NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

September 21, 2024

Sunrise Shadows in the Sky

The defining astronomical moment of this September's equinox is at 12:44 UTC on September 22, when the Sun crosses the celestial equator moving south in its yearly journey through planet Earth's sky. That marks the beginning of fall for our fair planet in the northern hemisphere and spring in the southern hemisphere, when day and night are nearly equal around the globe. Of course, if you celebrate the astronomical change of seasons by watching a sunrise you can also look for crepuscular rays. Outlined by shadows cast by clouds, crepuscular rays can have a dramatic appearance in the twilight sky during any sunrise (or sunset). Due to perspective, the parallel cloud shadows will seem to point back to the rising Sun and a place due east on your horizon on the equinox date. But in this spectacular sunrise skyscape captured in early June, the parallel shadows and crepuscular rays appear to converge toward an eastern horizon's more northerly sunrise. The well-composed photo places the rising Sun just behind the bell tower of a church in the town of Vic, province of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

>>21633424

Europe's Hera probe to launch Oct. 7 to inspect asteroid NASA smacked in 2022

September 21, 2024

Europe's highly anticipated Hera mission to catalog the wreckage of the asteroid Dimorphos has arrived at its Florida launch site for final checks ahead of its planned liftoff early next month.

The main Hera spacecraft and its two partner cubesats, named Milani and Juventas, are set to launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Oct. 7 at 10:52 a.m. EDT (1452 GMT) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

They'll arrive at Dimorphos in late 2026, on a mission to study the aftermath of NASA's planetary defense test, which intentionally smashed a spacecraft into the asteroid in September 2022, shortening its orbit by 33 minutes and permanently altering its shape.

"We're very excited to go back and see what it looks like," Patrick Michel, Hera's principal investigator, said at the Europlanet Science Congress on Friday (Sept. 13) in Berlin.

Hera will assess the size and depth of the crater on Dimorphos created by NASA's DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft, and determine whether the impact did indeed reshape the rubble-pile asteroid, as early simulations indicate.

Once deployed, the two cubesats will for the first time assess Dimorphos' internal structure, surface minerals as well as gravity, data that will help scientists correctly reproduce the asteroid's final structure in their computer models, Michel said at the conference.

Such models will then inform future planetary defense missions that similarly aim to deflect asteroids headed toward Earth.

Hera and its two cubesats arrived at their launch site in Florida in early September following a transatlantic flight from Germany, with a stop in Ireland.

The mission's launch window opens on Oct. 7 and closes on Oct. 27, according to the European Space Agency (ESA).

Hera has a date with Mars in March next year; it will receive a gravity boost from the Red Planet to put it on course toward Dimorphos.

During the maneuver, Hera will swing past the Mars moon Deimos and test onboard science instruments and its main camera.

"It gives us another chance to calibrate our instruments and potentially to make some scientific discoveries," Michael Kuppers, who is Hera's project scientist at ESA, said of the Mars flyby in a previous statement.

If all goes to plan, the spacecraft will arrive at Dimorphos in late 2026 and inch closer to the asteroid's surface through repeated flybys until it ends up less than 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) away, Kuppers said at the conference.

The mission is expected to gather at least six months of close-up observations of the asteroid, which at 525 feet (160 meters) wide is about the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. Dimorphos' surface will be more visible at that point than it was in the immediate aftermath of the DART collision; the rocks and dust blasted into space by the smashup have since floated away, likely on their way to spark meteor showers on Mars and possibly Earth.

Hera's images of Dimorphos will also help determine whether DART's crash indeed knocked the asteroid out of alignment such that it now wobbles back and forth, as scientists have suggested.

"Dimorphos might also be 'tumbling,' meaning that we may have caused it to rotate chaotically and unpredictably," Derek Richardson, a professor of astronomy at the University of Maryland and a DART investigation working group lead, said last month in a university statement.

"One of our biggest questions now is if Dimorphos is stable enough for spacecraft to land and install more research equipment on it."

That answer might arrive at the end of Hera's mission, when its two cubesats Milani and Juventas will attempt to land on Dimorphos.

Hera itself might land on Didymos, Dimorphos' larger companion — both spacecraft orbit a common center of mass — although the specifics of end-of-mission scenarios are still under discussion, Kuppers said on Friday.

https://www.space.com/europe-hera-probe-inspect-dart-asteroid-october-launch

https://mashable.com/article/nasa-volcano-research-expedition-alaska

NASA ventured into the Valley of 10,000 Smokes, a forbidding land

September 21, 2024

Imposing bears teem in Alaska's Katmai National Park and Preserve. But few dare enter its Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes.

In 1912, a volcano was born here. It erupted for nearly three days. Its ominous ash clouds left the town of Kodiak, 100 miles away, in profound darkness, nearly obscuring lanterns held at arms' length.

The valley itself was suffocated by a gargantuan load of up to nearly 700 feet of grainy volcanic ash. That ash remains there today. The once verdant land was transformed into a desolate moonscape.

For years, potent columns of steam rose from the hot rocky ash, the "smokes" that lent the region its name.

It was the biggest volcanic eruption of the 20th century.

"I'm in awe of how large that event was," Patrick Whelley, a NASA geologist, told Mashable. "What a drastic change in landscape."

This year, Whelley co-led an expedition into the valley with a team of scientists.

They investigated how this land reflects similar environments on other planets, like Mars, and the harsh, seemingly unlikely, places that might harbor life on other worlds.

Such a journey isn't for the meek.

"Wind blows abrasive ash that irritates the eyes and lungs. Your food, no matter how carefully prepared, always seems to be gritty," Mike Fitz, a former Katmai ranger who often ventured into the valley, told Mashable.

"Pumice and ash always threaten to get into your footwear where it can abrade your skin raw."

Exploration of the valley has a price. But it comes with unmatched rewards.

"On a calm day, the silence is immense," Fitz, now a naturalist for the wildlife livestreamers explore.org, said.

"I've experienced natural quiet so great on calm days at Novarupta [the volcano that erupted in 1912] that the sound of a zipper on a jacket or tent seems like an intrusion."

"The land is wild and raw and fascinating," he said.

Amid the heated 1960s Space Race, NASA sent astronauts to the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes.

They encountered wasted land, blanketed in volcanic rock, somewhat like the moon. (Indeed, upon later stepping foot on the surface of the moon, Buzz Aldrin marveled: "Beautiful, beautiful. Magnificent desolation." )

In the valley, the future moon explorers collected geologic samples, and learned how to convey their finds to scientists.

Over half a century later, in June, NASA geochemist Heather Graham entered this remote Alaskan realm to scour the environment for the types of life that may exist on worlds beyond ours — planets and moons.

Except Graham isn't searching for familiar signs of life, like strands of genetic material. Rather, Graham seeks the chemical activities that could support life — particularly life elsewhere that might create energy and thrive in ways different from organisms on Earth.

"We're really thinking about life as we don't know it," Graham told Mashable.

That's why Graham, and NASA's Goddard Instrument Field Team, or GIFT, endeavor to such places.

They're remote, largely untrammeled, and are the closest environments approaching something extraterrestrial on our planet.

"Look out your window," said Graham. "There's literally life everywhere. The whole point of me going to the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes is it's so hard to get away from life."

Indeed, from its cataclysmic inception, the valley seemed a harsh, untamed, unearthly realm.

"This Valley appeared to be on another planet that was in the process of formation," wrote Robert F. Griggs, a scientist who discovered and documented the steaming Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes on a National Geographic Society expedition in 1916.

(While we were not granted permission to show Griggs' historic images here, they are available to see on Katmai National Park and Preserve's website and this Park Service publication.)

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When Novarupta blew in 1912, it pressed the restart button in the valley. Even water vaporized.

So it's a rare place to sleuth for effects that life could have had on this new environment.

Could such microbes have left clues that they harnessed energy using these fresh geologic ingredients, brewed deep inside Earth?

To find out, Graham, as shown below, inspected now-quiet fumaroles — vents where hot volcanic gasses are emitted.

Graham assessed these features to see if any materials are different (and potentially altered) from the fresh rock blown out of the volcano.

She looked for the presence of accumulated microorganisms, collected samples, and sent them to a microbiologist to see who it is. (We'll have to wait to find out; the results are pending.)

Ultimately, the search for these hints of life inform astrobiologists like Graham — who investigate the possible origins and existence of life beyond Earth — about how we should look for life on other worlds.

After all, all life needs an energy source. If something dwells in the oceans of Enceladus, a Saturnian moon that shoots plumes from a subsurface ocean into space, it might exploit chemicals in ways far different than most life on Earth.

Or in ways we can't yet imagine.

"The possibility space for life is much greater than our sliver of biology," Graham said.

Often, NASA's Goddard Instrument Field Team can drive relatively close to field sites. But in the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, there are no roads.

A lifted school bus, capable of driving through rivers, ferried them to the foot of the valley.

But then the scientists were on foot. "It's an intimidating landscape," Whelley, the NASA geologist who co-led the trip, said.

A party of 12 hiked some 16 miles to get near Novarupta, which required fording wild, at times unpredictable rivers, including the River Lethe, an ash-filled waterway.

"Drowning in them is statistically the most dangerous thing about the Valley," Fitz, a former Katmai ranger, noted. (Writer's note: I have forded this river multiple times; half the time, amid a vigorous and high current, we were forced to turn back; Alaska doesn't play games.)

Electric fences, to discourage the rare valley bear, encircled their tents. And anyone sleeping there at night is surrounded, literally, by volcanoes, some steaming.

On such an eight day trip, the scientists had survival roles to play — like water collection.

But the payoff was conducting science in a place where Earth's surface has been remade.

The untrammeled valley can reveal what's transpired on other worlds. Places on Mars, for example, may have experienced similarly sized or larger volcanic eruptions, which blanketed mighty Martian glaciers in rocky ash, Whelley said.

Scientists brought a ground-penetrating radar and other instruments to the valley to see how Novarupta's blast hid some large glaciers — and to demonstrate how similar events may have transpired on Mars.

Another team investigated how clays could form following such a volcanic eruption — which could explain how such soils developed on Mars.

We can't go to Mars today; but we can at least approximate desolate and extreme Martian environs.

"We need to find these places to do our work," Whelley explained. "They haven't been developed yet."

NASA's field team has explored volcanic landscapes in Iceland, lava tubes in Hawaii, remnants of an ancient supervolcano in California, and beyond.

But time is running short in the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. A new world, composed of fresh rock, minerals, and chemicals, won't stay virgin forever.

The willows are creeping in. Now that the ground isn't steaming, even some bears traverse the valley's edge.

This June, flowers popped up near Graham's tent. "We're always in a race against life and time," she said.

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https://www.space.com/moonquakes-artemis-3-hazards

Moonquakes could 'pose a possible hazard' to Artemis moon missions, study finds

September 21, 2024

New research indicates that potential landing sites at the moon's south pole for robotic landers and crewed Artemis missions are susceptible to quakes and landslides.

Science results published early this year in the Planetary Science Journal point to a group of faults located in the moon's south polar region, making use of data on moonquakes recorded by seismometers set up by Apollo moonwalkers over 50 years ago.

"The potential of strong seismic events from active thrust faults should be considered when preparing and locating permanent outposts and pose a possible hazard to future robotic and human exploration of the south polar region," the research paper explains.

The installation of habitats, landing pads, equipment shelters, tall towers on the moon could be off to a shaky start, suggests Nerma Caluk, an intermediate designer and lunar specialist for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, an architecture and structural engineering firm in San Francisco, California.

As public and private entities are seeking to establish building infrastructure on the lunar surface, a need for lunar design criteria will be more apparent with time, said Caluk. Unlike terrestrial building codes, the lunar building codes are non-existent, she observed.

To wrestle with this issue, a Space Engineering and Construction committee, part of the American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE) Aerospace Division, is developing a guideline document.

"One of the crucial sections of this guideline document is the seismic design criteria," Caluk said, "in which information such as site-specific requirements, minimum design force, fatigue and service considerations will be addressed."

That criteria work is currently being undertaken as part of a NASA Small Business Technology Transfer program grant, during which Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill, Slate Geotechnical Consultants, and Colorado School of Mines are addressing the concerns of the lunar seismic hazard on a variety of structural systems.

Caluk said that terrestrial engineering practices and codes "will need to be re-imagined" to address the factors that are not present on Earth. And one of those factors is moonquakes.

The uniqueness of lunar seismic activity imposes new challenges, said Caluk.

"Additionally, applying statistical models developed for earthquake recordings could lead to uncertainties in the lunar environment due to the limited information on geological and tectonic processes that drive the lunar seismic activity."

Caluk recalls that, during the Apollo missions, five seismic stations were deployed on the lunar surface.

Each of the seismic instruments was equipped with three long-period seismometers, originally aligned to measure all three components of the ground displacement vectors, and one short-period seismometer, with capability of only measuring vertical ground motion.

Even though over 13,000 seismic events were charted during the 7-year recording period, the limitations of the on-site Apollo instruments were recognized, said Caluk.

However, based on the seismic events mapped on the moon, "the main difference between the terrestrial and lunar seismicity is their duration.

It takes between half an hour to several hours for the lunar seismic energy to completely dissipate during an event," Caluk advised.

Among four identified types of lunar seismic events, shallow moonquakes were found to present the highest amplitude and energy release per event.

Albeit they are estimated to have smaller magnitudes than high-impact earthquakes, if large enough — with the epicenter being close to a south pole site — they could damage lunar infrastructure, said Caluk, "potentially causing fatigue-induced cracks, affecting their serviceability and operation."

Moonquake effects on future lunar structures in the low-gravity environment, that will possess unique structural material properties, could significantly differ from known, terrestrial cases, Caluk emphasized.

Adaptive resilient-based seismic systems that mitigate seismic damage have made significant advancements in recent years and must be refined for lunar structures, she said.

Existing data can be used for initial estimations, Caluk said, narrowing the knowledge gap in the seismic analysis for lunar structures.

That's possible by using a shallow moonquake waveform database to develop a Lunar Ground Motion Model (LGMM).

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>>21633893

"In order to properly design for such lateral loads, data on the seismic activity from the actual base camp site, in this case being the lunar south pole, is required," said

Caluk. "This data currently does not exist since the seismometers of the Apollo missions are placed at the equatorial regions."

The ongoing NASA-funded work is intended to provide for initial estimations and assumptions that are a result of limited knowledge on moonquakes, their effect on structural systems and potential need for seismic protection systems.

But there's more work to be done, Caluk said. More data can be gleaned from future lunar seismometers.

One extra outcome of the on-going work on moonquakes is perhaps instigating a need for additional instrumentation onboard NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) public-private missions to collect the missing data for local site conditions.

"As NASA returns to the lunar surface through the Artemis program, establishment of structurally safe and permanent building infrastructure is needed," Caluk concluded.

"Terrestrial structural and civil engineering experience must be incorporated to accelerate the development of lunar infrastructure and building systems."

As for moonquakes, "designers need to factor them into any design of structures requiring a stable foundation," said Sam Ximenes, a space architect, founder and CEO of XArc Exploration Architecture Corporation and Astroport Space Technologies headquartered in San Antonio, Texas.

"Yes, this is getting very real," Ximenes said, with work underway developing patent-pending regolith solidification technologies for lunar infrastructure construction using 3D printing and autonomous robotics, with an initial focus on lunar landing pad emplacements.

"The natural progression is toward the cislunar economy, where we are now starting to see industry alliances forming for enabling a supply chain infrastructure encompassing lunar surface in-situ resource utilization," Ximenes told Space.com.

Honeybee Robotics is working with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on a lunar architecture study to develop and integrate its tall tower concept.

The concept is dubbed the LUNARSABER, space shorthand for the lengthy title: Lunar Utility Navigation with Advanced Remote Sensing and Autonomous Beaming for Energy Redistribution.

This towering capability is projected by Honeybee Robotics to be nearly 330 feet (100 meters) tall, but could be scaled to over 650 feet (200 meters) in height above the lunar landscape to boost its service range.

Vishnu Sanigepalli is Honeybee's principal investigator of LUNARSABER on the DARPA LunA-10 effort.

"We are actively evaluating the impact of moonquakes on tall infrastructure, including deployable towers like Honeybee's LUNARSABER, and designing them to ensure they remain stable and won't tip over," Sanigepalli tells Space.com.

Unlike Earthquakes, which last only a few seconds, moonquakes can persist for hours, Sanigepalli pointed out, raising risks about long-term effects, such as material fatigue, structural durability, and service degradation.

"For towers, habitats, and other infrastructure, moonquakes pose a challenge, especially because the moon's regolith is much less stable than Earth's," Sanigepalli added.

"This means we must be more rigorous in our site selection to ensure that infrastructures are built on terrain capable of withstanding seismic activity for long-term stability," Sanigepalli concluded.

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Cards Against Humanity sues SpaceX for $15 million over land dispute

September 20, 2024

Cards Against Humanity has just filed a $15 million lawsuit against SpaceX.

The Chicago-based Cards Against Humanity (CAH) — the company behind the bestselling adult party game in which players use cards to create either wonderfully clever or hilariously disturbing strings of phrases — distributed a statement on Friday (Sept. 20) blasting Elon Musk and SpaceX for allegedly encroaching upon and damaging land that CAH purchased in 2017.

This land is located along the U.S.-Mexico border, and CAH bought it as part of a movement to thwart former President Donald Trump's plan of building a lengthy border barrier.

According to the release, Cards Against Humanity's lawsuit blames SpaceX for "trespassing, destruction of property, and brand damages" due to "unpermitted storage of construction materials and equipment" on the game company's parcel of land.

If the court case is heard and leads to a successful outcome for the plaintiff, the entertainment firm promises to re-distribute any monetary gains among original supporters of its 2017 land purchase.

Back in 2017, CAH bought this chunk of land near Brownsville, Texas as a component of its Cards Against Humanity Saves America campaign, in which 150,000 customers paid the corporation $15 each to ensure the land would be protected from construction of Trump's notorious "wall."

The land is near Starbase, SpaceX's lead site for the development and testing of its new Starship megarocket.

In 2024, Musk "snuck up on us from behind and completely destroyed that land with gravel, tractors, and space garbage. How did this happen?"

Cards Against Humanity wrote in its press release. "After we caught him, SpaceX gave us a 12-hour ultimatum to accept a lowball offer for less than half the land's value."

Cards Against Humanity vehemently declined the offer.

"While this isn't enough to compensate our fans for the anguish they've experienced witnessing Elon Musk defile their once-verdant land — where wild horses galloped freely in the Texas moonlight — we think it's a pretty good start," the statement reads.

"We promised we'd use every legal tool at our disposal to protect this land from bullies like Trump and Musk.

If we don't take action now, why would anyone ever trust us again?"

Cards Against Humanity's lawsuit against SpaceX is one of a few allegations the rocket company has been dealing with.

On Tuesday (Sept. 17), for instance, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration announced that it plans to fine SpaceX $630,000 because two launches that occurred last year used modified procedures before those requested modifications had been approved.

And on June 12, eight former SpaceX employees filed a lawsuit against Musk and SpaceX due to alleged sexual harassment they experienced during their time at the company, as well as claimed whistleblower retaliation.

https://www.space.com/cards-against-humanity-sues-spacex

https://www.cahsuesmusk.com/

What the 1st analysis of China's Chang'e 6 lunar far side samples revealed

September 21, 2024

We finally have a glimpse of the first-ever samples collected from the far side of the moon.

The first paper on the samples collected from China's Chang'e 6 lunar probe reveals that the specimens differ in some ways from those collected from the moon's near side.

Thus, they could provide fresh insights and lead to new theories about the moon and its evolution.

China launched its complex, 53-day-long Chang'e 6 lunar far side sample return mission in early May.

A lander scooped and drilled for samples inside an area known as Apollo crater before sending them into lunar orbit on an ascent vehicle. In lunar orbit, the samples were transferred to a waiting moon orbiting craft.

A reentry module delivered 4 pounds and 4.29 ounces (1,935.3 grams) of lunar material to Earth in late June.

The samples were initially taken to specially developed facilities for storage, analysis and eventual distribution for research.

And now, a new study published in National Science Review has given us our first insight into the precious material.

Li Chunlai and fellow researchers studied the portion of the samples collected by robotic scoop.

They found the collected samples have a lower density compared to previous lunar samples, which were retrieved from the lunar near side.

More specifically, the far side samples indicate a looser and more porous structure than the near side samples.

The "sample is quite loose and would be even fluffier in its 'natural' state on the lunar surface," the researchers wrote.

The soil also contains more light-coloured particles like feldspar and glass compared to the samples collected by the 2020 Chang'e 5 near side mission.

This, and other insights into composition, suggests a higher presence of materials delivered to the sampling area from afar.

This occurs, for example, when impact events (such as an asteroid hit) leads to ejecta spraying upward and outward from the impact area.

The composition of the basaltic rock at the site of the sampling is thought to be mixed with ejecta from non-basaltic regions.

The samples also hold a lower concentration of KREEP, a rock signature short for potassium (chemical symbol K) enriched rock, rare‐earth elements (REE) and phosphorus (chemical symbol P), which is more abundant on the near side.

This asymmetry could partially explain why the far side is so different from the near side of the moon.

The researchers assert that the samples could advance the understanding of several key aspects of lunar science.

This includes the moon's early evolution, how volcanic activities differed between the near side and far side, the impact history of the inner solar system, the galactic activity record preserved in the lunar weathering layer, and the composition and structure of the lunar crust and mantle.

"These insights are expected to lead to new concepts and theories regarding the origin and evolution of the moon," the researchers conclude.

The Chang'e 6 samples are likely to yield these new insights as the material is made available to Chinese researchers in the near future.

International researchers are expected to be able to apply for samples after a period of two years.

https://www.space.com/china-change-6-lunar-samples-results

https://academic.oup.com/nsr/advance-article/doi/10.1093/nsr/nwae328/7758366

NASA breathes sigh of relief as stadium-sized asteroid skims Earth

Sep 20, 2024 at 6:37 PM (UTC+4)

NASA issued a warning earlier this week that a massive stadium-sized asteroid, named 2024 ON, was hurtling towards Earth.

This colossal space rock was approximately 950 feet in diameter.

It passed by Earth on Tuesday, September 17, coming within 1 million kilometers of our planet.

Considering the space rock was 99% larger than most asteroids that pass near Earth that’s a close shave- and it’s coming back.

Despite its intimidating size and speed, the asteroid remained at a safe distance of 621,000 miles – about 2.6 times farther than the Moon.

Prior to the incident, NASA had assured the general public that there was no threat of collision – all thanks to their advanced tracking methods.

Asteroid Watch Dashboard is one of the key tools that the space agency uses to keep a check on Near-Earth Objects (NEOs), and this giant rock was no different.

2024 ON was first detected by NASA’s Near-Earth Object Observations Program, which uses powerful telescopes around the world.

And since the discovery of 2024 ON approaching Earth, NASA had been tirelessly tracking it, ensuring it wasn’t a major threat.

Interestingly, 2024 ON previously passed Earth in 2013 and is expected to make another appearance in 2035.

As for the observation of its size, shape, and composition, The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California assisted NASA in the mission.

On top of that, they also worked closely with international partners like the European Space Agency (ESA) to gather more data about the asteroid and the materials that make it up.

This research is not only crucial in understanding potential future threats from 2024 ON, but also deepens our understanding of space and the solar system.

Unfortunately for space enthusiasts hoping to catch a glimpse of the colossal rock, it wasn’t visible to the naked eye and required a telescope.

However, those interested were able to catch the live coverage from the Virtual Telescope Project as the asteroid zipped by.

With NASA’s ongoing monitoring, they were able to assured human life on Earth there was no immediate reason for concern. Phew.

In a cosmic coincidence, the approach of this colossal space rock coincided with another rare event – a partial lunar eclipse.

NASA’s efforts to understand space are unparalleled and not just limited to asteroid tracking.

Not long ago, they took a giant leap forward by proposing a new timekeeping system for the Moon.

They are even working on creating a lunar racer car to assist in the transportation of the astronauts to the currently unexplored places.

https://supercarblondie.com/nasa-relieved-stadium-sized-asteroid-skims-earth/

Evolving artificial intelligence capabilities in space

September 20, 2024

Executives discussing emerging space-based computing capabilities Sept. 20 called for stronger collaboration between policymakers and technology leaders to accelerate artificial intelligence’s societal benefits.

Rika Nakazawa, chief of commercial innovation at Japanese telecoms giant NTT, proposed tech providers use private forums to educate policymakers and industry players about AI advancements.

This approach, she said during World Satellite Business Week in Paris, would avoid stirring up the misconceptions that often arise in public discussions about AI.

Industry players engaged in these talks could provide real-time insights on key issues and platforms, according to Nakazawa, helping emerging AI gain better access to funding.

“So thinking about this as a system design is critical,” she added, “and having forums where industry, policy and technology are all sitting at the table is also really key for us.”

She also highlighted the transformative role AI could play in addressing global challenges such as climate change, which demands real-time processing of data that can only be gained from the vantage of space.

Clint Crosier, director of aerospace and satellite at Amazon Web Services, told the conference how the cloud computing behemoth partnered with French geospatial analytics company Alteia in November to assess global infrastructure from space for the World Bank.

Using AI-based prediction capabilities, he said the companies were able to provide the World Bank with a set of areas that need to be targeted for infrastructure improvements, particularly in underdeveloped nations, to help grow their economies.

“The examples are just numerous about how you can use this technology in ways that we didn’t even really think of two or three years ago,” Crosier said, “and we’ll see we’ll be using it ways two or three years from now that we didn’t envision today.”

AWS set up a space-focused team last year to explore ways to use generative AI, a major evolution using deep-learning models to answer questions and create content based on patterns detected in massive datasets.

“We are at the cusp of understanding the power of generative AI,” according to Crosier.

Crosier said the increasing demand for advanced AI and machine learning (ML) tools across sectors such as environmental management, agriculture, healthcare, insurance and energy is driving a need for more computing power in orbit.

“We’re going to be bringing down so much data,” he said, “it will be physically impossible for us as humans to organize the data,” analyze, disseminate and “make real-time insights of the data without the use of AI ML.”

While the space industry once prioritized increasing image resolution from orbit, he said the focus has shifted to minimizing latency and enhancing real-time data processing capabilities.

In a recent experiment using AWS cloud services and computing technology from Sweden’s Unibap, he said a satellite from D-Orbit of Italy almost doubled available bandwidth by using AI to only send relevant hyperspectral data from orbit back to Earth.

https://spacenews.com/evolving-artificial-intelligence-capabilities-in-space/

Scientists finally solve mystery of 'alien' noises coming from deepest part of Pacific Ocean

Updated: 16:25 EDT, 20 September 2024

The Mariana Trench is one of the most mysterious places on Earth.

Measuring almost seven miles (37,000ft) deep, the trench sits on the floor of the Pacific Ocean and is so difficult to reach that just a handful of people have ventured down there.

So it's no surprise that unusual sounds coming from the Mariana Trench sparked fears of an alien invasion when they were first recorded back in 2014.

Lasting between 2.5 and 3.5 seconds, the noises were dubbed 'biotwangs', yet their source was unknown.

Ten years later, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have reanalysed the sounds - and believe they've finally revealed the truth.

The eerie noises were first recorded in 2014 by underwater gliders, which were being used to carry out acoustic surveys of the trench.

Lasting between 2.5 and 3.5 seconds, the five-part sounds included deep moans at frequencies as low as 38 hertz and a finale that pushed as high as 8,000 hertz.

Researchers were initially baffled by the noises.

However, in 2016, a team from Oregon State University (OSU) suggested that they could be a new type of previously unheard baleen whale call.

Speaking at the time, Sharon Nieukirk, senior faculty research assistant in marine bioacoustics at Oregon State, said: 'It's very distinct, with all these crazy parts.

'The low-frequency moaning part is typical of baleen whales, and it's that kind of twangy sound that makes it really unique.

'We don't find many new baleen whale calls.'

Now, scientists have reanalysed the noises using a combination of visual and acoustic survey data – and their findings suggest that the OSU team wasn't far off.

Rather than being produced by baleen whales, the new study suggests that Bryde's whales are responsible.

In a study published in the Frontiers in Marine Science journal, the team, led by Dr Ann Allen, explained:

'It was assumed to be produced by a baleen whale, but without visual verification it was impossible to assign a species.

'Using a combination of visual and acoustic survey data collected in the Mariana Archipelago, we determined that Biotwangs are produced by Bryde's whales.'

Bryde's whales can be found around the world in warm, temperate oceans including the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific.

The researchers spotted ten of the whales swimming in the area, and even recorded nine making the distinctive noises.

However, to prove these whales were indeed the source, the team turned to artificial intelligence.

'We used a combination of manual and machine learning annotation methods to detect Biotwangs in our extensive historical passive acoustic monitoring datasets collected across the central and western North Pacific,' they explained in the study.

'We identified a consistent seasonal presence of Biotwangs in the Mariana Archipelago and to the east at Wake Island, with occasional occurrence as far away as the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and near the equator (Howland Island).'

The team still doesn't know why the whales' calls are so unusual, or why they're being made in the first place.

However, speaking to Popular Science, Dr Allen suggested: 'It's possible that they use the biotwang as a contact call, a sort of "Marco Polo" of the ocean.

'But we need more information before we can say for sure.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13872821/alien-song-Mariana-Trench-truth.html

Futuristic fashion or alien invasion? Prada presents weirdly wonderful new collection

Thursday 19 September 2024 15:43 BST

Ground control to Miuccia Prada: the Italian label’s latest collection has given a futuristic space age spin to traditional fashion.

Prada’s spring/summer 2025 womenswear collection had a star-studded front row, including actor Carey Mulligan, TikTok creator Dixie D’Amelio and the K-Pop boy band Enhypen – who are ambassadors of the label.

Miuccia Prada – the brand’s creative director, who has headed the label for 46 years – is known for her ability to prophesise the future of fashion, launching outlandish, seismic-force trends that ripple through the industry with lasting effects.

This collection was certainly no different. Together with her co-creative director, Raf Simons (who joined Prada in 2020), the duo married nostalgic workwear with sharp metallics and dynamic silhouettes – mixing the past and future into one.

Sixties A-line overcoats and Eighties pussy-bow blouses were paired with avant-garde alien headwear and silver studded skirts.

The collection featured metal spoons fashioned into tops paired with tailored wool coats, while suit trousers were tucked into patent orange wellington-like boots.

There was a disconcerting dystopian feel to the collection, as the minimal workwear presented was not polished, but rather scruffy, with upturned collars and crumpled trench coats.

It’s perhaps a commentary on the end of the office – with remote working and digital drifting being today’s preference.

Alongside the alien sunglasses and hole-embellished bucket hats, the collection had a sense of ethereality – adding a more delicate otherworldly character.

Leggings and bodysuits were swathed in sheer skirts and gowns, providing a gossamer fineness that lifted the ensembles, allowing them to simply drift down the runway.

Despite the forward-thinking take, Miuccia Prada revived some of the label’s classics, including their 1996 flat leather sandals and the platform Oxfords from 2011.

By pairing these with circular cut, transparent leather garments, Prada blurred the lines between past and present design.

The season captured a unique balance between reality and fantasy, playing with contrasts in both form and function, as Prada and Simons offered yet another fresh take on the label’s enduring legacy.

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/carey-mulligan-prada-raf-simons-kpop-tiktok-b2615695.html