Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 93

On the morning of April 27, a small flaming meteor dashed across the sky with about thirty eyewitnesses, but many felt its boom.

NASA has taken to its blog to detail the event, and the space agency explains that the fireball was a meteor estimated to be about a foot in diameter entering Earth's atmosphere over southern Mississippi. The meteor was first spotted about 54 miles above the Mississippi River near the town of Alcorn, and according to NASA, the 90-pound space rock was traveling 55,000 miles per hour throughout the atmosphere, disintegrating and fragmenting as it pushed deeper.

As the meteor heated up from friction and fragmented, NASA estimates it generated the same amount of energy as 3 tons of TNT (trinitrotoluene), "which created shock waves that propagated to the ground, producing the booms and vibrations felt by people in the area," writes NASA. Notably, as the fireball heated up, it shone bright, and at its peak, it was ten times brighter than the full moon. Eventually, the fireball fully disintegrated about 34 miles above a swampy area close to Minorca in Louisiana.

In the first few days of this month, NASA outlines what skywatchers can expect out of the month of April, and to close out the last few days of April, skywatchers can expect a planetary conjunction.

As explained in NASA's blog post from April 1, Jupiter and Venus will be meeting in a planetary conjunction on the morning of April 30. Skywatchers will see what appears to be the two planets colliding into each other due to the glare. As the conjunction reaches its pinnacle, both the planets will merge into one blur of light that will produce a "spectacular glow", according to NASA.

Notably, the space agency explains that the "merger" is actually an illusion as Venus and Jupiter are many millions of miles apart. This illusion is caused by an alignment of Jupiter, Venus, and Earth and only happens when the alignment is absolute. NASA also states that this magnificent celestial event will continue into the morning of May 1, but the positions of Jupiter and Venus will be reversed.

Next month there is an upcoming astronomical event where the moon will appear completely full in the night sky.

According to reports from space.com, the next full moon is scheduled to happen on Monday, May 16 at 12:14 am and will also feature the first total lunar eclipse of 2022. As the next full moon will occur in May, it's also called the Flower Moon, with April's full moon being called the Pink Moon and June's the Strawberry Moon. Notably, the May full moon will feature a total lunar eclipse that occurs when the shadow of Earth is cast directly onto the surface of the moon.

A lunar eclipse only occurs when the Sun, Earth, and the moon are exactly or very closely aligned with Earth's position in-between the Sun and the moon. Furthermore, a lunar eclipse only occurs on the night of a full moon; hence it's featuring with May's upcoming Flower Moon. So, why does the moon go blood red during a lunar eclipse? The moon turns a red hue due to Earth blocking all of the sunlight.

A new study has linked overexposure to Wi-Fi radiation and cell phone use to the development of Alzheimer's disease.

The new study has been published in the journal Current Alzheimer Research, and according to a recently released press release, its generally agreed that Alzheimer's is caused by a large buildup of calcium in the brain. The study states that electronically generated electromagnetic fields (EMFs) may be contributing to the buildup of that calcium. These EMFs are emitted from devices such as mobile phones.

"EMFs act via peak electric and time varying magnetic forces at a nanosecond time scale. Any of these may produce the ultimate nightmare - extremely early onset Alzheimer's Disease," said Martin Pall of Washington State University, who authored the study. Furthermore, the study states that young individuals that are exposed to "cell phone or Wi-Fi radiation" for many hours per day are at risk of developing "digital dementia".

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has launched on April 27 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, taking four astronauts and new cargo to the International Space Station (ISS).

The Falcon 9 recently lifted off, transporting NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Robert Hines, Jessica Watkins, and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. The astronauts will remain aboard the floating laboratory for six months, where they will conduct experiments and progress through their science mission. Along with the astronauts was cargo that included a biobank that contained DNA samples from 500 different species and 2,000 different humans.

The collection of DNA samples comes from space and genomics company LifeShip, which also plans on eventually sending DNA to the surface of the moon. The capsule that contains the samples is designed to shield the DNA from radiation to avoid any degradation. In an email statement, LifeShip wrote, "It's humanity's first off-world genetic seed bank!", and described the DNA container as a "genetic time capsule". Below is why LifeShip believes its necessary to send DNA off-planet.

NASA's database that logs near-Earth objects has listed an asteroid that could be up to 2,560 feet in diameter.

The asteroid is dubbed 2008 AG33 and is estimated to be anywhere between 1,150 and 2,560 feet in diameter. NASA's database indicates that the large asteroid that may be twice the size of the Empire State Building will safely pass Earth at a distance of about 2 million miles on April 28. Furthermore, the space rock will zoom past our planet at a ridiculous speed of 23,264 miles per hour.

Notably, the moon is approximately 240,000 miles away from Earth, which really puts into perspective how far away 2008 AG33's close approach is from Earth. However, two million miles is a very short distance when discussing celestial objects, as some stars and planets are located millions of light-years away. 2008 AG33 will pass Earth every seven years as it proceeds through its orbit around the sun.

China's National Health Commission (NHC) confirmed the first known instance of the H3N8 strain of avian flu in a human patient.

A four-year-old boy from the Henan province was hospitalized earlier in April with a fever and other symptoms and has since tested positive for the H3N8 strain. H3N8 first emerged in the North American waterfowl in 2002 and has been known to infect horses, dogs, and seals.

According to the NHC, the case is a "one-off cross-species transmission, and the risk of large-scale transmission is low." However, it has issued warnings to the public to stay away from sick or dead birds and seek immediate treatment for fevers or respiratory symptoms.

Private space company Launcher demonstrated its E-2 rocket engine's capabilities on April 21st, 2022.

The E-2 is a "closed cycle 3D-printed, high-performance liquid rocket engine" that Launcher has developed for its Launcher Light launch vehicle, which has its inaugural launch scheduled for 2024. The Launcher Light will reach low-Earth orbit using only one E-2 engine while carrying a payload of 150 kilograms (330 pounds).

The successful test-fire of the engine was conducted at the NASA Stennis Space Center, producing ten metric tons of thrust (22,046 lbf, or pounds of force) and 100 bar (1,450 psi) of combustion pressure. The engine uses liquid oxygen (LOX) and kerosene fuel in a 2.62:1 ratio.

Four planets aligned with the moon in the night sky on April 23rd, and now two space stations have joined the club.

Both the International Space Station and China's Tianhe-1 station joined Jupiter, Venus, Mars, and Saturn, in the night sky only four days later, on April 27th in a photograph taken by Italian astrophysicist Gianluca Masi. Masi left his home in Rome at 4 a.m. to capture images of the aligned planets, with the moon visible and each of the space stations, which he knew would cross the same region of the sky within about fifteen minutes of each other.

NASA's Ingenuity helicopter on Mars has returned to the scene of Perseverance's landing on the Red Planet just over a year ago.

The panoramic view shows the backshell of NASA's Perseverance rover to the left of the image center. The supersonic parachute used to carry the rover down to the planet's surface is visible on the far right. When Perseverance landed on February 18th, 2021, it jettisoned both the backshell and parachute at an altitude of 1.3 miles (2.1 kilometers).

The backshell and parachute impacted the surface at about 78 miles (126 kilometers) per hour. Images of the components were requested by engineers working on the Mars Sample Return program to help inform them of the components' performance throughout Perseverance's entry, descent, and landing.

On April 22, NASA took to its blog and social channels to showcase an image captured by its Juno spacecraft orbiting Jupiter.

The photograph was captured on February 25, 2022, and features a large oval-shaped shadow on the left-hand side. This shadow is being created by Jupiter's largest of four moons, Ganymede, that is passing between the sun and Jupiter. NASA explains that Ganymede orbits Jupiter at an approximate distance of 666,000 miles and that the Juno spacecraft orbits the large gas giant at a distance of 44,000 miles, which is about 15 times closer than Ganymede.

Furthermore, the space agency explains that Jupiter's four moons frequently pass between the planet and the sun, resulting in shadows such as these being cast. Over the course of seven days, Jupiter's largest moon will pass once, Europa will pass twice, and IO four times, according to NASA. The above image was captured with Juno's "JunoCam". For more information on this story, check out this link here.

Elon Musk only recently purchased Twitter earlier this week and is now already talking about the next big company he is planning on buying.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has taken to his personal Twitter account to announce that the next company he will be buying is Coca-Cola, as he wants to "put the cocaine back in". Musk posted the tweet on April 28 and was asked by his followers if he could purchase Fox to create another season of Firefly that ended on 2003. Musk replied to the question by saying that it would be great if there was "Some sci-fi that actually features sci-fi", followed by calling Battlestar Galactica a "great show!".

From the tone of how the tweet is read, I think it's safe to assume that Musk doesn't actually intend to purchase Coca-Cola to put the cocaine back in the drink, as he has previously stated during interviews that he isn't a drug user and the entire idea being overall illegal/preposterous. The SpaceX and Tesla CEO just made a public joke, nothing more, nothing less.

Elon Musk has officially acquired Twitter in a deal that -- money aside -- has bluechecks losing their minds. But that could be temporary, as their minds can be calmed with a brain-computer interface (BCI) thanks to Neuralink.

Musk is going to do something with all of that data that is housed in Twitter's servers and algorithms, which could be fed into Neuralink... the perfect data set. Everything the world has typed into 140-character tweets since its inception, with an AI learning it all... and then the BCI (brain-computer interface) being inserted, quite literally, into your head.

If you thought the SpaceX and Tesla CEO was spending acquiring Twitter for $44 billion, and was just going to reinstate President Trump's account -- he's not coming back, he said so -- you'd be wrong. $44,000,000,000 is a lot of money, with so many 0s and 1s that could be used with Neuralink in the future.

A study on the vessels titled "Composition of trace residues from the contents of 11th-12th century sphero-conical vessels from Jerusalem" has published in the journal PLoS One.

The ancient ceramic vessels originated from Jerusalem sometime around the 11th and 12th centuries, and new analysis indicates they may have been used as a form of medieval hand grenade. Researchers found similar vessels often contained scented oils, medicines, and various materials, but the vessels they analyzed appear to have been used to hold flammable and potentially explosive material.

Similar vessels have been reported as being used during the time of the Crusades and were known for "producing loud noises and bright flashes of light." The material inside the vessels analyzed indicates it was a unique, locally produced explosive, not black powder.

Rocket Lab has completed a test run of its next mission by capturing a dummy rocket booster using a helicopter.

Rocket Lab will be using a customized Sikorsky S-92 helicopter to retrieve a falling first-stage rocket booster from the sky in its upcoming "There and Back Again" mission. The mission is scheduled for April 28th if the weather allows, and if successful, it will mark a first-of-its-kind rocket booster retrieval of the company's Electron rocket.

In preparation for the mission, the company has conducted numerous test flights, the latest of which has involved a dummy rocket booster parachuting through the sky as the real thing will, before being collected by the incoming helicopter and its custom grappling hook.

The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) has released a new Global Assessment Report.

The latest Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR2022) examines how structures and governance systems are evolving around the world to address systemic risk. The UN's introduction to the report states that despite commitments to tackle climate change and create a more sustainable world, current societal, political, and economic choices are achieving the opposite.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development includes measures like the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (Sendai Framework) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to help create a more sustainable world that would help mitigate the onset of more disasters.

May's full moon is known as the Flower Moon to signify the wildflowers that bloom throughout the month in the Northern Hemisphere.

The Flower Moon will undergo a total lunar eclipse on the night of May 15th to May 16th, with the eclipse beginning around 01:32 UTC on May 16th. The eclipse will nearly reach its maximum around the time of the full moon, which will happen almost three hours later at 04:14 UTC, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory.

These timings will vary somewhat depending on your location across the globe, as the moon needs to be on the opposite side of the Earth to the sun for a full moon to occur. The total lunar eclipse comes about two weeks after April's partial solar eclipse, giving another time for the Earth to come in between the moon and the sun for a total lunar eclipse.

Japanese exoskeleton developer Skeletonics has shown off a new exoskeleton kitted out with boxing gear while its operator shadow boxes.

The exoskeleton borrows similar design attributes from previous models offered by Skeletonics. However, in this model, the individually articulating fingers of the Skeletonics Arrive model are absent in favor of boxing glove replicas. As with the Skeletonics Arrive, the exoskeleton is powered exclusively by the operator's strength and replicates their movements directly via mechanical linkages.

The Skeletonics Arrive is currently listened on the company website as the prominent offering and is the fifth of its exoskeletons. In the Arrive, the upper and lower body became connected, and suiting up with it takes only a minute. It stands 9 feet 2 inches (279.4 centimeters) tall, weighs 88 pounds (39.9 kilograms), and is powered mechanically with mechatronics used to operate the fingers.

A crucial component for SpaceX's upcoming Starship rocket appears to be damaged in a recently circulating image.

The prototype part is a component from the Booster 7 rocket booster for Starship and is responsible for transferring propellant to the vehicle's engines. SpaceX conducted pneumatic tests for Booster 7 earlier this month, in which the vehicle was fully pressurized to ensure it performs according to the required specifications.

The downcomer seems to have imploded during the pressure test, meaning Booster 7 could be scrapped in favor of Booster 8 if the part cannot be removed and replaced. It is unclear how much the damaged part will impact the timeline for Starship's upcoming orbital test flight.

A small solar eclipse will nearly blot out the Sun this week as NASA confirms that multiple locations around the world will be able to witness the first solar eclipse of 2022.

According to NASA's database, the first solar eclipse of 2022 will be a partial solar eclipse that occurs on April 30 at 2:45 p.m. EST. A solar eclipse is a phenomenon that happens when the moon passes in between the Earth and the Sun, causing the moon's shadow to be cast on the Earth as the Sun is positioned behind it.

April 30's solar eclipse will be a partial solar eclipse, which means only a portion of the Sun will be covered by the body of the moon. NASA estimates that 65% of the Sun will be blacked out during the maximum of the eclipse. Furthermore, witnessing this coming event won't be possible for residents in the United Kingdom, United States, as it will only be visible over parts of Antarctica, South America, the Pacific, and the Atlantic Ocean.