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Archive for the ‘space’ category: Page 358

Dec 28, 2021

Researchers capture high-frequency oscillations in the gigantic eruption of a neutron star

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, space

An international scientific group with outstanding Valencian participation has managed to measure for the first time oscillations in the brightness of a magnetar during its most violent moments. In just a 10th of a second, the magnetar released energy equivalent to that produced by the sun in 100,000 years. The observation was carried out without human intervention, thanks to an artificial intelligence system developed at the Image Processing Laboratory (IPL) of the University of Valencia.

Among , objects that can contain a half-million times the mass of the Earth in a diameter of about 20 kilometers, are magnetars, a small group with the most intense magnetic fields known. These objects, of which only 30 are known, suffer violent eruptions that are still little known due to their unexpected nature and their duration of barely 10ths of a second. Detecting them is a challenge for science and technology.

Over the past 20 years, scientists have wondered if there are high frequency oscillations in the magnetars. The team recently published their study of the of a magnetar in the journal Nature. They measured oscillations in the brightness of the magnetar during its most violent moments. These episodes are a crucial component in understanding giant magnetar eruptions. The work was conducted by six researchers from the University of Valencia and Spanish collaborators.

Dec 28, 2021

A mobile solar container with emergency power

Posted by in categories: energy, space

The subsidiary of cable distributor Klaus Faber has presented a compact solar battery container. The mobile container combines a solar system with 24 kilowatts and a lithium storage unit with 80 kilowatt hours of capacity as well as an emergency power generator.

Dec 28, 2021

Space telescope faces major test as sunshade deployment begins

Posted by in category: space

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It will take about five days to deploy the James Webb Space Telescope’s fragile sunshade in a complex and high-risk procedure.

Dec 28, 2021

Scientists have a new theory explaining liquid water on Mars

Posted by in category: space

The theory rests on a phenomenon well-documented on Earth.


On early Mars, water hung on longer than it should have — that might be because of water clouds that prevented evaporation of rivers and lakes.

Dec 28, 2021

A Vertical Farm Company Aims to Reduce Food Waste With Local Produce

Posted by in categories: energy, food, space, sustainability

With hundreds of times more food per acre than regular farms.

Vertical farming is a revolutionary form of agriculture. As its name suggests, it’s a form of agriculture that is specifically designed to facilitate agricultural production inside vertical structures. These farms can be created inside old warehouses, used shipping containers, greenhouses, or other buildings, saving space and energy.

As a more sustainable method of farming, vertical farming tends to require much less energy than regular farming which is estimated to be 95% less water since the used water in farming can be recycled and reused.

Dec 28, 2021

Samples from Asteroid Ryugu Are Most Primitive Material We’ve Found

Posted by in categories: materials, space

The material that the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft returned from asteroid Ryugu is the most pristine sample we’ve ever gotten our hands on.

Tests at two laboratories show that the dark grains that the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft collected from the carbon-rich near-Earth asteroid 162,173 Ryugu are the most primitive materials known in the solar system.

“In this body you see hydrated materials and signs of organics from very early in the formation of the solar system — that’s exciting!” says Deborah Domingue (Planetary Science Institute), who was not involved in those studies but did earlier analysis of remote sensing data of Ryugu.

Dec 27, 2021

Astronomers Detect an Exoplanet’s Magnetic Field for the First Time

Posted by in category: space

All we can say about most of the 4,000+ known exoplanets is that they exist. Their physical characteristics are unknowable with current technology, but a few have given up some secrets. Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have identified a magnetic field around the exoplanet HAT-P-11b. Earth’s magnetic field is essential for our continued existence, and this is the first time we’ve confirmed one around an exoplanet.

Earth and several other objects in our solar system have magnetic fields, a consequence of the way planets and moons interact with the solar wind. On Earth, the magnetosphere deflects damaging radiation, which would otherwise render the surface inhospitable. Fields surrounding exoplanets could serve a similar purpose. There was every reason to think exoplanets could have magnetic fields like the ones we see locally, but this is the first time we’ve been able to confirm that.

Astronomers from the University of Arizona observed the exoplanet HAT-P-11 b across six transits — that’s when the exoplanet passes in front of its host star from our perspective. This is how the HATNet Project discovered HAT-P-11 b in 2009. It was confirmed and further characterized later using radial velocity measurements from the Keck Observatory, which is the other standard method for detecting distant planets. Although, HAT-P-11 b is relatively close in the grand scheme at just 123 light years away.

Dec 27, 2021

Listen: NASA probe captures “wild” sounds from the Solar System’s largest moon

Posted by in category: space

Juno just picked up some odd frequencies at Ganymede, Jupiter’s largest moon, which hint at its structure below. This includes the possibility of water oceans.

Dec 27, 2021

A Mars-Sized Planet Discovered Orbiting Extremely Close to Host Star — Its Year Is Less Than 10 Hours

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, space

Mars-sized object orbiting extremely closely to an M-dwarf star has been validated using the Penn State Habitable-zone Planet Finder (HPF). The planet, which was originally classified as a false positive in an automated search of data collected by the Kepler space telescope, is about half the size of Earth and is so close to its host star that it orbits in less than 10 hours. If it were orbiting a star the size of our sun it would be skimming the star’s corona—the aura of exceedingly hot plasma.

Plasma is one of the four fundamental states of matter, along with solid, liquid, and gas. It is an ionized gas consisting of positive ions and free electrons. It was first described by chemist Irving Langmuir in the 1920s.

Dec 26, 2021

Robot made of ice can repair and rebuild itself

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, space

A team of researchers want to build robots out of ice and send them to space. The idea is that — lacking a local repair shop — the icy bots can use found materials to rebuild themselves.

Ice can be located all over the solar system, from the moon to the distant rings around Saturn. So researchers from the University of Pennsylvania are trying to figure out how to tap into that nearly unlimited resource for robotics.

NASA wants to send the robot dog, Spot, to space. The canine-bot can do many tricks — from herding sheep to helping the NYPD in a hostage situation — but it likely won’t be able to repair itself. Where could it find enough materials to do the job?