiny droplets of iron. According to David Ehrenreich, "One could say that this planet gets rainy in the evening, except it rains iron."

So why does this happen on this planet in particular? Phys.org explains that 'iron rain' occurs on this planet because it only ever shows one side of the planet to its neighboring star. This means that the other side of the planet always remains in darkness, much like how our Moon is tidally locked to Earth. Since the dayside side of the planet is so hot, molecules separate themselves into atoms, and metals such as iron begin to evaporate into the atmosphere. Winds then carry the iron vapor to the other side of the planet where it's then cooled, and iron droplets are formed.

You can't escape hearing or seeing news and videos about COVID-19 / coronavirus, so why not track it using available data inside of a web browser?

John Hopkins University have created an interactive web-based dashboard that secures data from the WHO, CDC, and China CDC in order to "visualize and track the reported cases on a daily timescale". John Hopkins University staff explain that the purpose of the coronavirus tracker is to "provide the public with an understanding of the outbreak situation as it unfolds, with transparent data sources".

You can visit the website right here, with some really interesting data on coronavirus cases around the world. At the time of writing there were over 126,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 4630 deaths worldwide. The countries with the most confirmed cases of the disease are China with over 80,000 confirmed cases, and Italy with over 12,000.

Apple has already asked its Silicon Valley based staff to work from home over coronavirus / COVID-19, but now the company has reportedly delayed an event over the outbreak.

Cult of Mac is reporting that a source of theirs at Apple has said that the iPhone giant has postponed an event that would've introduced a new, cheaper iPhone (a successor to the iPhone SE) and iPad Pro with a triple-lens camera rig, has been postponed. The company became "concerned" about people gathering at Apple Park in late-March, so they postponed the event.

Not only that, but the Santa Clara County (which is where Apple Park is located in Cupertino) has banned all gatherings of over 1000 people. The ban will be running between March 11 and April 1, so even if Apple wanted to host the event -- they can't. As for the event itself being canceled, Apple will probably announce the products through a regular press release versus an event where people could get coronavirus -- or spread it.

The world is getting a little scary with all the fear mongering over coronavirus / COVID-19, but now New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is deploying the National Guard to New Rochelle to establish a "containment area" in what feels like it was ripped directly from Tom Clancy's The Division game.

Gov. Cuomo said on Tuesday that starting this Friday (13th of March) that all schools, large gathering places and houses of worships will be closed for 2 weeks. The new containment area will have a 1-mile radius, which will be centered around a synagogue that is reportedly the center of the cluster of the coronavirus outbreak in New Rochelle.

New York's Nassau County have 19 confirmed coronavirus cases, including 2 school bus drivers that took around 80 students through many routes in Long Island. Nassau County Executive Laura Curran confirmed that most of the students' families have been contacted by the Department of Health.

When researchers look out into the vastness of space, there are many mysteries to be solved, but one, in particular, has puzzled researchers for quite some time.

That mystery is dark matter. Dark matter cannot be observed directly, but researchers know that its there due to how other objects in the cosmos react to its gravity. Unfortunately, researchers have been strapped for answers when it comes to explaining the origin of dark matter and the role it played and is still playing in the creation of the universe. A new study conducted by researchers located at the University of New York may have answered these head-scratching questions.

The researchers explain that dark matter's secret might be located in a specific type of particle called d-star hexaquark. Researchers who worked on the paper say that these d-star hexaquarks might've been in extremely high quantities at the time of the Big Bang. They also state that they may have formed together to become a fifth state of matter known as Bose-Einstein condensate as they cooled. According to Professor Daniel Watts of the University of York, "The origin of dark matter in the universe is one of the biggest questions in science and one that, until now, has drawn a blank."

Yesterday, NASA announced that they would be revealing the official name for their Mars rover, and now that its live-stream is complete, we know what to call Curiosity's successor.

If you haven't been following along with the naming process, NASA took to the public, and more specifically, school children from the years of kindergarten to year 12 to figure out a name for the new Mars rover. The rover's name was decided by an essay contest. Participants across the country were required to write an essay detailing why they believed NASA's new rover should be named whatever name they chose.

Those 28,000 essays were then voted on by 4,700 volunteer judges, and that 28,000 was boiled down to just 155. From there, judges then managed to get the 155 down to just nine finalists, then those finalists were voted on by the public. The winner was the seventh-grader Alexander Mather from lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, Virginia. Mather chose "Perseverance" for the rover's new name, and has also been invited to watch the launch of the rover this Summer from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

NASA's Curiosity has been putting in some work for researchers for quite some time, and now the rover has just made another record - this time in the photography field.

The above image was taken using Curiosity's Mast Camera, or MastCam for short and is comprised of over 1,000 images. The images were snapped back during Thanksgiving 2019, and throughout the following months, they were carefully pieced together to form what we are looking at now. The images resolution is an astounding 1.8 billion pixels, and the place on Mars that we are looking at is called Glen Torridon. Glen Torridon is a region on the side of Mount Sharp.

So how long did this image take to capture? Curiosity spent 6.5 hours over the course of four separate days moving around to take individual shots of the landscape. According to Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity's project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, "While many on our team were at home enjoying turkey, Curiosity produced this feast for the eyes. This is the first time during the mission we've dedicated our operations to a stereo 360-degree panorama."

In January, NASA's Voyager 2 experienced a glitch that triggered the craft into initializing its pre-programmed fault-protection mode.

In this mode, Voyager 2 disabled all of its five measuring instruments that it would normally be using to gather data with. Since then, NASA's engineers have been working around the clock to get the ancient craft back up and running as per normal. The biggest problem that the engineers faced was the sheer distance Voyager 2 is away from Earth. Engineers were required to troubleshoot the problem, but every command they sent to the craft it took 17 hours to reach the probe and for data to be received back here on Earth.

The engineers found that the glitch occurred when Voyager 2 missed a spin maneuver that was meant to calibrate its magnetic-field instrument. This glitch resulted in two power-hungry systems being left on simultaneously, which then triggered the probes preprogrammed fault-protection mode. Luckily, engineers were able to resolve the issue, and now Voyager 2 is back to working as per normal. NASA announced the news via a statement on its website, check that out here for more information.

When NASA launches the Mars rover, it will mark a big moment in space travel history for humans, which means the rover better have a good name to be remembered by.

Choosing a name for the rover isn't merely picking a name out of a hat that contains potentials; it's more complicated than that. NASA decided to get the public involved in choosing the name, and over many months NASA has been receiving letters from K-12 students. Each of these letters is submissions for a potential name, and after going through several rounds of judges, NASA has narrowed the list down to just nine potentials.

The competition to win the naming of NASA's Mars 2020 rover gathered over 28,000 entries from across the country. Each of these entries proposed a name for the craft and included a brief essay to explain the reasoning behind why the Mars 2020 rover should be named whatever name was chosen. 4,700 volunteer judges siphoned through the entries and got 28,000 down to just 155. A second round of judges then came in and got that 155 down to just 9. Those 9 finalists were then voted on by the public, and now we await who the winner was.

Scientists have created not just a new bendable concrete, but the concrete itself is cement-free which reduces its environmental footprint -- good all round stuff right here, folks.

Researchers out of the Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia have developed a new type of concrete that is bendable, and doesn't require cement to make it. The team put a gigantic weight on top two pillars of concrete: the first, a traditional slab of concrete that snapped under considerable pressure -- but the second one, now that is some magic.

The team used synthetic fibers into their concrete mix, as well as creating a process to manufacture it without needing to heat it up to cure it. This might not sound like a lot, but it radically reduces the impact on the environment -- there's no need to heat up the limestone to make the cement component, with the Swinburne researchers adding it requires 36% less energy to do it their way, versus "conventional bendable concrete". Not only that but it emits a huge 76% less carbon dioxide -- and we all know that is a better thing for the world.

A meteorite that fell from space and landed on Earth has given scientists and researchers evidence to suggest that the building blocks of life are capable of being found outside of Earth.

The meteorite is called Acfer 086 and landed in Algeria around 30 years ago. Since then, scientists have performed studies on the meteorite and now have recently discovered some vital information. Researchers found the protein hemolithin inside the meteorite, and if you don't know what hemolithin is, its a small protein that's composed of the amino acid glycine, iron, lithium, and oxygen.

Scientists aren't surprised at finding these elements, but what they are surprised at is finding these elements in this specific configuration - marking the first time a configuration of this caliber has been found on Earth. While the composition of the molecule contains elements we are familiar with, the proteins ratio of hydrogen to isotope deuterium didn't match anything scientists have found on Earth.

Twitter is "strongly encouraging" that employees work from home if it is possible in their particular job, in order to "lower the probability of the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus for us - and the world around us".

The company is also putting in restrictions on particular employees based in Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea which are all required to work from home under local government restriction laws. Twitter said it is shifting away from having physical meetings to remoting into a meeting instead, in the virtual world safe from coronavirus.

With so many Twitter employees pushed into working from home, the company is using this time to deep clean and sanitize all spaces in their buildings. Twitter explains: "For those employees who prefer or need to come into the offices, they will remain open for business. Our Real Estate & Workplace team is increasing deep cleaning and sanitizing in all spaces, as well as more visual reminders for personal hygiene best practices and pre-packaged, pre-composed, and pre-plated food options".

The world of physics was turned on its head once quantum mechanics was discovered, and since that point, in time, the topic has been a big topic of debate in the scientific world.

One of the leading physicists who are pursuing an understanding of quantum mechanics is theoretical physicist Sean Carroll. In Carroll's new book, 'Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds And The Emergence Of Spacetime' he pushes forth the Many World's Theory, or parallel universe understanding quantum mechanics. Now, this is where things get tricky to understand, and rather than attempting to recite such a complex topic, I'd advise you to watch the above video.

Carroll is taking his theory to Australian audiences in "Our Preposterous Universe" tour, and has also recently spoken to News.com.au about his theory. According to News.com.au, Carroll's base theory on observing an electron in the quantum state is that the electron is actually in all of its possible positions at once, but just different parallel universes. Here's what is stated by the publication, "Out of the known mechanics of quantum states must emerge multiple, parallel worlds."

NASA has opened its doors to accept applications from the public to become astronauts. The requirements or qualifications are as high as you might expect.

NASA will be accepting applications until the 31st of March at 11:59 PM Eastern. While you might not think that's enough time, that's what you shouldn't be worrying about, the qualifications are the mind boggler. For you to apply to become an astronaut, you must be a US citizen with either a master's degree in a STEM field (science, technology, engineering, mathematics), a medical doctorate, or a record of completing a test pilot school program with a bachelors degree in STEM.

That's not all, though. Applicants will also need real-world experience of at "least two years of related, progressively responsible professional experience", or "1,000 hours of pilot-in-command time in jet aircraft". On top of that, astronaut candidates will be required to pass NASA's long-duration spaceflight physical. There will also be an online assessment that will last for about two hours. If you are interested in reading more about becoming an astronaut, head on over to the official NASA website to learn more.

Searching for planets in the vastness of space is time-consuming work for astronomers, but sometimes all you need on your side if a bit of beginner's luck.

University of British Columbia student Michelle Kunimoto had a little bit of that beginner's luck and has now officially found 17 new planets. Kunimoto has published a new paper in The Astronomical Journal detailing her discoveries, one of which is extremely promising as the planet is approximately Earth-sized and is located in the Goldilocks Zone of its neighboring star.

The planet is now called KIC-7340288 b it's about 50% larger than Earth, and its located in the Goldilocks zone of its star, meaning that it's at the right temperature to possibly have liquid water on its surface. Kunimoto said in a statement, "This planet is about a thousand light-years away, so we're not getting there anytime soon! But this is a really exciting find, since there have only been 15 small, confirmed planets in the Habitable Zone found in Kepler data so far."

The effects of coronavirus are having larger and larger impacts on business, with tech giants Amazon and Google now pushing new restrictions on employee travel over coronavirus, or COVID-19.

Amazon has requested that its 798,000 employees stop all non-essential travel immediately, which includes both domestic and international travel. This move from Amazon comes after the company restricted travel to China in February with its employees, but now the restrictions apply globally, and domestically.

Moving over to everything giant Google, which has increased its employee travel restrictions to include Japan and South Korea -- a list that already banned travel to China, Iran, and two Italian regions: Lombardy and Veneto. A Google spokesperson said: "We can confirm that one employee from our Zurich office has been diagnosed with the coronavirus. They were in the Zurich office for a limited time, before they had any symptoms. We have taken -- and will continue to take - all necessary precautionary measures, following the advice of public health officials, as we prioritize everyone's health and safety".

With coronavirus or COVID-19 spreading throughout the world, 'stay-at-home' companies like Netflix are benefiting the most according to industry analysts.

BMO Capital Market analyst Dan Salmon wrote in a research note on Friday that Netflix "is an obvious beneficiary if consumers stay home due to coronavirus (COVID-19 virus) concerns, and this has been reflected in considerable stock price outperformance this week". Netflix shares were up 0.8% this week, after the worst sell-off on Wall Street in close to 9 years.

It's not just Netflix that is an "obvious beneficiary" of the coronavirus keeping people safer at home, but more internet-connected customers and services are benefiting. These include Facebook, Amazon, and others -- but throw in Microsoft, Sony, and every game developer and streaming service out there -- hell, including NVIDIA's just-launched GeForce NOW service into the mix.

Akira fans will remember the iconic and trend setting 1988 Japanese animated movie predicting that Tokyo would win the right to have the 2020 Olympics hosted in their country... but it gets freakier.

In a scene from the movie, there is a sign that encourages citizens to throw their support behind the 2020 Olympics to make it a success. But underneath the sign in the movie Akira, someone sprayed "Just cancel it!" underneath -- with the sign above noting "147 Days Until The Games".

Well, the Friday just gone (yesterday) was 147 days until the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics -- which kicks off in July 24, 2020. Right now, 'Just Cancel It!' is trending on Japanese Twitter, putting Akira back into the spotlight with the recent news that the coronavirus outbreak might force the Tokyo 2020 Olympics to be canceled.

Astronomers have just detected the biggest explosion in the Universe ever recorded. The only explosion that comes close to this explosion is the Big Bang.

In a distant galaxy, about 390 million light-years away from Earth called the Ophiuchus galaxy cluster, astronomers detected what is now recorded as the biggest explosion in the Universe since the original Big Bang. This explosion came from a supermassive black hole and released five times more energy than the last biggest explosion ever recorded. According to Professor Melanie Johnston-Hollitt, from the Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, "We've seen outbursts in the centres of galaxies before but this one is really, really massive."

Astronomers also don't know why the explosion was so big, Johnston-Hollitt states, "And we don't know why it's so big. But it happened very slowly-like an explosion in slow motion that took place over hundreds of millions of years." Researchers estimated how large the explosion was and found that it happened to tear a hole in the galaxy cluster that's so large that fifteen Milky Way's can be placed in a row there.