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Using evolution as a guiding principle, researchers have successfully engineered bacteria-yeast hybrids to perform photosynthetic carbon assimilation, generate cellular energy and support yeast growth without traditional carbon feedstocks like glucose or glycerol. By engineering photosynthetic cyanobacteria to live symbiotically inside yeast cells, the bacteria-yeast hybrids can produce important hydrocarbons, paving new biotechnical pathways to non-petroleum-based energy, other synthetic biology applications and the experimental study of evolution.

Simulating particles is a relatively simple task when those particles are spherical. In the real world, however, most particles are not perfect spheres but take on irregular and varying shapes and sizes. Simulating these particles becomes a much more challenging and time-consuming task.

As electronic devices continue to get smaller and smaller, physical size limitations are beginning to disrupt the trend of doubling transistor density on silicon-based microchips approximately every two years according to Moore's law. Molecular electronics -- the use of single molecules as the building blocks for electronic components -- offers a potential pathway for the continued miniaturization of small-scale electronic devices. Devices that utilize molecular electronics require precise control over the flow of electrical current. However, the dynamic nature of these single molecule components affects device performance and impacts reproducibility.

As electronic devices continue to get smaller and smaller, physical size limitations are beginning to disrupt the trend of doubling transistor density on silicon-based microchips approximately every two years according to Moore's law. Molecular electronics -- the use of single molecules as the building blocks for electronic components -- offers a potential pathway for the continued miniaturization of small-scale electronic devices. Devices that utilize molecular electronics require precise control over the flow of electrical current. However, the dynamic nature of these single molecule components affects device performance and impacts reproducibility.

One of NASA’s core mission objectives, though not explicitly stated in its charter, is to educate Americans about space exploration, especially students. As part of that mission, NASA hosts a number of challenges every year where teams of students compete to come up with innovative ideas to solve problems. The agency recently announced the next round of one of its standard yearly challenges—the Human Lander Challenge.

The Human Lander Challenge occurs every year, and objectives vary based on the specific problem related to human landers NASA is trying to solve. This year, the focal problem is cryogenic fluid storage.

Currently, no technology exists to store cryogenic fluid in space for long periods, but any lander mission would need to store cryogenic fuel for months. Typically, cryogenics would boil away in that time frame, but large amounts will be required to fuel landers or orbiting stations. Particular problems could focus on low-leakage components, large-scale insulation, or propellant transfer technologies. 

Recruitment vide for the Human Lander Challenge.
Credit – Human Lander Challenge YouTube Channel

To address that problem, NASA is turning to teams of undergraduate or graduate students at some of the top universities in the world. Since this competition repeats annually, some universities have a pedigree of competing in and winning the challenge. This year, the top three teams were from the University of Michigan, the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, and the University of Colorado-Boulder, all of which would potential field teams to compete this year. 

Interested teams will compete in two rounds. The first round of judging will take place in March 2025, and twelve teams will be notified of their invitation to the final round in April. That final round will take place at a forum held in Huntsville, Alabama, in late June next year. 

Between now and then, though, teams will able to submit a notice of intent, get their questions answered by NASA experts, and have to submit a proposal. The finalists will receive a cash award to continue their work, involving a full technical paper and slide deck to be presented at the forum. 

Fraser discusses the options for the eventual Artemis lander.

Details about the challenge are posted on its website. It’s being run through the agency’s Human Landing System Program directorate and managed by the National Institute of Aerospace. If you’re looking for inspiration, the challenge team has also posted a motivational video about the opportunities the challenge presents.

Any technology planned for a detailed assessment would need to be about 3-5 years from maturity, which would align well with the Artemis mission’s timelines. However, it remains to be seen if any solutions will be adopted into the mission architecture. If they are, some students will say they’ve participated in the most challenging human space endeavor in almost 60 years—that’s a pretty good resume builder, if nothing else.

Learn More:
NASA – 2025 Human Lander Challenge
NASA – NASA Announces Winners of Inaugural Human Lander Challenge
UT – NASA Wants Heavy Cargo Landers for the Moon
UT – NASA is Pushing Back its Moon Landings to 2026

Lead Image:
Graphic of the Human Lander Challenge.
Credit – NASA / NIA

The post NASA Announces the 2025 Human Lander Challenge appeared first on Universe Today.

A single ytterbium atom, cooled down to extreme temperatures and manipulated with laser beams, could reveal how gravity affects quantum objects

Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will remain on board the International Space Station until February, returning to Earth on a SpaceX Crew Dragon. NASA announced its decision over the weekend, citing concerns about the safety of the Boeing Starliner capsule due to helium leaks and thruster issues. The troublesome Starliner is slated to undock from the ISS without a crew in early September and attempt to return on autopilot, landing in the New Mexico desert.

NASA said this allows them and Boeing to continue gathering test data on Starliner during its uncrewed flight home, while also not accepting more risk than necessary for the crew.

“Decisions like this are never easy, but I want to commend our NASA and Boeing teams for their thorough analysis, transparent discussions, and focus on safety during the Crew Flight Test,” Ken Bowersox, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate said in a NASA press release. “We’ve learned a lot about the spacecraft during its journey to the station and its docked operations. We also will continue to gather more data about Starliner during the uncrewed return and improve the system for future flights to the space station.”

Boeing’s CTS-100 Starliner taking off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on June 5th, 2024. Credit: NASA

Wilmore, 61, and Williams, 58, flew to the ISS in June on Starliner for the long-awaited Boeing Crew Flight Test. The two astronauts are not strangers to long-duration missions, as they have both served on ISS expeditions and they will now officially join the Expedition 71/72 crew on board the space station. Their ride home is scheduled to launch in late September with two astronauts instead of the usual four to make room for Wilmore and Williams to return home with the two Crew-9 members in February 2025.

“This has not been an easy decision, but it is absolutely the right one,” Jim Free, NASA’s associate administrator said at the briefing on Saturday.

The decision is especially disappointing for Boeing, as the company has been plagued with problems with its airplanes and was counting on Starliner’s first crewed trip to revive the troubled spacecraft program, which has suffered years of delays due to issues with Starliner. The company had asserted Starliner was safe based on all the recent thruster tests both in space and on the ground.

Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule docked to the Harmony module’s forward port at the International Space Station on July 6, 2024. Photo credit: NASA

While Boeing did not participate in Saturday’s news conference, they released a statement saying, “Boeing continues to focus, first and foremost, on the safety of the crew and spacecraft.” The company said it is preparing the spacecraft for a safe and successful return.

NASA and Boeing identified the helium leaks during the flight to the ISS, and the thruster issues after the spacecraft experienced issues with its reaction control thrusters as Starliner approached the space station on June 6.

“Since then, engineering teams have completed a significant amount of work, including reviewing a collection of data, conducting flight and ground testing, hosting independent reviews with agency propulsion experts, and developing various return contingency plans,” NASA said in their press release. “The uncertainty and lack of expert concurrence does not meet the agency’s safety and performance requirements for human spaceflight, thus prompting NASA leadership to move the astronauts to the Crew-9 mission.”

The seven Expedition 71 crew members gather with the two Crew Flight Test members for a team portrait aboard the space station. In the front from left are, Suni Williams, Oleg Kononenko, and Butch Wilmore. Second row from left are, Alexander Grebenkin, Tracy C. Dyson, and Mike Barratt. In the back are, Nikolai Chub, Jeanette Epps, and Matthew Dominick. Photo credit: NASA

The fact that Starliner will return home without a crew is not an issue, as is designed to operate autonomously and previously completed two uncrewed flights. This mission is the second time the Starliner has flown to the ISS and the third flight test overall. During the first uncrewed test flight (OFT-1), which took place back in December 2019, the Starliner launched successfully but failed to make it to the ISS because of software issues. After making 61 corrective actions recommended by NASA, another attempt was made (OFT-2) on May 22nd, 2022. That flight successfully docked to the ISS, staying there for four days before undocking and landing in the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

This first crewed flight of Starliner was supposed to validate the spacecraft as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP), with the hope of it working alongside SpaceX’s Crew Dragon to make regular deliveries of cargo and crew to the ISS. The launched was delayed when parachute and other issues cropped up, including a helium leak in the capsule’s propellant system that scrubbed a launch attempt in May. The leak eventually was deemed to be isolated and small enough to pose no concern. But more leaks occurred following liftoff, and five thrusters also failed.

NASA and Boeing will work together to adjust end-of-mission planning and Starliner’s systems to set up for the uncrewed return in the coming weeks. Starliner must return to Earth before the Crew-9 mission launches to ensure a docking port is available on station.

“Starliner is a very capable spacecraft and, ultimately, this comes down to needing a higher level of certainty to perform a crewed return,” said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. “The NASA and Boeing teams have completed a tremendous amount of testing and analysis, and this flight test is providing critical information on Starliner’s performance in space. Our efforts will help prepare for the uncrewed return and will greatly benefit future corrective actions for the spacecraft.”

The post NASA Decides to Play it Safe. Wilmore and Williams are Coming Home on a Crew Dragon in February appeared first on Universe Today.

On January 20th, 2024, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) made history when its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) made a soft landing on the Moon, becoming the first Japanese robotic mission to do so. This small-scale lander was designed to investigate the origins of the Moon and test technologies that are fundamental to exploring the low-gravity lunar environment. Unfortunately, mission controllers lost contact with the lander after April 28th, 2024, and have spent the last few months trying to reestablish communications.

Previous attempts occurred during the lander’s operational periods between May and July but were unsuccessful. On August 23rd, JAXA announced that it had concluded operations with the SLIM mission. As the mission team reported on the SLIM mission’s Operation Status page after the final communication attempt was made:

“Fifth communication attempt after overnight (Day-6 operation). As with last month, we continued to try to receive a signal from SLIM, but unfortunately we were unable to confirm any radio waves. We considered the possibility that the onboard program had been improperly rewritten due to the effects of a solar flare, and attempted to resume communication by sending a regular program in the direction of SLIM, but we were unable to receive any radio waves from SLIM. Thank you for your support so far.”

A lunar surface scan mosaic image captured by the SLIM-mounted MBC (left) and its enlarged view (right). Credit: JAXA/Ritsumeikan University/The University of Aizu

During its time on the lunar surface, SLIM accomplished many scientific objectives and exceeded expectations in many ways. The soft landing was a high-precision maneuver with a position error of just 10 meters (~33 ft) from the landing site, constituting the world’s first successful pinpoint landing. In addition, the lander’s Multi-Band Camera (MBC) successfully performed spectral observations on ten different lunar rock samples in ten wavelength bands. Last, but not least, the mission remained operational for three lunar nights, which was not part of the original mission parameters.

JAXA also indicated that a detailed summary of SLIM’s achievements will be compiled and released shortly. “We extend our deepest gratitude to all parties involved in the development and operation of SLIM for their cooperation and support, as well as all those who encouraged the mission,” they said.

Further Reading: JAXA

The post JAXA Officially Wraps Up its SLIM Lander Mission appeared first on Universe Today.

Researchers identified two brain networks that help us anticipate and identify transitions in music – and these networks look different in musicians and non-musicians

An AI-powered model found that approaching intersections more slowly could lower yearly US carbon emissions by up to around 123 million tonnes

The first spacecraft to use gravity assist was NASA’s Mariner 10 in 1974. It used a gravity assist from Venus to reach Mercury. Now, the gravity assist maneuver is a crucial part of modern space travel.

The latest spacecraft to use gravity assist is the ESA’s JUICE spacecraft.

The European Space Agency (ESA) launched its JUICE spacecraft on April 14, 2023. Its eventual destination is the Jovian system and its icy moons, Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede. But it’s a long journey, and the spacecraft took a shortcut by travelling close to Earth and the Moon and using their gravity to gain momentum and change trajectory.

It’s the first spacecraft ever to use the Earth and the Moon for a gravitational slingshot, and it captured some images to share with us.

JUICE stands for Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, and it’s on a mission to study three moons with suspected oceans buried under layers of ice. It’s got a long way to go, and on long-duration missions, economical use of propellant is critical. This Earth-lunar slingshot maneuver is all about saving propellant.

“The gravity assist flyby was flawless, everything went without a hitch, and we were thrilled to see Juice coming back so close to Earth,” says Ignacio Tanco, Spacecraft Operations Manager for the mission.

At its closest approach to Earth, JUICE passed overhead of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean at only 6840 km (4250 miles) altitude. It was a risky maneuver but one that saved the mission between 100 and 150 kg of propellant.

This lunar-Earth flyby isn’t JUICE’s only gravity-assist maneuver. Next August, it will slingshot past Venus, and on September 26th and January 2029, it will slingshot past Earth. All these gravity-assist maneuvers will give JUICE momentum for its journey to Jupiter. JUICE will reach Jupiter in 2031, and because of all of these maneuvers it will have more propellant left when it gets there.

JUICE has completed its first gravity-assist maneuver and, in one year, will perform another one with Venus. Credit: ESA. Acknowledgements: Work performed by ATG under contract to ESA. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

“Thanks to very precise navigation by ESA’s Flight Dynamics team, we managed to use only a tiny fraction of the propellant reserved for this flyby. This will add to the margins we keep for a rainy day, or to extend the science mission once we get to Jupiter,” said Ignacio Tanco, Spacecraft Operations Manager for the JUICE mission.

Modern orbiters bristle with science instruments, antennae, and cameras. JUICE is no exception. Among all its instruments and science cameras, it carries two monitoring cameras called JMCs, or JUICE Monitoring Cameras. They’re 1024×1024 pixel cameras with different fields of view. Their job is to monitor the spacecraft’s booms and antennae, and their job was especially critical when they were deployed after launch.

The ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer has two Juice Monitoring Cameras, or JMCs, to provide snapshots with different fields of view. Their main job is to monitor components of the spacecraft, but they captured images of Earth and the Moon during the recent flyby. Image Credit: ESA (acknowledgement: work performed by ATG under contract to ESA) LICENCE: CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

During the flyby, JUICE used its JMCs to capture images of the Earth and the Moon.

JUICE Monitoring Camera 2 captured this image of the Moon as it flew past it on August 10th. “A closer look reveals a casual ‘photobomber’ – Earth shows itself as a dark circle outlined by a light crescent at the top centre of the image, peeking out from behind the spacecraft structure (look just above the fuzzy blue blob, which itself is a ghost image caused by the reflection of sunlight),” the ESA writes. CREDIT
ESA/Juice/JMC. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Simeon Schmauß & Mark McCaughrean. LICENCE: CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

It also used eight of its ten instruments to collect scientific data from Earth and all ten for the Moon.

“The timing and location of this double flyby allows us to thoroughly study the behaviour of Juice’s instruments,” explains Claire Vallat, Juice Operations Scientist.

JMC 1 captured this image of the Moon during the lunar flyby. CREDIT: ESA/Juice/JMC. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Simeon Schmauß & Mark McCaughrean. LICENCE: CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

JUICE’s main science camera is JANUS, a high-resolution optical camera. Its role is to capture detailed images of the surface of Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa. The JUICE team used JANUS to capture more than 400 preliminary views of the Earth and the Moon.

“After more than 12 years of work to propose, build and verify the instrument, this is the first opportunity to see first-hand data similar to those we will acquire in the Jupiter system starting in 2031,” says Pasquale Palumbo, a researcher at INAF in Rome and principal investigator of the team that designed, tested and calibrated the Janus camera.

The Moon’s pockmarked surface as revealed by JANUS. Image Credit:

“Even though the flyby was planned exclusively to facilitate the interplanetary journey to Jupiter, all the instruments on board the probe took advantage of the passage near the Moon and Earth to acquire data, test operations and processing techniques with the advantage of already knowing what we were observing,” said Palumbo.

Earth was imaged at dawn on August 20, 2024, by the JANUS optical camera aboard JUICE. The image shows the island of Hawai’i (the dark spot on the left), the largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago in the central Pacific of the United States. The view is very low, after a short while the Earth left the field of view of JANUS. Credits: JANUS team (INAF, ASI, DLR, CSIC-IAA, OpenUniversity, CISAS-Università di Padova and other international partners)

These early-mission images are whetting our appetite for when the real fun starts in seven years. JUICE will reach the Jovian system in July 2031 and will do 35 flybys of the gas giant’s icy moons. Then, in December 2034, it will enter orbit around Ganymede.

There is growing evidence that Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto have warm, salty oceans buried under thick layers of ice. These are prime targets in our search for life. But, maddeningly, we don’t know for sure if they could support life or even if the oceans are real.

Hopefully, JUICE can tell us. But it can’t do that without these risky, early-mission maneuvers.

The post After a Boost from Earth and the Moon, Juice is On its Way to Venus and Beyond appeared first on Universe Today.

The hunt for particles of dark matter has been stymied once again, with physicists placing constraints on this mysterious substance that are 5 times tighter than the previous best

Surrounding ourselves with greenery can do wonders for our physical and mental wellbeing. Kathy Willis reveals just what kinds of plants are best for our brains and bodies, and why

Researchers have announced a groundbreaking study using the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) in Western Australia. The research is the first to search for signs of alien technology in galaxies beyond our own, focusing on low radio frequencies (100 MHz). This new approach looks at distant galaxies, making it one of the most detailed searches for super civilizations -- those more advanced than ours.

The new estimates of the parameters that form the basis of the standard model of cosmology are far more precise than previous approaches using the same galaxy distribution data.

The new estimates of the parameters that form the basis of the standard model of cosmology are far more precise than previous approaches using the same galaxy distribution data.

According to a new study, some of the earliest galaxies observed with the James Webb Space Telescope are in fact much less massive than they first appeared. Black holes in some of these galaxies make them appear much brighter and bigger than they really are. This helps resolve the debate over whether the size of early galaxies requires a revision of the standard model of cosmology.

Laws that let bicyclists treat stop signs as yield signs lead neither riders nor motorists to act unsafely, according to a groundbreaking study.

New results from the world's most sensitive dark matter detector put the best-ever limits on particles called WIMPs, a leading candidate for what makes up our universe's invisible mass.

New results from the world's most sensitive dark matter detector put the best-ever limits on particles called WIMPs, a leading candidate for what makes up our universe's invisible mass.