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Electric skin patch could keep wounds free of infection
Electric skin patch could keep wounds free of infection
In a cosmic horror show, this zombie star survived a supernova explosion
NASA Funds Open-Source Software Underpinning Scientific Innovation
NASA has awarded $15.6 million in grant funding to 15 projects supporting the maintenance of open-source tools, frameworks, and libraries used by the NASA science community, for the benefit of all.
The agency’s Open-Source Tools, Frameworks, and Libraries awards provide support for the sustainable development of tools freely available to everyone and critical for the goals of the agency’s Science Mission Directorate.
“We received almost twice the number of proposals this year than we had in the previous call,” said Steve Crawford, program executive, Open Science implementation, Office of the Chief Science Data Officer, NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The NASA science community’s excitement for this program demonstrates the need for sustained support and maintenance of open-source software. These projects are integral to our missions, critical to our data infrastructure, underpin machine learning and data science tools, and are used by our researchers, every day, to advance science that protects our planet and broadens our understanding of the universe.”
This award program is one of several cross-divisional opportunities at NASA focused on advancing open science practices. The grants are funded by NASA’s Office of the Chief Science Data Officer through the agency’s Research Opportunities for Space and Earth Science. The solicitation sought proposals through two types of awards:
- Foundational awards: cooperative agreements for up to five years for open-source tools, frameworks, and libraries that have a significant impact on two or more divisions of the Science Mission Directorate.
- Sustainment awards: grants or cooperative agreements of up to three years for open-source tools, frameworks, and libraries that have significant impact in one or more divisions of the Science Mission Directorate.
2024 awardees are:
Foundation awards:
- NASA’s Ames Research Center, Silicon Valley, California
- Principal investigator: Ross Beyer
- “Expanding and Maintaining the Ames Stereo Pipeline”
- Caltech, Pasadena, California
- Principal investigator: Brigitta Sipőcz
- “Enhancement of Infrastructure and Sustained Maintenance of Astroquery”
- Cornell University, Scarsdale, New York
- Principal investigator: Ramin Zabih
- “Modernize and Expand arXiv’s Essential Infrastructure”
- NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
- Principal investigator: D. Cooley
- “Enabling SMD Science Using the General Mission Analysis Tool”
- NumFOCUS, Austin, Texas
- Principal investigator: Thomas Caswell
- “Sustainment of Matplotlib and Cartopy”
- NumFOCUS
- Principal investigator: Erik Tollerud
- “Investing in the Astropy Project to Enable Research and Education in Astronomy”
Sustainment awards:
- NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Southern California
- Principal investigator: Cedric David
- “Sustain NASA’s River Software for the Satellite Data Deluge,” three-year award
- Pennsylvania State University, University Park
- Principal investigator: David Radice
- “AthenaK: A Performance Portable Simulation Infrastructure for Computational Astrophysics,” three-year award
- United States Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia
- Principal investigator: Trent Hare
- “Planetary Updates for QGIS,” one-year award
- NASA JPL
- Principal investigator: Michael Starch
- “How To F Prime: Empowering Science Missions Through Documentation and Examples,” three-year award
- NASA Goddard
- Principal investigator: Albert Shih
- “Enhancing Consistency and Discoverability Across the SunPy Ecosystem,” three-year award
- Triad National Security, LLC, Los Alamos, New Mexico
- Principal investigator: Julia Kelliher
- “Enhancing Analysis Capabilities of Biological Data With the NASA EDGE Bioinformatics Platform,” four-year award
- iSciences LLC, Burlington, Vermont
- Principal investigator: Daniel Baston
- “Sustaining the Geospatial Data Abstraction Library,” three-year award
- University of Maryland, College Park,
- Principal investigator: C Max Stevens
- “Sustaining the Community Firn Model,” three-year award
- Quansight, LLC, Austin, Texas
- Principal investigator: Dharhas Pothina
- “Ensuring a Fast and Secure Core for Scientific Python – Security, Accessibility and Performance of NumPy, SciPy and scikit-learn; Going Beyond NumPy With Accelerator Support,” three-year award
For information about open science at NASA, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/open-science
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Alise Fisher
Headquarters, Washington
202-617-4977
alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov
NASA Releases Economic Impact Report for Fiscal Year 2023
2 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA logo
In fiscal year 2023, NASA investments supported 66,208 jobs in the state of California, generated $18.5 billion in economic output and $1 billion in tax revenue to the state’s economy.
Overall, NASA generated an estimated $9.5 billion in federal, state, and local taxes throughout the United States.
NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California is one of three NASA centers in the state that contributes to this economic achievement. The center supports critical research in sustainable flight, air mobility, and airborne science, reinforcing the region as a hub of aerospace innovation.
Most notably, NASA Armstrong plays a unique role in the Quesst mission and X-59 project, aimed at reducing the sonic booms into quieter “sonic thumps,” to change regulations impeding supersonic flight over land. Additionally, maturing key airframe technologies with the X-66 aircraft in the Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project which may influence the next generation single-aisle seat class airliner. The Center also supports the research of electric air taxis and drones to operate safely in the national airspace as well as supporting science aircraft for NASA’s Earth Science Mission.
NASA’s Moon to Mars campaign generated 16,129 jobs and $4.7 billion in economic output in California. Collaborations with contractors like Boeing and Lockheed Martin further extended these benefits by creating thousands of high-skilled jobs in the Antelope Valley and across the state.
NASA also fosters partnerships with educational institutions across the state, investing $39.5 million in universities to cultivate the next generation of aerospace innovators. These investments bring STEM opportunities to local communities and prepare students for careers in cutting-edge industries – adding to the agency’s most valuable asset, its workforce.
NASA embraces the challenges of exploring the unknown and making the impossible possible as we continue our global leadership in science, human spaceflight, aerospace innovation, and technology development, and support the U.S. economy and benefit all.
Read the full Economic Impact Report for Fiscal Year 2023.
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Nicolas Cholula / Sarah Mann
NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center
661-714-3853 / 661-233-2758
nicolas.h.cholula@nasa.gov /sarah.mann@nasa.gov
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Save 32% on the Celestron PowerSeeker 127EQ telescope
Statement from NASA’s Janet Petro on FY23 Economic Impact Report
America is returning to the Moon with our sights set on Mars, and NASA is leading the way. Along with our industry and international partners, we’re advancing scientific research, inspiring the next generation of explorers, and ensuring reliable and continuous access to space for our nation.
NASA’s Economic Impact Report for fiscal year (FY) 2023 highlights the nation’s strong return on its investment in NASA. Our missions help unveil the secrets of the universe and our home planet while also benefitting the taxpayers, communities, and industries across the country.
Here at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, we are on track for another record-setting year of launches from our Space Coast. Recent NASA missions will tell us more about Earth’s weather and climate, explore Jupiter’s moon Europa for the ingredients of life, and enable more innovative research on the International Space Station. We’re also busy building the Artemis rockets, spacecraft, and technologies that will allow our astronauts to live and work on the Moon.
While exploring the universe for the benefit of all, NASA is also supporting the U.S. economy. During FY23, an investment of less than one-half of 1% of the federal budget, the agency generated $76 billion in total economic output nationwide.
In Florida alone, NASA activities in FY2023 supported 35,685 jobs in the state and $8.2 billion in economic output, resulting in an additional $286.6 million in state tax revenue. NASA Kennedy’s unique facilities, proven technical capabilities, and master plan enable nearly 250 partnerships with 100 private-sector partners. And the dedication and commitment of our workforce means that our spaceport remains the world’s leader in space science, human exploration, and technology development.
As we look toward a future of more exploration and discovery, I invite you to learn more about the impacts that NASA missions may have had in your life. The agency’s technology transfer initiatives transition NASA innovations into private hands, where real impacts are made. And NASA’s STEM engagements encourage research and the study of science, technology, engineering, and math at all ages.
And, of course, I hope you will learn more about the exciting work we’re doing at Earth’s premier spaceport by visiting:
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Images of Janet Petro are available from NASA’s image library in vertical and horizontal formats.
Patti Bielling
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
321-501-7575
patricia.a.bielling@nasa.gov
Lunar Google Doodle and card game honor October's last quarter moon
Carbon emissions are now growing faster than before the pandemic
Carbon emissions are now growing faster than before the pandemic
The Forgotten Developer of Tamoxifen, a Lifesaving Breast Cancer Therapy
Her name was on the patent for tamoxifen, but Dora Richardson’s story was lost until now
Apples Have Never Tasted So Delicious. Here’s Why
Apple experts divide time into “before Honeycrisp” and “after Honeycrisp,” and apples have never tasted so good
The First Triple Star System Found Containing a Black Hole
Neutron stars and black holes are the remnants of dead stars. They typically form as part of a supernova explosion, where the outer layers of an old star are violently cast off while the core of the star collapses to form the remnant. This violent origin can have significant consequences for both the remnant and the surrounding environment.
One thing that can happen is that the remnant can get a “natal kick,” which causes the remnant to speed away from the supernova remnant. We see this with some neutron stars, where we observe the neutron star leaving the remnant at speeds of more than 800 kilometers per second. We aren’t entirely sure what causes such large natal kicks, but they aren’t uncommon. One would assume the same thing could happen for stellar black holes. In fact, given the greater intensity of a black-hole forming supernova, you might think the kick would be even larger. But recent observations suggest that sometimes a stellar black hole can form with hardly any kick at all.
The observations focus on a black hole known as V404 Cygni. It has a mass about 10 times that of the Sun and is about 8,000 light-years away. It is also a microquasar. There is a small star that orbits V404 so closely that material is captured by the black hole. The captured material has created an accretion disk and jets similar to those formed by supermassive black holes in distant galaxies. It was discovered in 1938 and is easily observed in both visible and x-rays. With a decent telescope, you could even observe it from your backyard. Needless to say, V404 has been quite well studied.
But this new work found something new. The team identified a companion star orbiting the close binary. The star has been known for a while, but it wasn’t until we had detailed observations from the Gaia spacecraft that the team could prove it orbits the other two. It takes 70,000 years for the distant companion to make a single orbit, but it is gravitationally bound to the other two. So V404 Cygni is a triple system, not a binary one. Which is a bit strange. When the black hole formed, it should have been kicked away from the system. The close companion could have hung on, but the distant companion shouldn’t still be bound. So what gives?
When the team looked at the dynamics of the system, they found the natal kick of the black hole could have been no larger than 5 km/s. In astronomical terms, that’s essentially nothing. Therefore, V404 must have had no natal kick. If it formed from a supernova explosion, that would be unlikely. To figure out this mystery, the team looked at various models that might produce such a system. Everything from highly symmetric supernova explosions to direct collapse models where the black hole formed slowly and quietly rather than with a single big boom. It turns out the quiet approach is the most likely. It seems V404 gradually accumulated material from its close companion until it just collapsed to become a black hole, and it did so quietly enough for the third companion to go along for the ride.
Reference: Burdge, Kevin B., et al. “The black hole low mass X-ray binary V404 Cygni is part of a wide hierarchical triple, and formed without a kick.” arXiv preprint arXiv:2404.03719 (2024).
The post The First Triple Star System Found Containing a Black Hole appeared first on Universe Today.
Breakthrough coming? Iceland could get solar power from space in 2030
Watch sun unleash major X-flare in epic solar eruption (video)
Building Bricks out of Lunar Regolith
It was 1969 that humans first set foot on the Moon. Now, over 50 years later we are setting sights on building lunar bases. The ability to complete that goal is dependent on either transporting significant amounts of material to the Moon to construct bases or somehow utilising raw lunar materials. A team of Chinese researchers have developed a technique to create bricks from material that is very similar to the soil found on the Moon. The hope is that the lunar soil can in the future, be used to build bricks on the Moon.
As we step out into the Solar System the Moon is the perfect starting point. Lunar bases are an essential part in our longer term goals providing a lower gravity launch environment. With space agencies and private companies working on a sustainable presence on the Moon the prospect of a lunar base is really picking up momentum. The Artemis program hopes to return humans to the Moon by the mid 2020’s and ultimately create a permanent presence. It would serve as a scientific research location, centre for extraction of lunar material and a stepping stone for missions to Mars.
Artist rendition of a future lunar base. (Credit: ESA – P. Carril)Such a base would likely be built near the lunar south pole where there is plenty of water ice in the deep shadowy craters. The ice can be readily turned into drinking water, oxygen and even rocket fuel. It’s not only NASA driving this development, private companies like Space X and Blue Origin are also working on aspects of the missions.
The team of researchers from the Huazhong University of Science and Technology have recently released a video clip revealing their results. The team led by Ding Lieyun have utilised substances similar to lunar soil to create lunar bricks that can be used to build structures on the Moon. The bricks are black and the team claim three times stronger than standard construction concrete bricks.
Five lunar soil compositions were simulated with a number of different process used to attempt to create the bricks. The different techniques will enable the team to gain sufficient scientific data to assess the viability of the different types of soil. The soil variations that the team explored simulate the different materials found near the Chang’e-5 landing site, some basaltic, others mostly anorthosite.
A close-up view of astronaut Buzz Aldrin’s bootprint in the lunar soil, photographed with the 70mm lunar surface camera during Apollo 11’s sojourn on the moon. There’ll soon be more boots on the lunar ground, and the astronauts wearing those boots need a way to manage the Moon’s low gravity and its health effects. Image by NASAThe bricks will now be tested in a number of different ways to assess their strength and properties. They will also explore any likely degradation in the properties due to the lunar environment. The vacuum, extreme temperature changes and high levels of cosmic radiation. The bricks will now be sent to the Chinese space station aboard the Tianzhou-8 spacecraft to continue the analysis following exposure to cosmic radiation and returned by the end of 2025.
Source : Chinese Researchers Develop ‘Lunar Bricks’ for Future Lunar Base Construction
The post Building Bricks out of Lunar Regolith appeared first on Universe Today.
329th ESA Council: Media information session
Watch the replay of the media briefing in which ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher updates journalists on the key decisions taken at the ESA Council meeting, held in Paris on 23 and 24 October 2024.