Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 204

Have you ever wondered what Earth would look like hundreds of millions of years from now? Scientists wondered the same thing and decided to great a great animated video of what our blue planet would appear to look like.

General science dictates that the entire Earth is divided into several tectonic plates that are floating on top molten rock. When these tectonic plates bump, we experience large scale earthquakes, sometimes resulting in tsunamis, depending on how big the 'bump' is.

Chris Scotese, a professor with Northwestern University's Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences studies the planets plate tectonics and how Earth's appearance will change in the future. On his YouTube channel, he has created an animated video showcasing how Earth will change in the millions of years to come, all the way up to 250 million years plus.

Just as we are about to close out the decade, we have been blessed by the annual solar eclipse. This year the Moon passed in front of the Sun to create a "Ring of Fire" effect.

People in the Eastern Hemisphere would have been star-struck as the Moon passed in front of the Sun, covering the face of the star. Due to the Moon being much smaller than the Sun and the position of Earth at the time, the leftover light emitting from Sun bled around the sides of the Moon, creating that gorgeous "Ring of Fire" effect.

According to Alexander Krivenyshev, the man who took the above image, "It was an amazing experience. This morning's annular eclipse was during sunrise, with some sand dust by the horizon. [A] beautiful, really beautiful, classic 'Ring of Fire' above Saudi Arabia." Not only did people on the ground enjoy the light display, but so did the astronauts in the International Space Station. Astronaut Jessica Meir posted several images of the show the Moon was casting on Earth on her Twitter account, check out those images in the entirety of this article.

While you would originally be thinking that it would be Santa Claus landing on your roof on Christmas Day, it very well could of been a meteor the size of King Kong.

The meteor which is called 2019 YB1 was scheduled to have a near miss with Earth on Christmas Day at around 11:41 GMT. NASA says that the space rock is estimated to be anywhere between 13 and 28 meters in diameter (almost 100 feet).

How close was it to colliding with Earth's atmosphere and breaking up? Estimations indicate that 2019 YB1 was about 993,000 miles from our planet, and while that might sound like quite the distance NASA says that this encounter falls under "close approach". At the time of its passing, 2019 YB1 was hurdling through space at 12,303 mph.

In almost half a decade, NASA's Mars 2020 rover has taken to the streets and successfully completed its first drive.

While the rover didn't literally take to the public streets, it did successfully complete a driving test where it steered and drive in three-foot increments. The initial driving took the rover over small ramps that were covered in special static-control mats. The ramps were at different heights, as this was a way for the rover to simulate rocks and other obstacles that will be present on Mars' surface.

The team behind the rover has equipped the vehicle with much better cameras that have a larger field of view and have a higher resolution. Not only does the rover get better cameras, but its also being equipped with better auto-navigation software that will allow the rover to travel up to 650 feet per day. NASA expects that the rover will land on Mars in 2021 and begin its search for life and information regarding Mars.

A new satellite called CHEOPS just launched into low-Earth orbit with the mission of observing and examining a number of exoplanets located outside our solar system.

CHEOPS was originally meant to launch this past Tuesday, but just as the launch was about to go underway, some problems occurred. After these problems were fixed, the satellite launched into low-Earth orbit on the Soyuz-Fregat rocket from Kourou, French Guiana. CHEOPS camera lens only measures in at 32 centimeters in diameter, but don't let its size fool you, as the plans for the satellite are to relay unprecedented information back to astronomers.

CHEOPS will be taking a look at some 4,000 different exoplanets that astronomers have located and measure their size, mass, and atmosphere. Through this examination, astronomers will be able to determine what the composition of the planet is and if it has the possibility of harboring life. CHEOPS will stand as a new tool for astronomers to use in the hunt for life outside of Earth.

SpaceX will be doing another delivery of cargo to the International Space Station next March, and aboard that flight will be some cannabis.

According to a new press release from Front Range Biosciences, who are partnering with SpaceCells USA Inc. and BioServe Space Technologies at the University of Colorado to send hemp and coffee tissue to the International Space Station. The idea behind smuggling hemp to the ISS is to examine the effects of zero gravity on the plant's metabolic pathways.

While you might think that the astronauts aboard the ISS are going to be blazing up with their new stash in March, this is hardly the case. While hemp and weed (cannabis) are the same plant, for the plant to be deemed hemp it has to have no more than 0.3% THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the psychoactive chemical found in marijuana. For comparison, marijuana usually has anywhere between 5 to 20% THC; from this comparison, you can see its impossible to 'get high' on hemp.

NASA has announced that its experiemental supersonic X-59 jet has been approved for assembly. This jet could pave the way forward for commercial supersonic air travel.

The shape of the X-59 is to reduce the loudness of a sonic boom when the craft reaches those speeds. The idea of behind the design is to take that 'boom' and convert it more into a gentle thump, no louder than a car door being closed. According to NASA's website, the X-59 will be flown over US communities to generate data from both sensors and people on the ground. With this data, regulators will be able to create new guidelines for commercial air travel.

The X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology or QueSST for short is designed by Lockheed Martin in partnership with NASA. The first test flights for the craft could take place as soon as 2021. For those wondering what 'supersonic' speed is - the speed range of an aircraft travelling faster than Mach 1.3. For reference, Mach 1 is the speed of sound (343 m / s or 767 mph).

Looking into the center of the Milky Way can reveal some quite perplexing clues about how our universe began, and the events that have eventually brought us to what we now call the present.

Astronomers do this on a very regular occasion, and just recently, the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope or VLT for short, located in Chile's Atacama Desert managed to catch something amazing. Astronomers created a high-resolution image of our galaxy's center, and from the observations, they have learned of a new star formation burst that occurred in the early days of the Milky Way.

This burst of stars led to more than 100,000 supernovas, or more simply put, exploding stars. According to Rainer Schodel, a researcher with the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA) in Granada, Spain that led the study "Our unprecedented survey of a large part of the Galactic center has given us detailed insights into the formation process of stars in this region of the Milky Way. Contrary to what had been accepted up to now, we found that the formation of stars has not been continuous." It was found that about 80% of the stars located near the core of the Milky Way were formed anywhere between 8 billion and 13.5 billion years ago.

Astronomers have been on the hunt for habitable exoplanets since the first one was discovered. But since that discovery, astronomers have been finding out more and more reasons that complicate the possible existence of life on other planets.

Many exoplanets fall into what astronomers call the "habitable zone" which is a zone in space relative to their star where planets are able to maintain liquid water on their surface. These planets in the "habitable zone" are deemed the most likely to harbor forms of life. However, a recent study has found that not all exoplanets in this zone are prime candidates.

The study found that some exoplanets are subjected to radiation bursts from their neighboring star, and depending on the exoplanet, these radiation bursts could have significant impacts on the planet's atmosphere and, therefore, the chance of life. The study, which was published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters took into account the power of the solar bursts, the exoplanets' magnetic fields, and the atmospheric shielding. For more information on these findings, check out this link here.

Astronomers have, for the first time, mapped the surface of an extremely dense collapsed star, we call neutron stars. The new way of looking at the star raises some questions that are puzzling astronomers.

Aboard the International Space Station, the Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer, or NICER for short examines X-rays that are emitted from space. NICER observes these astronomical objects called pulsars (neutron stars), and researchers used NICER to observe the J0030+0451, or J0030 for short. From these observations, researchers at the University of Amsterdam and the University of Maryland managed to map the pulsar's surface and measure its mass.

The team managed to measure the neutron star in at 1.3 and 1.4 times the mass of the Sun. Funnily enough, the neutron star is only about 16 miles wide, while our Sun, on the other hand, is 864,000 miles wide. Originally, astronomers believed that the neutron star had two hotspots -- one at the top its magnetic pole and one at its bottom. What the astronomers found when mapping J0030 is that it has two or perhaps even three hotspots that are all located in its southern hemisphere. Astronomers didn't expect these results, but they believe that NICER is on the way to explaining what is truly going on with neutron stars.

Sometimes when you are observing space you run into things that you just don't expect, NASA recently experienced this when they pointed one of their satellites a comet.

NASA pointed their Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or better known as TESS at comet 46P/Wirtanen in an effort to merely test their systems. To their surprise the comet ejected an estimated 2.2 million pounds of materials (ice, dust and gas) in what looks very similar to that of a 'burp'. Scientists said that the 'burp' lasted for about one hour and occurred on September 26th, 2018.

This isn't the very first time astronomers have spotted a comet ejecting materials, but it is the first time that a satellite has observed the entire thing like TESS has done. According to the paper's lead author, astronomer Tony Farnham of the University of Maryland, "We can't predict when comet outbursts will happen. But even if we somehow had the opportunity to schedule these observations, we couldn't have done any better in terms of timing. The outburst happened mere days after the observations started."

I don't know about you, but when I was kid I had boxes and boxes of LEGO that my parents bought me to keep me out of their hair. This LEGO wasn't sorted in the slightest, in fact it probably couldn't of been more jumbled if you tried.

That's when I needed Daniel West's creation, or what he called the "Universal LEGO Sorting Machine". Let's call it the ULSM for sort. The ULSM is comprised of over 10,000 individual pieces of LEGO (yes, that does means LEGO is sorting LEGO) and uses AI to sort LEGO into one of 18 different buckets at a rate of about "about one brick every two seconds".

So how does it work? West explains in his video (above) that he trained the AI to sort bricks by feeding it realistic 3D images of LEGO parts, and then programmed it to learn which bucket to drop the observed brick into. This AI technique is called a convolutional neural network, and since this technique was used the machine is able to detect any LEGO piece ever created and even ones that it hasn't seen before.

Scientists assume that one of the main building blocks of life is water, which is why astronomers and scientists alike have been searching planets for it.

The main searches are in the "goldilocks zone" which is the area around a star where the temperatures are close that of Earth's or fall under the potentially habitable category. A team of scientists from the University of Cambridge looked into the atmospheric observation data of nineteen exoplanets in an attempt to try and figure out if their atmospheres could lead to the planet containing water.

The exoplanets ranged hugely in size, some being as big as six-hundred Earth masses on the higher side, and some being around ten Earth masses on the lower side. What was found was that water is much more common on these exoplanets than previously thought, but not in high quantities. Dr. Nikku Madhusudhan, who led the research, said, "We are seeing the first signs of chemical patterns in extra-terrestrial worlds, and we're seeing just how diverse they can be in terms of their chemical compositions. It is incredible to see such low water abundances in the atmospheres of a broad range of planets orbiting a variety of stars."

Earth is starting to have a really big problem when it comes to space junk, and the European Space Agency has noticed and is taking action. Prepare the space kamikaze garbage-collecting robots!

The low-Earth orbit zone measures in at about 1,200 miles in altitude, and located in this zone is about 3,000 broken satellites along with ten million-plus pieces of debris. While these pieces of satellite are small in comparison to the Earth and don't take up that much 'room' they still pose as an issue as they are traveling at tens of thousands of miles per hour.

If this 'space junk' collides with a working satellite, it can critically damage it and then create more space junk. Following this domino effect, you can probably see why we want as little of this in our atmosphere as possible. So what's the fix? The European Space Agency (ESA) are announcing plans to launch little robots that use their four arms to hug the debris and then drag it into Earth's atmosphere where it will burn up. At the moment, there are about 2,000 working satellites in Earth's orbit and 3,000 failed ones.

Just recently, NASA's Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft that is orbiting the red planet spotted some promising signs that Mars could contain fossils that could lead to life.

The Orbiter located NASA's Mars 2020 rover landing location called the Jezero Crater. Inside this crater, the spacecraft identified that hydrated silica, which is a mineral that is extremely good at persevering the previous contents of life. This means that when NASA's rover lands on Mars next year that it already has a spot to examine preserved signs of life.

It should be noted that silica is a crystal composed of silicon and oxygen and is commonly found in materials such as quartz, glass, and sand. Why are NASA and scientists after this mineral in particular? Because hydrated silica can hold water within its crystallized structure and on Earth, it can be formed in many different environments such as volcanic glass and on the ocean floor. Scientists also note that hydrated silica is one of the most robust materials we know of as it resists environmental decomposition from wind and water.

NASA announced this past Monday that they had completed the massive rocket that will be taking US astronauts back to the Moon sometime in 2024.

NASA's huge rocket called the Space Launch System is the tallest rocket ever built, measuring in at 212 feet or 65 meters tall. That's equivalent to a 20-story building. NASA's administrator Jim Bridenstine stood in front of the humongous rocket and officially announced that the core stage had been completed by engineers. Here's what he had to say, "[Today is a]very important day. When we get to announce core stage complete for in fact the SLS rocket."

He continued and said, "We are making significant progress towards achieving that Artemis 3 mission and getting our first woman, and next man to the south pole of the Moon in 2024." NASA's Artemis 1 mission is planned to launch an uncrewed flight in June 2020, but as delays are expected with these kinds of things, it's hard to know any specifics until the date is closer.

Amazon is going after President Trump over losing the $10 billion government contract to the Pentagon over JEDI, the huge Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure contract.

Microsoft secured the $10 billion contract over Amazon Web Services (AWS) and now the retail, cloud, and everything giant is mad -- so mad, it is suing the US government. Amazon believes Donald Trump was personally involved in Amazon losing the contract, with the company arguing the Defense Department "departed from the rules of procurement and complied - consciously or subconsciously - with its Commander in Chief's expressed desire to reject AWS's superior bid".

Amazon's complaint argues that the Defense Department made "obvious errors" in giving Microsoft the contract over AWS, adding that President Trump is "obsessed" with Bezos. Amazon also adds that President Trump, earlier this year, said he had heard "tremendous complaints about the contract with the Pentagon and with Amazon" and would have the Defense Department look "very closely" at the $10 billion JEDI contract.

The University of California just made a breakthrough in harnessing the most powerful light in the universe, which could lead to the creation of gamma-ray lasers.

Firstly, gamma rays are electromagnetic radiation that is emitted from the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei. Usually, these rays are extremely brief and very, very bright, meaning they harbor the most photon energy. Scientists at the University of California have figured out a way to make stable positronium atoms, which is the stepping stone to creating gamma-ray lasers that could lead to massive technological upgrades.

So how is this done? Scientists take a hydrogen-like atom that combines a mixture of both matter and antimatter (electrons and their antiparticles positrons) and collide them together - the collision results in gamma-ray photons being produced. So, to create gamma-ray lasers, scientists were required to find a way to stabilize the production process of gamma-ray photons by keeping the positronium atoms in the same quantum state. This was done through the use of helium, or, more precisely, liquid helium.

A team of researchers in China has successfully mixed DNA cells of a monkey with a pig embryo, creating the first every 'pig-monkey'.

In a new report by NewScientists, scientists and researchers from State Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Reproductive Biology located in Beijing have created the very first pig-monkey chimera. If you aren't sure what a 'chimera' is, it's an organism that contains living cells of another organism. A natural example of this would be a human fetus absorbing its twin in the womb.

A not so natural example of a chimera is pig monkeys. The team of researchers took cells of a monkey and combined them with pig embryo's; they then placed those embryo's in female pigs and observed their growth. Out of the 4,000 embryos that were being tested, only ten pigs managed to be successfully grown and birthed. Out of those ten pigs that were birthed, only two of them were actually chimeras, and those two died just a week later. Scientists haven't yet determined their cause of death.

Firstly, yes, you did read that headline correctly, and that headline isn't a typo. The Hubble Space Telescope has taken an image of what is known as Hoag's object.

Hoag's object had perplexed astronomers since its discovery by Arthur Hoag back in 1950. Descriptions of the object are that it measures in at about 100,000 light-years across - larger than our Milky Way - and is located about 600 million light-years from our blue planet. The Hubble Space Telescope recent captured an image of the strange galaxy, and the image was processed by geophysicist Benoit Blanco.

Above, we can see the image which shows a ring of billions of blue stars that form a circle around another smaller ring of denser redder stars. Inside the dark space between the two circles is another galaxy that is located much farther away than the two previously mentioned. So, what's going on here? At the moment, astronomers can't quite put their finger on what has caused this phenomenon. Hoag himself said that the galaxy's strange rings could just be an optical illusion caused by gravitational lensing.