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Oct 25, 2024

NASA sends a shutdown signal to Voyager 2: It has received it at 2 billion km

Posted by in categories: particle physics, space

Considering the future: What Voyager 2 has in store

According to Miller (2024), even though this instrument has been deactivated, engineers anticipate that Voyager 2 will have at least one operable instrument for exploration through the 2030s. The spacecraft continues to operate and transmit data. NASA is also hoping that the spacecraft continues to provide valid information about the interstellar medium too.

The seamless continuation of activities was made possible by the confirmation that the instrument was operating normally. In 2018, it was confirmed that Voyager 2 had crossed the heliosphere’s border and entered interstellar space thanks in large part to the plasma science instrument. Significant changes in atoms, particles, and magnetic fields that are detectable by the instruments of the Voyager probes define this barrier.

Oct 25, 2024

‘Scission neutron’ existence confirmed in nuclear fission simulation

Posted by in category: supercomputing

Scientists used a supercomputer to simulate nuclear fission with unprecedented accuracy, confirming the existence of scission neutrons.

Oct 25, 2024

Titan’s Atmosphere and Climate: Lessons from an Alien World

Posted by in categories: climatology, computing, satellites

Dr. Lauren Schurmeier: “The methane clathrate crust warms Titan’s interior and causes surprisingly rapid topographic relaxation, which results in crater shallowing at a rate that is close to that of fast-moving warm glaciers on Earth.”


How does Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, have such a methane-rich atmosphere? This is what a recent study published in The Planetary Science Journal hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated how methane that resides with Titan’s crust could be responsible for the lack of depth in Titan’s impact craters, which could explain why Titan’s atmosphere has so much methane, as well. This study holds the potential to help researchers better understand the formation and evolution of Titan and whether it could host life as we know it.

For the study, the researchers used computer models to simulate the formation and evolution of impact craters on Titan, of which only approximately 90 have been identified via satellite imagery from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft.

Continue reading “Titan’s Atmosphere and Climate: Lessons from an Alien World” »

Oct 25, 2024

First Evidence of a Black Hole Triple System Observed

Posted by in categories: cosmology, evolution

Black holes are some of the most mysterious and awe-inspiring celestial objects in science, and while pairs of black holes or a black hole orbiting another object like a star, known as binary black holes, have been confirmed to exist, what about triple systems? This is what a recent study published in Nature hopes to address as a team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) announced the discovery of a “black hole triple”, meaning three black holes are orbiting each other simultaneously. This study holds the potential to help researchers better understand the formation and evolution of black holes and what this can teach us about the universe, overall.

For the study, the researchers examined the binary black hole system V404 Cygni, which consists of a central black hole being orbited by two stars, with one orbiting in 6.5 days while the other takes approximately 70,000 years to complete one orbit. It is this second object that has scientists scratching their heads, as it is confounding how an object so far away can be influenced by a black hole’s gravity. While black holes are often created from a supernova, or the collapse and explosion of a large star, this means the explosion should have pushed away the farther star in this system. Therefore, the team postulates this black hole was formed by what’s known as a “direct collapse”, which is a smaller and gentler process when a star collapses in on itself as opposed to producing an outward explosion.

“We think most black holes form from violent explosions of stars, but this discovery helps call that into question,” said Dr. Kevin Burdge, who is a Pappalardo Fellow in the MIT Department of Physics and lead author of the study. “This system is super exciting for black hole evolution, and it also raises questions of whether there are more triples out there.”

Oct 25, 2024

I’m With Genius: Quantum Physics geek out with brilliant Quantum Queen, Lisa Woerner

Posted by in categories: futurism, quantum physics

Yes, it’s your Stargate partner-in-whine here to talk about my inability to relax and just give in to a fatty future…instead forcing myself on this horrible devices while I learn… today’s weapon of choice is the Smooth Fitness CE 74.4 Elliptical machine of horror…join me!

Oct 25, 2024

NASA Begins New Deployable Solar Array Tech Demo on Pathfinder Spacecraft

Posted by in categories: solar power, space, sustainability

NASA recently evaluated initial flight data and imagery from Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator-4 (PTD-4), confirming proper checkout of the spacecraft’s systems including its on-board electronics as well as the payload’s support systems such as the small onboard camera. Shown above is a test image of Earth taken by the payload camera, shortly after PTD-4 reached orbit. This camera will continue photographing the technology demonstration during the mission.

Payload operations are now underway for the primary objective of the PTD-4 mission – the demonstration of a new power and communications technology for future spacecraft. The payload, a deployable solar array with an integrated antenna called the Lightweight Integrated Solar Array and anTenna, or LISA-T, has initiated deployment of its central boom structure. The boom supports four solar power and communication arrays, also called petals. Releasing the central boom pushes the still-stowed petals nearly three feet (one meter) away from the spacecraft bus. The mission team currently is working through an initial challenge to get LISA-T’s central boom to fully extend before unfolding the petals and beginning its power generation and communication operations.

Continue reading “NASA Begins New Deployable Solar Array Tech Demo on Pathfinder Spacecraft” »

Oct 25, 2024

A Giant Hidden Source of Lithium Was Just Discovered in Arkansas

Posted by in categories: government, robotics/AI

Suspended in the relic of an ancient sea beneath southern Arkansas, there may be enough lithium for nine times the expected global demand for the element in car batteries in 2030.

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A collaborative national and state government research team trained a machine learning model to predict and map the lithium concentrations of salty water deep within the porous limestone aquifer beneath southern Arkansas, known as the Smackover Formation brines.

Oct 25, 2024

Removal of Russian coders spurs debate about Linux kernel’s politics

Posted by in categories: computing, policy

A two-line comment about “various compliance requirements” spurred questions about sanctions policy and procedure on the Linux kernel mailing list.

Oct 25, 2024

The Coming AI Startup Bust

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Links:

- The Asianometry Newsletter: https://www.asianometry.com.

Continue reading “The Coming AI Startup Bust” »

Oct 25, 2024

Mysterious 165-Million-Year-Old Minerals Found on Easter Island Defy Plate Tectonics

Posted by in category: futurism

Easter Island consists of several extinct volcanoes. The oldest lava deposits formed some 2.5 million years ago on top of an oceanic plate not much older than the volcanoes themselves. In 2019, a team of Cuban and Colombian geologists left for Easter Island to accurately date the volcanic island. To do so, they resorted to a tried-and-tested recipe: dating zircon minerals. When magma cools, these minerals crystallize. They contain a bit of uranium, which ‘turns’ into lead through radioactive decay.

Because we know how fast that process happens, we can measure how long ago those minerals formed. The team from Colombia’s Universidad de Los Andes, led by Cuban geologist Yamirka Rojas-Agramonte, therefore went in search of those minerals. Rojas-Agramonte, now at the Christian Albrechts-University Kiel, found hundreds of them. But surprisingly, not only from 2.5 million years old, but also from much further back in time, up to 165 million years ago. How could that be?

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