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Category: space – Page 466

An international study involving researchers from CNRS and CEA as well as the company Kayrros reveals hundreds of major methane leaks linked to the global exploitation of oil and gas. Scientists show that their mitigation would lead to climatic and economic benefits amounting to billions of dollars for the main hydrocarbon producing countries. This work is published on February 4, 2022 in the journal Science.

Original press release published on CEA.

A major contributor to climate change, methane (CH 4) has a warming potential over 100 years approximately 30 times greater than that of CO 2. A quarter of anthropogenic emissions of this greenhouse gas come from the global exploitation of coal, oil and natural gas, of which CH4 is the main component. In 2018, a study had already exposed, based on the case of the United States, the vast underestimation in official inventories of emissions related to the extraction and distribution of oil and gas. A discrepancy which could be explained by sporadic undeclared releases of large quantities of methane by operators in the sector.

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A Southwest Research Institute scientist measured the properties of ice-brine mixtures as cold as-145 degrees Fahrenheit to help confirm that salty water likely exists between grains of ice or sediment under the ice cap at Mars ’ south pole. Laboratory measurements conducted by SwRI geophysicist Dr. David Stillman support oddly bright reflections detected by the MARSIS subsurface sounding radar aboard ESA’s Mars Express orbiter.

With a 130-foot antenna, MARSIS flies over the planet, bouncing radio waves over a selected area and then receiving and analyzing the echoes or reflections. Any near-surface liquid water should send a strong bright signal, whereas the radar signal for ice and rock would be much smaller.

Because conventional models assume the Mars south polar cap experiences temperatures much lower than the melting point of water, many scientists have questioned the presence of liquid water. Clay, hydrated salts, and saline ices have been proposed as potential explanations for the source of the bright basal reflections. The Italian-led team investigating the proposed phenomena used previously published data, simulations, and new laboratory measurements.

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And no, he’s not a billionaire.

Back in 2017, Mad Mike Hughes built a scrap metal rocket to launch in the Mojave desert in order to prove that the Earth is flat. The story made headlines around the world mostly for its ridiculousness but also because of the impressive achievement that it represented. It was an indication that a simple man, not a billionaire, could actually build a rocket.

That’s why when a group of 50 volunteers at Copenhagen Suborbitals announced they were building a rocket to send to space, the news drew a lot of attention, as first reported by *Futurism*. If the intrepid group of ambitious volunteers actually succeeds in getting their rocket off the ground and into orbit, it will mark a key milestone for humanity. why when a group of 50 volunteers at Copenhagen Suborbitals announced they were building a rocket to send to space, the news drew a lot of attention, as first reported by Futurism. If the intrepid group of ambitious volunteers actually succeeds in getting their rocket off the ground and into orbit, it will mark a key milestone for humanity.

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Ceramic Bodies is a collection of four porcelain vases that fit together like a three-dimensional puzzle.

Designer Jörg Hugo studied architecture before opening his own design studio. Calling it Studio Jörg Hugo, his work largely explores “the relationship between materiality, form, and space,” as he describes on his personal website. Relying on either digital or analog design methods and production techniques, Hugo creates timeless pieces that completely reinterpret how we interact with space and material. One of his most recent projects, Ceramic Bodies, comprises a collection of four porcelain vases that almost appear to melt into each other like a three-dimensional puzzle.

Designer: Jörg Hugo

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Researchers at University of Rochester’s Institute of Optics for first time distill novel interferometry into a photonic device.

University of Rochester researchers for the first time package a way of amplifying interferometric signals using inverse weak value amplification —without increase in extraneous input or “noise”—on an integrated photonic chip.

By merging two or more sources of light, interferometers create interference patterns that can provide remarkably detailed information about everything they illuminate, from a tiny flaw on a mirror, to the dispersion of pollutants in the atmosphere, to gravitational patterns in far reaches of the Universe.

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As far as we can tell from modern science, there’s no upper limit to temperature. There sure is a lower limit, though. We call that absolute zero, measured as −273.15 °C (−459.67 °F). Scientists have yet to reach that limit in any experiment, but they’re getting close. A team of physicists in Germany has gotten closer than ever before, reaching a temperature of 38 trillionths of a degree from absolute zero, according to New Atlas.

This news might sound familiar because it is — scientists have inched closer to absolute zero on numerous occasions. A few years ago, MIT created what was at the time the coldest spot in the universe with sodium and potassium atoms. The International Space Station has also conducted experiments within a fraction of a degree of absolute zero. The problem is that no matter how well insulated your testing setup is, a tiny amount of energy always sneaks in from the environment. When that happens, you can’t reach absolute zero and halt all atomic motion.

The team from the University of Bremen broke the record once again by dropping the experiment (above) from the top of a very tall tower. Yes, really. They started with a cloud of 100,000 rubidium atoms, which were confined inside a magnetic field. When cooled, the atoms clump together and form a mysterious state of matter known as a Bose-Einstein condensate. In this state, the atoms act like one giant atom, making quantum effects visible at the macroscopic scale.

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