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What is white hydrogen? Scientists say the clean-energy gas could save the world.

Oct 29, 2023, 2:00 PM PDT

• Hydrogen power is an exciting form of clean energy.

• But hydrogen typically needed to be produced in a lab using energy-intensive methods.

• White hydrogen, a newly identified hydrogen source, could eliminate the need for lab production.

Two scientists in France have discovered what may be the largest known deposit of a clean energy resource that could be a saving grace in mitigating climate change.

Jacques Pironon and Phillipe De Donato, directors of research at France's National Centre of Scientific Research, found a deposit between 6 million to 250 million metric tons of white hydrogen, or naturally occurring hydrogen gas, CNN reported.

White hydrogen is relatively new to scientists. A study in 2018 that analyzed a well in Mali producing 98% hydrogen gas brought the resource to the attention of the scientific community, CNN reported.

Now, researchers across the globe are interested in white hydrogen — and it could help us "get to speed" on saving the world from the climate crisis, geochemist Viacheslav Zgonnik told CNN.

What is white hydrogen and why is it special?

Hydrogen energy is not a new idea — it only produces water when burned, making it an environment-friendly energy source.

But until recently, scientists thought mass amounts could only be produced in a lab.

"If you had asked me four years ago what I thought about natural hydrogen, I would have told you, 'Oh, it doesn't exist,'" Geoffrey Ellis, a geochemist with the US Geological Survey, told CNN.

And turns out, Ellis would've been wrong.

White hydrogen refers to naturally occurring hydrogen. Its "color" indicates its origin: it is naturally produced in the Earth's crust.

Other "shades" of hydrogen are produced in a lab. They include green hydrogen — which is made from electrolysis, the process of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen — and gray hydrogen, which is made from methane gas, Insider previously reported.

While hydrogen is the most abundant element, it is usually attached to other molecules — making the lab production process necessary. But separating hydrogen is energy-intensive and typically powered by fossil fuels, CNN reported.

Because it doesn't require any of these energy-intensive processes, climate experts say white hydrogen could be our saving grace, according to CNN. It's also cheaper: white hydrogen is estimated to cost about $1 per kilogram to produce, while green hydrogen costs about $6 per kilogram, per CNN.

Several start-ups are already exploring how to commercialize white hydrogen, CNN reported.

Ellis told CNN that speed is vital to ensure white hydrogen can help curb the climate crisis.

But Zgonnik told CNN he's hopeful about the turnaround time.

"We have all necessary technology we need, with some slight modifications," Zgonnik said.

The discovery of the largest-known white hydrogen deposit yet comes just months after the hottest summer on global record came to an end — a concerning milestone for climate researchers and activists.

https://www.businessinsider.com/white-hydrogen-france-clean-energy-climate-change-2023-10

DLA, Space Force leaders discuss strategic partnership in first meeting

Nov. 2, 2023

Leaders from the Defense Logistics Agency, its Nuclear and Space Enterprise Support Office and the Space Force discussed how they can work together to help the new service grow its approach to logistics during their first meeting Oct. 24 at DLA’s headquarters.

Mary Stevenson, the Space Force deputy director for mission sustainment, said she’s worked with DLA throughout her career as a program manager for major weapons systems and knows the agency will be a key partner for the service.

“The Space Force is not going to be successful without the DLA partnership. That’s what this is going to take. I appreciate your efforts in the field out there, the tip of the spear, trying to get us to understand what we need, because we don’t know what we need,” Stevenson said.

Terry Simpson, executive director of DLA’s Nuclear and Space Enterprise Support Office, gave an agency overview, noting it had $42.8 billion in revenue last year, manages over 5 million line items and awards 10,000 contracts a day. He also briefly detailed what each of DLA’s major subordinate commands do, from clothing and textiles at DLA Troop Support to DLA Distribution and DLA Disposition Services’ worldwide support. He highlighted DLA Aviation’s role as the lead MSC providing customer facing support to Space Force.

“It truly is end-to-end supply chain management,” said Simpson, who has been with DLA’s NESO since its inception in 2015. He said his office’s mission is to proactively support the Defense Department’s nuclear and space enterprises.

Through DLA’s Small Business Innovation Research team, the Weapons System Readiness Improvement Program finds small businesses that can provide parts, materials and innovative manufacturing solutions, said Brett Wod with DLA Information Operations.

DLA supports 16 parts for the Space Force through the WSRIP and has already secured parts for the service’s Pave Phased Array Warning System, optical encoders, and launch and test range systems, Wood said.

The Space Force has 52 weapons systems and its $1.5 billion program is more than 90% contracted logistics support, said Laura Radley, Space Force mission sustainment analyst.

DLA supported Space Force systems even before its inception and began providing dedicated liaison officer support to Air Force Space Command in 2017. Simpson said his team is looking forward to establishing a performance-based agreement with the service and setting up the first USSF/DLA service day for senior leaders to collaborate, discuss support issues and create action items that improve readiness.

“We have agreements with each of the military services, so we’re pushing hard to get our partnership with Space Force codified. This will outline mutually agreed-upon performance goals, identify the governance structure and strengthen the dynamics of the Space Force and DLA relationship,” he said.

https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3577315/dla-space-force-leaders-discuss-strategic-partnership-in-first-meeting/

New Patterns in Mars’s Clouds Revealed by Volunteers

NOV 01, 2023

The first journal article about clouds identified by participants of the Cloudspotting on Mars project has been accepted for publication and is now available online! The article, “The Cloudspotting on Mars citizen science project: Seasonal and spatial cloud distributions observed by the Mars Climate Sounder” will appear in a special issue of Icarus titled “MRO: 16 Years at Mars”. MRO is the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the Mars Climate Sounder is an instrument on MRO.

The paper shows several cloud maps, illustrating times and regions where many clouds were identified. The maps reveal several key cloud populations identified in data from the volunteers. The cloud populations include high-altitude CO2-ice clouds, clouds that form near the poles, and dusty-season water-ice clouds. The structure of the clouds follows the pattern of “thermal tides” in the atmosphere, which are global-scale oscillations in temperature. Where temperatures are lower than average, clouds are more common.

The paper also explains the motivation for the project and describes its setup on Zooniverse. It digs into the details of how cloud identifications made by participants were turned into a cloud catalog using machine learning. “Thank you to all the Cloudspotting on Mars participants for driving this research forward!” said project PI Dr. Marek Slipski, a research scientist at NASA’s Jet propulsion Laboratory.

There’s plenty more to study in this dataset and there are more images online to analyze: the second Mars Year of data is only about 50% done. The data from the second Mars year will help reveal how changing dust conditions affect cloud formation. If you’d like to join the search for clouds in the Martian atmosphere, head to https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/marek-slipski/cloudspotting-on-mars.

https://science.nasa.gov/get-involved/citizen-science/new-patterns-in-marss-clouds-revealed-by-volunteers/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0019103523003548?via%3Dihub