TYB
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope reaches new home a million miles from Earth
After a nail-biting 29 days of travel and ultra-precise deployments, the James Webb Space Telescope fired its thrusters one more time Monday to reach its final parking spot a million miles from Earth.
"Webb, welcome home," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement after a five-minute burn added just 3.6 mph to the telescope's speed. "Congratulations to the team for all of their hard work ensuring Webb’s safe arrival at L2 today."
L2 refers to a kind of stable orbit known as a Lagrange point. Technically, Webb is now orbiting the sun and is staying in line with Earth about a million miles away.
"We’re one step closer to uncovering the mysteries of the universe. And I can’t wait to see Webb’s first new views of the universe this summer," Nelson said.
New advancements: How the Webb Telescope will build on Hubble's observations of the universe
The arrival at L2 capped off a treacherous 29 days in which everyone involved in the $10 billion program — from scientists to NASA officials to companies involved in building the infrared telescope — readily admitted the technical challenges were daunting. Every single thing had to work perfectly in order to launch, deploy mirror segments, and reach its final position.
Mission partners NASA, the European Space Agency, and Canadian Space Agency described the process as "29 days on the edge." Officials before launch said there were potentially 344 points of failure during that period.
Moving forward, engineers will spend about three months aligning Webb's 18 gold-coated hexagonal mirrors to the final configuration.
Webb uses a massive, 21-foot primary mirror made up of hexagonal tiles to study the cosmos. Its main capability is infrared observation, meaning it will be able to peer through obstacles like dust clouds to see the early phases of star formation. Scientists even hope to see the atmospheric compositions of promising far-off planets.
Webb is the successor to Hubble Space Telescope, which revolutionized science with the Hubble Deep Field that famously captured thousands of galaxies in a single image.
Total cost to NASA: $10 billion over its 25-year development history, which doesn't include costs incurred by ESA and CSA. Northrop Grumman was the prime contractor for the project while Lockheed Martin built the main infrared instrument known as Near Infrared Camera, or NIRCam.
The telescope took flight on Christmas Day with help from a European Ariane 5 rocket. The European Space Agency operates the liftoff site in French Guiana, a territory of France just north of Brazil.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/01/24/nasas-james-webb-telescope-arrives-home-hubble-telescope/9203842002/
Hope so, I wanna see some new stuff
Ah, Patient zero
Or just take down the banks and make everyone wealthy again
MATCH TRAGEDY At least eight football supporters dead including girl, 6, in horror stampede during Africa Cup of Nations game
10:55, 25 Jan 2022Updated: 13:27, 25 Jan 2022
AT least eight football fans have died including a six-year-old girl after a stampede during an Africa Cup of Nations game between hosts Cameroon and Comoros.
At least 50 have also been injured in the crush outside Paul Biya Stadium, Yaoundé, Cameroon, the governor of the central region of Cameroon said.
Shocking photos show fans unconscious on the ground with others attempting to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
Another video shows a huge stampede of fans rushing through the gates of the 60,000 capacity stadium.
The stadium was not meant to be more than 80 per cent full for the game due to Covid rules - but more than 50,000 people tried to attend, officials said.
Witnesses reported that gate attendees were too overwhelmed by the mass of people to check tickets.
Following a low turnout in the first round games at brand new stadiums, Cameroon authorities have thrown open stadium gates, organised mass transport and given out free tickets to lure fans.
Dozens of fans were rushed hospital with children among the injured, local media reported.
Governor of the central region of Cameroon, Naseri Paul Biya, said there could be more casualties.
And officials at the nearby Messassi hospital said they had received at least 40 injured people from the stampede.
Nurse Olinga Prudence, said: "Some of the injured are in desperate condition.
"We will have to evacuate them to a specialised hospital."
A spokesman for the Confederation of African Football said: "CAF is aware of the incident that took place at Olembe Stadium during the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations fixture between hosts Cameroon and Comoros tonight, 24 January 2022.
"CAF is currently investigating the situation and trying to get more details on what transpired. We are in constant communication with Cameroon government and the Local Organizing Committee.
"Tonight, the CAF President Dr Patrice Motsepe sent the General Secretary, Veron Mosengo-Omba to visit the supporters in hospital in Yaoundé."
Despite the horrific tragedy outside the ground, the match kicked off as scheduled at 7pm local time.
Comoros were not expected to put up much of a challenge after being forced to name an outfield player in goal after Covid struck its camp.
And things proved even tougher for the side when former Millwall midfielder Jimmy Abdou received a red card for his challenge on Moumi Ngamaleu.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/17428585/stampede-cameroon-stadium/
Something is afoot in Cameroon
Authorities: 17 dead in nightclub fire in Cameroon’s capital
Updated: January 24, 2022 - 8:18 AM
Published: January 23, 2022 - 8:36 AM
A fire erupted at a popular nightclub in Yaounde, Cameroon’s capital, setting off explosions and killing at least 17 people, government officials said Sunday.
The tragedy comes as the central African country hosts thousands of soccer players, fans and match officials from across the continent for the month-long African Football Cup of Nations tournament.
A government statement said the fire erupted at the Livs Nightclub in the capital’s Bastos neighborhood, setting off a series of explosions. Workers said it was a short-circuit that customers initially thought was a fireworks show. The explosions went off once the blaze spread to a place where cooking gas was being stored, causing panic, the workers said.
The government said in addition to the deaths, some people were injured and taken to the hospital.
“We are still at the level of investigations to find out the names and nationalities of the dead and the wounded," said government spokesman Rene Emmanuel Sadi.
In a statement, Cameroonian President Paul Biya called for calm and assured players and fans of their safety.
The championship, featuring teams from 24 countries, originally was scheduled for 2021 but then was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
https://kstp.com/kstp-news/international/authorities-17-dead-in-nightclub-fire-in-cameroons-capital-2/
Saturn's 'Death Star' moon may be hiding ocean underneath surface, boffins say
12:09, 24 JAN 2022
Science boffins have found “compelling evidence” that Saturn's death star moon could be home to an entire ocean, just below the surface.
According to Alyssa Rhoden, a geophysicist at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, Saturn's smallest moon Mimas houses a “stealth ocean world, after data from NASA's Cassini probe was analysed.
In new research, published last week, it could hint that the search for life on other planets is bearing fruit.
Ms Rhoden said: “If Mimas has an ocean, it represents a new class of small, 'stealth' ocean worlds with surfaces that do not betray the ocean's existence.
“Turns out, Mimas' surface was tricking us, and our new understanding has greatly expanded the definition of a potentially habitable world in our solar system and beyond.
“To investigate the possibility of a hidden ocean under Mimas' frozen surface, we built a model to see if its gravitational interactions with Saturn could produce the tidal forces necessary to heat the moon's interior, keeping the water below its 15 to 20-mile thick exterior ice shell warm enough to remain liquid.
“Most of the time when we create these models, we have to fine-tune them to produce what we observe.
“This time evidence for an internal ocean just popped out of the most realistic ice-shell stability scenarios and observed vibrations
“The findings make Mimas a compelling target for further investigation.”
A few months ago, in October, a team from NASA said that humans could have the ability to travel to the moons of Jupiter and Saturn before the end of this century.
The scientists’ paper outlined what we should be able to do over the coming decades and centuries based on Moore's Law, which is the idea that computing power doubles every two years.
Crewed missions to space to land on Mars and on asteroids as well as on Jupiter’s and Saturn’s moons before the end of the 21st century could be followed in the 23rd century with flights to exoplanets – planets in other solar systems.
Trips to other galaxies are a little further away for us, but the boffins think even they will be possible by the end of the 24th century.
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/saturns-death-star-moon-hiding-26031931
Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jen Psaki
https://youtu.be/L_iHBBk-ZIs