Feed aggregator
Slick trick separates oil and water with 99.9 per cent purity
Slick trick separates oil and water with 99.9 per cent purity
'God of chaos' asteroid may be transformed by tremors and landslides during 2029 flyby of Earth, study finds
Earth Below
Earth Below
Earth’s city lights streak by in this long-exposure photo taken by NASA astronaut Don Pettit on Oct. 24, 2024. The green glow of Earth’s atmosphere is also visible on the horizon.
Since the station became operational in November 2000, crew members have produced hundreds of thousands of images like this one through Crew Earth Observations. Their photographs of Earth record how the planet changes over time due to human activity and natural events, allowing scientists to monitor disasters and direct response on the ground and study phenomena.
Image credit: NASA/Don Pettit
You Can Build a Home Radio Telescope to Detect Clouds of Hydrogen in the Milky Way
If I ask you to picture a radio telescope, you probably imagine a large dish pointing to the sky, or even an array of dish antennas such as the Very Large Array. What you likely don’t imagine is something that resembles a TV dish in your neighbor’s backyard. With modern electronics, it is relatively easy to build your own radio telescope. To understand out how it can be done, check out a recent paper by Jack Phelps.
He outlines in detail how you can construct a small radio telescope with a 1-meter satellite dish, a Raspberry Pi, and some other basic electronics such as analog-to-digital converters. It’s a fascinating read, and one of the most interesting features is that his design is tuned to a frequency of 1420.405 MHz. This is the frequency emitted by neutral hydrogen. Since it has a wavelength of about 21 centimeters, the hydrogen emission line is sometimes called the 21-cm line. Neutral hydrogen comprises the bulk of matter in the Universe. The 21-cm emission isn’t particularly bright, but because there is so much hydrogen out there, the signal is easy to detect. And wherever there is matter, so too is the hydrogen line.
Observations of hydrogen in the Milky Way (red dots). Credit: Jack PhelpsThe emission is caused by a spin flip of the hydrogen’s electron. It’s a hyperfine emission, which means the line is very sharp. If you see the line shifted a bit, you know that’s because of relative motion. Astronomers have used the line to map the distribution of matter in the Milky Way, and have even used it to measure our galaxy’s rotation. Early observations of the line pointed to the existence of dark matter in our galaxy. And now you can do it at home.
There are other radio objects you can observe in the sky. The Sun is a popular target given its strong radio signal. Jupiter is another somewhat bright source. It’s a cool hobby. Even if you don’t intend to build a radio telescope of you’re own, it’s worth checking out the paper just to see how accessible radio astronomy has become.
Reference: J. Phelps. “Galactic Neutral Hydrogen Structures Spectroscopy and Kinematics: Designing a Home Radio Telescope for 21 cm Emission.” arXiv preprint arXiv:2411.00057 (2024).
The post You Can Build a Home Radio Telescope to Detect Clouds of Hydrogen in the Milky Way appeared first on Universe Today.
Astronaut Suni Williams 'in good health' on the ISS, NASA says, refuting tabloid claims
Bird flu antibodies found in dairy workers in Michigan and Colorado
Bird flu antibodies found in dairy workers in Michigan and Colorado
Marmots could have the solution to a long-running debate in evolution
Marmots could have the solution to a long-running debate in evolution
Hurricane Helene’s Gravity Waves Revealed by NASA’s AWE
2 min read
Hurricane Helene’s Gravity Waves Revealed by NASA’s AWEOn Sept. 26, 2024, Hurricane Helene slammed into the Gulf Coast of Florida, inducing storm surges and widespread impacts on communities in its path. At the same time, NASA’s Atmospheric Waves Experiment, or AWE, recorded enormous swells in the atmosphere that the hurricane produced roughly 55 miles above the ground. Such information helps us better understand how terrestrial weather can affect space weather, part of the research NASA does to understand how our space environment can disrupt satellites, communication signals, and other technology.
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that
supports HTML5 video
These massive ripples through the upper atmosphere, known as atmospheric gravity waves, appear in AWE’s images as concentric bands (artificially colored here in red, yellow, and blue) extending away from northern Florida.
“Like rings of water spreading from a drop in a pond, circular waves from Helene are seen billowing westward from Florida’s northwest coast,” said Ludger Scherliess, who is the AWE principal investigator at Utah State University in Logan.
Launched in November 2023 and mounted on the outside of the International Space Station, the AWE instrument looks down at Earth, scanning for atmospheric gravity waves, ripple-like patterns in the air generated by atmospheric disturbances such as violent thunderstorms, tornadoes, tsunamis, wind bursts over mountain ranges, and hurricanes. It does this by looking for brightness fluctuations in colorful bands of light called airglow in Earth’s mesosphere. AWE’s study of these gravity waves created by terrestrial weather helps NASA pinpoint how they affect space weather.
These views of gravity waves from Hurricane Helene are among the first publicly released images from AWE, confirming that the instrument has the sensitivity to reveal the impacts hurricanes have on Earth’s upper atmosphere.
By Vanessa Thomas
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
'Star Trek: Lower Decks' Season 5 episode 4: Who is Doctor Migleemo and why is he so obsessed with food?
NASA to Transform In-Space Manufacturing with Laser Beam Welding Collaboration
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)By Wayne Smith
As NASA plans for humans to return to the Moon and eventually explore Mars, a laser beam welding collaboration between NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and The Ohio State University in Columbus aims to stimulate in-space manufacturing.
Scientists and engineers from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, participating in the laser beam welding study in August, stand in front of the parabolic plane used for testing. From left, Will Evans, Louise Littles, Emma Jaynes, Andrew O’Connor, and Jeffrey Sowards. Not pictured: Zachary Courtright.Casey Coughlin/Starlab-George Washington Carver Science Park
The multi-year effort seeks to understand the physical processes of welding on the lunar surface, such as investigating the effects of laser beam welding in a combined vacuum and reduced gravity environment. The goal is to increase the capabilities of manufacturing in space to potentially assemble large structures or make repairs on the Moon, which will inform humanity’s next giant leap of sending astronauts to Mars and beyond.
“For a long time, we’ve used fasteners, rivets, or other mechanical means to keep structures that we assemble together in space,” said Andrew O’Connor, a Marshall materials scientist who is helping coordinate the collaborative effort and is NASA’s technical lead for the project. “But we’re starting to realize that if we really want strong joints and if we want structures to stay together when assembled on the lunar surface, we may need in-space welding.” The ability to weld structures in space would also eliminate the need to transport rivets and other materials, reducing payloads for space travel. That means learning how welds will perform in space.
To turn the effort into reality, researchers are gathering data on welding under simulated space conditions, such as temperature and heat transfer in a vacuum; the size and shape of the molten area under a laser beam; how the weld cross-section looks after it solidifies; and how mechanical properties change for welds performed in environmental conditions mimicking the lunar surface.
“Once you leave Earth, it becomes more difficult to test how the weld performs, so we are leveraging both experiments and computer modeling to predict welding in space while we’re still on the ground,” said O’Connor.
In August 2024, a joint team from Ohio State’s Welding Engineering and Multidisciplinary Capstone Programs and Marshall’s Materials & Processes Laboratory performed high-powered fiber laser beam welding aboard a commercial aircraft that simulated reduced gravity. The aircraft performed parabolic flight maneuvers that began in level flight, pulled up to add 8,000 feet in altitude, and pushed over at the top of a parabolic arc, resulting in approximately 20 seconds of reduced gravity to the passengers and experiments.
While floating in this weightless environment, team members performed laser welding experiments in a simulated environment similar to that of both low Earth orbit and lunar gravity. Analysis of data collected by a network of sensors during the tests will help researchers understand the effects of space environments on the welding process and welded material.
NASA Marshall engineers and scientists, along with their collaborators from Ohio State University, monitor laser beam welding in a vacuum chamber during a Boeing 727 parabolic flight. From left, Andrew O’Connor, Marshall materials scientist and NASA technical lead for the project; Louise Littles, Marshall materials scientist; and Aaron Brimmer, OSU graduate student.Tasha Dixon/Zero-G
“During the flights we successfully completed 69 out of 70 welds in microgravity and lunar gravity conditions, realizing a fully successful flight campaign,” said Will McAuley, an Ohio State welding engineering student.
Funded in part by Marshall and spanning more than two years, the work involves undergraduate and graduate students and professors from Ohio State, and engineers across several NASA centers. Marshall personnel trained alongside the university team, learning how to operate the flight hardware and sharing valuable lessons from previous parabolic flight experiments. NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, developed a portable vacuum chamber to support testing efforts.
The last time NASA performed welding in space was during the Skylab mission in 1973. Other parabolic tests have since been performed, using low-powered lasers. Practical welding and joining methods and allied processes, including additive manufacturing, will be required to develop the in-space economy. These processes will repurpose and repair critical space infrastructure and could build structures too large to fit current launch payload volumes. In-space welding could expedite building large habitats in low Earth orbit, spacecraft structures that keep astronauts safe on future missions, and more.
The work is also relevant to understanding how laser beam welding occurs on Earth. Industries could use data to inform welding processes, which are critical to a host of manufactured goods from cars and refrigerators to skyscrapers.
“We’re really excited about laser beam welding because it gives us the flexibility to operate in different environments,” O’Connor said.
There has been a resurgence of interest in welding as we look for innovative ways to put larger structures on the surface of the Moon and other planets.Andrew O’Connor
Marshall Space Flight Center materials scientist
This effort is sponsored by NASA Marshall’s Research and Development funds, the agency’s Science Mission Directorate Biological and Physical Sciences Division of the agency’s Science Mission Directorate, and NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, including NASA Flight Opportunities.
For more information about NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, visit:
Joel Wallace
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama
256.544.0034
joel.w.wallace@nasa.gov
Missions
Humans in Space
Climate Change
Solar System
Student-Built Capsules Endure Heat of Re-entry for NASA Science
In July 2024, five student-built capsules endured the scorching heat of re-entry through Earth’s atmosphere as part of the second Kentucky Re-Entry Probe Experiment (KREPE-2). Scientists are now analyzing the data from the KREPE-2 experiments, which could advance the development of heat shields that protect spacecraft when they return to Earth.
The mission was designed to put a variety of heat shield prototypes to the test in authentic re-entry conditions to see how they would perform. These experimental capsules, which were built by students at the University of Kentucky and funded by the NASA Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) within NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement, all survived more than 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit during descent.
The football-sized capsules also successfully transmitted valuable data via the Iridium satellite network along their fiery journey. The trove of information they provided is currently being analyzed to consider in current and future spacecraft design, and to improve upon designs for future experiments.
“These data – and the instruments used to obtain the data – assist NASA with designing and assessing the performance of current and new spacecraft that transport crew and cargo to and from space,” said Stan Bouslog, thermal protection system senior discipline expert at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston who served as the agency’s technical monitor for the project.
Taking the Plunge: Communicating Through a Fiery Descent
“The only way to ‘test like you fly’ a thermal protection system is to expose it to actual hypersonic flight through an atmosphere,” Bouslog said.
The self-contained capsules launched aboard an uncrewed Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft in January 2024 along with other cargo bound for the International Space Station. The cargo craft detached from the space station July 12 as the orbiting laboratory flew above the south Atlantic Ocean. As the Cygnus spacecraft began its planned breakup during re-entry, the KREPE-2 capsules detected a signal – a temperature spike or acceleration – to start recording data and were released from the vehicle. At that point, they were traveling at a velocity of about 16,000 miles per hour at an altitude of approximately 180,000 feet.
The University of Kentucky student team and advisors watched and waited to learn how the capsules had fared.
As the capsules descended through the atmosphere, one group watched from aboard an aircraft flying near the Cook Islands in the south Pacific Ocean, where they tracked the return of the Cygnus spacecraft. The flight was arranged in partnership with the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, and the University of Stuttgart in Stuttgart, Germany. Alexandre Martin, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Kentucky and the principal investigator for the experiment, was on that flight.
“We flew in close to the re-entry path to take scientific measurements,” Martin said, adding that they used multiple cameras and spectrometers to observe re-entry. “We now have a much better understanding of the break-up event of the Cygnus vehicle, and thus the release of the capsules.”
Meanwhile, members of the University of Kentucky’s Hypersonic Institute had gathered at the university to watch as KREPE-2 data arrived via email. All five successfully communicated their flight conditions as they hurtled to Earth.
“It will take time to extract the data and analyze it,” Martin said. “But the big accomplishment was that every capsule sent data.”
Members of the University of Kentucky student team have begun analyzing the data to digitally reconstruct the flight environment at the time of transmission, providing key insights for future computer modeling and heat shield design.
An artist’s rendering of one of the KREPE-2 capsules during re-entry. A. Martin, P. Rodgers, L. Young, J. Adams, University of Kentucky
Building on Student Success
The mission builds on the accomplishments of KREPE-1, which took place in December 2022. In that experiment, two capsules recorded temperature measurements as they re-entered Earth’s atmosphere and relayed that data to the ground.
The extensive dataset collected during the KREPE-2 re-entry includes heat shield measurements, such as temperature, as well as flight data including pressure, acceleration, and angular velocity. The team also successfully tested a spectrometer that provided spectral data of the shockwave in front of a capsule.
“KREPE-1 was really to show we could do it,” Martin said. “For KREPE-2, we wanted to fully instrument the capsules and really see what we could learn.”
KREPE-3 is currently set to take place in 2026.
The ongoing project has provided valuable opportunities for the University of Kentucky student team, from undergrads to PhD students, to contribute to spaceflight technology innovation.
“This effort is done by students entirely: fabrication, running simulations, handling all the NASA reviews, and doing all the testing,” Martin said. “We’re there supervising, of course, but it’s always the students who make these missions possible.”
Related links:
- EPSCoR
- Space Station Research Explorer: Kentucky Re-entry Probe Experiment-2
- Science Launches to Space Station on NASA’s 20th Northrop Grumman Mission
- Big Goals, Small Package: Enabling Compact Deliveries from Space
For Colleges and Universities
Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research
About STEM Engagement at NASA
Learning Resources
Hawke Endurance ED 10x42 monocular review
Space stations are loud — that's why NASA is making a quiet fan
NASA-Funded Study Examines Tidal Effects on Planet and Moon Interiors
2 min read
NASA-Funded Study Examines Tidal Effects on Planet and Moon InteriorsNASA-supported scientists have developed a new method to compute how tides affect the interiors of planets and moons. Importantly, the new study looks at the effects of body tides on objects that don’t have a perfectly spherical interior structure, which is an assumption of most previous models.
The puzzling, fascinating surface of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa looms large in this newly-reprocessed color view, made from images taken by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft in the late 1990s. This is the color view of Europa from Galileo that shows the largest portion of the moon’s surface at the highest resolution. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute
Body tides refer to the deformations experienced by celestial bodies when they gravitationally interact with other objects. Think of how the powerful gravity of Jupiter tugs on its moon Europa. Because Europa’s orbit isn’t circular, the crushing squeeze of Jupiter’s gravity on the moon varies as it travels along its orbit. When Europa is at its closest to Jupiter, the planet’s gravity is felt the most. The energy of this deformation is what heats up Europa’s interior, allowing an ocean of liquid water to exist beneath the moon’s icy surface.
“The same is true for Saturn’s moon Enceladus.” says co-author Alexander Berne of CalTech in Pasadena and an affiliate at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “Enceladus has an ice shell that is expected to be much more non-spherically symmetric than that of Europa.”
The body tides experienced by celestial bodies can affect how the worlds evolve over time and, in cases like Europa and Enceladus, their potential habitability for life as we know it. The new study provides a means to more accurately estimate how tidal forces affect planetary interiors.
In this movie Europa is seen in a cutaway view through two cycles of its 3.5 day orbit about the giant planet Jupiter. Like Earth, Europa is thought to have an iron core, a rocky mantle and a surface ocean of salty water. Unlike on Earth, however, this ocean is deep enough to cover the whole moon, and being far from the sun, the ocean surface is globally frozen over. Europa’s orbit is eccentric, which means as it travels around Jupiter, large tides, raised by Jupiter, rise and fall. Jupiter’s position relative to Europa is also seen to librate, or wobble, with the same period. This tidal kneading causes frictional heating within Europa, much in the same way a paper clip bent back and forth can get hot to the touch, as illustrated by the red glow in the interior of Europa’s rocky mantle and in the lower, warmer part of its ice shell. This tidal heating is what keeps Europa’s ocean liquid and could prove critical to the survival of simple organisms within the ocean, if they exist. The giant planet Jupiter is now shown to be rotating from west to east, though more slowly than its actual rate. NASA/JPL-CaltechThe paper also discusses how the results of the study could help scientists interpret observations made by missions to a variety of different worlds, ranging from Mercury to the Moon to the outer planets of our solar system.
The study, “A Spectral Method to Compute the Tides of Laterally Heterogeneous Bodies,” was published in The Planetary Science Journal.
For more information on NASA’s Astrobiology Program, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/astrobiology
-end-
Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov
Explore More 2 min read NASA’s New Edition of Graphic Novel Features Europa ClipperNASA has released a new edition of Issue 4 of the Astrobiology Graphic History series.…
Article
6 days ago
5 min read NASA: New Insights into How Mars Became Uninhabitable
Article
1 month ago
14 min read The Making of Our Alien Earth: The Undersea Volcanoes of Santorini, Greece
Article
2 months ago
Share Details Last Updated Nov 07, 2024 Related Terms