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Category: space – Page 495

Elon Musk’s SpaceX Shuts Down Russian Jamming Attack!

When it comes to responding to emerging threats, the Pentagon’s director for electromagnetic warfare suggested today that the US military’s electronic warfare organization should borrow a leaf from SpaceX.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk said that Russia had jammed Starlink terminals in Ukraine for hours at a time after SpaceX shipped Starlink terminals to Ukraine in February in an apparent effort to help Ukraine preserve its internet connection amid the war with Russia. Starlink was back up and running after a software upgrade, according to Musk, who added on March 25 that the constellation had “resisted all hacking & jamming attempts” in Ukraine.

Assuming Musk — who is known for being a showboater in his public pronouncements — is giving an accurate image, a private company thwarting Russian EW attempts with software updates is the kind of thing that makes Pentagon EW experts sit up and take notice.

“That’s wonderful from the standpoint of an EW technologist. Dave Tremper, head of electronic warfare for the Pentagon’s acquisition office, remarked, “That paradigm and how they executed that is sort of eyewatering to me.” “We need to be able to upgrade in the same way that Starlink was able to when a threat appeared. We need to be able to modify our electromagnetic posture quickly, and we need to be able to change what we’re attempting to do without sacrificing capabilities.”

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‘Doomed’ Moon Phobos Is Going To Crash Into Mars

Last week, NASA’s Perseverance Rover captured a gorgeous view of Phobos eclipsing the Sun, from the surface of Mars. From the point of view of any Martian microbes lurking out there, the eclipse may have seemed more ominous (yeah ok, there might not be living organisms up there, let alone ones sentient enough to grasp the concept of an eclipse) as the moon is destined by physics to one day slam into the red planet.

Phobos – the closest of Mars’ two moons – is set to get ever closer to the planet, before its final descent, while Deimos will drift ever outwards until it leaves Mars’ orbit.

Scientists model landscape formation on Titan, revealing an Earth-like alien world

Saturn’s moon Titan looks very much like Earth from space, with rivers, lakes, and seas filled by rain tumbling through a thick atmosphere. While these landscapes may look familiar, they are composed of materials that are undoubtedly different—liquid methane streams streak Titan’s icy surface and nitrogen winds build hydrocarbon sand dunes.

The presence of these materials—whose are vastly different from those of silicate-based substances that make up other known sedimentary bodies in our solar system—makes Titan’s landscape formation enigmatic. By identifying a process that would allow for hydrocarbon-based substances to form or bedrock depending on how often winds blow and streams flow, Stanford University geologist Mathieu Lapôtre and his colleagues have shown how Titan’s distinct dunes, plains, and labyrinth terrains could be formed.

Titan, which is a target for space exploration because of its potential habitability, is the only other body in our solar system known to have an Earth-like, seasonal liquid transport cycle today. The new model, published in Geophysical Research Letters April 25, shows how that seasonal cycle drives the movement of grains over the moon’s surface.

NBBJ designs net-zero school for neurodiverse children in California

US-based architecture studio NBBJ has released designs for a net-zero school in Encino, California, that will cater to neurodiverse students.

The design of the Lower School campus of Westmark School uses acoustic technologies, as well as the integration of flora and natural materials, to create a comfortable environment for students with special needs.

“Designers selected a variety of sound-absorbing materials for different spaces, developed reading nooks and other niches for creative learning both inside and outside the classroom, and oriented views to green space to enhance different educational modes,” said NBBJ.

Why Venus Rotates, Slowly, Despite Sun’s Powerful Gravitational Pull

Gaining clarity about the factors that contributed to a runaway greenhouse state on Venus, Earth’s closest planetary neighbor, can also help improve models of what could one day happen to Earth’s climate.

“Ultimately, my motivation in studying Venus is to better understand the Earth,” Kane said.

Reference: “Atmospheric dynamics of a near tidally locked Earth-sized planet” by Stephen R. Kane, 22 April 2022, Nature Astronomy.