HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – Moon propellant mining outposts can grow into lunar cities. A futuristic architecture promises to greatly reduce the cost of human exploration and industrialization of Earth’s celestial next-door-neighbor.
China has broken new lunar ground, successfully growing cotton on the moon for the first time. The experiment was part of the Chang’e 4 project, in which China is exploring the far side of the moon with a lander. This is the same lander that recently discovered a mysterious gel-like substance on the moon’s surface.
The cotton plant was one of several organisms encased in a mini biosphere weighing just 2.6 kilograms (5.7 lbs) with a pressure of 1 atmosphere which was aboard the lander. The organisms experienced an environment largely similar to that on Earth, however, they did have to contend with both space radiation and microgravity.
In an interview with engineering magazine IEEE Spectrum, project leader for the experiment Xie Gengxin explained more about the challenges of growing plants in the restricted environment. “The weight of the Chang’e-4 probe demanded that the weight [of the experiment] can’t exceed three kilograms,” he said. That’s why it was important to select the biological samples in the experiment carefully.
Neil Harbisson has an antenna implanted in his skull that allows him to feel colour, while Moon Ribas has sensors in her feet that allow her to feel earthquakes.
MANILA, Philippines — Now in its 8th year, Space Apps is an international hackathon for coders, scientists, designers, storytellers, makers, builders, technologists, and others in cities around the world, where teams engage with NASA’s free and open data to address real-world problems on Earth and in space. Space Apps 2018 included over 18,000 participants at more than 200 events in 75 countries.
Since its inception in 2012, NASA’s International Space Apps Challenge has become the world’s largest global hackathon, engaging thousands of citizens across the globe to use NASA’s open data to build innovative solutions to challenges we face on Earth and in space.
The NASA International Space Apps Challenge (or Space Apps) is an international hackathon that will take place over a 48-hour period in cities around the globe between October 18 and 20, 2019. The event embraces collaborative problem solving with a goal of producing open-source solutions to challenges we currently face on Earth and in space.
In the Philippines, it is the fourth time for this event to take place again in Manila on October 18 to 20, 2019. “I am thrilled and excited to continue the tradition of inviting students and professionals, beginners and veterans from the Philippines to join this prestigious global hackathon by NASA,” software developer Michael Lance M. Domagas said, who is currently leading the hackathon since 2016. “In fact, a Pinoy team winning globally last year makes Filipinos inspired to use these technologies in helping the society we live in, especially now that a law has been passed creating the Philippine Space Agency,” he added.
The Pinoy winning team who developed an app seeking to use scientific data to benefit fishermen, even without Internet connection, is being incubated at Animo Labs, the technology business incubator of De La Salle University in partnership with DOST-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development. “Animo Labs looks forward to see these kinds of projects being developed by Filipinos with the help of NASA data and resources, and we are happy to host it again at De La Salle University,” Animo Labs Executive Director Mr. Federico C. Gonzalez said.
NASA’s InSight lander has picked up on some interesting rumblings on Mars, and the space agency shared them Tuesday in a blog post.
The spacecraft is equipped with an incredibly sensitive seismometer called the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS), which is designed to listen for marsquakes. By examining how seismic waves move through the planet’s interior, scientists hope to learn more about Mars’ deep inner structure.
Continue reading “NASA just shared a fascinating soundtrack of a Mars quake” »
A SCIENTIST revealed how NASA has a last-ditch system in place in the event a huge space rock is “due to impact Earth in one to three weeks” during a planet-saving warning.
A groundbreaking new image provides direct evidence of a ‘cosmic web’ of gas that links every galaxy in the universe.
Last summer, scientists found a “ghost particle” in Antarctica. Now we know more about where it came from: a mysterious galaxy 3.8 billion light-years away.
Their initial discovery had seemed like a contradiction because most other polymer fibres embrittle in the cold. But after many years of working on the problem, the group of researchers have discovered that silk’s cryogenic toughness is based on its nano-scale fibrills. Sub-microscopic order and hierarchy allows a silk to withstand temperatures of down to −200 C. And possibly even lower, which would make these classic natural luxury fibres ideal for applications in the depths of chilly outer-space.
The interdisciplinary team examined the behaviour and function of several animal silks cooled down to liquid nitrogen temperature of −196 C. The fibres included spider silks but the study focused on the thicker and much more commercial fibres of the wild silkworm Antheraea pernyi.
In an article published today in Materials Chemistry Frontiers, the team was able to show not only ‘that’ but also ‘how’ silk increases its toughness under conditions where most materials would become very brittle. Indeed, silk seems to contradict the fundamental understanding of polymer science by not losing but gaining quality under really cold conditions by becoming both stronger and more stretchable. This study examines the ‘how’ and explains the ‘why’. It turns out that the underlying processes rely on the many nano-sized fibrils that make up the core of a silk fibre.
