Science, Space, Health & Robotics News - Page 260

NASA has recently stated that the landing location for its newest Mars rover named Perseverance is the best location to discover signs of past life on the Red Planet.

Researchers analyzed images taken by Perseverance of the landscape of the Jezero Crater where it landed. Before Perseverance landed, researchers speculated that the crater was once home to a large body of water being fed by a river. Now, according to a recent paper, NASA researchers' suspicions were correct as some surrounding rock formations show clear evidence that water was present some 3.5 billion years ago when Mars' climate was much more forgiving.

Researchers behind the study compared the images of Martian rock formation to what we commonly see here on Earth, and the similarities were astounding. A river system that was feeding a lake, at one point, rapidly slowed, causing the suspended sediment to form a delta. With evidence of water being present in the past, researchers hope that the samples from the rock will show evidence of past life being present in the area.

There has been lots of volcano activity recently happening around the world, and now incredible images from space show an eruption taking place in the United States.

According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), a volcano located in Hawaii's islands named Kīlauea is spewing out rivers of lava from two vents, one in the western wall of Halema'uma'u crater and the other along the floor. The USGS has stated that all lava activity has been "confined within Halema'uma'u crater" that's in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. As for seismicity and volcanic gas emissions, the USGS has said the rates "remain elevated".

The volcano has been erupting since September 29, and researchers are currently monitoring the volcano for "high levels of volcanic gas". Additionally, Maxar Technologies has taken this volcanic eruption as an opportunity to use its WorldView-3 and WorldView-2 satellites to capture stunning images of the event. The images can be found above and below. If you are interested in reading more about this eruption, check out this link here.

Late last month, SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk replaced Jeff Bezos as the world's richest individual and said he was going to send Bezos a silver medal.

When Musk was declared the world's richest individual by Forbes, he said in an email to the publication that he would send Bezos a "giant statue of the digit '2' to Jeffrey B., along with a silver medal", and now Musk has followed through on one of those. Bezos recently took to Twitter with a motivation post that details the success of Amazon despite what others were saying at the time.

Bezos goes on to say that today Amazon is one of the world's most successful companies and has "revolutionized two entirely different industries". In response to the post, Musk replied with a silver medal second place emoji, and nothing else. Since the events of Blue Origin suing NASA, which delayed the construction of SpaceX's vehicle that is scheduled to take astronauts back to the Moon, Musk has been taking shots at Bezos, with Musk even saying, "you can't sue your way to orbit". More on that story here.

Eyes open, no fear: a massive solar flare will be smashing the planet today, with possibly power grid disruption and even seeing Northern Lights as far south as New York.

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has said that a geomagnetic storm could cause power grid fluctuations, as well as satellites possibly being affected too. NOAA added that satellites could experience "orientation irregularities" that would force ground control to manually redirect them -- as well as anything else in low-Earth orbit.

NOAA explained: "Event analysis and model output suggest CME arrival around midday on 11 Oct, with lingering effects persisting into 12 Oct". Meanwhile, the Met Office added: "Aurora is possible through [the] 11th across much of Scotland, although cloud amounts are increasing, meaning sightings are unlikely".

The International Space Station (ISS) is an incredible vantage point to observe Earth, and sometimes astronauts aboard the ISS take images of the surface.

The ISS is essentially a floating laboratory, and due to its altitude, it's quite useful at spotting things down on Earth's surface. Recently, ISS astronaut Thomas Pesquet snapped an image of a "very rare" glow that was happening above Europe, more on that story here. Now, fellow ISS astronaut Megan McArthur has snapped a picture of Earth's surface, and to her surprise, she was able to spot an airplane soaring through the skies over Alberta, Canada.

McArthur posted the awesome image to her personal Twitter account, where she said that she "laughed out loud" when she spotted the airplane. Due to the ISS's altitude of 253 miles, astronauts aboard the floating laboratory rarely see any human activity on the surface, so it's quite an event when they do. According to Twitter users who used McArthur's timestamp and location from the image, the flight was Atlas Air 5Y8052/GTI8052 that was going from Anchorage, Alaska to Miami, Florida.

Observing objects out in space with telescopes has its challenges, and sometimes astronomers come across that are much further away than anticipated through a phenomenon called gravitational lensing.

Gravitational lensing ocurrs when a large object such as galaxy is between Earth and an object much further away. Due to the immense gravity of the object, spacetime is warped, and when astronomers peer out into the void to observe the distant object, the warped spacetime acts as a magnifying glass, allowing researchers to see much further than what they originally would be able to.

While gravitational lensing can certainly be useful for researchers, it can sometimes raise more questions about what's being observed rather than answers. For example, back in 2013, astronomers used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to observe two objects that appeared to be perfectly mirrored. According to astronomer Timothy Hamilton of Shawnee State University, who spotted the two objects, "We were really stumped".

A new study has been published in Nature Geoscience, and it details Earth's oxygen levels eventually running out, causing most life on the planet to suffocate.

Around 2.4 billion years ago, Earth underwent the Great Oxidation Event, which was when Earth's shallow ocean and Earth's atmosphere first began experiencing a rise in oxygen levels. According to the researchers behind the paper, Earth's atmosphere will eventually run out of oxygen and essentially revert back to what it was before the Great Oxidation Event.

Additionally, the researchers say that atmospheric oxygen is unlikely a permanent feature of any habitable worlds, which throws a wrench into human civilizations' search for life outside of Earth. The researchers expect that this drop in oxygen levels throughout the atmosphere will occur after about one billion years or so, and while that is definitely an extremely long way away, when the change in the atmosphere's oxygen levels happens, it will happen relatively quickly.

The Sun is entering the most intense part of its 11-year cycle, which means we can expect much more activity from our star.

Activity from the Sun can come in various ways, and it's very important that researchers keep a close watch on our star for any dangerous charged particles heading our way. On October 10, researchers observed an M-class solar flare that caused the eruption of a coronal magnetic ejection (CME) that's headed towards Earth. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) researchers have forecasted the arrival of the CME for October 11.

According to Spaceweather.com and SpaceWeatherNews.com, the CME that is on its way to Earth is expected to spark G1 to G2-class geomagnetic storms. Additionally, reports indicate that if a moderately strong G2-storm happens, residents in the United States may see auroras as far south as a line connecting New York to Oregon. It should be noted that this CME has an extremely low chance of affecting electricity grids on a global scale. On top of that, this is CME is classified as a "halo CME" as CMEs heading directly for Earth cause a 360-degree halo around the Sun.

A civilian astronaut that was aboard SpaceX's Inspiration4 mission has talked about her experience being in space for three days.

Dr. Sian Proctor was joined by three other crew members for a three-day mission in space, marking the very first all-civilian trip to space. The Inspiration4 mission consisted of zero astronauts, and according to Dr. Proctor, who spoke to National Geographic, the first two days of the trip, she felt quite sick. Dr. Proctor said, "Space sickness is one of those things that a lot of people suffer from. You're just not on your game." So, what causes "space sickness"?

Humans are very well adjusted to the Earth's gravity, but when venturing off-planet with no gravity, you experience weightlessness, which can lead to variable levels of motion sickness. This is quite common, according to Dr. Proctor. Luckily, this feeling is usually temporary as the astronaut starts to adapt and adjust to the new environment. "But man, I woke up the third day, and I was humming, and everything was perfect. I had adapted, I was good, and I was like, 'What? I have to come home?! No, no, no!'" said Dr. Proctor.

Last week it was announced that Star Trek's Captain Kirk, played by actor William Shatner will be going to suborbital space with Blue Origin.

The announcement from Shatner and Blue Origin came after the bombshell news that Blue Origin employees reported the work environment at Blue Origin was "toxic" and uncomfortable for women. Shatner will be joined by Blue Origin vice president of mission and flight operations Audrey Powers, but unfortunately, the launch has now been officially delayed due to bad weather.

The launch was scheduled for October 12, but according to Blue Origin representatives, the launch will be pushed back by 24 hours due to unfavorable winds. When Blue Origin launches Shatner and the other crew members into suborbital space aboard the New Shepard vehicle, Shatner will hold the crown for the oldest person to ever go into suborbital space. The new launch date has been scheduled for 9:30 a.m. EDT (1330 GMT) on Wednesday.