Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 90

NASA has created a new video showing 22 X-ray binary systems containing black holes.

An X-ray binary system hosts a normal star and a collapsed star, either a white dwarf, neutron star, or black hole. X-rays are produced from the system as the normal star has matter pulled off it by the gravity of the dense, collapsed star when they come close enough together.

NASA's new animation features 22 such systems throughout the Milky Way and its nearest neighboring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud. Each contains a normal star and a confirmed black hole. However, the size of the black holes is illustrated according to their mass, and so they appear much larger than they would otherwise relative to their companion stars and the accretion disk made from matter pulled off them.

A study on logic gates titled "Light-field control of real and virtual charge carriers" has been published in the journal Nature.

Researchers have developed a new kind of logic gate, the fundamental building block from which computers are made. Depending on the kind of logic gate and its rules, two inputs of any combination of 0 and 1 result in an output of either a 1 or 0. A single chip used in creating electronic components like processors and memory modules can contain billions of logic gates.

The newly developed logic gate, which demonstrates the viability of "lightwave electronics," works orders of magnitudes faster than traditional logic gates. Ordinary logic gates have an input processing delay on the order of nanoseconds, but the new logic gates process inputs in only femtoseconds, a million times shorter than nanoseconds.

NASA's Curiosity rover took the new image at the Greenheugh Pediment on Mars.

Curiosity captured the image with its Mast Camera (Mastcam) on Sol 3466 of its mission at 07:58:16 UTC on May 7th, 2022. The photo appears to feature a perfectly excavated doorway in the side of the Martian landscape. The above panorama image is a composite made from individual shots taken by Curiosity in the same area on the 3466th Martian day of its mission.

Reddit users have been quick to point out the spectacle is more likely a shear fracture, resulting when a strain in the rocks causes part of it to break off. Such a fracture may be due to temblors, or Marsquakes. Only days before the image was taken, on May 4th, 2022, NASA's Insight Mars Lander recorded a magnitude 5 Marsquake, the largest ever detected on the planet.

A study on the plants growing in lunar soil titled "Plants grown in Apollo lunar regolith present stress-associated transcriptomes that inform prospects for lunar exploration" has been published in the journal Communications Biology.

NASA astronauts collected the lunar soil from the moon during the Apollo 11 and 12 missions in 1969 and Apollo 17 in 1972. Only twelve grams of the soil was loaned to researchers from the University of Florida (UF) by NASA to experiment with after they applied multiple times to receive some. With such little material, their small-scale experiment involved growing seeds from the Arabidopsis plant in the lunar soil and Earthen soil for a control group.

Nearly all of the seeds planted in each sample of lunar soil grew, though with noticeable differences compared to the control group. The plants grown in the lunar soil group were more varied in size, with some growing smaller or more slowly than those in the control group, indicating that the plants were working to adapt to the different composition of the lunar soil.

The takers of the first-ever black hole photo have delivered on their promise of a massive announcement with the second-ever photo of a black hole.

The new photo is of the supermassive black hole at the center of our home galaxy, the Milky Way. The image "provides overwhelming evidence" that Sagittarius A*, the center of the Milky Way galaxy, is indeed a black hole. The image was taken by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration, who originally produced the first-ever photo of the M87* black hole at the center of the Messier 87 galaxy, taken in 2019.

Also known as Sgr A* for short, the center of the Milky Way was known to scientists as home to something very massive, compact, yet invisible. The black hole itself cannot be seen as it is completely dark. However, the glowing gas surrounding the dark shadow in the center of the image shows the bending of light by the strong gravitational forces of the black hole.

A study on the explosion titled "X-ray detection of a nova in the fireball phase" has been published in the journal Nature.

German astronomers have observed a white dwarf star explode with X-ray radiation for the first time. White dwarf stars arise when stars earlier in their life cycle, like our sun, use up all of their stellar fuel and shrink, becoming a dead stars. Such dead stars occasionally flare with explosions of radiation, but observing the first X-ray explosion from a white dwarf was "to some extent a fortunate coincidence."

The eROSITA X-ray telescope, which is currently 1.5 million kilometers (932,000 miles) from Earth, happened to be observing a portion of the sky on July 7th, 2020, that led to it detecting a strong burst of X-ray radiation. The area had been devoid of the radiation only four hours prior, and four hours later, the radiation was gone.

A study posing an answer titled "Asymptotic burnout and homeostatic awakening: a possible solution to the Fermi paradox?" has been published in the Journal of The Royal Society Interface.

Astrobiologists Michael Wong and Stuart Bartlett have proposed a new hypothesis to answer the Fermi Paradox, named after the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Enrico Fermi, who noted the apparent contradiction between the age and size of the universe, which would suggest that alien life should be readily visible, and the lack of any evidence for alien life.

The researchers hypothesize that any other-worldly civilizations would meet one of two fates, one being collapse as their energy demand outpaces their rate of technological innovation to harness more energy. The other scenario would allow them to stave off collapse by focusing on maintaining equilibrium at a certain point, sacrificing the ability to expand further throughout the universe. They based their conclusions on the typical growth seen in cities concerning population and energy consumption.

The Twitter user @StarshipGazer has snapped a photo of SpaceX's Starship with an odd-looking payload door.

The photo is of Ship 24, a prototype build of SpaceX's Starship rocket, which SpaceX hopes to send to Mars eventually. A hatch on the ship's side, possibly a payload door, potentially for deploying Starlink satellites, was spotted sitting ajar, perhaps simply in the process of opening or closing or potentially even broken.

Last month, a part of Booster 7 was shown to be damaged in a leaked photo, which was developed for use with Starship. If the hatch captured recently is also damaged, the timeline for Starship's upcoming orbital test flight may be delayed even further. The previous Starship prototype, Ship 23, has allegedly been scrapped, with parts going toward Ship 24's development, and Ship 25 and Ship 26 are also currently under construction.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has taken to its website to showcase new images of Mars and its network of long grooves in its surface.

Posted to the ESA website on April 28, 2022, the space agency explains that the features seen in the above image are involved in a large fault system that is called Tantalus Fossae. The Tantalus Fossae was formed when the nearby Alba Mons volcano rose out of the ground.

The indents on Mars' surface are called "grabens" and are also present on the other side of the volcano. These grabens stretch as far as 621 miles, and can be up to 6 miles wide and 1,100 feet deep. Below is a topographical view of the region, which displays a legend that indicates the depth of the terrain in meters. Red terrain is far lower than the terrain in the northern right-hand corner of the image.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has programs to create hypersonic missiles, and programs to destroy them.

DARPA has completed Phase 1 of its Glide Breaker program, which aims to develop an "interceptor for hypersonic threats." Phase 1 was dedicated to developing and demonstrating a divert and attitude control system (DACS) that would enable an intercepting kill vehicle to destroy a hypersonic weapon threat during its glide phase. Phase 1 saw the fabrication and demonstration of two DACS prototypes that could meet the desired performance objectives.

The agency is now seeking proposals for Phase 2 of the program with a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA). Phase 2 will involve "wind tunnel and flight testing of jet interaction effects." This testing will allow models to be validated and inform future designs. DARPA noted that Phase 1 participation is not a prerequisite for proposals submitted for Phase 2.

Europe's largest floating solar farm will be stationed in Portugal and will begin producing power in July of this year.

The array houses 12,000 solar panels and covers an area the size of four soccer pitches. It was built by Energias de Portugal (EDP) and towed by two tugboats to its mooring on Western Europe's largest artificial lake, the Alqueva reservoir in Portugal. The development is part of Portugal's plan to shift away from imported fossil fuels, particularly those from Russia, the price of which has surged since Russia invaded Ukraine.

According to Miguel Patena, the EDP group director in charge of the solar project, electricity from the panels will cost a third of that from gas-fired plants. The panels will be used to generate hydropower, producing 7.5 gigawatt/hours (GWh) of electricity a year, and will be accompanied by lithium batteries with the capacity to store 2 GWh.

A new image published by the European Space Agency (ESA) has showcased, once again, the capabilities of a famous NASA telescope.

The image published to the European Space Agency (ESA) website details spiral galaxy M99, which is located approximately 43 million light-years from Earth within the constellation Coma Berenices. The galaxy is described as a "grand design" spiral galaxy, which speaks to M99's "well-defined, prominent spiral arms". Notably, the above image was snapped by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 on two separate occasions.

Furthermore, only 10% of spiral galaxies are "grand design" spiral galaxies, and the first set of observations conducted by Hubble concentrated on stellar explosions called novas. The second set of observations focused on establishing a connection between young stars and clouds of cold gas where they form. Researchers aim to develop a deeper understanding of star formation through taking photographs of spiral galaxies such as M99.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has released a new climate update with a warning regarding the world's current trajectory.

Currently, the WMO says there is a 50:50 chance that the annual average global temperature will reach 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels for at least one year out of the next five. In 2015, the chance of temporarily exceeding a 1.5°C increase was near zero percent, rising to 10% between 2017 and 2021, and which now sits at almost 50% for the 2022 to 2026 period.

There is a 93% likelihood that one of the years from 2022 through 2026 will become the warmest on record, surpassing the current record holder, 2016. The five-year average temperatures for 2022-2026 is also projected to have a 93% chance of being higher than those from the previous five-year period of 2017-2021.

Ketamine has been the subject of research in recent years, highlighting its potential to treat and cure depression.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized Kernel, a neurotech company that makes brain-scanning helmets, to work with Cybin, a startup investigating psychedelic-based therapeutics, on a ketamine pilot study in October 2021. As part of the tests, Bryan Johnson, the founder of Kernel, wore one of its devices after being administered ketamine.

Johnson received 57.75 milligrams of ketamine via intramuscular injection and wore the helmet to collect brain scans during his "trip." He also wore the helmet during the days leading up to and following his trip for comparison.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is seeking proposals for nuclear thermal rocket (NTR) engines.

The proposals are for the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) program, covering the design, development, fabrication, and assembly of the engines. The program's goal is to execute a flight demonstration using nuclear thermal propulsion in space in the fiscal year 2026.

Phase 1 of the program focused on preliminary designs for the rocket engine reactor and a conceptual in-orbit demonstration system, and proposals are being sought for Phases 2 and 3. Phase 2 will see the completion of designs for a demonstration system and the validation of an NTR flight engine, while Phase 3 will see the demonstration system built to handle a full-power, on-orbit flight test and the execution of that test.

The European Southern Observatory has taken to its website and social channels to share a new image snapped by the Very Large Telescope.

The Very Large Telescope (VLT) located in Chile has pointed its very impressive instruments at the spiral galaxy called NGC 3627, which is also called Messier 66. The spiral galaxy is located approximately 31 million light years from Earth and resides within the constellation Leo. Notably, the above image was taken using the VLT's Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE), and is a result of multiple observations in different wavelengths of light.

Furthermore, the European Southern Observatory explains that instead of the typical stars that are seen in numerous spiral galaxy images, the above image of Messier 66 instead shows gas ionized by newly-born stars. Additionally, the ESO points out that hydrogen can be seen in red, oxygen in blue, and sulfur in orange. If you are interested in learning more about this image or more like it, check out the European Space Observatory website here.

The US House Intelligence Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation Subcommittee will be holding an open hearing on UFOs... or the politically correct term "unidentified aerial phenomena".

US House Intelligence Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation Subcommittee chairmen Congressman Andre Carson (D-Ind) will be an open hearing at first, before turning to a "closed, classified briefing". Chairman Carson explained: "The American people expect and deserve their leaders in government and intelligence to seriously evaluate and respond to any potential national security risks -- especially those we do not fully understand".

Chairman Carson continued: "Since coming to Congress, I've been focused on the issue of unidentified aerial phenomena as both a national security threat and an interest of great importance to the American people. And I'm pleased to chair the first open Intelligence Committee hearing on these events. It will give the American people an opportunity to learn what there is to know about these incidents. And I look forward to hearing from our witnesses on this critical matter".

A study on the magnetic reversal titled "A radio, optical, UV and X-ray view of the enigmatic changing look Active Galactic Nucleus 1ES~1927+654 from its pre- to post-flare states" has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal.

Researchers observed a rare, enigmatic outburst from the 1ES 1927+654 galaxy 236 million light-years away. The unusual characteristics of the eruption indicate that it may have been produced as a result of a magnetic reversal, where the magnetic field surrounding the central black hole of the galaxy spontaneously flips.

The eruption began near the end of 2017 and, by March 2018, had caused the galaxy's visible light to brighten by nearly 100 times. NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory noticed UV emissions were 12 times higher than normal in May 2018 and declining, indicating an earlier, unobserved peak. In June 2018, higher-energy X-ray emissions disappeared from the galaxy.

Rangers from the National Parks Service (NPS) have received reports of human remains found in Nevada's Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

An ongoing drought has resulted in all-time low water levels, resulting in human remains turning up on two separate occasions in the last two weeks. On May 1st, a body was found inside a barrel that appeared as the lake dried up. On May 7th, around 2 p.m. EST, a second body was found, potentially the victim of a Las Vegas mob murder.

Lake Mead is located in Nevada, which is experiencing the current driest year to date in the past 128 years. The entire state is experiencing at least a D2 - Severe Drought designation according to the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM), with 51.7% of the state classified as at least D3 - Extreme Drought, and 8.3% classified the highest level of drought at D4 - Exceptional Drought.

The now 17-year-old Benjamin Choi began working on the project in 2020 as a tenth-grader at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With lots of free time owing to the pandemic and inspiration from a 60 Minutes documentary on mind-controlled prostheses he watched in third grade, Choi set to work on a less-invasive version of a prosthetic arm than he had originally seen.

The first version of the prosthetic was made using his sister's $75 3D printer and some fishing line. Each piece printed was constrained to 4.7 inches (11.9 centimeters) long, so the entire arm was printed over 30 hours in small sections that were then bolted and rubber banded together.