Science & TechnologyS


Moon

Japan's precision moon lander has hit its target, but it appears to be upside-down

Mari Yamaguchi
Phys.Org
Thu, 25 Jan 2024 00:00 UTC
Lander
© AXA/Takara Tomy/Sony Group Corporation/Doshisha University via APimage taken by a Lunar Excursion Vehicle 2 (LEV-2) of a robotic moon rover called Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, on the moon.
Japan's space agency said Thursday that its first lunar mission hit the tiny patch of the moon's surface it was aiming for, in a successful demonstration of its pinpoint landing system — although the probe appears to be lying upside-down.

Japan became the fifth country in history to reach the moon when the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, touched down on the moon early on Saturday. But trouble with the probe's solar batteries made it hard at first to figure out whether the probe landed in the target zone.

While most previous probes have used landing zones about 10 kilometers (six miles) wide, SLIM was aiming at a target of just 100 meters (330 feet). Improved accuracy would give scientists access to more of the moon, since probes could be placed nearer to obstacles.

One of the lander's main engines lost thrust about 50 meters (54 yards) above the moon surface, causing a harder landing than planned.

A pair of autonomous probes released by SLIM before touchtown sent back images of the box-shaped vehicle on the surface, although it appeared to be upside down.

After a few days of data analysis, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA determined that the spacecraft landed about 55 meters (60 yards) away from its target, in between two craters near the Shioli crater, a region covered in volcanic rock. But after the landing mishap, the craft's solar panels wound up facing the wrong direction, and it cannot generate power. Officials said there is still hope the probe will be able to recharge when the moon enters its daytime in the coming days.
Read More...
Beaker

The smallest, tightest knot ever created is just 54 atoms long

Stephen Luntz
IFL Science
Tue, 23 Jan 2024 23:06 UTC
molecular knot smallest tightest
© Zhiwen Li, et al.Scientists have broken the record for the smallest and tightest molecular knot
Scientists have broken the record for the smallest and tightest molecular knot, creating a chemical that self-assembles into a knot with the formula [Au6{1,2-C6H4(OCH2CC)2}3{Ph2P(CH2)4PPh2}3]. The makers highlight the six gold atoms at the start by referring to the entire molecule as Au6.

The way a molecule affects others depends not just on the elements it's composed of, but on the shape these take on. Complex molecules can be folded in vast numbers of ways, and sometimes only one of these will produce the desired biological effects. Predicting and controlling such folding is considered one of the hardest problems in science, and one where computers are only just starting to displace humans.

Knots represent the extreme end of this. It's not easy to tie even long thin strands of atoms into knots because you can't just grab the ends like pieces of rope on a sailboat. Finding ways to make molecules knot can help develop humanity's capacity for more practical knotting. Since DNA, RNA, and many proteins knot without human intervention, performing knotting of our own helps us understand these vital molecules' behavior.
Read More...
Mars

NASA's Ingenuity helicopter mission on Mars ends after damaging a rotor blade

Ashley Strickland
Accuweather
Fri, 26 Jan 2024 19:40 UTC
ingenuity helicopter mars rover perseverance
© NASA/JPL - CaltechPerseverance captured an image of Ingenuity on August 2, 2023, the day before the helicopter's 54th flight.
Together, the rover and helicopter spent the past few years exploring Jezero Crater, the site of an ancient lake and river delta on Mars. Scientists are hoping that samples collected by Perseverance, which will be returned to Earth by future missions, could determine whether life ever existed on the red planet.

After completing 72 historic flights on Mars over three years, NASA's Ingenuity helicopter mission has ended.

Originally designed as an experiment, Ingenuity became the first aircraft to operate and fly on another world, lifting off on April 19, 2021.

Imagery and data returned to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, showed that one or more of the chopper's carbon fiber rotor blades was damaged while landing during its final flight this month. The team determined that the helicopter is no longer able to fly, according to the space agency.

Ingenuity, which had traveled to Mars as the Perseverance rover's trusty sidekick, is sitting upright on the surface of the red planet, and mission controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have been able to maintain communications with the rotorcraft.
Read More...
Info

The Moon is shrinking, causing landslides and instability in Lunar south pole


University of Maryland
Thu, 25 Jan 2024 22:44 UTC
New paper identifies potential landing sites for Artemis mission that are particularly vulnerable to quakes and landslides.
Moonquakes
© NASA/ LRO/ LROC/ASU/ Smithsonian InstitutionThe epicenter of one of the strongest moonquakes ever recorded by the Apollo Passive Seismic Experiment could not be accurately determined. Researchers tracked multiple possible locations using a relocation algorithm specifically adapted for the sparse seismic networks near the Pole. Blue boxes show locations of proposed Artemis III landing regions, while the small red marks represent scarps.
Earth's moon shrank more than 150 feet in circumference as its core gradually cooled over the last few hundred million years. In much the same way a grape wrinkles when it shrinks down to a raisin, the moon also develops creases as it shrinks. But unlike the flexible skin on a grape, the moon's surface is brittle, causing faults to form where sections of crust push against one another.

A team of scientists discovered evidence that this continuing shrinkage of the moon led to notable surface warping in its south polar region — including areas that NASA proposed for crewed Artemis III landings. Because fault formation caused by the moon's shrinking is often accompanied by seismic activity like moonquakes, locations near or within such fault zones could pose dangers to future human exploration efforts.

In a new paper published in the Planetary Science Journal, the team linked a group of faults located in the moon's south polar region to one of the most powerful moonquakes recorded by Apollo seismometers over 50 years ago. Using models to simulate the stability of surface slopes in the region, the team found that some areas were particularly vulnerable to landslides from seismic shaking.

"Our modeling suggests that shallow moonquakes capable of producing strong ground shaking in the south polar region are possible from slip events on existing faults or the formation of new thrust faults," said the study's lead author Thomas R. Watters, a senior scientist emeritus in the National Air and Space Museum's Center for Earth and Planetary Studies. "The global distribution of young thrust faults, their potential to be active and the potential to form new thrust faults from ongoing global contraction should be considered when planning the location and stability of permanent outposts on the moon."
Read More...
Christmas Tree

Scientists invent dirt-fuelled power source that 'lasts forever', based on 113 year-old tech

Anthony Cuthbertson
Independent
Mon, 22 Jan 2024 17:44 UTC
soil battery
© Bill Yen/Northwestern UniversityThe fuel cells' 3D printed cap sits above the ground, and keeps debris out of the device while enabling air flow.
Scientists have developed a new type of fuel cell that can provide endless power through electricity harvested from dirt.

A team from Northwestern University in the US say the book-sized unit could be used to power sensors used in farming, as well as remote devices in the Internet of Things (IoT).

The technology works by generating electricity from naturally-occurring bacteria within the soil, offering a sustainable and renewable alternative to toxic and flammable batteries.

Comment: This might not revolutionise where we source our energy in the short term, but it might take us one step further in understanding the workings of nature, and how we can work with and harness that to our advantage: Tomato plants send electrical signals to each other through fungi

Read More...
Nuke

Chinese company unveils revolutionary nuclear battery with 50-year lifespan

Wang Songsong
Chinadaily.com.cn
Tue, 16 Jan 2024 20:13 UTC
BB100 Battery
© BetavoltBV100 is poised to shape the future of energy consumption.
Recently, a Chinese company claimed to have developed a new battery that could generate power for 50 years.

Released by Beijing Betavolt New Energy Technology Co Ltd, the nuclear battery utilizes nickel-63, a kind of nuclear isotope, decay technology and diamond semiconductors to miniaturize, modularize and reduce the cost of atomic energy batteries, Science and Technology Daily reported.

The company's first product, the BV100 battery, has a power of 100 microwatts, a voltage of three volts and a size of 15×15×5 cubic millimeters, which is smaller than a coin.
Read More...
Telescope

Discovery of second ultra-large structure in distant space further challenges our understanding of the universe


PhysOrg
Mon, 15 Jan 2024 22:49 UTC
rings structures discovered astronomy universe
© StellariumAn artistic impression of what the Big Ring (shown in blue) and Giant Arc (shown in red) would look like in the sky.
The discovery of a second ultra-large structure in the remote universe has further challenged some of the basic assumptions about cosmology.

The Big Ring in the Sky is 9.2 billion light-years from Earth. It has a diameter of about 1.3 billion light-years, and a circumference of about 4 billion light-years. If we could step outside and see it directly, the diameter of the Big Ring would need about 15 full moons to cover it.

It is the second ultra-large structure discovered by University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) Ph.D. student Alexia Lopez who, two years ago, also discovered the Giant Arc in the Sky. Remarkably, the Big Ring and the Giant Arc, which is 3.3 billion light-years across, are in the same cosmological neighborhood — they are seen at the same distance, at the same cosmic time, and are only 12 degrees apart in the sky.
Read More...
Hammer

Scientists aim to drill into a volcano's magma chamber to unleash powerful energy

Michael Dorgan
Fox News
Sat, 13 Jan 2024 13:55 UTC
Geldingadalir volcano iceland
© Thomas O'Neill/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesEruption of the Icelandic volcano Geldingadalir, photographed from Fagradalsfjall on August 9, 2021.
The project, which would be a scientific first if successful, would see boreholes drilled about 1.3 miles down through the earth's crust at a volcano known as 'Krafla'.

Scientists in Iceland have come up with an ambitious plan to drill into a volcano's magma chamber to source an abundant amount of clean, super-hot geothermal energy.

The project, which would be a scientific first if successful, would see boreholes drilled about 1.3 miles down through the earth's crust at a volcano known as Krafla, located in the northeast of Iceland.

Comment: It remains to be seen if this method of energy production could hold the promise so many failed 'green energy' methods held before falling flat on their faces. On paper, it sounds perfect. But we don't really know what potential catastrophes lay ahead by drilling into volcanoes.

See also:

Read More...
Telescope

Have we just discovered aliens?

Sean Thomas
The Spectator
Mon, 08 Jan 2024 20:32 UTC
Jedna od prvih slika svemirskog teleskopa James Webb
It's one of the greatest puzzles of the universe, and one that has vexed humanity ever since we first gazed at the stars and thought of other worlds. Is our Earth the sole place that harbours life, or might it be found elsewhere, among the trillions of planets, star systems and galaxies? As Arthur C. Clarke put it: 'Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.'

The revelation that we might be seriously close to an answer is, therefore, momentous and surprising; even more surprising is that the revelation occurred on Jools Holland's New Year's Eve 2023 'Musical Hootenanny', in between performances by Rod Stewart, the Sugababes, Joss Stone, and the Mary Wallopers.

As is his wont, whenever the music subsided Jools Holland skittered boyishly between his BBC TV guests, asking them for comments on the year just gone, and the year to come. One of these guests was Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock, honorary research assistant at University College London's world-famous Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Sitting next to Dr Aderin-Pocock, Holland asked the noted astronomer for her expectations of 2024, and she replied, candidly and baldly: 'I think we're going to discover alien life.' Slightly startled, Holland asked for some clarity - e.g. are we going to meet them on planet earth - to which she further said: 'Alien life is definitely out there'. Note: not here, there.

If this was just a one off, we might dismiss it. Perhaps the BBC was unusually generous with the English fizz in the green room. But Aderin-Pocock is not the only person ending 2023 with startling predictions of alien life discovery. In a YouTube video broadcast a few days ago, popular UK astrophysicist Becky Smethurst added some detail to all this, by saying: 'I think we are going to get a paper that has strong evidence for a biosignature on an exoplanet very, very soon. Let's just say it's on my bingo card for 2024'.

Likewise, in a CNBC interview broadcast the first week of 2024, UK astronaut Tim Peake was asked to speculate on extra-terrestrial life, and he said 'Potentially, the James Webb telescope may have already found [alien life]... it's just that they don't want to release or confirm those results until they can be entirely sure, but we found a planet that seems to be giving off strong signals of biological life.'
Read More...
Fire

Video of electric blue flame erupting from a volcano goes viral


NDTV
Fri, 12 Jan 2024 12:27 UTC
nnnnnnnn
A stunning video of electric-blue flames erupting from a volcano in Indonesia has surprised social media users. The phenomenon is unique, according to photographer Olivier Grunewald, who has been capturing the eruptions from Kawah Ijen volcano. Speaking to National Geographic, he said that the dazzling, blue glow is actually the light from the combustion of sulphuric gases.

The video was captured a few years ago, and has gone viral on social media again. The footage was part of a documentary that Mr Grunewald released with Geneva's Society for Volcanology.

The mesmerising video shows streams of striking blue flames rapidly coming out from the volcano.

Read More...