Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 20

The dreaded "devil comet" is back in the news as an astronomer has decided to snap an incredible photograph of its core, rather than the extremely long iconic tail.

The comet that many astronomers around the world are now focussing their instruments on is none other than 12P/Pons-Brooks, a 10.5 mile-wide (17 kilometers) ball of ice and rock that circles the Sun at an extremely elliptical orbit that takes 71 years to complete.

12P is currently on its way to make its closest approach with the Sun, which is scheduled to happen sometime in April, and while it approaches, the Sun's rays continuously heat up the surface of the comet, melting its icy outer shell, creating gas that then turns into what we know as the iconic comet tail, or as astronomers call the coma.

The first privately constructed lunar lander to ever successfully land on the surface of the Moon has permanently faded, never to wake up again and communicate with its creators back on Earth.

The first US company to achieve a Moon landing was Houston-based Intuitive Machines, which partnered with NASA to construct the Odysseus lander, later nicknamed Odie. On February 22, the lunar lander descended to a location near the lunar south pole, and while Intuitive Machines announced the landing was a success, company CEO Steve Altemus later explained Odie was lying on its side. The phone-booth-sized lander tipped over from one or more of its landing legs, which were caught up on a rock during entry and snapped off.

Despite its undesired orientation, Odie was able to carry out its mission objectives to a reasonable degree, but unfortunately, its active time on the lunar surface has come to its end with Intuitive Machines officially announcing via its X account that the solar-powered spacecraft operated on the lunar surface for seven Earth days, "then went silent after the sun went down at its landing site". The company behind the historic spacecraft said, "This was the expected length of the lander's surface mission."

Supercomputers are incredible pieces of technology for a myriad of reasons, and one of those reasons is the unlocked capability to run highly complex computer simulations.

Astronomers and researchers alike have been using supercomputers to run simulations of astronomical objects in an attempt to learn more about how they work, came to be, and evolve. One of those objects is neutron stars, or the leftover corpse of a star that has expelled all of its fuel and exploded in a fiery supernova.

While the material on the outside of the star is blasted into space, the core of the neutron star collapses, forming an extremely dense sphere that is only approximately 12 miles in diameter. However, this small ball has as much mass as 2.3 of our Sun's. Scientists don't have a full understanding of neutron star properties, with a prime query being how matter can be that dense.

In November, it was announced that NASA astronauts lost a bag while conducting a spacewalk, and now one of those astronauts who returned to Earth recounted their first-hand experience.

It is commonplace for astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to conduct spacewalks outside of the floating laboratory. These spacewalks involve various mission objects, such as repairing instruments and replacing old ones, both of which require tools to do so. During a spacewalk on November 2, 2023, NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O'Hara were separated from their tool bag, and funnily enough, reports at the time stated it was possible to see the bag with a pair of binoculars in Earth's orbit.

Now, Moghbeli, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Andreas Mogensen and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa have returned back to Earth's surface thanks to SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule. The Crew-7 astronauts sat down for an interview where they discussed the difficulties of their stay aboard the ISS and the challenges of returning back to Earth, such as the slow adaptation to gravity.

Chinese robotics firm LimX Dynamics has just shown off the latest developments of its new Biped Robot P1, testing the AI-powered robot and its ability to walk through mountainous forest terrain as well as being hit with a huge piece of wood. Check it out:

The new Biped Robot P1 uses reinforcement training to respond to the real-world, where there are moving objects and disruptions in its past -- a forest setting with leaves, wood, and dirt is great -- allowing LimX Dynamics to train its AI algorithms. You can see the AI robot kicking up dirt as it walks, walking into huge bunches of leaves and getting out of it without falling over.

A human operator is also there pulling at it, and it doesn't fall... as well as being hit by a rather large and heavy piece of wood, the Biped Robot P1 doesn't fault. LimX Dynamics took to the Tanglang Mountain range in Shanghai, China to test out its robot, moving around and navigating through rough terrain meant that the P1 had to be continuously aware of its surroundings, pumping that into its AI algorithm, and responding to it through reinforcement training.

WASP-12b was originally discovered in 2008 and since then has been a point of interest for many astronomers around the world due to its strange and relatively close proximity to Earth.

WASP-12b is an exoplanet orbiting its host star WASP-12, and the reason for its interest by astronomers is its strange egg shape and proximity of just 1,400 light years from Earth, which is close in astronomical terms. Additionally, astronomers have predicted that WASP-12b will eventually be consumed by its host star as its trajectory indicates a death spiral will occur, which will result in the exoplanet approximately twice the size of Jupiter being completely consumed by WASP-12.

Researchers previously estimated that WASP-12b would be consumed by its host star in approximately 10 million years, but new research suggests it will happen in just 3 million years. Notably, WASP-12b has such a narrow orbit that almost one year for the exoplanet, or one full orbit around its host star, is a single Earth day. Its extremely close proximity of just 2.1 million miles to its host star results in surface temperatures around 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,210 Celsius) and such a strong gravitational pull from the star that it warps the exoplanet into an egg shape.

After announcing earlier this year that the first human patient has received Neuralink's brain-computer interface (BCI) and is recovering healthily, Neuralink founder Elon Musk has said the company's Blindsight implant is "already working".

The recent announcement from Musk comes after his brain-computer interface company Neuralink livestreamed a long update on the first human patient to receive the company's implant, Nolan Arbaugh, a 29-year-old man who was paralyzed from the deck down following a tragic diving accident eight years ago. The livestream showcased Arbaugh controlling a PC cursor using his thoughts, Arbaugh saying he has been enjoying long Civilization IV gaming sessions, and a demonstration of Arbaugh using the BCI to play Mario Kart.

With progress being conducted on "Telepathy" the BCI implant within Arbaugh's head, Elon Musk has already begun talking about a new chip coming out of Neuralink. The founder of the company took to his personal X account to reply to a video of him on-stage at a Neuralink event explaining the company is working on curing blindness, even in people that were born blind. Musk said, "Blindsight is the next Neuralink product after Telepathy".

Last week, astronomers witnessed a massive swirl of white light seemingly appear out of thin air in the night sky above the Arctic.

Reports indicate that this swirl of bright white light can be traced back to Elon Musk's rocket company, SpaceX. The rare phenomenon is being described by astronomers as a "SpaceX spiral" and is caused by an illuminated cloud of frozen fuel that was dumped by a SpaceX rocket while transporting cargo to low-Earth orbit. Astronomers expect to see many more of these "SpaceX spirals" as the company continues to advance its rocket technology and conduct more frequent launches into orbit.

So, what rocket caused this ethereal white spiral? SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket on March 4 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, transporting 53 satellites into Earth's orbit. The mission was a success, and shortly after the payload of the rocket (the satellites) was deployed, the rocket's second stage, already detached from the first stage booster, began to re-enter Earth's atmosphere. As the rocket plummets toward Earth's surface, it begins to spin, dump its fuel, and burn up. The Falcon 9 first stage burned up above the Barents Sea in the Arctic.

SpaceX recently hit a milestone with its third orbital launch of Starship, the world's largest and most powerful rocket.

On March 14, Starship took to the skies in its third orbital launch attempt, and while the mission ended in a fiery explosion, it was deemed a success by SpaceX as Starship officially reached orbit, checking off a major milestone for the company in its quest to create a viable transportation method to the Moon, Mars and beyond. As with every flight of Starship, and every rocket for that matter, engineers gather the data from the flight, analyze it, and make the appropriate changes to the design of the rocket to improve the chances of success for the next flight.

Upon re-entry, SpaceX was forced to execute a RUD protocol, or "rapid unscheduled disassembly," or boom. RUD was executed due both stages of the rocket, the Super Heavy booster, and Ship, breaking a part during their descent back through Earth's atmosphere. Now, SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell has revealed at the Satellite 2024 conference in Washington on Tuesday March 19 that SpaceX is aiming to get Starship back into the skies for its fourth test flight in "about six weeks".

It was only earlier this year that Elon Musk announced his brain chip company Neuralink had implanted the first brain chip into a human patient.

Neuralink has since taken to social media platform X to share an update with the first patient, a 29-year-old man named Nolan Arbaugh, who said he was unfortunately paralyzed from the neck down following a tragic diving accident eight years ago. The livestream on the Neuralink X account featured Arbaugh explaining the surgery for the implant was "super easy" and that he had to go through a learning process to differentiate "imagined movement versus attempted movement" in order to control a cursor on a PC.

The video shows Arbaugh using the brain-computer interface (BCI) to move a cursor around on the screen of a laptop, with the patient even saying that he was able to play Civilization IV for up to 8 hours and the only thing stopping him from playing more was the BCI running out of battery requiring a recharge. The livestream shows Arbaugh playing chess and then pausing an on-screen music player. Notably, not everything with the BCI is perfect, as Arbaugh says he has encountered some issues. However, Arbaugh said it "has already changed my life".

A new report has revealed that SpaceX satellites may become a target of Russia over its purported use by the US military to gather intelligence.

The threats from Russia come after Reuters reported earlier this month that SpaceX signed a $1.8 billion deal with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to develop hundreds of spy satellites designed to gather intelligence. This array of spy satellites is reportedly called Starshield, and according to one source who spoke to Reuters, it will be so vast that "no one can hide".

Now, a new report from Reuters reveals that Russia has threatened the US over its encroaching use of commercial satellites to expand its presence in orbit, saying they will "become legitimate target for retaliatory measures, including military ones," said foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova to reporters. Notably, Germany recently warned in February that Russia is developing nuclear-powered anti-satellite space weapons that are capable of taking out all satellites within its range.

One day NASA may fly a plane above the surface of the Red Planet, as the space agency is currently in the early stages of exploring the idea under its Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program.

NASA's NIAC program encourages the proposal of unique ideas that could transform the way NASA carries out its missions and one idea the space agency selected is called MAGGIE, or the Mars Aerial and Ground Intelligent Explorer. This conceptual technology has received NASA funding, and the above NASA-approved video showcases how Coflow Jet, the company behind the project, would carry out landing MAGGIE on the Red Planet and then deploy the extraterrestrial aircraft.

Notably, MAGGIE takes off vertically, just like a helicopter, and if you are wondering why that its designed that way there is one answer, Martian atmosphere density. Mars' atmosphere is extremely thin with a density of about 1% of Earth's, which means to generate enough lift for flight it must have many rotor blades spinning a speed much faster than a typical airplane on Earth. Just like taking off, MAGGIE is designed to also land vertically.

In 2022, NASA launched a spacecraft at an asteroid to test if it was possible to deflect an asteroid should one ever be on a collision course with Earth. The test was deemed more than a success.

NASA launched its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), which was a refrigerator-sized spacecraft at a 560-foot-wide asteroid named Dimorphos. This asteroid orbits a larger near-Earth asteroid called Didymos, with the smaller of the two (Dimorphos) orbiting its larger companion at a distance of approximately 3,900 feet, or one full orbit taking 11 hours and 55 minutes to complete.

DART successfully hit at an extremely high speed, and shortened Dimphos' orbital period by 32 minutes and 42 seconds, reducing Dimorphos' full orbit around Didymos to 11 hours, 22 minutes and 37 seconds. NASA writes in new press release that cites a study published in the Planetary Science Journal, Dimorphos' orbit slowly reduced over the following weeks, eventually reducing its orbital distance to 3,780 feet, or by about 120 feet.

SpaceX has recently completed its third orbital test flight of the largest and most powerful rocket ever created, Starship.

Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX is already talking about how Starship will eventually be sent to other star systems, or solar systems to investigate the planets surrounding the target star. Musk took to his personal X account to write the Starship we are seeing launched lately is designed to explore the solar system, while a future Starship that will feature a much larger and more advanced design will be able to travel to "other star systems".

The details on this "future Starship" weren't given, but if Musk is planning on making an even larger rocket than the current Starship, it would need to be at least 401-feet tall, as the model stands fully stacked with its Super Heavy booster at a whopping 400-feet-tall, or 122 meters. Additionally, the current model is capable of carrying up to 165 tons to orbit, and comparatively, SpaceX's workhorse rocket, which is regularly used as a transportation method to orbit, is only capable of 25 tons.

Humans have discovered quite a bit about Mars, with the Red Planet being the most explored planet in the solar system as multiple rovers have and are traversing the surface gathering data that is then sent back home.

With this data, researchers were able to theorize with substantial evidence that Mars was once home to water, which created now ancient river systems. These river systems, or their remains, were observed by NASA's Perseverance rover, leading scientists to believe that Mars once had liquid water that may have harbored life. The theory that Mars was once home to life hinges on the fact that the Red Planet once had water, but what if Mars never had as much water as what we think?

A new study suggests that the evidence of ancient water systems on Mars, which are the carvings thought to be created by flowing water, may not have been created by water at all, but instead, by explosively evaporating carbon dioxide ice. Notably, Mars' atmosphere consists of approximately 95% carbon dioxide, and when temperatures drop to -120 degrees Celsius (-184 Fahrenheit), the carbon dioxide freezes so fast it skips the liquid phase.

NVIDIA had plenty to announce during its GPU Technology Conference (GTC) event, with the launch of Project GROOT: a new foundational model that helps in the development of robots for industrial use (and more).

The new Project GROOT stands for "Generalist Robot 00 Technology," with NVIDIA CEO and founder Jensen Huang teasing robots powered by Project GROOT during GTC 2024, which have been designed to understand natural language and emulate movements made by humans by watching them.

Huang said: "Building foundation models for general humanoid robots is one of the most exciting problems to solve in AI today. The enabling technologies are coming together for leading roboticists around the world to take giant leaps towards artificial general robotics".

The Department of Defense's National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) has signed a $1.8 billion contract with SpaceX for the creation of hundreds of spy satellites that will be used for US intelligence, according to a report from Reuters.

The new report states the NRO has signed a $1.8 billion contract with Elon Musk's SpaceX for the development of hundreds of spy satellites that will be designed to continuously take photographs of the Earth. These satellites will be a mixture of large imaging satellites designed to collect data and relay satellites designed to transmit the collected data.

According to one source who spoke to Reuters, the new web of spy satellites, which is reportedly called Starshield, will be so vast in its capabilities that "no one can hide". Notably, neither SpaceX nor the NRO directly confirmed the $1.8 billion contract or the development of the purported satellites, but an NRO spokesperson responded to the publication, "The National Reconnaissance Office is developing the most capable, diverse, and resilient space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance system the world has ever seen."

SpaceX has recently conducted the third orbital test flight for Starship, launching the world's largest and most powerful rocket from Starbase, Texas, on March 14.

The launch was deemed an overall success as Starship, with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk taking to his personal X account to announce "Starship reached orbital velocity". Notably, the launch of Starship occurred on 22nd anniversary for the founding of SpaceX. While the third orbital test flight was a success, both the Super Heavy booster and Ship didn't make it back down to Earth, where it was scheduled to splash down in the Indian Ocean.

SpaceX decided to execute its RUD protocol, or Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly, or boom, due to communications with the rocket being severed. The nearly 400-foot rocket fired all 33 first-stage Raptor engines in the early morning hours on March 14, creating a massive plume of smoke and then a speedy ascent into the clouds.

When you think you have either read or heard it all a story such this one surfaces, revealing one man's quest to create a giant hybrid sheep species.

Arthur "Jack" Schubarth, an 80-year-old man from Montana has pleaded guilty to two felony wildlife crimes that authorities are calling an "audacious scheme" to create a giant hybrid sheep species that was going to sold and hunted as trophies. Schubarth began conspiring with several other individuals in 2013 to create the new species, and according to reports the Montana man purchased parts of the Marco Polo argali sheep, that can weigh as much as 300 pounds, from Kyrgyzstan into the United States.

Schubarth didn't declare the importation and this particular species of sheep is protected both internationally and domestically by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, and the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Schubarth then took genetic material from the Marco Polo sheep parts and sent it to a lab to create embyros, paying a deposit of $4,200 to the lab back in 2015.

SpaceX has conducted its third orbital test flight of the world's largest and most powerful rocket, Starship, flying further and higher than it ever has before.

Starship blasted off from the launch pad at the Starbase facility in South Texas on March 14 and went on to accomplish many mission objectives before the vehicle experienced a RUD, which SpaceX calls "rapid unscheduled disassembly," or boom. Starship executed its second hot-stage separation, which is when Super Heavy disconnects from the ship. Additionally, SpaceX's crown jewel of launch vehicles became the first Starship rocket SpaceX has built to complete its full-duration ascent burn and reach orbit.

The nearly 400-foot-tall rocket hit orbit, and then upon its re-entry back to Earth, where it was going to splash down in the Indian Ocean, communications were lost, resulting in the boom. Despite the RUD, SpaceX has described the launch as a "phenomenal day," as all of the objectives that were completed during the third orbital test flight will assist SpaceX in its next test flight, which it plans to do very soon.