Archive for the ‘space’ category: Page 17
May 13, 2024
Enhancing Boiling Processes for Lunar and Martian Exploration
Posted by Laurence Tognetti, Labroots Inc. in categories: futurism, space
How will liquids boil under reduced gravity, specifically on the Moon and Mars? This is what a recent project hopes to address as a team of researchers led by the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and working with Texas A&M University investigated the behavior of boiling liquids under reduced gravity using parabolic flights that are designed to simulate reduced gravity conditions. This project holds the potential to help researchers and future astronauts better understand how to manage boiling liquids during long-term space missions to the Moon and Mars where the gravity is one-sixth and one-third of the Earth’s, respectively.
From left to right: SwRI Research Engineer, Emilio Gordon, Texas A&M University Professor of Aerospace Engineering, Dr. Bonnie Dunbar, and SwRI Research Engineer, Dr. Eugene Hoffman, examine the experimental payload right before its parabolic flight on April 24th, 2024. (Credit: Southwest Research Institute)
“We have so little data about how boiling works in reduced gravity,” said Kevin Supak, who is a program manager at SwRI and the project lead. “Our experiment studies boiling in conditions that simulate lunar and Martian gravity levels using four different surfaces to examine how bubbles initiate and detach.”
May 13, 2024
NASA reveals plans to build levitating robots on the surface of the Moon
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: robotics/AI, space
NASA has unveiled its plans to construct a reliable, autonomous, and efficient payload transportation system on the surface of the Moon.
May 13, 2024
Simulated Microgravity Affects Sleep and Physiological rhythms
Posted by Natalie Chan in category: space
Simulated effects of microgravity significantly affect rhythmicity and sleep in humans, a new study from the University of Surrey finds. Such disturbances could negatively affect the physiology and performance of astronauts in space.
May 13, 2024
Mars is blasting plasma out of its atmosphere into space
Posted by Dan Breeden in category: space
The Red Planet launches large bursts of plasma into space from its upper atmosphere, much like the sun’s coronal mass ejections, despite not having a global magnetic field.
By Alex Wilkins
May 12, 2024
NASA Shares Photos Of Massive Explosions On Sun That Unleashed Solar Flares
Posted by Chris Smedley in category: space
NASA has recorded two explosions on the surface of the sun which unleashed powerful solar flares on Friday and Saturday.
May 12, 2024
OTPS seeks input from the lunar community to inform a framework for further work on non-interference of lunar activities
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: policy, space
NASA’s Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy (OTPS) is asking members of the lunar community to respond to a new Lunar Non-Interference Questionnaire that will inform the development of a framework for further work on non-interference of lunar activities. There is no funding or solicitation expected to follow.
OTPS was created in November 2021 within the Office of the NASA Administrator to work transparently in collaboration across NASA and with the broader space community to provide NASA leadership with a trade space of data-and evidence-driven options to develop and shape NASA policy, strategy, and technology.
As dozens of countries and private sector companies have expressed interest in establishing lunar operations by the end of the decade, including many in the South Pole region, it will be critical to determine how to minimize interference and contamination in lunar activities. Deconfliction has been identified as an area of further work in Section 11 of the Artemis Accords and will be an area of increasing importance as the number of commercial and international actors operating on the lunar surface grows.
May 12, 2024
Earthquakes Caused by Mysterious Blobs Inside Earth, Scientists Say
Posted by Kelvin Dafiaghor in category: space
Blobs left behind from a collision between the Earth and a Mars-sized object may have led to plate tectonics and eventually earthquakes.
May 11, 2024
SpaceX set to rock Florida with bigger Starship launches
Posted by Dan Breeden in categories: Elon Musk, space
SpaceX’s Starship is coming to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida – and its plan to use the launch facility means the Federal Aviation Administration will probe the potential environmental impact of Elon Musk’s most powerful rockets blasting off the US East Coast.
NASA’s Environmental Assessment (EA) for the whole affair was completed in September 2019. The potential environmental impact of constructing and operating the site for Starship Super Heavy vehicles was considered, and a Finding Of No Significant Impact (FONSI) was made.
However, that was for approximately 24 Starship Super Heavy launches per year. According to the FAA, SpaceX’s latest proposal would involve constructing the necessary infrastructure to support up to 44 launches per year.
May 11, 2024
‘Warp drives’ may actually be possible someday, new study suggests
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: energy, quantum physics, space
Related: Warp drive and ‘Star Trek’: The physics of future space travel
Alcubierre published his idea in Classical and Quantum Gravity. Now, a new paper in the same journal suggests that a warp drive may not require exotic negative energy after all.
“This study changes the conversation about warp drives,” lead author Jared Fuchs, of the University of Alabama, Huntsville and the research think tank Applied Physics, said in a statement. “By demonstrating a first-of-its-kind model, we’ve shown that warp drives might not be relegated to science fiction.”