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The odds are good that we are not alone in the Universe. We have found thousands of exoplanets so far, and there are likely billions of potentially habitable planets in our galaxy alone. But finding evidence of extraterrestrial life is challenging, and even the most powerful telescopes we currently have may not produce definitive proof. But there are telescopes in the pipeline that may uncover life. It will be decades before they are built and launched, but when they are, which systems should they target first? That’s the question answered in a recent paper.

There are two major projects in the pipeline with the specific goal of searching for life. One is NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), and the other is the Large Interferometer For Exoplanets (LIFE). Both would use high-resolution spectroscopy to map the chemical composition of exoplanet atmospheres and identify potential biosignatures. But both are in the early design and proposal stages, and it will be at least the 2040s before either are launched. Both also have a downside, in that they will need long observing times to capture detailed spectra. So when they are launched, they won’t be able to look at exoplanets willy-nilly. They will need a specific plan.

This is where this new paper comes in. In it, the team outlines the criteria for prioritizing targets. Drawing from a range of sources, they filter known exoplanet systems into some best-case groups. The first consists of main-sequence stars within 30 parsecs of Earth. But rather than considering all nearby stars, the list only includes stars that are either single stars or wide binaries. The idea is that these are most likely to have planetary systems with stable orbits. The group also excludes red dwarfs, since red dwarfs are likely to produce large flares and x-rays hostile to life.

The second group consists of star systems that are positioned in a region of the sky best suited for observation by LIFE and HWO. For example, if a system is aligned with the orbital plane of Earth, it will be more difficult to study since the Sun will be in the way for part of the year.

The third group consists of the “Golden Targets.” These are systems known to have potentially habitable planets with atmospheres and excellent observing conditions. There are currently about ten systems in this group, but future observations are likely to add more to the list before LIFE and HWO are launched. This group represents the priority targets for these missions.

If you are curious, you can see which systems are in each group at the LIFE Target Star Database.

Reference: Menti, Franziska, et al. “Database of Candidate Targets for the LIFE Mission.” Research Notes of the AAS 8.10 (2024): 267.

The post Here are Some Potentially Habitable World Targets for the Upcoming LIFE Mission appeared first on Universe Today.

Weaving tales of magical fruit and vegetables into your children's stories may encourage them to eat healthy snacks

Meanwhile, in Dobrzyn, Hili is being cool with Szaron:

Szaron: Are we going to the garden? Hili: I don’t know, I had other plans.  

 

Szaron: Idziemy do ogrodu?
Hili: Nie wiem, miałam inne plany.

The recent surge in warming led to fears that climate change may be accelerating beyond model projections, but a fall in how much heat Earth is gaining makes this less likely

A lithium-ion battery made from three droplets of hydrogel is the smallest soft battery of its kind – and it could be used in biocompatible and biodegradable implants

China has some bold plans for space research and exploration that will be taking place in the coming decades. This includes doubling the size of their Tiangong space station, sending additional robotic missions to the Moon, and building the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) around the lunar south pole. They also hope to begin sending crewed missions to Mars by 2033, becoming the first national space agency to do so. Not to be left behind in the commercial space sector, China is also looking to create a space tourism industry that offers suborbital flights for customers.

One of the companies offering these services is Jiangsu Deep Blue Aerospace Technology, a private launch company founded in November 2016 by Chinese entrepreneur Huo Liang. On October 24th, at 6:00 pm local time (03:00 am PDT; 06:00 am EDT), during a “Make Friends” Taobao live broadcast, Huo shared the companies’ latest progress on their commercial spacecraft. He also announced the pre-sale of tickets for the first suborbital launch in 2027. The company also posted an infographic with the details of the flight on the Chinese social media platform Weixin (WeChat).

Commercial space travel has advanced considerably in the U.S. and other countries in recent years. In 2021, Virgin Galactic launched its first commercial space mission from Spaceport America near Las Cruces, New Mexico, ferrying Sir Richard Branson and selected passengers to space. A few weeks later, Blue Origin conducted the first crewed mission of its New Shepard rocket, with CEO Jeff Bezos and a crew of five taking off from the company’s launch site near El Paso, Texas. Later that year, SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft took four passengers to orbit as part of the mission, Inspiration4, first all-civilian spaceflight.

Deep Blue Aerospace's new hop test (5-10 km level) failed in the final stages today in Inner Mongolia, according to this news report. Waiting for video of the attempt. https://t.co/bexXAZzWwo https://t.co/OEWrwKu0ro

— Andrew Jones (@AJ_FI) September 22, 2024

In addition to Deep Blue Aerospace, multiple commercial space startups have emerged in China since 2014, including Galactic Energy, LandSpace, LinkSpace, ExPace, OneSpace, and Orienspace. For several years, these companies have been researching reusable rockets and engines to realize domestic commercial launch capability. During this time, Deep Blue Aerospace has accomplished many milestones that will make commercial launches possible. Between 2021 and 2022, the company completed “hop tests” using its Nebula-1 reusable rocket, which achieved China’s first vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL).

The first test occurred on October 13th, 2021, and saw the Nebula-1 complete a 100-meter (328 ft) flight, followed by a 1-km (0.62 mi) flight on May 6th, 2022. Unfortunately, the company experienced an accident during a 5 to 10 km (3 to 6.2 mi) test flight in September when a Nebula-1 first stage exploded while attempting to land. As the company stated in their infographic:

“In order to ensure the comprehensive maturity and stability of the technology, Deep Blue Aerospace is intensively preparing for the next high-altitude recovery test, striving for perfection in every detail. The improvement of rocket recovery technology will lay a solid foundation for Deep Blue Aerospace to promote suborbital travel projects and open a new chapter in human exploration of space.”

According to the company, the first high-altitude vertical recovery flight of Nebula-1’s first stage will take place in November 2024. This will be followed by the rocket’s first orbital reentry and recovery test in the first quarter of 2025 and multiple recovery and reuse tests throughout the year. The company intends to conduct dozens of tests using a fully stacked Nebula-1 rocket and crewed spacecraft in 2026. If all goes according to plan, the company will commence suborbital flights in 2027.

A side-by-side comparison of the SpaceX Dragon and Deep Blue Space space capsules.
Credit: SpaceX/Deep Blue Space

The infographic also previews what the launch vehicle and spacecraft will look like, which have some notable similarities to SpaceX and Blue Origin vehicles. For instance, the crew capsule strongly resembles the SpaceX’s Crew Dragon vehicle, which includes the launch abort system consistsing of eight thrusters distributed into four clusters. However, the Dragon space capsule has only two viewports, whereas the Nebula-1 reportedly has five (though eight can be seen in the infographic), which is more akin to Blue Origin’s New Shepard space capsule, which has six large viewports.

In addition, the Nebula-1 launch vehicle is also similar in design to the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. This includes the payload fairing, the chassis, the grid fins on the interstage structure, and the fold-out landing legs. The Nebula-1 also has nine Thunder-R1 engines arranged in a circle around a single engine. This is very similar to the Falcon 9‘s arrangement of eight Merlin thrusters (which fire during takeoff) surrounding a single thruster used for landing. According to the rocket specifications, the Nebula-1 weighs 7,900 kg (8.7 U.S. tons) fully fueled and has a payload capacity to LEO of almost 2,000 kg (2.2 U.S. tons) – though they plan to increase this to 8,000 kg (8.8 U.S. tons)

The specs also note that the rocket has a maximum flight altitude of 100 to 150 km (62 to 93 mi) and can be reused a maximum of 50 times. This is a far cry from Falcon 9′s takeoff mass of 549,054 kg (605 U.S. tons) and a payload capacity of 22,000 kg (24.25 U.S. tons), and the number of times it can be reused is likely an inflated estimate. But the appearances still suggest that the Nebula-1’s design was inspired by the Falcon 9, which has set the standard for rocket retrieval and reusability.

Meanwhile, the spacecraft reportedly measures 4 m (13 ft) in height and 3.5 m (11.5 ft) in diameter and can carry six passengers in a single flight. This is comparable to the New Shepard space capsule and falls just short of the Dragon’s capacity of up to 7 passengers. However, the inaugural flight will consist of three crewmembers spending a total of 12 minutes in flight and 5 minutes experiencing weightlessness. The rocket will fly to an altitude of 100 km (62 mi) – aka. the Karman Line, the official boundary between Earth and space. As the company indicated:

“During the suborbital flight of Deep Blue Spacecraft, passengers will experience much more than a brief weightlessness experience. They will experience the vastness and mystery of the universe and witness the magnificent landscape beyond the earth. This will be an all-round, multi-sensory space journey that will be unforgettable for a lifetime.”

Side-by-side comparison of the Nebula-1 and Falcon 9 rockets. Credit: Deep Blue Space/SpaceX

Per the pre-sale, two tickets are being offered for 1.5 million yuan, with a ticket deposit price of 50,000 yuan. This is equivalent to roughly $200,000 and $7,000, respectively. Presumably, the third seat will be occupied by Huo, who may be hoping to follow Branson and Bezos’ example by participating in the inaugural flight. The people purchasing the tickets will also receive a “1,000-yuan Cultural and Creative Gift Package” and a commemorative model of the Nebula-1 rocket. According to the infographic and statement, they will also be given the chance to view the launch of a Long March rocket from a launch center of their choice – Jiuquan, Wenchang, or Xichang.

Potential ticket buyers must also meet certain health requirements, undergo a medical evaluation, be 18 to 60 years old, and participate in pre-flight safety training a month before the flight. Because certain “technical details and specific information” will be revealed during the flight, passengers must also sign a confidentiality agreement. Additional details are provided on Deep Blue Aerospace’s Taobao official store page.

The company also plans to unveil the Nebula-2, a medium to heavy-lift launch vehicle powered by liquid oxygen and kerosene. This rocket will reportedly be capable of lifting payloads of up to 20,000 kg (22 U.S. tons) to LEO (comparable to the Falcon 9) and has an inaugural launch planned for late 2025.

Further Reading: Weixin

The post Chinese Company is Taking Space Tourism Orders for 2027 Flights appeared first on Universe Today.

I noticed this not long ago when a Jewish friend and I fasted for Yom Kippur by getting burgers and fries at Five Guys (a favorite hangout of Barask Obama, who isn’t Jewish . . ).  I spotted a free-refill soft drink machine to the side, and you’re welcome to refill your cup as often as you wish.

The issue is this: they charge you more for a “large” soft drink than for a “small” one, even though you can drink as much as you want. The difference in price just reflects the size of the empty cup they give you when you order. What is going on here? Why would anybody in their right mind pay more for a larger empty cup? (n.b. again: you’re welcome to drink as much as you want).

Prowling the Strip this afternoon looking for lunch, I finally wound up at Dave’s Hot chicken (it’s nearly impossible to get healthy food on the Strip).  And, mirabile dictu, there was the same issue: a all-you-can drink soft drink machine available in the small shack coupled with large and small empty cups having different prices.

What is the purpose of this? To make money by bilking the people who don’t see the drink machine? Or are there some lazy people who can’t be bothered to go back to the machine for a refill?

More on the Strip tomorrow. I have concluded that this is the entrance to Hell.

The arrival of spacecraft on alien worlds uses a number of different techniques from giant air bags to parachutes and small rockets. The use of rockets can pose a problem to onboard technology though as the dust kicked up can effect sensors and cameras and the landing site can be disturbed in the process. A team of researchers have developed a new instrument that can measure the dust that is kicked up on landing to inform future instrument design. 

Dust can have a significant impact on spacecraft during landing especially on bodies like the Moon and Mars. Both worlds have a fine layer of dust on the surface known as the regolith. On descent, landing thrusters can stir up large clouds of dust which reduces visibility having an impact on navigation systems, and reducing visibility. It can damage optical instruments causing scratches on lenses and accumulation of dust on solar panels. Particles can even stick to spacecraft through electrostatic adhesion leading to overheating and mechanical problems. 

After taking the first boot print photo, Aldrin moved closer to the little rock and took this second shot. The dusty, sandy pebbly soil is also known as the lunar ‘regolith’. Click to enlarge. Credit: NASA

There are existing systems and instruments available to analyse the dust cloud but those instruments rely upon visual imaging, x-ray or MRI technology. The research team at the University of Illinois have developed technology that can assess displaced dust clouds using radio waves of 3.8mm wavelength. This enables them to deal with particle clouds too dense for optical examination or too thin for the x-ray analysis. The new instrument sends out radio waves just like a radar, the waves travel through the cloud and a picture of the cloud is built up. 

Illustration of SpaceX Starship landing on Mars. Credit: SpaceX

The new technique relies upon the concept that the waves are generally larger than the dust particles. As they travel through the dust, they are slowed down by a tiny amount and this reduction in velocity enables the cloud to be modelled. If light waves were used, they could not pass through the dust. 

The Radar Interferometry for Landing Ejecta or RIFLE as it has been called began development back in 2020 when radar was identified as the right technology. The original concept employed absorption measurements instead of measurements of the speed of the signal but that had problems. Unfortunately there were problems with this approach; larger clouds would cause a weaker radar signal on measuring absorption, the cloud also caused problems acting like a lens to focus waves onto a receiver and affecting the measurements. The team then turned their attention upon interferometry instead.

The team found the results were far more accurate so worked upon the development of prototypes and a final working instrument. A funnel was used to create a thin curtain of dust of known concentration. They then used cameras with lights to cast shadows of the dust particles at high magnification. The dust concentrations were measured optically to enable the instrument to be calibrated for use. The team have now applied for a patent following the successful test phase. 

Source : New instrument uses radar to measure what the eye can’t see

The post Measuring How Much Dust Spacecraft Kick Up When they Land appeared first on Universe Today.

Researchers use AI to manage the growing complexity of modern power grids.

Researchers use AI to manage the growing complexity of modern power grids.

The source of Earth’s water is an enduring mystery that extends to exoplanets and the notion of habitability. In broad terms, Earth’s water was either part of the planet from the beginning of its formation in the solar nebula or delivered later, maybe by asteroids and comets.

New research suggests that the Sun’s relentless solar wind could’ve played a role.

Scientists have worked hard to understand how Earth has so much life-giving water. There’s lots of research supporting the asteroid/comet delivery scenario. There’s also evidence that it accumulated water as it grew. During its accretion phase, it may have absorbed water-rich planetesimals.

To try to understand how Earth’s water fits into the history of the planet and the Solar System, researchers examine the isotope ratio on Earth and in meteorites. The isotopic composition of Earth’s water is most similar to primitive meteorites. On the other hand, it’s different from that of comets and nebular gas.

This implies that Earth’s water came from the same cosmochemical reservoir that is also the source of primitive meteorites.

It’s a complicated issue. Maybe Earth’s water has multiple sources. Maybe some of it was created in space long after Earth and the rest of the Solar System formed, and then delivered to Earth.

New research in The Astrophysical Journal explores how water can be created by the solar wind as it strikes surfaces holding oxygen-containing minerals. It’s titled “Stellar Wind Contribution to the Origin of Water on the Surface of Oxygen-containing Minerals.” The lead author is Svatolpuk Civiš from the J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry at the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague.

The solar wind is a steady stream of charged particles—mostly protons and electrons—that come from the Sun. H+ ions, which are simply protons, are the most abundant particles in the solar wind. They make a big contribution to the solar wind’s properties. Could the wind trigger the creation of water molecules?

The researchers performed laboratory experiments to find out. They tested 14 oxygen-containing minerals. “To investigate the process of water formation on the surface of oxidic materials and water abundances, we used the technique of surface bombardment with hydrogen or deuterium atoms and ions,” the authors write in their paper.

The list of materials tested in the laboratory. Note that two of the samples are meteorites and that one of the samples, TiO2 P25 anatase, did not produce water in its discharge. Image Credit: Civiš et al. 2024.

The experiments had two phases: the first tested whether the minerals would produce water when exposed to the solar wind, and the second tested their adsorption capacity. Separate from absorption, adsorption is the adhesion of a sample to a surface.

The team produced water and then measured it using two methods: a microwave (MW) discharge experiment and sputter gun irradiation. They tested the results with a type of spectrometry analysis called Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR) and temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) analysis.

“Both these experiments include a mineral sample bombarded by hydrogen/deuterium ions, which, among other possibilities, react with surface oxygens in the mineral lattice and form water molecules,” the authors write.

This figure illustrates the two types of laboratory tests. The left panel shows the MW discharge method and the right panel shows the Ion sputter gun method. Image Credit: Civiš et al. 2024.

The oxide material samples were not only exposed to the strong current of H, H+ and molecular hydrogen that mimic the solar wind. They were also exposed to intense visible and UV radiation generated in the hydrogen discharge.

“The stellar wind irradiation of rocky oxygen-containing minerals results in a reaction between H+ ions and silicate minerals to produce water and OH, which could explain the presence of water in the regoliths of airless worlds such as the Moon, as well as the water abundances in asteroids,” the authors write.

Previous research has established that a chemical reaction occurs between hydrogen ions and silicate minerals when rocky materials are exposed to solar wind irradiation. Some researchers have observed the formation of OH (hydroxide) and water, while others have only found OH. This research goes deeper by testing the rocky materials for water adsorption.

The researchers tested the samples’ water adsorption capacity. Then, they calculated how much material would need to reach Earth to account for the amount of water on contemporary Earth.

“Besides material acquired by the Earth during accretion, the solar wind origin of water and its delivery to Earth could have gone on even during post-accretional bombardment,” the authors write. Here, they’re referring to the hypothetical Late Heavy Bombardment.

Previous research shows that ” asteroid and comet impacts during the classical Late Heavy Bombardment would bring in about ?1020 kg of material,” the authors write. “If that material’s surface was fully saturated with adsorbed water as composed of one of our minerals, our calculations suggest that at least one ocean equivalent of water could have been brought in.”

This schematic from the research shows how the solar wind can create water molecules on rocky bodies like asteroids. The water is adsorbed into a thin film and adheres to the asteroid. Eventually, some of this water is delivered to Earth by impacts. Image Credit: Civiš et al. 2024.

There’s not much doubt about the results of these tests and the ability of the solar wind to create water.

“The results of the experiments summarized in this work, focused on surface bombardment with hydrogen atoms, clearly confirm the theory of the interaction of excited hydrogen or deuterium Rydberg atoms and ions with the surface oxygens of oxide minerals,” the authors explain. “Our experiments attempt to explain the origin of water in the areas of oxygen-containing solid material (e.g., dust, meteoroids, asteroids, comets) exposed to a stream of charged particles close to a parent star.”

Earth’s atmosphere and magnetosphere shield it from the solar wind, so there’s no way the wind could’ve created water right on Earth’s surface. However, as the study shows, the wind can create water on the surface of other bodies like asteroids, and the water can be adsorbed and held firm, then delivered to Earth via impacts.

“This scenario is also applicable to the origin of water on Earth,” the authors write. “Due to this effect, a water molecule can be adsorbed on the surface of oxygen-containing particles and then transported over long distances and times,” the researchers write.

This study won’t be the end of the ongoing effort to account for Earth’s water. In a fascinating roundabout way, this research brings us back to asteroids and meteorites delivering Earth’s water. If it can happen here, it can happen on exoplanets elsewhere in the galaxy.

The post Did Some of Earth’s Water Come from the Solar Wind? appeared first on Universe Today.

Researchers have created a portable device that can detect colorectal and prostate cancer more cheaply and quickly than prevailing methods. The team believes the device may be especially helpful in developing countries, which experience higher cancer mortality rates due in part to barriers to medical diagnosis.

Sending an object to another star is still the stuff of science fiction. But some concrete missions could get us at least part way there. These “interstellar precursor missions” include a trip to the Solar Gravitational Lens point at 550 AU from the Sun – farther than any artificial object has ever been, including Voyager. To get there, we’ll need plenty of new technologies, and a recent paper presented at the 75th International Astronautical Congress in Milan this month looks at one of those potential technologies – electric propulsion systems, otherwise known as ion drives. 

The paper aimed to assess when any existing ion drive technology could port a large payload on one of several trajectories, including a trip around Jupiter, one visiting Pluto, and even one reaching that fabled Solar Gravitational Lens. To do so, they specified an “ideal” ion drive with characteristics that enabled optimal values for some of the system’s physical characteristics.

First among those characteristics is the power plant. Ion thrusters need a power source and an effective one if they will last more than a decade under thrust. The paper defined an ideal power plan that can output 1 kW per kg of weight. This is currently well outside the realm of possibility, with the best ion thruster power sources coming at something like 10 W per kg and even nuclear electric propulsion systems outputing 100 W per kg. Some potentially better technologies are on the horizon, but nothing tested in the literature would meet this requirement yet.

Fraser discusses the concept of the solar gravitational lens with Dr. Slava Turyshev

Thrust efficiency is another consideration for this idealized mission. The authors, who are writing under the banner of the Initiative for Interstellar Studies, a non-profit group based out of the UK, suggested that an idealized thrust efficiency is 97%. That would also significantly improve existing technologies, which average closer to 75-80% efficiency for working models. Additional improvements could increase this number, such as magnetic containment fields around the thruster’s walls. Still, as it gets closer to that 97% range, finding efficiency improvements becomes harder and harder.

The last characteristic the authors considered was the specific impulse. This one has the most comprehensive variability regarding the theoretical potential of all three systems. Their idealized value of 34,000-76,000 seconds of specific impulse is well within the bounds of the potential values for more speculative technologies. The paper mentions that specific impulse values twice the suggested upper range could be possible with the proper selection of thruster and propellant. They also point out that development on these technologies is stalled not because we can’t make drives with better specific impulse but because we can’t produce power plants that support them yet. So, solving the power plant issue will enable further development in this area.

Fraser discusses the details of ion engines and why they’re so efficient.

Suppose all three characteristics were combined into a complete functional propulsion system. In that case, the authors calculate that it could deliver a payload of almost 18,000 kg to the Solar Gravitational Lens in just 13 years – much faster than any previous mission would be capable of. But that optimization is still a long way off, and while there are missions planned for deployment to the SGL someday, it is still a long way off before they launch and even longer before they arrive there. In the meantime, engineers have some additional problems to solve if they want to optimize the potential of ion thrusters.

Learn More:
N Maraqten, D Fries, A Genovese – Advanced Electric Propulsion Systems with Optimal Specific Impulses for Fast Interstellar Precursor Missions
UT – Next Generation Ion Engines Will Be Extremely Powerful
UT – Ion Engines Could Work on Earth too, to Make Silent, Solid-State Aircraft
UT – The Most Powerful Ion Engine Ever Built Passes the Test

Lead Image:
Ion Thruster
Credit – NASA

The post Ion Engines Could Take Us to the Solar Gravitational Lens in Less Than 13 Years appeared first on Universe Today.

Complex carbon-based molecules crucial to life on Earth originated somewhere in space, but we didn't know where. Now, huge amounts of them have been spotted in a huge, cold cloud of gas

Rival tribes of bacteria armed with poison darts are fighting it out in your gut, with armies of traitors often winning the day

In the western US, the average maximum growth rate of fires has more than doubled over the past two decades

A distant interstellar cloud was found to contain an abundance of pyrene, a type of large carbon-containing molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). This suggest pyrene may have been the source of much of the carbon in our solar system.

The ideal material for interfacing electronics with living tissue is soft, stretchable, and just as water-loving as the tissue itself--in short, a hydrogel. Semiconductors, the key materials for bioelectronics such as pacemakers, biosensors, and drug delivery devices, on the other hand, are rigid, brittle, and water-hating, impossible to dissolve in the way hydrogels have traditionally been built. Scientists have now solved this challenge that has long stymied researchers, reimagining the process of creating hydrogels to build a powerful semiconductor in hydrogel form. The result is a bluish gel that flutters like a sea jelly in water but retains the immense semiconductive ability needed to transmit information between living tissue and machine.

A new supercapacitor design that uses only water, clay and graphene could source material on Mars and be more sustainable and accessible than traditional batteries

A new battery design that uses only water, clay and graphene could source material on Mars and be more sustainable and accessible than traditional batteries