Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 98

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 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.

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.

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.

Today an asteroid approximately the size of a bus will zoom past Earth at around 34,500 mph, according to NASA's database.

The asteroid is categorized as a "potentially hazardous object" and is called 2022 GN1. According to NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) database, the space rock will come within 79,000 miles of Earth, and doesn't pose any threat of impact. Astronomers discovered the asteroid on April 1 and have estimated that its diameter is anywhere between 24 and 52 feet wide, making it a smaller asteroid when compared to some others floating around in space.

Read more: NASA confirms 1,000+ foot-wide asteroid will approach Earth this April

A Californian-based company has announced it will be attempting to catch the first stage of a rocket booster with a helicopter at the end of April, 2022.

Rocket Lab has put out a press release that announces it will attempt to catch the falling Electron first-stage rocket booster mid-air after it has separated from the main stage. Here's the plan for the mission called "There and Back Again". The 59-foot-tall Electron rocket will launch from Rocket Lab's New Zealand launch site carrying 34 satellites into orbit.

Before Electron is launched, Rocket Lab will already have set up a customized Sikorsky S-92 helicopter that will be located around 150 nautical miles off the New Zealand coast, where it will wait to catch the falling rocket stage. Here's what Rocket Lab expects to happen. Around 2.5 minutes after the launch, the second and first stage will separate, with the first will fall back down to Earth, and the second will continue transporting the cargo to its designated location.

NASA and the European Space Agency's Hubble Space Telescope has been operating for 32 years now, and of those 32 years, it has been observing a baby planet forming for 13 years.

Throughout its operation, Hubble has been periodically looking back at the protoplanet AB Aurigae b that's located in a young solar system 530 light-years away from Earth. At the center of that solar system is the star AB Aurigae which is only two million years old. Hubble has been observing the baby planet form around its local star and found that its very similar to Jupiter, but is actually nine times larger than Jupiter and orbits its star at a distance that is twice the distance between Pluto and our Sun (8.6 billion miles).

Now, why is this interesting? Typically gas giants form through a process called "core accretion", which is the process of a planet being built from the accumulation of smaller pieces of rock, ice, dust, and pebbles that combine together over millions of years to form a planet. At the distance AB Aurigae b is orbiting its star, researchers believe it's unlikely that it would form through core accretion, which led them to observe the baby planet with multiple different telescopes over an extended period to find an answer.

An extremely wealthy Russian oligarch with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin is being targeted by the US government.

Under the new sanctions imposed by the US government following Russia's invasion into Ukraine, US officials began targeted Russian oligarchs which are the extremely wealthy elite that are close with Putin. Russian oligarchs have had their assets targeted by the Biden administration and recently the US Justice Department secured a warrant to seize the 77-metre superyacht called Tango valued at $120 MILLION.

The superyacht is one of the most expensive superyachts in the world and is linked to billionaire Russian businessman Viktor Vekselberg, who was accused by the US Justice Department of attempting to conceal ownership of the superyacht through various shell companies. Tango was seized by Spanish police and US federal agents at the Marina Real in the port of Palma de Mallorca in the Mediterranean Sea.

The United Nations (UN) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released another alarming report on climate change.

Climate experts have warned that we have less than three years to stop the increasing greenhouse gas emissions and less than a decade to cut them almost in half to secure a "liveable future." The IPCC says this can still be accomplished, but current policies will see that possibility slip away if allowed to continue. The new 2,800-page report marks the third installment of the IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report.

The Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion are currently undergoing a wet dress rehearsal.

NASA confirmed that four lightning strikes landed within the perimeter of Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), where the spacecraft was executing operations for its wet dress rehearsal. The rocket and spacecraft stacked atop it are undergoing tests to prepare for the upcoming Artemis I mission to the moon. Three strikes were low intensity and struck lightning tower two, while a fourth, higher intensity strike struck tower one.