space – Cincy Link https://cincylink.com Explore Cincy Sun, 16 Jul 2023 08:38:32 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://cincylink.com/pub/content/uploads/sites/27/2020/03/apple-touch-icon-precomposed-100x100.png space – Cincy Link https://cincylink.com 32 32 NASA Mars lander to end operation due to lack of power https://cincylink.com/2023/07/16/nasa-mars-lander-to-end-operation-due-to-lack-of-power/ https://cincylink.com/2023/07/16/nasa-mars-lander-to-end-operation-due-to-lack-of-power/#respond Sun, 16 Jul 2023 08:38:32 +0000 https://cincylink.com/?p=160209

A NASA spacecraft on Mars is headed for a dusty demise.

The Insight lander is losing power because of all the dust on its solar panels. NASA said Tuesday it will keep using the spacecraft’s seismometer to register marsquakes until the power peters out, likely in July. Then flight controllers will monitor InSight until the end of this year, before calling everything off.

Since landing on Mars in 2018, InSight has detected more than 1,300 marsquakes; the biggest one, a magnitude 5, occurred two weeks ago.

It will be NASA's second Mars lander lost to dust: A global dust storm took out Opportunity in 2018. In InSight's case, it's been a gradual gathering of dust, especially over the past year.

NASA's two other functioning spacecraft on the Martian surface — rovers Curiosity and Perseverance — are still going strong thanks to nuclear power. The space agency may rethink solar power in the future for Mars, said planetary science director Lori Glaze, or at least experiment with new panel-clearing tech or aim for the less-stormy seasons.

InSight currently is generating one-tenth of the power from the sun that it did upon arrival. Deputy project manager Kathya Zamora Garcia said the lander initially had enough power to run an electric oven for one hour and 40 minutes; now it’s down to 10 minutes max.

The InSight team anticipated this much dust buildup but hoped a gust of wind or dust devil might clean off the solar panels. That has yet to happen, despite several thousand whirlwinds coming close.

Additional reporting by The Associated Press.

Newsy is the nation’s only free 24/7 national news network. You can find Newsy using your TV’s digital antenna or stream for free. See all the ways you can watch Newsy here. 




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]]> https://cincylink.com/2023/07/16/nasa-mars-lander-to-end-operation-due-to-lack-of-power/feed/ 0 Broadband access is difference-maker for rural families https://cincylink.com/2023/07/15/broadband-access-is-difference-maker-for-rural-families/ https://cincylink.com/2023/07/15/broadband-access-is-difference-maker-for-rural-families/#respond Sun, 16 Jul 2023 02:11:22 +0000 https://cincylink.com/?p=161079

ODESSA, Texas — When the pandemic started, Michelle Villegas was in 6th grade. Now she's finishing up middle school, but not without some unpleasant memories from remote middle school.

"The tests would just, it would just load and load and load. Like I hated seeing that circle was just, it was in my nightmares, the circle!" she said.

The nightmarish loading circle is something that so many families across the nation can relate to as the pandemic exposed a weak link in rural America’s access to the internet. Michelle's mom says her heart broke watching her daughter struggle just to simply join a class.

"It was stressful, it was overwhelming, it was frustrating," she said.

The Villegas live on the outskirts of Odessa, Texas – a boom or bust oil town that’s one of many spots on the map without access to reliable internet.

According to the FCC, 6% of the country’s population lacks internet access. Narrowing in on rural communities, one in four lacks access – that’s 14.5 million people.

"I couldn't get on and I would call my mom crying because I was like, mom, I'm going to fail this. Like, my grades are so low because I can't do this," Michelle recounted.

Scott Muri is the superintendent in Ector County, where Odessa is located. When the pandemic hit and they had to move to remote learning over the course of a weekend, they found that 39% of their student body lived in areas with inadequate internet or no internet at all.

"Many of our kids do not live in an area of our community, that even if they had the money, they could access the internet, it's simply didn't exist," said Muri.

With that large of a percentage of students that couldn’t log on for remote school, they had to think of solutions. So they decided to shoot their shot and contacted SpaceX to be a part of their Starlink internet access pilot project and the multi-billion dollar company said yes.

"This big dad started to cry because he understood as a parent, what that a simple little dish was going to mean for his children because he had watched his kids struggle mightily to connect with their teachers," he said.

What Ector County has is a unique public-private partnership. However, federal dollars will trickle into tackling this same issue nationwide. $45 billion dollars from the infrastructure bill is going toward equitable broadband access.

"I think we need to appreciate broadband as a utility. You know, it is not a special thing that only certain people have. It is not something that you earn through wealth. It is something that is a right and a privilege and an opportunity for every American," he said.

Next year, Michelle is entering high school and both her and her mom are relieved to have reliable service because it will help put her on an equal playing field for the rest of her education.

"Everything is technology now. And if you don't have a good internet source, you're not going to be caught up with everything that's happening now. Like you're going to be left in the past," said Michelle.




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]]> https://cincylink.com/2023/07/15/broadband-access-is-difference-maker-for-rural-families/feed/ 0 At 17, she was her family’s breadwinner on a McDonald’s salary. Now she’s gone into space https://cincylink.com/2023/07/15/at-17-she-was-her-familys-breadwinner-on-a-mcdonalds-salary-now-shes-gone-into-space/ https://cincylink.com/2023/07/15/at-17-she-was-her-familys-breadwinner-on-a-mcdonalds-salary-now-shes-gone-into-space/#respond Sat, 15 Jul 2023 04:18:23 +0000 https://cincylink.com/?p=161790

A rocket built by Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin carried its fifth group of passengers to the edge of space, including the first-ever Mexican-born woman to make such a journey.The 60-foot-tall suborbital rocket took off from Blue Origin's facilities in West Texas at 9:26 a.m. ET, vaulting a group of six people to more than 62 miles above the Earth's surface — which is widely deemed to make the boundary of outer space — and giving them a few minutes of weightlessness before parachuting to landing.Video above: Blue Origin plans to build its own private space stationMost of the passengers paid an undisclosed sum for their seats. But Katya Echazarreta, an engineer and science communicator from Guadalajara, Mexico, was selected by a nonprofit called Space for Humanity to join this mission from a pool of thousands of applicants. The organization's goal is to send "exceptional leaders" to space and allow them to experience the overview effect, a phenomenon frequently reported by astronauts who say that viewing the Earth from space gives them a profound shift in perspective.Echazarreta told CNN Business that she experienced that overview effect "in my own way.""Looking down and seeing how everyone is down there, all of our past, all of our mistakes, all of our obstacles, everything — everything is there," she said. "And the only thing I could think of when I came back down was that I need people to see this. I need Latinas to see this. And I think that it just completely reinforced my mission to continue getting primarily women and people of color up to space and doing whatever it is they want to do."Echazarreta is the first Mexican-born woman to travel to space and the second Mexican after Rodolfo Neri Vela, a scientist who joined one of NASA's Space Shuttle missions in 1985.She moved to the United States with her family at the age of seven, and she recalls being overwhelmed in a new place where she didn't speak the language, and a teacher warned her she might have to be held back."It just really fueled me and I think ever since then, ever since the third grade, I kind of just went off and have not stopped," Echazarreta recalled in an Instagram interview.When she was 17 and 18, Echazarreta said she was also the main breadwinner for her family on a McDonald's salary."I had sometimes up to four at the same time, just to try to get through college because it was really important for me," she said.These days, Echazarreta is working on her master's degree in engineering at Johns Hopkins University. She previously worked at NASA's famed Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. She also boasts a following of more than 330,000 users on TikTok, hosts a science-focused YouTube series and is a presenter on the weekend CBS show "Mission Unstoppable."Space for Humanity — which was founded in 2017 by Dylan Taylor, a space investor who recently joined a Blue Origin flight himself — chose her for her impressive contributions. "We were looking for some like people who were leaders in their communities, who have a sphere of influence; people who are doing really great work in the world already, and people who are passionate about whatever that is," Rachel Lyons, the nonprofit's executive director, told CNN Business.Echazarreta said she was motivated to become a public figure after working at JPL and not seeing other engineers who looked like her."There are so many people in this world who dream about the same things that I was dreaming about. And yet I'm not seeing them here. So what's happening?" she said. "It was not enough for me to have made it and to be there. I needed to also help bring others with me."On her Blue Origin flight Saturday, Echazarreta flew alongside Evan Dick, an investor who had already flown with Blue Origin in a December flight and became the first to become a repeat flier. The other passengers included Hamish Harding, who lives in the United Arab Emirates and is the chairman of a jet brokerage company; Jaison Robinson, the founder of a commercial real estate company; Victor Vescovo, the co-founder of a private equity investment firm; and Victor Correa Hespanha, a 28-year-old who secured his seat after buying an NFT from a group called The Crypto Space Agency.

A rocket built by Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin carried its fifth group of passengers to the edge of space, including the first-ever Mexican-born woman to make such a journey.

The 60-foot-tall suborbital rocket took off from Blue Origin's facilities in West Texas at 9:26 a.m. ET, vaulting a group of six people to more than 62 miles above the Earth's surface — which is widely deemed to make the boundary of outer space — and giving them a few minutes of weightlessness before parachuting to landing.

Video above: Blue Origin plans to build its own private space station

Most of the passengers paid an undisclosed sum for their seats. But Katya Echazarreta, an engineer and science communicator from Guadalajara, Mexico, was selected by a nonprofit called Space for Humanity to join this mission from a pool of thousands of applicants. The organization's goal is to send "exceptional leaders" to space and allow them to experience the overview effect, a phenomenon frequently reported by astronauts who say that viewing the Earth from space gives them a profound shift in perspective.

Echazarreta told CNN Business that she experienced that overview effect "in my own way."

"Looking down and seeing how everyone is down there, all of our past, all of our mistakes, all of our obstacles, everything — everything is there," she said. "And the only thing I could think of when I came back down was that I need people to see this. I need Latinas to see this. And I think that it just completely reinforced my mission to continue getting primarily women and people of color up to space and doing whatever it is they want to do."

Echazarreta is the first Mexican-born woman to travel to space and the second Mexican after Rodolfo Neri Vela, a scientist who joined one of NASA's Space Shuttle missions in 1985.

She moved to the United States with her family at the age of seven, and she recalls being overwhelmed in a new place where she didn't speak the language, and a teacher warned her she might have to be held back.

"It just really fueled me and I think ever since then, ever since the third grade, I kind of just went off and have not stopped," Echazarreta recalled in an Instagram interview.

When she was 17 and 18, Echazarreta said she was also the main breadwinner for her family on a McDonald's salary.

"I had sometimes up to four [jobs] at the same time, just to try to get through college because it was really important for me," she said.

These days, Echazarreta is working on her master's degree in engineering at Johns Hopkins University. She previously worked at NASA's famed Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. She also boasts a following of more than 330,000 users on TikTok, hosts a science-focused YouTube series and is a presenter on the weekend CBS show "Mission Unstoppable."

Space for Humanity — which was founded in 2017 by Dylan Taylor, a space investor who recently joined a Blue Origin flight himself — chose her for her impressive contributions. "We were looking for some like people who were leaders in their communities, who have a sphere of influence; people who are doing really great work in the world already, and people who are passionate about whatever that is," Rachel Lyons, the nonprofit's executive director, told CNN Business.

Echazarreta said she was motivated to become a public figure after working at JPL and not seeing other engineers who looked like her.

"There are so many people in this world who dream about the same things that I was dreaming about. And yet I'm not seeing them here. So what's happening?" she said. "It was not enough for me to have made it and to be there. I needed to also help bring others with me."

On her Blue Origin flight Saturday, Echazarreta flew alongside Evan Dick, an investor who had already flown with Blue Origin in a December flight and became the first to become a repeat flier. The other passengers included Hamish Harding, who lives in the United Arab Emirates and is the chairman of a jet brokerage company; Jaison Robinson, the founder of a commercial real estate company; Victor Vescovo, the co-founder of a private equity investment firm; and Victor Correa Hespanha, a 28-year-old who secured his seat after buying an NFT from a group called The Crypto Space Agency.


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]]> https://cincylink.com/2023/07/15/at-17-she-was-her-familys-breadwinner-on-a-mcdonalds-salary-now-shes-gone-into-space/feed/ 0 NASA restores contact with spacecraft headed to lunar orbit https://cincylink.com/2023/07/10/nasa-restores-contact-with-spacecraft-headed-to-lunar-orbit/ https://cincylink.com/2023/07/10/nasa-restores-contact-with-spacecraft-headed-to-lunar-orbit/#respond Tue, 11 Jul 2023 02:21:35 +0000 https://cincylink.com/?p=164754

WASHINGTON  — Communications between a spacecraft heading to the moon and NASA were reestablished after the space agency lost contact with it earlier this week.

The satellite, which launched from New Zealand last week, is heading to test out a lopsided lunar orbit.

On Monday, it left Earth's orbit, but by Tuesday, NASA had lost contact with the spacecraft.

"Following successful deployment and [the] start of spacecraft commissioning on July 4, the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) spacecraft experienced communications issues while in contact with the Deep Space Network," NASA said. "The spacecraft team currently is working to understand the cause and re-establish contact. The team has good trajectory data for the spacecraft based on the first full and second partial ground station pass with the Deep Space Network."

On Wednesday, the space agency said contact was restored with Capstone.

NASA did not immediately release information about what caused the loss of communications, nor how they did re-establish them.

The mission of the trip is for the spacecraft to test an oval orbit around the moon because, eventually, the space agency wants to put a mini space station called Gateway.

Gateway would be a place for astronauts to stage before they descend to the moon's surface.




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]]> https://cincylink.com/2023/07/10/nasa-restores-contact-with-spacecraft-headed-to-lunar-orbit/feed/ 0 NASA to release Webb telescope’s ‘deepest’ photos of space https://cincylink.com/2023/07/10/nasa-to-release-webb-telescopes-deepest-photos-of-space/ https://cincylink.com/2023/07/10/nasa-to-release-webb-telescopes-deepest-photos-of-space/#respond Mon, 10 Jul 2023 04:11:18 +0000 https://cincylink.com/?p=165021

BALTIMORE, Md. — In a windowed room, sits a mission control where some of NASA’s best and brightest keep a careful view over a $10 billion eye in space.

"It's very quiet. It's kind of like a library on purpose,” said Carl Starr, mission operations manager for the James Webb Space Telescope. "There's a lot of people that it takes to run the mission."

Webb is the successor to the famed Hubble telescope, which, over the decades, brought stunning views of the cosmos to the world.

"This is the temperature map of the mirrors," said John Durning, the mission’s deputy project manager.

Webb is far more advanced than Hubble, the most powerful telescope ever sent into space, and it is traveling a greater distance.

"It's been a spectacularly worked observatory,” Durning said. “We're very, very happy."

With a last name tailor-made for a career at NASA, mission operations manager Carl Starr gave us a behind-the-scenes look at Webb’s mission control in Maryland.

"We designed it with a sense of openness because it's a science mission,” Starr said. “So, we wanted everybody to feel like they had part of it."

Now, for the first time ever, Webb will make it possible for everyone on Earth to lay eyes on something never seen before: the deepest images ever taken of space.

"It's not going to just do what Hubble did better. It is actually looking at the universe in a whole new way," said Susan Mullally, the telescope's deputy project scientist. "Webb is looking out at what we call the infrared. So, this is light that even your eye can't see. And so, as a result, we're able to study parts of the universe that we've never been able to see before."

That includes glimpsing exoplanets, which lie beyond our solar system, as well as distant galaxies that stretch back to the dawn of time.

"Galaxies that are so far away, it's hard to even come up with numbers that make sense to anybody," Mullally said.

Yet, those discoveries matter, she said.

"We're just refining our understanding with the Webb space telescope to expand our knowledge of this universe we live in,” Mullally said. "We will see gorgeous, beautiful imagery that I think people will put up on their walls as well. And I hope it inspires young people out there to want to explore the world in whatever way they choose."




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]]> https://cincylink.com/2023/07/10/nasa-to-release-webb-telescopes-deepest-photos-of-space/feed/ 0 Earth set to make its closest approach to Jupiter since 1963 on Monday https://cincylink.com/2023/07/02/earth-set-to-make-its-closest-approach-to-jupiter-since-1963-on-monday/ https://cincylink.com/2023/07/02/earth-set-to-make-its-closest-approach-to-jupiter-since-1963-on-monday/#respond Sun, 02 Jul 2023 05:51:03 +0000 https://cincylink.com/?p=173655

Fans of astronomy will be in for a treat as a special event is set to happen Monday night.

That's when Jupiter is set to make its closest approach to Earth since 1963, NASA said.

According to the space agency, the solar system's largest planet will be approximately 367 million miles in distance from Earth as opposed to its farthest distance of roughly 600 million miles.

NASA said the gas planet would appear bigger and brighter because of its opposition, which means that it'll be directly opposite the Sun in the sky as viewed from Earth.

“With good binoculars, the banding (at least the central band) and three or four of the Galilean satellites (moons) should be visible,” said NASA research astrophysicist Adam Kobelski in a blog post. “It’s important to remember that Galileo observed these moons with 17th-century optics. One of the key needs will be a stable mount for whatever system you use.”

Kobelski says the best place to view the unique event will be a high elevated spot in a dark and dry area.




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]]> https://cincylink.com/2023/07/02/earth-set-to-make-its-closest-approach-to-jupiter-since-1963-on-monday/feed/ 0 Dart design team member recalls mission to launch spacecraft into asteroid https://cincylink.com/2023/07/02/dart-design-team-member-recalls-mission-to-launch-spacecraft-into-asteroid/ https://cincylink.com/2023/07/02/dart-design-team-member-recalls-mission-to-launch-spacecraft-into-asteroid/#respond Sun, 02 Jul 2023 05:48:07 +0000 https://cincylink.com/?p=173792

NASA on Monday conducted the first ever mission to intentionally crash a spacecraft into an asteroid.Watch the video above to see what Elizabeth Gabeler, who was on the team that helped design the Dart spacecraft, had to say about itThe mission was part of a long-term goal of being ready to handle the threat — while not imminent or likely — of a large asteroid hitting Earth. The $325 million mission was the first attempt to shift the position of an asteroid or any other natural object in space.The galactic grand slam occurred at a harmless asteroid 7 million miles away, with the spacecraft named Dart plowing into the small space rock at 14,000 mph. Scientists expected the impact to carve out a crater, hurl streams of rocks and dirt into space and, most importantly, alter the asteroid’s orbit.Monday’s target: a 525-foot asteroid named Dimorphos. It’s actually a moonlet of Didymos, Greek for twin, a fast-spinning asteroid five times bigger that flung off the material that formed the junior partner.The pair have been orbiting the sun for eons without threatening Earth, making them ideal save-the-world test candidates.Launched last November, the vending machine-size Dart — short for Double Asteroid Redirection Test — navigated to its target using new technology developed by Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory, the spacecraft builder and mission manager.Dart’s on-board camera, a key part of this smart navigation system, caught sight of Dimorphos barely an hour before impact.

NASA on Monday conducted the first ever mission to intentionally crash a spacecraft into an asteroid.

Watch the video above to see what Elizabeth Gabeler, who was on the team that helped design the Dart spacecraft, had to say about it

The mission was part of a long-term goal of being ready to handle the threat — while not imminent or likely — of a large asteroid hitting Earth. The $325 million mission was the first attempt to shift the position of an asteroid or any other natural object in space.

The galactic grand slam occurred at a harmless asteroid 7 million miles away, with the spacecraft named Dart plowing into the small space rock at 14,000 mph. Scientists expected the impact to carve out a crater, hurl streams of rocks and dirt into space and, most importantly, alter the asteroid’s orbit.

Monday’s target: a 525-foot asteroid named Dimorphos. It’s actually a moonlet of Didymos, Greek for twin, a fast-spinning asteroid five times bigger that flung off the material that formed the junior partner.

The pair have been orbiting the sun for eons without threatening Earth, making them ideal save-the-world test candidates.

Launched last November, the vending machine-size Dart — short for Double Asteroid Redirection Test — navigated to its target using new technology developed by Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory, the spacecraft builder and mission manager.

Dart’s on-board camera, a key part of this smart navigation system, caught sight of Dimorphos barely an hour before impact.


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]]> https://cincylink.com/2023/07/02/dart-design-team-member-recalls-mission-to-launch-spacecraft-into-asteroid/feed/ 0 Webb telescope detects crucial molecule in space for the1st time https://cincylink.com/2023/06/27/webb-telescope-detects-crucial-molecule-in-space-for-the1st-time/ https://cincylink.com/2023/06/27/webb-telescope-detects-crucial-molecule-in-space-for-the1st-time/#respond Tue, 27 Jun 2023 21:10:25 +0000 https://cincylink.com/?p=207285

Astronomers have detected a crucial carbon molecule in space for the first time using the James Webb Space Telescope.The compound, called methyl cation, or CH3+, was traced back to a young star system located 1,350 light-years away from Earth in the Orion Nebula, according to NASA.In the video player above: See images of what the Webb Telescope detectedCarbon compounds are intriguing to scientists because they act as the foundation for all life as we know and understand it. Methyl cation is considered a key component that helps form more complex carbon-based molecules.Understanding how life began and evolved on Earth could help researchers determine if it's possible elsewhere in the universe. The highly sensitive capabilities of the Webb telescope, which views the cosmos through infrared light that is invisible to the human eye, is revealing more about organic chemistry in space.The space observatory detected methyl cation in a protoplanetary disk, called d203-506, swirling around a young red dwarf star. These disks, largely made of gas and dust, are the leftover remnants of star formation. Planets are born in these large stellar halos, giving rise to planetary systems.A study detailing the discovery was published Monday in the journal Nature.The role of ultraviolet radiationRed dwarf stars are much smaller and cooler than our sun, but the d203-506 system is still lashed with strong ultraviolet light from neighboring young, massive stars.In most scenarios, UV radiation is expected to wipe out organic molecules, but the team actually predicted that the radiation could provide a necessary energy source that allows methyl cation to form.After CH3+ forms, it leads to additional chemical reactions that allow more complex carbon molecules to build, even at low temperatures in space.While methyl cation doesn't react efficiently with hydrogen, the most abundant molecule in the universe, it reacts well with a wide range of other molecules. Because of this chemical property, astronomers have long considered CH3+ an important building block of interstellar organic chemistry. But methyl cation wasn't detected in space until now."This detection not only validates the incredible sensitivity of Webb but also confirms the postulated central importance of CH3+ in interstellar chemistry," said study coauthor Marie-Aline Martin-Drumel, a researcher at the University of Paris-Saclay's Institute of Molecular Sciences of Orsay in France, in a statement.Video below: The Webb Telescope recently detected organic molecules in a distant galaxyThe researchers detected different molecules in the protoplanetary disk of d203-506 than those found in typical disks, and they didn't detect any water, according to the study."This clearly shows that ultraviolet radiation can completely change the chemistry of a protoplanetary disk. It might actually play a critical role in the early chemical stages of the origins of life," said lead study author Olivier Berné, research scientist in astrophysics at the French National Centre for Scientific Research in Toulouse, in a statement.

CNN (video above from ESA/Webb/NASA/CSA via CNN) —

Astronomers have detected a crucial carbon molecule in space for the first time using the James Webb Space Telescope.

The compound, called methyl cation, or CH3+, was traced back to a young star system located 1,350 light-years away from Earth in the Orion Nebula, according to NASA.

In the video player above: See images of what the Webb Telescope detected

Carbon compounds are intriguing to scientists because they act as the foundation for all life as we know and understand it. Methyl cation is considered a key component that helps form more complex carbon-based molecules.

Understanding how life began and evolved on Earth could help researchers determine if it's possible elsewhere in the universe. The highly sensitive capabilities of the Webb telescope, which views the cosmos through infrared light that is invisible to the human eye, is revealing more about organic chemistry in space.

Images taken by the Webb telescope show a part of the Orion Nebula known as the Orion Bar, where UV light interacts with dense clouds of molecules.

ESA/Webb/NASA/CSA via CNN

Images taken by the Webb telescope show a part of the Orion Nebula known as the Orion Bar, where UV light interacts with dense clouds of molecules. (ESA/Webb/NASA/CSA via CNN)

The space observatory detected methyl cation in a protoplanetary disk, called d203-506, swirling around a young red dwarf star. These disks, largely made of gas and dust, are the leftover remnants of star formation. Planets are born in these large stellar halos, giving rise to planetary systems.

A study detailing the discovery was published Monday in the journal Nature.

The role of ultraviolet radiation

Red dwarf stars are much smaller and cooler than our sun, but the d203-506 system is still lashed with strong ultraviolet light from neighboring young, massive stars.

In most scenarios, UV radiation is expected to wipe out organic molecules, but the team actually predicted that the radiation could provide a necessary energy source that allows methyl cation to form.

After CH3+ forms, it leads to additional chemical reactions that allow more complex carbon molecules to build, even at low temperatures in space.

While methyl cation doesn't react efficiently with hydrogen, the most abundant molecule in the universe, it reacts well with a wide range of other molecules. Because of this chemical property, astronomers have long considered CH3+ an important building block of interstellar organic chemistry. But methyl cation wasn't detected in space until now.

"This detection not only validates the incredible sensitivity of Webb but also confirms the postulated central importance of CH3+ in interstellar chemistry," said study coauthor Marie-Aline Martin-Drumel, a researcher at the University of Paris-Saclay's Institute of Molecular Sciences of Orsay in France, in a statement.

Video below: The Webb Telescope recently detected organic molecules in a distant galaxy

The researchers detected different molecules in the protoplanetary disk of d203-506 than those found in typical disks, and they didn't detect any water, according to the study.

"This clearly shows that ultraviolet radiation can completely change the chemistry of a protoplanetary disk. It might actually play a critical role in the early chemical stages of the origins of life," said lead study author Olivier Berné, research scientist in astrophysics at the French National Centre for Scientific Research in Toulouse, in a statement.


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]]> https://cincylink.com/2023/06/27/webb-telescope-detects-crucial-molecule-in-space-for-the1st-time/feed/ 0 Closest known black hole to Earth discovered by astronomers https://cincylink.com/2023/06/27/closest-known-black-hole-to-earth-discovered-by-astronomers/ https://cincylink.com/2023/06/27/closest-known-black-hole-to-earth-discovered-by-astronomers/#respond Tue, 27 Jun 2023 04:17:24 +0000 https://cincylink.com/?p=178901

Astronomers say they've found another black hole and it's now the closest known space entity of its kind to planet Earth.

Scientist announced on Friday that the black hole is ten times the mass of Earth's sun and three times closer to Earth than the previously closest known black hole.

It is located in space just 1,600 light-years away from our planet.

It was found as astronomers were watching the motion of a companion star to the black hole which orbits it at around the same distance that our sun orbits Earth.

As Science News reported, it was found by astronomers using the European Space Agency's Gaia craft, according to the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

A team from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center working with the International Gemini Observatory in Hawaii, confirming their discovery. The data was published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

It is unclear how it has formed in the Milky Way. Scientists have labeled it Gaia BH1, and it is situated in the serpent-bearer constellation Ophiuchus.




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]]> https://cincylink.com/2023/06/27/closest-known-black-hole-to-earth-discovered-by-astronomers/feed/ 0 Astrogeology program prepares future astronauts for space missions https://cincylink.com/2023/06/14/astrogeology-program-prepares-future-astronauts-for-space-missions/ https://cincylink.com/2023/06/14/astrogeology-program-prepares-future-astronauts-for-space-missions/#respond Wed, 14 Jun 2023 04:35:45 +0000 https://cincylink.com/?p=183858

Every rock tells a story of past volcanic eruptions, meteoric impacts, and giant earthquakes. What we learn on Earth can also be applied to other planets. It involves what's called terrestrial analogs.

"I personally work on the Curiosity and Perseverance Mars Rovers," said physical scientist Ryan Anderson, who is with the U.S. Geological Survey Astrogeology Science Center. "I'm involved with the laser instruments that are on top of their heads. They zap rocks with the laser and tell us what they're made of."

Analogs are places on Earth with geological, biological, or environmental conditions similar to those found on other planets. Anderson says there are many terrestrial analogs in northern Arizona, including Sunset Crater.

"It's useful to have these analogs because we can't send people to everywhere we want to study in the solar system," Anderson said. "You know, we've been to the moon, but just a couple of places. It's really hard to get there and the moon is the closest thing."

The USGS Astrogeology Science Center launched a program this year that will put extra attention toward studying the similarities and differences between analogs and sites on other planets.

USGS Geologist Amber Gullikson, an expert in analogs, says they were first used as training grounds for the Apollo missions in the 1960s. Now, they're being used again so future astronauts can map out best practices and make space missions as efficient as possible.

"To understand, you know, the length of a traverse, how long it takes to get there, to test out the various instruments that you're going to use in order to collect samples," Gullikson said. "Also, how long it will take to collect those samples."

"We're really in the business of maximizing the science return from NASA's missions," Anderson said. "And now we're coming full circle because NASA's planning to go back to the moon again, and we're right there with them, helping them train and practice and get ready to go again."




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]]> https://cincylink.com/2023/06/14/astrogeology-program-prepares-future-astronauts-for-space-missions/feed/ 0 Scientists ‘stunned’ by mysterious structures found in the Milky Way https://cincylink.com/2023/06/04/scientists-stunned-by-mysterious-structures-found-in-the-milky-way/ https://cincylink.com/2023/06/04/scientists-stunned-by-mysterious-structures-found-in-the-milky-way/#respond Sun, 04 Jun 2023 04:00:15 +0000 https://cincylink.com/?p=201686

An international team of astrophysicists has discovered hundreds of mysterious structures in the center of the Milky Way galaxy.Video above: James Webb Telescope spots water in rare cometThese one-dimensional cosmic threads are hundreds of horizontal or radial filaments — slender, elongated bodies of luminous gas that potentially originated a few million years ago when outflow from Sagittarius A*, the Milky Way’s central supermassive black hole, interacted with surrounding materials, according to a study published Friday in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. The filaments are relatively short in length, each measuring 5 to 10 light-years.The findings come nearly 40 years after Farhad Yusef-Zadeh, the study’s lead author, and other researchers discovered another population of nearly 1,000 one-dimensional filaments, which are vertical and much larger at up to 150 light-years long each, near the galaxy’s center. Yusef-Zadeh and collaborators also found hundreds more paired and clustered vertical filaments in the same area in 2022, realizing the filaments were likely related to Sagittarius A* activity rather than bursts of supernovae, which they had previously thought. The new study both reinforces and builds upon the earlier findings.Finding the “new population of structures that seem to be pointing in the direction of the black hole” was a surprise, Yusef-Zadeh, a professor of physics and astronomy at Northwestern University’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, said in a news release.“I was actually stunned when I saw these. We had to do a lot of work to establish that we weren’t fooling ourselves,” added Yusef-Zadeh, who’s also a member of the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics. “We found that these filaments are not random but appear to be tied to the outflow of our black hole. … It is satisfying when one finds order in (the) middle of a chaotic field of the nucleus of our galaxy.”The findings related to the black hole located about 26,000 light-years from Earth are “really exciting” and “demonstrate how beautiful the universe is,” said Erika Hamden, an assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Arizona who wasn’t involved in the study.Sagittarius A* “is the closest supermassive black hole to us, but it’s relatively quiet and therefore somewhat difficult to really study,” Hamden added. “But this work provides evidence that it was recently ejecting quite a lot of energy into space in the form of a jet and conical outflow.”Learning more about the Milky WayThe researchers found the structures by analyzing images produced by the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory’s MeerKAT telescope, which has 64 satellite dishes that are each 65 feet (nearly 20 meters) tall and connected across 5 miles (about 8 kilometers) of a sparsely populated area with minimal interference.“The new MeerKAT observations have been a game changer,” Yusef-Zadeh said. “It’s really a technical achievement from radio astronomers.”Despite the similarities between the newly discovered filaments and those identified in 1984, the authors of the new study don’t think the populations share exactly the same traits.The vertical filaments are located perpendicular to the galactic plane, while the horizontal ones are parallel to the plane and point radially toward the black hole, according to the news release. The vertical filaments surround the nucleus of the Milky Way, but the horizontal ones appear to spread out to one side toward the black hole.“The distribution and alignment of the filaments can help show how the material has moved and distorted in the past,” Hamden said.Their behavior also differs: The horizontal filaments emit thermal radiation and material associated with molecular clouds partially or fully embedded in the outflow from the black hole, the authors wrote. Molecular clouds consist of gas, dust and stars. The vertical filaments, on the other hand, are magnetic and hold cosmic ray electrons moving nearly as fast as the speed of light.The authors think further studying the newfound filaments could help them “learn more about the black hole’s spin and accretion disk orientation,” Yusef-Zadeh said.A black hole’s accretion disk is the thin, hot structure resulting from material from a nearby star being pulled into a circle around the black hole.Follow-up is also needed to determine whether the jet-driven outflow from the black hole, and therefore more filaments, appear on both sides of the black hole, Hamden said. A jet in this context is a beam of matter ejected from some astronomical objects.A black hole “typically ejects jets symmetrically … so there should be a pair,” Hamden added. “One way to confirm that the (filament) structure is created by something like a jet is to find both sides of it.”This would add “to the complex, active picture of our own Milky Way,” she said.Yusef-Zadeh said he believes their work is “never complete.”“We always need to make new observations,” he said, “and continually challenge our ideas and tighten up our analysis.”

An international team of astrophysicists has discovered hundreds of mysterious structures in the center of the Milky Way galaxy.

Video above: James Webb Telescope spots water in rare comet

These one-dimensional cosmic threads are hundreds of horizontal or radial filaments — slender, elongated bodies of luminous gas that potentially originated a few million years ago when outflow from Sagittarius A*, the Milky Way’s central supermassive black hole, interacted with surrounding materials, according to a study published Friday in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. The filaments are relatively short in length, each measuring 5 to 10 light-years.

The findings come nearly 40 years after Farhad Yusef-Zadeh, the study’s lead author, and other researchers discovered another population of nearly 1,000 one-dimensional filaments, which are vertical and much larger at up to 150 light-years long each, near the galaxy’s center. Yusef-Zadeh and collaborators also found hundreds more paired and clustered vertical filaments in the same area in 2022, realizing the filaments were likely related to Sagittarius A* activity rather than bursts of supernovae, which they had previously thought. The new study both reinforces and builds upon the earlier findings.

Finding the “new population of structures that seem to be pointing in the direction of the black hole” was a surprise, Yusef-Zadeh, a professor of physics and astronomy at Northwestern University’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, said in a news release.

“I was actually stunned when I saw these. We had to do a lot of work to establish that we weren’t fooling ourselves,” added Yusef-Zadeh, who’s also a member of the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics. “We found that these filaments are not random but appear to be tied to the outflow of our black hole. … It is satisfying when one finds order in (the) middle of a chaotic field of the nucleus of our galaxy.”

The findings related to the black hole located about 26,000 light-years from Earth are “really exciting” and “demonstrate how beautiful the universe is,” said Erika Hamden, an assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Arizona who wasn’t involved in the study.

Sagittarius A* “is the closest supermassive black hole to us, but it’s relatively quiet and therefore somewhat difficult to really study,” Hamden added. “But this work provides evidence that it was recently ejecting quite a lot of energy into space in the form of a jet and conical outflow.”

Learning more about the Milky Way

The researchers found the structures by analyzing images produced by the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory’s MeerKAT telescope, which has 64 satellite dishes that are each 65 feet (nearly 20 meters) tall and connected across 5 miles (about 8 kilometers) of a sparsely populated area with minimal interference.

“The new MeerKAT observations have been a game changer,” Yusef-Zadeh said. “It’s really a technical achievement from radio astronomers.”

Despite the similarities between the newly discovered filaments and those identified in 1984, the authors of the new study don’t think the populations share exactly the same traits.

The vertical filaments are located perpendicular to the galactic plane, while the horizontal ones are parallel to the plane and point radially toward the black hole, according to the news release. The vertical filaments surround the nucleus of the Milky Way, but the horizontal ones appear to spread out to one side toward the black hole.

“The distribution and alignment of the filaments can help show how the material has moved and distorted in the past,” Hamden said.

Their behavior also differs: The horizontal filaments emit thermal radiation and material associated with molecular clouds partially or fully embedded in the outflow from the black hole, the authors wrote. Molecular clouds consist of gas, dust and stars. The vertical filaments, on the other hand, are magnetic and hold cosmic ray electrons moving nearly as fast as the speed of light.

The authors think further studying the newfound filaments could help them “learn more about the black hole’s spin and accretion disk orientation,” Yusef-Zadeh said.

A black hole’s accretion disk is the thin, hot structure resulting from material from a nearby star being pulled into a circle around the black hole.

Follow-up is also needed to determine whether the jet-driven outflow from the black hole, and therefore more filaments, appear on both sides of the black hole, Hamden said. A jet in this context is a beam of matter ejected from some astronomical objects.

A black hole “typically ejects jets symmetrically … so there should be a pair,” Hamden added. “One way to confirm that the (filament) structure is created by something like a jet is to find both sides of it.”

This would add “to the complex, active picture of our own Milky Way,” she said.

Yusef-Zadeh said he believes their work is “never complete.”

“We always need to make new observations,” he said, “and continually challenge our ideas and tighten up our analysis.”


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]]> https://cincylink.com/2023/06/04/scientists-stunned-by-mysterious-structures-found-in-the-milky-way/feed/ 0 SpaceX ignites giant Starship rocket in crucial pad test https://cincylink.com/2023/06/03/spacex-ignites-giant-starship-rocket-in-crucial-pad-test/ https://cincylink.com/2023/06/03/spacex-ignites-giant-starship-rocket-in-crucial-pad-test/#respond Sat, 03 Jun 2023 04:05:29 +0000 https://cincylink.com/?p=188628

SpaceX is a big step closer to sending its giant Starship spacecraft into orbit, completing an engine-firing test at the launch pad on Thursday.

Thirty-one of the 33 first-stage booster engines ignited simultaneously for about 10 seconds in south Texas. The team turned off one engine before sending the firing command and another engine shut down — “but still enough engines to reach orbit!” tweeted SpaceX's Elon Musk.

Musk estimates Starship’s first orbital test flight could occur as soon as March, if the test analyses and remaining preparations go well.

The booster remained anchored to the pad as planned during the test. There were no signs of major damage to the launch tower.

NASA is counting on Starship to ferry astronauts to the surface of the moon in a few years, linking up with its Orion capsule in lunar orbit. Further down the road, Musk wants to use the mammoth Starships to send crowds to Mars.

Only the first-stage Super Heavy booster, standing 230 feet (69 meters) tall, was used for Thursday's test. The futuristic second stage — the part that will actually land on the moon and Mars — was in the hangar being prepped for flight.

Altogether, Starship towers 394 feet (120 meters), making it the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built. It's capable of generating 17 million pounds of liftoff thrust, almost double that of NASA's moon rocket that sent an empty capsule to the moon and back late last year.

SpaceX fired up to 14 Starship engines last fall and completed a fueling test at the pad last month.

Flocks of birds scattered as Starship's engines came alive and sent thick dark plumes of smoke across the Starship launch complex, dubbed Starbase. It's located at the southernmost tip of Texas near the village of Boca Chica, close to the Mexican border.




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]]> https://cincylink.com/2023/06/03/spacex-ignites-giant-starship-rocket-in-crucial-pad-test/feed/ 0 New unprecedented images reveal what’s happening on the sun as it approaches ‘solar maximum’ https://cincylink.com/2023/05/27/new-unprecedented-images-reveal-whats-happening-on-the-sun-as-it-approaches-solar-maximum/ https://cincylink.com/2023/05/27/new-unprecedented-images-reveal-whats-happening-on-the-sun-as-it-approaches-solar-maximum/#respond Sat, 27 May 2023 21:47:17 +0000 https://cincylink.com/?p=199108

New images of the sun’s surface captured by a powerful ground-based solar telescope have revealed sunspots and other features in unprecedented detail.The eight images, released on May 19, were taken using the National Science Foundation’s Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, a 13.1-foot telescope located on the island of Maui in Hawaii.See some of the new images in the video aboveAlthough the sun is becoming increasingly active as the July 2025 solar maximum — the peak of the sun’s 11-year cycle — draws closer, the photos showcase the quieter aspects of the solar surface.Cool, dark sunspots dot the photosphere, or the sun’s surface where the magnetic field is strong, and they can be the size of Earth or larger. Clusters of sunspots are the cause of solar flares and coronal mass ejections — when plasma and part of the magnetic field pinch off from the sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, and go streaming across the solar system.These energetic outbursts from the sun can impact Earth’s satellite-based communications.The sunspot regions shown in the images are a study in contrast. Bright hot plasma flows upward on the sun’s surface, while darker, cooler plasma flows down. In the chromosphere, the atmospheric layer above the surface, threadlike structures reveal the presence of magnetic fields.Fine, detailed structures, including glowing dots that exist where the magnetic field is the strongest, can be seen in the dark sunspots. Bright strands derived from the magnetic field called penumbral filaments, which transport heat, surround the sunspot.Another image shows a sunspot that has lost the majority of its brighter, surrounding region, or penumbra, which seems to be decaying. Researchers believe the remaining fragments could be the end point in the evolution of a sunspot, before it disappears.The Inouye Solar Telescope also glimpsed “light bridges,” bright solar features that span the darkest region of a sunspot. These complex structures can differ in appearance, but scientists think light bridges could signal that a sunspot is about to decay. Future observations could provide more data about the formation of light bridges and their significance.RELATED VIDEO: NASA Is Using AI To Predict Dangerous Solar StormsThe images taken over the past year were among some of the first observations using the world’s largest and most powerful ground-based solar telescope during its commissioning phase, according to the National Science Foundation. Currently, the telescope is being brought up to its full operational capabilities, according to the agency.Scientists hope the telescope’s capabilities will allow them to answer key questions about the sun, including the origin of solar storms, as well as unlock the complexities of its magnetic field.The telescope was designed to make ongoing measurements of the magnetic fields in the sun’s corona and provide images of the solar atmosphere like never before. Compared with other observatories’ imaging capabilities, Inouye can capture solar features three times smaller.Solar data from the Inouye Solar Telescope, as well as two space-based missions called Solar Orbiter and the Parker Solar Probe, can help unravel some of the sun’s enduring mysteries — all while providing stunning views of our star in a new light.

CNN —

New images of the sun’s surface captured by a powerful ground-based solar telescope have revealed sunspots and other features in unprecedented detail.

The eight images, released on May 19, were taken using the National Science Foundation’s Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, a 13.1-foot telescope located on the island of Maui in Hawaii.

See some of the new images in the video above

Although the sun is becoming increasingly active as the July 2025 solar maximum — the peak of the sun’s 11-year cycle — draws closer, the photos showcase the quieter aspects of the solar surface.

Cool, dark sunspots dot the photosphere, or the sun’s surface where the magnetic field is strong, and they can be the size of Earth or larger. Clusters of sunspots are the cause of solar flares and coronal mass ejections — when plasma and part of the magnetic field pinch off from the sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, and go streaming across the solar system.

These energetic outbursts from the sun can impact Earth’s satellite-based communications.

The sunspot regions shown in the images are a study in contrast. Bright hot plasma flows upward on the sun’s surface, while darker, cooler plasma flows down. In the chromosphere, the atmospheric layer above the surface, threadlike structures reveal the presence of magnetic fields.

Fine, detailed structures, including glowing dots that exist where the magnetic field is the strongest, can be seen in the dark sunspots. Bright strands derived from the magnetic field called penumbral filaments, which transport heat, surround the sunspot.

Another image shows a sunspot that has lost the majority of its brighter, surrounding region, or penumbra, which seems to be decaying. Researchers believe the remaining fragments could be the end point in the evolution of a sunspot, before it disappears.

The Inouye Solar Telescope also glimpsed “light bridges,” bright solar features that span the darkest region of a sunspot. These complex structures can differ in appearance, but scientists think light bridges could signal that a sunspot is about to decay. Future observations could provide more data about the formation of light bridges and their significance.

RELATED VIDEO: NASA Is Using AI To Predict Dangerous Solar Storms

The images taken over the past year were among some of the first observations using the world’s largest and most powerful ground-based solar telescope during its commissioning phase, according to the National Science Foundation. Currently, the telescope is being brought up to its full operational capabilities, according to the agency.

Scientists hope the telescope’s capabilities will allow them to answer key questions about the sun, including the origin of solar storms, as well as unlock the complexities of its magnetic field.

The telescope was designed to make ongoing measurements of the magnetic fields in the sun’s corona and provide images of the solar atmosphere like never before. Compared with other observatories’ imaging capabilities, Inouye can capture solar features three times smaller.

Solar data from the Inouye Solar Telescope, as well as two space-based missions called Solar Orbiter and the Parker Solar Probe, can help unravel some of the sun’s enduring mysteries — all while providing stunning views of our star in a new light.


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]]> https://cincylink.com/2023/05/27/new-unprecedented-images-reveal-whats-happening-on-the-sun-as-it-approaches-solar-maximum/feed/ 0 SpaceX Starship rocket fails minutes after launching from Texas https://cincylink.com/2023/05/27/spacex-starship-rocket-fails-minutes-after-launching-from-texas/ https://cincylink.com/2023/05/27/spacex-starship-rocket-fails-minutes-after-launching-from-texas/#respond Sat, 27 May 2023 04:19:35 +0000 https://cincylink.com/?p=194556


By MARCIA DUNN, AP Aerospace Writer

SpaceX Starship rocket fails minutes after launching from Texas



215 seconds. Ok. So eight so. Right. Yeah, zero. Post launch operations to stir up your chamber pressure three seconds into the test flight of the inaugural vehicle tower picks over the Paulson reports first stages. No, what *** when the green at twice the thrust of the Saturn additional signal that we throttle down and throttled back up. Going through the period of maximum aerodynamic pressure velocity increases the dense of the atmosphere is decreasing, lessening stress on the vehicle to call out next. Now continuing to watch the first stage as we head down range 100 seconds into flight. Our next major activity is going to be shut down of the first stage, Houston tracking station. Now acquiring the vehicle, we will get separation of super heavy and ignition of the starship engines. When starship separates, we light up six engines in *** staggered sequence and if all goes well, those six engines will burn for almost 6.5 minutes on board. View from and views of the raft engines on the second stage as we prepare for state separation after state separation, the first stage will flip and begin *** boost back maneuver for landing in the Gulf continuing to fly two minutes, 40 seconds. Let's get ready for main engine cut off. Yeah, beginning the flip for stage separation. Ok. Ok. It as of right now, we are awaiting stage separation where *** starship should separate from the super heavy booster right now. It looks like we saw the start of the flip, but obviously, we're seeing from the ground cameras, the entire starship stack continuing to rotate. We should have had separation by now. Obviously, this does not appear to be *** nominal situation. Yeah, it does appear to be spinning. But I do want to remind everyone that everything after clearing the tower was icing on the cake. And there as you saw as we promised and to the scholarship inaugural integrated tax rate, everyone here absolutely pumped to clear the pad and make it this far into the test light, the first integrated light of the booster and the starship vehicle live view there of our control center at Starbase, uh which we refer to as star command as we said before. Obviously, we wanted to make it all the way through. But to get this far, honestly, is amazing if you're just joining us, starship just experienced what we call *** rapid unscheduled disassembly or *** rod during ascent. But now this was *** development test. This is the first test flight to starship. And the goal was to gather the data, as we said, clear the pad and get ready to go again. So you never know exactly what's going to happen. But as we promised, excitement is guaranteed, and Starship gave us *** rather spectacular end to what was truly an incredible test. Thus far as we mentioned at the start of today's program, any and all the data that we collected during the test is going to help us with further development of starship and it's going to improve the vehicle's reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi planetary. It's really worth noting that the flight path was designed to be over water and all the air and sea space along with that flight path and those areas we cleared in advance of the test. And of course, we're going to be coordinating with local authorities for the recovery operations. But honestly, what an exciting morning. Oh my gosh. We had *** successful lift off from star base Texas at 8 28 AM central time. We cleared the tower, which honestly was our only hope.

SpaceX's giant new rocket blasted off on its first test flight Thursday but exploded minutes after rising from the launch pad and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico.Elon Musk's company aimed to send the nearly 400-foot Starship rocket on a round-the-world trip from the southern tip of Texas, near the Mexican border. It carried no people or satellites.The plan called for the booster to peel away from the spacecraft minutes after liftoff, but that didn't happen. The rocket began to tumble and then exploded four minutes into the flight, plummeting into the gulf. After separating, the spacecraft was supposed to continue east and attempt to circle the world, before crashing into the Pacific near Hawaii.Throngs of spectators watched from South Padre Island, several miles away from the Boca Chica Beach launch site, which was off-limits. As it lifted off, the crowd screamed: "Go, baby, go!"The company plans to use Starship to send people and cargo to the moon and, eventually, Mars. NASA has reserved a Starship for its next moonwalking team, and rich tourists are already booking lunar flybys.It was the second launch attempt. Monday's try was scrapped by a frozen booster valve.At 394 feet and nearly 17 million pounds of thrust, Starship easily surpasses NASA's moon rockets — past, present and future. The stainless steel rocket is designed to be fully reusable with fast turnaround, dramatically lowering costs, similar to what SpaceX's smaller Falcon rockets have done soaring from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Nothing was to be saved from the test flight.The futuristic spacecraft flew several miles into the air during testing a few years ago, landing successfully only once. But this was to be the inaugural launch of the first-stage booster with 33 methane-fueled engines.___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas —

SpaceX's giant new rocket blasted off on its first test flight Thursday but exploded minutes after rising from the launch pad and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico.

Elon Musk's company aimed to send the nearly 400-foot Starship rocket on a round-the-world trip from the southern tip of Texas, near the Mexican border. It carried no people or satellites.

The plan called for the booster to peel away from the spacecraft minutes after liftoff, but that didn't happen. The rocket began to tumble and then exploded four minutes into the flight, plummeting into the gulf. After separating, the spacecraft was supposed to continue east and attempt to circle the world, before crashing into the Pacific near Hawaii.

Throngs of spectators watched from South Padre Island, several miles away from the Boca Chica Beach launch site, which was off-limits. As it lifted off, the crowd screamed: "Go, baby, go!"

The company plans to use Starship to send people and cargo to the moon and, eventually, Mars. NASA has reserved a Starship for its next moonwalking team, and rich tourists are already booking lunar flybys.

It was the second launch attempt. Monday's try was scrapped by a frozen booster valve.

At 394 feet and nearly 17 million pounds of thrust, Starship easily surpasses NASA's moon rockets — past, present and future. The stainless steel rocket is designed to be fully reusable with fast turnaround, dramatically lowering costs, similar to what SpaceX's smaller Falcon rockets have done soaring from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Nothing was to be saved from the test flight.

The futuristic spacecraft flew several miles into the air during testing a few years ago, landing successfully only once. But this was to be the inaugural launch of the first-stage booster with 33 methane-fueled engines.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.


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]]> https://cincylink.com/2023/05/27/spacex-starship-rocket-fails-minutes-after-launching-from-texas/feed/ 0 NASA plans to crash ISS into Pacific Ocean in 2031 https://cincylink.com/2022/02/03/nasa-plans-to-crash-iss-into-pacific-ocean-in-2031/ https://cincylink.com/2022/02/03/nasa-plans-to-crash-iss-into-pacific-ocean-in-2031/#respond Thu, 03 Feb 2022 22:07:08 +0000 https://cincylink.com/?p=143567

NASA says that once it decommissions the International Space Station in 2030, it plans to return the module to the Earth by crashing it into the Pacific Ocean.

In a press release on Monday, the agency said that while the Biden Administration has extended the ISS's space station operations through 2030, the agency has been planning to transition the use of space stations to commercial businesses.

According to the agency, allowing private companies to handle space station operations will "develop both the supply and demand side of the low-Earth orbit commercial economy and the technical steps and budget required for transition."

"The private sector is technically and financially capable of developing and operating commercial low-Earth orbit destinations, with NASA's assistance. We look forward to sharing our lessons learned and operations experience with the private sector to help them develop safe, reliable, and cost-effective destinations in space," Phil McAlister, NASA Headquarters director of commercial space, said in a statement. "The report we have delivered to Congress describes, in detail, our comprehensive plan for ensuring a smooth transition to commercial destinations after retirement of the International Space Station in 2030."

Once NASA officially retires the International Space Station, the agency plans to bring the module down from Low-Earth Orbit in 2031.

According to a report released last month, NASA will gradually direct the station into a series of maneuvers that will lower its altitude. At a certain point, NASA will direct the ISS into re-entry burn over the Pacific Ocean, where it will crash into the water.

NASA says it will aim for the spacecraft to land in the South Pacific Oceanic Uninhabited Area — a remote oceanic region southeast of New Zealand, where scientists often direct spacecraft to land, as it's far away from human-inhabited landmasses.

But just because NASA is planning for the end of the ISS era doesn't mean the space station won't be busy in the years to come.

"The International Space Station is entering its third and most productive decade as a groundbreaking scientific platform in microgravity," said Robyn Gatens, NASA's director of the International Space Station. "This third decade is one of results, building on our successful global partnership to verify exploration and human research technologies to support deep space exploration, continue to return medical and environmental benefits to humanity, and lay the groundwork for a commercial future in low-Earth orbit. We look forward to maximizing these returns from the space station through 2030 while planning for transition to commercial space destinations that will follow."




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]]> https://cincylink.com/2022/02/03/nasa-plans-to-crash-iss-into-pacific-ocean-in-2031/feed/ 0 Space object seen sending out radio waves every 18 minutes https://cincylink.com/2022/01/27/space-object-seen-sending-out-radio-waves-every-18-minutes/ https://cincylink.com/2022/01/27/space-object-seen-sending-out-radio-waves-every-18-minutes/#respond Fri, 28 Jan 2022 03:27:18 +0000 https://cincylink.com/?p=141298

Scientists recently discovered a mysterious object in outer space that, for a time, was sending out regular bursts of energy in a way that researchers hadn't previously observed.

According to an article published in Nature on Wednesday, scientists observed the mysterious object while mapping radio frequencies in deep space in early 2018.

They noticed the object was emitting a low-frequency radio signal about every 18 minutes for several months. The bursts of energy would last anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute. When visible, the bursts were among the brightest sources of radio waves viewable from Earth, according to CNN.

Vice reports that the energy pulses were observed between January and March of 2018 but haven't been seen since.

Officials aren't sure what the object was, though they have some theories. Some suspect that it could be the remnants of a collapsed star or a "white dwarf" — a small, dense star that's typically about the size of a planet.

Others believe the object was a "magnetar" — a neuron star with a very strong magnetic field. However, CNN reports that typical magnetars flare-up over the span of seconds, and an 18-minute interval for flares would be highly unusual.

Though the object was thousands of light-years away, scientists were still amazed by the mysterious object's close proximity to Earth.

"That was completely unexpected. It was kind of spooky for an astronomer because there's nothing known in the sky that does that. And it's really quite close to us — about 4,000 light-years away. It's in our galactic backyard," Natasha Hurley-Walker, one of the study's authors, said in a statement to CNN.




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]]> https://cincylink.com/2022/01/27/space-object-seen-sending-out-radio-waves-every-18-minutes/feed/ 0 Asteroid passes safely by Earth https://cincylink.com/2022/01/19/asteroid-passes-safely-by-earth/ https://cincylink.com/2022/01/19/asteroid-passes-safely-by-earth/#respond Wed, 19 Jan 2022 09:07:05 +0000 https://cincylink.com/?p=138585

An enormous asteroid that is nearly as large as two Empire State Buildings passed safely by Earth on Tuesday astronomers said.

NASA classifies the object as "potentially hazardous," yet the asteroid was always expected to move past our planet safely at 43,754 mph at a distance of 1.2 million miles away from Earth, according to NASA.

While the distance from Earth sounds safe, astronomers still consider it close for an object of its size. Scientists say there is no danger of a collision with Earth but that the object is still classified as having the potential to be hazardous.

NASA JPL

The Virtual Telescope Project, based in Italy's capital city Rome, live-streamed the asteroid, called 7482 (1994 PC1), as it was set to pass Earth. Streaming began live at 3 p.m. EST on Tuesday just before the object was at its closest approach to Earth.

Virtual Telescope Project's founder Gianluca Masi wrote on their livestream page that the "Virtual Telescope Project will show it live online, just at the fly-by time, when it will peak in brightness."

According to Live Science, 7482 (1994 PC1) would make its closest approach to our planet Tuesday at 4:51 p.m. EST.

Watch here:
https://youtu.be/xLrj1xa43pw




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]]> https://cincylink.com/2022/01/19/asteroid-passes-safely-by-earth/feed/ 0 Webb telescope successfully unfurls sunshield in space https://cincylink.com/2022/01/05/webb-telescope-successfully-unfurls-sunshield-in-space/ https://cincylink.com/2022/01/05/webb-telescope-successfully-unfurls-sunshield-in-space/#respond Wed, 05 Jan 2022 07:47:16 +0000 https://cincylink.com/?p=134485

The most powerful space telescope ever built is keeping its cool in space.The James Webb Space Telescope, which launched on Christmas Day, successfully completed the deployment of its 70-foot sunshield on Tuesday. This critical milestone is one of several that must occur for the NASA observatory to function properly in space, and having achieved it was a big relief for the Webb team."Unfolding Webb's sunshield in space is an incredible milestone, crucial to the success of the mission," said Gregory L. Robinson, Webb's program director at NASA Headquarters, in a statement. "Thousands of parts had to work with precision for this marvel of engineering to fully unfurl. The team has accomplished an audacious feat with the complexity of this deployment — one of the boldest undertakings yet for Webb."It's one of the most challenging spacecraft deployments NASA has ever attempted, according to the agency.Unfurling a tennis court in spaceThe massive five-layer sunshield will protect Webb's giant mirror and instruments from the sun's heat. Both the mirror and instruments need to be kept at a very frigid negative 370 degrees Fahrenheit (negative 188 degrees Celsius) to be able to observe the universe as designed. Each of the five sheets is as thin as a human hair and is coated with reflective metal.When Webb launched, the sunshield was folded up to fit inside the Ariane 5 rocket that carried the telescope into space. The eight-day process to unfold and tighten the protective shield began on Dec. 28. This included unfolding the support structure for the shield over the course of multiple days before the tensioning, or tightening, of each layer could begin.The fifth layer of the sunshield was tightened and secured into place Tuesday at 11:59 a.m. ET.Overall, the entire process, which was controlled by teams on Earth, included the perfect, coordinated movement of hundreds of release mechanisms, hinges, deployment motors, pulleys and cables."The membrane tensioning phase of sunshield deployment is especially challenging because there are complex interactions between the structures, the tensioning mechanisms, the cables and the membranes," said James Cooper, NASA's Webb sunshield manager, based at Goddard Space Flight Center, in a statement. "This was the hardest part to test on the ground, so it feels awesome to have everything go so well today."The teams have been working 12-hour shifts to ensure that everything goes smoothly with Webb's deployments.With the sunshield successfully in place, Webb's project manager Bill Ochs said the telescope has overcome the potential for 70% to 75% of the more than 300 single-point failures that could disrupt its ability to function."This milestone represents the pioneering spirit of thousands of engineers, scientists, and technicians who spent significant portions of their careers developing, designing, manufacturing, and testing this first-of-its kind space technology," said Jim Flynn, sunshield manager at Northrop Grumman, NASA's primary contractor for Webb, in a statement.The telescope has the ability to look back in time, using its infrared observations to reveal otherwise invisible aspects and look deeper into the universe than ever before.The Webb telescope will look at every phase of cosmic history, including the first glows after the Big Bang that created our universe and the formation of the galaxies, stars and planets that fill it today. Its capabilities will enable the observatory to peer inside the atmospheres of exoplanets and investigate faint signals from the first galaxies formed 13.5 billion years ago."This is the first time anyone has ever attempted to put a telescope this large into space," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, in a statement. "Webb required not only careful assembly but also careful deployments. The success of its most challenging deployment — the sunshield — is an incredible testament to the human ingenuity and engineering skill that will enable Webb to accomplish its science goals."What comes nextWebb is expected to take about 29 days to reach its intended orbit a million miles from Earth, with other critical steps along the way – and that includes another big challenge later this week: unfolding the telescope's mirror.The mirror can extend 21 feet and 4 inches — a massive length that will allow it to collect more light from objects once the telescope is in space. The more light the mirror can collect, the more details the telescope can observe.It's the largest mirror NASA has ever built, but its size created a unique problem. The mirror was so large that it couldn't fit inside a rocket. Engineers designed the telescope as a series of moving parts that can fold origami-style and fit inside a 16-foot space for launch.This is the next series of crucial steps for Webb — making sure the mirror's 18 hexagonal gold-coated segments unfold and lock together. All of these steps are expected to be completed by the end of this week.Finally, Webb will make one more trajectory adjustment to insert itself into an orbit that reaches beyond the moon.While that rounds out the 29 days, the telescope will go through a period of commissioning in space that lasts for about five and a half months, which involves cooling down, aligning and calibrating its instruments. All of the instruments also will go through a checkout process to see how they are functioning.Webb will begin to collect data and its first images later in 2022, and those are expected to be released in June or July, forever changing the way we see and understand the universe.

The most powerful space telescope ever built is keeping its cool in space.

The James Webb Space Telescope, which launched on Christmas Day, successfully completed the deployment of its 70-foot sunshield on Tuesday. This critical milestone is one of several that must occur for the NASA observatory to function properly in space, and having achieved it was a big relief for the Webb team.

"Unfolding Webb's sunshield in space is an incredible milestone, crucial to the success of the mission," said Gregory L. Robinson, Webb's program director at NASA Headquarters, in a statement. "Thousands of parts had to work with precision for this marvel of engineering to fully unfurl. The team has accomplished an audacious feat with the complexity of this deployment — one of the boldest undertakings yet for Webb."

It's one of the most challenging spacecraft deployments NASA has ever attempted, according to the agency.

Unfurling a tennis court in space

The massive five-layer sunshield will protect Webb's giant mirror and instruments from the sun's heat. Both the mirror and instruments need to be kept at a very frigid negative 370 degrees Fahrenheit (negative 188 degrees Celsius) to be able to observe the universe as designed. Each of the five sheets is as thin as a human hair and is coated with reflective metal.

When Webb launched, the sunshield was folded up to fit inside the Ariane 5 rocket that carried the telescope into space. The eight-day process to unfold and tighten the protective shield began on Dec. 28. This included unfolding the support structure for the shield over the course of multiple days before the tensioning, or tightening, of each layer could begin.

The fifth layer of the sunshield was tightened and secured into place Tuesday at 11:59 a.m. ET.

Overall, the entire process, which was controlled by teams on Earth, included the perfect, coordinated movement of hundreds of release mechanisms, hinges, deployment motors, pulleys and cables.

"The membrane tensioning phase of sunshield deployment is especially challenging because there are complex interactions between the structures, the tensioning mechanisms, the cables and the membranes," said James Cooper, NASA's Webb sunshield manager, based at Goddard Space Flight Center, in a statement. "This was the hardest part to test on the ground, so it feels awesome to have everything go so well today."

The teams have been working 12-hour shifts to ensure that everything goes smoothly with Webb's deployments.

With the sunshield successfully in place, Webb's project manager Bill Ochs said the telescope has overcome the potential for 70% to 75% of the more than 300 single-point failures that could disrupt its ability to function.

"This milestone represents the pioneering spirit of thousands of engineers, scientists, and technicians who spent significant portions of their careers developing, designing, manufacturing, and testing this first-of-its kind space technology," said Jim Flynn, sunshield manager at Northrop Grumman, NASA's primary contractor for Webb, in a statement.

The telescope has the ability to look back in time, using its infrared observations to reveal otherwise invisible aspects and look deeper into the universe than ever before.

The Webb telescope will look at every phase of cosmic history, including the first glows after the Big Bang that created our universe and the formation of the galaxies, stars and planets that fill it today. Its capabilities will enable the observatory to peer inside the atmospheres of exoplanets and investigate faint signals from the first galaxies formed 13.5 billion years ago.

"This is the first time anyone has ever attempted to put a telescope this large into space," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, in a statement. "Webb required not only careful assembly but also careful deployments. The success of its most challenging deployment — the sunshield — is an incredible testament to the human ingenuity and engineering skill that will enable Webb to accomplish its science goals."

What comes next

Webb is expected to take about 29 days to reach its intended orbit a million miles from Earth, with other critical steps along the way – and that includes another big challenge later this week: unfolding the telescope's mirror.

The mirror can extend 21 feet and 4 inches — a massive length that will allow it to collect more light from objects once the telescope is in space. The more light the mirror can collect, the more details the telescope can observe.

It's the largest mirror NASA has ever built, but its size created a unique problem. The mirror was so large that it couldn't fit inside a rocket. Engineers designed the telescope as a series of moving parts that can fold origami-style and fit inside a 16-foot space for launch.

This is the next series of crucial steps for Webb — making sure the mirror's 18 hexagonal gold-coated segments unfold and lock together. All of these steps are expected to be completed by the end of this week.

Finally, Webb will make one more trajectory adjustment to insert itself into an orbit that reaches beyond the moon.

While that rounds out the 29 days, the telescope will go through a period of commissioning in space that lasts for about five and a half months, which involves cooling down, aligning and calibrating its instruments. All of the instruments also will go through a checkout process to see how they are functioning.

Webb will begin to collect data and its first images later in 2022, and those are expected to be released in June or July, forever changing the way we see and understand the universe.


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]]> https://cincylink.com/2022/01/05/webb-telescope-successfully-unfurls-sunshield-in-space/feed/ 0 This $10 billion space telescope will reveal the secrets of the universe https://cincylink.com/2021/12/25/this-10-billion-space-telescope-will-reveal-the-secrets-of-the-universe/ https://cincylink.com/2021/12/25/this-10-billion-space-telescope-will-reveal-the-secrets-of-the-universe/#respond Sat, 25 Dec 2021 07:37:05 +0000 https://cincylink.com/?p=130864

We're about to have eyes on the invisible side of space.The James Webb Space Telescope will be the premier space observatory of the next decade when it launches Saturday. The telescope is expected to launch Saturday morning from French Guiana and live coverage will be available on NASA's website beginning at 6 a.m. ET.In addition to investigating the wealth of planets outside of our solar system, the observatory will peer back to some of the earliest galaxies that formed after the Big Bang and the very structure of the universe itself.Webb will act as an infrared sleuth, detecting light that is invisible to us and revealing otherwise hidden regions of space.The Webb telescope will look at every phase of cosmic history, including the first glows after the Big Bang that created our universe and the formation of the galaxies, stars and planets that fill it today. Its capabilities will enable the observatory to answer questions about our own solar system and investigate faint signals from the first galaxies formed 13.5 billion years ago."We can currently see galaxies back to 500 million to 600 million years post-Big Bang, nearly 13 billion years ago," said Marcia Rieke, a Regents Professor of Astronomy at the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory and principal investigator for the Near Infrared Camera on the Webb telescope.So far, what scientists have observed from this time period looks similar to what we already understand."However, logic dictates that at some point during the first few hundred million years, these familiar-looking objects must have come from somewhere and evolved," Rieke said. "After all, galaxies don't spring up from nothing, virtually overnight."The infrared camera on Webb could reveal the faint first light from galaxies as they formed during the infancy of the universe.As the universe expands, these faraway galaxies are moving away from us so rapidly that their wavelengths of light become stretched out until the point that they are only faintly visible in infrared light, Rieke said.Origins of the universe and how it evolvedWith Webb's capabilities, researchers should be able to get four times closer to the Big Bang than the Hubble Space Telescope, she said. Hubble observed the universe 450 billion years after the Big Bang.Marcia Rieke's husband George Rieke, a Regents Professor of Astronomy at the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory, is also working on Webb as the science team lead for the telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument. This instrument will allow Webb to look even farther across the infrared spectrum.Each space telescope builds on the knowledge gained from the previous one. In the case of Webb, its mirror is nearly 60 times larger than previous space telescopes, including the retired Spitzer Space Telescope. The observatory also improves on the sensitivity and resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope.Collecting infrared observations from space prevents interference created by the heat from our planet and its atmosphere.The spacecraft includes a five-layer sunshield that will unfurl to reach the size of a tennis court. It will protect Webb's giant mirror and instruments from the sun's heat because they need to be kept at a very frigid negative 370 degrees Fahrenheit to operate."This is really exciting that we're going to be looking at things that were just completely out of reach before," George Rieke said.Key questions about the universe can be answered when scientists have access to data from different wavelengths of light."Excitement in astronomy in the last 70 years has been looking at different wavelengths," George Rieke said. "Before that, all astronomy was done in optical (visible light) and looking at the universe in optical is like going to the symphony concert and only listening to one note. Now, we've got the whole symphony."Observations by Webb could confirm or entirely upend predictions and ideas that scientists have about the origin of the universe and how it evolved."We want to know, how did we get here from the Big Bang?" said John Mather, NASA's senior project scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope. "We want to look at those first galaxies growing. There are dark areas of dust skewing our view of those earliest times when the stars are growing, but we can see them with infrared."Understanding why distant galaxies are so different from those closer to our own Milky Way galaxy would help fill a critical knowledge gap."We have this 13.8 billion year story of the universe, and we're missing a few key paragraphs in the very first chapter of the story," said Amber Straughn, an astrophysicist and Webb deputy project scientist for communications at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland."What we're really trying to do here is is figure out how to pull those pieces of the story together and learn more about that whole process."

We're about to have eyes on the invisible side of space.

The James Webb Space Telescope will be the premier space observatory of the next decade when it launches Saturday. The telescope is expected to launch Saturday morning from French Guiana and live coverage will be available on NASA's website beginning at 6 a.m. ET.

In addition to investigating the wealth of planets outside of our solar system, the observatory will peer back to some of the earliest galaxies that formed after the Big Bang and the very structure of the universe itself.

Webb will act as an infrared sleuth, detecting light that is invisible to us and revealing otherwise hidden regions of space.

The Webb telescope will look at every phase of cosmic history, including the first glows after the Big Bang that created our universe and the formation of the galaxies, stars and planets that fill it today. Its capabilities will enable the observatory to answer questions about our own solar system and investigate faint signals from the first galaxies formed 13.5 billion years ago.

"We can currently see galaxies back to 500 million to 600 million years post-Big Bang, nearly 13 billion years ago," said Marcia Rieke, a Regents Professor of Astronomy at the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory and principal investigator for the Near Infrared Camera on the Webb telescope.

So far, what scientists have observed from this time period looks similar to what we already understand.

"However, logic dictates that at some point during the first few hundred million years, these familiar-looking objects must have come from somewhere and evolved," Rieke said. "After all, galaxies don't spring up from nothing, virtually overnight."

The infrared camera on Webb could reveal the faint first light from galaxies as they formed during the infancy of the universe.

As the universe expands, these faraway galaxies are moving away from us so rapidly that their wavelengths of light become stretched out until the point that they are only faintly visible in infrared light, Rieke said.

Shown here, the James Webb Space Telescope primary mirror illuminated in a dark cleanroom.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Shown here, the James Webb Space Telescope primary mirror illuminated in a dark cleanroom.

Origins of the universe and how it evolved

With Webb's capabilities, researchers should be able to get four times closer to the Big Bang than the Hubble Space Telescope, she said. Hubble observed the universe 450 billion years after the Big Bang.

Marcia Rieke's husband George Rieke, a Regents Professor of Astronomy at the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory, is also working on Webb as the science team lead for the telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument. This instrument will allow Webb to look even farther across the infrared spectrum.

Each space telescope builds on the knowledge gained from the previous one. In the case of Webb, its mirror is nearly 60 times larger than previous space telescopes, including the retired Spitzer Space Telescope. The observatory also improves on the sensitivity and resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope.

Collecting infrared observations from space prevents interference created by the heat from our planet and its atmosphere.

The spacecraft includes a five-layer sunshield that will unfurl to reach the size of a tennis court. It will protect Webb's giant mirror and instruments from the sun's heat because they need to be kept at a very frigid negative 370 degrees Fahrenheit to operate.

"This is really exciting that we're going to be looking at things that were just completely out of reach before," George Rieke said.

Key questions about the universe can be answered when scientists have access to data from different wavelengths of light.

"Excitement in astronomy in the last 70 years has been looking at different wavelengths," George Rieke said. "Before that, all astronomy was done in optical (visible light) and looking at the universe in optical is like going to the symphony concert and only listening to one note. Now, we've got the whole symphony."

The James Webb Space Telescope will be the premier space observatory of the next decade when it launches.

Adriana Manrique Gutierrez/CIL/GSFC/NASA

The James Webb Space Telescope will be the premier space observatory of the next decade when it launches.

Observations by Webb could confirm or entirely upend predictions and ideas that scientists have about the origin of the universe and how it evolved.

"We want to know, how did we get here from the Big Bang?" said John Mather, NASA's senior project scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope. "We want to look at those first galaxies growing. There are dark areas of dust skewing our view of those earliest times when the stars are growing, but we can see them with infrared."

Understanding why distant galaxies are so different from those closer to our own Milky Way galaxy would help fill a critical knowledge gap.

"We have this 13.8 billion year story of the universe, and we're missing a few key paragraphs in the very first chapter of the story," said Amber Straughn, an astrophysicist and Webb deputy project scientist for communications at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

"What we're really trying to do here is is figure out how to pull those pieces of the story together and learn more about that whole process."

Artist conception of the James Webb Space Telescope, dating to 2019.

Adriana Manrique Gutierrez/NASA

Artist conception of the James Webb Space Telescope, dating to 2019.

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]]> https://cincylink.com/2021/12/25/this-10-billion-space-telescope-will-reveal-the-secrets-of-the-universe/feed/ 0 Humans just ‘touched’ the sun for the first time using a spacecraft https://cincylink.com/2021/12/19/humans-just-touched-the-sun-for-the-first-time-using-a-spacecraft/ https://cincylink.com/2021/12/19/humans-just-touched-the-sun-for-the-first-time-using-a-spacecraft/#respond Sun, 19 Dec 2021 19:17:14 +0000 https://cincylink.com/?p=128925

The sun is the literal star of the show in our solar system, but we're still trying to figure out our celestial disco ball.Debates about the sun were first posed by ancient Greek philosophers. Thousands of years later, the combined work of people like Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler and Newton helped determine that planets orbit the sun.Many questions about our sun remain, like the nature of the energized wind that streams away from it across the solar system, or why the fiery orb's outer atmosphere is so much hotter than the surface.It's why NASA sent the Parker Solar Probe on a seven-year mission to investigate in 2018. The spacecraft has already uncovered surprising things.Now, at its closest approach to the sun yet, we're getting to the good stuff.Solar updateIt's official: Humans have used a spacecraft to "touch the sun" and revealed some unusual insights about our star.The Parker Solar Probe successfully flew through the sun's corona, or upper atmosphere, to sample particles and our star's magnetic fields. This NASA goal was 60 years in the making.Because the spacecraft will continue to draw closer to the sun, especially during an anticipated peak in solar activity, even more surprises are sure to be in store as the mission goes on.Fantastic creaturesThis critter's got legs and knows how to use them. In fact, it has the most legs of any living animal.It's a true millipede with 1,306 legs. Mille means "thousand" in Latin, but known millipede species topped out at 750 legs until this discovery.Scientists found the real McCoy living deep underground in Western Australia. It's only 3.7 inches long, but it has 330 body segments.In case you're wondering, the researchers recounted the legs, just to be sure.A long time agoA previously unknown human population lived on the isolated Faroe Islands hundreds of years before the Vikings arrived -- and researchers found out thanks to ancient sheep poop.The rugged archipelago, located between Norway and Iceland, was first reached by people who brought livestock with them in 500 AD. The Vikings later arrived in the 800s.Analysis of sediment cores taken from a lake on one of the Faroe Islands helped researchers establish a timeline of when the non-native sheep, and their human owners, arrived.The exact identity of these people remains a mystery, but the team has an idea of who they were, thanks to some intriguing clues.Other worldsMars is the scientific gift that keeps on giving. This week, researchers made several groundbreaking discoveries that change our understanding of the red planet.It turns out that the Perseverance rover has been driving over the remains of ancient volcanic lava for months -- something that was "completely unexpected" for mission scientists.The rocks that Percy has sampled so far were also found to have interacted with water multiple times, and some of them include organic molecules.And a European orbiter investigating Valles Marineris on Mars -- picture the Grand Canyon, but 10 times longer, five times deeper and 20 times wider -- found it has "significant amounts of water."ConsequencesThe Arctic is suffering as our planet warms. The typically frozen biome failed its annual health check due to the climate crisis.More than 100 scientists shared the news in the Arctic Report Card this week. The report tracked changes in sea ice, snow, temperatures, animals and even vegetation, all pointing to the fact that the Arctic is melting.Meanwhile, researchers warned that a critical ice shelf in Antarctica could shatter within the next five years. Its presence is safeguarding the so-called "Doomsday glacier."Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier already accounts for about 4% of annual global sea level rise. Irreversible changes throughout the planet could result from its demise.

The sun is the literal star of the show in our solar system, but we're still trying to figure out our celestial disco ball.

Debates about the sun were first posed by ancient Greek philosophers. Thousands of years later, the combined work of people like Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler and Newton helped determine that planets orbit the sun.

Many questions about our sun remain, like the nature of the energized wind that streams away from it across the solar system, or why the fiery orb's outer atmosphere is so much hotter than the surface.

It's why NASA sent the Parker Solar Probe on a seven-year mission to investigate in 2018. The spacecraft has already uncovered surprising things.

Now, at its closest approach to the sun yet, we're getting to the good stuff.

Solar update

It's official: Humans have used a spacecraft to "touch the sun" and revealed some unusual insights about our star.

The Parker Solar Probe successfully flew through the sun's corona, or upper atmosphere, to sample particles and our star's magnetic fields. This NASA goal was 60 years in the making.

Because the spacecraft will continue to draw closer to the sun, especially during an anticipated peak in solar activity, even more surprises are sure to be in store as the mission goes on.

Fantastic creatures

This critter's got legs and knows how to use them. In fact, it has the most legs of any living animal.

It's a true millipede with 1,306 legs. Mille means "thousand" in Latin, but known millipede species topped out at 750 legs until this discovery.

Scientists found the real McCoy living deep underground in Western Australia. It's only 3.7 inches long, but it has 330 body segments.

In case you're wondering, the researchers recounted the legs, just to be sure.

A long time ago

A previously unknown human population lived on the isolated Faroe Islands hundreds of years before the Vikings arrived -- and researchers found out thanks to ancient sheep poop.

The rugged archipelago, located between Norway and Iceland, was first reached by people who brought livestock with them in 500 AD. The Vikings later arrived in the 800s.

Analysis of sediment cores taken from a lake on one of the Faroe Islands helped researchers establish a timeline of when the non-native sheep, and their human owners, arrived.

The exact identity of these people remains a mystery, but the team has an idea of who they were, thanks to some intriguing clues.

Other worlds

Mars is the scientific gift that keeps on giving. This week, researchers made several groundbreaking discoveries that change our understanding of the red planet.

It turns out that the Perseverance rover has been driving over the remains of ancient volcanic lava for months -- something that was "completely unexpected" for mission scientists.

The rocks that Percy has sampled so far were also found to have interacted with water multiple times, and some of them include organic molecules.

And a European orbiter investigating Valles Marineris on Mars -- picture the Grand Canyon, but 10 times longer, five times deeper and 20 times wider -- found it has "significant amounts of water."

Consequences

The Arctic is suffering as our planet warms. The typically frozen biome failed its annual health check due to the climate crisis.

More than 100 scientists shared the news in the Arctic Report Card this week. The report tracked changes in sea ice, snow, temperatures, animals and even vegetation, all pointing to the fact that the Arctic is melting.

Meanwhile, researchers warned that a critical ice shelf in Antarctica could shatter within the next five years. Its presence is safeguarding the so-called "Doomsday glacier."

Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier already accounts for about 4% of annual global sea level rise. Irreversible changes throughout the planet could result from its demise.


Source link

]]> https://cincylink.com/2021/12/19/humans-just-touched-the-sun-for-the-first-time-using-a-spacecraft/feed/ 0 Blue Origin poised to send NFL, TV’s Strahan into space https://cincylink.com/2021/12/11/blue-origin-poised-to-send-nfl-tvs-strahan-into-space/ https://cincylink.com/2021/12/11/blue-origin-poised-to-send-nfl-tvs-strahan-into-space/#respond Sat, 11 Dec 2021 13:07:15 +0000 https://cincylink.com/?p=126022

Blue Origin poised to send NFL veteran Michael Strahan, five others into space



mm hmm. Mhm. Yeah. Mhm. Tomorrow we're having another man uh and um William Shatner is going to be on it. Um So it's time Captain Kirk actually, physically got up into space. I'm kind of excited about that. He and Mr Speaker, we're the ones that got me interested in space and science fiction and and everything else. So from junior high age up to now, where William Shatner is actually in our town fixing to go up uh into space, you know, it's kind of like the whole circle now, for me, this is a big deal for our town in terms of uh tourism, you know, the hotels are filling up, the restaurants are staying busy, the gas stations are staying busy, more so than usual. Uh we have pretty good traffic through here, but we're wanting people to come in and stay for a while and uh this is giving us a focal point to get people at least that are interested in space travel and science fiction to come out here and see that it's not just fiction anymore. Look,
mm hmm. Mhm. Yeah. Mhm. Tomorrow we're having another man uh and um William Shatner is going to be on it. Um So it's time Captain Kirk actually, physically got up into space. I'm kind of excited about that. He and Mr Speaker, we're the ones that got me interested in space and science fiction and and everything else. So from junior high age up to now, where William Shatner is actually in our town fixing to go up uh into space, you know, it's kind of like the whole circle now, for me, this is a big deal for our town in terms of uh tourism, you know, the hotels are filling up, the restaurants are staying busy, the gas stations are staying busy, more so than usual. Uh we have pretty good traffic through here, but we're wanting people to come in and stay for a while and uh this is giving us a focal point to get people at least that are interested in space travel and science fiction to come out here and see that it's not just fiction anymore. Look,

Blue Origin poised to send NFL veteran Michael Strahan, five others into space


Video above: Blue Origin brings space tourism to Texas townJeff Bezos' rocket company, Blue Origin, is about to send former NFL great Michael Strahan into space — with a football. The former New York Giant prepped Saturday for a morning blastoff from West Texas. Five others will join him on the 10-minute flight, including the eldest daughter of the first American in space, Alan Shepard. Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket is named for him.Strahan packed his Super Bowl ring and his newly retired No. 92 jersey for the ride. Bezos also put a football aboard that will go to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.Laura Shepard Churchley is taking up a tiny part of her father's Freedom 7 Mercury capsule, which soared in 1961, as well as a few mementos that accompanied him to the moon on Apollo 14 in 1971.This is Blue Origin's third passenger flight. Bezos, who founded Amazon six years before Blue Origin, was on the debut launch in July. The second, in October, included actor William Shatner — Captain James Kirk of TV's original "Star Trek."The reusable, automated capsule will be especially crowded this time. Instead of four, there will be six flying, including four paying customers.Blue Origin originally targeted Thursday for the launch, but high wind forced a delay.

Video above: Blue Origin brings space tourism to Texas town

Jeff Bezos' rocket company, Blue Origin, is about to send former NFL great Michael Strahan into space — with a football.

The former New York Giant prepped Saturday for a morning blastoff from West Texas. Five others will join him on the 10-minute flight, including the eldest daughter of the first American in space, Alan Shepard. Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket is named for him.

Strahan packed his Super Bowl ring and his newly retired No. 92 jersey for the ride. Bezos also put a football aboard that will go to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Laura Shepard Churchley is taking up a tiny part of her father's Freedom 7 Mercury capsule, which soared in 1961, as well as a few mementos that accompanied him to the moon on Apollo 14 in 1971.

This is Blue Origin's third passenger flight. Bezos, who founded Amazon six years before Blue Origin, was on the debut launch in July. The second, in October, included actor William Shatner — Captain James Kirk of TV's original "Star Trek."

The reusable, automated capsule will be especially crowded this time. Instead of four, there will be six flying, including four paying customers.

Blue Origin originally targeted Thursday for the launch, but high wind forced a delay.


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]]> https://cincylink.com/2021/12/11/blue-origin-poised-to-send-nfl-tvs-strahan-into-space/feed/ 0 FAA says it will no longer give out commercial astronaut wings https://cincylink.com/2021/12/10/faa-says-it-will-no-longer-give-out-commercial-astronaut-wings/ https://cincylink.com/2021/12/10/faa-says-it-will-no-longer-give-out-commercial-astronaut-wings/#respond Sat, 11 Dec 2021 02:47:17 +0000 https://cincylink.com/?p=125880

Heads up, future space travelers: No more commercial astronaut wings will be awarded from the Federal Aviation Administration after this year.The FAA said Friday it's clipping its astronaut wings because too many people are now launching into space and it's getting out of the astronaut designation business entirely.The news comes one day ahead of Blue Origin's planned liftoff from West Texas with former NFL player and TV celebrity Michael Strahan. He and his five fellow passengers will still be eligible for wings since the FAA isn't ending its long-standing program until Jan. 1.NASA's astronauts also have nothing to worry about going forward — they'll still get their pins from the space agency.All 15 people who rocketed into space for the first time this year on private U.S. flights will be awarded their wings, according to the FAA. That includes Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos and Virgin Galactic's Richard Branson, as well as the other space newbies who accompanied them on their brief up-and-down trips. The companies handed out their own version of astronaut wings after the flights.All four passengers on SpaceX's first private flight to orbit last September also qualified for FAA wings. Adding Blue Origin's next crew of six will bring the list to 30. The FAA' s first commercial wings recipient was in 2004.Earlier this year, the FAA tightened up its qualifications, specifying that awardees must be trained crew members, versus paying customers along for the ride. But with the program ending, the decision was made to be all-inclusive, a spokesman said.Future space tourists will get their names put on a FAA commercial spaceflight list. To qualify, they must soar at least 50 miles on an FAA-sanctioned launch."The U.S. commercial human spaceflight industry has come a long way from conducting test flights to launching paying customers into space," the FAA's associate administrator Wayne Monteith said in a statement. "Now it's time to offer recognition to a larger group of adventurers daring to go to space."___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. —

Heads up, future space travelers: No more commercial astronaut wings will be awarded from the Federal Aviation Administration after this year.

The FAA said Friday it's clipping its astronaut wings because too many people are now launching into space and it's getting out of the astronaut designation business entirely.

The news comes one day ahead of Blue Origin's planned liftoff from West Texas with former NFL player and TV celebrity Michael Strahan. He and his five fellow passengers will still be eligible for wings since the FAA isn't ending its long-standing program until Jan. 1.

NASA's astronauts also have nothing to worry about going forward — they'll still get their pins from the space agency.

All 15 people who rocketed into space for the first time this year on private U.S. flights will be awarded their wings, according to the FAA. That includes Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos and Virgin Galactic's Richard Branson, as well as the other space newbies who accompanied them on their brief up-and-down trips. The companies handed out their own version of astronaut wings after the flights.

All four passengers on SpaceX's first private flight to orbit last September also qualified for FAA wings.

Adding Blue Origin's next crew of six will bring the list to 30. The FAA' s first commercial wings recipient was in 2004.

Earlier this year, the FAA tightened up its qualifications, specifying that awardees must be trained crew members, versus paying customers along for the ride. But with the program ending, the decision was made to be all-inclusive, a spokesman said.

Future space tourists will get their names put on a FAA commercial spaceflight list. To qualify, they must soar at least 50 miles on an FAA-sanctioned launch.

"The U.S. commercial human spaceflight industry has come a long way from conducting test flights to launching paying customers into space," the FAA's associate administrator Wayne Monteith said in a statement. "Now it's time to offer recognition to a larger group of adventurers daring to go to space."

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.


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]]> https://cincylink.com/2021/12/10/faa-says-it-will-no-longer-give-out-commercial-astronaut-wings/feed/ 0 New Heinz Marz Edition ketchup has implications that go far beyond flavor https://cincylink.com/2021/11/09/new-heinz-marz-edition-ketchup-has-implications-that-go-far-beyond-flavor/ https://cincylink.com/2021/11/09/new-heinz-marz-edition-ketchup-has-implications-that-go-far-beyond-flavor/#respond Tue, 09 Nov 2021 05:08:06 +0000 https://cincylink.com/?p=113845

First came the billionaires, then the movie stars — now ketchup is making its mark on the space race.Heinz revealed its first "Marz Edition" ketchup with tomatoes produced on Earth in Mars-like conditions. A team of 14 astrobiologists worked for nine months at the Aldrin Space Institute at the Florida Institute of Technology, growing tomatoes in a controlled environment with soil, temperature and water conditions similar to Mars.Former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino said ketchup made from conventional Earth tomatoes has been a staple condiment in space to spruce up dehydrated meals, but the Marz Edition variety has implications that go far beyond flavor. The experiment, which has been two years in the making, demonstrates the possibility of long-term food production on Mars."Before now, most efforts around discovering ways to grow in Martian-simulated conditions are short-term plant growth studies. What this project has done is look at long-term food harvesting. Achieving a crop that is of a quality to become Heinz Tomato Ketchup was the dream result and we achieved it," said Andrew Palmer, who led the team at the Aldrin Space Institute at Florida Tech.NASA has also experimented with plant harvesting in space to provide astronauts with more nutrients for their freeze-dried diets. (Apparently, the human body can't survive off freeze-dried ice cream.) The International Space Station recently hosted a taco party after harvesting the first chile peppers on the station -- ketchup could be the taco party's next guest. There has been discussion of sending a tomato-growing experiment to the space station, said NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough on Friday.The research team and Massimino will be the first to taste final product on Nov. 10 at 10 a.m. ET. You can watch the historic event on Heinz's social media channels, such as Twitter and Instagram.The Martian ketchup is not available for purchase, but if you ever find yourself heading to Mars, that might be one thing you don't have to pack.

First came the billionaires, then the movie stars — now ketchup is making its mark on the space race.

Heinz revealed its first "Marz Edition" ketchup with tomatoes produced on Earth in Mars-like conditions. A team of 14 astrobiologists worked for nine months at the Aldrin Space Institute at the Florida Institute of Technology, growing tomatoes in a controlled environment with soil, temperature and water conditions similar to Mars.

Former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino said ketchup made from conventional Earth tomatoes has been a staple condiment in space to spruce up dehydrated meals, but the Marz Edition variety has implications that go far beyond flavor. The experiment, which has been two years in the making, demonstrates the possibility of long-term food production on Mars.

"Before now, most efforts around discovering ways to grow in Martian-simulated conditions are short-term plant growth studies. What this project has done is look at long-term food harvesting. Achieving a crop that is of a quality to become Heinz Tomato Ketchup was the dream result and we achieved it," said Andrew Palmer, who led the team at the Aldrin Space Institute at Florida Tech.

NASA has also experimented with plant harvesting in space to provide astronauts with more nutrients for their freeze-dried diets. (Apparently, the human body can't survive off freeze-dried ice cream.) The International Space Station recently hosted a taco party after harvesting the first chile peppers on the station -- ketchup could be the taco party's next guest. There has been discussion of sending a tomato-growing experiment to the space station, said NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough on Friday.

The research team and Massimino will be the first to taste final product on Nov. 10 at 10 a.m. ET. You can watch the historic event on Heinz's social media channels, such as Twitter and Instagram.

The Martian ketchup is not available for purchase, but if you ever find yourself heading to Mars, that might be one thing you don't have to pack.




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]]> https://cincylink.com/2021/11/09/new-heinz-marz-edition-ketchup-has-implications-that-go-far-beyond-flavor/feed/ 0 Astronauts have a taco taste test using first chile peppers grown in space https://cincylink.com/2021/11/03/astronauts-have-a-taco-taste-test-using-first-chile-peppers-grown-in-space/ https://cincylink.com/2021/11/03/astronauts-have-a-taco-taste-test-using-first-chile-peppers-grown-in-space/#respond Wed, 03 Nov 2021 04:18:05 +0000 https://cincylink.com/?p=111420

It's the space taco party of your dreams.The International Space Station hosted a taco bash for astronauts on Friday as they celebrated the harvest of the first chile peppers grown in space. The crew finally had a chance to taste test the peppers after initially kicking off the plant experiment on the space station in July.Plant Habitat-04 is one of the most complex plant experiments on the orbiting laboratory to date because peppers take much longer to grow than the previous experiments, which included various types of lettuce, flowering zinnias and even radishes.After growing for four months, the peppers were harvested on Friday by NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei. Next, they were sanitized before the crew settled in to taste some of the red and green chiles and take surveys about the flavor and texture.Following the taste test, NASA astronaut Megan McArthur made her "best space tacos yet: fajita beef, rehydrated tomatoes & artichokes, and HATCH CHILE!" the astronaut shared on Twitter.Some of the peppers will be sent back to Earth for analysis, while the chile pepper plants continue to grow on the space station. The SpaceX Crew-3 astronauts, due to launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida this month, will conduct a second harvest once they arrive.The rare fresh produce means more than just some dietary variety and excitement for the astronauts. The success of this experiment also has multiple scientific implications for the future of astronaut nutrition and long-duration space missions.And these mild peppers could turn spicier or milder depending on how much water they receive — and how living in the absence of gravity, which is stressful for plants, impacts them.Growing plants in spaceHumans have been living and working on the space station for 20 years. The bulk of their meals are prepackaged, though sometimes astronauts receive fresh treats from resupply missions. Those care packages, however, will be much more limited on longer deep space missions, including traveling to the moon or Mars.The longer that packaged food is stored, the more it loses nutrients like vitamin C and vitamin K.So far, astronauts have successfully grown 10 different crops on the space station since 2015 and had the chance to sample each one.Peppers provide a great source of vitamin C, as well as other key nutrients, and these chile peppers tested well on Earth in environments simulating what the plants might experience on the space station.Pepper plants self-pollinate, so they are easy to grow, and they are a pick-and-eat crop that doesn't have to be cooked. They also contain low microbial levels, so they are safe to eat raw.It took two years for researchers to settle on the Hatch chile pepper for their space experiment. The name belongs to several varieties grown in Hatch, New Mexico, and the Hatch Valley in southern New Mexico, but this specific plant is a hybrid developed by New Mexico State University, combining the Hatch Sandia pepper and the traditional Española pepper of northern New Mexico.But the space peppers can't officially be Hatch chile peppers because they weren't grown in Hatch Valley.Forty-eight seeds launched in a carrier on a resupply mission to the space station in June. The carrier was placed inside the lab's Advanced Plant Habitat, which is about the size of a microwave. The habitat can be monitored and controlled from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, including watering, lighting and turning on fans to promote pollen transfer.On Earth, these chiles grow to about 3 inches long, but their environment could have an impact on how the peppers develop in space.Spicing things upA side effect of life in zero gravity is that astronauts often lose some of their taste and smell, so spicy or well-seasoned foods are a favorite.Adding fresh greens or peppers to the menu allows astronauts to liven up their regular meals. But growing and tending to the plants can also produce other benefits.Astronauts have described the joy they get from seeing — as well as smelling and caring for — leafy green plants on the space station that remind them of Earth. The astronauts also helped hand-pollinate flowers on some of the plants."Growing colorful vegetables in space can have long-term benefits for physical and psychological health," said Matt Romeyn, principal investigator for the experiment, in a statement. "We are discovering that growing plants and vegetables with colors and smells helps to improve astronauts' well-being."The results of this experiment could help researchers learn how fruit development occurs in the absence of gravity and mitigate challenges for future growth experiments."The combination of microgravity, light quality, temperature, and rootzone moisture will all affect flavor, so it will be interesting to find out how the fruit will grow, ripen, and taste," said LaShelle Spencer, project science team lead, in a statement. "This is important because the food astronauts eat needs to be as good as the rest of their equipment. To successfully send people to Mars and bring them back to Earth, we will not only require the most nutritious foods, but the best tasting ones as well."

It's the space taco party of your dreams.

The International Space Station hosted a taco bash for astronauts on Friday as they celebrated the harvest of the first chile peppers grown in space. The crew finally had a chance to taste test the peppers after initially kicking off the plant experiment on the space station in July.

Plant Habitat-04 is one of the most complex plant experiments on the orbiting laboratory to date because peppers take much longer to grow than the previous experiments, which included various types of lettuce, flowering zinnias and even radishes.

After growing for four months, the peppers were harvested on Friday by NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei. Next, they were sanitized before the crew settled in to taste some of the red and green chiles and take surveys about the flavor and texture.

Following the taste test, NASA astronaut Megan McArthur made her "best space tacos yet: fajita beef, rehydrated tomatoes & artichokes, and HATCH CHILE!" the astronaut shared on Twitter.

Some of the peppers will be sent back to Earth for analysis, while the chile pepper plants continue to grow on the space station. The SpaceX Crew-3 astronauts, due to launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida this month, will conduct a second harvest once they arrive.

iss066e023198 (October 29, 2021) -- NASA astronaut and Expedition 66 flight engineer Megan McArthur is seen with a taco made using fajita beef, rehydrated tomatoes and artichokes, and chile peppers. The chile peppers were grown as part of the Plant Habitat-04 investigation aboard the International Space Station. The crop started growing on July 12, 2021, and represent one of the longest and most challenging plant experiments attempted aboard the orbiting laboratory. The chile peppers started growing on July 12, 2021, and represent one of the longest and most challenging plant experiments attempted aboard the orbiting laboratory. NASA astronaut and Expedition 66 flight engineer Mark Vande Hei conducted the first harvest of the pepper crop on October 29, 2021. Crew members sanitized the peppers and completed a scientific survey after their taste test. The Crew-3 astronauts will take over the crop when they arrive at the orbiting laboratory, and will conduct a final harvest of the peppers in late November. They will also sanitize and sample the crop, and complete surveys. Some peppers and their leaves from the final harvest will return to Earth for further analysis. What we learn will inform future crop growth and food supplementation activities for deep space exploration.

NASA

NASA astronaut Megan McArthur

The rare fresh produce means more than just some dietary variety and excitement for the astronauts. The success of this experiment also has multiple scientific implications for the future of astronaut nutrition and long-duration space missions.

And these mild peppers could turn spicier or milder depending on how much water they receive — and how living in the absence of gravity, which is stressful for plants, impacts them.

Growing plants in space

Humans have been living and working on the space station for 20 years. The bulk of their meals are prepackaged, though sometimes astronauts receive fresh treats from resupply missions. Those care packages, however, will be much more limited on longer deep space missions, including traveling to the moon or Mars.

The longer that packaged food is stored, the more it loses nutrients like vitamin C and vitamin K.

So far, astronauts have successfully grown 10 different crops on the space station since 2015 and had the chance to sample each one.

iss066e006170 (October 20, 2021) -- A view of a green chile pepper being grown as part of the Plant Habitat-04 investigation aboard the International Space Station. This is the first time chile peppers are being grown aboard the orbiting laboratory, and are one of the most complex plant experiments on the station to date because of the long germination and growing times. The pepper seeds were activated on July 12. 2021 and will grow for about four months, during which time they will be harvested twice. Astronauts will sample some of the peppers and return the rest to Earth for scientific analysis.

NASA

Chiles grown in space

Peppers provide a great source of vitamin C, as well as other key nutrients, and these chile peppers tested well on Earth in environments simulating what the plants might experience on the space station.

Pepper plants self-pollinate, so they are easy to grow, and they are a pick-and-eat crop that doesn't have to be cooked. They also contain low microbial levels, so they are safe to eat raw.

It took two years for researchers to settle on the Hatch chile pepper for their space experiment. The name belongs to several varieties grown in Hatch, New Mexico, and the Hatch Valley in southern New Mexico, but this specific plant is a hybrid developed by New Mexico State University, combining the Hatch Sandia pepper and the traditional Española pepper of northern New Mexico.

But the space peppers can't officially be Hatch chile peppers because they weren't grown in Hatch Valley.

Forty-eight seeds launched in a carrier on a resupply mission to the space station in June. The carrier was placed inside the lab's Advanced Plant Habitat, which is about the size of a microwave. The habitat can be monitored and controlled from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, including watering, lighting and turning on fans to promote pollen transfer.

On Earth, these chiles grow to about 3 inches long, but their environment could have an impact on how the peppers develop in space.

https://twitter.com/Astro_Megan/status/1454190385190907912

NASA

Chiles grown in space

Spicing things up

A side effect of life in zero gravity is that astronauts often lose some of their taste and smell, so spicy or well-seasoned foods are a favorite.

Adding fresh greens or peppers to the menu allows astronauts to liven up their regular meals. But growing and tending to the plants can also produce other benefits.

Astronauts have described the joy they get from seeing — as well as smelling and caring for — leafy green plants on the space station that remind them of Earth. The astronauts also helped hand-pollinate flowers on some of the plants.

"Growing colorful vegetables in space can have long-term benefits for physical and psychological health," said Matt Romeyn, principal investigator for the experiment, in a statement. "We are discovering that growing plants and vegetables with colors and smells helps to improve astronauts' well-being."

The results of this experiment could help researchers learn how fruit development occurs in the absence of gravity and mitigate challenges for future growth experiments.

"The combination of microgravity, light quality, temperature, and rootzone moisture will all affect flavor, so it will be interesting to find out how the fruit will grow, ripen, and taste," said LaShelle Spencer, project science team lead, in a statement. "This is important because the food astronauts eat needs to be as good as the rest of their equipment. To successfully send people to Mars and bring them back to Earth, we will not only require the most nutritious foods, but the best tasting ones as well."




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]]> https://cincylink.com/2021/11/03/astronauts-have-a-taco-taste-test-using-first-chile-peppers-grown-in-space/feed/ 0