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Category: space – Page 322

Mixed Reality Tracking System For Future Pilot Training

Vrgineers and Advanced Realtime Tracking demonstrate the combination of XTAL 3 headset and SMARTTRACK3/M in a mixed reality pilot trainer. The partnership between these two technological companies started in 2018. At IT2EC 2023 in Rotterdam, the integrated SMARTTRACK3/M into an F-35-like Classroom Trainer manufactured and delivered to USAF and RAF will be for display. This unique combination of the latest ART infrared all-in-one hardware and Vrgineers algorithms for cockpit motion compensation creates an unseen immersion for every mixed reality training. One of the challenges in next-generation pilot training using virtual technology and motion platforms is the alignment of the pilot’s position in the cockpit. By overcoming this issue, the simulator industry is moving forward to eliminate the disadvantages of simulated training.

“We are continuously working on removing the technological challenges of modern simulators, one of which is caused by front-facing camera position distance from users’ eyes. We are developing advanced algorithms for motion compensation to minimize the shift between virtual and physical scene, making experience realistic. The durability and compact size of SMARTTRACK3/M, which was optimized for using in cockpits, allows us as training device integrator to make it a comprehensive part of a simulation,” says Marek Polcak, CEO of Vrgineers.

“This is the application SMARTTRACK3/M was designed for., We have taken the proven hardware from the SMARTTRACK3 and adapted it to the limited space available. As a result, we have the precision and the reliability of a seasoned system in a form factor fitting to simulator cockpits” says Andreas Werner, business development manager for simulations at ART.

How much of the Universe can humanity reach?

Beyond our own Milky Way galaxy, there are physical limits on our access to the Universe. In this new video from PBS Space Time, we explore the absolute limit of our future view of the Universe, and of the Universe’s ability to influence us.

We humans have always been explorers. The great civilisations that have arisen across the world are owed to our restless ancestors. These days, there’s not much of Earth left to explore. But if we look up, there’s a whole Universe out there waiting for us. Future generations may one day explore the cosmos and could even settle entire other galaxies.

However, there is a fundamental limit to how much of the Universe we can expand into. So, just how big could humanity get? Matt O’Dowd, astrophysicist and host of PBS Space Time, looks at the obstacles that our descendants could face in the very distant future.

Amazon throws its hat into generative AI space, launches Bedrock

Bedrock allows its users to build and scale generative AI applications like chatbots.

Becoming the latest actor to join the generative AI space race, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has launched Bedrock. Not to be confused with OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Bard which are AI-powered chatbots.

What Bedrock does is allowing users to build and scale generative AI applications such as chatbots, text generation, image generation using language prompts, etc. There’s a range of pre-trained models that the users can customize and embed their own data into and then integrate and deploy in applications using the AWS tools.

China to launch ‘Chinese Super Masons’ robot to build lunar bases with moon soil by 2028

The robot tasked with making bricks out of lunar soil will be launched during China’s Chang’e-8 mission around 2028.

With Artemis II set to launch on November 24, it is no surprise that science journals are buzzing with research on lunar regolith, building bases on the moon, and working with moon soil to grow plants… you get the drift.

A recent study in the journal Communications Biology described an experiment in which the moon soil samples collected during the Apollo missions were used to grow plants. And for the first time, an Earth plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, commonly called thale cress, grew and thrived in the lunar soil samples during the experiment.

Astronomers confirm presence of third protoplanet about 374 light years away

The protoplanet was found surrounding HD 169,142, a star located 374 light years from our solar system.

Astronomers have caught a rare glimpse of a planet’s formation. This is only the third time scientists have discovered a protoplanet — an early stage in forming a planet, where cosmic material clumps in a disk surrounding newborn stars.

The observation of new protoplanet.

NASA/JPL-Caltech.

The protoplanet surrounded HD 169,142, a star located 374 light years from our solar system. PDS 70 b and c are the other two recorded protoplanets, which orbit the star PDS 70.

New Method To Measure Brain Fluid Pressure Developed

West Australian researchers have developed a breakthrough method to measure the brain fluid pressure in humans, which may reduce vision damage experienced by astronauts on long-haul space flights.

A cross-disciplinary team from the Lions Eye Institute and the International Space Centre at The University of Western Australia has developed a clever technique to measure the pressure in the brain fluid, the study was published in Nature in npj Microgravity.

Ultra-luminous X-ray sources defy Eddington limit and unlock universal secrets

The mystery of ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) and their astonishing brightness has been partially unraveled through a recent study utilizing NASA’s NuSTAR.

Scientists have long been perplexed by ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs), cosmic objects that emit about 10 million times more energy than the Sun and appear to break the Eddington limit — a physical boundary that determines the maximum brightness of an object based on its mass. In a groundbreaking study published in The Astrophysical Journal, researchers have confirmed that these extraordinary light emitters surpass the Eddington limit, potentially due to their strong magnetic fields.

The effect of Eddington limit and magnetic fields

The Eddington limit plays a crucial role in determining the balance between the outward push of photons and the inward pull of an object’s gravity. When an object reaches the Eddington limit, its light pushes away any gas or material falling toward it, thus controlling its brightness. The study focused on the ULX M82 X-2, a neutron star that was found to be stealing about 9 billion trillion tons of material from a neighboring star annually. The researchers’ calculations confirmed that M82 X-2 exceeds the Eddington limit.

The new study supports an alternative hypothesis that suggests strong magnetic fields can distort atoms into elongated shapes, reducing the photons’ ability to push atoms away and ultimately increasing an object’s maximum brightness. By examining more ULXs, scientists may be able to further understand the role of magnetic fields in their extraordinary luminosity.

Observatory discovers radio waves from distant planet in neighboring star system

An astronomical discovery was made in New Mexico after an observatory called the Very Large Array picked up radio waves from a neighboring star system.

Scientists near Magdalena were looking for protective magnetic fields similar to Earth’s. The planet, titled YZ Ceti B, might be the first planet outside the solar system discovered with those properties, located just 12 light years away from Earth.