In the coming decades, multiple space agencies and private companies plan to establish outposts on the Moon and Mars. These outposts will allow for long-duration stays, astrobiological research, and facilitate future Solar System exploration. However, having crews operating far from Earth for extended periods will also present some serious logistical challenges. Given the distances and costs involved, sending resupply missions will be both impractical and expensive. For this reason, relying on local resources to meet mission needs – aka. In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) – is the name of the game. The need for ISRU is especially important on Mars as resupply missions could take 6 to 9 months to get there. Luckily, Mars has abundant resources that can be harvested and used to provide everything from oxygen, propellant, water, soil for growing food, and building materials. In a recent study, a Freie Universität Berlin-led team evaluated the potential of harvesting resources from several previously identified deposits of hydrated minerals on the surface of Mars. They also presented estimates of how much water and minerals can be retrieved and how they may be used. The team was led by Christoph Gross, a Postdoctoral researcher with the Planetary Sciences and Remote Sensing Group at the Institute of Geological Sciences, Freie Universität Berlin. They were joined by researchers from the SETI Institute, NASA’s Ames Research Center, the Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale, and the Institute of Space Systems at the German Aerospace Center (DLR). Their research paper, “Prospecting in-situ resources for future crewed missions to Mars,” will be published in the October 2024 issue of Acta Astronautica. The MOXIE unit is being placed into the Perseverance rover. Courtesy NASA/JPL. As the authors note, NASA and other space agencies are invested in ISRU technologies to significantly reduce the overall mass that must be sent to the Moon or Mars to support human exploration efforts. In recent years, this has led to experiments like the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) on NASA’s Perseverance rover, which produced oxygen gas from Mars’ atmospheric carbon dioxide. The ESA is also preparing an ISRU Demonstration Mission to demonstrate that water and oxygen can be produced from water ice harvested on the Moon. Mars Express mineralogy maps. Credit: ESA/CNES/CNRS/IAS/UP-S, Orsay; NASA/JPL/JHUAPL/MOLA These resources would have applications for life support systems, ensuring mission crews have breathable air and water for drinking and irrigation. However, they also have applications for power and propulsion, providing hydrogen gas for fuel cells or reactors and being used in combination to create liquid hydrogen (LH2) and liquid oxygen (LOX) propellant. On Mars, most of the water there today is concentrated in the polar ice caps and permafrost or in pockets of hydrated minerals where water once flowed on the surface. For the sake of their study, Gross and his colleagues focused on hydrated mineral sites since they offer the potential for water extraction directly at the surface and at lower latitudes. But as Gross told Universe Today via email, these deposits also have potential resource applications that go beyond just water: “The hydrated minerals on Mars are the largest water reservoir on Mars known to date (mainly sulphates and phyllosilicates). Water can relatively easily extracted from sulphates and as described in the paper, the minerals can also be used as fertilizer for food production. The phyllosilicates could be used as building material or, for example, for ceramics. Water is the most important resource, especially propellant production. This may be more interesting for Mars due to the distance to Earth, gravity, etc.” Next, Gross and his colleagues assessed different geographical locations where hydrated minerals have been identified based on data obtained by the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) instrument aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). This included Mawrth Vallis, an ancient flood channel that opens into the Chryse Planitia plains in Mars’ northern hemisphere, and Juventae Chasma, a 5 km (~3 mi) deep basin located north of Valles Marineris. Water detection under the south pole of Mars. Credit: Context map: NASA/Viking; THEMIS background: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Arizona State University; MARSIS data: ESA/NASA/JPL/ASI/Univ. Rome; R. Orosei et al 2018 “Regions hosting a variety of different materials may be interesting,” said Gross. “Then, the site must be easily accessible (not in a canyon, etc.), and it should be close to interesting science sites. I would also support the idea of having a base in equatorial regions where the temperatures are not too cold. And there should be enough space around the base to grow with follow-up missions. Meridiani Planum is a hot candidate. We shall try to constrain the resources there, too.” Gross and his colleagues also recommended how these resources should be extracted. According to the authors, the dehydration of mono- and poly-hydrated sulfates is theoretically the best approach since several methods exist that are relatively straightforward, fast, and energy-efficient ways exist to do this. They also recommend that robotic missions be sent in advance of astronauts to scout, assess, and begin harvesting and processing these resources in anticipation of their arrival. “Robotic precursor missions could start mining and refining the resources, especially for propellant production,” said Gross. “NASA and private companies are conducting many studies concerning this point. Also, for example, the robotic construction of habitats or the pre-production of oxygen are conceivable projects.” This analysis presents new possibilities for exploration and long-term habitats on Mars. Although the polar regions are seen as a good place for building future habitats, mainly because of the abundant frozen water they have access to, extracting this ice (especially from deep underground sources) will be expensive and restrictive. The possible use of hydrated minerals not only offers an alternative for ISRU operations on Mars, but opens sites in the equatorial region to exploration and habitat creation. Further Reading: Acta Astronautica The post Resources on Mars Could Support Human Explorers appeared first on Universe Today.

Various forms of hopping robots have crept into development for us[e in different space exploration missions. We’ve reported on their use on asteroids and even our own Moon. But a study funded by NASA’s Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) in 2018 planned a mission to a type of world where hopping may not be as noticeable an advantage—Europa. The mission, developed by engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Purdue University, and Honeybee Robotics, is known as the Steam Propelled Autonomous Retrieval Robot for Ocean Worlds, or SPARROW. It’s about the size and shape of a soccer ball, with the logic, power, and control systems inside a spherical outer hollow shell.  SPARROW wouldn’t be able to operate on its own, however. It would require a lander to deposit it onto the surface and serve as a refueling and sample collection storage base. Europa Clipper, the only currently planned NASA mission to the icy moon, would have been good for hitching a ride, but its lack of a lander made it unsuitable for SPARROW. Budget constraints are always a problem for innovative missions – as Fraser explains with Dr. Manasvi Lingam. However, the hopping robot itself is well suited for the environment in Europa. Its designers intended to make it “terrain agnostic,” meaning it could traverse even the harshest terrain the icy moon could throw at it. These would include penitentes, shards of ice that could be meters tall, and difficult for ground-based robots to traverse. SPARROW could fly over them, collect interesting samples, and return to the lander to refuel and deposit them. Then, it could go out again in a different direction. To model this system architecture, the JPL team spent Phase I trying to determine the best propulsion system for the robot and modeling control algorithms for the flights. First, let’s tackle the propulsion system. The lander accompanying SPARROW would have to mine ice off the moon’s surface, then heat it and store it as water. When SPARROW returned from a hop, it would use the water to refuel. Five different propulsion methods were considered as part of the study. Still, the best turned out to be a “hot water thruster,” where SPARROW would internally heat the water supplied by the lander, then eject that out in a burst of propulsive force to launch the robot off the surface. Exploring the surface of Europa is only one part of its mystery – as Fraser explains. The second major part of the paper was controlling that propulsion. Trajectory correction is critical to mission success, but in this case, the designers believe that no matter where the robot ends up, it will be able to collect a sample and return to the lander. This is due to its gimballed design, which allows the robot to consistently orient correctly, even after bouncing along a frozen surface for a while. There is still much work to do before the mission is ready to go, though. Some of the most pressing questions are how to stop ice from forming in the robot’s propulsion nozzle and throughout its structural cage. Such blockages could easily throw off any existing trajectory calculations and theoretically immobilize the hopper entirely if they were severe enough. However, no work is planned to solve those problems for now as the project has yet to receive Phase II funding from NIAC, and work on it appears to have stalled. Dr. Gareth Meirion-Griffith, the primary investigator on the project, has moved on from JPL to take a job at Collins Aerospace. Even so, someday, the author’s ideas might be integrated into a Europa lander mission—we’ll have to wait and see. Learn More:JPL – This Hopping Robot Could Explore the Solar System’s Icy MoonsMeirion-Griffith et al. – SPARROW: Steam Propelled Autonomous Retrieval Robot for Ocean WorldsUT – A Robot Hopper to Explore the Moon’s Dangerous TerrainUT – Miniaturized Jumping Robots Could Study An Asteroid’s Gravity Lead Image:Artist’s depiction of SPARROW and it’s lander operating on an ocean world.Credit – NASA JPL / Caltech The post A Hopping Robot Could Explore Europa Using Locally Harvested Water appeared first on Universe Today.

After going eight years and more than 300 launches without a failure, SpaceX had a Falcon 9 rocket launch go awry, resulting in the expected loss of 20 Starlink satellites. The Federal Aviation Administration said it would oversee an investigation into the anomaly, raising the prospect that dozens of launches could be delayed until the problem is identified and rectified. As many as 40 Falcon 9 launches are on tap between now and the end of the year — potentially including missions that would carry astronauts to the International Space Station and send the privately funded Polaris Dawn crew into orbit for the world’s first commercial spacewalk. The problem cropped up during the July 11 launch of a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The rocket’s first stage performed as expected, went through stage separation and returned to Earth for a successful touchdown on a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean. “Falcon 9’s second stage performed its first burn nominally,” SpaceX said in a mission recap, “however, a liquid oxygen leak developed on the second stage.” When the second-stage engine was relit to adjust the orbital parameters, it experienced an anomaly and couldn’t complete the burn. In a posting to his X social-media platform, SpaceX founder Elon Musk said the engine went through a “RUD,” or rapid unscheduled disassembly. The second stage was still able to deploy its batch of 20 satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink broadband internet network. But those satellites were left in an orbit that was lower than planned, where they were subject to significant atmospheric drag. “At this level of drag, our maximum available thrust is unlikely to be enough to successfully raise the satellites,” SpaceX said. “As such, the satellites will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and fully demise. They do not pose a threat to other satellites in orbit or to public safety.” The FAA said in a statement that it would require an investigation into the anomaly, aimed at determining its root cause and identifying corrective actions. The agency would have to approve SpaceX’s final report as well as any license modifications that would be required. The FAA is also charged with determining when it’s safe for SpaceX to resume flights. Falcon 9 launches were delayed for six months after a failed launch in June 2015. And when a Falcon 9 suffered a launch-pad anomaly in September 2016, it took four months for SpaceX to get the FAA’s go-ahead for a return to flight. Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman, who is leading the Polaris Dawn space mission, gave SpaceX a vote of confidence in a posting to X. “I have no doubt they will arrive at a cause quickly and ensure the most cost-effective and reliable launch vehicle keeps delivering payload to orbit,” he wrote. “As for Polaris Dawn, we will fly whenever SpaceX is ready and with complete confidence in the rocket, spaceship and operations.” A Falcon 9 rocket was due to launch Isaacman and three crewmates into orbit as early as July 31, for a mission that could last as long as five days. The mission aims to go into an unusually high 700-kilometer (435-mile) orbit to test the spacesuits that SpaceX has created for spacewalks, and demonstrate how extravehicular activities can be conducted from SpaceX’s Dragon capsule. Falcon 9 rockets are also set to launch an uncrewed Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo ship to the International Space Station, and send NASA’s Crew-9 astronauts to the ISS in a Dragon capsule. Both those missions are scheduled for as early as next month, but both seem likely to launch later than that in the aftermath of this week’s anomaly. SpaceX isn’t the only company that’s currently facing challenges relating to orbital access: Boeing’s Starliner space taxi and its two NASA crew members are still at the space station, waiting for the go-ahead to return to Earth. The departure has been held up for weeks while NASA and Boeing address concerns about Starliner’s propulsion system. The post SpaceX’s Rocket Failure Could Cause Delays for Lots of Launches appeared first on Universe Today.

In a new movie titled “Fly Me to the Moon,” a marketing consultant played by Scarlett Johansson uses Tang breakfast drink, Crest toothpaste and Omega watches to give a publicity boost to NASA’s Apollo moon program. The marketing consultant may be totally fictional. And don’t get me started on the fake moon landing that’s part of the screwball comedy’s plot. But the fact that the makers of Tang, Crest and Omega allied themselves with NASA’s brand in the 1960s is totally real. More than 50 years later, those companies are still benefiting from the NASA connection, says Richard Jurek, a marketing and public relations executive in the Chicago area who’s one of the authors of “Marketing the Moon: The Selling of the Apollo Lunar Program.” In the latest episode of the Fiction Science podcast, Jurek says Tang sold poorly when it was introduced in the late 1950s. “But once it was announced that it was being used in the space program and marketed that way, it became a huge bestseller for them, and in fact, still sells more overseas — and is a multibillion-dollar brand today,” he says. NASA also got something out of the arrangements: The easy-to-use Tang powder was well-suited for the astronauts to mix with water during their flights. The Crest team helped NASA come up with a type of toothpaste that astronauts could swallow rather than spit. And Omega made one heck of a chronograph for the astronauts. But Jurek says the marketing campaign’s main players were contractors like Boeing, Martin Marietta and North American Rockwell. Those contractors, rather than NASA itself, gave the biggest commercial push to the Apollo program. “There was a war going on,” he explains. “There were a lot of missile manufacturers who didn’t want to come home and talk to their families about, ‘Yeah, we built another missile that was being used in the war.’ But through the marketing of Apollo and marketing of what they were doing for NASA, they could come home and talk about, ‘Look, we’re helping Neil Armstrong, we’re helping NASA, we’re helping America get to the moon.’ And that was a feel-good message.” NASA and its commercial partners rode a tsunami-scale wave of enthusiasm in the buildup to the first moon landing in 1969. But in the wake of the life-and-death drama that surrounded the crippled Apollo 13 mission in 1970, that wave quickly crashed. “It shifted from an adventure story and a geopolitical story into one that really was a geology story, about rocks and the formation of the Earth, and it became a much harder sell,” Jurek says. Jurek says that could serve as a cautionary tale for future crewed missions to the moon, like the ones that NASA is planning for the latter half of the 2020s as part of its Artemis campaign (which is named after the twin sister of Apollo in Greek mythology). “There’s a lot of enthusiasm for space travel,” he says. “You see it in the SpaceX launches, and some of the gimmicks of whether you fly a Tesla into space — and you have all these GoPros around and everybody’s oohing and ahhing over the images. But then it becomes a very real thing when you ask somebody to actually pay for it, and pay for it with their tax dollars.” For taxpayers who may be tempted to turn from oohing to booing, the lesson of the Apollo era is that many of the space program’s benefits are indirect and pay dividends over the course of decades. “We’re benefiting from the Apollo program today, from those fundamental investments that were made in basic research and science and infrastructure … back in the ’60s and ’70s,” Jurek says. The advances in microcircuitry and satellite technology required for the Apollo program made it possible for Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk to create multibillion-dollar businesses, he says. And what can NASA learn? Jurek says the space agency is doing a good job of adapting to a media marketplace that’s more “tribe-focused and niche-focused” than it was during the Apollo era, due to the rise of the internet and social media. But he adds that NASA’s efforts to engage with the public “could maybe gain a lot more from having a bit more of that private-enterprise management of digital marketing, elevated beyond just social media.” Richard Jurek is chief marketing and communication officer and executive vice president of The Inland Real Estate Group, and the co-author of “Marketing the Moon.” Jurek also gives a thumbs-up to the way NASA lets its astronauts build their own brands through social media. He says the space agency could take that a step further — perhaps by following the precedent that was set in the early 1960s, when the Mercury astronauts struck a deal with Life magazine for their personal stories. “What the movie got right — and what NASA got right in the 1950s and 1960s — was turning the astronauts into the face of the program,” he says.. “By doing so, they personalized the missions, and gave people a personal connection to the astronauts in which they felt like they had a stake in their success.” Could there be, for example, a Netflix documentary series about the next generation of spacefliers? Oh, wait … there’s already been such a series, focusing on the privately funded Inspiration4 orbital mission. Jurek says the rise of private-sector space missions could dramatically change the space marketing game over the next five to 10 years. “You’ll have a lot more commercialization, a lot more individual managing of brands and messaging. Sponsorships, if you will, of missions, and private contractors elevating their brands,” he says. “But I think the bigger question will be the cooperation between the various private organizations and the government entities who in many ways control and regulate access to things. For example, it’s illegal to own a moon rock from the Apollo program. It’s government property.” If private astronauts start extracting resources from the moon — or if other countries such as China, Russia or India do the same — who decides who gets what? What if China beats the U.S. in the space marketing game? “How is the access and the engagement internationally in space going to change?” Jurek says. “That, I think, is a bigger question over whether or not Taco Bell or Pizza Hut sponsors a particular spaceflight to go back to the moon.” Take a look at the original version of this posting on Cosmic Log for links to additional resources on moonshot marketing, plus a roundup of fun facts and celebrity cameos to look for in “Fly Me to the Moon.” For what it’s worth, next week brings the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Stay tuned for future episodes of the Fiction Science podcast via Apple, Spotify, Player.fm, Pocket Casts and Podchaser. If you like Fiction Science, please rate the podcast and subscribe to get alerts for future episodes. The post ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ Points to the Past and Future of Moonshot Marketing appeared first on Universe Today.

Two recent studies published in The Astrophysical Journal discuss findings regarding solar flare properties and a new classification index and the Sun’s magnetic field, specifically what’s called solar magnetic reconnection. These studies hold the potential to help researchers better understand the internal processes of the Sun, specifically pertaining to solar flare activity and space weather. Here, Universe Today discusses these two studies with both lead authors regarding the motivation behind the studies, significant results, and implications on our understanding regarding solar flares and space weather. The first study discusses new insights into solar flare properties and presents a new solar flare classification index that builds off previous classification indices along with scientific advancements in our understanding of solar flares. So, what was the motivation behind this study? “The inception of our interest in this study was inspired by work that my advisor, Prof. Adam Kowalski, has done in the last decade in classifying stellar flares using a similar index,” Cole Tamburri, who is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Astrophysical & Planetary Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) and lead author of the study, tells Universe Today. “Traditionally, solar flares are classified according to the peak flux in GOES soft X-ray. However, as our understanding of flare physics has advanced, we’ve learned that there’s much more diversity between flare events which is not captured by the GOES classification system – for example, two events with the same peak intensity might occur over much different time periods (a few minutes, to even a few hours!), which is indicative of significant differences in the physical mechanism.” The GOES soft X-ray currently classifies solar flares ranging from lowest intensity to highest using classes labeled as A, B, C, M, and X. This data is gathered from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) system of four active spacecraft currently in a geosynchronous orbit and operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the United States. This data is plotted in real-time on the GOES X-ray flux interface available on the NOAA website where users can watch live solar activity while viewing which class the solar flares correspond to on the plot, with the data being updated every 10 minutes. For the study, the researchers sought to expand upon and improve the GOES classification index by measuring what’s known as impulsiveness, which Tamburri refers to as a “suddenness” of energy release. During a 4-year period between 2010 and 2014, the researchers obtained impulsiveness measurements using Solar Dynamics Observatory/Extreme Ultraviolet Experiment for 1,368 solar flares, categorizing their impulsiveness as low, mid, and high. So, what were the most significant results from this study? “During this project, we developed and statistically analyzed the impulsiveness of a large number of flares in the extreme ultraviolet 304 Angstrom line,” Tamburri tells Universe Today. “Magnetic reconnection is the process that occurs when two oppositely oriented magnetic field structures interact to form new field lines, resulting in an intense outflow of energy from the region where reconnection is occurring, the effects of which we then observe in the lower solar atmosphere as a solar flare. We found that impulsiveness, interestingly, has a moderately strong correlation with the peak rate of magnetic reconnection. This suggests that the details of the magnetic field present during a solar flare may indeed be related to the energetics of the flare itself (magnitude and duration).”  As noted above, this study builds off initial research from Dr. Adam Kowalski, which Tamburri notes published a 2013 study discussing a connection between M-class solar flares and stellar properties. This work involving impulsiveness was further expanded upon by another advisor of Tamburri’s, Dr. Maria Kazachenko, who published a 2017 study discussing a new catalog of flare ribbon properties. Finally, two 2022 studies (Dahlin et al. 2022 and Qiu et al. 2022) discussed a potential connection between solar flare impulsiveness and the behavior of the Sun’s magnetic field when a solar flare occurs. According to Tamburri, the goal of this recent study was to expand upon the discussion of impulsiveness by sampling many solar flares. Image of solar activity emanating from the Sun. (Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Solar Dynamics Observatory) Regarding future work, Tamburri tells Universe Today that there are three research directions they can go from here: 1) Expanding the impulsiveness index to include various wavelengths since that determines the accuracy of solar flare and impulsiveness measurements; 2) After identifying a satisfactory wavelength, a comparison of solar flares to stellar flares is planned to be made; 3) Using models to simulate and identify the origins and physics behind impulsiveness activity. Observations and studies of solar flares date back to the mid-19th century, with the first recorded solar flare observation being conducted by two amateur astronomers, Richard Carrington and Richard Hodgson, using an optical telescope. Further studies occurred by accident using radio observations during World War II by British radio operators in February 1942, with their findings not being made public until after the war ended in 1945. After the Space Age began, it was discovered that space telescopes would be best suited for observing solar flares due to the Earth’s atmosphere blocking large amounts of solar radiation, limiting ground-based telescope observations. This has allowed near unobscured observations of solar activity, resulting in better understanding of solar flares. Therefore, what implications could this new impulsiveness index have on our understanding of solar flares? “At this point, we don’t fully understand the fast, intense initial phase (the impulsive phase) of a flare,” Tamburri tells Universe Today. “Ultimately, an accurate, complete picture of the flaring process must tie together the flare process in all regimes – the magnetic field in the low-density corona, the high-energy processes in the dense chromosphere, and even what lies below, in the photosphere.  While we’re a far way from that, connecting what we see during a solar flare to what we can infer about the magnetic field in an active region before, during, and after an event can help to create this unified picture.” Solar flare activity falls under the category of space weather, which is the activity on the Sun’s surface that can influence activity both on Earth’s surface and in orbit. While this often results in the beautiful auroral displays seen at high northern and southern latitudes, this harsh solar radiation can potentially damage satellites and electronic ground stations, causing widespread electrical and communication blackouts around the world. The most revered incident of solar activity causing widespread damage to the earth’s surface is known as the Carrington Event, which occurred between September 1-2, 1859, during the most intense solar storm on record. The result was massive incidents of sparks and fires occurring at telegraph stations across the globe and auroral observations reported around the world, as well. Therefore, what implications could this new impulsiveness index have on our understanding of space weather and how to protect against it? Tamburri tells Universe Today, “In a sense, one of the real dangers of solar flares/storms as they relate to space weather is the uncertainty regarding the specific characteristics of an event while it’s happening – much like two snowflakes, no two solar flares are exactly the same! There are still many vagaries in flare prediction, despite decades of research; even once a flare begins, it’s hard to tell exactly how energetic a flare will be, or how long it will last. If we are able to clearly tie the impulsiveness index to distinct signatures in the magnetic field topology (from which we can infer stored energy), this could possibly tell us a little more about how intense we expect a flare to be, using which knowledge we can mitigate the effects of a flare on technology on and around Earth.” Tamburri tells Universe Today that this work was supported by the National Science Foundation through the DKIST Ambassadors program, along with being administered by the National Solar Observatory and the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., with thanks also to the University of Colorado Boulder and the George Ellery Hale Graduate Fellowship. The second study discusses new insights into the properties of solar magnetic reconnection, which is the primary process during solar storms that converts magnetic energy into thermal energy (heat), kinetic energy (motion), and particle acceleration. While studying this phenomenon could help scientists better understand the mechanisms behind solar storms, a lack of high-resolution data has prevented in-depth observations from being made until now. Therefore, what is the specific motivation behind this study involving solar magnetic reconnection? Marcel Corchado-Albelo, who is also a PhD student in the Department of Astrophysical & Planetary Sciences at CU Boulder and lead author of the study, tells Universe Today, “Currently, our methods to measure the solar magnetic field are usually constrained to the solar surface or photosphere, or in the scarce cases in which the magnetic field has been measured from higher solar atmospheric layers the measurement lacks the temporal cadence to track the evolution of reconnection processes. Therefore, scientists have been using proxy measurements involving flare ribbons to calculate magnetic reconnection properties like magnetic reconnection flux.” Corchado-Albelo continues, “Extensive statistical work has shown that these flare ribbon derived measurements are well correlated with other flare variables like the strength of the solar flare. These results motivated us to examine how the solar magnetic reconnection flux changed in time during solar flares. When examining the rate of change of the magnetic reconnection flux we discovered that a large number of flares exhibited bursts that reminisce complex oscillatory features commonly found in multi-wavelength emission, called quasi-periodic pulsations (QPPs).” For the study, the researchers analyzed high-resolution imaging data from a set of M-class and X-class solar flares and statistical analyses on 73 solar flares ranging from C-class to X-class using a known flare ribbon computer database to ascertain QPP properties. Better understanding the mechanisms responsible for QPPs will provide greater insight into solar flare energy and activity within the Sun’s atmosphere and the relationship they have with solar magnetic reconnection. Previous research into QPPs include observing QPPs using the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton space telescope, examining their relationship with recurrent jets, and conducting comprehensive analyses of QPPs. Therefore, what were the most significant results from this study? “Our results showed that indeed the burst in the magnetic reconnection rate can be described as QPPs with similar characteristics as the ones found in X-ray emission of the same solar flares,” Corchado-Albelo tells Universe Today. “This result suggests that the process through which the magnetic reconnection flux described by flare ribbons is modulated is related, if not the same, to the process through which the X-ray QPPs are formed.” Corchado-Albelo continues, “Further evidence from the morphological evolution of the flare ribbon, when observations were available, suggest that the solar plasma in the magnetic reconnection region (called the current sheet) undergoes some plasma instability. Our results were inconclusive in what process leads to the co-observation of QPPs in the magnetic reconnection flux and X-ray emission.” Along with the above description, solar magnetic reconnection also involves the Sun’s massive magnetic field, also called the solar dynamo. Despite its much larger size than the Earth’s magnetic field, its behavior can be just as erratic, as the Earth’s magnetic field is known to experience variations due to its interaction with solar wind that the Sun emits daily. Unlike the Earth, the Sun’s surface is constantly changing since it’s essentially a massive ball of plasma and causes even more erratic behavior within its magnetic field. This behavior often results in the Sun’s magnetic field lines literally becoming tangled as the Sun rotates, and specifically as its surface continuously rotates, resulting in periodic sunspots and solar activity, including solar flares. Therefore, what implications could this study have on our understanding of the Sun’s magnetic field? A diagram conveying the Sun’s magnetic field lines overlaid on an image of the Sun obtained by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory on March 12, 2016. (Credit: NASA/SDO/AIA/LMSAL) “The results of this study suggest that the plasma contained within the region where magnetic reconnection occurs during solar flare are involved in highly complex dynamics,” Corchado-Albelo tells Universe Today. “Understanding the origin of these dynamics can help us diagnose properties of the solar magnetic fields involved in flare reconnection. Properties that could help us possibly constrain the flaring magnetic field geometry, as well as potentially the strength of the field in the reconnection region. These properties are of much value in our endeavors to better constrain our models of solar flares, and in cases where the underlying physics of the solar flares are comparable to those of the Sun, stellar flares.” Like the first study discussed earlier, this research corresponds to better understanding solar flare activity and space weather, with the latter having direct influence regarding space-based and ground-based activities, ranging from communications to electricity. Better understanding solar flare activity could help scientists better predict space weather, specifically since the Sun goes through what’s known as solar cycles every 11 years when the Sun’s magnetic field flips, which results in increased sunspots and other solar activity, including space weather. Therefore, what implications could this study have on our understanding of solar flares and space weather? Corchado-Albelo tells Universe Today, “The QPPs in the X-ray emission are a well-known, and common feature of solar and stellar flares. Yet, there is no full consensus to the process through which the X-ray QPPs form. Our results provide direct evidence that these QPPs are at least related to processes that modulated the dynamic evolution of the flaring magnetic fields. It is a step forward towards understanding the details connecting how plasma particles within the reconnection region are accelerated and give rise to the QPPs observed in solar flares.” Corchado-Albelo continues, “All of these details need to be reproduced by flaring models in order to be a realistic representation of the process occurring in the Sun, which can then be used to forecast solar flares and their properties. This is an invaluable first step to forecast space weather in a reliable manner.” Like the first study, this study was also funded by the National Science Foundation through the DKIST Ambassadors program with support also from the CU Boulder’s Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences. What new discoveries about solar flares and solar activity will scientists make in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science! As always, keep doing science & keep looking up! The post Solar Flares and Solar Magnetic Reconnection Get New Spotlight in Two Blazing Studies appeared first on Universe Today.

When massive stars detonate as supernovae, they leave often behind a pulsar. These fast rotating stellar corpses have fascinated scientists since their discovery in 1967. One nearby pulsar turns 174 times a second and now, its size has been precisely measured. An instrument on board the International Space Station was used to measure x-ray pulses  from the star. A supercomputer was then used to analyse its properties and found it was 1.4 times the mass of the Sun and measured only 11.4 km across! The death of a massive stars leads to one of a number of objects but two of them are closely related, the neutron star and the pulsar. Both are formed during the core collapse and supernova explosion that marks the death of a star. All of the components of the atom are squashed together removing all the space between the neutrons to form one MASSIVE neutron. Pulsars are rotating neutron stars with strong magnetic fields that emit beams of electromagnetic radiation from their magnetic poles. These beams become visible from Earth when aligned with our line of sight, creating a pulsating effect, hence the term “pulsar.” Artist’s illustration of a bright and powerful supernova explosion. (Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss) One of the nearest pulsars, PSR J0437-4725 lies at 510 light years in the constellation Pictor. It rotates 174 times per second which means it rotates once in just 5.75 milliseconds. Perhaps more mind blowing than its rotational velocity is its size. Imagine 1.4 times the mass of the Sun squashed up into a ball just 11.4 kilometres across – the Sun is 1.39 million kilometres across by comparison!  This astonishing result of the pulsars diminutive size are the results of precision measurements by a team fo astronomers at the University of Amsterdam. The scientists used data from the NICER X-ray telescope on the ISS, combining it with a method called pulse profile modelling. The data was fed into Snellius, the Dutch national supercomputer and complex statistical models were created. This allowed them to calculate the star’s radius, assisted by mass measurements from Daniel Reardon (Swinburne University of Technology, Australia) and his colleagues at the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array. Not only were the team able to identify precise dimensions, they were also able to map the temperature distribution of the magnetic poles. The NICER payload, shown here on the outside of the International Space Station. Credit: NASA The lead researcher, Devarshi Choudhury was very happy with the results ”Before, we were hoping to be able to calculate the radius accurately. And it would be great if we could show that the hot magnetic poles are not directly opposite each other on the stellar surface. And we just managed to do both!” The team’s paper reports something known as a softer equation of state. This means there is a smaller increase of pressure for a change in density. This implies that the maximum mass of neutron stars is likely lower than previous theories have predicted. An observation that sits well with gravitational wave observations from neutron stars. Source : Nearest millisecond pulsar has radius of 11.4 kilometres and is 1.4x as heavy as the sun The post A Close Pulsar Measures 11.4 km Across appeared first on Universe Today.

Dark matter is curious stuff! As the name suggests, it’s dark making it notoriously difficult to study. Although it’s is invisible, it influences stars in a galaxy through gravity. Now, a team of astronomers have used the Hubble Space Telescope to chart the movements of stars within the Draco dwarf galaxy to detect the subtle gravitational pull of its surrounding dark matter halo. This 3D map required studying nearly two decades of archival data from the Draco galaxy. They found that dark matter piles up more in the centre, as predicted by cosmological models. Dark matter comprises approximately 27% of the all the mass and energy in the universe but interacts only gravitationally, emitting no light. The idea first – ahem, came to light to explain discrepancies in the rotation curves of galaxies and is detected through its gravitational effects on visible matter. Despite extensive research,  the nature of dark matter remains elusive. Understanding dark matter is crucial for comprehending the composition and evolution of the universe. Astronomers are getting a new tool to help them in the hunt for Dark Matter. This is a rendering of the BREAD design, which stands for Broadband Reflector Experiment for Axion Detection. The ‘Hershey’s Kiss’-shaped structure funnels potential dark matter signals to the copper-colored detector on the left. The detector is compact enough to fit on a tabletop. Image courtesy BREAD Collaboration Dark matter has often been described as the invisible ‘glue’ that holds galaxies together. Although galaxies are mostly composed of dark matter, understanding its distribution within them provides an opportunity to understand its nature and relevance to the evolution of the galaxy. Computer simulations predict a dense concentration of dark matter at the core of the galaxy, forming a density cusp. However, numerous observations have shown that dark matter appears more uniformly spread throughout galaxies, contradicting these simulations.  To study dark matter within galaxies, scientists can analyse the movements of stars, which are influenced primarily by the gravitational pull of dark matter. One common method involves using the Doppler Effect to measure the speed of objects in space—observing changes in the wavelength of light as stars move closer to or further from Earth. Along with moving toward or away from us, stars can also move across the sky. This proper motion, when combined with line of sight measurements allow for the creation of the movement of a star in 3D. Astronomers have employed NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to study the dynamics of stars within the Draco dwarf galaxy, located about 250,000 light-years from Earth. The Draco galaxy was used because, as a dwarf galaxy, it is relatively small and is believed to have a higher proportion of dark matter than other types of galaxy. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope flies with Earth in the background after a 2002 servicing mission. Credit: NASA. Over 18 years of observational data from 2004 to 2022 were examined and they painstakingly mapped the precise three-dimensional motions of these stars, drawing from extensive archival data collected by Hubble. This effort has yielded the most accurate understanding to date of how stars move within this small galaxy. Understanding precisely how stars move in galaxies allows for precise maps of dark matter to be created.  The technique the team have developed is not only of use for the Draco dwarf galaxy but for other galaxies too. The Sculptor dwarf galaxy is already being analysed using the same technique along with the Ursa Minor dwarf galaxy. Source : NASA’s Hubble Traces Dark Matter in Dwarf Galaxy Using Stellar Motions The post Mapping the Stars in a Dwarf Galaxy to Reveal its Dark Matter appeared first on Universe Today.

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Kansas sues Pfizer over COVID vaccine; Pfizer knew in 2021 of the adverse events and harms caused to pregnant women Attorney General Kris Kobach is suing Pfizer over its COVID-19 vaccine, alleging the company engaged in "false and misleading marketing." Kobach said the "most egregious" examples of Pfizer's claims are that it's safe for pregnant women, that it failed to report instances of myocarditis, effectiveness of the vaccine against variants and that the vaccine protected against transmission. Pfizer administered over 3.3 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine in Kansas, accounting for more than 60% of all the doses in Kansas. ➡️ READ HERE