Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 41

NASA has confirmed that only a few days ago, the Sun released a solar flare so powerful that its radiation could have reached Earth's surface.

The space agency, along with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), confirmed on Sunday, July 2, the Sun released an X-class solar flare, which can be traced back to a sunspot known as AR3354 bursting. Notably, this sunspot is approximately seven times larger than the Earth, and when it burst, it released the strongest type of solar flare, smacking Earth with ionized radiation that resulted in a 30-minute radio black over western parts of the United States and Pacific Ocean.

The flare was between the 10th and 14th biggest flare of this year's solar cycle, solar cycle 25, according to Solar physicist Keith Strong, who took to Twitter with the information. NASA's official Sun & Space Twitter account shared a video of the sunspot bursting, explaining, "Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground."

Scientists from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA are observing the Sun closely as it reaches its solar maximum.

New reports indicate that the Sun has broken a record that was set in 2002, and that record is for the most sunspots produced in a single month. Researchers have announced that the Sun produced more than 160 sunspots in June, the highest number of sunspots produced in a single month in 21 years. The Sun is currently going through its 25th solar cycle, and according to reports, researchers estimate the solar maximum, the period of the cycle where the Sun has the most sunspots, will arrive in a year's time.

Why is this important? Sunspots have the potential to release solar flares, which can hit Earth and impact critical infrastructure such as satellite communications, GPS, radio communications, and even electrical grids. The strong magnetic fields produced by these flares can cause satellite operators to lose track of their satellites, which could potentially lead to a catastrophic domino effect of space junk.

NASA's Perseverance rover has been roaming the surface of the Red Planet since February 2021, and it has recently discovered a strange rock that's causing scientists to scratch their heads.

NASA's Mars rover has been exploring the Jezero Crater since it landed on the Red Planet, with the primary mission of the rover being to obtain a multitude of Martian samples that will then be transported back to Earth for further analysis. NASA hopes that Perseverance will be able to discover evidence, or a presence of ancient microbial life, possibly within the dried-up deltas all around the 28-mile-wide Jezero Crater.

Perseverance secured several samples throughout its travels, while also snapping as many pictures as it can of the surrounding Martian landscape. One of the pictures that has attracted the attention of not only the general public but also scientists from around the world is the image of a rock that appears to have a vacant circle at its center, earning it its "doughnut" name. The picture was captured with Perseverance's SuperCam, which identified that the rock was 324 feet away from the rover.

Before NASA puts humans on the surface of Mars, the space agency wants to test how humans would cope living in a simulated version of the Mars surface for a year.

Four individuals have been selected to undertake the adventure of being locked in a Mars simulation for 378 days, and throughout this time, the participants will be learning how to live, work together and cope with all of the issues that the Martian surface will present. The participants will be inducted into a strict workout routine, have numerous duties/responsibilities, perform simulated spacewalks to harvest crops, and have to endure random communication drops that will isolate them from the outside world.

The four volunteer participants are Kelly Haston, Ross Brockwell, Nathan Jones, and Anca Selariu. These individuals were chosen specifically for their qualifications which span biomedical science, biochemistry, research science, structural engineering, and more. So, how much will the participants be paid for their time? According to the Houston Chronicle, NASA is paying $10 per hour for all waking hours, but up to 16 hours per day, which works out to about $60,480 for the 378-day mission.

SpaceX is planning on launching Starship again before the end of the year, according to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who recently gave an update on the timeline for the company's biggest rocket yet on a podcast.

Musk sat down with Zuby, the host of the "Real Talk with Zuby" podcast, where he discussed various topics over the course of an hour and a half. Starting off, Musk said that he just flew in from Starbase, Texas, where SpaceX is constructing Starship, the company's biggest and most powerful rocket yet. If you aren't in the rocket development loop of news, you may remember seeing headlines of Elon Musk's rocket that exploded mid-air in April - that was Starship.

SpaceX conducted the first orbital test flight of Starship on April 20, and after the second stage of the rocket failed to separate from the first stage, the company was forced to detonate the rocket mid-air. However, the launch was deemed a success by SpaceX as many milestones were reached, and much was learned from what seemed like, on the surface - a failure.

NASA has taken to its blog to reveal some new photographs snapped by the world's most powerful space telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

The space agency explains in a new blog post that astronomers pointed Webb and its extremely powerful instruments at one of the most iconic planets in the solar system - Saturn. The observations took place on June 25, 2023, and for the first time, Saturn was observed by Webb's near-infrared instruments, which were eventually converted into incredible images you can see above and below.

NASA explains that Saturn appears dark in the image as its abundance of methane gas absorbs almost all of the sunlight falling onto its atmosphere. However, Saturn's iconic rings don't suffer from the same fate as Webb's image showcases them in a sufficient level of brightness, revealing details within the rings and even the planet's fainter rings, which cannot be seen in this image.

Space is barren of resources, which means recycling is extremely important and that nothing should go to waste if it can be reused again.

NASA is aiming for 100% recyclability of its space stations, and while that number is extremely difficult to get to, the space agency has reached a score of 98% of all water astronauts bring aboard the International Space Station (ISS) is recycled by the International Space Station's Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS). NASA's technological achievement means all sweat and urine are being converted back into water used in the space station's life support systems.

How is all this water captured? One aspect of the system is an "advanced dehumidifiers" that capture any moisture that is expelled by astronauts, whether that be through breathing or sweat that is left floating in the air. As for the urine, the space station is equipped with a filtration system that distills the urine and converts it back into drinkable water.

The emergence of artificial intelligence and the power it has demonstrated has many people fearing what the future looks like employment-wise. While many of those concerns are valid, not every aspect of artificial intelligence is a future ruiner.

One example of how AI can assist humans in our quest for more knowledge about the past, present, and future has been demonstrated by a team of archaeologists and computer scientists that have specifically designed an AI to translate ancient or dead languages from our past human ancestors.

The team highlighted their achievement in a new study published in the PNAS Nexus, where they explained that this AI has been designed to translate tablets with Akkadian texts using cuneiform script. Some of these tablets date back as far as 2,500 BCE, making them approximately 5,000 years old.

A space probe has made its way past Mercury for the third time has captured several incredible shots of the innermost planet.

A mission that's a combined effort between the European Space Agency (ESA) and Japan dubbed the BepiColombo mission, which involves six flybys of Mercury each proving to unique opportunity to capture photographs of the planet's scarred surface.

The latest fly by occurred on June 19 with the space probe coming 146 miles above the planet's surface, snapping a series of photographs that show the rocks geological features such as large craters and even a newly named crater.

OceanGate sent its Titan submersible containing five passengers to the wreckage of the Titanic. One hour and 45 minutes into the submersible's descent communications were lost.

US Coast Guard confirmed today that debris was found of the Titan submersible and that on its way to the Titanic wreck, which is located 12,500 feet below the surface of the ocean, it imploded under pressure. At that extreme depth objects are subjected to extreme pressure. Comparatively, Earth's atmosphere exerts 14.7 pounds per square inch (Psi) of pressure, but 12,500 feet below the surface of the ocean the Titan was being pounded with 5,500 Psi, or 300 times what is normally felt by most people.

According to military insiders that spoke to the Journal, a top-secret US Navy system that's used for detecting enemy submarines detected an implosion shortly after the communications dropped out an hour and 45 minutes into the Titan's descent, which would have placed them close to the seafloor. Notably, the Titan was designed to withstand this amount of pressure and underwent safety tests. However, the submersible wasn't certified by regulators and all passengers signed a waiver that said they acknowledge the safety risks of the Titan.

Throwflame, a company that specializes in all things to do with throwing flame, has announced it will be selling a robot dog that can launch a stream of fire 30 feet.

Throwflame took to its official Twitter account to introduce the world to Thermonator, the world's first flame-thrower-wielding robot dog. Throwflame has built Thermonator on the Unitree Go1 quadruped robot, which is a smaller and lighter iteration of the Boston Dynamic's iconic robot dog Spot. Notably, Boston Dynamics requires buyers that their robot dogs can't be used to harm people.

Thermonator weighs 37 pounds, is 30 × 20 × 20 inches, and features an ARC Flamethrower with a built-in fuel tank that can be filled with gasoline or a gasoline/diesel mixture. The flaming robot dog will be able to launch fire up to 30 feet for approximately 45 minutes when using the largest possible battery pack. If you already think that you need a robot dog equipped with a flamethrower, you, unfortunately, can't buy one at the moment, but the company expects shipping will begin sometime in Q3.

Officials have announced a grim ending to the missing OceanGate submarine that contained five passengers on a journey to visit the wreckage of the Titanic, 12,500 feet below the surface of the ocean.

US Coast Guard announced that debris from the Titan submersible that went missing on Sunday was discovered on the sea bed, approximately 1,600 feet from the hull of the Titanic. The debris indicated that the Titan submersible imploded on its way down to the sea floor, killing all five passengers. James Cameron, the director of the Titanic movie, has compared the tragedy of the OceanGate submersible with the events that led to the sinking of the Titanic.

"I'm struck by the similarity of the Titanic disaster itself, where the captain was repeatedly warned about ice ahead of his ship, and yet he steamed at full speed into an ice field on a moonless night, and many people died as a result. For us, it's a very similar tragedy where warnings went unheeded," said Cameron to ABC. Cameron is referring to the many signs OceanGate's submersible wasn't at regulatory standard to be journeying at such depts of extreme pressure.

Officials have given an update on the missing OceanGate submersible that disappeared on Sunday, and according to the US Coast Guard, the Titan was destroyed.

The deep-sea submersible entered the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday carrying five passengers on a journey to the wreckage of the Titanic. One hour and forty-five minutes into its descent, communications were lost, and the search for the submersible called Titan began. Days of searching went by, with the only sign of Titan coming on Wednesday when Canadian aircraft reported hearing a "banging noise" coming from within the search area.

The story came to its grim end when a Canadian ship discovered debris from the submersible on the sea bed, approximately 1,600 feet from the Titanic wreckage. According to the US Coast Guard, major fragments of the submersible were located, including the tail cone and pressure hull. Officials said the debris indicated the Titan and its occupants experienced a "catastrophic implosion".

The future of restaurants with robot servers taking your order and bringing you food and drink is one step closer to becoming a reality, thanks to the LG CLOi ServeBot. LG describes it as a "restaurant-focused service robot" that has even been awarded some certification, deeming it safe for operation in consumer environments.

The LG CLOi ServeBot we see here is a new and improved model with more carrying capacity and shelf space and other improvements aimed to make the lives easier for the human employees at a restaurant.

It's not a full-fledged waiter or waitress, but it can be set up to automate looking at menus, letting customers drop off their finished plates and stuff on the LG CLOi ServeBot, and more. It can even handle soup!

Dutch archaeologists unveiled a 4,000 religious site that also included a burial mound that contained more than 60 individual human remains.

The site was unveiled on Wednesday and is being described as the "Stonehenge of the Netherlands". Reports indicate that the burial mound contained men, women, and children, while also serving as a solar calendrer with passages specifically designed to allow the sun to shine through during the longest/shortest days of the year.

"What a spectacular archaeological discovery! Archaeologists have found a 4,000-year-old religious sanctuary on an industrial site," the town of Tiel said on its Facebook page. "This is the first time a site like this has been discovered in the Netherlands," it added in a statement.

During a press conference, the US Coast Guard announced that a "banging noise" was heard by Canadian aircraft. The source of the banging sound is currently unknown.

Reports indicate that on Wednesday, authorities detected these banging noises, which were coming from underwater within the OceanGate submersible search area. According to the US Coast Guard, these banging sounds came in 30-minute intervals, and efforts to pinpoint exactly where they were coming from have so far been unsuccessful. The data was sent to the US Navy for analysis, and unfortunately, the US Navy said the data was "inconclusive".

Captain Jamie Frederick of the US Coast Guard said, "The important piece is we're searching in the area where the noises were detected." Adding, "We don't know what they are, to be frank with you. We have to remain optimistic and hopeful." It should be noted that the five passengers aboard the submersible had 70 to 90 hours of oxygen left, which means the total oxygen supply could be spent on Thursday morning.

The world is patiently awaiting news of the OceanGate submarine and its five passengers that lost communication with the outside world as it plummeted to 12,500 feet below the surface to observe the Titanic wreck.

Elon Musk's SpaceX has been caught up in the news surrounding the missing submarine, with reports stating that the submarine used SpaceX's Starlink service to provide an internet connection while it was out at sea. The reports cited a tweet from OceanGate Expeditions that announced it was using Starlink to acquire an internet connection necessary "to make our #Titanic dive operations a success."

Musk responded to a tweet by Snopes that brought Musk's name into the ongoing situation by pointing out that he is the CEO of SpaceX, the company behind Starlink. Musk said in response to the tweet, "You can't even run a good psy op". Notably, many people thought that an inefficient Starlink connection was the reason why communications dropped out between the submarine and the research vessel it launched from.

It was confirmed on Sunday that an OceanGate expedition to the wreck of the iconic Titanic went terribly wrong with the group of five individuals inside of a submarine lost communication with the main research ship.

The group of five have been missing ever since, with search parties underway in both the air and underwater. OceanGate Expeditions conduct purchasable trips down to the Titanic, which is 12,500 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. Each trip costs $250,000 and totals five people aboard the Titan submersible. Reports indicate that an hour and forty-five minutes into the submarine's descent, it lost communication with the main research ship called Polar Prince.

Following the shock announcement, details began to emerge about the submarine's unconventional design and the complete lack of regulation that took place throughout its construction. Notably, the submarine is controlled by a $30 Logitech F710 wireless PC game controller that was released in 2010. The controller is wireless, features a dual-thumbstick gamepad, 2.4 GHz communications to a USB receiver, and is typically used for PC gaming.

Authorities have launched a widespread search both above water and below for the submersible Titan that contains at least five individuals that were on a journey to see the Titanic in the Atlantic Ocean.

So, what happened? Tour firm OceanGate charges approximately $250,000 per guest it takes on an eight-day expedition to observe the famous Titanic wreck located 12,500 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. Participants are then crammed into a submersible vehicle called Titan, which is equipped with anywhere between 70 and 96 hours of emergency oxygen, and then dropped into the ocean to begin its dive to the bottom of the ocean.

According to reports, the Titan sub lost communication with the vessel Polar Prince an hour and 45 minutes into its dive. Who was on board? So far, we know the sub had five people on board, three of which have been confirmed to be Hamish Harding, a 58-year-old British businessman and explorer, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman Dawood. It's believed French explorer Paul-Henry Nargeolet and Stockton Rush, a chief executive at OceanGate, are also on Titan - however, this isn't confirmed.

A YouTuber has decided to take on the task of constructing a AT-AT walker from the original Star Wars movies, and the results are quite impressive.

James Bruton, a mechanical engineer that runs a YouTube channel that has amassed more than 1 million subscribers has taken on the challenge of building a custom AT-AT walker, or more specifically called, All Terrain Armored Transport (AT-AT). Bruton points out that the first toy version of the AT-AT walker were capable of walking but required a human to manually move the toys legs. Other toy versions of the AT-AT could walk, but struggled to do so given their limited design.

Bruton teaches his viewers how he went about building the AT-AT, mentioning that the design he implemented is statistically stable as the AT-AT is able to lift one leg off the ground and remain balanced. The custom AT-AT features a quadrupedal locomotion system, with each leg powered by three servo motors. Notably, the mechanical engineer published all of the resources used to constructed the AT-AT on GitHub for anyone that is looking to recreate the iconic Imperial armored transportation.