Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 99

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 report, titled Mitigation of Climate Change, details the necessary actions to be taken to prevent any catastrophic outcomes from climate change before it is too late. The first is to stop greenhouse gas emissions from rising before 2025 to avoid a global temperature rise of two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, one of the less ambitious targets of the Paris Agreement. By 2030, emissions will need to drop by 43 percent, and by mid-century, they will have to drop by 84 percent to stay on track.

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.

The wet dress rehearsal began on April 1st, but was since stopped on April 3rd and called off for April 4th after some issues with cryogenic tests. The wet dress rehearsal marks the last major test before the spacecraft can launch, an event which will be livestreamed by NASA on the Kennedy Newsroom YouTube channel.

The World Health Organization (WHO) tightened its guidelines on air quality roughly six months ago, and has now released a new update on its Air Pollution Data Portal.

The WHO estimates that 99% of the global population is experiencing higher risks of heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cancer, and pneumonia, due to current air pollution levels. Drawing on data from over 6,000 municipalities, the WHO has found air quality is poorest in the eastern Mediterranean and Southeast Asia regions, with Africa following.

The WHO database now includes nitrogen dioxide measurements, in addition to PM2.5 and PM10 data, which both relate to particulate matter measuring 2.5 micrometers or less and 10 micrometers or less, respectively. Nitrogen dioxide primarily comes from the burning of fossil fuels such as traffic in urban settings, while particulate matter is generated from many different sources such as transportation, agriculture, power plants, and more.

NASA has announced that it has broken two records on the surface of Mars with its newest Mars rover called Perseverance.

According to NASA JPL, the Perseverance rover has recently broken two records, the first record being the longest drive in a single solar day, and the second being the longest AutoNav drive. The space agency announced that Perseverance has broken the previous record of 748 feet set by the Opportunity rover in March 2005. Now, Perseverance holds the record by recently completing a drive of 803 feet.

NASA also announced that Perseverance has broken its own record for the longest AutoNav drive, which is the rover's self-driving function. As you can probably imagine, Perseverance's AutoNav function allows for the rover to drive across the Martian surface autonomously using 3D maps and advanced software that maps any potential obstacles around Perseverance. With autonomous driving, Perseverance can move 393 feet in an hour.

A video has surfaced online that shows a remote-controlled robot dog walking down a street in China, barking orders and making announcements.

The above video posted by Jay In Shanghai shows a robot dog walking down a street in Shanghai, China, and attached to the dog via some kind of strap is a megaphone that can be heard making announcements. Shanghai is currently facing one of its most severe waves of COVID-19 as Chinese health officials have reported record numbers of new cases following an outbreak of the Omicron variant.

The robot dog seen in the above video is barking out COVID-19-related announcements to residents, most likely informing them that they must stay within their homes at all times, with Reuters reporting that Chinese residents in the affected area aren't even allowed to leave their home to take their garbage out. Reports indicate that Shanghai has recorded less than 8,000 asymptomatic COVID-19 cases and 438 symptomatic cases as of April 3.

The scientist that was busted for creating what could be considered the first gene-editing human babies has recently been released from prison.

A story emerged in 2018 about a scientist that used a technology called CRISPR that is designed to identify a specific bit of DNA within a cell and alter it. Additionally, the CRISPR technology is capable of turning specific genes on and off, and due to this technology's incredible power, many scientific and ethical concerns have been raised, especially after Chinese scientist He Jiankui was found guilty of using CRISPR to edit the genes of IVF embryos that were planted into a woman's uterus that later birthed into twin girls.

The scientist altered the genes of the twin girls to be resistant to infection of HIV, which the father of the children had. He Jiankui lost his position at the Southern Universe of Science and Technology in China, and was convicted in December 2019, where he was imprisoned for around three years, according to TechnologyReview. The publication reports that He has been released from prison, according to people "familiar with the situation" and that when recently called, he said, "It's not convenient to talk right now".

NASA's database that tracks all of the detected space rocks that could pose a threat to Earth indicates that an asteroid with an estimated diameter of about a mile is due to approach Earth soon.

NASA's Center for Near-Earth Studies (CNEOS) database lists the asteroid called 7335 (1989 JA), and states that its estimated diameter based on past measurements is 1.8 kilometers or 1.1 miles. The asteroid was first observed in 1989 by Helin, E. F. at Palomar and was last observed on March 26, 2022. 1989 JA will be the largest asteroid to approach Earth in 2022, and NASA expects that it will safely fly past our planet at a distance of 2.5 million from Earth or 0.02690 astronomical units.

Before 1989 JA arrives near Earth, another large asteroid called 2008 AG33 will approach Earth on April 28, and that asteroid is estimated to be anywhere between 1,083 feet and 2,428 feet in diameter. 2008 AG33 will be traveling at around 23,200 miles per hour when it flies safely past Earth at a distance of around two million miles.

An asteroid that is estimated to be one of the largest space rocks to approach Earth throughout 2022 will be making its close approach to Earth this month.

The asteroid is called 418135 (2008 AG33), and according to data from NASA's Center for Near-Earth Studies (CNEOS), the space rock will be making its closest approach with Earth on April 28 at 2:46 AM UTC, where it will come within two million miles of Earth. While two million miles is certainly quite a distance, in astronomical terms, it's relatively small, with the moon being an average 238,000 miles away from Earth and Mars being 140 million miles from Earth.

2008 AG33 is estimated to be anywhere between 1,083 feet and 2,428 feet in diameter, and if the asteroid's higher estimate is more accurate, it would mean that 2008 AG33 is as wide as two Empire State Buildings stacked on top of each other. If its diameter is closer to 1,083 feet, it would mean it's the same size as the Eiffel Tower. NASA's database reveals that there is an even larger space rock on its way, with its diameter estimated to be 1.1 miles across.

US and Ukrainian officials have claimed that abandoned Chernobyl nuclear power plant has been re-taken by Ukraine.

Within the first days of Russia's invasion it took the Chernobyl nuclear power plant causing major concern across Europe for the safety of the plant and the busted nuclear reactor that caused one of the worst nuclear disasters ever. Since Russia's invasion officials have reported interruptions with monitoring the reactor and that radiation levels around the plant have dramatically spiked due to forest fires.

Now, reports are surfacing that Russia has pulled out of Chernobyl and that on April 2 at 11:00 the Ukrainian flag was raised over the defunct power plant. The retreat from Russia follows reports of numerous Russian troops suffering from radiation poisoning with Ukrainian officials saying that they inhaled radioactive dust and were unaware of the dangers of the area.

A study on the speeds of sound on Mars titled "In situ recording of Mars soundscape" has been published in the journal Nature.

The Perseverance rover on Mars has recorded over five hours of sound using its microphones after landing on Mars in February last year. Perseverance recorded sounds made by the flying Ingenuity helicopter that accompanies the rover and sounds from its laser that it uses to analyze the chemical composition of Martian rock samples.

The research team found that sound travels roughly 240 meters per second on Mars, compared to 340 meters per second on Earth. Mars is expected to have a slower speed of sound, as its atmosphere is about a hundred times thinner than Earth's, with carbon dioxide making up 95% of it compared to 0.04% carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere, which also results in sounds becoming roughly 20 decibels weaker.

The Ingenuity Mars helicopter that accompanies the Perseverance rover has been spotted by a satellite orbiting the Red Planet.

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spotted Ingenuity with its HiRISE camera, which can capture 28-gigabit images in only six seconds. Ingenuity's rotors only span four feet (1.2 meters), making the image an impressive capture. HiRISE is often used to track the status of assets on Mars.

Currently, the Perseverance rover is located on fractured bedrock, which makes up the Maaz Formation. The rover is traversing over the formation, which is likely of volcanic origin, to reach a deltaic deposit several kilometers to the north.

A study on the genome sequencing titled "Complete genomic and epigenetic maps of human centromeres" has been published in the journal Science.

In 2003 the human genome was claimed to have been fully sequenced by scientists, but until recently, roughly eight percent of the genome had yet to be completely sequenced. The remaining DNA to sequence was mostly repetitive and difficult to align with the rest of the genome. A new complete genome has now been assembled by the Telomere-to-Telomere (T2T) consortium, dubbed T2T-CHM13, and succeeds the previous reference genome known as GRCh38.

The newly sequenced DNA mostly comes from the genome region around the centromere, the part of the chromosome that is grabbed and split from when a cell replicates to ensure each daughter cell receives the correct genetic material. Approximately 190 million base pairs make up the DNA sequences in this region, which makes up about 6.2% of the entire genome.

A new study on the moon titled "Downward Oxidant Transport Through Europa's Ice Shell by Density-Driven Brine Percolation" has been published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Europa is one of Jupiter's many moons and has a frozen surface with an ocean hidden just beneath. A new study indicates this ocean may be warm, salt-filled, and capable of fostering life. The research indicates the potential for oxygen to be pulled down into the subsurface ocean from the surface, where organisms could use it to sustain life.

Europa already has more than enough water for one of the essential ingredients to fuel life as we know it, having more water on it than Earth has in all of its oceans. Various chemical nutrients are also available, and tidal flexing from Jupiter provides the energy necessary to heat the moon's interior and prevent the subsurface ocean from freezing.

An overly active sunspot erupted, causing two powerful coronal mass ejections to be launched towards Earth at high speeds.

Earlier in the week, officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) warned that astronomers observed at least 17 solar eruptions over two days from the single sunspot called AR2975. Following the eruptions came two coronal mass ejections that merged into a "cannibal coronal mass ejection" that collided with Earth's magnetic field during the night on March 30 through to April 1.

The collision of the charged particles from the sun into Earth's magnetic field at 1,881,263 mph produced a G3 geomagnetic storm that resulted in an increased chance of auroras such as the northern/southern lights appearing. It should be noted that this particular CME impact is harmless to humans on the surface due to Earth's protective atmosphere, but larger blasts can cause problems for satellites, low-frequency radio navigation, and electricity grids.

Earlier in the week, officials reported observing at least 17 solar eruptions over the span of two days. Following the solar eruptions came a "cannibal coronal mass ejection (CME)."

A CME is a wave of charged particles that are can be released from the Sun when a solar flare occurs. In the recent instance, two CMEs were released following the multitude of solar eruptions, and these CMEs were headed straight for Earth. Officials described the second CME to be "cannibal" as it overtook the first and combined into one large wave of charged particles.

Read more: Powerful 'cannibal' Sun blast on its way to collide with Earth

A study on the cryovolcanoes titled "Large-scale cryovolcanic resurfacing on Pluto" has been published in the journal Nature Communications.

NASA's New Horizons mission has captured detailed images of the surface of Pluto, which new research has used to suggest two large mounds as being potentially active cryovolcanoes. The surface around these cryovolcanoes, or ice volcanoes, appears to have formed due to fairly recent activity.

The possibility of the active cryovolcanoes suggests liquid water could be flowing or have recently flowed under the dwarf planet's surface, and potentially more heat closer to Pluto's interior than previously thought. These conditions could allow for some form of life to exist on Pluto, hidden beneath the surface.