Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 98

NASA has announced that the first fully private space tourism group has successfully arrived at the International Space Station (ISS).

NASA has been posting on its social media channels and its blog about the Axiom Mission 1, which features the first fully private space tourism mission that will take four individuals to the ISS. The four private astronauts are Michael Lopez-Alegria, Larry Connor, Eytan Stibbe, and Mark Pathy. The four now-astronauts took SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule to the floating laboratory and opened the hatch doors to be greeted by the ISS crew at 10:13 AM EDT on April 9.

The space agency explains that the Ax1 mission marks the beginning of a new era of space exploration that will pave the way forward for the commercialization of low-Earth orbit and enable more people to participate in space missions. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said that the Ax1 mission is "more proof of what has become increasingly clear: This is the golden era of commercial spaceflight."

A study on the problem titled "Detection of microplastics in human lung tissue using μFTIR spectroscopy" has been published in the journal Science of the Total Environment.

Microplastics were detected in human blood for the first time only last month. Thirty-nine microplastic particles have now been found in 11 of 13 lung tissue samples taken from living humans. Samples taken from cadavers and lung cancer patients have previously revealed microplastics in human lungs.

The microplastics from these samples were detected throughout the lungs and found in higher concentrations as the samples were taken from lower down in the lungs. The particles came from at least a dozen different sources, including polyethylene, resin, and nylon.

A study on the new viruses titled "Cryptic and abundant marine viruses at the evolutionary origins of Earth's RNA virome" has been published in the journal Science.

An international research team has used machine-learning analyses paired with traditional evolutionary trees to identify the 5,500 new RNA virus species from ocean water samples. The collection represents all five known RNA virus phyla and suggests the need for at least five new phyla to be created to classify them, where phyla refers to the taxonomical classification one level below kingdom.

The largest group within the collection belong to the proposed Taraviricota phylum. The four other proposed phyla are Pomiviricota, Paraxenoviricota, Wamoviricota, and Arctiviricota. The same research team was responsible for growing the number of known DNA virsues in the ocean from a few thousand in 2015 to two hundred thousand in 2019.

Studies on the galaxy titled "A Search for H-Dropout Lyman Break Galaxies at z~12-16" and "Are the Newly-Discovered z∼13 Drop-out Sources Starburst Galaxies or Quasars?" have been published in the Astrophysical Journal and Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Letters, respectively.

Researchers have spotted HD1, a galaxy candidate approximately 13.5 billion light-years away from Earth. Two theories have been suggested regarding HD1; that it could be forming stars at a very high rate, potentially Population III stars (the first stars to be born in the universe, which have yet to be observed), or that HD1 may contain a supermassive black hole 100 million times the mass of our Sun.

The international research team discovered HD1 following over 1,200 hours of observing time using various telescopes. Once operational, the team will use the James Webb Space Telescope to observe HD1 and confirm its distance, which, if true, confirms it to be the most distant and oldest galaxy ever found.

Researchers have claimed that they have excavated a fossil of a dinosaur that died on the same day the asteroid that hit Earth and ended the time of the dinosaurs.

According to researchers led by Robert DePalma, a doctoral student at the University of Manchester, the fossilized dinosaur leg that was discovered is from a Thescelosaurus, a herbivore dinosaur that's name translates to "wonderful lizard" in ancient Greek. The dinosaur leg was found to have its skin attached to it, and according to researchers, there was no previous record of what the skin of the Thescelosaurus looked like before this discovery.

The team of researchers claims that the dinosaur's leg had been ripped off and buried during the asteroid impact that ended the dinosaurs' reign on Earth and created what has now been named the Chicxulub crater in the Yucatan Peninsula. Notably, Robert DePalma in 2019 reported finding fossilized fish that still had gills attached to them.

NASA's Perseverance rover landed on the Red Planet in February 2021, and since then, it has been exploring the Jezero Crater.

Perseverance landed on Mars on February 18, 2021, and has since spent 414 days on Mars conducting science and taking images. The rover has ventured quite the distance and has taken several core samples of Martian rocks that will eventually be transported back to Earth. On April 6, the rover snapped some images of the terrain that surrounds it, and one hawk-eyed Twitter user identified what seems to be Perseverance's parachute in the background of one of the images.

The remains of the parachute, along with its exact location, were identified by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter back in 2021, and according to reports, the location of the parachute is only half a mile south of Perseverance's current location, which means it may be possible that Perseverance's mast cam has enough perch to spot the year-old relic.

An international team of researchers have reported observing what is now the oldest beam of microwave radiation, paving the way for more knowledge of the early years of the cosmos.

The scientists detected what is called a megamaser, which is a super-powerful laser that consists of microwave light. There are many types of these lasers, and the type that was detected by the researchers is the most common, hydroxyl. This signal consists of a molecule that is made up of one oxygen atom and one hydrogen atom. The team of researchers states that the detection of hydroxyl signals the collision of two galaxies, which results in new stars being born and any surrounding black holes being fed.

The laser that was detected by the researchers has been nicknamed Nkalakatha, which translates to "Big Boss" in isiZulu. The light that was observed is estimated to be about 5 billion years old, giving astronomers a glimpse into the chaotic past of the universe and information to test the future. The researchers used the MeerKAT Array, which features 64 receptors located in South Africa, and notably, it only took one night of observations to make a record-breaking discovery.

Veteran space company Teledyne Brown Engineering announced it has partnered with Nissan on creating the next crewed Lunar Terrain Vehicle.

The announcement from Teledyne took place at the 37th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, where the company with more than 70 years of experience in the space industry announced it would be partnering with Nissan, Sierra Space, and a few other companies to work on creating the next lunar rover.

According to a press release, Nissan has previously worked with NASA on autonomous mobility at the AMES Research Center and has displayed its experience with electric vehicles and a passion for space exploration. Nissan North America will be bringing its autonomous driving technology to the table, as well as its extensive history of high-quality engineering and design.

NASA's Curiosity rover has been exploring the large mountain called the "Greenheugh Pediment" for most of March and is now making its way back down the mountain's southern side.

The Curiosity team identified a problem ahead of the Mars rover that originally landed on the Red Planet back in August 2012. There was a large field of objects called "ventifacts" on the rover's route. These objects are rocks that have been sharpened from the harsh martian winds, and in the past, Curiosity's wheels have been damaged when the rover traverses over the terrain.

Notably, ventifacts are found all over Mars, but according to Phys.org, the field of ventifacts ahead of the rover was the most Curiosity has seen in its nearly 10 years on the Red Planet. NASA officials have nicknamed the sharp rocks "gator-back", as the rock resembles the rough scales on the back of an alligator. The Curiosity team is now mapping out a new course for the Mars rover that will take it through much safer terrain as it continues to explore the 3.4-mile-tall mountain it has called home since 2014, Mount Sharp.

The sun experiences many different types of eruptions, but two major types of eruptions occur on the sun's surface: solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CME).

NASA has taken to its blog and to the "NASA Goddard" YouTube channel to explain the difference between solar flares and CMEs. Solar flares and CMEs often occur at the same time but are very different as solar flares are giant bursts of X-rays and energy that travel at the speed of light in all directions. These flares come from the motion of the sun's interior, causing the magnetic field to build tension and then explosively realign, much like a rubber band.

A solar flare can last minutes to hours, and throughout that period, it releases a large amount of charged particles that can reach Earth in eight minutes or less. As for a CME, NASA explains magnetic contortions can also cause plasma from the sun's corona to be shot into space. This plasma is a wave or cloud of magnetized particles that travel at more than a million miles per hour and usually take about three days to reach Earth.

The United States Navy currently uses Boeing's E-6B Mercury aircraft as its doomsday plane.

The currently underway Sea-Air-Space Exposition saw the reveal of the next doomsday plane the U.S. navy will soon be using, now provided by Lockheed Martin instead of Boeing. The EC-130J, like the United States Air Force's E-4B doomsday plane and Russia's Ilyushin II-80 doomsday plane both serve to ensure that their nation's heads of state and top military personnel can remain in control in the event of nuclear war or other disastrous situations.

The U.S. navy uses such aircraft for what it calls the Take Charge And Move Out (TACAMO) missions. It has sixteen Boeing E-6B Mercury aircraft that can connect to and command submarines within the naval fleet that can deploy ballistic missiles. During the Cold War, Lockheed Martin's EC-130Q was used on TACAMO missions, and the company will now reprise its role in supplying aircraft with such missions with the EC-130J Hercules aircraft.

NASA recently released plans for the International Space Station (ISS) to continue service until 2030.

However, Russia has only committed to supporting the ISS until 2024. The nation may use that opportunity, paired with recent sanctions on its space industry due to its invasion of Ukraine, to sever ties with the project. This would leave NASA responsible for keeping the space station in orbit for at least the rest of the decade, a task Russia is presently responsible for.

Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos, Russia's space agency, has tweeted a variety of things alluding to Russia pulling out of the ISS following the sanctions imposed on the country and its space agency. On April 2nd, he tweeted to say that "normal relations" between Russia and its partners on the ISS would only return to normal with "the complete and unconditional lifting of illegal sanctions."

Returning to Earth on a Soyuz spacecraft after record-breaking spaceflights, the trio had plenty of time to talk.

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei returned to Earth with his Russian crewmates from the International Space Station (ISS), cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anton Shkaplerov. Vande Hei said that everyone working on the space station continued working together as normal, despite the geopolitical turmoil on Earth taking place in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent sanctions placed on Russia's space program.

The latest arrival of new cosmonaut crewmates donning yellow and blue spacesuits was another topic that came up, given these are the colors of the Ukrainian flag. However, Vande Hei clarified that these colors were an attempt to recognize the colors of their alma mater, Moscow State Technical University. Vande Hei has also said of Dmitry Rogozin's (the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos) tweets that he "never perceived those tweets as anything to take seriously."

The rocket destructively re-entered the atmosphere, breaking apart as it fell towards Earth's surface.

The third stage of a rocket came from a Chang Zheng Long March 3B (CZ-3B) and crash-landed back on Earth after being launched just over a year ago. It was launched on February 4, 2021, to remain in orbit for much longer than it did. As it completed orbits around the Earth, the rocket continued to lose altitude and energy until it eventually fell far enough to return to Earth.

Many on the ground witnessing the event believed it to be a comet, but it has since been confirmed to be the CZ-3B rocket. Other Chinese rockets have also fallen to Earth in recent years, including a Chinese Long March 3B rocket in April 2020 failing mid-launch, and only a month later, part of a Chinese Long March 5B rocket returned to Earth.

There are many craters across the surface of the moon, and while all have been caused by impacts of some kind, the craters themselves vary in shape and complexity.

NASA has explained that on the surface of the moon, some complex craters feature ring structures as well as mountains closer to the center. An example of a mixture of simple craters and complex craters is "Bell E", which is a small crater located within the larger Bell crater, as seen above. These special types of craters are called concentric craters and are often referred to as "donut" craters for obvious reasons.

Researchers have multiple theories for how these concentric craters have formed, but lunar geologists believe that the theory that has the most validity is "Magmatic Intrusion", which is when magma from beneath the lunar surface is pushed up through the floor of the crater. Researchers believe that the moon was volcanically active at the same time the donut craters formed and that most of the identified donut craters are located in regions that had high amounts of volcanic activity.

Russia recently backed away from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant allowing Ukrainian forces to announce its recapture.

Multiple reports, along with statements from Ukrainian officials, revealed that the Ukrainian flag had been raised at the abandoned nuclear power plant. The retreat from Russia follows numerous statements from various sources that multiple Russian military troops suffered radiation poisoning after walking through the forbidden red forest and digging trenches in radioactive soil without protective equipment.

Notably, the surrounding forest area recently caught on fire, causing radioactive dust to stir up and float up into the atmosphere. Furthermore, the Chernobyl acting director Valery Seida recently told Reuters that inhaling the dust is "likely to cause internal radiation in their bodies." Now, a video captured by a drone has shown trenches dug into the soil around the abandoned power plant, providing more evidence that suggests Russian troops have been exposed to radiation.

The technology could allow solar panels to continuously generate electricity, even while the Sun is not shining.

The solar panels were created by researchers from Stanford University, who combined a regular solar panel with a thermoelectric generator. Solar panels, and any other matter warmer than absolute zero, emit infrared radiation, or heat, which radiates out into the atmosphere. On clear nights where this radiation cannot reflect off clouds, the air becomes warmer than the surface of the solar panel, and the thermoelectric generator can use this temperature difference to generate electricity.

Assawaworrarit was able to generate roughly fifty milliwatts per square meter of solar panel on the rooftops of Stanford, which he estimates is a record number. His team believes that they could double that rate with improvements on the way to an estimated theoretical limit of between one and two watts per square meter.

A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the U.S. government has uncovered more documents related to UFOs.

The U.S. government has released a database containing 1,574 pages of material to The Sun on April 5th 2022 after the British tabloid filed an FOIA request four years ago. The FOIA request sought documents related to the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), which only became publicly known about in 2017.

One report titled "Anomalous Acute and Subacute Field Effects on Human and Biological Tissues," from March 2010, describes alleged effects inflicted on "human observers by anomalous advanced aerospace systems." The report contains details from 42 cases from medical files and 300 "unpublished" cases relating to brain damage, nerve damage, heart palpitations, and headaches resulting from UFO encounters.

A study on the new cell titled "Human distal airways contain a multipotent secretory cell that can regenerate alveoli" has been published in the journal Nature.

Scientists found the new cell tucked away inside human lungs called respiratory airway secretory (RAS) cells. They are found in the bronchioles of the lungs, which connect to alveoli that allow oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange between the air we breathe and the lungs.

The RAS cells have two roles within the lungs; secreting molecules to maintain the bronchioles' fluid lining to increase the lungs' efficiency and rigidity and can serve as a progenitor cell to alveolar type 2 (AT2) cells. When other alveoli cells are damaged, these RAS cells can differentiate into the AT2 cells (similar to how a stem cell can differentiate into other cell types) and will be able to secrete a chemical that is used to repair the other damaged alveoli cells.

On April 3, a 12,000 mile-long "canyon of fire" opened up on the surface of the sun, causing a coronal mass ejection (CME) to be shot towards Earth.

Officials from the UK weather forecaster Met Office said the sun experienced two "filament eruptions", with the first occurring on Sunday, April 3, and the second on Monday, April 4. Forecasters have confirmed that both eruptions have caused CMEs, which are waves of charged plasma ejected from the sun's atmosphere.

When a CME impacts Earth, it interacts with Earth's magnetic field, and that interaction between the charged particles from the sun and Earth's atmosphere can be seen in the form of auroras such as the southern/northern lights. Additionally, larger CMEs can cause many problems for Earth as they can interrupt satellite communications, power networks, GPS, and even electrical grids.