Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 2

It was last week when reports surfaced about a mysterious object potentially from space colliding with the windscreen of a United Airlines plane while it was traveling over Utah, with theories pointing to space debris possibly from a defunct satellite re-entering Earth's atmosphere, or even birds.

However, it was neither of those theories, and the object that struck the windshield of flight UA1093, which caused enough damage to shatter the windshield and injure one of the pilots in the cockpit, was a weather balloon from the company WindBorne. Speaking to Ars Technica, WindBorne agreed that it was likely one of its balloons after calculating the position of the balloon and cross-referencing it with the flight path of the plane.

The theory of a mysterious space-based object colliding with the 737 MAX aircraft came after one of the pilots described the object that impacted the aircraft as "space debris". Notably, the collision didn't cause any fatalities, only injuries, as images shared to social media show one of the pilot's arms being cut up by seemingly small shards of glass that sprayed into the cockpit following the impact.

Not a single human has set foot on the surface of the Moon since December 14, 1972, which was when Apollo 17 astronauts completed their final moonwalk. Since then, only robots have explored the surface of Earth's closest neighbor. However, that is about to change in the coming years.

NASA has announced the date for Artemis II, the mission that will take four astronauts on a 10-day journey around the Moon. Artemis II comes after Artemis I, which was an uncrewed mission that involved the Orion spacecraft being sent on a test journey around the Moon to see how the spacecraft would fare with mission goals and general journey. Artemis I was a success, and now NASA is moving to Artemis II, a crewed mission that will follow a similar path to Artemis I, but this time with humans aboard the Orion spacecraft.

Artemis II will be the foundation of future Artemis missions, with each of the four astronauts undergoing strenuous testing both before and after they return from the journey. For example, blood samples will be taken before the crew leaves and then taken again after they return, as researchers want to know if the human body experiences any significant changes throughout the mission, which, if found to be the case, preventative measures will be made before Artemis III, the mission where humans will walk on the surface of the Moon.

When engineers or companies discuss the future of humanoid robotics, they often focus on replacing menial tasks and monotonous jobs, allowing individuals to pursue more fulfilling endeavors. But what if you just wanted to kick the crap out of your new humanoid robot?

Unitree has demonstrated that technology has already been achieved, as the company behind the Unitree G1 humanoid robot has endured a beating, with the above video showing Unitree engineers running and kicking the poor robot to the ground over and over again.

Now, this isn't a demonstration of how buyers of this robot can kick the crap out of the G1; it's a demonstration of the G1's "Anti-Gravity" mode. Unitree is showcasing the G1's impressive stability and how it's able to pick itself back up quickly if it falls to the ground..

Tesla has just received a $10 billion order for its Optimus 3+ humanoid robots, with big pharma securing the robots and deploying them into farm operations, the making of prescription drugs, and lower-level jobs that are said to push Americans into higher-paid jobs.

Firstly, this marks some rather big history for Tesla and the future humanoid robot market, with up to 10,000 Optimus 3+ humanoid robots. Tesla is leading the charge, and big pharma will use the humanoid robots to restore US drug manufacturing sovereignty.

Bright Green Corporation has announced its merger with PharmAGRI Capital Partners, a federally aligned pharmaceutical infrastructure platform architected to restore U.S. drug manufacturing sovereignty. Effective immediately, Lynn Stockwell has been appointed CEO and chairwoman of PharmAGRI, with Stockwell to appoint a new board that will be made up of directors from her Drugs Made In America Corps, which includes a series of 4 Nasdaq-listed special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) formed to acquire DEA-licensed and FDA-compliant pharmaceutical businesses.

NASA has accelerated its plans to build a nuclear reactor on the Moon's surface, as part of its broader strategy to establish a sustainable lunar presence through a base.

NASA's Artemis program is part of the space agency's effort to establish a lunar base on Earth's closest neighbor by 2030. One of the most critical components of such a base is sustainable power. The nuclear option seems the most viable, as solar won't work due to the Moon's rotation being so slow. There are two-week periods where the Moon is in darkness. Nuclear reactors will enable a round-the-clock energy supply needed to keep bases maintained at healthy operational levels, ensuring human survival.

According to a report from Politico, NASA's interim chief Sean Duffy is set to announce a new ambitious plan in the next week that will involve NASA soliciting industry proposals for a 100-kilowatt nuclear reactor to launch by 2030, and that within the directive it states the first nation with a Moon reactor could "declare a keep-out zone, which would significantly inhibit the United States." The race for the first lunar-based nuclear reactor is between the US, China, and Russia, who announced a partnership to create their own lunar base.

The biggest earthquake to strike since 2011 has hit Russia, resulting in tsunami warnings issued for multiple Pacific regions.

Almost two million people are currently under evacuation advisories across 2020 municipalities along the Pacific coast of Japan, while Hawaii is bracing for impact as a "wall of water" approaches. The director of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, Chip McCreery, said it could be "several hours" before the warning level in Hawaii is reduced. Reports indicate the biggest wave recorded so far is 4ft tall, and waves are arriving every 12 minutes. This figure was measured by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center at Haleiwa, Oahu.

Hawaii Governor Josh Green has urged people to evacuate all coastal zones as the state braces for a "forceful wall of water that will move across the shoreline into the community." Green also provided an update shortly after the expected arrival time of 7:10 pm local time for the first wave, "So far we have not seen a wave of consequence," but they have seen significant water recede.

YouTuber Benn Jordan, a musician and acoustic scientist, has achieved what may be a world first: the saving of data from a live animal, specifically a bird.

That bird is a European starling, or a songbird that is able to mimic sounds extremely effectively through its vocal organ called a syrinx. Jordan explains that starlings are able to precisely produce multiple tones at the same time, meaning they are able to mimic almost any sound they hear. The bird in the video is shown mimicking sounds it wouldn't otherwise hear naturally in the wild, such as the sound a camera shutter makes when it opens and closes, or synthetic sounds created by humans.

Using a spectral synthesizer, which is a piece of software that shows a spectrogram, or the visual representation of how the frequencies that make up a sound change over time, Jordan drew an image of a bird. Essentially, this image consists of a collection of sounds that make up the image Jordan drew. He then played the sounds to the starling, who was able to mimic it. Jordan then captured the mimicked sound in the spectrogram to see if the image was correctly reproduced, and it was identical.

Researchers from the Beijing Institute of Technology have created the world's lightest insect brain controller and injected it into bees.

A report from the South China Morning Post reveals that the scientists behind this technology believe that fleets of mind-controlled insects could be used to scout areas and help disaster relief operations. How does it work? Researchers developed a device that plugs directly into the brain of a bee via three microscopic needles.

Scientists then use electronic pulses sent through the needles to control the direction the bees fly, and according to research published in the Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering, the bees obeyed these commands 90% of the time.

NASA's Mario Rana spied a bright flash on Saturn last week over the weekend, marking the first time astronomers have spotted an object slamming into Saturn in real-time.

The volunteer astronomer at NASA's Planetary Virtual Observatory and Laboratory (PVOL) was using the telescope to image Saturn when they reported seeing a bright flash of light at around 09:00 UTC. As soon as the flash was detected, Rana put out the word to the astronomy community to see if anyone else saw what they just saw, specifically for more images or footage of the event.

Notably, Saturn, being a gas giant, doesn't exhibit any craters or scars from astronomical collisions such as this, making it hard to determine the size of the object or even if the event took place. Saturn's turbulent atmosphere of hydrogen and helium essentially swallows any evidence of a collision, with any remaining evidence being quickly swirled around in the thick outer layers of the planet. For this reason, it's remarkable that seemingly an object was caught slamming into the planet in real-time.

3D printers can make some weird and wonderful things, but scientists at the University of Hong Kong in China are taking it to the next level by experimenting with technology that is 3D printing functional organ tissue.

In a new report from the South China Morning Post, we're hearing that Professor Michael Chan and his researchers have developed a new system that involves organ tissue that isn't just 3D printed, but lab-grown. The combination of the two, as well as a custom organoid, ensures that there's a lower chance of the 3D-printed organ being rejected by the patient.

Professor Chan said that 3D printed biomaterial isn't something totally new, and that it can't perform the right functions without cells pertaining to the organ that it is replacing. This is where the researchers' organoid embedding is involved, with the organoids created using stem cells from the patient that makes sure they don't just function, but also have genetic compatibility.

Amazon has announced that it now has a million robots working behind the scenes in its retail empire, and a new AI model to help make those bots a lot smarter - which will ultimately mean faster deliveries.

In a press release that Tom's Hardware picked up, Amazon made the revelation that its millionth robot just went live in a fulfillment center in Japan.

The bigger story here, though, is that Amazon is introducing a new generative AI model to make its robots smarter.

UK-based startup Space Forge has successfully had its ForgeStar-1 satellite launched into orbit with the help of Elon Musk's SpaceX, with Space Forge to make semiconductors in space.

ForgeStar-1 is now the UK's first-ever in-space manufacturing satellite, which will build semiconductors (computer chips) in space, with the satellite designed entirely in-house in Cardiff, Wales, and launched into space as part of SpaceX's recent Transporter-14 rideshare mission. The satellite waited for approvals in the United States since April, before entering orbit today.

Joshua Western, CEO and co-founder of Space Forge explains: "We've built and launched Britain's first manufacturing satellite and it's alive in orbit, that's a massive technical achievement. Now, we take the next step: proving that we can create the right environment for manufacturing in space. This is the start of a new era for materials science and industrial capability".

The world's largest digital camera has been switched on and begun capturing images, and each of these images measures a staggering 61,440 x 51,200 in resolution.

The newly functional world's largest digital camera is located at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, on the El Peñón peak of Cerro Pachón, approximately 8,799 ft up a mountain in the Chilean Andes. The camera has been operational for 10 hours, and since it began snapping photos of the galaxy above, it has discovered 2,104 new asteroids in the solar system.

The camera weighs a staggering three tonnes and features a ridiculous 3,200 megapixel sensor. It is capable of capturing feverishly high-resolution images so high-resolution that if the camera were pointed at the Moon, it would be able to snap an image and see a golf ball on the surface. The first pictures released by scientists operating the capture show 10 million galaxies, which is a small start as it covers just 0.05% of the camera's overall goal to map out 20 billion galaxies through taking regular survey images.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has announced plans to develop a new nuclear power plant, which will be the first new nuclear power plant to be built in New York in decades.

The Trump administration has pushed for "energy dominance" in the United States, and with tech companies needing more and more power for their AI data centers, New York wants to be at the center of that action with a new nuclear power plant.

New York State Energy Research and Development Authority president and CEO Doreen Harris said in a press release: "The use of advanced nuclear technology can provide the State with a greater diversity of its energy resources that will support New York's goal of a growing economy with a reliable, zero-emission electricity system".

SpaceX has confirmed that Starship, the world's largest and most powerful rocket, has exploded on the launch pad during a routine test.

In preparation for its 10th test flight, SpaceX's newest Starship model has experienced a catastrophic failure, resulting in it exploding into a fireball on the launch pad at its Starbase site in South Texas on Wednesday night, June 18. The explosion occurred at about 11 pm, and SpaceX has confirmed that no personnel were injured during the event and everyone has been accounted for. Additionally, the Elon Musk-led company is now working to "safe the test site and immediate surrounding area in conjunction with local officials."

Moreover, residents living in the surrounding area are at no risk, according to SpaceX, with the company requesting that individuals do not attempt to approach the area while staff continue to make the area safe. So, what happened?

The James Webb Space Telescope has pointed its extremely powerful instruments at a patch of sky that measures about three times as much space as the moon takes up when viewed from Earth. Webb spent 255 hours looking at this region, and the results are a stunningly detailed map of the universe.

This specific region of space is called the COSMOS field and doesn't contain many stars, gas clouds, or other celestial objects that can impede the view of observers. The COSMOS field is a proverbial window into the deep universe, hence researchers wanting Webb, the world's most powerful space telescope, to peer into that region to gather valuable data.

What Webb found was 800,000 galaxies spanning nearly all of cosmic time, meaning the galaxies observed, or the light produced from these galaxies, date back to around the beginning of the universe, 13.5 billion years ago. NASA estimates the universe is about 13.8 billion years old.

Amazon is already working on humanoid robots that might eventually be used to deliver products to customers.

According to a report by The Information, the retail giant is already preparing to test these robots, according to an anonymous source familiar with Amazon's plans.

That testing involves an indoor obstacle course known as the 'humanoid park' where the robots can be let loose, and apparently this facility is nearly complete now, and testing will soon begin.

SpaceX has conducted its ninth test flight for Starship, the world's most powerful rocket, and while the flight ended in fiery explosions, the flight was deemed a major milestone.

The Elon Musk-led space-faring company launched Starship on its ninth test flight at 6:36 p.m. CT on Tuesday, May 27, marking the first time that a Super Heavy booster has been reused for a launch, with the first time this particular booster was used being in Flight 7. SpaceX wrote on X that Flight 9 was intended to push Super Heavy to "intentionally push Super Heavy to the limits," in order to gain real-world data to improve the next-generation booster. So, what happened to Super Heavy and the upper stage, Ship?

Super Heavy performed adequately, demonstrating its ability to fly at a higher angle of attack during its descent back to Earth. Super Heavy separated from Starship correctly, and upon its re-entry back to its designated splashdown area within the Gulf of America, Super Heavy relit its 13 center and middle ring Raptor engines. Unfortunately, the booster was lost just after the landing burn began, resulting in an unscheduled disassembly, or boom, only 6 minutes and 20 seconds after launch.

SpaceX has announced that next Tuesday, the world's most powerful rocket will take to the skies once again in an attempt to recover the Ship part of the rocket, a feat that has never been achieved.

That rocket is Starship, and when the 400-foot-tall rocket takes to the skies next Tuesday, it will mark the ninth launch of the megarocket. SpaceX's goal for this launch is to fly the upper stage or Ship part of the rocket halfway around Earth and land it in the Indian Ocean. Unfortunately, this has never been achieved by SpaceX as the upper stage always burns up upon reentry into the atmosphere.

Elon Musk elaborated on this problem during an appearance on the Joe Rogan Podcast. He explained that the problem is the heat shield not being sufficient and that recovering the upper stage so engineers can examine it may provide the answers to designing an appropriate heat shield that prevents the stages' destruction. Until then, SpaceX engineers just have to try different designs and configurations of the heat shield tiles and implement what data they can acquire throughout the re-entry process.

Mention night vision and this will likely conjure up images of big, clunky goggles of some kind, but scientists have just developed a far more elegant solution in the form of contact lenses that allow people to see in the dark using infrared light.

This is a creation of the University of Science and Technology of China, where experiments with nanoparticles led to the development of the technology.

The contact lenses in question are made with nanoparticles which absorb infrared light, and as Phys.org, which spotted this invention, points out, specifically this is near-infrared light (NIR), only just beyond the spectrum of what people can already see.