On Earth, only living things make dimethyl sulfide molecules. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope just found hints of it in another world.
Space probes that have been launched from Earth currently cannot self-determine their locations in space. To know where they are, they first need to receive signals from Earth which they then bounce back. The signals are then received back on Earth and specially designed clocks then compute the time taken for the signals to travel back. Based on the calculated time, the location of the probe is determined and then communicated back to the probe.
NASA’s Perseverance rover has successfully completed an experiment designed to create oxygen on Mars, using a technique that could one day provide astronauts with breathable air, and be used as a key ingredient in rocket fuel for a return journey home.
Humanity is looking to expand deeper into the solar system, first by establishing a permanent base on the Moon, before finally placing human boots on Mars for the first time in our species’ short history. For this to be a reality, both NASA and its partners need to develop new technologies that will make use of the natural resources of those distant worlds to ensure that future missions are as self reliant as possible.
One major problem faced by astronauts visiting Mars is ensuring they have a ready supply of breathable air. Oxygen on Earth is relatively abundant, making up roughly 21 percent of our planet’s atmosphere. However, the gasseous shell enveloping Mars is composed of less than one percent oxygen, and 96 percent carbon dioxide, with nitrogen, argon, and other myriad trace gases making up the remainder.
Astronomers from the University of Maryland and the Michigan Technological University, have inspected a mysterious ultra-high energy gamma-ray source known as LHAASO J2108+5157. Results of the study, published August 31 on the pre-print server arXiv, could help us unveil the true nature of this source.
Sources emitting gamma radiation with photon energies between 100 GeV and 100 TeV are called very-high energy (VHE) gamma-ray sources, while those with photon energies above 0.1 PeV are known as ultra-high energy (UHE) gamma-ray sources. The nature of these sources is still not well understood; therefore, astronomers are constantly searching for new objects of this type to characterize them, which could shed more light on their properties in general.
A team of astronomers led by University of Maryland’s Sajan Kumar decided to take a closer look at one such UHE gamma-ray source designated LHAASO J2108+5157. It is a point-like source with an extension less than 0.39 degrees, known to be associated with the molecular cloud [MML2017]4607—located some 10,700 light years away.
Physicists finally know where at least some of these high-energy particles come from, which helps make the neutrinos useful for exploring fundamental physics.
And today we will examine the idea to see if there are any ways under known science that might permit it, as well as discuss some novel uses for the technology that tend to be overlooked.
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A simple add-on to Ingenuity-like crafts could gather unique data, scientists say. Last weekend, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter notched over 100 minutes of flying time in thin Martian air, a feat which until only a couple of years ago was considered wildly ambitious.
Originally designed for a simple technology demonstration, the “Marscopter” has far exceeded its initial one-month, five-flight mission, after which its role was extended to scout the Martian landscape and assist NASA’s Perseverance life-seeking rover. Riding on Ingenuity’s success, scientists are already planning two more mini helicopters. These will serve as backup copters in the space agency’s mission to bring tubes of Martian… More.
The first experiment to produce oxygen on another planet has come to an end on Mars after exceeding NASA’s initial goals and demonstrating capabilities that could help future astronauts explore the red planet.
The microwave-size device called MOXIE, or Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment, is on the Perseverance rover.
The experiment kicked off more than two years ago, a few months after the rover landed on Mars. Since then, MOXIE has generated 122 grams of oxygen, equal to what a small dog breathes in 10 hours, according to NASA. The instrument works by converting some of Mars’ plentiful carbon dioxide into oxygen.
NASA’s Psyche mission launches on October 5 to explore the metal-rich asteroid Psyche, offering insights into planet formation.
As October 5 inches closer on the calendar, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida is buzzing with anticipation. Engineers and scientists are busy making final preparations for the groundbreaking Psyche mission, set to launch within less than a month. With its suite of high-end science instruments — a multispectral imager, magnetometer, and gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer — primed for action, the spacecraft aims to unlock the secrets of its namesake asteroid, Psyche.
Credits: NASA/Kim Shiflett.
Continue reading “NASA gears up for metal-rich asteroid exploration” »
Almost a century ago, physicists Satyendra Nath Bose and Albert Einstein predicted a theoretical state of matter in which individual particles would, at extremely cold temperatures and low densities, condense into an indistinguishable whole. These so-called Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) would offer a macroscopic view into the microscopic world of quantum mechanics. In 1995, theoretical BECs became an experimental reality, which garnered the physicists who created them a Nobel Prize. Labs around the world— and even in space —have been creating them ever since.
All of the BECs created so far to ask fundamental questions about quantum mechanics have been made from atoms. It has proven much harder to make molecules cold enough to approach a BEC state, which hover fractions of a degree above absolute zero, and to keep the molecules stable long enough to conduct experiments.
“For twenty years, there have been proposals about what you could do with stable ultracold molecules, but it has been tough on the experimental side because the lifetime of molecular samples has been short,” said Columbia physicist Sebastian Will, whose lab specializes in creating ultracold atoms and molecules.
