Solid State Quantum Magnetometers—Seeking out water worlds from the quantum world

JUN 04, 2024

“Follow the water!” The solar system is full of water in different states, from the Sun’s water vapor to the ice of Pluto and beyond. Water is not only linked to the possibility to sustain life, it is also interesting for its own geological properties and potential uses.

For example, ice on the Moon and Mars could support human exploration. Comets that hit Earth may have deposited water on our planet. The icy comets and rings of Saturn reveal how solar systems change over time.

Liquid water, however, has a special role in enabling life. Scientists have discovered indications that liquid water might exist on a number of moons orbiting our solar system’s gas and ice giants.

The mantra of the astrobiology community is to “Follow the Water” to find life, so subsurface oceans on Jupiter’s Europa, Saturn’s Enceladus, and other moons are compelling targets for future missions.

However, looking beneath the miles-thick ice crusts of these planetary bodies with conventional remote-sensing instruments, like cameras and radar, is challenging.

Until we can send landers or rovers that drill or melt through the ice, we can use other techniques to track down these enormous, but elusive, water bodies.

One method—Magnetometry—stands out since magnetic fields penetrate solid material and can therefore provide information about the interior of planet-sized bodies.

Briny water conducts electricity; therefore, a saltwater ocean can function as a planet-sized electric circuit. The strong rotating magnetic field of the parent planet of an ocean world can induce an electric current in this “circuit,” which in turn disturbs and modifies the magnetic field near the ocean world under investigation.

These magnetic field disturbances can be observed from a spacecraft and may indicate the presence of liquid water. For example, a distortion of Jupiter’s magnetic field in the vicinity of Europa was measured by the magnetometer on NASA’s Galileo mission, providing further evidence for the initial suspicions of a water ocean under that moon’s icy crust. Solid-state quantum magnetometers are an upcoming instrument class promising to measure magnetic fields at competitive sensitivities, while offering lower size, weight, and power footprints.

In addition, these instruments offer quantum benefits like self-calibration on spin-nuclear quantum interaction, which means that the magnetometer can compensate for drifts over time.

This capability is especially important for decades-long missions to the outer ice-giants. Other solid-state quantum advantages include radiation resilience and an inherent ability to withstand very high/low temperatures.

Solid-state quantum magnetometers leverage quantum color centers located in semiconductors such as diamond and silicon carbide. Color centers are defects in the crystal lattice—for example, a missing atom or a different atom replacing a crystal atom. In everyday life, color centers give crystals their color, but they can also be probed on the quantum level using modulated light. Due to their quantum spin properties these color centers are sensitive to environmental magnetic fields.

As these color centers are exposed to varying magnetic fields, the changing quantum spin properties can be read electrically and/or optically, providing insight into the magnetic field properties and enabling us to detect the presence of water.

Research teams at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory are developing two magnetometers to measure spin properties from space.

The incredibly simple but elegant SiCMAG (Silicon Carbide Magnetometer, Lead Dr. Corey J. Cochrane) instrument reads spin properties electrically, while the OPuS-MAGNM (optically pumped solid state quantum magnetometer, Lead Dr. Hannes Kraus) promises access to higher sensitivities through the addition of optics.

Optically pumped here means that the quantum system is pumped with green (diamond) or deep red (silicon carbide) laser light, and the system’s response is read with a light detector.

According to Dr. Kraus, “Novel quantum sensors not only enable new science, but also offer the chance to downscale former flagship-class instrumentation to a size and cost allowing flagship-class science on CubeSat-class platforms.”

NASA has been funding solid state quantum magnetometer sensor research through its PICASSO (Planetary Instrument Concepts for the Advancement of Solar System Observations) program since 2016.

https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/science-enabling-technology/solid-state-quantum-magnetometers-seeking-out-water-worlds-from-the-quantum-world/

Unarmed Minuteman III Test Launch Showcases Readiness of U.S. Nuclear Force's Safe, Effective Deterrent

June 4, 2024

An operational test launch of an Air Force Global Strike Command unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Tuesday, June 4, at 12:56 a.m. PT.

The purpose of the ICBM test launch program is to validate and verify the safety, security, effectiveness, and readiness of the weapon system, according to Air Force Global Strike Command.

This was the first of two test launches scheduled for this week from north Vandenberg.

Col. Bryan Titus, Space Launch Delta 30 vice commander, was the launch decision authority.

"This test launch marks the start of a remarkable week for our Guardians and Airmen at Vandenberg, with two test launches scheduled from the Western Range," stated Titus. "These tests hold immense significance, not only for our nation's defense, but also serve as a pivotal moment in showcasing the exceptional capabilities and expertise of our dedicated team."

https://www.vandenberg.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3795369/unarmed-minuteman-iii-test-launch-showcases-readiness-of-us-nuclear-forces-safe/

Researchers call for strengthening sustainability regulations in laws governing space exploration

JUNE 3, 2024

In a new study, a team of researchers led by Dimitra Atri of the NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) Center for Astrophysics and Space Science call for strengthening existing planetary protection policies beyond the space surrounding Earth to include requirements for preserving the Lunar and Martian environments.

In addition to biological contamination, they argue that guidelines should be expanded to address more than orbital debris, crowding, and security issues.

They also recommend adding compliance incentives to all existing and improved sustainability policies.

Team members include Paulina Umansky from the University of California, Berkeley and K. R. Sreenivasan from New York University, New York.

In the paper titled "Sustainability as a core principle of space and planetary exploration" published in the journal Space Policy, the researchers present a new review of existing planetary protection laws and literature on planetary protection policy and identify key shortcomings of rules guiding human space exploration. Specifically, they cite several questions that existing laws leave unaddressed—including issues of atmospheric and abiotic contamination—which constitute important gaps in planetary policy that must be confronted, collaboratively.

Additionally, the researchers present arguments for the necessity of sustainability on planetary objects such as the moon and Mars and offer examples of terrestrial benefits that could be derived from sustainable exploration practices in space.

Specifically, they cite the potential development of new technologies that—while designed for sustainable uses beyond Earth—could advance terrestrial technology.

"Sustainability must become a core principle of human space exploration," said Atri. "

Just as we view climate change as the great challenge facing our terrestrial human society, the space community should begin to address space sustainability with the same urgency.

The rules and procedures implemented now will govern the next generation of space exploration—rules that create a basis for clean and safe space exploration that will not only be productive and enforceable for years to come but are also stronger and more specific in their requirements and enforceability."

https://phys.org/news/2024-06-sustainability-laws-space-exploration.html

>>20965925

>>20965933

>Made me feel not so cray cray!

That's a pretty sweet nod from the boss.

Let 'er rip.

First metal 3D printing on Space Station

03/06/2024

One small s-curve deposited in liquefied stainless steel equals a giant leap forward for in-orbit manufacturing: this is the very first metal 3D printing aboard the International Space Station, which took place last Thursday, aboard ESA’s Columbus laboratory module.

“This S-curve is a test line, successfully concluding the commissioning of our Metal 3D Printer,” explains ESA technical officer Rob Postema.

“The success of this first print, along with other reference lines, leaves us ready to print full parts in the near future.

We’ve reached this point thanks to the hard efforts of the industrial team led by Airbus Defence and Space SAS, the CADMOS User Support Centre in France, from which print operations are overseen from the ground, as well as our own ESA team.”

Sébastien Girault, part of the team at consortium leader Airbus adds: “We’re very happy to have performed the very first metal 3D printing aboard the ISS – the quality is as good as we could dream!”

The Metal 3D Printer technology demonstrator has been developed by an industrial team led by Airbus – also co-funding the project – under contract to ESA’s Directorate of Human and Robotic Exploration.

It reached the ISS back in January. ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen then installed the approximately 180-kg payload in the European Draw Rack Mark II, part of ESA’s Columbus module.

The Metal 3D Printer’s design is based on stainless-steel wire being fed into the printing area, which is heated by a high-power laser, about a million times time more powerful than a standard laser pointer. As the wire dips into the melt pool, the end of the wire melts so that metal is added to the print.

The print process is overseen entirely from the ground. All the onboard crew has to do is open a nitrogen and venting valve before the printing starts. For safety reasons the printer operates within a fully sealed box, preventing excess heat or fumes from escaping.

Four shapes have been chosen for subsequent full-scale 3D printing, which will later be returned to Earth to be compared with reference prints made on the ground in normal gravity.

ESA materials engineer Advenit Makaya from the ESA’s Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality, has advised the project:

“Two of these printed parts will be analysed in the Materials and Electrical Components Laboratory at ESTEC in the Netherlands, to help us understand whether prolonged microgravity has an effect on the printing of metallic materials.

The other two will go to the European Astronaut Centre and the Technical University of Denmark, DTU.

One of ESA’s goals for future development is to create a circular space economy and recycle materials in orbit to allow for a better use of resource, such as repurposing bits from old satellites into new tools or structures.

An operational version of this metal 3D printer would eliminate the need to send a tool up with a rocket and allow the astronauts to print the needed parts in orbit.

https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2024/06/First_metal_3D_printing_on_Space_Station

>>20966061

>Snakes on the Space Station.

Swarm helps discover Steve's long-lost twin

03/06/2024

Steve was a sensation when scientists stumbled across it a few years ago, thanks to the eagle eyes and excellent photography of the Alberta Aurora Chasers Facebook group.

But its mauve hue and fleeting appearance meant it couldn’t be a feature of the aurora borealis, commonly known as the northern lights, which comes in shades of green, blue and red and can last for hours. So, what could it be?

Fortunately, ESA’s trio of magnetic-field monitoring Swarm satellites were perfectly placed to help investigate.

It turned out that Steve was a fast-moving stream of extremely hot gas called a sub-auroral ion drift. Or, to give Steve its full name, a strong thermal emission velocity enhancement.

But the mystery wasn’t quite over.

Steve makes its appearance at dusk (before midnight) when the fast-moving stream of extremely hot gases move westward. But at dawn (after midnight), we also know that there’s an equivalent stream moving eastward.

If Steve is a visual effect of the westward stream at dusk, should we not expect something similar with the eastward stream at dawn? Could Steve perhaps have a long-lost dawn-side twin?

A new study from the University of Electro-Communications in Japan, the Swedish Institute of Space Physics, the Arctic University of Norway and Tromsø-based photographer Gabriel Arne Hofstra, suggests we might have found it.

It’s once again thanks to researchers and citizen scientists working together.

The team developed an application that collects images of the aurora’s nightly dances above the Norwegian Arctic from the all-sky digital camera at the Ramfjordmoen Research Station.

Whilst looking through its data archives, Gabriel Arne Hofstra stumbled across something peculiar, something Steve-like, in an image from 28 December 2021.

He said, “It has been amazing to have contributed to new science and help scientists uncover this phenomena. To me it proves that we citizens can contribute to understanding the world we live in by collaborating with scientists.

“If we have more ‘eyes on the sky’, we can help unravel its mysteries. I really hope that the recent great geomagnetic storm and spectacular skies has encouraged more people to be interested in space physics and contribute to our scientific understanding of our world.”

But there were key differences compared to Steve. The 1000 km-long arc appeared after midnight, so on the dawn side, and was poleward of the green aurora that could also be seen.

While none of ESA’s trio of Swarm satellites flew directly through the arc at the precise time and place observed in the all-sky image, two of satellites’ electric field instruments were able to measure the conditions in the purple region before, during and after the event.

The data showed the hallmarks of an eastward ion flow in the purple region.

“As a scientist, collaborating with a photographer to uncover this new phenomenon has been a fantastic experience,” says Sota Nanjo of the University of Electro-Communications.

“Our findings not only open new avenues in auroral physics, but also underscore the importance of continuous collaboration between scientists and photographers. Such efforts are particularly crucial in the coming years as solar activity approaches its peak, when we may encounter extraordinary phenomena.”

Power to the digital camera

While digital cameras are not used scientifically, they do give great contrast between the colours of normal aurora and Steve-like visual effects.

Now, almost everyone has a digital camera in the palm of their hand – so as one of the biggest geomagnetic storms in living memory ripped through Earth’s atmosphere on Friday 10 May 2024, it also became the world’s most documented aurora event ever.

“It’s great to see yet another example of successful citizen science,” says Swarm Mission Manager, Anja Strømme. “The combination of millions of images taken worldwide, along with data from the satellites of ESA’s heliophysics observatory, like Swarm, will give us an even better understanding of how space weather affects Earth’s atmosphere.”

https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/FutureEO/Swarm/Swarm_helps_discover_Steve_s_long-lost_twin