TYB
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
November 17, 2024
LDN 1471: A Windblown Star Cavity
What is the cause of this unusual parabolic structure? This illuminated cavity, known as LDN 1471, was created by a newly forming star, seen as the bright source at the peak of the parabola. This protostar is experiencing a stellar outflow which is then interacting with the surrounding material in the Perseus Molecular Cloud, causing it to brighten. We see only one side of the cavity – the other side is hidden by dark dust. The parabolic shape is caused by the widening of the stellar-wind blown cavity over time. Two additional structures can also be seen either side of the protostar; these are known as Herbig-Haro objects, again caused by the interaction of the outflow with the surrounding material. What causes the striations on the cavity walls, though, remains unknown. The featured image was taken by NASA and ESA’s Hubble Space Telescope after an original detection by the Spitzer Space Telescope.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
GE and NASA hope CODEX tests will write new chapter on contrail formation
15 November 2024
GE Aerospace is partnering with NASA to carry out a series of flight tests designed to improve the industry’s understanding of contrails.
To be performed over the week commencing 18 November, the flights will see NASA’s Gulfstream G-III research aircraft trail GE’s Boeing 747 flying testbed and scan its wake with LIDAR sensors.
This will enable NASA generate a 3D image of the contrails to better characterise how they form and behave over time, the partners state.
Called CODEX - contrail optical depth experiment – the project will also mark a new “operating method” for the flying testbed, GE says, “expanding [its] capabilities” ahead of future flight tests of new engine technologies being developed through the CFM International RISE open-fan programme. GE is a partner in CFM alongside Safran Aircraft Engines.
“GE Aerospace is proud to once again team up with NASA to be at the forefront of innovation for the future of more sustainable flight,” says Arjan Hegeman, the propulsion specialist’s general manager of future of flight.
“Understanding how contrails act in-flight with the latest detection technology is how we move innovation forward.”
At July’s Farnborough air show, chief technology officers from across the aviation industry called for more government research programmes into the sector’s non-CO2 climate effects, including contrails, nitrogen oxides, sulphur, aerosols, and soot.
GE’s SATAVIA subsidiary – acquired earlier this year by its Aerospace Carbon Solutions business – is also working alongside NASA and Germany’s DLR aerospace research centre on atmospheric forecasting to identify conditions favorable for studying contrail formation.
Ultimately these studies, to be validated by flight-test data, will allow better prediction and forecasting of contrail forming regions, potentially allowing aircraft to be routed around such areas.
https://www.flightglobal.com/air-transport/ge-and-nasa-hope-codex-tests-will-write-new-chapter-on-contrail-formation/160775.article
NASA Satellites Reveal Abrupt Drop in Global Freshwater Levels
Nov 15, 2024
An international team of scientists using observations from NASA-German satellites found evidence that Earth’s total amount of freshwater dropped abruptly starting in May 2014 and has remained low ever since.
Reporting in Surveys in Geophysics, the researchers suggested the shift could indicate Earth's continents have entered a persistently drier phase.
From 2015 through 2023, satellite measurements showed that the average amount of freshwater stored on land — that includes liquid surface water like lakes and rivers, plus water in aquifers underground — was 290 cubic miles (1,200 cubic km) lower than the average levels from 2002 through 2014, said Matthew Rodell, one of the study authors and a hydrologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
“That’s two and a half times the volume of Lake Erie lost.”
During times of drought, along with the modern expansion of irrigated agriculture, farms and cities must rely more heavily on groundwater, which can lead to a cycle of declining underground water supplies: freshwater supplies become depleted, rain and snow fail to replenish them, and more groundwater is pumped.
The reduction in available water puts a strain on farmers and communities, potentially leading to famine, conflicts, poverty, and an increased risk of disease when people turn to contaminated water sources, according to a UN report on water stress published in 2024.
The team of researchers identified this abrupt, global decrease in freshwater using observations from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites, operated by the German Aerospace Center, German Research Centre for Geosciences, and NASA. GRACE satellites measure fluctuations in Earth’s gravity on monthly scales that reveal changes in the mass of water on and under the ground.
The original GRACE satellites flew from March 2002 to October 2017. The successor GRACE–Follow On (GRACE–FO) satellites launched in May 2018.
The decline in global freshwater reported in the study began with a massive drought in northern and central Brazil, and was followed shortly by a series of major droughts in Australasia, South America, North America, Europe, and Africa. Warmer ocean temperatures in the tropical Pacific from late 2014 into 2016, culminating in one of the most significant El Niño events since 1950, led to shifts in atmospheric jet streams that altered weather and rainfall patterns around the world.
However, even after El Niño subsided, global freshwater failed to rebound.
In fact, Rodell and team report that 13 of the world’s 30 most intense droughts observed by GRACE occurred since January 2015.
Rodell and colleagues suspect that global warming might be contributing to the enduring freshwater depletion.
Global warming leads the atmosphere to hold more water vapor, which results in more extreme precipitation, said NASA Goddard meteorologist Michael Bosilovich.
While total annual rain and snowfall levels may not change dramatically, long periods between intense precipitation events allow the soil to dry and become more compact.
That decreases the amount of water the ground can absorb when it does rain.
“The problem when you have extreme precipitation,” Bosilovich said, “is the water ends up running off,” instead of soaking in and replenishing groundwater stores.
Globally, freshwater levels have stayed consistently low since the 2014-2016 El Niño, while more water remains trapped in the atmosphere as water vapor.
“Warming temperatures increase both the evaporation of water from the surface to the atmosphere, and the water-holding capacity of the atmosphere, increasing the frequency and intensity of drought conditions,” he noted.
While there are reasons to suspect that the abrupt drop in freshwater is largely due to global warming, it can be difficult to definitively link the two, said Susanna Werth, a hydrologist and remote sensing scientist at Virginia Tech, who was not affiliated with the study.
“There are uncertainties in climate predictions,” Werth said. “Measurements and models always come with errors.”
It remains to be seen whether global freshwater will rebound to pre-2015 values, hold steady, or resume its decline.
Considering that the nine warmest years in the modern temperature record coincided with the abrupt freshwater decline, Rodell said, “We don’t think this is a coincidence, and it could be a harbinger of what’s to come.”
https://science.nasa.gov/earth/nasa-satellites-reveal-abrupt-drop-in-global-freshwater-levels/
HBAR Goes to Space! SpaceX and Hedera to Pioneer Satellite Payment Networks
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November 2024
Hedera Hashgraph (HBAR) could soon go into space as a renowned crypto investor and expert discloses a groundbreaking partnership with SpaceX.
According to Shawn, Hedera would be primarily responsible for facilitating crypto transactions in space.
Meanwhile, this could mark a huge breakthrough for satellite-to-satellite payment networks while subjecting transactions across Earth and space to a significant transformation.
Why Hedera?
According to experts, Hedera provides cutting-edge solutions to all the challenges of the previous blockchain technologies.
Explaining this in a blog post authored by Shawn in 2023, it was disclosed that Hedera can facilitate trillions of transactions per second.
Comparatively, Ethereum can only manage 12-15 transactions per second. Meanwhile, Hedera executes these levels of operation while consuming 970.000.000 less energy than Ethereum.
Explaining the application of Hashgraph in space, Shawn highlighted five key use cases in his post.
Secure Satellite Communication and Payment Networks
According to Shawn, SpaceX’s Starlink has issues with making uncensored, fast, and secure internet connectivity worldwide.
This has been a challenge since its internet access depends on the server infrastructure on Earth.
In this case, a targeted attack on the data centers or global nuclear fallout could render this infrastructure useless.
Fascinatingly, the use of Hashgraph technology alongside Starlink, according to Shawn, could put these disruptions under control.
Tokenization of Resources from Asteroid Mining
Shawn also argued that asteroids could be tokenized on Hashgraph with the extraction of the resources financed by people globally.
Space Supply Chain Management
Hashgraph is also reported to possess the ability to enable companies to monitor the carbon emissions of their supply chain.
In addition to that, they can keep progress in every step of their production of a rocket from start to finish.
Tracking & Management of Space Traffic
According to the report, Hashgraph possesses unique qualities for managing space traffic.
Seven of these features listed by Shawn are:
Real-Time Monitoring and Coordination
Decentralization
Consensus and security
Efficiency and scalability
Interoperability
Smart contract for automated responses
Data integrity and transparency.
Smart Contracts for Autonomous Spacecraft and Space Vehicles
The combination of artificial intelligence and Hedera is reported to enable spacecraft and space vehicles to autonomously make decisions.
Fascinatingly, this is said to be done by executing different predefined scenarios without necessarily minimizing human errors.
Smart contracts can be programmed with logic that allows spacecraft to make decisions based on real-time data.
For example, if a satellite detects an obstacle or another satellite on a collision course, the smart contract can automatically execute maneuvers to avoid a collision without the need for ground intervention.
According to our investigation, the movement of Hedera to space has also been confirmed by the CEO of WISeKey Carlos Creus Moreira.
In his announcement on X, Moreira disclosed that this groundbreaking mission would redefine innovation.
World-first: testing the exchange of SEALCOIN directly from space as a proof of concept.
This is a major leap forward in secure satellite communication and blockchain integration with Hedera Hashgraph, paving the way for the future of space-based digital cryptocurrency transactions.
Meanwhile, CNF has also reported that Cardano could be embarking on a partnership journey with SpaceX with the co-founder Charles Hoskinson recently dropping a teaser on X.
At press time, HBAR was trading at $0.085 after surging by 21% in the last 24 hours.
https://www.crypto-news-flash.com/hbar-goes-to-space-spacex-and-hedera-to-pioneer-satellite-payment-networks/
Last supermoon of 2024 wows skywatchers around the world with Full Beaver Moon
November 16, 2024
The final supermoon of 2024, the Beaver Moon of November, thrilled skywatchers around the world as it ushered in the weekend with a stunning night sky sight.
November's full moon rose on Friday (Nov. 15) while the moon was slightly closer to Earth in its orbit, making it what's known as a supermoon.
These full moons can appear slightly larger in the night sky due to the moon's proximity to Earth during the full phase.
November's Beaver Moon was the last of four consecutive supermoons this year, a series that began with August's Sturgeon supermoon.
As seen in the photos below, the Full Beaver Moon did not disappoint.
cont.
https://www.space.com/stargazing/last-supermoon-of-2024-wows-skywatchers-around-the-world-with-full-beaver-moon-photos
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/lunik-heist-a-real-life-cia-rocket-kidnapping-goes-to-hollywood
'Lunik Heist:' A real-life CIA rocket kidnapping goes to Hollywood
November 17, 2024
Now in the works is a retro look back in time at a bizarre Cold War caper by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) thanks to a forthcoming, star-studded comedy/drama movie called "Lunik Heist."
Earlier this month, Searchlight Pictures, a Disney-owned division, announced that actors Jared Leto, Lupita Nyong'o, and John Mulaney have signed on to star in "Lunik Heist," described as a "a wild, roller-coaster ride, filled with subterfuge and unlikely heroes."
The film is based on a real-life incident that saw CIA operatives plot to disassemble and inspect one of the Soviet Union spacecraft overnight while on exhibit during a 1959 expo in Mexico City.
According to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), Lunik Heist is in pre-production with filming locations in Atlanta, Georgia, Mexico City, Mexico, as well as Washington, D.C. and Arlington, Virginia.
The movie script is based on an article by Jeff Maysh, published in January 2021 within the pages of MIT Technology Review titled "Lunik: inside the CIA's audacious plot to steal a Soviet satellite."
That article by Maysh required significant research, such as poring over National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) documents about the history of the CIA's Mexico City station, old CIA journals, and carrying out many interviews.
"The moment I learned about the Lunik incident, I knew I'd found my white whale … a heist story set during the space race," Maysh tells Space.com.
"As I dug deeper into the archives, I realized this isn't just another Cold War spy tale. It's like 'Oceans Eleven,' only the big score is an interplanetary space station," Maysh said.
"The Kidnapping of the Lunik" was documented in a "sanitized" CIA historical review that was declassified and publicly posted in 1995.
It was written by the CIA's Sydney W. "Wes" Finer and published in the agency's winter of 1967 edition of "Studies in Intelligence."
A read of that document shows that the CIA skullduggery in Mexico City was also not wanting for comedic value, like a Humpty Dumpty replay of putting things back together again.
The CIA team was faced with gaining access to a cabin-like crate holding the Soviet space hardware that was approximately 20 feet long and 11 feet wide with a roof about 14 feet high at the peak.
Brought into play were ladders, ropes, a nail puller, drop lights, extension cords and flashlights, including metric wrenches, screwdrivers and hammers.
"The first job, re-securing the orb in its basket, proved to be the most ticklish and time consuming part of the whole night's work," notes the document.
Indeed, the way the nose and engine compartments were designed prevented visual guidance to easily reassemble the space hardware.
"We spent almost an hour on this, one man in the cramped nose section trying to get the orb into precisely the right position and one in the engine compartment trying to engage the threads on the end of a rod he couldn't see," the document points out.
"After a number of futile attempts and many anxious moments, the connection was finally made, and we all sighed with relief."
The CIA document observes that there was no indication the Soviets ever discovered that the Lunik was "borrowed" for a night.
Indeed, the results gleaned in the heist were published in a Markings Center Brief.
"They included probable identification of the producer of this Lunik stage, the fact that it was the fifth one produced, identification of three electrical producers who supplied components, and revelation of the system for numbering parts that was used here and conceivably for other Soviet space hardware," the document states.
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"But perhaps more important in the long term than these positive intelligence results," the document concludes, "was the experience and example of fine cooperation on a job between covert operators and essentially overt collectors."
Noted space historian Dwayne Day first published a story that captured the CIA's undercover work, noting Finer's account in the British Interplanetary Society's "Spaceflight" magazine in early 1997, an edifying go-to publication for information on historical, particularly Soviet Union space progress.
"Sometime in 1996 somebody told me that a huge batch of declassified CIA records had just become available at the National Archives facility in College Park, Maryland, so I drove up there to look at them," Day recalls.
"The CIA declassified hundreds, maybe thousands, of articles from its in-house journal known as "Studies in Intelligence."
They were all photocopied articles in folders in archival boxes with a very rudimentary index. It was a laborious process to request boxes and then go through the folders," Day told Space.com.
Day was looking for anything related to space and after a few hours of work came across the 1967 article by Finer.
"It was a fascinating account of an intelligence operation in an unnamed country where the CIA secured access to a piece of Soviet space equipment in order to examine it overnight," said Day.
"I knew that was an incident that had never previously been reported anywhere."
The treasure trove of declassified items also included fascinating articles about intercepting television and other signals from Soviet spacecraft in orbit, Day said.
"In the 2000s, I occasionally tried to follow up on the Lunik subject," Day said. "It took me a while to get it through my head that "Lunik" was a Western nickname and not real."
Day said he briefly contacted one of the operatives involved, "and managed to learn about some related operations to analyze that and other vehicles, but I never went after the story in detail."
There are some intriguing scenarios perhaps associated with the CIA's "borrowing" of Soviet space gear in Mexico City.
For one, the Soviet Union's National Exhibition came to New York City in June 1959 and ran until late July.
The focal point of the exhibition was Sputnik, including full-scale models of the first three Soviet Sputniks — and proudly on display was the "Lunik" mounted to its upper stage.
Did the CIA have multiple opportunities to study Soviet-era space paraphernalia and right there in New York City?
"I did know about the American exhibition and so did the CIA who sent spies, I believe," Maysh said.
"However, Mexico City and local operatives were chosen for plausible deniability. That's my understanding."
"It just goes to show what kind of incredible stories are gathering dust in government archives," Maysh concludes.
"At a time like this, we need to find more stories from the days when Americans outsmarted the bad guys and planted our flag on the moon."
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Space-flown Choctaw Nation seeds to be planted on Earth for STEM experiment
November 17, 2024
Seeds flown to space last year will be planted on Earth this spring as part of a cultural and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) study.
Five varieties of heirloom seeds from the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma — including Isito (Choctaw Sweet Potato Squash), Tobi (Smith Peas), Tanchi Tohbi (Flour Corn), Tvnishi (Lambsquarter), and Chukfi Peas — were flown to the International Space Station (ISS) in November 2023.
The seeds, which together weighed just over a pound (500 grams), were exposed to microgravity and space radiation for more than five months, returning to Earth in April 2024.
The project, called the Choctaw Heirloom Seeds investigation, aims to inspire Native American youths to pursue careers in STEM according to a statement from NASA.
Students at the Jones Academy boarding school for Native Americans in Oklahoma will plant the seeds in the school's Growing Hope Garden this coming spring alongside a control group of the same seed varieties that did not travel to space and back.
As part of the experiment, students are asked to make a prediction about the growth of the two seed groups and will conduct observations and compare the plants' growth to test their hypotheses.
"This project elevates Native culture and voices in a society where Native populations are underrepresented in STEM fields," according to a statement about the experiment. "This investigation is intended to inspire Native youths to pursue careers in STEM."
The seeds' journey to space and subsequent garden experiments are also being added to the middle school's STEM curriculum, allowing even more students to benefit from the research and learn about the impacts of space.
https://www.space.com/the-universe/space-flown-choctaw-nation-seeds-to-be-planted-on-earth-for-stem-experiment
SpaceX Launches
November 17, 2024
Starlink Mission
SpaceX is targeting Sunday, November 17 for a Falcon 9 launch of 20 Starlink satellites, including 13 with Direct to Cell capabilities, to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Liftoff is targeted for 9:47 p.m. PT, with backup opportunities available until 1:46 a.m. PT. If needed, additional opportunities are also available on Monday, November 18 starting at 11:19 p.m. PT.
A live webcast of this mission will begin about five minutes prior to liftoff, which you can watch here and on X @SpaceX. You can also watch the webcast on the new X TV app.
This is the 20th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Transporter-8, Transporter-9, NROL-85, NROL-87, SWOT, SARah-1, NROL-146, and 12 Starlink missions. Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship, which will be stationed in the Pacific Ocean.
https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=sl-9-12
TD7 Mission
SpaceX is targeting Sunday, November 17 for a Falcon 9 launch of the TD7 mission to a geosynchronous transfer orbit from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The two-hour window opens at 4:29 p.m. ET. If needed, there is a backup opportunity on Monday, November 18 at the same time.
A live webcast of this mission will begin about 15 minutes prior to liftoff, which you can watch here and on X @SpaceX. You can also watch the webcast on the new X TV app.
This will be the 16th flight for the Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Crew-5, GPS III Space Vehicle 06, Inmarsat I6-F2, CRS-28, NG-20, and nine Starlink missions. After stage separation, the first stage will land on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=td7
Bombshell 10-minute video shows UFO swarm 'completely unaffected' by missile attack outside military base
Updated: 17:39 EST, 16 November 2024
A swarm of UFOs that were completely unaffected after being hit by missiles outside of an Afghanistan military base was caught on a jaw-dropping video.
On Friday, 'The UFOs subeddit' - a forum for UFO discussions where people can talk about sightings, experiences, news and investigations - shared the full 10-minute version of the infamous video.
The video begins with the camera scanning the flat land outside of the military base before zooming up on the distant mountains, where four black dots hovering in the sky can be seen.
A few moments later, the camera captured the mysterious orbs more closely - and it appeared as though they were dripping fuel beneath them.
A short-range missile could then be seen entering the frame from the top right before striking through two of the levitating orbs - seemingly ripping right through them.
The dots appeared to explode after being struck, but the debris seemed to quickly dissipate into the air revealing the orbs were actually unharmed.
Many viewers of the footage initially believed that the peculiar dots were either training targets or flares.
But just as the video time stamp neared the six-minute mark, the camera switched from FLIR - a type of camera that uses thermal imaging to create an infrared image of a scene - to normal vision.
The quick camera switch revealed the orbs as glowing multi-colored dots that rigidly moved in a spatial relationship with each other.
Bright pink, orange, purple and yellow colors pulsated from the orbs as they slowly moved in unison around the sky.
Hundreds of Reddit users took to the comments to share their reactions - many admitting they had seen something similar.
'Myself and one other saw exactly this in Afghanistan,' one user wrote. 'The difference was they shot up into the sky in sequence one after another.
We both acknowledged what we saw and agreed we wouldn't tell anyone else because we'd get laughed at.'
The user then singled out the commenters who believed the dots were flares, noting that when he experienced something similar he initially thought the same thing himself.
'Four illuminated dots appeared in the sky and moved down in unison, descended slowly,' he added. 'They then stopped around 100-150 meters altitude and hovered for a couple minutes, looking like they were moving in small circles.'
'They then gained elevation faster than anything I've ever seen move (literally it was like a streak of light). They disappeared either through cloud cover or the lights were put out.'
'My eyes were opened to a few things that night and I became a more open minded person,' he wrote.
Another user seemed to agree and responded: 'I saw something similar as a child in the Midwest. When it shot up it looked like a meteorite in reverse and literally winked out of existence.'
But this isn't the first account of a possible UFO sighting over Afghanistan.
An anonymous retired Navy senior chief said that he and other military service members observed a metallic orb in the sky of Afghanistan back in the early 2000s.
He noted how his observation looked similar to the video that was displayed during a Senate hearing just last year.
However, due to security agreements and the fear of legal consequences, he is unable to come forward with more detailed information.
'I'm going to be honest with you. I'd love to tell everything in detail, but I'm not willing to go to jail to do it,' the retired Navy senior chief told Fox News.
'I'm constrained because of security agreements, so they need a way for submissions to be made.'
He also noted how there needs to be a secure and safe method for individuals to come forward about potential UFO sightings - something that was also argued for by Senators Mark Warner of Virginia and Marco Rubio of Florida following the senate hearing.
'To date, we have seen no efforts to communicate the existence of the secure process to the public,' the senators wrote in a letter to the DoD.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14090679/video-ufo-unaffected-missile-attack-military-base.html
https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/1gsdwl6/full_10_minute_video_showing_glowing_multicolored/?rdt=45911