An artist’s impression of an asteroid near Mars. Credit: Gabriel Pérez Díaz (SMM, IAC) Using observations made with the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) a study led from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) has confirmed that the asteroid 2023 FW14, discovered last …
Read More »Unveiling the formation of the first galaxies
Metallicity distribution of the first supernovae at 10 million years after the explosion. The supernova ejecta (orange region) has expanded to a radius of 1 kpc and enriched the surrounding gas to metallicities of 10-4 to 10-2 solar metallicity. The background yellow stripes are the cosmic structure of dark matter. …
Read More »Neuralink: Has Elon Musk made a breakthrough in brain implant technology?
Noland Arbaugh can play chess using his Neuralink implant Neuralink Neuralink, the brain-computer interface company founded by Elon Musk, has revealed the identity of its first patient, who says the firm’s implant has “changed his life”. However, it is not yet clear with Nueralink has done anything beyond replicating existing …
Read More »NOAA satellite animation captures vernal equinox
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Spring has officially arrived in the Northern Hemisphere, while the Southern Hemisphere is embracing autumn. The start of astronomical spring, known as the vernal equinox, occurred yesterday, March 19, 2024, at 11:06 p.m. EDT. During equinoxes, which happen twice a year, the Earth’s axis is not …
Read More »One impact on Mars produced more than 2 billion secondary craters, finds study
Corinto Crater. Credit: NASA There are plenty of craters on Mars, especially when compared to Earth. That is primarily thanks to the lack of weathering forces and strong plate tectonics that disrupt the formations of such impacts on our home planet. However, not all impact craters on Mars are directly …
Read More »NASA sees progress on Blue Origin’s Orbital Reef Life Support System
A digital rendering of Blue Origin’s free-flying station named Orbital Reef, which continues to be developed as part of a Space Act Agreement with NASA. Credit: Blue Origin A NASA-funded commercial space station, Blue Origin’s Orbital Reef, recently completed testing milestones for its critical life support system as part of …
Read More »Key test drive of Orion on NASA’s Artemis II to aid future missions
Credit: NASA Astronauts will test drive NASA’s Orion spacecraft for the first time during the agency’s Artemis II test flight next year. While many of the spacecraft’s maneuvers like big propulsive burns are automated, a key test called the proximity operations demonstration will evaluate the manual handling qualities of Orion. …
Read More »New tech monitors local space weather and provides real-time data
The Compact Space Plasma Analyzer will improve space weather prediction. Credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory Peaceful though it may seem from Earth, space is beset by “weather” that can prove perilous for the sensitive—and expensive—technology aboard the spacecraft and satellites increasingly populating the realms outside our atmosphere. To meet that …
Read More »How to wrap your head around the most mind-bending theories of reality
ARE there vastly many near-duplicates of you reading vastly many near-duplicates of this article in vastly many parallel universes? Is consciousness a fundamental property of all matter? Could reality be a computer simulation? Reader, I can hear your groans from here in California. We are inclined to reject ideas like …
Read More »Flying drone can roll on the ground to save energy over long distances
This drone rolls most of the time but can fly over obstacles when needed Ruibin Zhang et al./Zhejiang University, Hangzhou An autonomous drone with wheels can roll along the ground, only flying when needed to clear obstacles, which helps its battery last seven times longer, according to its developers. Rolling …
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