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Travelling to Mars has its own challenges. The distance alone makes the journey something of a mission in itself. Arrive though, and the handwork has only just begun. Living and surviving on Mars will be perhaps humans biggest challenge yet.  It would be impossible to take everything along with you to survive so instead, it would be imperative to ‘live off the land’ and produce as much locally as possible. A new rover called AgroMars will be equipped with a number of agriculture related experiments to study the make up of the soil to assess its suitability for growing food. 

Growing food on Mars poses a number of challenges, chiefly due to the harsh environmental conditions. Not least of which is the low atmospheric pressure, temperature extremes and high radiation levels. To try and address these, new techniques have been developed in the fields of hydroponics and aeroponics. The key to these new techniques involves using nutrient rich solutions instead of soils. 

Special structures are build analogous to greenhouses on Earth with artificial lighting, temperature and humidity control. Genetic engineering too has played a part in developing plants that are more hardy and capably of surviving in harsh Martian environments. As we continue to explore the Solar System and in particular Mars, we are going to have to find ways to grow food in alien environments. 

The space station’s Veggie Facility, tended here by NASA astronaut Scott Tingle, during the VEG-03 plant growth investigation, which cultivated Extra Dwarf Pak Choi, Red Russian Kale, Wasabi mustard, and Red Lettuce and harvested on-orbit samples for testing back on Earth. Credits: NASA

Enter AgroMars. A space mission taking a rover to Mars to hunt for, and explore the possibility of establishing agriculture on Mars! The rover will be launched with similar capabilities to the likes of Perseverance or Curiosity. The rover will be launched to Mars by a Falcon 9 launch vehicle operated by Space X but this is some years off yet. The development phase has yet to start. In a paper by lead author M. Duarte dos San- tos the mission has been shaped, reality is a little way off. 

On arrival, AgroMars will use an X-ray and infrared spectrometer, high resolution cameras, pH sensors, mass spectrometers and drilling tools to collect and analyse soil samples. The samples will be assessed for mineralogical composition, soil texture, soil pH, presence of organic compounds and water retention capacity. 

To be able to assess the Martian soil the rover must possess advanced capabilities for collecting and analysing soil samples, more than before. The data will then be sent on to laboratories on Earth and it is their responsibility to interpret the information. The multitude of groups involved is a wonderful reminder how science transcends geographical borders. Working together will yield far better results and help to advance our knowledge of astrobiology and agriculture on Mars. 

‘Calypso’ Panorama of Spirit’s View from ‘Troy’. This full-circle view from the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows the terrain surrounding the location called “Troy,” where Spirit became embedded in soft soil during the spring of 2009. The hundreds of images combined into this view were taken beginning on the 1,906th Martian day (or sol) of Spirit’s mission on Mars (May 14, 2009) and ending on Sol 1943 (June 20, 2009). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University

This doesn’t come cheap though. The estimated cost of the mission is in the region of $2.7 billion which includes development, launch and exploration for the entire mission. 

The total cost of the mission is estimated to be around $2.7 billion, which includes $2.2 billion for the development and launch of the rover and $500 million for its exploitation during the entirety of the mission. Whether it – pardon the pun – gets off the ground is yet to be seen but if we are to explore and even establish a permanent base on Mars then we will have to gain a better understanding of the environment to feed and sustain future explorers. 

Source : AgroMars, Space Mission Concept Study To Explore Martian Soil And Atmosphere To Search For Possibility Of Agriculture on Mars.

Link :

The post Want to Start a Farm on Mars? This Rover Will Find Out if it’s Possible appeared first on Universe Today.

To remain youthful in a cosmic demolition derby around supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*, some cannibalistic stars gruesomely bathe in outer layers of their stellar victims.

Combining PSA blood tests with MRI scans is making the screening less harmful, but it still should be targeted only at high-risk groups, such as men who are Black or have a family history of prostate cancer, says a new report

Combining PSA blood tests with MRI scans is making the screening less harmful, but it still should be targeted only at high-risk groups, such as men who are Black or have a family history of prostate cancer, says a new report

In a paper published on the 1st April, author Mark Popinchalk reported upon a fascinating piece of research focussing on which animal has seen the most solar eclipses! It turns out that, whilst us humans have seen our fair share we are nowhere near the top of the list.  According to Popinchalk, the horseshoe crabs have seen a staggering 138 trillion solar eclipses across the entire species. We are hot on their heels but it won’t be until about 10 million years that we catch up!

On Monday we will be treated to another total solar eclipse across many parts of the globe. As the eclipse progresses – which is the result of a perfect Earth, Moon and Sun alignment – the Moon blocks sunlight from reaching parts of the Earth. When the Moon is directly between the two, from parts of the Earth, the Sun is completely blocked and we see a total solar eclipse. When only part of the Sun is blocked, we see a partial eclipse. As the eclipse progresses on Monday, hundreds of millions of people will witness the event unfold. 

Totality and the ‘diamond ring effect,’ captured during the 2023 total solar eclipse as seen from Ah Chong Island, Australia. Credit: Eliot Herman

It goes without saying that eclipses are not human constructs, nor are they purely the domain of the human being. Eclipses have occurred for millions of years, from a time long before humans appeared on Earth. This means that animals, for billions of years, witnessed eclipses long before we were the proverbial twinkle in the eye of mother Earth. 

Across the eons where eclipses have taken place there has been countless creatures walking/flying and swimming around. Even microbial activity Popinchalk suggests should be considered but it is impossible to say too much about them. In the Cambrian period there was a wide range of animals that evolved onto the surface of the Earth. The challenge however is to decide if an animal is actually aware of an eclipse, much less actually ‘observe’ it. There are anecdotal reports of birds going to roost during the lower light levels. Quantifying this is difficult.

Recent studies into the reaction of animals during total solar eclipses from zoos in metropolitan areas. Hartstone—Rose and team tracked the responses to 17 families of animals during the 2017 eclipse and found that 13 of them behaved differently than usual, with 8 performing night time routines. Others, such as primates, exhibited anxiety based behaviours much like our early ancestors did. 

Hartstone-Rose et al observed the Galapagos turtles turning to look toward the sky during an eclipse, were they perhaps observing and contemplating the event? Studies from Lofting and Dolittle (1920) have explored animal communications but until we can unlock the mystery of animal communication we may never know. We cannot however, hide from the fact that animals may well have seen eclipses, the debate is whether they really cottoned on to what was happening. 

In the conclusion, Popinchalk shows how, for an estimated standing population of horseshoe crabs of 120 million they would have witnessed 1.5 million eclipses making a total of 130 trillion total solar eclipse experiences. As for humans, if we take a standing (average) population of 1 million and 320,000 eclipses thats a mere 32 billion experiences. We are lagging behind. The paper is a fascinating read, give it a try, but do remember it was published on the 1st April, the numbers may have changed by then! It’s worthy of a winky emoji at this point

SpaceX has moved its giant Super Heavy booster to the pad for testing ahead of the next Starship test flight, which could launch as soon as May.

White House officials have directed NASA to begin work on establishing a standard time for the Moon, according to a report from Reuters this week. Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC) is intended to help ensure synchronization between the various lunar activities planned under the Artemis program.

Timekeeping is essential to space travel. It ensures orbital maneuvers occur correctly, it helps communications between spacecraft remain secure, and it prevents errors in positioning and mapping. Without it, in other words, lunar exploration would get very complicated.

We can blame Einstein and his theory of relativity for part of the problem. Time is experienced differently under different gravitational conditions, an effect known as time dilation.

“The same clock that we have on Earth would move at a different rate on the moon,” Kevin Coggins, NASA’s space communications and navigation chief, told Reuters.

On the Moon, clocks move faster than their Earthly counterparts by 58.7 microseconds per day. While most humans wouldn’t notice such a tiny difference, spacecraft certainly do.

Currently, spacecraft in low Earth orbit, like GPS satellites and the International Space Station, run on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). But even in these cases, periodic corrections need to be made for time dilation, otherwise GPS systems would lose precision and ultimately fail.

Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques shows his watch, set to UTC, aboard the International Space Station. Credit: CSA.

The Apollo program’s moon missions in the 1960s-70s relied on Houston time. Mission control was the astronauts’ timekeeper – though astronauts made sidereal measurements using the stars to ensure they were on course and on time – that was enough for short-term lunar visits with only two vehicles (a command module and a lander).

But with dozens of countries and private companies vying to engage in long-term lunar exploration under the Artemis program, a shared timekeeping system is going to be vital.

“Think of the atomic clocks at the U.S. Naval Observatory (in Washington). They’re the heartbeat of the nation, synchronizing everything. You’re going to want a heartbeat on the moon,” Coggins said.

NASA will need international cooperation to bring LTC into being. UTC, the global standard for Earthly timekeeping, is managed by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, and LTC will likely need to be brought before the same body to ensure its implementation is accepted internationally.

The White House memo proposing LTC recognized the need for international agreements to bring it to fruition. It suggested facilitating LTC through existing international bodies, but also through the Artemis Accords, a recent 36-nation agreement that outlines guidelines for cooperative space exploration.

According to the memo, plans for LTC are expected to be finalized by the end of 2026.

The post The Moon Will Get its Own Time Zone appeared first on Universe Today.

3 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Cherie Beech works in the NASA Stennis Office of the Chief Information Officer, where she helps many of the more than 5,200 employees of the NASA Stennis Federal City, as customer engagement and information technology acquisition specialist.NASA/Danny Nowlin

Cherie Beech knows full well the opportunity that working at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, affords. Since arriving at the federal city as a contractor 26 years ago, she since has expanded her skillset and grown as a member of the NASA Stennis team.

“I always want to make sure, by doing my job, that things are better than the way I found it…That’s what I strive to do. I’m ecstatic to work at NASA Stennis. I’m very humble and grateful for it.”

cherie beech

NASA Stennis Customer Engagement and IT Acquisition Specialist

“We are very blessed to have these opportunities,” said Beech, who works in the NASA Stennis Office of the Chief Information Officer. “It is fascinating because it takes everybody, all of us, to accomplish the work. It took me a long time, but I finally understand that it takes all skillsets to accomplish the job, because it takes all of us to ensure mission success.”

The mission is helping NASA explore the unknown in air and space, innovate for the benefit of humanity, and inspire the world through discovery. Through Artemis, NASA will return America to the Moon to establish the foundation for long-term scientific exploration and then set its sights on Mars for the benefit of all. Such a goal requires a diverse group of people to help make it happen. 

“We all bring our unique traits and skills to the table, and that’s what I enjoy,” Beech said. “We all are valued. We are all contributing to the bigger thing, and I find that fascinating.”

Beech, a native of Picayune, Mississippi, grew up less than 15 miles from the south Mississippi NASA center often referenced then as “the test site.” She sometimes heard propulsion testing as a young girl and since has experienced NASA Stennis transforming into a multifaceted aerospace and technology hub.

“It’s a place full of opportunity,” she said.

Beech began her NASA Stennis career as a scheduler with Lockheed Martin. Her role evolved to include work with budget submissions, and communication and outreach, among other functions. Beech continued working across multiple contracts through the years working to support the NASA Stennis Office of the Chief Information Officer. She subsequently was hired as a civil servant by NASA in 2020.

“Once I was at NASA Stennis, then I realized there is a lot here to offer for all careers. There are also chances where you can talk to people and learn from everybody. People are so nice and very willing to help you and mentor and guide you. Since being here, I have learned all the necessary technical knowledge.”

In her role as customer engagement and information technology acquisition specialist with NASA, Beech now helps many of the more than 5,200 employees working across the federal city to ensure all understand the latest technology updates that contribute to their line of work. She also helps ensure employees are aware of all the NASA information technology purchasing regulations for work projects involving hardware and/or software.

“I always want to make sure, by doing my job, that things are better than the way I found it,” Beech said. “That’s what I strive to do. I’m ecstatic to work at NASA Stennis. I’m very humble and grateful for it.”

For information about NASA’s Stennis Space Center, visit:

Stennis Space Center – NASA

The new BREAD experiment, which was designed to search the cosmos for mysterious dark matter, has returned its first results.

6 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) This artist’s concept depicts the NEOWISE spacecraft in orbit around Earth. Launched in 2009 to survey the entire sky in infrared, the spacecraft took on a more specialized role in 2014 when it was reactivated to study near-Earth asteroids and comets.NASA/JPL-Caltech

As the infrared space telescope continues its long-duration survey of the universe, it is creating a unique resource for future astronomers to make new discoveries.

NASA’s NEOWISE mission has released its 10th year of infrared data – the latest in a unique long-duration (or “time-domain”) survey that captures how celestial objects change over long periods. Time-domain astronomy can help scientists see how distant variable stars change in brightness and observe faraway black holes flaring as they consume matter. But NEOWISE has a special focus on our planet’s local cosmic neighborhood, producing a time-domain infrared survey used for planetary science, with a particular emphasis on asteroids and comets.

Short for Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, NEOWISE is a key component of NASA’s planetary defense strategy, helping the agency refine the orbits of asteroids and comets while also estimating their size. One such example is the potentially hazardous asteroid Apophis, which will make a close approach of our planet in 2029.

By repeatedly observing the sky from its location in low-Earth orbit, NEOWISE has made 1.45 million infrared measurements of over 44,000 solar system objects. That includes more than 3,000 NEOs, 215 of which the space telescope discovered. Twenty-five of those are comets, including the famous comet NEOWISE.

“The space telescope has been a workhorse for characterizing NEOs that may pose a hazard to Earth in the future,” said Amy Mainzer, NEOWISE’s principal investigator at the University of Arizona and University of California, Los Angeles. “The data that NEOWISE has generated for free use by the scientific community will pay dividends for generations.”

From Data to Discovery

Managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the mission sends data three times a day to the U.S. Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) network, which then delivers it to IPAC, an astronomical data research center at Caltech in Pasadena, California. IPAC processes the raw data into fully calibrated images that are accessible online. It also generates NEO detections, sending them to the Minor Planet Center – the internationally recognized clearinghouse for the position measurements of solar system bodies. By searching multiple images of the same patch of sky at different times, scientists capture the motions of individual asteroids and comets.

This top-down animated view of the solar system shows the positions of all the asteroids and comets detected by NEOWISE in the decade since its reactivation in 2014. Credit: IPAC/Caltech/University of Arizona

“The science products we generate identify specific infrared sources in the sky with precisely determined positions and brightnesses that enable discoveries to be made,” said Roc Cutri, lead scientist for the NEOWISE Science Data System at IPAC. “The most fun thing when I look at the data for the first time is knowing that no one has seen this before. It puts you in a unique position of doing real exploration.”

IPAC will also produce data products for NASA’s NEO Surveyor, which is targeting a launch no earlier than 2027. Managed by JPL, with Mainzer serving as principal investigator, the next-generation space survey telescope will seek out some of the hardest-to-find near-Earth objects, such as dark asteroids and comets that don’t reflect much visible light but shine brighter in infrared light.

Two Missions, One Spacecraft

The NEOWISE spacecraft launched in 2009, but as a different mission and with a different name: the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, which set out to survey the entire sky. As an infrared telescope, WISE studied distant galaxies, comparatively cool red dwarf stars, exploding white dwarfs, and outgassing comets, as well as NEOs.

An infrared telescope requires cryogenic coolant to prevent the spacecraft’s heat from disrupting its observations. After the WISE telescope’s ran out of coolant and was no longer able to observe the universe’s coldest objects, NASA put the spacecraft into hibernation in 2011. But because the telescope could still detect the infrared glow of comets and asteroids as they are heated by the Sun, Mainzer proposed to restart the spacecraft to keep an eye on them. The mission was reactivated in 2014 and renamed NEOWISE, extending the life of a spacecraft that was initially planned for less than a year of operation.

“We are 14 years into a seven-month mission,” said Joseph Masiero, NEOWISE’s deputy principal investigator and a scientist at IPAC. He started at JPL as a postdoctoral researcher working on WISE just two months before the spacecraft launched on Dec. 14, 2009. “This little mission has been with me my entire career – it just kept going, making new discoveries, helping us better understand the universe,” Masiero added. “And if it wasn’t for the tyranny of orbital dynamics, I’m sure the spacecraft would continue to operate for years to come.”

Solar activity is causing NEOWISE to fall out of orbit, and the spacecraft is expected to drop low enough into Earth’s atmosphere that it will eventually become unusable.

“NEOWISE has lasted way past its original spacecraft design lifetime,” said Joseph Hunt, NEOWISE project manager at JPL. “But as we didn’t build it with a way to reach higher orbits, the spacecraft will naturally drop so low in the atmosphere that it will become unusable and entirely burn up in the months following decommissioning. Exactly when depends on the Sun’s activity.”

More About the Mission

NEOWISE and NEO Surveyor support the objectives of NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO) at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The NASA Authorization Act of 2005 directed NASA to discover and characterize at least 90% of the near-Earth objects more than 140 meters (460 feet) across that come within 30 million miles (48 million kilometers) of our planet’s orbit. Objects of this size can cause significant regional damage, or worse, should they impact the Earth.

JPL manages and operates the NEOWISE mission for PDCO within the Science Mission Directorate. The Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan, Utah, built the science instrument. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. of Boulder, Colorado, built the spacecraft. Science data processing takes place at IPAC at Caltech. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

For more information about NEOWISE, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/neowise

and

http://neowise.ipac.caltech.edu/

NASA’s NEOWISE Celebrates 10 Years, Plans End of Mission Data From NASA’s WISE Used to Preview Lucy Mission’s Asteroid Dinkinesh Asteroid Mission Aims to Explore Mysteries of Earth's Core News Media Contacts

Ian J. O’Neill
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-2649
ian.j.oneill@jpl.nasa.gov

Karen Fox / Charles Blue
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1257 / 202-802-5345
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / charles.e.blue@nasa.gov

2024-038

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Details Last Updated Apr 04, 2024 Related Terms

• NEOWISE
• Comets
• Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA)
• NEO Surveyor (Near-Earth Object Surveyor Space Telescope)
• Planetary Defense
• Planetary Defense Coordination Office

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Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The results from a NASA software tool called OVERFLOW, used to model the flow of air around aircraft, are shown in this image.NASA

Several air taxi companies are using a NASA-developed computer software tool to predict aircraft noise and aerodynamic performance. This tool allows manufacturers working in fields related to NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility mission to see early in the aircraft development process how design elements like propellors or wings would perform. This saves the industry time and money when making potential design modifications.

This NASA computer code, called “OVERFLOW,” performs calculations to predict fluid flows such as air, and the pressures, forces, moments, and power requirements that come from the aircraft. Since these fluid flows contribute to aircraft noise, improved predictions can help engineers design quieter models. Manufacturers can integrate the code with their own aircraft modeling programs to run different scenarios, quantifying performance and efficiency, and visually interpreting how the airflow behaves on and around the vehicle. These interpretations can come forward in a variety of colors representing these behaviors.

This computer program is available to industry for U.S. release via the software.nasa.gov website.

An OVERFLOW modeling image from the manufacturer Joby Aviation.Joby Aviation An OVERFLOW modeling image from the manufacturer Wisk.Wisk An OVERFLOW modeling image from the manufacturer Archer Aviation.Archer Aviation Share

Details Last Updated Apr 04, 2024 EditorDede DiniusContactTeresa Whitingteresa.whiting@nasa.govLocationArmstrong Flight Research Center Related Terms

• Armstrong Flight Research Center
• Advanced Air Mobility
• Advanced Air Vehicles Program
• Aeronautics
• Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate
• Ames Research Center
• Drones & You
• Flight Innovation
• Glenn Research Center
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• Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technology

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What is Dark Matter? We don’t know. At this stage of the game, scientists are busy trying to detect it and map out its presence and distribution throughout the Universe. Usually, that involves highly-engineered, sophisticated telescopes.

But a new approach involves a device so small it can sit on a kitchen table.

A collaboration between the University of Chicago and the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory has resulted in a tabletop device called Broadband Reflector Experiment for Axion Detection or BREAD. BREAD is built to detect dark matter, and its first results are now available in a new paper.

The paper is “First Results from a Broadband Search for Dark Photon Dark Matter in the 44 to 52 µeV Range with a Coaxial Dish Antenna.” It’s published in Physical Review Letters, and the lead author is Stefan Knirck. Knirck is a Fermilab postdoctoral scholar who led the construction of the detector.

The word ‘mysterious’ barely describes dark matter. It constitutes about 85% of the matter in the Universe. It can’t be seen, but its presence is inferred from observations. Its mass holds galaxies together; without it, they would fly apart.

“We’re very confident that something is there, but there are many, many forms it could take.”

David Miller, University of Chicago

Dark matter is sometimes described as the Universe’s backbone or the scaffolding that holds regular matter. Simulations like TNG Illustris showed how dark matter is distributed throughout the Universe in a network of filaments and clumps. The distribution of galaxy clusters follows the same pattern.

TNG 50, TNG 100, and TNG 300 simulated increasingly large sections of the Universe, showing how dark matter is spread throughout the Universe. Image: IllustrisTNG

Physicists still don’t know what dark matter is. But it’s there, and there are several candidates.

“We’re very confident that something is there, but there are many, many forms it could take,” said University of Chicago Associate Professor David Miller. Miller is a co-leader of the BREAD experiment.

One of the candidates is a hypothetical type of particle called an axion. If they’re real and their mass is within certain limits, they could be one of dark matter’s components.

The BREAD experiment focuses on the mass range of 10.7–12.5 GHz. Within that range, it searches for dark photon dark matter. Along with axions, they’re one of the most promising candidates for dark matter. Dark photons are a hypothetical type of particle that physicists think might act as a force carrier for dark matter like photons are force carriers for electromagnetism. Axions and dark photons are linked in the search for dark matter, but a detailed explanation is beyond the scope of this article. (Watch Fraser Cain’s videos for a deeper dive.)

BREAD’s first run lasted 24 days and didn’t detect anything; if it had, it would be huge news, and we’d all hear it. But, since its effort is so focused, the lack of detection is still constructive.

“We’re very excited about what we’ve been able to do so far,” said Miller, “There are lots of practical advantages to this design, and we’ve already shown the best sensitivity to date in this 11-12 gigahertz frequency.”

Each candidate for dark matter requires a specific search. Physicists build detectors aimed at specific candidates. BREAD is a little bit different. As its name illustrates, it’s a broadband detector. It can search across a range of frequencies, though its precision suffers.

“If you think about it like a radio, the search for dark matter is like tuning the dial to search for one particular radio station, except there are a million frequencies to check through,” said Miller. “Our method is like doing a scan of 100,000 radio stations, rather than a few very thoroughly.”

This version of BREAD is a scaled-down version of what the full-scale version will be. Eventually, BREAD will sit inside a magnet. The magnetic field will boost the chances that dark matter particles will be converted into detectable photons. This first 24-day run was a proof of principle.

“This is just the first step in a series of exciting experiments we are planning.”

Andrew Sonnenschein, Fermilab Fermilab’s Stefan Knirck with components of the BREAD detector. Eventually, BREAD will be placed inside a magnet to boost the chances that dark photons will convert to photons. Image Credit: BREAD

Though this first proof of principle run didn’t detect any dark matter, the results were still helpful. The run showed that BREAD is very sensitive in its frequency range. The researchers think they can improve the sensitivity even more.

“This is just the first step in a series of exciting experiments we are planning,” said Andrew Sonnenschein from Fermilab, who originally developed the concept behind BREAD. “We have many ideas for improving the sensitivity of our axion search.”

This schematic from the research helps explain how BREAD works. Dark photons convert to photons emitted perpendicularly from the cylinder. The signal is focused on a coaxial horn antenna, amplified using a low-noise receiver chain (right), down-converted and digitized using a custom real-time field-programmable gate array-based broadband data acquisition system (bottom). Image Credit: Knirck et al. 2024

Dark matter and what comprises it is one of the most confounding questions in science. For Miller, BREAD is more than just another science experiment. It speaks to the creativity needed to explore dark matter thoroughly and the way researchers at different institutions can work together to make progress.

“There are still so many open questions in science and an enormous space for creative new ideas for tackling those questions,” said Miller. “I think this is really a hallmark example of those kinds of creative ideas—in this case, impactful, collaborative partnerships between smaller-scale science at universities and larger-scale science at national laboratories.”

The post A New Tabletop Experiment to Search for Dark Matter appeared first on Universe Today.

Starliner, the new crewed capsule from Boeing, has been in the works for a long time. Originally unveiled in 2010, the capsule has been under development for the last 14 years, primarily utilizing NASA grants and contracts. However, Boeing itself has taken upwards of 1 billion dollars in hits to earnings as part of the craft’s development. After all that time in the prototype stages, Starliner is finally ready for its first crewed flight – which has now officially been scheduled for May 6th.

The launch will utilize a ULA Atlas V, which was also partly developed by Boeing. Like most Atlas V launches, it will take off from Cape Canaveral in Florida and take two astronauts – Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore – to the International Space Station.

To make room for the capsule, the crew already stationed on the ISS has to do some additional work, including moving a Dragon capsule out of the docking port on the ISS’s Harmony module to which the Starliner will have to attach. To move the capsule, they will also have to complete some additional “science and cargo logistics,” according to a NASA Press release.

Fraser covers Starliner’s successful test flight.

Those logistics seem to be the primary cause of a final five-day delay (from May 1st to 5th) that the Starliner will have to endure. Once at the ISS, Williams and Wilmore will spend a week helping out on the ISS before using the Starliner capsule to return to Earth.

That is assuming all goes well with their flight. Starliner has had at least one spectacular failure as part of its development, though it successfully completed an uncrewed flight in May of 2022. If any astronauts are ready to ride on a new crewed capsule, it’s Williams and Wilmore. Both have been astronauts for over 20 years, and each was a trained Navy Test Pilot before joining NASA.

The capsule they will be using, known as Calypso, has already been to orbit, though not as many times as the astronauts themselves. It was used in the first orbital test flight, and while it didn’t manage to dock up with the ISS, it did land successfully and wouldn’t pose a risk to any astronauts on board.

Video from Boeing showcasing Starliner mounted atop an Atlas V.
Credit – Boeing YouTube Channel

Upon completing this test flight, NASA hopes to rely on the Starliner to provide regular crewed missions to the ISS. This would be supplemental to the SpaceX Dragon capsule the agency already uses and mark the definitive end to the drought of American crewed spaceflight.

Future missions include a four-person flight planned for 2025, assuming all goes well with this first one. Boeing also has a contract with NASA for five additional flights between 2026 and 2030. But first, if all goes well, on May 6th, after decades of work, the world will hopefully gain another crewed vehicle to help facilitate our path to the stars.

Learn More:
NASA – NASA, Boeing Update Launch Date for Starliner’s First Astronaut Flight
UT – Starliner Faces New Delays for Crewed Flights to ISS
UT – Finally! We get to See a View From Inside Boeing’s Starliner During its First Flight
UT – Starliner Needs Even More Fixes, and Probably won’t Carry Astronauts Until 2023

Lead Image:
The Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft is lifted at the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex-41 at Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on May 4, 2022.
Photo credit: NASA/Frank Michaux

The post NASA Announces Starliner’s Next Launch Attempt: May 6 appeared first on Universe Today.

The six-person crew of Blue Origin's seventh human spaceflight includes Ed Dwight, who was picked in 1961 to be the nation's first black astronaut candidate.

It's round two for the Atmospheric Perturbations around Eclipse Path (APEP) sounding rockets.

A solar geoengineering experiment in San Francisco could lead to brighter clouds that reflect sunlight. The risks are numerous

One person in the US has contracted bird flu after being exposed to dairy cows that have the virus, but experts say there is no immediate threat of a wider outbreak in people

One person in the US has contracted bird flu after being exposed to dairy cows that have the virus, but experts say there is no immediate threat of a wider outbreak in people