Astronomy

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have increased the number of known supernovae in the early universe by a factor of 10 and found the most distant one ever confirmed

A microbe can grow a neck that is 30 times as long as its body in just a few seconds. Origami folding explains how

The latest images from Euclid, a European mission studying dark matter and dark energy, are spectacularly beautiful—and scientifically promising

Europe’s newest rocket soon launches, taking with it many space missions, each with a unique objective, destination and team at home, cheering them on. Whether launching new satellites to look back and study Earth, peer out to deep space or test important new technologies in orbit, Ariane 6’s first flight will showcase the versatility and flexibility of this impressive, heavy-lift launcher. Read on for all about GRBBeta, then see who else is flying first.

As we approach solar maximum, something strange is happening to the sun's magnetic field. We explore this flip in polarity in more detail and look at the effects it could have on Earth.

Researchers are investigating how an iron infusion from glacial meltwater might change Antarctica’s seas and the climate.

Long term space exploration comes with many challenges. Not least is how much toilet paper to take but more worryingly is the impact on human physiology. We have not evolved in a weightless environment, we are not used to floating around for months on end nor are we able to cope with increased levels of radiation. It is likely that organs like the kidneys will become damaged but it make take time for signs to appear. Researchers are developing ways to detect organ issues in the early stages and develop ways to protect them during long duration flights. 

We have known for some years that space flight causes health problems. Reduced muscle and bone density are the more well known but since the 1970’s we have also seen a weakening of the heart, eyesight issues and kidney stone development. The main cause of the problem is thought to be increased exposure to radiation from space. It’s not just the radiation from the Sun but Galactic Cosmic Radiation from deep space also plays a part. Fortunately for us here on Earth, the magnetic field protects us and those in low Earth orbit to a degree too. Those who travel further afield; to the Moon and other planets will be far more at risk. 

ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst gets a workout on the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED). Credit: NASA

To date, no-one has attempted to study what might be happening inside our organs as a result of long duration space flight, until now. A new study, published in Nature Communications, reports upon the analysis of kidney health in space flight. The study was funded by Wellcome, St Peters Trust and Kidney Research UK and was undertaken by a team of researchers from over 40 groups. 

The research team collected samples from over 40 low Earth orbit missions from humans and mice chiefly from the International Space Station. Using these samples they conducted biomolecular, physiological and anatomical assessments. Using mice, they were able to simulate Galactic Cosmic Radiation doses equivalent to a 1.5 year to 2.5 year Mars mission. 

NASA Image: ISS020E049908 – NASA astronaut Nicole Stott, Expedition 20/21 flight engineer, is pictured near the Mice Drawer System (MDS) in the Kibo laboratory of the International Space Station.

Indications from the study showed that the kidney from both animal and human experienced changes. Parts of the kidney, known as tubules, are responsible for tweaking the calcium and salt balances and these showed signs of shrinkage after less than a month in space. The researchers believe though that this is more likely the result of weightlessness rather than radiation doses. The team did suggest however that further research is appropriate to see if the combination of increased doses of radiation coupled with microgravity had an increasing effect. 

Another finding of the study was the way in which salt is processed by the kidneys. It is now thought that fundamental changes to how this is handled leads to the formation of kidney stones whilst it was originally assumed to be the result solely of microgravity. 

Perhaps the most shocking finding of the study though was that anyone venturing beyond the confines fo the Earth’s protective magnetic field for 2.5 years is likely to experience permanent kidney damage and loss of function. This was demonstrated in the mice samples that had experienced a simulated Galactic Cosmic Radiation dose for that period fo time. The impact of this is quite staggering. Currently any astronaut venturing to Mars is likely to need kidney dialysis on the way back! The race is now on to find new ways to protect astronauts, and organs during long duration spaceflights. 

Source : Would astronauts’ kidneys survive a roundtrip to Mars?

The post An Astronaut Might Need Kidney Dialysis on the Way Home from Mars appeared first on Universe Today.

Get Amazon's lowest price on a smart telescope, which we rate very highly, save over $1160 and beat the crowds in this pre-Pime Day deal.

On solstice week the brightening Moon moves across the evening sky from Spica to Scorpius. On Monday, it helps you find a piece of Centaurus from as far north as southernmost Canada!

The post This Week's Sky at a Glance, June 14 – 23 appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

The search for life has to be one of the most talked about questions in science. The question is, what do you look for? The Odysseus lunar lander has recently detected signs of a technologically advanced civilisation…on Earth! The lander is equipped with an instrument called ROLSES which has probed the radio emissions from Earth as if it was an exoplanet to se if it could detect signs of life! 

Odysseus was launched on 15 February, it was the Intuitive Machines lunar lander and it touched down in the solar polar region of the Moon seven days later. Since then it has been collecting valuable data from the area as a prelude for future human exploration. It was part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program which have all been built by private companies. Despite the hiccup of a landing where Odysseus tipped onto its side it has still been performing well.

There have been other challenges along the way. The laser guided navigation system which was supposed to aid the landing over the rocky surface failed. In a nod to Armstrong landing Apollo 11 manually in the last few minutes, the ground crew had to land using the optical camera system alone.  Even the journey to the Moon was not without incident. One of the antennae of the ROLSES system overheated and became dislodged from its housing.  On landing, an image showed the antenna sticking out. 

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin plant the US flag on the Lunar Surface during 1st human moonwalk in history 45 years ago on July 20, 1969 during Apollo 1l mission. Credit: NASA

On board Odysseus is the Radio wave Observations at the Lunar Surface of the photo Electron Sheath or ROLSES for short. It is a radio experiment designed to explore properties of the Earth’s atmosphere from the surface of the Moon. It was a unique opportunity to observe Earth in a completely different way and, to see if our approach for hunting for technologically capable alien civilisations are correct. 

The instrument was built at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and included radio antennae and a device called a radio spectrometer. It’s purpose was to record a wide range of radio emissions from the ‘radio quiet’ locale of the Moon. It turned out to be a bit of a bonus though as the team were able to record radio waves coming from Earth for about an hour and a half. 

NASA has selected three commercial Moon landing service providers that will deliver science and technology payloads under Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) as part of the Artemis program. Each commercial lander will carry NASA-provided payloads that will conduct science investigations and demonstrate advanced technologies on the lunar surface, paving the way for NASA astronauts to land on the lunar surface by 2024…The selections are:..• Astrobotic of Pittsburgh has been awarded $79.5 million and has proposed to fly as many as 14 payloads to Lacus Mortis, a large crater on the near side of the Moon, by July 2021…• Intuitive Machines of Houston has been awarded $77 million. The company has proposed to fly as many as five payloads to Oceanus Procellarum, a scientifically intriguing dark spot on the Moon, by July 2021…• Orbit Beyond of Edison, New Jersey, has been awarded $97 million and has proposed to fly as many as four payloads to Mare Imbrium, a lava plain in one of the Moon’s craters, by September 2020. ..All three of the lander models were on display for the announcement of the companies selected to provide the first lunar landers for the Artemis program, on Friday, May 31, 2019, at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. ..Read more: https://go.nasa.gov/2Ki2mJo..Credit: NASA/Goddard/Rebecca Roth

We have known for some time that all the signals from mobile phones and TV/radio  broadcast have been slowly drifting out into space (and have now reached a distance of just over 100 light years.) All of these emissions are potentially detectable but the further away from Earth, the weaker the signal. Within those signals, the team were able to detect signs of an intelligent, technological civilisation. The attention now will of course turn to hunting down the same signals from exoplanets, but perhaps not from ROLSES, something a little larger may be required. 

Source : In new experiment, scientists record Earth’s radio waves from the Moon

The post Moon Lander Detects Technosignatures Coming from Earth appeared first on Universe Today.

Week in images: 10-14 June 2024

Discover our week through the lens

Image: The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over a section of Italy’s heel in the southern part of the boot-shaped peninsula.

Blown by fast winds from a hot, massive star,

Eight former SpaceX employees are suing the company and its founder and CEO, Elon Musk, alleging sexual harassment and wrongful termination.

In 2021, NASA’s Perseverance rover landed in the Jezero Crater on Mars. For the next three years, this astrobiology mission collected soil and rock samples from the crater floor for eventual return to Earth. The analysis of these samples is expected to reveal much about Mars’ past and how it transitioned from being a warmer, wetter place to the frigid and desiccated place we know today. Unfortunately, budget cuts have placed the future of the proposed NASA-ESA Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission in doubt.

As a result, NASA recently announced that it was seeking proposals for more cost-effective and rapid methods of bringing the samples home. This will consist of three studies by NASA and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL). In addition, NASA has selected seven commercial partners for firm-fixed-price contracts for up to $1.5 million to conduct their own 90-day studies. Once complete, NASA will consider which proposals to integrate into the MSR mission architecture.

As Administrator Bill Nelson stated in a NASA press release

“Mars Sample Return will be one of the most complex missions NASA has undertaken, and it is critical that we carry it out more quickly, with less risk, and at a lower cost. I’m excited to see the vision that these companies, centers and partners present as we look for fresh, exciting, and innovative ideas to uncover great cosmic secrets from the Red Planet.”

The MSR mission represents the culmination of decades of efforts to learn more about the early history of Mars. NASA had originally hoped that the first crewed mission (planned for 2033) would retrieve the samples and transport them back to Earth. However, delays and budget concerns have led to growing concerns that a crewed mission will not reach Mars until 2040 (at the earliest). As a result, NASA and the European Space Agency adopted a joint mission architecture consisting of multiple robotic elements that would return the samples by 2031.

This included the Sample Retrieval Lander (SRL), two Sample Recovery Helicopters (SRH), the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), the Earth Return Orbiter (ERO), and the Earth Entry System (EES). However, the current budget environment forced NASA to announce that the 15-year MSR mission architecture (which would cost $11 billion) was too expensive and that waiting until 2040 was impractical. As a result, NASA has adopted a revised plan that leverages current technology and will return the Mars samples by the 2030s. As NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said at the time:

“Mars Sample Return will be one of the most complex missions NASA has ever undertaken. The bottom line is, an $11 billion budget is too expensive, and a 2040 return date is too far away. Safely landing and collecting the samples, launching a rocket with the samples off another planet – which has never been done before – and safely transporting the samples more than 33 million miles back to Earth is no small task. We need to look outside the box to find a way ahead that is both affordable and returns samples in a reasonable timeframe.”

In addition to the NASA-led studies, seven aerospace companies have been selected to develop sample-return concepts. They include NASA’s regular commercial partners, such as Lockheed Martin, SpaceX, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Blue Origin, and Northrop Grumman, as well as relative newcomers Quantum Space and Whittinghill Aerospace. A total of $10 million has been awarded to these companies to develop their concepts, the full list of which can be found here.

Once again, NASA is facing a budget crunch and has reached out to its commercial partners to develop cost-effective alternatives. This is in keeping with NASA’s long history of collaborating with the commercial sector to develop key mission concepts. However, the need to outsource major elements of its Moon to Mars program highlights the agency’s ongoing budget problems. As independent experts have concluded, a budget increase is necessary if NASA is to realize its ambitious goals for the future.

Further Reading: NASA

The post NASA is Considering Other Ways of Getting its Mars Samples Home appeared first on Universe Today.

NASA's NuSTAR telescope found evidence of cosmic fireworks and X-ray echoes coming from the Milky Way's supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*.

Historian and ecologist Laura J. Martin rediscovers the female scientists who established ecological restoration in her book Wild by Design

There have been nearly a dozen billion-dollar disasters so far this year, with two powerful severe weather events adding to the list in May.

The malaria treatment artemisinin improved hormone levels and regulated menstrual cycles in women with polycystic ovary syndrome

The malaria treatment artemisinin improved hormone levels and regulated menstrual cycles in women with polycystic ovary syndrome