Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 30

A critical part of humans being able to expand into a multiplanetary species is mastering botany in zero gravity, as it will provide us with a reliable resource for food.

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have taken another step forward in that process by successfully gardening in low-Earth orbit. NASA took to its website to announce that NASA Flight Engineer Jessica Watkins has started harvesting radishes and mizuma greens aboard the floating laboratory, both of which were grown without any soil.

So, how were these vegetables grown without soil? NASA says we can thank an experimental system called XROOTS created by private sector company Sierra Space, which includes multiple "growth chambers" that enable astronauts to test various concoctions on different plants. To create the vegetables the system used hydroponic and aeroponic techniques.

NASA's Juno spacecraft has gathered new data that leads researchers to believe there are organic compounds located on the surface of the moon Ganymede.

The new research has been published in the paper Nature Astronomy and details an observation made by Juno on June 7, 2021, where the small spacecraft imaged the surface of the planet in infrared. Juno conducted this fly-by at an altitude of 650 miles, and according to the paper, it yielded results that indicated the abundant presence of salts and organics in both dark and bright terrains that are protected by the moon's magnetic field.

So, what does this mean? According to Scott Bolton, Juno's principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, these results indicate the remnants of a deep ocean that made its way to the surface. Notably, Ganymede is the largest of Jupiter's 79 moons, with a diameter of 3,273 miles. It's the ninth-largest object in the solar system - even bigger than the planet Mercury and dwarf planet Pluto. NASA's Galileo spacecraft detected the presence of a liquid ocean deep beneath its icy shell in the 1990s.

A team of astronomers has used data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to detect a ghostly skeleton hand floating in deep space located more than 15,000 light years away from Earth.

NASA's latest and greatest X-ray telescope has used its Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) to observe MSH 15-52 for a total of 17 days, the longest Chandra has observed a single object since it launched in December 2021. So, what is the ghostly hand? The astronomers explain that MSH 15-52 is the leftover remains of a dead collapsed star. When a star exhausts its fuel, it collapses in on itself creating an extremely dense object called a neutron star.

A pulsar is a rapidly spinning neutron star, and technically, MSH 15-52 is a pulsar wind nebula that emits a very strong magnetic field that produces powerful jet streams of energized particles. The researchers recently penned a study published in the Astrophysical Journal where they explain the magnetic field created by the pulsar determines the basic shape of the nebula and, in the case of MSH 15-52, the bones of the ghostly hand.

Elon Musk has teased an upcoming Cybertruck event on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, where the Tesla CEO said that a video will play showing a tommy gun, along with other weapons, being fired at the Cybertruck.

Musk and Joe Rogan begin their conversation about the Tesla Cybertruck by discussing the vehicle's bulletproof exterior, which was tested by Rogan, who fired a broadhead arrow at the door of Musk's Cybertruck from an 80-pound draw-weight compound bow.

Musk goes on to tease the upcoming Cybertruck event by saying he "doesn't want to give it all away right now," but there is a video that will be played during the upcoming event that will show three demonstrations - the first is emptying a tommy gun into the side of the Cybertruck, the second is a shotgun test, and 45mm and a 9mm test. All of which Musk said the Cybertruck's exterior stopped with zero penetration.

Elon Musk has sat down with Joe Rogan to discuss his grandiose plan of one day terraforming the Red Planet, better known as Mars.

Getting humans to the Red Planet has been a long-standing goal of Musk as he fundamentally believes that civilization needs to become multi-planetary to prevent total annihilation of the species. These downfall of the human race could either be caused by self-inflicted actions, such as an out nuclear war, or an outside threat, such as an asteroid impact.

Musk believes that having humans on Mars as well as Earth would protect the species from extinction and that if humans are the only intelligent life forms in the universe, we are responsible for ensuring the flame of consciousness doesn't become extinguished. During the podcast, Musk briefly touches on what will need to be done to make Mars habitable, and according to the SpaceX CEO, a big hurdle will be changing Mars' atmosphere.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has honed its extremely powerful instruments on a region of space approximately 6,500 light-years away from Earth within the constellation Taurus.

NASA has taken to its website to showcase the new image from Webb, explaining the world's most powerful space telescope has imaged the Crab Nebula, the remains of a star that suffered its end-of-life explosion known as a supernova. NASA writes that this nebula was originally discovered in 1054 CE by 11th-century astronomers, and since then has been an attractive location in the cosmos to better understand the evolution of stars and what happens after they go bang.

Notably, NASA writes that Webb's instruments allow astronomers to accurately understand the composition of the ejected material, with the space agency writing its contents are mostly iron and nickel. NASA compared Webb's image to an image snapped by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2005. The space agency explains that Webb's infrared observations revealed in the central regions of the nebula emission from dust grains shown in yellow-white and green.

NASA has a plan for getting the multiple Martian samples collected by the Mars rover named Perseverance back to Earth, but a new report has found that may just be unrealistic.

The newly published report is by an Independent Review Board that took into account all of the issues that currently plague the Mars Sample Return mission. The report identified key problems within NASA's budgeting and overall schedule. For example, NASA's current plan for its Mars Sample Return mission is projected to cost $8 billion, with a total of $11 billion throughout its entire lifecycle. Additionally, the space agency plans to launch the mission in 2028 and get the samples back on Earth by mid-2030.

So, what are the problems? The report states that if the agency doesn't receive the funding it's requesting, it will be knocked off schedule. Notably, the Mars Sample Return mission received $822.3 million in a 2023 spending bill when NASA requested $949.3 million. Furthermore, NASA requested an additional $250 million this fiscal year and in 2024 to ensure development isn't delayed and the timeline of a launch/return isn't blown off course.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has taken to its website to explain an image snapped by the iconic Hubble Space Telescope.

The Hubble photograph is of the spiral galaxy officially called NGC 1566, and according to the ESA, this spiral galaxy is also informally referred to as the "Spanish Dancer Galaxy". The space agency explains that NGC 1566 is located approximately 60 million light-years from Earth within the constellation Dorado, and is a member of the galaxy group called Dorado.

Notably, galaxy groups are different from galaxy clusters, as galaxy clusters can contain hundreds of galaxies all gravitationally connected, while galaxy groups are several tens of galaxies all gravitationally bound. The ESA explains that NGC 1566's nickname was given to the spiral galaxy for its dramatic swirling lines of spiral arms that resemble the movements of a dancer's arms swaying up and down while a routine is performed.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has granted a flight license to Google cofounder Sergey Brin for Pathfinder 1, a 400-foot airship that will soon be taking to the skies.

While other tech billionaires such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Richard Branson are concentrating efforts on getting people to space, Google cofounder Sergey Brin is focussing on getting Pathfinder 1 to a reasonable altitude of 1,500 feet. Now Brin can officially do that as his FAA license gives flight approval for Pathfinder 1 to fly up to a height of 1,500 feet, but its flight tests will only be over the south side of the San Francisco Bay area, where it won't interfere with any regular air traffic going to from airports in the surrounding area.

For those that don't know, Pathfinder 1 is a next-generation blimp that will be the largest aircraft to take to the skies since the Hindenburg disaster that occurred in 1937. Notably, the aircraft is designed and built by the Brin-cofounded company Lighter Than Air, which has equipped the blimp with 12 electric motors and a frame that's made out of titanium and carbon fiber. These structural design choices mean the aircraft is light enough to fly with non-flammable helium, rather than the typical method of flammable hydrogen.

NASA has taken to its social channels to say that humans will never visit the biggest planet in the solar system, but we may visit one of its moons.

That planet is, of course, Jupiter, and according to NASA, humans won't be going there anytime soon - in fact, no human currently alive will be visiting Jupiter. Why? Well, the answer is simpler than you may expect, Jupiter is entirely made of gas, hence its categorization as a gas giant. Additionally, the scientific value of humans visiting isn't worth the risk when valuable observations can be conducted from space and ground telescopes. So, with Jupiter crossed off the list of potential locations to visit, what's the next best option?

Europa, one of Jupiter's 95 moons, orbiting the massive gas giant. NASA has already selected this moon as a location for a satellite to be launched. This mission is called "Europa Clipper" and is scheduled to launch next year on the back of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Europa is slightly smaller than Earth's moon and is the sixth closest to Jupiter. Furthermore, Europa is made of silicate rock and has a water-ice crust that researchers believe may have oceans beneath its surface that contain extraterrestrial life.

There is an obvious need to have as many instruments as possible monitoring the solar system for any potentially dangerous space rocks that have lined up their orbits around the Sun with Earth.

However, despite the ever-growing effort of looking for any asteroids that fit this dangerous description, there are still space rocks that closely pass our planet undetected that would cause extreme damage if they reached Earth's surface. One example is an asteroid that passed Earth in July. This space rock is estimated to be anywhere between 100 to 200 feet wide, and it passed Earth at a distance of one-quarter the distance between the Moon and Earth - quite close, relatively speaking.

This asteroid is officially called 2023 NT1, and while it never posed any danger to Earth, it did pass undetected for two days after its closest approach. If 2023 NT1 were to have collided with Earth, it actually wouldn't have made it to the surface due to its size. The extreme heat from the Earth's atmosphere would have heated the asteroid up until it exploded, likely generating a shockwave big enough to destroy buildings.

NASA's Orion spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from Earth sometime in 2024 to be launched on a long journey around the Moon, carrying four astronauts on a harrowing mission.

The space agency has taken to its website to issue an update on the development of the Orion spacecraft, with NASA explaining that Orion is actually modular, with each part being engineered by a different company. For example, the part of the spacecraft that provides electricity, propulsion, air, and water is constructed by Airbus Defence and Space and is provided by the European Space Agency (ESA), while Lockheed Martin develops the adapter and crew module that will house all four astronauts.

With these two modules now stacked on top of each other, the Orion spacecraft is now ready to undergo a series of tests designed to prepare it for its long journey around the Moon. NASA writes that for the first time, teams will be able to power up the service and crew module, which will be the very first test the space agency will conduct. The next test will be altitude chamber testing, which will attempt to replicate the vacuum of space.

A team of researchers used data acquired by NASA's Curiosity rover to determine that Mars once was one too many more river systems than researchers previously guessed, even going as far as to describe the Martian world as once being "a planet of rivers".

A new study published in the Geophysical Research Letters details an analysis that was conducted on data gathered by NASA's Curiosity rover, currently stationed in the Gale Crater, a prime location for looking for past river systems. The team specifically looked at erosion across the planet and applied numerical models to simulate erosion across millions of years. The team concluded that crater formations called bench-and-nose landforms are likely from remnants of ancient riverbeds.

The team combined satellite data, Curiosity's data, and 3D scans of the stratigraphy - or layers of rock, called strata, deposited over millions of years - beneath the Gulf of Mexico seafloor. All of the aforementioned data was used to train a computer model that revealed Mars could have once had far more rivers and riverbeds than previous research has indicated.

NASA has taken to its social channels to share an incredible image of a "face" captured by its Juno spacecraft during a fly-by of the planet on September 7, 2023.

The space agency has taken to its website along with its social channels to share an "eerie" photograph of a "face" that was captured by the Juno spacecraft on its 54th fly-by. NASA explains that while the image certainly resembles a "face," it's merely Jupiter's turbulent clouds located on the planet's far northern region. NASA writes in its blog post that the image shows what is called a "terminator," which is the dividing line between the day and night side of the planet.

At the time of the image being snapped, NASA's Juno spacecraft was approximately 4,800 miles above Jupiter's top clouds, at a latitude of 69 degrees. These photographs are analyzed by researchers who look for patterns in Jupiter's cloud formations, identifying any storms, abundantly turbulent areas, calm regions, etc - all of which to develop a deeper understanding of the atmosphere of the largest planet in our solar system.

NASA has taken to its official X account for its Mars rover named Perseverance to share images and video of its latest Martian sample.

The Perseverance rover X account, which is run from the perspective of the rover, posted a collection of images on October 26 showcasing that its drill bit was "filled to the brim" with its latest sample. The rover explains in its X post that its "abrasion patch" revealed "interesting textures in this bedrock". Notably, the space agency explains that these images are snapshots of the ancient environment that Perseverance is currently exploring.

The Mars rover is located within the Jezero Crater, a location specifically selected by NASA for its high potential of once having running rivers and delta. NASA's educated guess was quickly proven true by Perseverance once it became operational after landing in the crater in February 2021. The rover imaged the surrounding area and provided evidence that Jezero Crater once had flowing water that carved deltas into the landscape. There was also evidence through erosion lines.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the world's most powerful space telescope, has detected an extremely rare explosion caused by the merger of two stars.

Webb wasn't the only telescope involved in these observations as researchers used data acquired by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Telescope, and NASA's Gehrels Swift Observatory in addition to the data provided by Webb. The instruments detected an incredibly bright gamma-ray burst, now called GRB 230307A, which was caused by an explosion as a result of two neutron stars merging. Webb's instruments specifically assisted researchers in identifying the chemical element tellurium, which was produced shortly after the explosion took place.

Scientists call the explosion caused by the merger of two neutron stars, or a neutron star and a black hole - a kilonova. NASA writes in its blog post found on its website that observations such as the detection of the heavy element tellurium help researchers in piecing together how life on Earth eventually came into existence. The space agency writes, "Other elements near tellurium on the periodic table - like iodine, which is needed for much of life on Earth - are also likely to be present among the kilonova's ejected material."

NASA has taken to its social media channels to share an epic image snapped by the iconic Hubble Space Telescope.

The space agency briefly explains in the above post on X that this image contains a menacing pair of "eyes" that create what seems to be a "cosmic skull". However, on its website, which has a more in-depth explanation of what we are looking at, the space agency explains that the "eyes" are actually cores of two galaxies that are on a collision course.

The entire system is officially cataloged as Arp-Madore 2026-424 (AM 2026-424), and according to NASA, while galaxy collisions are quite common, especially in the early universe, what isn't common head-on collisions such as this highlighted Arp-Madore system. The system is located approximately 704 million light-years from Earth.

A university within the US has issued a public warning to students on campus to avoid robots over a potential "bomb threat".

That message was rolled out to students on Tuesday by Oregon State University, which took to its dedicated X account to announce an "urgent OSU alert" for students to avoid Starship delivery robots across campus. The institution wrote, "Do not open robots", and to "avoid all robots until further notice". In an update posted to X its revealed that the bomb threat can be traced back to a student that was playing a practical joke, or a prank.

Starship has since responded to the alert by OSU, writing that despite the bomb threat being a joke it has decided to suspend all Starship robots across the campus until further notice as a precautionary measure. Notably, the Starship fleet consists of 20 food delivery robots that have been running across campus since 2020. OSU allows students and faculty to order food via the delivery robots from surrounding restuarants.

NASA has issued an update on its asteroid sample collection mission, officially dubbed OSIRIS-REx, revealing a problem with the container that transported the sample back to Earth.

The space agency took to its website to announce that preliminary analysis of the asteroid sample has proven extremely valuable as scientists identified the sample is both rich in carbon and water. The confirmation from NASA that the sample contains both carbon and water, the building blocks of life, adds to the theory that asteroids such as Bennu (the asteroid the sample was taken from) could have played a critical role in life on Earth, and perhaps other planets in the universe.

However, not everything is sunshine and rainbows, which is typically expected with a mission in space, as it's not often that every single aspect of the mission goes to plan. NASA writes in its blog post that the capsule containing the sample, officially called the Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM), is much harder to open than initially expected, with NASA writing, "two of the 35 fasteners on the TAGSAM head could not be removed with the current tools approved for use in the OSIRIS-REx glovebox."

A "devil comet" is about to make its close approach to Earth, and despite its name, that certainly comes with an uneasy sentiment, our planet isn't in any danger.

The comet is officially called 12P/Pons-Brooks, and the last time it came this close to Earth was more than 70 years ago, as the comet's orbit takes it far away from the planet to the outer reaches of the solar system before it makes it way back toward the inner solar system. Astronomers have measured the nucleus, or the core of the comet, and estimated that it's approximately the size of two Mount Everests stacked on top of each other, or 12.6 miles across.

By comparison, most comets are between 0.6 and 1.8 miles wide, according to Teddy Kareta, a postdoctoral researcher at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. So, why is it called the "devil comet"? Well, it has "horns," or what appears to be horns. The comet's outgassing produces what looks like horns through astronomers' observations. As stated previously, the "devil comet" poses no risk to Earth and, at its closest approach, will come within 1.5 astronomical units (AU) of our planet. 1 AU is the distance between the Sun and Earth.