A bizarre, volcanic comet has violently erupted, spewing out more than 1 million tons of gas, ice and the “potential building blocks of life” into the solar system.
When the New Horizons probe reached the outer dark of the Solar System, out past Pluto, its instruments picked up something strange.
Very, very faintly, the space between the stars was glowing with optical light. This in itself was not unexpected; this light is called the cosmic optical background, a faint luminescence from all the light sources in the Universe outside our galaxy.
The strange part was the amount of light. There was significantly more than scientists thought there should be – twice as much, in fact.
Recent data from Hubble suggests that the Universe is expanding at a rate of around 73km per megaparsec (3.26 million light-years).
Is the cosmos infinite? Do stars and spaces go on forever? Do the numbers of galaxies, and even of universes, have no end? Here’s how infinity enriches appreciation of reality. Featuring interviews with Martin Rees, Anthony Aguirre, Raphael Bousso, Sean Carroll, and Joshua Knobe.
Season 11, Episode 7 — #CloserToTruth.
Continue reading “What Would an Infinite Cosmos Mean? | Episode 1107 | Closer To Truth” »
Year 2020 face_with_colon_three Propellant free thruster.
I usually approach papers on the subject of alternative thrusters with a certain degree of cynicism. But we’ve finally been given a study on microwave thrusters that doesn’t rely on impossible physics. Instead, it used a plain old plasma thruster.
Plasma thrusters have generally been thought of as a means of propulsion in space, but now one has been designed to operate under atmospheric conditions. According to the researchers involved, it’s an air plasma thruster that has the potential to produce the same thrust as a commercial jet engine.
Continue reading “Microwave thruster makes for clean-burning jet” »
Dongfeng Landing Site, Inner Mongolia, north China — Recent (CCTV — No access Chinese mainland) 10. Various of workers in preparation for Shenzhou-14 crew’s return 11. Fast motion of ground radar equipment; vehicles.
In Space — Recent (China Manned Space Agency — No access Chinese mainland) 12. Space station view taken by Tianhe panoramic camera c 13. Fast motion of space station.
The Shenzhou-14 crew, after staying at China’s space station for half a year and performing rotation with their Shenzhou-15 colleagues, is scheduled to return to Earth on Sunday.
That meteor, now known as 2022 WJ1, was first noticed by the Catalina Sky Survey at around midnight Eastern on that date (the time zone in which it ended up landing). Catalina is one of the most prolific discoverers of asteroids and is a crucial link in the planetary defense chain. A NASA press release details the steps that come afterward that result in a successful landing prediction.
The 2022 WJ1 was pretty small, only about one meter wide, and posed no actual threat to anyone or anything on the ground. But the planetary defense network is designed to catch much bigger potential threats. The fact that it reacted with such speed shows that it is becoming more and more capable and will be much more likely to find any potentially devastating events, such as the Chelyabinsk meteor in 2013, which caused 1,400 injuries and around $33 million in property damage.
It leads to improved muscular endurance for the muscles of the lower legs while reducing the burden on our joints.
Walking doesn’t require any special equipment or gym memberships, and best of all, it’s completely free. For most of us, walking is something we do automatically. It doesn’t require conscious effort, so many of us fail to remember the benefits of walking for health. But what happens if we stop walking on auto-pilot and start challenging our brains and bodies by walking backwards? Not only does this change of direction demand more of our attention, but it may also bring additional health benefits.
Physical activity doesn’t need to be complicated.
Continue reading “Human reverse gear? Here are the hidden health benefits of walking backwards” »
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii have taken images revealing clouds floating across the skies of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. These images will help researchers understand weather patterns on Titan, the only world other than Earth known to have liquid oceans on its surface.
The left image was taken by JWST on 4 November. Near the top of the image is Kraken Mare, Titan’s largest known sea, flanked by two fluffy white clouds. It is currently summertime in Titan’s northern hemisphere, the time when clouds were expected to form most easily because of the increased sunshine on the surface. These observations confirm the presence of those seasonal clouds.
In an effort to find out whether the clouds were moving or changing shape, the JWST team reached out to researchers at the Keck Observatory and asked them to take follow-up observations. The image from Keck, taken on 6 November, is on the right.
After the successful completion of India’s first space mission, homegrown firms are now looking to set up manufacturing facilities for satellites etc. Homegrown space startups, Pixxel and Dhruva Space, are eyeing new assembly facilities for satellite manufacturing in the country, following successful satellite launch missions on November 26.
Satellite manufacturing is an integral part of India’s plans for the space sector. The government’s liberalized space policy, which is said to be in the final stages of completion, is expected to allow the country’s firms to take a larger share of the global space market. At present, India accounts for only 2% of the global space economy, according to data shared by Jitendra Singh, Minister of State (MoS) for science, technology and earth sciences, in the Lok Sabha in August.
The two companies are also part of a growing crop of homegrown private space startups that are launching the final trial phase of their products and services. On November 18, Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace became India’s first private firm to launch its own rocket. Pixxel and Dhruva’s satellites were successfully deployed in their intended low-earth orbits (LEOs) on November 26. India’s upcoming space policy is expected to invite more participation from such startups, taking some of the load off ISRO and its coffers.
