The "Science and Space" Thread #2

[ekim68]

BIG shoots for the Moon with 3D-printed lunar habitat plan

The Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) has conceived some of the most interesting architecture projects we've seen on land, and even water, but its latest design is out of this world – literally. It involves the development of 3D-printed Moon habitats that could be used to support the human exploration of Earth's satellite.

 

[ekim68]

Hubble watches exploding star fade into oblivion

When a star unleashes as much energy in a matter of days as our Sun does in several billion years, you know it's not going to remain visible for long.

Like intergalactic paparazzi, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured the quick, fading celebrity status of a supernova, the self-detonation of a star. The Hubble snapshots have been assembled into a telling movie of the titanic stellar blast disappearing into oblivion in the spiral galaxy NGC 2525, located 70 million light-years away.

 

[ekim68]

Six Galaxies Orbiting a Black Hole in Ancient Universe

Astronomers at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) recently found six galaxies orbiting a black hole in the ancient Universe. The galaxies orbiting this supermassive black hole (SMBH) are seen as they appeared when the Universe was just 900 million years old. This collection of galaxies, centered around the quasar SDSS J1030+0524, is the oldest, closest galactic cluster ever seen orbiting a supermassive black hole.

 

[ekim68]

Astronomers reveal first direct image of Beta Pictoris c using new astronomy instrument

The vast majority of planets near foreign stars are discovered by astronomers with the help of sophisticated methods. The exoplanet does not appear in the image, but reveals itself indirectly in the spectrum. A team of scientists from the Max Planck Institutes for Astronomy and Extraterrestrial Physics has now succeeded in obtaining the first direct confirmation of a previously discovered exoplanet using the method of radial velocity measurement. Using the the GRAVITY instrument at the VLT telescopes in Chile, the astronomers observed the faint glint of the planet Beta Pictoris c, some 63 light-years away from Earth, next to the bright rays of its mother star. The researchers can now derive both the brightness and the dynamic mass of an exoplanet from these observations and thus better narrow down the formation models of these objects.

 

[ekim68]

24 "super-habitable" exoplanets potentially better than Earth identified

A team of scientists led by Washington State University (WSU) geobiologist Dirk Schulze-Makuch has identified two dozen exoplanets that could be more favorable to life than the Earth. Based on data from the Kepler mission, these super-habitable worlds may have conditions more suitable for sustaining life for a longer period of time than our planet.

One of the major questions vexing modern science is whether there is life elsewhere in the universe. While no direct evidence of such life has been discovered, exoplanet-hunting missions like Kepler have changed many of our ideas about how planetary systems are formed and have provided scientists with the means to think about life beyond our solar system without leaning so heavily on conjecture and speculation.

 

[Brigham]

I have always thought that there must be many planets capable of sustaining life as we know it. The problem is getting to them. The only practical way would be if we could travel FTL. That can't happen as far as our knowledge is now. Wormholes haven't been discovered yet. Space ships aren't capable of sustaining life over generations, so it looks like emigration from the earth is just pie in the sky. (pun intended)

 

[ekim68]

It starts one step at a time and we're making progress. There have been some great engineering and technological advances in the last 15 years which will at least take a first step to the Moon and Mars. IMO the biggest drawback is Radiation but they're working on that too.

 

[ekim68]

James Webb Space Telescope completes prelaunch environmental tests

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has passed a major milestone, completing its prelaunch environmental testing. The space agency and primary contractor Northrop Grumman subjected the fully assembled spacecraft to several weeks of acoustic and sine-vibration tests to determine whether it can withstand the rigors of a rocket launch and its journey to orbit.

 

[Brigham]

It starts one step at a time and we're making progress. There have been some great engineering and technological advances in the last 15 years which will at least take a first step to the Moon and Mars. IMO the biggest drawback is Radiation but they're working on that too.

I was really thinking of exo planets

 

[ekim68]

ESO telescope spots galaxies trapped in the web of a supermassive black hole

Astronomers have found six galaxies lying around a supermassive black hole when the Universe was less than a billion years old. This is the first time such a close grouping has been seen so soon after the Big Bang and the finding helps us better understand how supermassive black holes formed and grew so quickly. It supports the theory that black holes can grow rapidly within large structures which contain plenty of gas to fuel them.

 

[ekim68]

The Moon’s South Pole Is Hiding Something Massive and Mysterious

It’s been 50 years since Apollo 11, but our knowledge of the moon is still remarkably scant. We’ve only just scratched the surface of what there is to know, quite literally. A recent paper published in Geophysical Research Letters outlines the discovery of a massive — truly massive — body of material sitting hundreds of miles under the largest crater on the moon. And scientists are stumped as to what it is and how it got there.

 

[ekim68]

NASA's OSIRIS-REx collects sample from surface of asteroid Bennu

In a truly remarkable feat of engineering, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx has scooped a sample of soil from the surface of asteroid Bennu, as it hurtles through space some 205 million miles from Earth. The spacecraft successfully touched the asteroid Bennu on Tuesday at 6:11 pm EDT and collected a 2-oz (57-g) sample of its surface.

 

[ekim68]

NASA's Perseverance Rover Bringing 3D-Printed Metal Parts to Mars

If you want to see science fiction at work, visit a modern machine shop, where 3D printers create materials in just about any shape you can imagine. NASA is exploring the technique – known as additive manufacturing when used by specialized engineers – to build rocket engines as well as potential outposts on the Moon and Mars. Nearer in the future is a different milestone: NASA's Perseverance rover, which lands on the Red Planet on Feb. 18, 2021, carries 11 metal parts made with 3D printing.

Instead of forging, molding, or cutting materials, 3D printing relies on lasers to melt powder in successive layers to give shape to something. Doing so allows engineers to play with unique designs and traits, such as making hardware lighter, stronger, or responsive to heat or cold.

 

[ekim68]

The Propulsion We’re Supplying, It’s Electrifying

But what if the most powerful propulsion system in NASA’s toolbox produces less than one pound of thrust while reaching speeds of up to 200,000 mph? What if it costs less, carries more, and uses less fuel?

This radical system is in-space electric propulsion. It can reduce the amount of fuel, or propellant, needed by up to 90% compared to chemical propulsion systems, saving millions in launch costs while providing greater mission flexibility.

 

[ekim68]

Einstein's theory of relativity, critical for GPS, seen in distant stars

What do Albert Einstein, the Global Positioning System (GPS), and a pair of stars 200,000 trillion miles from Earth have in common?

The answer is an effect from Einstein's General Theory of Relativity called the "gravitational redshift," where light is shifted to redder colors because of gravity. Using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have discovered the phenomenon in two stars orbiting each other in our galaxy about 29,000 light years (200,000 trillion miles) away from Earth. While these stars are very distant, gravitational redshifts have tangible impacts on modern life, as scientists and engineers must take them into account to enable accurate positions for GPS.