Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 64

The famous passenger liner that tragically sunk in 1912 has been captured in stunning 8K video, showing the shipwreck in amazing detail.

The expedition was conducted by OceanGate Expeditions, and according to the press release found on the organization's website, the new footage will help scientists and marine archaeologists learn more about the decay of the Titanic and other features that were otherwise missed. According to Rory Golden, OceanGate Expeditions Titanic expert and veteran Titanic diver, the 8K footage has revealed new details, such as the name of the anchor manufacturer for the Titanic's portside anchor.

Other details in the video are a crane that is used to deploy the 15-ton anchor, and how that crane has collapsed due to the main mask of the ship being destroyed. PH Nargeolet, Veteran Nautile submersible pilot and Titanic diver, said that the two green dots seen in the video aren't a video artifact or error, but are produced by the laser scaling system, which allows the researchers to accurately determine the size of objects that the camera is looking at.

Elon Musk's SpaceX has another successful launch under its belt as it recently deployed fifty-one new Starlink satellites and a space tug into orbit.

SpaceX has taken to its social channels and confirmed via its livestream that it's Falcon 9 rocket has completed its mission of deploying Starlink Group 4-20 and Sherpa-LTC2. The rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Sunday night, and about 49 minutes after liftoff, it deployed the Sherpa-LTC2, followed by the deployment of the Starlink satellites 23 minutes later.

The space tug, Sherpa-LTC2, was provided by Spaceflight Industries and developed by its subsidiary Andrews Space. The space tug is carrying a payload for Boeing's Varuna Technology Demonstration Mission (Varuna-TDM), which aims to test the V-band communications for a proposed constellation of 147 non-geostationary broadband satellites. SpaceX took to its Twitter account to share updates on the launch, with it tweeting in real-time that it had completed its 40th mission of the year so far.

Over the weekend, NASA scrubbed its second launch attempt for the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that was slated to liftoff from the surface of Earth on September 3.

NASA took to its blog and social channels to give a detailed update on the condition of the rocket and the reason why the launch was unfortunately scrubbed. Writing on NASA's blog, the space agency explained that officials detected a liquid hydrogen leak that was traced back to a fuel feed line between the SLS rocket and the stored liquid hydrogen. Engineers tried three separate times to reseal the fuel feed line, but all attempts were unsuccessful.

The space agency explains that since the second launch attempt was scrubbed, it will need to roll the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft back to the VAB before another launch attempt as the system's batteries require a reset. NASA's Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems Development, Jim Free, explained via a teleconference that the space agency doesn't go into launches such as the Artemis 1 "lightly" and that a launch doesn't happen if the agency isn't sure it's going to work.

The launch of NASA's most powerful rocket was recently postponed after a malfunction occurred that was unable to be remedied in time.

NASA has taken to its social channels and blog to provide an update on the condition of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the target date for the second launch attempt. Writing on the NASA Artemis Twitter account, the space agency explains that a team has reviewed the data from the first launch attempt and decided to lock in the second attempt for September 3. The launch window is set for two hours and will begin at 2:17 pm EDT (18:17 UTC).

In a blog update, NASA explains that teams fixed a leak on the tail service mast umbilical. Engineers replaced a flex-hose, and a loose pressure sensor line, which they concluded was the most likely source of the leak. Additionally, NASA states that after reviewing the first launch, teams have decided they will alter their scheduling to allow for the engines to cool down to appropriate temperatures for launch, which was part of the reason why the first launch had to be postponed.

A $16 million attack helicopter has reportedly been shot down, according to the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Taking to Facebook on Thursday in a new Russian military losses report by Ukrainian officials, the Ukrainian Air Force Command wrote that on August 31 that Air Force anti-aircraft missile units destroyed a Russian helicopter, "probably Ka-52," along with an unknown number of occupants that were operating the flying vehicle. This isn't the first Russian Ka-52 Alligator helicopter that has been shot down, as Newsweek reports that over the past month, "numerous" have been destroyed, with one being near the Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions.

The Ukrainian defense Twitter issued a new report on Twitter on Thursday, writing that at the time of posting, there had been a total of 23 armed Russian tanks destroyed, 33 armored combat vehicles, 24 artillery systems, and about 48,350 Russian personnel killed. Ukraine also announced via Facebook that it had conducted bomb strikes on ground targets linked to Russian military forces. These targets were ammunition warehouses, base posts, combat armored equipment, and positions of anti-aircraft equipment.

A study on the Mars aurorae titled "Patchy Proton Aurora at Mars: A Global View of Solar Wind Precipitation Across the Martian Dayside From EMM/EMUS" has been published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

New data released by a collaboration between NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission and the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) has revealed observations of multiple proton aurorae on Mars. MAVEN first discovered proton aurorae on Mars in 2018, a type of Martian aurora that occurs when the solar wind from the Sun interacts with Mars' upper atmosphere and which at the time appeared smooth and evenly distributed across the hemisphere.

Charged particles in the solar wind cause the aurorae, and sometimes turbulent conditions on Mars generate "patchy proton aurora," which EMM was able to observe. Solar wind generally struggles to reach the upper atmosphere of Mars due in part to its magnetic field, but turbulence allows charged particles to enter the atmosphere and glow while they slow down.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has only been operating for a few months now, and it has already captured its first direct image of an exoplanet.

Using Webb's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), the high-tech space telescope was able to capture a gas giant planet orbiting the star called HIP 65426, which was first discovered in 2017 with the Very Large Telescope located in Chile. Webb followed up on previous observations of the star, and using its infrared instruments, the space telescope focused on the exoplanet HIP 65426 b.

Notably, exoplanets aren't particularly easy to spot as they are much fainter than the stars they're orbiting. As for HIP 65426 b, this exoplanet is about 10,000 times fainter than its local star in the near-infrared and a couple thousand times fainter in mid-infrared light. Another factor for HIP 65426 b's dimness is how far away it is from its parent star, with estimations putting its orbit around HIP 65426 at 100 times the distance between the Sun and Earth.

A new survey of planetary defense experts by the Apollo Academic Surveys and Carrie Nugent of the Olin College of Engineering in Massachusetts has sought to gauge how much of an issue satellite overcrowding could become.

The survey covered topics relating to near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) and their detection. All 34 experts rated themselves as at least slightly concerned about the potential for satellite overcrowding to impact astronomers' ability to detect asteroids. Twenty-four percent of respondents reported being extremely concerned. One respondent cited an early-2022 study, which found that "LEO [Low Earth Orbit] satellites can severely affect observations taken during twilight, and that is an important parameter space for NEO [Near-Earth Object] search."

A significant culprit in the growing issue of satellite overcrowding is SpaceX, which since launching its Starlink satellite constellation, has added over 3,200 satellites into orbit around Earth, contributing the most individual satellites to orbit of any corporation or country. However, a few hundred of this number are now inactive. Still, like many inactive satellites produced by other manufacturers, they often continue to orbit Earth long after they become defunct, with a handful falling back to Earth or burning up in the atmosphere.

Justin Maki, an Imaging Scientist and the Mastcam-Z Deputy Principal Investigator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), has collated the various bits of human-made debris the space agency's rovers have found on Mars.

Much of the recently found debris has been from the entry, descent, and landing (EDL) hardware that NASA used to carry its Perseverance rover to Mars' surface. The rover landed on the planet on February 18th, 2021, and the EDL hardware was jettisoned a safe distance away during the rover's descent. Since then, Perseverance and the accompanying Ingenuity helicopter have imaged EDL debris.

On Sol 414 (April 19th, 2022), or the 414th Martian day, of Perseverance's mission, the Ingenuity helicopter spotted the discarded parachute and rover's backshell one kilometer (0.62 miles) from the mission's landing site. As of Sol 508 (July 24th, 2022), the Perseverance rover has found about six suspected pieces of EDL debris in the Hogwallow Flats region, located about 2 kilometers (1.24 miles) northwest of where the EDL initially crashed.

A Chinese nuclear reactor under ongoing development and intended for use in space applications has passed a comprehensive performance evaluation by China's Ministry of Science and Technology on August 25th, 2022.

Multiple state media outlets reported on the reactor passing its evaluation, but they have since been deleted, despite not containing any technical details regarding the reactor. The Chinese Academy of Sciences designed the reactor, with the project beginning in 2019. It can produce one megawatt (MW) of electricity, though specific applications for the technology have yet to be revealed. This number dwarfs the energy required to run the International Space Station (ISS), which requires between 84 and 120 kilowatts.

Wu Weiren, the director of China's recently-established Tiandu deep space exploration laboratory, called for space-based nuclear power innovations to support future missions. The nation could use the new technology to support China's currently-in-development space station, Tiangong. The space station has an expected lifetime of at least ten years, but this could be extended with a nuclear power upgrade, or additional future space stations may benefit from the technology.

Neil deGrasse Tyson has explained on his radio show StarTalk just how big numbers can get, including a physical representation of $100 billion.

Posted to deGrasse Tyson's personal TikTok account, the famed astrophysicist began with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' net worth, which is currently about $130 billion. deGrasse Tyson rounded down to $100 billion and explained that if each of the bills in the $100 billion was placed end-to-end, it would wrap around the Earth two hundred times. Additionally, with the leftover money, deGrasse Tyson explained that if the notes were placed vertically, the stack would reach the moon and back ten times over.

Using the same framework outlined by deGrasse Tyson, SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has an estimated net worth of $230 billion (rounded down to $200 billion), would be able to achieve all of the aforementioned feats twice over. The astrophysicist continued to higher numbers and said that humans experience 1 billion in seconds, with most occurring during their 31 years alive as it takes 31 years to count to 1 billion. To illustrate 1 trillion, deGrasse Tyson, it would mean it would take 31 years times 1,000 - equaling 1 trillion.

NASA is working on a viable way to create oxygen on Mars, and it's Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) is showing its worth by successfully converting Mars' toxic atmosphere into breathable oxygen.

MOXIE is a relatively small instrument attached to NASA's Perseverance rover that is currently exploring the Jezero Crater in search of signs of ancient life. Perseverance landed in the Jezero Crater in February 2021, and since then, the MOXIE instrument has been converting Mars' carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere into breathable oxygen, with the small instrument creating as much as 0.2 ounces of oxygen per hour, which is about the same as a small tree.

The MOXIE instrument is run by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and according to members of the MOXIE team, they have already learned a large amount from the small amount of oxygen that the instrument has produced and that this new information will inform engineering in creating large-scale MOXIE's. Since Mars' atmosphere is about 96% carbon dioxide, MOXIE's will be essential to providing oxygen to colonists living on Mars' surface.

There is growing concern within the US government about space-based weapons development by Russia and China.

Pentagon officials have scheduled a meeting for September 6 and September 7 to discuss how China and Russia's potential development of space-to-ground and fractional orbital bombardment systems could influence the United States. According to the meeting agenda per DefenseNews, the meeting will also be used to conduct US response options to these newly developed weapons systems.

The meeting will feature many top US officials, such as the Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, along with the Defense Policy Board and national security members. The US has reason to be concerned with other nations' space-based weapons development as China and Russia have both demonstrated new space-based weaponry and anti-satellite systems. It was only in October of last year that China demonstrated it was capable of creating a spacecraft that can grapple to satellites, as well as ground-to-space weapons systems that deployed missiles and laser weapons.

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has recently been very vocal about his position on the biggest risks to civilization, which has now caused experts in fields that Musk has mentioned to fire back at the CEO.

It was only a few days ago that Musk took to his personal Twitter account to inform his 100+ million followers that population collapse due to low birthrates was a much larger risk to civilization than global warming. This isn't the first time Musk has rung the bell on population collapse, as the billionaire has previously stated in multiple interviews that he is gravely concerned with declining birth rates.

According to the United Nations projections, Earth is expected to reach 8 billion people by the end of November this year, with further projections estimating an additional 500 million people in the following 8 years. Even further projections estimate that in 2080 the world's population will peak at approximately 10.4 billion, with a 50% that population growth will half and essentially plateau by 2100.

Officials have watched the Sun's growing activity for quite some time now, but recently our star released a series of powerful solar flares.

Space.com has reported that the Sun released a trio of solar flares between August 27 and August 29. The strongest of the flares was an M8-class flare that was reported to have happened on Monday, August 29. NASA ranks solar flares on a similar scale to the Richter scale used for earthquakes, but instead, it includes letters. Solar flares range in severity from A-class level being the smallest to B-class, C-class, M, and finally, X-class being the most powerful.

As outlined by NASA, each of the letters represents an increase of 10-fold the energy output from the flare, which means that an X-class solar flare is 10 times more powerful than an M-class, and an M-class is 100 times more powerful than a C-class. Notably, the scale also features a finer scale of numbers ranging from 1-9. Furthermore, the space agency notes that solar flares C-class and below are too weak to noticeably affect Earth, but M-class and above can cause radio blackouts and radiation storms that can endanger astronauts.

Elon Musk recently sat down for an interview at the ONS Foundation Conference in Norway where he answered multiple questions regarding the future of sustainable energy.

During Musk's interview the Tesla and SpaceX CEO touched on fossil fuels and the progression of a sustainable economy. Musk said that Earth needs to have more oil and gas, but at the same time should be putting effort into developing more sustainable energy. Following this statement Musk said that he predicts by 2030 that almost half of all manufactured cars will be electric.

Stemming off of electric cars Musk also said that he hopes he can announce the location of a new Tesla factory close to the end of this year, while saying there is "no shortage" of raw materials on Earth for batteries to be built. On a more personal note, Musk was asked "what keeps you up at night", and Musk's answer was simple - an orbital Starship and self-driving Tesla cars. Musk has answered this question in previous interviews and has even set public goals for himself, writing on Twitter - 2 main goals this year, Starship to orbit and Full Self Driving wide release.

A trail of Starlink satellites from Elon Musk's SpaceX has been spotted flying overhead in the night sky of Johannesburg, South Africa, on August 30th, 2022.

Over 3,000 Starlink satellites are now in orbit since SpaceX began forming the satellite constellation in low Earth orbit (LEO) in 2019. SpaceX hopes to achieve global coverage by 2023, providing accessible Internet services to the entire planet. Currently, Starlink services 500,000 subscribers in 39 countries, with SpaceX focusing on bolstering coverage in remote and low-coverage areas first.

Reportedly, SpaceX plans to bring the Starlink service to Mozambique and Nigeria by September 2022, marking its first availability in African countries. The recent sighting of Starlink satellites over Gauteng, a small province in South Africa, sparked reports of potential meteors and shooting stars. However, weather forecaster Gauteng Weather noted on Twitter, "so-called 'meteor' spotted over Gauteng on the evening of Monday August 29th is most likely to just be the Starlink Satellite Train."

Norwegian startup company World Wide Wind (WWW) has unveiled designs for floating vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) for offshore wind farms to generate renewable energy.

The turbines feature two sets of blades, one stacked on top of the other, that are set to contra-rotate, meaning one will rotate clockwise while the other rotates counterclockwise. VAWTs offer numerous benefits over conventional horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs), which contain more heavy components concentrated at the end of a long pole, including cooling systems, drivetrains, gearboxes, generators, and the turbine's blades.

In contrast, VAWTs concentrate most of their heavy machinery at their base, so they tend to orient themselves much more vertically, posing less of a challenge to keep upright in an offshore setting. VAWTs can also accept wind blowing from any direction, while HAWTs have to turn to face the wind. Though VAWTs are generally less efficient than a typical HAWT, their design enables them to be grouped more closely together, potentially allowing higher energy production per unit area for a wind farm utilizing VAWTs instead of HAWTs.

A study on the building of the pyramids titled "Nile waterscapes facilitated the construction of the Giza pyramids during the 3rd millennium BCE" has been published in the journal PNAS.

A French research team has discovered evidence of how the ancient Egyptian civilization took advantage of the Nile River to transport giant stone blocks into position when assembling the pyramids in Giza. The researchers hypothesized that the ancient Egyptians developed a port complex that would enable them to utilize annual flooding from the Nile River to move building materials to the base of the pyramids, and created waterways to connect the area to the river.

The Nile River, as it exists in the present day, exists over 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) east of the hypothesized port complex that would have been a hub for the Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure pyramids. Core samples from present-day Giza sourced from modern engineering works in the area reveal rock layers consistent with a Nile River branch reaching toward the base of the pyramids.

A study on the wireless power transmission technology titled "Long-range wireless optical power transfer system using an EDFA" has been published in the journal Optics Express.

Researchers from Sejong University in South Korea have created a new laser charging system that can transmit power using infrared light over up to 30 meters (98.4 feet), offering a safe alternative to corded charging for mobile devices and powering the Internet of Things (IoT) devices spread throughout an area. The system could deliver 400 milliwatts (mW) of power across this distance, enough to charge sensors but not quite enough to charge mobile devices yet.

Wireless power transmission has been achieved over greater distances, but transmitting power safely across meter-scale distances has posed challenges. The researchers overcame this with a technique known as distributed laser charging, separating the laser's transmitter and receiver, creating a laser cavity between them through which light-based power can be transmitted. When a device interrupts the line of sight, the system automatically changes to a power-safe mode that allows it to deliver power wirelessly and safely.