Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 85

The navigation sensor for NASA's Ingenuity helicopter on Mars has recently stopped working.

In a blog post providing the latest update on Ingenuity by Havard Grip, the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Chief Pilot at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Grip revealed that Ingenuity's inclinometer navigation sensor is no longer functional. The fault while the Ingenuity team was recommissioning the helicopter over the last several days for more flights.

Ingenuity can keep track of its current position, velocity, and orientation, thanks to a suite of sensors that its onboard flight control system can monitor. These include an inertial measurement unit (IMU) for measuring acceleration, a laser rangefinder for determining altitude, and a navigation camera for photographing the ground below.

The U.S. Air Force recovered the hypersonic sled as part of its Hypersonic Sled Recovery (HSR) project.

The 846th Test Squadron conducted testing of the hypersonic sled at the Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico in late March 2022. The reusable sled was stopped after reaching speeds of 6,400 feet per second on a monorail, equivalent to about Mach 5.69, or almost 5.7 times the speed of sound. The test was performed on the Holloman High Speed Test Track (HHSTT) and was the fastest sled recovery in more than thirty years.

According to the Air Force, the HHSTT "is the only sled track capable of recovering sleds with test articles from velocities over Mach 5." The vehicle's high-performance braking systems allow it to be recovered for analysis and reuse, which is less often the case with hypersonic aircraft tests. The sled tests bridge the gap between full-scale flight tests and laboratory experiments.

A study on the cancer treatment titled "PD-1 Blockade in Mismatch Repair-Deficient, Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer" has been accepted from publication in The New England Journal of Medicine.

The Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) is conducting a new trial administering the immunotherapy drug dostarlimab, sold under the brand name Jemperli, to patients with rectal cancer tumors. Only twelve patients have seen positive results as the trial is currently ongoing. However, every patient so far has entered remission following the treatment, and no tumors returned by their six-month check-ups.

All of the patients had tumors with genetic mutations known as mismatch repair deficiency (MMRd), making them less responsive to chemotherapy or radiation treatments and increasing the need for surgical removals. However, it also makes cancer cells more vulnerable to the immune system, especially when supported by immunotherapy drugs.

A new video tweeted out by Elon Musk provides an update on some of the accomplishments of SpaceX up to this point and some plans for the future.

In the video, an animated segment shows off how Starship will deploy SpaceX's next generation of Starlink satellites, Starlink V2.0. A small slit is shown opening up near the top of Starship, allowing Starlink satellites to be deployed two at a time, with Starship's partially transparent body showing a stack of the satellites within and ejecting those at the bottom before the rest of the stack moves down.

The animation confirms what was spotted last month on Starship to be what was described as a "pez dispenser type door" for deploying Starlink satellites. With similar comments being made on the latest video, even Musk has acknowledged the similarity, suggesting that "maybe we should make an actual Starship model that dispenses pez for our merch store."

A study on Dyson spheres titled "Infrared and Optical Detectability of Dyson Spheres at White Dwarf Stars" has been accepted for publication in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Ben Zuckerman, an emeritus professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), suggests that aliens may be inhabiting Dyson spheres encircling white dwarf stars throughout the Milky Way galaxy. Therefore, such spheres and stars are where astronomers should focus their search for extraterrestrial life.

A Dyson sphere, named after physicist Freeman Dyson, allows a sufficiently advanced civilization to harness all of the energy output of its host star by building a megastructure around it to capture the solar energy. Zuckerman argues that of the stars an alien civilization could build a Dyson sphere around, white dwarf stars would be the most likely, which make up about 6% of all known stars in the Milky Way.

It was only a few days ago that Elon Musk postponed Tesla AI Day while also teasing the reveal of the coming Tesla bot named Optimus.

Musk announced that Tesla AI Day would be held on August 19, 2022, but recently took to his personal Twitter account on June 3 to announce that the event has been pushed back to September 30. The Tesla CEO also teased the reason for the delay, explaining the company "may have an Optimus prototype working by then", which will seemingly be revealed at the show.

Previously Musk has explained that the Tesla bot is designed to perform any task that humans don't want to do, or any job that is too monotonous for humans to enjoy doing. Furthermore, Musk has said that Optimus, when it is in working order, will "upend our idea of what the economy is" and "it may be hard to imagine it, but as you see Optimus develop, and we will make sure it's safe, no Terminator stuff, it will transform the world to a degree even greater than the car".

NASA has captured several astronauts enjoying a pizza party with some not-so-good-looking homemade pizzas 250 miles above Earth.

The space agency has posted the images to its International Space Station Laboratory Twitter account and wrote that astronauts aboard the space station recently enjoyed a pizza party in space. The ISS National Lab Twitter account explained that the astronauts cooked their own pizzas with a selection of very few ingredients that can be seen in one of the images.

As pointed out by Futurism, the pizzas seen in the images certainly don't look very appetizing, but considering the ISS's location 250 miles above Earth and the fact that astronauts aboard the station aren't privy to luxurious foods, it seems, at least from the images, that the pizzas were thoroughly enjoyed despite their appearance. For those wondering if these are the first pizza's ever eaten in space, they aren't, as Pizza Hut delivered a six-inch pizza to Russian cosmonaut Yuri Usachov in 2001.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has published a new report that concentrates on consumer losses throughout 2021.

The FTC took to its official Twitter account to write that it found that more than $1 billion was lost to cryptocurrency scams throughout 2021 and that cryptocurrency is fast becoming the go-to place for scammers. The commission's analysis found that one out of every four dollars reported lost via fraud was paid in cryptocurrency, with the FTC's latest Consumer Protection Data Spot indicating that majority of losses were in "cryptocurrency investment opportunities".

The commission explained that after cryptocurrency investment schemes, the second highest reported loss was "romance scams" that involved a love interest and then impersonations of a business or government official. The FTC found that nearly half of all consumers that reported a cryptocurrency-related scam said that the scam began on social media, and that individuals aged between 20 and 49 were "more than three times as likely as older age groups to have reported losing money to a cryptocurrency scam."

Many engineers around the world are developing clean energy solutions in an attempt to curb the ever-growing problem of fossil fuel use contributing to global warming.

Now, Bloomberg reports that engineers in Japan have successfully tested a turbine that is capable of generating electricity using ocean currents. Reports indicate that the heavy machinery company IHI Corp has tested a prototype called Kairyu, which weighs approximately 330-tons and consists of two counter-rotating turbine fans that are connected to a large fuselage that allows it to remain floating.

Furthermore, the large prototype is also anchored to the seafloor, preventing it from moving out of its designated location. IHI Corp tested the prototype earlier this year and was able to generate 100 kilowatts of electricity, and if the company's ambitions line up with reality, IHI Corp believes it can achieve two megawatts with future testing. Notably, IHI Corp has stated that commercial operations will begin sometime in 2030/s.

Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin has successfully transported six more space-fairing individuals 60 miles above Earth's surface.

The launch took place over the weekend, and Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket, which has been reported as somewhat phallic-shaped, carried a crew of six 60 miles above the surface of the Earth, passing the Karman line and giving the passengers an unparalleled view of the Earth. Notably, the entire launch only lasts 11 minutes, counting from the moment of liftoff until the capsule containing the passengers touches back down to Earth.

Blue Origin took to its social media accounts to share the news of its now fifth crewed mission and 21st overall launch. The company touted that its engine inside the New Shepard rocket is powered by "clean-burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen," which produces water vapor as a bi-product. Blue Origin makes a point of its engine producing water vapor, as typical rocket fuels produce large amounts of CO2, which environmentalists say contributes to the ever-growing problem of global warming.

Some years ago, Elon Musk laid out his ambitious plan to get humans on Mars and eventually colonize the Red Planet.

To achieve this monumental task, Musk has poured millions of dollars into research and development of Starship, a rocket that is made up of two parts - the Super Heavy booster and the Starship spacecraft. The lower stage, or the booster, measures in at an astonishing height of 230 feet, and when paired with the Starship spacecraft, which is 164 feet tall, it creates the world's largest rocket at a ridiculous 394 feet.

The sheer size of Starship is hard to grasp, but Musk is determined to reach the goal SpaceX has set out to achieve. In response to a question asking Musk how he plans on getting large quantities of humans to the Red Planet, Musk said that he would construct 1,000+ Starships and essentially create a "very modern Noah's Ark/s". So, where are we currently in Musk's plan?

NASA recently selected the two companies it would be sourcing new spacesuits from for its upcoming missions.

The two companies selected by NASA are Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace, which when announced was not accompanied by any design reveals. However, Jeff Foust from SpaceNews has since shared a render and real-life image of Collins Aerospace's upcoming suit being worn and tested.

The suits are expected to be finalized by 2025 in preparation for NASA's Artemis III mission, which will see astronauts return to the moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in December 1972. NASA astronauts currently use spacesuits that were designed about 45 years ago for use in the Space Shuttle program.

A study on the diseases risks titled "A multi-population phenome-wide association study of genetically-predicted height in the Million Veteran Program" has been published in the journal PLOS Genetics.

International researchers have determined that being taller is associated with a higher risk of irregular heartbeats, varicose veins, skin and bone infections, and nerve damage in one's extremities (peripheral neuropathy). They also found that the higher your predicted height as determined by your genetics, the lower your risk of coronary heart disease, but the higher your blood pressure and cholesterol are.

The data used by the research team comes from the VA Million Veteran Program, which includes health and genetic information from over 200,000 white adults and over 50,000 black adults. This allowed them to remove confounding factors and look directly at the connections between over 1,000 conditions and traits to conclude that height is a "previously unrecognized risk factor for several common conditions in adults."

The Juno spacecraft orbiting Jupiter completed its 41st close flyby of Jupiter on April 9th, 2022.

Citizen scientist Andrea Luck used raw image data from the JunoCam instrument aboard the spacecraft to create a new animated sequence, showing the perspective one would experience flying around the gas giant. Jupiter is about 87,000 miles (140,000 kilometers) in diameter, making it the solar system's largest planet, and the closest Juno came to it on April 9th was 2,050 miles (3,300 kilometers) above its clouds.

At that point, Juno was traveling approximately 131,000 miles (210,000 kilometers) per hour, about five times faster than the Apollo missions when they left Earth, bound for the Moon. Juno also came ten times closer to Jupiter than any of the satellites in geosynchronous orbit around Earth are found.

A study on the potential origin of life titled "Catalytic Synthesis of Polyribonucleic Acid on Prebiotic Rock Glasses" has been published in the journal PLOS Genetics.

Researchers from the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution have announced a new finding, showing that ribonucleic acid (RNA) can spontaneously form on basalt lava glass. RNA is a molecule, similar to DNA, that constitutes a large amount of the genetic material on Earth, and basaltic glass was abundant on Earth 4.35 billion years ago.

The study found that RNA molecules between 100 and 200 nucleotides (the building blocks of RNA and DNA) long could form when nucleoside triphosphates (precursors to the nucleotides found in RNA and DNA) were left to percolate through basaltic glass. Basaltic glass can also be found on Mars today, indicating that genetic material like RNA could form on the planet.

HBO has released a new trailer revealing an upcoming documentary titled "Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes."

The Chernobyl nuclear disaster occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine on April 26th, 1986, about 81 miles (130 kilometers) north of Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine. It was the worst nuclear accident in history, and a massive amount of time and work was required to clean up the aftermath, as shown in HBO's previous work involving the disaster, the 2019 Chernobyl miniseries.

The documentary will include "never before seen" footage following workers involved in the clean-up effort and more. The trailer shows footage from atop the buildings at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and from inside medical facilities at the time, showing the health effects people were suffering from due to radiation. Footage from courtrooms containing officials involved in the disaster is also shown, and civil unrest in the streets of the Soviet Union, which Ukraine was a part of at the time.

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover spotted a dust devil swirling across the surface of the Jezero Crater on July 20th, 2021.

On this date, the rover was on the 148th Martian day, or sol, of its mission. It took photos of the dust devil using its Navigation Camera, about 15 seconds apart, to produce this animation. According to NASA, the GIF has been enhanced to "show maximal detail," at the expense of some of the colors being distorted.

The Navigation Cameras, or Navcams, are the eyes of the rover, and primarily aid in autonomous navigation. They are mounted on the rover's mast, separated by about 16.5 inches (42 centimeters). They comprise two of nine engineering cameras, which along with seven science cameras, and seven entry, descent and landing cameras, make up the 23 total cameras onboard the Perseverance rover.

Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn will all be visible in the sky to the naked eye throughout June.

Two or three planets often appear close together in the sky in what's known as a conjunction. However, four is less common, and even less so is the appearance of five simultaneously. Notably, the five planets will also be arranged in the sky in order of their distance from the Sun. All five planets were last visible together in sequence in December 2004.

Binoculars are recommended to see Mercury at the beginning of the month as it will be hard to spot. However, as the month goes on, Mercury will climb higher in the sky and appear brighter. Sky & Telescope magazine says to take particular note of the mornings of June 3rd and 4th, where the planets will span only 91° of separation, and June 24th, when the Moon will be positioned neatly between Venus and Mars, and the planets will span 107° of separation.

3DBio Therapeutics has created a first-of-its-kind 3D-bioprinted ear using a patient's cells.

Surgery was performed to transplant the 3D bioimplant as part of an early-stage clinical trial to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the procedure. The treatment has the potential to help patients with microtia, a congenital ear deformity where the external ear doesn't properly develop. It is hoped that this technology may one day replace the current treatment, which grafts cartilage from a patient's ribs or uses synthetic material to reconstruct the outer ear.

The implant is known as AuriNovo, and is created after taking 3D scans of a patient's opposite ear to use as a blueprint, then sampling their ear cartilage cells for proliferation. The cells are mixed with a collagen-based bio-ink, called ColVivo, which is then shaped by a 3D bioprinter into a living ear implant and transplanted alongside a biodegradable shell. The body then absorbs the shell over time as the implanted ear matures.

Tesla had a huge AI Day last year, unveiling a human being dressed in a robot costume -- but then said the company is working on a prototype Tesla Bot -- a humanoid robot for the future.

The last Tesla AI Day was on August 19, 2021 but now SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has tweeted that the upcoming AI Day has been delayed, and will take place on September 30 instead. But in bigger news, Musk continue the tweet teasing that "we may have an Optimus prototype working by then". He replied to another tweet, saying that Tesla AI Day #2 will be "epic".

Elon has been hyping up the Optimus humanoid robot, saying that the Tesla Bot would debut in 2023 and would eventually be "worth more than the car business"... you know, that little car company Elon runs on the side: Tesla Motors.