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A new computational microscopy technique solves for true high-resolution images without the guesswork that has limited the precision of other techniques.

A new computational microscopy technique solves for true high-resolution images without the guesswork that has limited the precision of other techniques.

Protecting the astronauts of the Artemis program is one of NASA’s highest priorities. The agency intends to have a long-term presence on the Moon, which means long-term exposure to dangerous radiation levels. As part of the development of the Artemis program, NASA also set limits to the radiation exposure that astronauts can suffer. Other hazards abound on the lunar surface, including a potential micrometeoroid strike, which could cause catastrophic damage to mission equipment or personnel. NASA built a team to design and develop a “Lunar Safe Haven” to protect from these hazards. Their working paper was released in 2022 but still stands as NASA’s best approach to long-term living on the lunar surface.

The two hazards mentioned above provided the primary impetus for the design, but there are some nuances to them—in particular, radiation. Astronauts will experience two main types of hazardous radiation on the lunar surface: cosmic rays and solar eruptions. 

Cosmic rays are the more insidious of the two. They have a high energy range, so a shielding material that might work well for higher-energy particles might not do so for lower-energy ones. Moreover, some high-energy particles can interact with shielding, causing even more damaging radiation further down its path. Essentially, this increases the radiation risk inside the shielding compared to outside. The order in which the radiative particles are dealt with is one of the critical design considerations for dealing with this dangerous phenomenon. 

Lunar regolith can be hard to deal with, as Fraser discusses with Dr. Kevin Cannon.

However, solar particle events (SPEs) are the more overtly dangerous of the two types of radiation. While rare, they can cause acute radiation sickness. Current astronauts must shelter in place inside a protected chamber on the ISS when these happen, and building something equivalent on the surface of the Moon is a necessity to ensure that astronauts don’t simply die of acute radiation poisoning within the first six months of arrival.

With the problems to solve firmly in hand, the design team moved on to other considerations—like what the habitat inside the LSH would actually look like and how it would be built. Consideration of the habitat shape focused on one primary distinction—should the habitat be horizontal or vertical? The answer is vertical based on modeling the risk of radiation and micrometeoroid strikes.

So, how do you build a structure around a vertical habitat on the Moon? You employ robots and remotely operated construction equipment. Other groups at NASA had been working on solutions like the Lightweight Surface Manipulation System (LSMS), essentially a large crane that can be constructed in lunar gravity, and the Lunar Attachment Node for Construction and Excavation (LANCE) – a bulldozer module designed to attach to the front of NASA’s Chariot exploration vehicle. Utilizing these ideas and other construction ideas, it’s possible to construct a protective dome of lunar regolith around a long-term habitat for the Artemis missions. 

Fraser overviews the Artemis mission that LSH will attempt to help.

Such a protective habitat has significant advantages over digging one into the ground, which requires moving a massive amount of regolith or utilizing lava tubes with indeterminate structural integrity. But that means the LSH must have an above-ground design. The team developed two separate design ideas – a parabolic arch and a “Round Cake” design using polyethylene. The first is self-explanatory, but the second looks more like a typical cylinder with the radiation and micrometeoroid-blocking polyethylene stored in “beans” at the top of the structure. This could be made of waste materials from the mission, such as discarded food packaging.

Each design has advantages and disadvantages, and the team didn’t pick a final one as part of the paper. However, they did come up with a five-phase development process, from preparing the site in advance to living in interconnected habitats surrounded by regolith and protective shielding. Depending on the amount of automation involved and some real luck, those development phases could take anywhere from a few years to a few decades. 

It remains to be seen if this system will be adopted as an official part of the Artemis program. But it serves a need of critical importance to humanity’s long-term existence on the Moon. If that is indeed NASA’s goal for the end of the 2030s, it would be good to consider how to start making the LSH a reality.

Learn More:
Wok et al. – Design Analysis for Lunar Safe Haven Concepts
Moses & Grande – Lunar Safe Haven Seedling Study
UT – What Could We Build With Lunar Regolith?
UT – There are Four Ways to Build with Regolith on the Moon

Lead Image:
Artist’s depiction of the Parabolic Arc LSH in cutaway.
Credit – Wok et al.

The post Could A Mound of Dust and Rock Protect Astronauts from Deadly Radiation? appeared first on Universe Today.

Here, just posted, is a speech Biden gave today, after last night’s debate debacle.  It’s terrific, passionate, and not doddering at all.  Are there two Joe Bidens? Does he have a Doppelgänger?

Maybe he was nervous last night.

With lunar exploration ramping up, NASA has been tasked with defining a time zone for the moon. New calculations show that time is ever so slightly faster on the lunar surface, which can affect navigation

Two major US healthcare organisations have offered contradictory advice about the use of weight loss drugs in adolescents with obesity, underscoring just how little we know about the effects of these medications

A recent discovery by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) confirmed that luminous, very red objects previously detected in the early universe upend conventional thinking about the origins and evolution of galaxies and their supermassive black holes.

A team of researchers has developed a soft, stretchy electronic device capable of simulating the feeling of pressure or vibration when worn on the skin. This device represents a step towards creating haptic technologies that can reproduce a more varied and realistic range of touch sensations for applications such as virtual reality, medical prosthetics and wearable technology.

A team of researchers has developed a soft, stretchy electronic device capable of simulating the feeling of pressure or vibration when worn on the skin. This device represents a step towards creating haptic technologies that can reproduce a more varied and realistic range of touch sensations for applications such as virtual reality, medical prosthetics and wearable technology.

Researchers have developed a novel deep learning algorithm that outperformed existing computer-based osteoporosis risk prediction methods, potentially leading to earlier diagnoses and better outcomes for patients with osteoporosis risk.

Researchers developed a new wireless receiver that can block strong interference signals at the earliest opportunity, which could improve the performance of a mobile device.

Researchers developed a new wireless receiver that can block strong interference signals at the earliest opportunity, which could improve the performance of a mobile device.

Researchers have found that artificial intelligence models that are most accurate at predicting race and gender from X-ray images also show the biggest 'fairness gaps' -- that is, discrepancies in their ability to accurately diagnose images of people of different races or genders.

Computer scientists have written a network flow algorithm that computes almost as fast as is mathematically possible. This algorithm computes the maximum traffic flow with minimum transport costs for any type of network. It thus solves a key question in theoretical computer science. The superfast algorithm also lays the foundation for efficiently computing very large and dynamically changing networks in the future.

Bringing us one step closer to solving the 'missing satellites problem,' researchers have discovered two new satellite galaxies.

Researchers have made a significant breakthrough by discovering that the drug 4-OI can enhance the effectiveness of a cancer-fighting viral agent. This may lead to treatment of cancers that are otherwise resistant to therapies.

An international team of researchers combine orbital imagery with seismological data from NASA's Mars InSight lander to derive a new impact rate for meteorite strikes on Mars. Seismology also offers a new tool for determining the density of Mars' craters and the age of different regions of a planet.

Martin Vargic is a space enthusiast, author, and graphic artist from Slovakia. He created two new infographic posters that show almost 1600 exoplanets of different types and sizes. One is called Icy and Rocky Worlds, and the other is called The Exoplanet Zoo.

Vargic has been interested in astronomy and space for as long as he can remember. When he was 10 years old, he used his family’s telescope to gaze at lunar craters, Jupiter’s moons, and Venus’s phases despite living in areas with lots of light pollution.

“On the rare occasions I got to see a clear sky and the Milky Way I was astounded by the sheer amount of stars,” Vargic told Universe Today.

In 2015, he devoured books on astronomy, cosmology, space exploration, and physics and created the first versions of what would eventually become these ambitious infographics. In 2019, after three years of work, Vargic published a visual book on the universe, astronomy, and space exploration called the “Curious Cosmic Compendium.” In the Compendium, “10 pages were solely dedicated to exoplanets, with their temperature ascending page-by-page until transitioning to brown dwarfs and red dwarf stars,” Vargic told Universe Today.

All of that work led to these two new exoplanet infographic posters.

This is “The Exoplanet Zoo,” one of two new exoplanet infographics from Slovak artist and space enthusiast Martin Vargic. Image Credit and Copyright: Martin Vargic.

“With the help of scientific models and up-to-date information, this poster attempts to artistically visualize together over 1100 known exoplanets of all the different types we have discovered so far, arranged by the amount of heat they receive from their stars, comparing their relative sizes and providing a window to how they might look like,” Vargic explains on his website.

The poster shows exoplanets in all their weird and wonderful forms. It shows PSR-B1620-26b, the oldest known exoplanet.

This zoom-in of “The Exoplanet Zoo” shows the oldest known exoplanet, PSR B1620-26b. Image Credit and Copyright: Martin Vargic.

It also shows WASP-12b, a scorching hot gas giant so close to its star that it’s warped into an egg shape.

You can’t miss WASP-12b on “The Exoplanet Zoo.” It’s so close to its star that it’s warped into an egg shape. Image Credit and Copyright: Martin Vargic.

“Finishing both infographics took about 6-7 months. I worked on both simultaneously while creating planetary textures and rendering the planets one by one,” Vargic told Universe Today.

More detail from “The Exoplanet Zoo.” Eburonia is a gas giant about 134 light-years away. It takes fewer than five days to orbit its star and is named after a Belgic tribe called the Eburones. Image Credit and Copyright: Martin Vargic.

“Data for both exoplanet infographics was gathered from three public exoplanet databases, The Extrasolar Planet Encyclopaedia, NASA Exoplanet Archive and ExoKyoto,” Vargic explained. The colours of the gas giant exoplanets are based on the Sudarsky Scale. It takes into account the various chemicals and temperatures of planetary atmospheres. Vargic also used existing exoplanet illustrations as a source.

Detail from “The Exoplanet Zoo.” The planets get progressively hotter from left to right. This detail shows 55 Cancri e, the hottest known rocky exoplanet. Image Credit and Copyright: Martin Vargic.

See Martin’s work, including high-resolution versions of his infographics, at halcyonmaps.com.

The post Take a Look at These Stunning New Exoplanet Infographics appeared first on Universe Today.

Here’s an 11-minute video of CNN commentators (and a few guests), most of whom are certainly Democrats, discussing the debate and agreeing that Biden’s performance was dismal—that Biden appeared disengaged and incompetent.  As David Axelrod notes, Biden did make some good points, but his performance, particularly near the beginning, made Democrats panic.

Yes, of course Trump blustered and lied, but his supporters are used to that, and probably ignore the lies. Debates are about appearances, not substance, and appearances were critically important in this debate when so many Americans, like me, are worried about Biden’s ability to run the country. Biden flunked. And remember too, he has coattails.  If Biden’s defeated, it will affect other Democrats across the country. We’re faced with the prospect of a Republic President, a Congress with two Republican houses, and a conservative, pro-Republican Supreme Court.

My view is the same as that of most of the commentators, and I especially agree with Van Jones. “it was painful.”  But I also liked his quip: it was “an old man versus a con man.” Jones added this:

“I just want to speak from my heart. I love that guy. That’s a good man. He loves his country; he’s doing the best that he can. But he had a test to meet tonight—to restore confidence of the country in a debate, and he failed to do that. And I think there’s a lot of people who are going to want to see him consider taking a different course now.  We’re still far from our convention, and it’s time for this party to figure out a different way forward if he will allow us to do that. But that was not what we needed from Joe Biden, and it’s personally painful for a lot of people: it’s just panic—it’s pain.”

Most of us Democrats harbor similar affection for Biden, but that doesn’t mean he should now run the country.

A different way forward? Who could the Democrats nominate now? The money has come in, the posters and buttons are printed, and the Democratic Convention is ready to roll. Will Biden step aside now? I wouldn’t bet on it. He and his wife appear convinced that he did okay. And who could take on the painful job of saying, “Joe, it’s time to step aside”?

From Richard:

Humanity is facing an atmospheric threat of our own device, and our internecine squabbles are hampering our ability to neutralize that threat. But if we last long enough, the reverse situation will arise. Our climate will cool, and we’ll need to figure out how to warm it up. If that day ever arises, we should be organized enough to meet the challenge.

If there are other civilizations out there in the galaxy, one may already be facing a cooling climate or an ice age. Could we detect the greenhouse chemicals they would be purposefully emitting into their atmosphere in an attempt to warm their planet?

New research in The Astrophysical Journal explains how the JWST or a future telescope named LIFE (Large Interferometer For Exoplanets) could detect certain chemicals in an exoplanet’s atmosphere that signal an intentional attempt to warm it. The title is “Artificial Greenhouse Gases as Exoplanet Technosignatures.” The lead author is Edward Schwieterman, Assistant Professor of Astrobiology at UC Riverside and a Research Scientist at Blue Marble Space Institute of Science in Seattle, Washington.

“Atmospheric pollutants such as chlorofluorocarbons and NO2 have been proposed as potential remotely detectable atmospheric technosignature gases,” the authors write in their paper. “Here, we investigate the potential for artificial greenhouse gases, including CF4, C2F6, C3F8, SF6, and NF3, to generate detectable atmospheric signatures.”

The first three are perfluorocarbons, potent and long-lived greenhouse gases (GHGs.) SF6 is Sulfur hexafluoride, and NF3 is Nitrogen trifluoride. They’re both greenhouse gases with global warming potentials 23,500 times greater and 17,200 times greater than CO2 over a 100-year period.

These artificial GHGs could be a technosignature of a civilization actively trying to warm their planet. They’re long-lived, have low toxicities, and have low false-positive potential. They also occur only in small amounts naturally. Their presence indicates industrial production.

“For us, these gases are bad because we don’t want to increase warming. But they’d be good for a civilization that perhaps wanted to forestall an impending ice age or terraform an otherwise-uninhabitable planet in their system, as humans have proposed for Mars,” said UCR astrobiologist and lead author Edward Schwieterman.

These chemicals could persist in an atmosphere for up to 50,000 years, making them near ideal for a civilization facing a freezing future. “They wouldn’t need to be replenished too often for a hospitable climate to be maintained,” Schwieterman said in a press release.

Unlike CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons), which damage the ozone layer, these chemicals are largely inert. Any civilization smart enough to engineer their atmosphere would avoid CFCs. CFCs also don’t last long in an oxygen atmosphere and wouldn’t be great technosignatures.

“If another civilization had an oxygen-rich atmosphere, they’d also have an ozone layer they’d want to protect,” Schwieterman said. “CFCs would be broken apart in the ozone layer even as they catalyzed its destruction.”

But from our ETI-seeking viewpoint, the best thing about the chemicals the researchers are studying is their prominent infrared signatures at extremely low concentrations.

“With an atmosphere like Earth’s, only one out of every million molecules could be one of these gases, and it would be potentially detectable,” Schwieterman said. “That gas concentration would also be sufficient to modify the climate.”

To understand these chemicals and their detectability, the research team simulated the atmosphere of TRAPPIST 1-f. This well-studied rocky exoplanet is in the habitable zone of a red dwarf star about 40 light-years away, making it a realistic observational target at that distance.

This artist’s illustration shows the exoplanet TRAPPIST-1f, a potentially rocky Super-Earth orbiting in a red dwarf’s habitable zone. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

This study is based on the potential results of the LIFE telescope, which is still a concept. Its purpose is to examine the atmospheres of dozens of warm, terrestrial exoplanets. LIFE builds on telescope concepts from a couple of decades ago, like the European Space Agency’s Darwin spacecraft. Darwin wasn’t built, but the idea behind it was two-fold: to both find Earth-like exoplanets and to search for evidence of life.

Darwin was conceived as an interferometer, and so is LIFE. LIFE would have four separate space telescopes acting as one.

This artist’s illustration shows LIFE’s four telescopes and its central unit acting as an interferometer. Interferometers create a large and powerful “virtual telescope.” Image Credit: LIFE/ETH Zurich

With LIFE, the GHGs would be easier to see than other standard biosignatures like O2, O3, CH4, and N2O. But unlike these chemicals, which can give false positives without a planetary context, the GHGs are more akin to technosignatures, which can be understood more independently from atmospheric chemistry. “In contrast to biosignatures, many technosignatures may provide greater specificity (less “false positive” potential), as many putative technosignatures have more limited abiotic formation channels when compared to biosignatures,” the authors explain in their research.

These figures show some of the simulation transmission spectra from the research. The top panel shows how different concentrations of three of the GHGs show up in MIR spectrometry for a simulated Earth-like TRAPPIST 1-f planet. The bottom panel shows how different concentrations of NF3 show up. O3 is shown because it shows up in the same band. The black line is the atmospheric spectrum without the GHGs. The 100 ppm results are from observing the planet for 10 transits. Image Credit: Schwieterman et al. 2024.

One desirable aspect of the search for these technosignature GHGs is that astronomers can find them as part of a general effort to study atmospheres.

“You wouldn’t need extra effort to look for these technosignatures, if your telescope is already characterizing the planet for other reasons,” said Schwieterman. “And it would be jaw-droppingly amazing to find them.”

These figures show some of the simulated emission spectra for the GHGs compared to Earth with no technosignatures. They also show some of the technosignatures at different PPM concentrations and Earth’s O3, CO2, and H20. The spectra are different than the transmission spectra. Image Credit: Schwieterman et al. 2024.

This is not a futuristic scenario awaiting the development of new technology. We have the capability to do this soon, according to Daniel Angerhausen. Angerhausen is from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology/PlanetS, a collaborating organization on LIFE.

“Our thought experiment shows how powerful our next-generation telescopes will be. We are the first generation in history that has the technology to systematically look for life and intelligence in our galactic neighborhood,” said Angerhausen.

This concept figure illustrates a hypothetical Earth-like inhabited planet terraformed with various combined abundances of artificial greenhouse gases C3F8, C2F6, and SF6 and its resulting qualitative MIR transmission (top) and emission (bottom) spectra. Image Credit: Sohail Wasif, UC Riverside/Schwieterman et al. 2024.

“While all technosignature scenarios are speculative, we argue that it is unlikely fluorine-bearing technosignature gases will accumulate to detectable levels in a technosphere due only to inadvertent emission of industrial pollutants (or volcanic production),” the authors write.

They also explain that before individual GHG technosignatures were identified, anomalous MIR or NIR absorption signatures “… would be consistent with the presence of artificial greenhouse gases in a candidate technosphere.”

In their conclusion, they say that GHGs are viable technosignatures that can be found during routine exoplanet characterizations. “Both positive or negative results would meaningfully inform the search for life elsewhere,” they conclude.

The post Could We Detect an Alien Civilization Trying to Warm Their Planet? appeared first on Universe Today.