Astronomy

Most orangutans take seven years to learn to make their own beds

More than 40 companies, research centres and international organisations signed the Zero Debris Charter at the Berlin International Airshow (ILA) today, confirming their dedication to the long-term sustainability of human activities in space.

New books from Adrian Tchaikovsky and the late Michael Crichton (with James Patterson) are among the great new sci-fi novels out this month

New books from Adrian Tchaikovsky and the late Michael Crichton (with James Patterson) are among the great new sci-fi novels out this month

The Dutch police force is already using a remotely controlled Spot robot dog made by Boston Dynamics to examine drug labs in raids, and now it wants to make the robot fully autonomous

The Dutch police force is already using a remotely controlled Spot robot dog made by Boston Dynamics to examine drug labs in raids, and now it wants to make the robot fully autonomous

Boeing's Starliner capsule is scheduled to reach the ISS today (June 6) on its first-ever crewed mission, and you can watch the action live.

SpaceX is getting ready to launch its massive Starship rocket today at 12.30pm UK time and we have all the details on the mission

The burgeoning use of wood as a building material is a path to more sustainable construction, and it may have psychological benefits too, finds Graham Lawton

The burgeoning use of wood as a building material is a path to more sustainable construction, and it may have psychological benefits too, finds Graham Lawton

A pair of Chinese taikonauts have completed an eight-hour spacewalk repairing damage to the Tiangong Chinese Space Station’s solar panels. It’s believed the damage was caused by tiny pieces of space debris, which impacted the solar wings and degraded their function. They performed a first repair spacewalk in December 2023 and completed the repairs with their second trip outside in March 2024. The Shenzhou 17 crew were the sixth group living in Tiangong and were relieved by the Shenzhou-18 team in late April.

The Shenzhou-18 mission, launched prior to the conclusion of Shenzhou-17, will last approximately six months. The crew, consisting of Ye Guangfu, Li Cong, and Li Guangsu, launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center aboard a Long March 2F rocket at 20h59 Beijing Time. Their spacecraft docked with the station’s Tianhe core module approximately six and a half hours after liftoff. On May 28, 2024, Ye Guangfu and Li Guangsu executed China’s longest spacewalk to date, lasting eight and a half hours, installing a space debris protection device on the station.

Senior Colonel Tang Hongbo and Lieutenant Colonel Jiang Xinlin completed nearly eight hours of extravehicular activity to repair damage to the Tianhe core module’s solar wings caused by impacts from tiny space debris. Lieutenant Colonel Tang Shengjie provided internal support throughout the operation, which marked the first instance of such a repair by Chinese taikonauts. This event, the 15th spacewalk conducted by Chinese astronauts, underscores the critical nature of maintaining the station’s integrity and safety. These operations are complex, but vital and require precise coordination and planning between the astronauts and ground control.

Although the term “spacewalk” is commonly used, the official term for when an astronaut ventures outside a spacecraft is Extravehicular Activity (EVA). The definition of an EVA can vary depending on the country conducting the operation. For instance, Russian and Soviet spacecraft designates an EVA as any instance where a cosmonaut spends time in a vacuum while in a space suit, using specialized airlocks for this purpose. In contrast, the American definition requires at least the astronaut’s head to be outside the spacecraft. Regardless of the definition, an EVA involves leaving the protective environment of the spacecraft and entering outer space, the area outside of Earth’s atmosphere. China made history as the third country to independently perform an Extravehicular Activity (EVA) on September 27, 2008, during the Shenzhou-7 mission. During this mission, Chinese taikonaut Zhai Zhigang completed a 22-minute spacewalk, fully exiting the spacecraft while wearing the Chinese-developed Feitian space suit. Taikonaut Liu Boming, dressed in the Russian-derived Orlan space suit, assisted Zhai by standing by at the airlock and straddling the portal.

The vacuum of space presents significant dangers due to its near complete lack of gas pressure. On Earth, our atmosphere, a mix of nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen gases, exerts a pressure of about 101 kilopascals at sea level, which our bodies are accustomed to. In space, however, the absence of pressure means that without a proper space suit, the air in an astronaut’s lungs would rapidly escape, and gases in body fluids would expand, causing severe internal damage. Additionally, astronauts face extreme temperatures, with sunlit objects reaching over 248 degrees Fahrenheit (120 degrees Celsius) and shaded areas dropping below negative 212 degrees Fahrenheit (negative 100 degrees Celsius). Furthermore, radiation from the sun, ultraviolet rays, and tiny meteoroids pose additional hazards.

To mitigate these risks, space suits are designed to maintain life support in the vacuum of space while allowing for sufficient mobility to perform tasks. These suits are essential for EVAs, providing the necessary protection against the harsh conditions of outer space. This advanced technology enables astronauts like those from the Shenzhou-17 crew to conduct critical repair operations and scientific experiments, ensuring the continued functionality and safety of missions aboard the Tiangong space station.

Since 2021, China has significantly advanced its space capabilities by conducting numerous extravehicular activities, each lasting several hours. These EVAs have been crucial for the construction and maintenance of the Tiangong space station.

During their time on the station, the Shenzhou-17 crew continued with planned space science experiments, technical tests, planned maintenance, and the installation of extravehicular payloads. Their tenure concluded with a handover to the incoming Shenzhou- 18 crew, ensuring the continuous operation of the Tiangong space station.

The recent repair and continued maintenance operations by both crews not only demonstrate China’s growing expertise in manned spaceflight but also highlight the collaborative and technical challenges of sustaining life and functionality in the harsh environment of space. The Tiangong space station is an important platform for research and technological advancement. The dedication of the Shenzhou crews, and the ongoing operational improvements in orbit pave the way for long term and sustained human activities far beyond our atmosphere.

The post Chinese Astronauts Just Repaired Space Debris Damage Outside the Station appeared first on Universe Today.

Video: 00:02:15

The 2024 edition of the Berlin International Airshow (ILA), Germany's largest aerospace trade show, opened its doors on 5 June. ESA is taking part with an exhibition in the Space Pavilion alongside the German Space Agency (DLR) and the German Aerospace Industries Association (BDLI).

Highlights of the opening day included the visit of the German Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the Space Pavilion opening ceremony, and the kick-off press conference with ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher.

SpaceX plans to launch its giant Starship rocket this morning (June 6), and you can watch the action live.

After many delays and two scrubbed launch attempts, Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner successfully launched earlier today! The Crewed Flight Test (CFT) took off from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, at 10:52 a.m. EDT (07:52 PDT) atop a ULA Atlas V rocket. For this mission, the capsule is carrying two NASA astronauts: Barry “Butch” Wilmore (commander) and Sunita “Suni” Williams (pilot). They are expected to reach the International Space Station (ISS) at 12:15 p.m. EDT (09:15 a.m. PDT) on Thursday, June 6th.

Assuming all goes to plan, this mission will effectively validate the Starliner as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP). Then, we can expect it to make regular deliveries of cargo and crew to the ISS alongside SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. This mission is the second time the Starliner has flown to the ISS and the third flight test overall. During the first test flight (OFT-1), which took place back in December 2019, the Starliner launched successfully but failed to make it to the ISS. After making 61 corrective actions recommended by NASA, another attempt was made (OFT-2) on May 22nd, 2022.

#Starliner ascends to the heavens!

Congratulations to @NASA, @BoeingSpace, and @ulalaunch. Today's launch is a milestone achievement for the future of spaceflight.

Butch and Suni—safe travels through the stars. See you back home.
pic.twitter.com/FYRzx7q4tN

— Bill Nelson (@SenBillNelson) June 5, 2024

Though two of the spacecraft’s thrusters failed during the flight, the spacecraft managed to reach the ISS and delivered 227 kg (500 lbs) of cargo. After nearly two years of delays, another attempt was made on June 1st, but the launch was scrubbed 3 minutes and 50 seconds before liftoff due to a faulty power supply. But, as they say, the third time is the charm! The launch was followed by a NASA news conference at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, beginning at 12:30 a.m. EDT (09:30 a.m. PDT), which NASA live-streamed via NASA+, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website.

The conference was chaired by NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, Associate Administrator Ken Bowersox and Deputy Associate Administrator Joel Montalbano (NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate), Manager Steve Stitch and Mark Nappi (the manager and VP and program manager of CCP), and ULA president and CEO Tory Bruno. You can check out the recap here:

NASA+ will also cover the Starliner‘s approach to the ISS, starting at 09:15 a.m. EDT (06:15 PDT) on June 6th.

Further Reading: NASA

The post Starliner Finally Launches, Carrying Two Astronauts Into Orbit appeared first on Universe Today.

The European Space Agency has retired its Ariane 5 rocket, and all eyes are on its next generation, Ariane 6. The rocket’s pieces have been arriving at the Kourou facility in French Guiana and are now assembled.  ESA has now announced they’ll attempt a test launch on July 9th and hope to complete a second flight before the end of 2024. This new heavy-life rocket has a re-ignitable upper stage, allowing it to launch multiple payloads into different orbits.

“Ariane 6 marks a new era of autonomous, versatile European space travel,” said ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher, who announced the launch data at the Innovation and Leadership in Aerospace (ILA) Berlin Air Show on June 5, 2024. “This powerful rocket is the culmination of many years of dedication and ingenuity from thousands across Europe and, as it launches, it will re-establish Europe’s independent access to space. … I would like to thank the teams on the ground for their tireless hard work, teamwork and dedication in this last stretch of the inaugural launch campaign. Ariane 6 is Europe’s rocket for the needs of today, adaptable to our future ambitions.”

An overview of Europe’s new rocket, Ariane 6. Credit: ESA.

Ariane 6 has been in the works since the early 2010s to be a replacement the workhorse Ariane 5, which is no longer in production. Ariane 5’s first successful launch was in 1998, and since then has sent 109 spacecraft on their way, including the first ATV Jules Verne to the International Space Station and the James Webb Space Telescope to the second LaGrange point 1.5 million km (1 million miles) from Earth.

Ariane 6 is an expendable launch vehicle – not reusable like SpaceX’s rockets — that comes in two versions, with a modular design that can be customized: the rocket can use either two or four P120C strap-on boosters, depending on mission requirements. With the various designs, it can put a 4,500 kg payload into a geostationary transfer orbit or 10,300kg into low Earth orbit using the two boosters, and with four side boosters, it can launch 11,500 kg into a geostationary transfer orbit and 20,600kg into low Earth orbit. The re-ignitable upper stage allows for multiple satellites to launch on a single flight.

The Ariane 6 rocket test firing on its launch pad at the European Spaceport in French Guiana. Credit: ESA

Ariane 6 was developed at a cost of just under 4 billion euros ($3.9 billion) and was originally planned for its first launch in July 2020. However, the project has been hampered by several delays, including work-related issues during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The rocket has undergone several tests in the past few years, and in November of 2023, a full fueled Ariane 6 was tested on the launchpad, firing its engines for several minutes, simulating a flight to space.

“The announcement of the scheduled date for Ariane 6’s first flight puts us on the home stretch of the launch campaign and we are fully engaged in completing the very last steps,” said Martin Sion, CEO of ArianeGroup, the prime contractor of the Arian 6. “This flight will mark the culmination of years of development and testing by the teams at ArianeGroup and its partners across Europe. It will pave the way for commercial operations and a significant ramp-up over the next two years. Ariane 6 is a powerful, versatile and scalable launcher that will ensure Europe’s autonomous access to space.”

Part of the first Ariane 6 rocket inside the Vehicle Assembly Building, Kourou, French Guiana earlier in 2024. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/Arianegroup.

At the Spaceport in French Guiana, various payloads have been integrated on Ariane 6’s payload carrier. One major milestone must be met before launch: a full wet dress rehearsal, which is having a fully fueled vehicle going through all the steps of a countdown, but not the actual ignition of the rocket engines. Once this activity has been completed, the Ariane 6 Task Force will provide an update, confirming the date for the inaugural flight.

The post ESA Sets the Launch Date for Ariane 6: July 9th appeared first on Universe Today.

I have always wanted a 3D printer but never quite found a good enough reason to get one. Seeing that NASA are now 3D printing metal is even more tantalising than a plastic 3D printer. However, thinking about it, surely it is just a computer controlled soldering iron! I’m sure it’s far more advanced than that! Turns out that the first print really wasn’t much to right home about, just an s-curve deposited onto a metal plate! It does however prove and demonstrate the principle that a laser can liquify stainless steel and then deposit it precisely in a weightless environment. 

Arguably 3D printers have revolutionised manufacturing and prototyping industry.   The invention of them has been attributed to Chuck Hull who in 1983 but it’s more true to say he laid the foundations. Hull developed a technique known as stereolithography which involved creating 3D objects by curing thin layers of a photopolymer with UV light. The 3D printers that are commercially available came 5 years later in 1988.

NASA and ESA have been interested in 3D printing in space to make repair/improvement engineering far cheaper, sustainable and timely. Instead of waiting for parts to be shipped up to the ISS. To that end there has been a more conventional plastic 3D printer on board the ISS since 2014 because a 3D printed replacement is far simpler and more cost effective. Indeed ESA are trying to create a circular space economy to recycle materials already in orbit. It makes far more sense to repurpose existing materials in orbit – such as metal from old satellites – to make new tools or parts removing the need for rocket launches to transport them.

In November 2014, NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore installed a 3-D printer made by Made in Space in the Columbus laboratory’s Microgravity Science Glovebox on the International Space Station. Credit: NASA TV

The metal printer that is now on board the International Space Station employs stainless steel wire being fed onto the medium being printed upon. A high power laser which is a million times more powerful than a laser pointer then heats it up melting a small section. As the steel wire feeds into the melt pool it melts, adding to the metal, making it slightly raised. 

Unlike a 3D printer you may have (or I may be trying to justify) which you can control from your own computer, the printer on ISS is controlled entirely from the ground. The crew do have tasks however, they have to open a nitrogen and venting valve before the printing can start. I guess it’s almost the equivalent of putting the paper in your printer at home! 

The printer was developed by a team led by Airbus under the ESA Directorate of the Human and Robotic Exploration contract. It arrived on the ISS in January 2024 where the 180kg printer was installed in the ESA Columbus Module. 

The next step for the printer is to print four shapes that have been chosen for full-scale 3D printing. They will then be returned to Earth for analysis and comparison against reference prints already created in normal gravity. The teams hope to explore how microgravity impacts 3D printing. Two of the 3D printed parts will go to the Materials and Electrical Components Lab at ESTEC in Netherlands. The other two will go to the European Astronaut Centre at the Technical University of Denmark.

Source : First metal 3D printing on Space Station

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People who stop taking antidepressants may get mental and physical symptoms as their bodies adjust to the lack of medicines - now we know how common this is

People who stop taking antidepressants may get mental and physical symptoms as their bodies adjust to the lack of medicines - now we know how common this is

What is Dark Matter? That question is prominent in discussions about the nature of the Universe. There are many proposed explanations for dark matter, both within the Standard Model and outside of it.

One proposed component of dark matter is primordial black holes, created in the early Universe without a collapsing star as a progenitor.

The dark matter problem is a missing mass problem. Galaxies should not hold themselves together according to their observable mass. Their observable mass is stars, gas, dust, and a sprinkling of planets.

Some other form of mass must be present to prevent galaxies from essentially dissipating. Dark matter is a placeholder name for whatever that missing mass may be. Astronomer Fritz Zwicky first used the term in 1933 when he observed the Coma Cluster and found indications of missing mass. About 90% of the Coma Cluster is missing mass, which Zwicky called “dunkle Materie.”

This Hubble Space Telescope mosaic shows a portion of the immense Coma galaxy cluster that contains more than 1,000 galaxies and is located 300 million light-years away. The rapid motion of its galaxies was the first clue that dark matter existed. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, J. Mack (STScI) and J. Madrid (Australian Telescope National Facility

Primordial black holes (PBHs) are one leading candidate for dark matter. In the Universe’s earliest times, pockets of dense subatomic matter may have formed naturally. Once dense enough, they could’ve collapsed directly into black holes. Unlike their astrophysical counterparts, they had no stellar progenitors.

Recent JWST observations and LIGO/Virgo results support the idea that PBHs are dark matter. Some researchers go further and say that this evidence supports the idea that dark matter is exclusively made of PBHs and has no other components.

New research suggests that some of the early PBHs would merge and that LIGO/Virgo can detect the gravitational waves from mergers. The research is “Constraints on primordial black holes from LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA O3 events.” The lead author is M. Andres-Carcasona, a PhD student at the Institute of High Energy Physics at the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology.

An image based on a supercomputer simulation of the cosmological environment where primordial gas undergoes the direct collapse into a black hole. Credit: Aaron Smith/TACC/UT-Austin.

In 2015, LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) detected its first black hole merger. At the time, researchers heralded this new window into the Universe. Until then, astronomical observations were based on electromagnetic radiation, but LIGO/Virgo changed that.

Now, Japan has joined the LIGO/Virgo collaboration with their Karga gravitational wave observatory, and the international effort is named LIGO/Virgo/Karga (LVK.) Together, the three observatories gather data on gravitational waves.

“Previous works have explored the use of GW data to find direct or indirect evidence of PBHs,” the authors write. “Specifically targeted searches of subsolar mass compact objects, which would provide a smoking gun signal of the existence of PBHs have so far been unsuccessful.”

The authors point out that within our growing body of GW data, there may be indications of PBHs that were missed by other researchers’ methods. They write that some of the component masses “… fall in regions where astrophysical models do not predict them, potentially suggesting for a PBH population,” they write.

This ESA graphic shows how we might discover primordial black holes and help solve the dark matter mystery using the JWST and LISA, the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna. Unfortunately, LISA’s launch is at least a decade away. Image Credit: ESA

The mass function of PBHs plays a large role in the formation of PBHs. Their goal is to update the mass constraints on PBHs in GW data. “One of our aims is to derive constraints which do not depend significantly on the underlying formation scenario. Thus, we consider a variety of different PBH mass functions,” they explain.

The two underlying formation scenarios they mention are astrophysical and primordial. Within the primordial category, there are different ways that PBHs can form, and they’re all tangled up with mass function. The authors explain that PBHs could explain the totality of dark matter, but only if they’re within the range of 10-16 to 10-12 solar masses.

“Lighter PBHs would be evaporating today and can constitute only a small portion of the DM,” they write.

Astrophysical BHs form binaries and can merge, sending out gravitational waves. If PBHs merge, they would also send out gravitational waves. It’s possible that some of these mergers are behind some of the GW data detected by LIGO/Virgo/Karga in its third observational run. The researchers present their results in terms of a pessimistic case and an optimistic case. The pessimistic case says that all GW observations are from Astrophysical Black Hole (ABH) mergers, while the optimistic case suggests that some are from PBH mergers.

Their research and its results involve an awfully large number of complicated physical terms and relationships. But the main question is whether PBHs can comprise dark matter, either partly or wholly. In that context, what do the results boil down to?

This artist’s illustration shows small black holes in the accretion disk of a supermassive black hole. In early 2024, a team of researchers found evidence of a small black hole inside the accretion disk of a supermassive black hole. The small BH, if it exists, is between 100 to 10,000 solar masses. At the bottom of that range, it’s the same mass as a PBH. It’s not thought to be primordial, but it indicates how much we’ve yet to learn about black holes. Credit: Caltech/R. Hurt (IPAC)

The researchers say that in their analysis of a population of both astrophysical and primordial binaries, PBHs cannot entirely comprise dark matter. At most, they can make up a small portion of it.

“… in a population of binaries consisting of primordial and astrophysical black holes, we find that, in every scenario, the PBHs can make up at most fPBH less than or equal to 10-3 of dark matter in the mass range 1-200 solar masses.”

fPBH represents the fraction of dark matter that PBHs can comprise, 10-3 means 0.001, and the solar mass range is self-explanatory. It doesn’t take a physicist to understand what they’re saying. PBHs can make up only a tiny fraction of dark matter in their analysis.

This may not be a headline-generating study. It’s a look under the hood of astrophysics and cosmology, where teams of researchers work hard to incrementally constrain and define different phenomena. But that doesn’t undermine its significance.

One day, there might be a headline that screams, “Physicists Identify Dark Matter! Universe’s Big Questions Answered!”

If that ever happens, hundreds and thousands of studies like this one will be behind it.

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