TYB
Spacewalk Robotics Training, Red Lettuce Harvesting Kick Off Week
January 27, 2025
Preparations continue for a spacewalk to remove communications hardware and check for microbes outside the International Space Station later this week.
Meanwhile, the Expedition 72 crew harvested red lettuce for a space agriculture study and continued its upkeep of the orbital outpost.
Commander Suni Williams and Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore are scheduled to begin a six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk at 8 a.m. EST on Thursday.
The NASA astronauts will remove a degraded radio frequency group antenna assembly and collect samples of potential microbes living outside of the orbital outpost.
The duo reviewed on Monday the Canadarm2 robotic arm procedures necessary to support the removal of the degraded radio communications gear.
Flight Engineers Nick Hague and Don Pettit will be at the controls of the Canadarm2 on Thursday assisting and monitoring the spacewalkers.
The two NASA astronauts also studied the robotics procedures and practiced on a computer the maneuvers they will use to guide the spacewalkers during their external maintenance activities.
There was still time during the day for Wilmore and Hague to join each other in the Kibo laboratory module and pick a small crop of red lettuce from the Advanced Plant Habitat.
Wilmore started the harvesting job collecting the leaves, packing them in pouches, and stowing the samples in a science freezer for later analysis.
Pettit finished the botany operations extracting roots from the Plant Habitat, collecting water samples for analysis, and photographing the research hardware.
The botany investigation is assessing the nutritional value of food grown in space and may promote growing crops on future missions.
Williams and Pettit partnered together inside the Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) cleaning and organizing a variety of cargo including food, electronics gear, science experiments and more.
The PMM was launched to the station on space shuttle Discovery and installed on Unity module’s Earth-facing port March 1, 2011.
PMM was relocated May 27, 2015, to its current location on the Tranquility module’s forward port.
Earth observations, space navigation, and lab maintenance topped the schedule for the three cosmonauts working in the orbiting lab’s Roscosmos segment.
Flight Engineer Aleksandr Gorbunov outfitted a camera with specialized hardware and photographed Earth landmarks to study the effects natural and man-made catastrophes.
Flight Engineer Alexey Ovchinin explored ways to acquire more accurate space station navigation data from ground and satellite navigation systems.
Flight Engineer Ivan Vagner deactivated and dismantled obsolete communications hardware that has been replaced with an updated command and telemetry system.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2025/01/27/spacewalk-robotics-training-red-lettuce-harvesting-kick-off-week/
Did a 1953 Book Predict Elon Musk’s Role in Space Exploration?
Updated Jan 28, 2025, 20:00 IST
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk recently expressed surprise at a post on X (formerly Twitter) about a 1953 German book that seemingly references a leader of Mars named “Elon.”
His reaction, a succinct five-word question, ignited a flurry of speculation and comments, with numerous social media users pondering if Musk might be an alien or a time traveller.
The post referred to 'The Mars Project', a book by renowned German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun. It claimed the book predicted Mars’ leader would be named "Elon."
An image shared with the post included an excerpt allegedly from the book’s original German manuscript.
The post stated: “The 1953 book Mars Project by famous rocket scientist Werner von Braun says the leader of Mars shall be called ‘Elon.’
Someone pulled the original German manuscript out of archives to debunk this myth, only to confirm that von Braun did indeed predict he would be called ‘Elon.’”
The translated excerpt described Martian governance: “…was connected with that inner commitment to action, which was also the driving force in the development of Martian civilization.
The management of the tara consisted of ten vessels. At their head was a man who was awakened by the genant population for five years at a time, whom the Martians called Elon.
But opposite Elon and my cabinet, there was a Farlanent who decided on the laws according to which the cabinet had to govern…”
Musk re-shared the post, responding with the question, “How can this be real?” His cryptic reaction sparked a wave of speculation from users, many of whom questioned Musk’s potential extraterrestrial origins.
“Maybe you’re like a time traveller or something,” one user suggested. Musk playfully replied, “No matter how often I tell people that I’m a 5000-year-old alien time traveller, they don’t believe me.”
Another user quipped, “You’re an alien, aren’t you?” while others referred to the book’s mention of “Elon” as a prophecy, with one commenting, “The prophecy will be fulfilled.”
According to the University of Illinois, 'The Mars Project' is considered a “classic on space travel.”
Written during an era when space exploration was seen as science fiction, the book outlines von Braun’s perspective on the challenges and opportunities of interplanetary travel.
Von Braun, a trailblazing rocket scientist who later played a pivotal role in NASA’s Apollo programme, speculated on the governance and technological advancements of a future Martian civilisation.
The reference to a leader named “Elon” has sparked widespread intrigue, especially given Musk’s vision of colonising Mars through SpaceX.
https://www.timesnownews.com/lifestyle/books/features/did-a-1953-book-predict-elon-musks-role-in-space-exploration-article-117640604
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1883732625304834550
https://archive.org/details/ProjectMars
Sidus Space receives FCC approval for Direct-to-Device transmit and receive capability for LizzieSat
January 28, 2025
Sidus Space has announced the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval of integration of a direct-to-device module for the Sidus Space LizzieSat™ constellation.
Obtaining this FCC license marks a significant milestone in the company’s mission to enhance global connectivity and space data transfer and expands the operational capabilities of its LizzieSat™ fleet.
By incorporating this advanced technology, Sidus Space is set to provide robust, high-quality, rapid-delivery data services across remote locations, improving data transmission for commercial, government and defense applications worldwide.
“This FCC authority to deploy our satellite with direct-to-device data solution delivery ensures compliance with US regulatory requirements and strengthens Sidus Space’s AI-driven capabilities, enabling LizzieSat™ to deliver enhanced data and analytics quickly for mission-critical services,” said Carol Craig, CEO of Sidus Space.
“Sidus continues to expand our constellation with a focus on innovation and reliability, and this capability will further empower our customers with access to seamless, global intelligence in our increasingly interconnected world.”
Jim Larson, Senior Vice President, AI Advancement Strategies of Sidus Space, added, “We believe LizzieSat™ is the only known commercial small satellite platform to harness the powerful combination of rapid direct-to-device data transfer capability and on-orbit Artificial Intelligence.
This upgrade to LizzieSat™-3 allows Sidus to provide data vital to organizations utilizing direct-to-device hardware including first responders like CalFire, aerospace and aviation companies and other organizations with access to satellite receivers.
Sidus is excited to be at the forefront of the expansion of AI capabilities in the marketplace and this incredible technology movement.”
https://www.satelliteevolution.com/post/sidus-space-receives-fcc-approval-for-direct-to-device-transmit-and-receive-capability-for-lizziesat
https://breakingdefense.com/2025/01/trumps-iron-dome-for-america-calls-for-space-based-interceptors/
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/the-iron-dome-for-america/
Trump’s Iron Dome for America calls for space-based interceptors
January 28, 2025 at 8:46 AM
A new executive order from President Donald Trump calls for greater investments for a multilayered homeland air defense system, including a requirement for the development of space-based interceptors.
On the campaign trail in June, then-candidate Trump stated his desire to “build a great Iron Dome over our country, a dome like has never seen before, a state-of-the-art missile defense shield that will be entirely built in America.”
“We’re going to build the greatest dome of them all,” he said at the time
On Monday night, Trump signed an executive order to that effect titled “The Iron Dome for America”.
The order gives Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth 60 days to develop a plan to defend the homeland against “ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles, and other next-generation aerial attacks from peer, near-peer, and rogue adversaries.”
“Over the past 40 years, rather than lessening, the threat from next-generation strategic weapons has become more intense and complex with the development by peer and near-peer adversaries of next-generation delivery systems and their own homeland integrated air and missile defense capabilities,” the EO reads.
Among the mandates in the executive order:
Acceleration of the deployment of the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor layer
Development and deployment of proliferated space-based interceptors capable of boost-phase intercept;
Deployment of underlayer and terminal-phase intercept capabilities postured to defeat a countervalue attack;
Development and deployment of a custody layer of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture;
Development and deployment of capabilities to defeat missile attacks prior to launch and in the boost phase;
Development and deployment of a secure supply chain for all components with next-generation security and resilience features; and
Development and deployment of non-kinetic capabilities to augment the kinetic defeat of ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles, and other next-generation aerial attacks;
Once plans for homeland defense have been sorted, the Pentagon is then to look at theater defenses. That includes to defend forward-deployed US force but also to “increase and accelerate the provision of United States missile defense capabilities to allies and partners.”
The fiscal 2026 budget request should take into account this EO, per the language, although the order itself does not contain any budgetary estimates.
In an interview with Breaking Defense last week, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., expressed a belief that money that is obligated for defense during the reconciliation process could be used for such an Iron Dome for America construct.
“Israel is a small state about the size of New Jersey, so Iron Dome for Israel is much different from Iron Dome for America,” Wicker said.
“But a missile defense shield with a large satellite, a space-based component, that’s going to be expensive, but it’s a must, and it happens that the president feels some urgency in getting that done.”
Is It Really ‘Iron Dome?’
The actual Iron Dome currently in existence is an Israeli air defense system designed by Rafael, primarily to counter short-range rockets, small drones and artillery shells.
The system is the lowest-tier of a broader, layered air defense network which also includes the middle-tier David’s Sling and higher-level Arrow defense capabilities.
Rafael is also working on a directed energy version of Iron Dome known as Iron Beam, which executives have said may be active in 2025.
1/2
But Iron Dome has become synonymous with Israel’s defense in a way the other systems have not, and as a result has become almost a shorthand for “national air defense systems.”
While many Israeli air defense capabilities have been built with American development dollars, those systems have not flowed back to the US in any meaningful way.
And based on the Trump’s previous pledge, these systems are going to be American-made.
In a note to investors, TD Cowen analyst Roman Schweizer said the EO will likely “require tens of [billions of dollars] to develop and field, and we see it as a massive expansion of existing programs of record as well as the development and fielding of nascent systems …
We see this as very positive for a number of existing programs.” So while the EO may be short on details, there are some options to look at.
The Pentagon already has air defense missions and plans in the works, including the National Capital Region Integrated Air Defense System designed to shield the Washington, DC area from incoming aerial threats, and includes systems like the Norwegian National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS).
The Army is also leading the charge to set up a new air defense construct on Guam slated to include the service’s answer to Iron Dome dubbed the Indirect Fire Protection Capability (IFPC) Increment 2 system, as well as a C2 system called the Integrated Battle Command System (IBCS), the Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS) radar and more.
The Army has directed energy capabilities under development like the IFPC High-Energy Laser and IFPC High-Powered Microwave.
The Marine Corps is also working on mobile system called the Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS), which uses a truck-mounted Iron Dome launcher with Tamir interceptors, and teams them up with a Common Aviation Command-and-Control System (CAC2S) and a mini battle management control (BMC) system, along with the AN/TPS-80 Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar (G/ATOR).
Other possible components could include an over-the-horizon-radar (OTHR), designed to help spot low-flying, modern cruise missiles that can hug the curvature of the earth to evade detection.
The US is planning a joint Canadian procurement to field new OTHR with an eye toward the Arctic as an anticipated vector of attack for adversaries like Russia.
After originally planning to begin buying the radars in fiscal year 2024, the Air Force deferred the OTHR procurement out to FY26 to focus on “risk reduction” activities in the meantime, the service told Breaking Defense in July.
A public timeline released by Ottawa calls for an Arctic OTHR system to be operational by 2028 as part of a twenty-year and $38.6 billion CAD modernization project for NORAD.
“Canada and the US are committed to ensuring interoperability in its OTHR initiatives — and we are in active and constant dialogue to ensure alignment in our plans,” the Canadian Defence Ministry told Breaking Defense in July.
“Canada will continue to work closely with the United States to bolster NORAD’s ability to detect threats earlier and more precisely and to respond effectively.”
Speaking on a quarterly earnings call hours after the EO dropped, RTX CEO Chris Calio sounded bullish of the potential for his firm under the new guidance.
“Look, as you know, we’re a major partner in Israel’s Iron Dome today. I suspect in the US, you’re going to probably need to evolve that to address different types of potential threats, perhaps longer range strikes, protection of infrastructure.
But again, layered, integrated air and missile defense systems are core to us. It’s the bedrock of Raytheon, and they are, you know, among the best at it. And so we’re ready to engage on this as it takes shape over this study period.
“We view this as a significant opportunity for us, something right in our wheelhouse.”
2/2
Boom Supersonic to break sound barrier during historic test flight today
January 28, 2025
Boom Supersonic plans to break the sound barrier during a test flight this morning (Jan. 28). This would mark the first time the company achieves the feat, and you can watch the historic action live.
Colorado-based Boom's XB-1 test vehicle is scheduled to lift off on its 12th test flight from California's Mojave Air & Space Port today at around 11:00 a.m. EST (1600 GMT; 8 a.m. local California time).
If all goes well, the piloted demonstrator craft will exceed Mach 1 — the speed of sound — about 25 minutes later.
Boom will webcast the mission live via its website beginning at 10:45 a.m. EST (1545 GMT). If the company makes the stream available on YouTube, Space.com will carry it.
The XB-1 is a subscale pathfinder vehicle, designed to demonstrate technologies and capabilities that Boom plans to employ a few years from now on a commercial jet called Overture.
If all goes according to plan, the 64-seat Overture will become the first supersonic passenger jet since the British-French Concorde, which was retired in 2003.
The XB-1 first got off the ground in March 2024. The test vehicle has flown 11 times to date, breaking new ground on each liftoff.
For example, during its most recent flight, which occurred on Jan. 10, the XB-1 nosed right up to the edge of the sound barrier, reaching Mach 0.95.
Flight 12, however, will be momentous, according to Boom Founder and CEO Blake Scholl. In a Jan. 25 X post, Scholl called the mission "supersonic flight's 'Falcon 1' moment," referring to SpaceX's first-ever successful launch — a September 2008 liftoff of the company's small Falcon 1 rocket.
"It will still be a few years before we welcome the return of the first supersonic passenger. Success is far from guaranteed. Yet, there's more reason than ever to be excited and optimistic," Scholl wrote in another Jan. 25 X post.
Today's livestream should feature some dramatic in-flight views, which will come down to Earth via SpaceX's Starlink satellite-internet service.
"We're livestreaming the flight from our chase aircraft, a Northrop T-38. We've installed a Starlink Mini antenna in the T-38 so everyone can see the flight in real-time," Boom wrote in a Jan. 25 X post.
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/tech/boom-supersonic-to-break-sound-barrier-during-historic-test-flight-today-watch-live
https://www.sciencealert.com/astronomers-discover-exoplanets-falling-apart-in-space
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2501.05431
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2501.08301
Astronomers Discover Exoplanets Falling Apart in Space
28 January 2025
Astronomers have found two planets around two separate stars that are succumbing to their stars' intense heat. Both are disintegrating before our telescopic eyes, leaving trails of debris similar to a comet's. Both are ultra-short-period planets (USPs) that orbit their stars rapidly.
These planets are a rare sub-class of USPs that are not massive enough to hold onto their material. Astronomers know of only three other disintegrating planets.
USPs are known for their extremely rapid orbits, some completing an orbit in only a few hours. Since they're extremely close to their stars, they're subjected to intense heat, stellar radiation, and gravity.
Many USPs are tidally locked to their star, turning the star-facing side into an inferno. USPs seldom exceed two Earth radii, and astronomers think that about 1 in 200 Sun-like stars has one.
They were only discovered recently and are pushing the boundaries of our understanding of planetary systems.
There are plenty of unanswered questions about USPs. Their formation mechanism is unclear, though they likely migrated to their positions rather than formed there.
They're difficult to observe because of their proximity to their stars, making questions about their structures difficult to answer.
Fortunately, two separate teams of researchers have spotted the two disintegrating USPs. As they spill their contents out into space in tails, they're giving astronomers an opportunity to see what's inside them.
The new observations are in two new papers available at the pre-press site arxiv.org. One is "A Disintegrating Rocky Planet with Prominent Comet-like Tails Around a Bright Star."
The lead author is Marc Hon, a postdoctoral researcher at the MIT TESS Science Office. This paper is referred to hereafter as the MIT study.
"We report the discovery of BD+054868Ab, a transiting exoplanet orbiting a bright K-dwarf with a period of 1.27 days," the authors write.
The TESS spacecraft found the planet, and its observations "reveal variable transit depths and asymmetric transit profiles," the paper states.
Those are characteristics of dust coming from the doomed planet and forming tails: one on the leading edge and one on the trailing edge.
Dust particle size in each tail is different, with the leading trail containing larger dust and the trailing tail containing finer grains.
"The disintegrating planet orbiting BD+05 4868 A has the most prominent dust tails to date, "said lead author Hon.
"The dust tails emanating from the rapidly evaporating planet are gigantic. Its length of approximately 9 million km encircles over half the planet's orbit around the star every 30 and a half hours," he added.
The MIT study shows that the planet is losing mass at the rate of 10 Earth masses of material per billion years. Since the object is probably only roughly the size of Earth's Moon, it will be totally destroyed in only a few million years.
"The rate at which the planet is evaporating is utterly cataclysmic, and we are incredibly lucky to be witnessing the final hours of this dying planet," said Hon.
The host star is probably a little older than the Sun and has a companion red dwarf separated by about 130 AU. The authors think that the planet is a great candidate for follow-up studies with the JWST.
Not only is the star bright, but the transits are deep. Because of the leading and trailing tails, the transits can last up to 15 hours.
"The brightness of the host star, combined with the planet's relatively deep transits (0.8?2.0%), presents BD+054868Ab as a prime target for compositional studies of rocky exoplanets and investigations into the nature of catastrophically evaporating planets," they explain.
"What's also highly exciting about BD+05 4868 Ab is that it has the brightest host star out of the other disintegrating planets —about 100 times brighter than K2-22—establishing it as a benchmark for future disintegrating studies of such systems," said Avi Shporer, a Research Scientist at the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research and a co-author of the MIT paper.
"Prior to our study, the three other known disintegrating planets were around faint stars, making them challenging to study," he added.
The second paper is "A Disintegrating Rocky World Shrouded in Dust and Gas: Mid-IR Observations of K2-22b using JWST."
The lead author is Nick Tusay, a PhD student at Penn State working in the Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds. This paper is hereafter referred to as the Penn State study.
1/2
"The effluents that sublimate off the surface and condense out in space are probably representative of the formerly interior layers convectively transported to the molten surface," the authors write.
In this work, astronomers were able to observe its debris with the JWST's MIRI and also with other telescopes.
The observations show that the material coming from the USP is not likely to be iron-dominated core material. Instead, they're "consistent with some form of magnesium silicate minerals, likely from mantle material," the authors explain.
"These planets are literally spilling their guts into space for us, and with JWST we finally have the means to study their composition and see what planets orbiting other stars are really made of," said lead author Tusay.
We can't see what's inside the planets in our Solar System, though seismic waves and other observations give scientists a pretty good idea about Earth's interior.
By examining the entrails coming from K2-22b, astronomers are learning not only about the planet but, by extension, about other rocky planets. The irony is that they're so far away.
"K2-22b has an asymmetric transit profile, as the planet's dusty cloud of effluents comes into view in front of the star, showing evidence of extended tails like a comet."
"It's remarkable that directly measuring the interior of planets in the Solar System is so challenging—we have only limited sampling of the Earth's mantle, and no access to that of Mercury, Venus, or Mars—but here we have found planets hundreds of light years away that are sending their interiors into space and backlighting them for us to study with our spectrographs," said Jason Wright, Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics, co-author of the Penn State study, and Tusay's PhD supervisor.
"It's a remarkable and fortuitous opportunity to understand terrestrial planet interiors," he added.
While TESS discovered the disintegrating planet in the previous paper, Kepler found this one during its extended K2 mission.
This one orbits its M-dwarf star in only 9.1 hours. Evidence of its tail is in the variability of its light curve.
"The dramatic variability in lightcurve transit depth (0–1.3%) combined with the asymmetric transit shape suggests we are observing a transient cloud of dust sublimating off the surface of an otherwise unseen planet," the MIT paper states.
According to the authors, this could be the first time we've seen outgassing from a vaporizing planet. "The shorter MIRI wavelength features … may constitute the first direct observations of gas features from an evaporating planet," the paper states.
"Unexpectedly, the models that best fit these measurements seem to be ice-derived species (NO and CO2)," the authors write.
Though the spectrum is broadly consistent with a rocky body, the presence of NO and CO2 is a bit of a curveball. These materials are more similar to icy bodies like comets rather than rocky planets.
"It was actually sort of a 'who-ordered-that?' moment," Tusay said about finding the icy features. For this reason, the researchers are eager to point the JWST at the planet again to obtain more and better data.
Multiple pathways can generate these results, and only better data can help astronomers determine what's going on.
Though we're in the early days of observing planets like this one, scientists still have some expectations. These results defy those expectations since many expected to find only the iron-core remnants of these USPs.
"We didn't know what to expect," said Wright, who also co-authored an earlier study on how to use JWST to probe these exoplanetary tails.
"We were hopeful they might still have their mantles, or potentially even crust material that was being evaporated.
JWST's mid-infrared spectrograph MIRI was the perfect tool to check, because crustal, silicate mantle, and iron core materials would all transmit light in different ways that JWST could distinguish spectroscopically," Wright added.
Next, both teams of scientists hope to point the JWST at BD+05 4868 Ab from the MIT study. Its star is far brighter than the other stars known to host disintegrating USPs.
A bright light source makes it much easier for the JWST to get stronger results.
"What's also highly exciting about BD+05 4868 Ab is that it has the brightest host star out of the other disintegrating planets —about 100 times brighter than K2-22—establishing it as a benchmark for future disintegrating studies of such systems," said Avi Shporer, a Research Scientist at the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research and a co-author of the MIT project.
"Prior to our study, the three other known disintegrating planets were around faint stars, making them challenging to study," he added.
2/2
Air pollution inequities linked to industrial swine facilities are detectable from space
January 28, 2025
A study led by researchers from the University of Virginia has used satellite measurements to show the long-term persistence of air pollution inequalities tied to industrialized swine facilities in Eastern North Carolina.
Using satellite data spanning a 15-year period from 2008–2023, the study quantifies disparities in ammonia (NH3)—an air pollutant emitted by swine operations—for Black, Hispanic and Indigenous communities.
These inequalities, exacerbated by hot and calm weather conditions, extend for multiple kilometers beyond the immediate vicinity of the facilities, highlighting the widespread impact of this environmental issue.
The study, published in Environmental Science & Technology by Sally Pusede and her team in the Department of Environmental Sciences at UVA, uses data from the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) aboard multiple polar-orbiting satellites.
By analyzing NH3 levels in the atmosphere, UVA researchers were able to show that emissions from industrial swine operations result in systematic environmental inequalities.
Among the study's key findings were that air pollution inequalities can be measured from space.
Satellite data analyzed by the research team revealed that NH3 levels were significantly higher in areas with dense populations of Black, Hispanic and Indigenous residents.
Compared to non-Hispanic white populations, NH3 concentrations were on average 27% higher for Black communities, 35% higher for Hispanic communities and 49% higher for Indigenous communities during the years 2016–2021.
The study also finds that calm and hot weather conditions amplify these disparities, as low wind speeds reduce pollutant dispersion from swine facilities and because higher temperatures increase NH3 emissions through the evaporation of NH3 at and even downwind of swine facilities.
On calm days, NH3 inequalities for Indigenous communities were more than twice as severe as on windy days, while hot days intensified NH3 exposures for Black and Hispanic populations.
Elevated NH3 concentrations were also observed several kilometers downwind of swine feeding operations under calm and hot weather conditions, confirming that the environmental impacts of these operations reach far beyond their immediate surroundings.
This challenges claims that only those living very near facilities experience adverse effects.
Analysis of NH3 satellite data over a 15-year period, from 2008 to 2023, shows that disparities in NH3 concentrations have not lessened over time, underscoring the long-term nature of the issue.
The study highlights the role of industrial agriculture in perpetuating environmental racism, with communities of color bearing the brunt of air pollution linked to swine operations.
These findings come amid ongoing debates about air quality regulations and the lack of federal standards for NH3, which is not currently covered by the Environmental Protection Agency's National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
"The satellite ammonia measurements are independent, observational evidence of inequalities in the air pollution impacts of industrial swine operations across Eastern North Carolina," said Pusede.
"The satellite measurements are consistent with residents' claims of unfair and unaddressed air quality issues and highlight the urgent need for regulatory action."
https://phys.org/news/2025-01-air-pollution-inequities-linked-industrial.html
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1071618
Advanced radio telescope technology 'sifts' space for mysteries
January 27, 2025
The first trial of an Australian-developed technology has detected mysterious objects by sifting through signals from space like sand on a beach.
Astronomers and engineers at CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, developed the specialized system, CRACO, for their ASKAP radio telescope to rapidly detect mysterious fast radio bursts and other space phenomena.
The new technology has now been put to the test by researchers led by the Curtin University node of the International Center for Radio Astronomy (ICRAR) in Western Australia.
Results published in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia present the discovery of two fast radio bursts and two sporadically-emitting neutron stars, and improved location data of four pulsars, enabled by the new technology.
They have since gone on to find more than twenty fast radio bursts.
Dr. Andy Wang from ICRAR, who led the research group and tested CRACO, said the team had found more astronomical objects than expected.
"We were focused on finding fast radio bursts, a mysterious phenomenon that has opened up a new field of research in astronomy.
"CRACO is enabling us to find these bursts better than ever before. We have been searching for bursts 100 times per second and in the future we expect this will increase to 1,000 times per second," Dr. Wang said.
CSIRO astronomer and engineer Dr. Keith Bannister who, along with his team, developed the instrument, says the scale of observation enabled by the new technology is enormous.
"CRACO taps into ASKAP's 'live' view of the sky in search of fast radio bursts.
"To do this, it scans through huge volumes of data—processing 100 billion pixels per second—to detect and identify the location of bursts.
"That's the equivalent of sifting through a whole beach of sand to look for a single five-cent coin every minute," Dr. Bannister said.
CRACO is made up of a cluster of computers and accelerators connected to the ASKAP radio telescope at Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory in Wajarri Yamaji Country.
Development of this technology reinforces Australia's international reputation as a leader in radio astronomy engineering and research.
"Once at full capacity, CRACO will be a game changer for international astronomy," Dr. Wang said.
CRACO has been engineered to sift through the trillions of pixels received by the telescope to find anomalies, alerting researchers the moment it spots something out of the ordinary, allowing them to quickly follow up to obtain more data and complete their own analysis.
Dr. Wang and his team increasingly expanded CRACO's research targets to find more exotic sources.
"We're also detecting long-period transients, which remain mysterious objects within our galaxy.
Both fast radio bursts and these transients were first discovered in Australia, so it is great that we're continuing the path of discovery with this impressive technology," Dr. Wang said.
CRACO will soon be made available to astronomers all over the world as part of CSIRO's Australia Telescope National Facility, a suite of national research infrastructure which includes Murriyang, CSIRO's Parkes radio telescope.
https://phys.org/news/2025-01-advanced-radio-telescope-technology-sifts.html
https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pasa.2024.107
New Shepard Mission NS-29
January 28, 2025 10:30 AM CST
Blue Origin’s next New Shepard flight, NS-29, will simulate the Moon’s gravity and fly 30 payloads, all but one of which is focused on testing lunar-related technologies.
The launch window opens on Tuesday, January 28, at 10:30 AM CST / 1630 UTC from Launch Site One in West Texas.
The webcast will begin 15 minutes before liftoff.
https://www.blueorigin.com/missions/ns-29
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGnmQJ9xqVo
https://www.space.com/universe-less-clumpy-more-complex-DESI
https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/less-clumpy-more-complex-universe
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1475-7516/2024/12/022
A cosmic 'CT scan' shows the universe is far more complex than expected
Jan 28, 2025
A powerful combination of data from two very different astronomical surveys has allowed researchers to build a "cosmic CT scan" of the universe's evolution.
These snapshots reveal that, as forces like gravity have reshaped the universe, the universe has in turn become less clumpy. In other words, the universe grew more complicated than expected.
The team behind these findings used the sixth and final data release from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) in combination with Year 1 data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) to reach these conclusions.
This powerful combination of data allowed the researchers to layer cosmic time, akin to stacking ancient cosmic photographs over recent images of the universe, creating a multidimensional perspective of the cosmos.
"This process is like a cosmic CT scan, where we can look through different slices of cosmic history and track how matter clumped together at different epochs," team co-leader Mathew Madhavacheril of the University of Pennsylvania said in a statement.
"It gives us a direct look into how the gravitational influence of matter changed over billions of years."
Following the story of ancient cosmic light
In order for the team to build this so-called CT scan of the universe, they needed to turn to light that has existed almost as long as the cosmos itself.
With such ancient light, it's possible to track the changes the universe underwent as gravity reshaped it over around 13.8 billion years.
"ACT, covering approximately 23% of the sky, paints a picture of the universe’s infancy by using a distant, faint light that’s been traveling since the Big Bang," team co-leader paper Joshua Kim, a graduate researcher in the Madhavacheril Group, said in the statement.
"Formally, this light is called the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), but we sometimes just call it the universe's baby picture because it's a snapshot of when it was around 380,000 years old."
The CMB is light left over from an event that happened shortly after the Big Bang called the "last scattering."
This occurred when the universe had expanded and cooled enough to allow electrons and protons to form the first neutral atoms of hydrogen.
The disappearance of free electrons meant that photons, aka particles of light, were free to travel without being endlessly scattered. In other words, the universe suddenly went from being opaque to being transparent.
Today, that first light is seen as the CMB, also known as the "surface of last scattering."
Though often described as a "cosmic fossil," the CMB hasn't remained entirely unchanged for billions of years. The expansion of the universe has caused its photons to shift to longer wavelengths and lose energy.
Its temperature is now uniform at minus 454 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 270 degrees Celsius).
Because mass warps the fabric of spacetime, giving rise to gravity, light from the CMB has warped while traveling past large, dense and heavy structures such as galaxy clusters.
This is akin to looking at a grid pattern at the bottom of an empty swimming pool and noting the distortion caused as water is added.
This process is known as "gravitational lensing." Albert Einstein first suggested it as part of his theory of gravity, general relativity.
By noting how the CMB has warped and distorted over time, scientists can learn a great deal about the evolution of matter over billions of years.
1/2
Where is the universe's clumpiness?
While the ACT data captures a snapshot of the CMB in its cosmic baby pictures, DESI provides scientists with a more recent record of a "grown-up" universe.
DESI does this by mapping the universe’s three-dimensional structure, achieved by mapping the distribution of millions of galaxies, particularly luminous red galaxies (LRGs).
Using these galaxies as "cosmic landmarks," scientists can reconstruct how matter has dispersed over cosmic time.
"The LRGs from DESI are like a more recent picture of the universe, showing us how galaxies are distributed at varying distances," Kim said.
"It’s a powerful way to see how structures have evolved from the CMB map to where galaxies stand today."
Putting together ACT CMB lensing maps and DESI LRG data is like browsing through a photo album showing the development of an infant to an adult, but for the cosmos.
Browsing this cosmic photo album, the team noticed a small discrepancy. The "clumpiness" of matter the team calculated in later eras of the cosmos doesn't match theoretical predictions.
Though the discrepancy isn't quite large enough to suggest entirely new physics are at play, it does suggest that cosmic structures haven’t quite evolved in the way early-universe models would suggest.
The results also hint that the universe’s structural growth may have slowed in ways current models don’t fully explain.
"What we found was that, for the most part, the story of structure formation is remarkably consistent with the predictions from Einstein's gravity," Madhavacheril said.
"We did see a hint for a small discrepancy in the amount of expected clumpiness in recent epochs, around four billion years ago, which could be interesting to pursue."
2/2
Gigantic 500,000-mile 'hole' in the sun's atmosphere aims aurora-sparking solar wind at Earth
January 28, 2025
A colossal coronal hole, nearly 500,000 miles (800,000 kilometers) wide, has opened in the sun's atmosphere, spewing fast-moving solar wind toward Earth.
Coronal holes are regions where the sun's magnetic fields have opened up, allowing solar wind, to escape freely into space, according to spaceweather.com.
These areas appear darker in ultraviolet images because the hot, glowing gases typically trapped within the magnetic fields are no longer contained, instead streaming outward into space.
The solar wind escaping from this coronal hole — the diameter of which measures over 62 times that of the diameter of Earth — is moving at speeds of more than 310 miles per second (500 kilometers per second).
According to spaceweather.com, this flow is expected to reach Earth by Jan. 31, where it could spark minor (G1) geomagnetic storm conditions.
While these storms are not severe, they can intensify auroral displays, creating vibrant northern and southern lights at higher latitudes.
For an up-to-date breakdown of geomagnetic activity over the next 3 days, check out NOAA's SWPC 3-day forecast.
NOAA classifies geomagnetic storms using a G-scale, which ranks their intensity from G1 (minor) to G5 (extreme). The recent geomagnetic storm watch NOAA issued is rated as a G1.
Auroras occur when solar wind interacts with Earth's magnetic field. The charged particles from the sun collide with gases in the upper atmosphere, such as oxygen and nitrogen, transferring energy to them.
This energy is released as light, producing the colorful displays seen in the night sky. The stronger the solar wind, the more dynamic and widespread the auroras can become.
Though G1 conditions are possible for Jan.31, remember that space weather is unpredictable and difficult to forecast, much like Earth's weather.
Even though geomagnetic storm warnings at this level are not uncommon, they can occasionally amount to nothing.
To stay updated on space weather and know the best times and places to catch auroras, consider using a space weather app tailored to your location.
One app I recommend is "My Aurora Forecast & Alerts," available on both iOS and Android.
Another great tool is the "Space Weather Live" app on iOS and Android which offers more in-depth insights into current space weather conditions and their potential for aurora activity.
https://www.space.com/the-universe/sun/gigantic-500-000-mile-hole-in-the-suns-atmosphere-aims-aurora-sparking-solar-wind-at-earth-photo
https://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=28&month=01&year=2025
Array Labs, Raytheon, Umbra form partnership focused on 3D mapping from space
January 27, 2025
Defense contractor Raytheon is partnering with satellite imaging startups Array Labs and Umbra Space to develop advanced three-dimensional Earth observation technologies for the commercial and government markets.
The companies announced Jan. 27 they will jointly offer a new product called Site3D, which combines synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technology with specialized mapping algorithms to create detailed 3D models of the Earth’s surface.
SAR technology, which can capture images regardless of weather conditions or time of day, has gained increasing commercial adoption as satellite companies seek to provide continuous monitoring capabilities to customers.
Santa Barbara-based Umbra Space currently operates SAR satellites for Earth observation, while Palo Alto startup Array Labs is developing clusters of small radar satellites designed to work in formation to capture multiple angles of the same location simultaneously. The goal is to create a high-resolution 3D map of the Earth.
Raytheon and Umbra “will help us educate customers, bring 3D data products to market faster, and launch our own satellite imaging clusters,” said Array Labs CEO Andrew Peterson. The partnership leverages Raytheon’s experience in imagery processing.
“We’re bringing precise 3D processing algorithms, developed over two decades of working with electro-optical imagery,” said Erich Hernandez-Baquero, vice president of space intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance at Raytheon, based in Arlington, Virginia.
The collaboration is expected to create expanded market opportunities, according to Umbra.
The company’s vice president of remote sensing Joe Morrison said Array and Raytheon “have transformed our data into a totally new product applicable to customers we never would have known existed, let alone reached, without them.”
https://spacenews.com/array-labs-raytheon-umbra-form-partnership-focused-on-3d-mapping-from-space/