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China’s Chang’e 7 lunar lander mission will feature a flag fluttering in the vacuum of space.

A CNSA flag flying on the Moon. Credit: CGTN News screenshot.

It’s one of the most often asked questions I get, while showing off the Moon to the public. “Can you see the flag the astronauts left there?” This then leads to a discussion on how far the Moon is, versus the difficulty of seeing a 1.5 by 0.9 meter flag at such a distance. My ‘scope is good, but not that good.

During the U.S. Apollo program, six crewed missions landed on the Moon starting with Apollo 11 in 1969, leaving a like number of flags. Now, China recently announced that one more flag will join the collection in late 2026, when Chang’e 7 heads to the Moon.

Flying a Flag on the Moon

The curious report comes out of the Deep Space Exploration Laboratory (DSEL) via the China Media Group. The free standing flag will actually be designed to ‘flap’ on the airless surface of the Moon. The idea was proposed by elementary school students out of Changsha in China’s Hunan Province. The flag will have closed-loop wires embedded in the fabric, and ‘flap’ using magnetic currents and electromagnetic interactions to create a waving motion.

Coming soon: A ‘flapping flag’ on the Moon…

“This initiative is intended to enhance young students’ understanding of China’s space program and inspire their interest in pursuing space exploration in the future,” says Zhang Tianzhu (DSEL/Institute of Technology) in a recent press release.

A Race to the (Lunar) Pole

Chang’e 7 is designed to carry out some serious science as well. The mission is destined to land near the edge of Shackleton Crater in the Moon’s south polar region. The permanently shadowed floor of the crater is of special interest, as it is suspected to contain water ice. The mission will also carry six instruments from six nations, including a small rover and an observatory built and operated by the International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA) based out of Hawai’i.

Shackleton crater was one of the candidate landing sites for NASA’s now canceled VIPER rover.

Potential landing sites of interest clustered around the lunar south pole region. Credit: NASA/LRO

While the merits of having a flag flap in space may be limited, it should be an interesting bit of public outreach for the CNSA. Curiously, some of the screen captures show a CNSA logo (not a Chinese national flag) free-standing on a tall pole, meaning a bit of effort and planning will have to be taken to plant it in the lunar soil.

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin and the U.S. Flag on the Moon during Apollo 11. Credit: NASA China in Space 2025

This year and next are busy ones for China’s space agency. The agency plans on launching its first ever asteroid and comet sample return mission Tianwen-2 this May, headed to asteroid Kamo’ oalewa (itself thought to be a fragment of the Moon) then onward to Comet 311P/PanSTARRS. Then, China has plans to launch its own space telescope Xuntian in early 2026. This telescope will station-keep with the crewed Tiangong space station for access for upgrade and maintenance.

The U.S. Flag mounted on the New Horizons mission. Credit: NASA/JPL

Putting flags in space and on the Moon isn’t a new thing. Generally, engineers mount the flags on the spacecraft itself. The U.S. flag placed on NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is headed out of the solar system. This symbol may well outlive the U.S. and humanity itself. U.S. flags planted by Apollo astronauts on the Moon have most likely been bleached white by intense ultraviolet solar radiation, though images by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in low lunar orbit confirm that at least as few are still standing.

Still standing: the Apollo 17 landing site, including the flag. Credit: NASA/LRO

But the award for the very first flag (or at least symbol) on the lunar surface goes to Luna 2, the first mission to hit the Moon in 1959 which carried a pennant of the now defunct Soviet Union:

A replica of the sphere onboard Luna 2, which impacted the Moon. Credit: Patrick Pelletier/Wikimedia Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

It will be a curious moment (and most likely, an internet meme) to see a flag ‘flap’ next year on the surface of the Moon.

The post China’s Chang’e 7 Will Include a Flag That Will ‘Flap’ on the Moon appeared first on Universe Today.

Predicting space weather is more complex than predicting traditional weather here on Earth. One of the most unpredictable kinds of space weather is solar flares, which explode out from the surface of the Sun and can potentially damage sensitive equipment like electrical grids and the ISS. The Carrington Event, one of the most violent solar storms in history, literally caused telegraph lines to catch fire when it occurred in 1859 – a similar storm would be much more devastating today. Due to their potentially destructive potential, scientists have long looked for ways to predict when a storm will happen, and now a team led by Emily Mason of Predictive Sciences, Inc. in San Diego thinks they might have found a way to do just that.

Solar flares typically occur in highly magnetic areas of the Sun. However, they aren’t the only events that occur in those regions—another, less potentially hazardous event is a coronal loop. These look like giant arches of particles that start from and connect back to the Sun’s outer layer, also called its corona. 

Scientists have long thought there might be some sort of tie between coronal loops and the solar flares that emerge from the same region. However, the lifespan for coronal loops ranges from seconds to weeks, and scientists have yet to find a valid link between that metric, or any other, and the occurrence of a solar flare in the same region.

Fraser discusses the danger of solar storms.

Dr. Mason and her colleagues thought they might take a different approach. They got some observational time on the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), a telescope in geosynchronous orbit explicitly designed to observe the coronal layer. They used SDO’s extreme ultraviolet wavelength observational capabilities to observe coronal loops in regions that eventually formed a flare versus those that didn’t.

They observed areas that produced around 50 flares and found that the amount of variability in extreme ultraviolet light the coronal loops in those areas put off was much higher than in the areas that didn’t produce a flare. Essentially, the coronal loops acted like “flashing warning lights” in a certain kind of light spectrum, according to a press release from NASA’s Goddard Institute, some of whose scientists contributed to the paper. 

The discovery was critical because the flashing appeared to take place consistently a few hours before a flare was formed. In technical terms, they accurately predicted the onset of a flare about 2-6 hours beforehand, about 60-80% of the time. That might not seem like great odds and even lesser warning, but some warning is better than none. When given the decision between frying half of the Earth’s electrical grid in a few hours and taking preventive measures, I think policymakers would at least appreciate the opportunity to have a choice.

Fraser talks about how bad the Carrington Event was, even almost 200 years ago.

There are some other nuances in the data, such as stronger flares appear to be predicted by earlier peaking flickering, however more work still needs to be done. Ultimately, this research aims to develop a system of automatically warning the appropriate authorities if there is a potentially hazardous solar event coming our way, but without so many false positives that they feel the system is crying wolf.

That automated system is still a little way off, but this research is a step in the right direction. SDO was initially launched in 2010 and has long outlived its original 5-year mission plan. However, there are plenty of instruments constantly watching the Sun, and undoubtedly, there will be more soon. Maybe they will someday contribute to finalizing a system that will one day save civilization from an avoidable catastrophe.

Learn More:
NASA – NASA Solar Observatory Sees Coronal Loops Flicker Before Big Flares
Kniezewski et al – 131 and 304 Å Emission Variability Increases Hours Prior to Solar Flare Onset
UT – New Research Indicates the Sun may be More Prone to Flares Than we Thought
UT – High-Resolution Images of the Sun Show How Flares Impact the Solar Atmosphere

Lead Image:
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of coronal loops above an active region on the Sun in mid-January 2012. The image was taken in the 171 angstrom wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light.
Credit – NASA/Solar Dynamics Observatory

The post Coronal Loops Flicker Right Before the Sun Unleashes Big Flares appeared first on Universe Today.

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When it comes to sending humans back to the moon, knowing how to work with the regolith that coats the ground will be make-or-break. Phil Metzger is studying how to mitigate its dangers and use it as a crucial resource

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The post Why Did the FDA Ban Red Dye #3 first appeared on Science-Based Medicine.

Exoplanets come in a variety of forms and one particular type, the Hot Jupiters have recently captured the attention of astronomers. They are usually found orbiting extremely close to their host star, completing an orbit in a few days or even hours. It has been thought that they migrated further out from the star, bullying other planets out of their way. Sometimes hurling them into the star or throwing them out of the system entirely. A new study however, suggests their evolution is not quite so violent since a Hot Jupiter has been found in a system with a Super-Earth and an icy giant. 

Hot Jupiters are a class of exoplanet that not surprisingly resemble our own planetary neighbour Jupiter. They are gas giants but that’s where the similarity ends; they have a high temperature and orbit their star at close distance. It can take just a few days to complete an orbit that’s compared to Jupiter’s orbit of 12 years! The intense levels of radiation and heating from their host star can cause temperatures in upper layers to reach over 1,000°C and the planet to swell to greater than expected size. 

This full-disc image of Jupiter was taken on 21 April 2014 with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3).

Current theories of planetary formation describe inner planets as composed of more dense material since lighter elements are driven to outer reaches of the system. The outer planets by contrast are made from these lighter elements. The presence of gas planets like Hot Jupiters so close to a star are in direct conflict with this model. Instead it has been thought that they form further out from the star and then migrate inwards as the system evolves. Recent studies have revealed that, until now, Hot Jupiters seem to be the only planet in orbit around their host star. This observation suggests the migration process is likely to lead to an ejection or accretion of any planet closer to the star. 

This artist’s impression shows a Jupiter-like exoplanet that is on its way to becoming a hot Jupiter — a large, Jupiter-like exoplanet that orbits very close to its star. Courtesy: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva

That was until now! A team of astronomers led by the Astronomy Department of the UNIGE Faculty of Science in partnership with UNIBE and UZH and other organisations have suggested another model. They announced the discovery of a multiple planetary system that includes a Hot Jupiter, a Super-Earth on an inner orbit and another gas giant on an outer orbit, much like conventional gas giants. The discovery suggests there must be an alternative migration model that enables the preservation of the system. 

Using photometric measurements of WASP-132 over 400 light years away, the data reveals that WASP-132b was 0.41 Jupiter masses and an orbital period of just 7.1 days. Measurements from the HARPS spectrograph at the La Silla observatory in 2022 revealed the Super-Earth has a mass 6 times that of the Earth. The analysis of the system is still ongoing as the measurements are fine tuned. The Gaia satellite is now measuring the tiny variations in the position of the star to hone in on the planetary masses and orbits. 

Artist’s impression of the Gaia spacecraft detecting artificial signals from a distant star system. In this synchronization scheme, the star system’s inhabitants send the signal shortly after witnessing a supernova, which is also seen by telescopes on Earth. (Credit: Danielle Futselaar / Breakthrough Listen)

What this all tells us is that the current migrations models that enable the gas giants to be orbiting where they are may not be complete. Instead it suggests a more “cool” migration path and less violent journey through the protoplanetary disc for the Hot Jupiter. Quite what the refinement to the model is, still needs to be understood but further measurements of the system will help and the search for similar systems is underway. 

Source : Not all Hot Jupiters orbit solo

The post Hot Jupiters Can Co-Exist with Other Planets appeared first on Universe Today.

Back in the 60’s and 70’s it was all about the Moon. The Apollo program took human beings to the Moon for the first time and now over 50 years later things are really hotting up again. The latest mission to head toward our celestial neighbour is a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launching Blue Ghost Mission 1 and the HAKUTO-R lander. The Blue Ghost is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) and it carries a total of 10 NASA payloads, the other is a private Japanese enterprise to explore the Moon. The launch went well and both landers will arrive shortly. 

The exploration of the Moon has been a key part of space research offering key insight into the origins of the Moon and the Solar System itself. With the possibility of future human bases on the Moon the interest in lunar exploration has started to gain momentum. Of particular note is NASA’s Artemis program and other international missions like those from China and India are making great progress. They not only intend to learn more about the Moon and its physical properties but also hope to serve as stepping stones for future exploration. 

Global map of the Moon, as seen from the Clementine mission, showing the lunar near- and farside. If we’re going back to the Moon, we’ll need a Lunar GPS. Credit: NASA.

Yet another chapter has opened in the book of lunar exploration with a launch atop a Falcon 9 rocket. This reusable two-stage launch vehicle was designed and developed by SpaceX to reduce the cost of a launch. It’s first flight was back in 2010 and since then has enjoyed success with around 200 successful launches to its name. One of its two charges this time was the Commercial Lunar Payload.

Carrying the a payload from Firefly Aerospace, the Commercial Lunar Payload set off on its journey from launch complex 39A ahead of its landing on 2 March 2025. As wonderfully articulated by NASA’s Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy ‘The mission embodies the bold spirit of NASA’s Artemis campaign – a campaign driven by scientific exploration and discovery.’

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches with NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) spacecraft onboard from Launch Complex 39A, Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The IXPE spacecraft is the first satellite dedicated to measuring the polarization of X-rays from a variety of cosmic sources, such as black holes and neutron stars. Launch occurred at 1 a.m. EST. Credits: NASA/Joel Kowsky

It’s destination is near a volcanic feature called Mons Latreille within Mare Crisium. On arrival at lunar the surface, it will test and demonstrate drilling capability, collection technology of the lunar regolith, the use of GPS, radiation tolerant computing and lunar dust protection methods. The mission will help to set the stage for a later human visit to the Moon, possibly even to develop a permanent lunar base. 

NASA has selected three commercial Moon landing service providers that will deliver science and technology payloads under Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) as part of the Artemis program. Each commercial lander will carry NASA-provided payloads that will conduct science investigations and demonstrate advanced technologies on the lunar surface, paving the way for NASA astronauts to land on the lunar surface by 2024…The selections are:..• Astrobotic of Pittsburgh has been awarded $79.5 million and has proposed to fly as many as 14 payloads to Lacus Mortis, a large crater on the near side of the Moon, by July 2021…• Intuitive Machines of Houston has been awarded $77 million. The company has proposed to fly as many as five payloads to Oceanus Procellarum, a scientifically intriguing dark spot on the Moon, by July 2021…• Orbit Beyond of Edison, New Jersey, has been awarded $97 million and has proposed to fly as many as four payloads to Mare Imbrium, a lava plain in one of the Moon’s craters, by September 2020. ..All three of the lander models were on display for the announcement of the companies selected to provide the first lunar landers for the Artemis program, on Friday, May 31, 2019, at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. ..Read more: https://go.nasa.gov/2Ki2mJo..Credit: NASA/Goddard/Rebecca Roth

There will be a total of ten payloads on as part of the CLPS; Lunar Instrumentation for Subsurface Thermal Exploration with Rapidity, Lunar PlanetVac, Next Generation Lunar Retroflector, Regolith Adherence Characterisation, Radiation Tolerant Computer, Electrodynamic Dust Shield, Lunar Environment heliospheric X-ray Imager, Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder, Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment and Stereo Camera for Lunar Plume Surface Studies. 

Being launched alongside Blue Ghost but following its own trajectory to the Moon is the Japanese built HAKUTO-R M2 Resilience lander. Unlike Blue Ghost, HAKUTO-R will take a low energy trajectory to the Moon arriving in about four months time in Mare Frigoris. On arrival, it will deploy a lunar rover called Tenacious which will collect small samples of lunar regolith. Under a contract which was awarded by NASA back in 2020, the regolith will be sold back to NASA for $5,000 USD. 

Source : Liftoff! NASA Sends Science, Tech to Moon on Firefly, SpaceX Flight

The post Two Lunar Landers are Off to the Moon appeared first on Universe Today.

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DNA-nanoparticle motors are exactly as they sound: tiny artificial motors that use the structures of DNA and RNA to propel motion by enzymatic RNA degradation. Essentially, chemical energy is converted into mechanical motion by biasing the Brownian motion. The DNA-nanoparticle motor uses the 'burnt-bridge' Brownian ratchet mechanism. In this type of movement, the motor is being propelled by the degradation (or 'burning') of the bonds (or 'bridges') it crosses along the substrate, essentially biasing its motion forward.

The world’s largest economy and second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases will withdraw from the global climate pact, disrupting efforts to tackle climate change

A new paper led by Professor Imanuel Lerman of UC San Diego provides a review of the field of bioelectronic medicine and the most promising opportunities for life-changing new therapies and diagnostics.

A new paper led by Professor Imanuel Lerman of UC San Diego provides a review of the field of bioelectronic medicine and the most promising opportunities for life-changing new therapies and diagnostics.

Scientists are unlocking the secrets of halide perovskites -- a material that's poised to reshape our future by bringing us closer to a new age of energy-efficient optoelectronics. Two physics professors are studying the material at the nanoscale: a place where objects are invisible to the naked eye. At this level, the extraordinary properties of halide perovskites come to life, thanks to the material's unique structure of ultra-thin crystals -- making it astonishingly efficient at converting sunlight into energy. Think solar panels that are not only more affordable but also far more effective at powering homes. Or LED lights that burn brighter and last longer while consuming less energy.

Scientists are unlocking the secrets of halide perovskites -- a material that's poised to reshape our future by bringing us closer to a new age of energy-efficient optoelectronics. Two physics professors are studying the material at the nanoscale: a place where objects are invisible to the naked eye. At this level, the extraordinary properties of halide perovskites come to life, thanks to the material's unique structure of ultra-thin crystals -- making it astonishingly efficient at converting sunlight into energy. Think solar panels that are not only more affordable but also far more effective at powering homes. Or LED lights that burn brighter and last longer while consuming less energy.

A team of researchers has developed innovative methods to enhance frequency conversion of terahertz (THz) waves in graphene-based structures, unlocking new potential for faster, more efficient technologies in wireless communication and signal processing.

A team of researchers has developed innovative methods to enhance frequency conversion of terahertz (THz) waves in graphene-based structures, unlocking new potential for faster, more efficient technologies in wireless communication and signal processing.

Experiments have yielded a fascinating new type of matter, neither granular nor crystalline, that responds to some stresses as a fluid would and to others like a solid. The new material, known as PAM (for polycatenated architected materials) could have uses in areas ranging from helmets and other protective gear to biomedical devices and robotics.

Fast radio bursts are mysterious and brief flashes of radio emissions that were thought to be produced by magnetars, highly magnetized rotating neutron stars. Yet magnetars appear primarily in young star clusters. A repeating burst discovered last year has been pinpointed to the distant outskirts of an old but massive elliptical galaxy where, theoretically, such stars would long since have disappeared. Does this mean magnetars are not the source of FRBs?

NASA’s Curiosity Rover has been exploring Mars since 2012 and, more recently has found evidence of ice-free ancient ponds and lakes on the surface. The rover found small undulations like those seen in sandy lake-beds on Earth. They would have been created by wind-driven water moving back and forth across the surface. The inescapable conclusion is that the water would have been open to the elements instead of being covered by ice. The discovery suggests the ripples formed 3.7 billion years ago. 

Mars it the fourth planet in our Solar System and the second smallest of all the major planets. It’s known for its strong red colour which is caused by iron oxide in the surface material. Classed as a terrestrial planet, Mars is similar in many ways to Earth with valleys, volcanoes and even evidence of dried up river beds. The similarities end there though with polar caps made mostly of carbon dioxide ice, an unbreathable atmosphere and a surface that is cold and dry. It’s always held a special fascination for us due largely to vague hints through the centuries of alien intelligent but more recently that it may have once been habitable. 

A full-disk view of Mars, courtesy of VMC. Credit: ESA

Once such rover that has been exploring the Martian landscape is the Curiosity Rover that was sent by NASA in 2011. It arrived at Mars in August 2012 and has been exploring the region around Gale Crater ever since. The main objective of Curiosity is to investigate the climate and geology and to assess if it could support primative life in the past. To achieve that end, it’s equipped with an array of instruments from drills to collect soil samples, cameras and instruments to analyse atmospheric samples. 

New simulations are helping inform the Curiosity rover’s ongoing sampling campaign. Credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

A paper recently published in the journal Science Advances by Caltech’s John Grotzinger, Harold Brown Professor of Geology and Michael Lamb, Professor of Geology shared their findings. They found two sets of what seem to be ancient wave ripples on the surface of Mars now thought to be dried up bodes of water with the ripples preserved in rock. The ripples are tiny undulations and are often seen in beaches and lake-beds on Earth as wind-driven water flows across the shallows. The team are particularly excited that this means the water was not frozen and was once open to the elements as liquid. 

The ripples discovered by Curiosity in Gale Crater are the strongest evidence to date that there have been bodies of liquid water in the history of the red planet. Analysis of the rocks and ripples suggest they formed 3.7 billion years ago. It’s thought that the atmosphere and climate of Mars must have been far warmer than it is today and more dense. Dense enough to support liquid water in open air.

NASA’s Curiosity rover continues to search for signs that Mars’ Gale Crater conditions could support microbial life. Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.

The team were able to create computer models from the ripples they found to attempt to discover the size of lake. The size of the ripples and separation helps to determine how much water was present. The ripple height of 6mm and 4 to 5 cm separation tells us that the lake was shallow, possibly even less than 2 metres deep. One of the sets of ripples known as the Prow outcrop was found in an area that was once wind blown dunes. The other set was found nearby in the sulcate-rich Amapari Marker Band of rocks. The two regions come from slightly different times telling us that the warm dense atmosphere occurred at multiple times or at least for a long period of time. 

The discovery has been a massive help to Mars paleoclimate studies that have tried to map the changing conditions on Mars. NASA’s Opportunity rover was the first mission to discover ripples on the surface but the nature of the bodies of water was uncertain. This latest discovery has given a fascinating insight into the early conditions on Mars, with perhaps, bodies of liquid dotted across the landscape. Further investigation is needed to see how commonplace the ripples are. 

Source : Signatures of Ice-Free Ancient Ponds and Lakes Found on Mars

The post Curiosity Finds Ancient Wave Ripples on Mars appeared first on Universe Today.

The US contributes around a fifth of the budget for the World Health Organization – its withdrawal from the public health body will impede efforts to control the global spread of diseases and could put the US at risk