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The Latest Science, Technical, and Medical News – from a variety of sources

28 January 2024

 NASA's little helicopter on Mars has made its last flight

NASA’s little Mars helicopter has flown its last flight.  The space agency announced Thursday that the 4-pound (1.8-kilogram) chopper named Ingenuity can no longer fly because of rotor blade damage.  While it remains upright and in contact with flight controllers, its $85 million mission is officially over, officials said.

Originally intended as a short-term tech demo, Ingenuity logged 72 flights over three years at Mars.  It accumulated more than two hours of flight time, traveling 11 miles (18 kilometers).  That’s more than 14 times farther than planned, according to NASA.  It soared as high as 79 feet (24 meters) and hit speeds of up to 22.4 mph (36 kph).

Ingenuity hitched a ride on NASA’s Perseverance rover, landing on Mars in 2021.  It ended up serving as a scout for the rover and proved powered flight was possible in the thin Martian atmosphere.

Images beamed back this week from its last flight showed that one or more of its rotor blades suffered damage while landing and may have hit the surface.  The blades are no longer usable, according to NASA.

The helicopter ascended to 40 feet (12 meters) on its final flight last week, hovering for a few seconds before descending.  It mysteriously lost contact with the nearby rover — its communication relay — while still 3 feet (1 meter) off the ground.  Once communication was restored,  the damage was confirmed.  The reason for the loss of communication is under investigation.

“While we knew this day was inevitable, it doesn’t make it any easier” to announce the end of the mission, said NASA’s Lori Glaze.  “It’s almost an understatement to say that it has surpassed expectations.”

Ingenuity’s success prompted NASA in 2022 to add two mini helicopters to a future Mars mission.

15 July 2023

Ex-State Dept COVID investigator calls newly-unredacted Fauci communications 'an extensive cover-up'

A newly-unredacted missive from Dr. Anthony Fauci suggesting the COVID-19 pandemic may have been grounded in gain-of-function research is proof positive of an extensive "cover-up."

The House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Pandemic released more unredacted documents this week.

The letter in question had been nearly completely redacted, save for about the first line.  Fauci wrote to "folks" that the viral sequence found in the coronavirus strain contained "mutations in the virus that would have been most unusual to have evolved naturally in bats," adding there had been "suspicion that this mutation was intentionally inserted…"

According to new parts of the letter, Fauci went on to say that upon further "considerable discussion, some of the scientists felt more strongly about this possibility.  Dr. David Asher, a former State Department investigator, bluntly said that "it's a cover up."

Asher was not the first to recently accuse Fauci of covering up facts behind the true origins of COVID-19, as a top Republican and medical doctor of ophthalmology himself frequently sparred with the immunologist on the subject.  In March, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said Fauci didn't want any attention drawn to the lab-leak theory because his office had for years supported and allegedly funded gain-of-function research with U.S. taxpayer funds.

"He's even quoted as saying in 2012, if a pandemic should occur, if a scientist should be bitten by an animal and the virus gets out of the lab, it would be worth the knowledge," Paul said at the time.

11 March 2023

The Next Big Advance in Cancer Treatment Could Be a Vaccine

After decades of limited success, scientists say research has reached a turning point, with many predicting more vaccines will be out in five years.

These aren't traditional vaccines that prevent disease, but shots to shrink tumors and stop cancer from coming back. Targets for these experimental treatments include breast and lung cancer, with gains reported this year for deadly skin cancer melanoma and pancreatic cancer.

'We're getting something to work. Now we need to get it to work better.'

More than ever, scientists understand how cancer hides from the body's immune system.  Cancer vaccines, like other immunotherapies, boost the immune system to find and kill cancer cells.

Early cancer vaccine research faltered as cancer outwitted and outlasted patients' weak immune systems.

'You basically have to make every vaccine from scratch.'&bnbsp; The vaccines under development are designed to work for many patients, not just a single patient.

11 March 2023

Cancer breakthrough on the horizon as experimental drug blocks tumour-creating gene

The hope of discovering a cure for cancer seems a step closer after scientists successfully tested an experimental drug.  The drug has been shown to block a gene central to the growth of many cancers, possibly signalling a breakthrough.

It was used as part of a study of a dozen patients with various forms of cancer.  Eight out of 12 patients who had CT scans after nine weeks had stable disease, with the treatment having stopped the cancer growing.

The drug works by suppressing a protein known as MYC, which is overexpressed in 70 per cent of human cancers.  The MYC gene is what tells cells to divide and spread.  In healthy cells, it’s a good thing.  But in cancerous cells, the protein is produced in large amounts which is what fuels the growth of the disease.

graphic not found

‘MYC is one of the ‘most wanted’ targets in cancer because it plays a key role in driving and maintaining many common human cancers, such as breast, prostate, lung and ovarian cancer.’

‘These are very exciting results but it is still early days.’

‘Cancer is a complex disease and the best way of attacking tumour cells is to use a multi-pronged approach – that’s why combination therapies are the most effective.’

graphic not found New evidence for Hipparchus’ Star Catalogue revealed by multispectral imaging

New evidence for ancient Greek astronomer Hipparchus’ lost Star Catalogue has come to light thanks to multispectral imaging of a palimpsest manuscript and subsequent decipherment and interpretation.  This new evidence is the most authoritative to date and allows major progress in the reconstruction of Hipparchus’ Star Catalogue.  In particular, it confirms that the Star Catalogue was originally composed in equatorial coordinates.  It also confirms that Ptolemy’s Star Catalogue was not based solely on data from Hipparchus’ Catalogue.  Finally, the available numerical evidence is consistent with an accuracy within 1° of the real stellar coordinates, which would make Hipparchus’ Catalogue significantly more accurate than his successor Claudius Ptolemy’s.

Hipparchus’ lost Star Catalogue is famous in the history of science as the earliest known attempt to record accurate coordinates of many celestial objects observable with the naked eye.  However, contrary to Ptolemy’s later Star Catalogue as preserved in the Almagest and Handy Tables, direct evidence for the content of Hipparchus’ is scarce.  His only extant work is the Commentary on the Phaenomena, a discussion of earlier writings on positional astronomy by Eudoxus of Cnidus and Aratus of Soli.  Only a few references in later authors reflect stellar coordinates going back to Hipparchus – these are found mainly in the Aratus Latinus, a Latin translation of Aratus’ astronomical poem Phaenomena and related material.  As noted by Neugebauer, the stellar coordinates in the Aratus Latinus agree with Hipparchus’ time, and the codeclination of α UMi in the Aratus Latinus agrees exactly with the value ascribed to Hipparchus by Ptolemy.

Recovered text section

Ὁ στέφανος ἐν τῷ βορείῳ ἡμισφαιρίῳ κείμενος κατὰ μῆκος μὲν ἐπέχει μ̊ θ̅ καὶ δ̅ ́ ἀπὸ τῆς α̅ μ̊ τοῦ σκορπίου ἕως ι̅ <καὶ> δ̅ ́ μ̊ τοῦ αὐτοῦ ζῳδίου. Κατὰ πλάτος δ᾽ ἐπέχει μ̊ ς̅ C καὶ δ̅ ́ ἀπὸ μ̅θ̅ μ̊ ἀπὸ τοῦ βορείου πόλου ἕως μ̊ ν̅ε̅ C καὶ δ̅ ́.

Προηγεῖται μὲν γὰρ ἐν αὐτῷ ὁ ἐχόμενος τοῦ λαμπροῦ ὡς πρὸς δύσιν ἐπέχων τοῦ σκορπίου τῆς α̅ μ̊ τὸ ἥμισυ. Ἔσχατος δὲ πρὸς ἀνατολὰς κεῖται ὁ δ′ ἐχόμενος ἐπ᾽ ἀνατολὰς τοῦ λαμπροῦ ἀστέρος [. . .] τοῦ βορείου πόλου μ̊ μ̅θ̅· νοτιώτατος δὲ ὁ γ′ ἀπὸ τοῦ λαμπροῦ πρὸς ἀνατολὰς ἀριθμούμενος ὃς ἀπέχει τοῦ πόλου μ̊ ν̅ε̅ C καὶ δ̅ ́.

Translation

Corona Borealis, lying in the northern hemisphere, in length spans 9°¼ from the first degree of Scorpius to 10°¼8 in the same zodiacal sign (i.e. in Scorpius). In breadth it spans 6°¾ from 49° from the North Pole to 55°¾.

Within it, the star (β CrB) to the West next to the bright one (α CrB) leads (i.e. is the first to rise), being at Scorpius 0.5°.  The fourth9 star (ι CrB) to the East of the bright one (α CrB) is the last (i.e. to rise) [. . .] 10 49° from the North Pole.  Southernmost (δ CrB) is the third counting from the bright one (α CrB) towards the East, which is 55°¾ from the North Pole.

By providing comparative material, the Greek text also allows a better understanding of the related sections in the Aratus Latinus (AL). AL is an early medieval translation into Latin, made in Northern France (most probably in Corbie Abbey) in the 8th c., of a Greek codex containing the Phenomena of Aratus and related material.15 In particular, AL contains sections on the boundaries of the circumpolar constellations, the Greek original of which now appears to have followed the same structure and terminology as the section on Corona Borealis in the CCR text.

Hipparchus had already been identified as the ultimate source of the coordinates in these sections of AL over a century ago by Georg Dittmann, based on the observation that the codeclination of β UMi matches the figure quoted by Ptolemy in his Geography.

4 March 2023

graphic of Naegleria fowleri not found Florida residents warned about tap water after man dies from brain-eating amoeba

Nearly a quarter million Floridians are being warned to avoid washing their face with tap water after a man died from a brain-eating amoeba in February.  The advice, which applies to the nearly 200,000 residents of Charlotte County, comes after a county resident died on February 20.

Infections from Naegleria fowleri, a microscopic single-celled amoeba, are very rare.  The infection is known as primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) and occurs when contaminated water enters the nose.  Officials believe the anonymous man caught the brain-eating infection from washing his face and rinsing his sinuses with infected tap water.

"You should avoid any water going into the nose.  In the shower, avoid getting anything into the nose."

"Infection with Naegleria fowleri is EXTREMELY RARE and can only happen when water contaminated with amoebae enters the body through the nose.  You CANNOT be infected by drinking tap water."

The disease has no known effective treatments, killing roughly 97% of those who contract it.  Only four patients have survived the infection in the U.S. from 1962 to 2021.

Related:  Brain-eating amoeba found in Texas city water supply.

26 February 2023

graphic not found MIT’s new ultra-thin solar cells can turn almost any surface into a solar panel

It has been 70 years since modern solar panels were invented, and their fundamental design hasn’t changed all that much.  Yes, their efficiency has more than doubled since then, and the price has dropped by 89% since 2010.  But recent innovations aside, the majority of solar panels still consist of silicon cells sandwiched between glass and plastic, encased in an aluminum frame, then clamped to an array of rails that are bolted on a roof, or secured with concrete ballasts.

Solar adoption in the U.S. is booming, but how much more power would we be using if we could manufacture panels that are easier to install and lighter to transport?  MIT engineers have been working on this very question over the past decade.  Their latest answer? Solar cells so light and so flexible that they can be laminated onto almost any material, like the fabric of a disaster relief tent, the sail of a boat, or even “a large carpet that can be unfurled on top of a roof.”

The solar cells are not quite as efficient as the more traditional silicone panels.  Compared to their traditional counterpart, the cells can generate about half the energy per unit area, but astonishingly, they can generate 18 times more power per kilogram.  This means that if a ship were transporting a certain number of pounds worth of solar panels to a disaster relief zone, it could deliver 18 times more power per weight.

In the long-run, Bulovic says the team will be able to match the efficiency of silicone panels by switching to another kind of cell known as a perovskite solar cell.  But for now, the point isn’t to replace traditional panels.  The point is to make solar energy more accessible and portable, so it can be used in scenarios where traditional panels can’t.

"The format of these new cells should allow us to completely rethink how rapidly we can deploy solar cells, and how rapidly we can manufacture solar cells.  In the long run, we think this can be as rapid as printing a newspaper.”

28 January 2023

Electric vehicles more expensive to fuel than gas-powered cars at end of 2022

Research shows that rising electricity prices and stabilizing gas prices made internal combustion engine cars more economical than their electric counterparts in late 2022.

For the first time in more than a year, owners of traditional gas-powered cars saved more money at the pump than those driving their electric counterparts, according to a consulting firm.  As inflated gas prices came down at the end of last years, the fuel cost for most Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles was comparatively cheaper in the final quarter of 2022 than charging an electric vehicle (EV).

The cost to drive 100 miles in a gas-powered car dropped by more than $2 in October, November and December 2022. And with electricity prices rising last year, mid-priced ICE cars became more economical than EV cars for the first time in 18 months.

The cost analysis looked at the underlying cost of energy for gas, diesel and electricity, as well as road taxes and fees, added costs to operate pump or EV charger and the cost to drive to a fueling station. The costs were calculated for vehicles driving 12,000 miles per year.

The analysis found that in Q4 2022, a typical mid-priced gas car driver paid about $11.29 to fuel their vehicle for 100 miles of driving.  That was about 31 cents cheaper than what a mid-priced electric car driver paid charging their vehicle at home, and more than $3 less than what comparable EV drivers pay when they charge their vehicles at a fuel station.

10 January 2023

graphic not found Low-Cost, High-Energy Battery Could Change the Decarbonization Game

Sodium-sulphur (Na-S) batteries have existed for more than half a century.  However, they are an inferior alternative, suffering from low energy capacity and short life cycles.  Now, a team of researchers is hoping that a new, low-cost battery — which holds four times the energy capacity of Li-ion batteries and is far cheaper to produce — will significantly reduce the cost of transitioning to a decarbonized economy.

The researchers add that the Na-S battery is also a more energy-dense and less-toxic alternative to Li-ion batteries — which are notorious for being expensive to manufacture and recycle, despite their current ubiquity in electronic devices.

The new battery was specifically designed to provide a high-performing solution for large renewable energy-storage systems (e.g., electrical grids) while significantly reducing operational costs.

13 December 2022

US scientists make major breakthrough in ‘limitless, zero-carbon’ fusion energy

U.S. government scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory recently achieved a net energy gain in a fusion reaction.

Though developing fusion power stations at scale is still decades away, the breakthrough has significant implications as the world seeks to wean itself off of fossil fuels.  Fusion reactions emit zero carbon and do not produce any long-lasting radioactive waste.  A small cup of hydrogen fuel could potentially power a house for hundreds of years.

18 November 2022

Webb telescope spots earliest galaxies yet, and they are cosmic oddballs

From its perch a million miles from Earth, the James Webb Space Telescope has sighted two of the most distant galaxies ever — and delivered a brilliant surprise.  These galaxies are far brighter than anyone expected, challenging our view of how the cosmos took shape in the aftermath of the big bang 13.8 billion years ago.

Scientists had hoped that the world’s most advanced space telescope would deliver the unexpected, and “the universe did not let us down.  We discovered there are many more distant galaxies than we had been expecting.  Somehow the universe has managed to form galaxies faster and earlier than we thought.”

The big bang, a theory embraced by many scientists, holds that our universe began as a dense, hot bundle of matter so compact that it would have resembled a single point.  That bundle then expanded rapidly, giving rise to a primordial soup of tiny particles that ultimately coalesced into the universe we see today.  The new discoveries draw the curtain back on what the developing universe looked like a few hundred million years after its momentous beginning.

One of the two galaxies dates to about 350 million years after the big bang, making it the most distant galaxy ever discovered.  The second new galaxy is estimated to have existed about 400 million years after the birth of the cosmos.  “The universe is 13.8 billion years old. We’re looking back through 98 percent of all time to see a galaxy like this.”

These far-off galaxies are only a twentieth the size of our own Milky Way.  But the stars in these early galaxies are a million times brighter than our sun.

4 November 2022

First Martian life likely broke the planet with climate change, made themselves extinct

Ancient microbial life on Mars could have destroyed the planet’s atmosphere through climate change, which ultimately led to its extinction, new research has suggested.  The new theory comes from a climate modeling study that simulated hydrogen-consuming, methane-producing microbes living on Mars roughly 3.7 billion years ago.  At the time, atmospheric conditions were similar to those that existed on ancient Earth during the same period.  But instead of creating an environment that would help them thrive and evolve, as happened on Earth, Martian microbes may have doomed themselves just as they were getting started.

The findings suggest that life may not be innately self-sustaining in every conducive environment it pops up in, and that it can easily wipe itself out by accidentally destroying the foundations for its own existence.

25 October 2022

Why the James Webb Space Telescope's amazing 'Pillars of Creation' photo has astronomers buzzing

Pillars of Creation photo not found

"It's like taking the X-ray of a human."  The James Webb Space Telescope took a breathtaking look inside the "Pillars of Creation," a spectacular dust cloud formation made famous by its predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope.  The image is not only stunningly beautiful but also reveals cosmic processes never before observed with such clarity.

6 July 2022

‘Watershed moment’:  Doctors finding new hope in treatments for deadly pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer has a five-year survival rate of only around 10%.  Pancreatic cancer is poised to pass lung cancer as the deadliest tumor type, already surpassing colon, breast and prostate cancer.

A new treatment is in an early stage of development, but it is one of a handful of advances that is providing hope to what has long been one of the most hopeless forms of cancer.

A few cutting-edge advances and some seemingly small changes have given doctors reasons for optimism.  One is the realization that a gene called KRAS, mutated in many pancreatic tumors, could be "druggable."  Targeting KRAS by manipulating the immune system, and many tumors can be controlled.

Pancreatic cancer comes in many forms, and treating a patient's specific tumor can make a big difference.

Another improvement comes from a deeper understanding of the immune system and how to manipulate it to fight cancer, said Dr. Vinod P. Balachandran, at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Finding genetic mutations like KRAS, as well as the BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations better known for their link to breast cancers, can help identify patients who will respond to treatments targeting those mutations.

These insights come on top of advances in surgery and the sequencing of treatments that have improved and extended patients' lives.

"The best way to cure a cancer is to prevent it from forming."

6 May 2022

New drug cures cancer for 100% of patients in trial

Doctors have successfully cured rectal cancer in patients thanks to an experimental drug trial.  Oncologists at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) in New York found that the latest tests of patients showed no evidence of cancer.

The treatment uses immuno- therapy which harnesses the body’s own immune system as an ally against cancer.

For the first time, the MSK clinical trial was investigating if immunotherapy alone could beat rectal cancer that had not spread to other tissues, in a subset of patients whose tumour contained a specific genetic mutation.

As the first patient to enroll in the trial, the research team was anxious that Roth’s experience might prove to be an outlier but the same remarkable result was repeated in all 14 people in the trial.

In every case, the rectal cancer disappeared after immunotherapy — without the need for the standard treatments of radiation, surgery, or chemotherapy — and cancer has not returned in any of the patients, who have been cancer-free for up to two years.

The patients in the study had tumours with a specific genetic makeup known as mismatch repair-deficient (MMRd) or microsatellite instability (MSI).  There are 45,000 Americans diagnosed a year with rectal cancer.  Between 5% and 10% of all rectal cancer patients are thought to have MMRd tumours.

‘Immunotherapy has proven successful in treating a subset of patients with colon and rectal cancer that has metastasized, meaning spread to other tissues.’

The clinical trial also focused on avoiding the toxicity often associated with treatment for rectal cancer as the standard treatment for rectal cancer with surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy can be particularly hard on people because of the location of the tumour.  ‘They can suffer life-altering bowel and bladder dysfunction, incontinence, infertility, sexual dysfunction, and more,’

All patients in the trial must have stage 2 or 3 rectal tumors that are MMRd making their cancer particularly sensitive to immunotherapy.  The patients were given a drug intravenously every three weeks, for six months.

‘The immunotherapy shrank the tumours much faster than I expected.’

“The patient has only received one treatment and already they’re not bleeding anymore and their terrible pain has gone away.”

'They have preserved normal bowel function, bladder function, sexual function, fertility.  Women have their uterus and ovaries.  It’s remarkable.'

Most people diagnosed with it are over the age of 60.  However, there has been a disturbing rise in the number of people under 50 who are diagnosed with colorectal cancer, particularly rectal cancer.  ‘We are seeing more and more young people with rectal cancer, including people in their 20s in our trial.  Immunotherapy might be an important new option for them.’

8 May 2022

Ingenuity helicopter takes photos of debris field on Mars

The Ingenuity helicopter has captured a unique bird's-eye perspective of the gear that helped land the Perseverance rover on Mars.  During its one-year anniversary flight 26 on April 19, the little chopper took photos of the striped parachute used during Perseverance's landing -- often referred to as "7 minutes of terror" because it happens faster than radio signals can reach Earth from Mars -- on February 18, 2021.  It was the biggest parachute used on Mars to date, at 70.5 feet (21.5 meters) wide.  It also spotted the cone-shaped backshell that helped protect the rover and Ingenuity on the trip from Earth to Mars and during its fiery, plunging descent to the Martian surface.

"NASA extended Ingenuity flight operations to perform pioneering flights such as this.  Every time we're airborne, Ingenuity covers new ground and offers a perspective no previous planetary mission could achieve.  Mars Sample Return's reconnaissance request is a perfect example of the utility of aerial platforms on Mars."

During entry, descent and landing, the spacecraft faces scorching temperatures and gravitational forces as it plunges into the Martian atmosphere at almost 12,500 miles per hour (20,000 kilometers per hour).

Previously, we've only seen images of the discarded landing gear from a rover's perspective, like an image taken by Perseverance showing the parachute and backshell from a distance.  Aerial images, captured for the first time by Ingenuity from 26 feet (8 meters) in the air, provide more detail.

"Ingenuity's images offer a different vantage point.  If they either reinforce that our systems worked as we think they worked or provide even one dataset of engineering information we can use for Mars Sample Return planning, it will be amazing."  The backshell can be seen among a debris field it created after hitting the Martian surface while moving at about 78 miles per hour (126 kilometers per hour).  But the backshell's protective coating appears to be intact, as are the 80 suspension lines connecting it to the parachute.

"To get the shots we needed, Ingenuity did a lot of maneuvering, but we were confident because there was complicated maneuvering on flights 10, 12, and 13."

The helicopter and rover have arrived at an ancient river delta where water once flowed into Jezero Crater millions of years ago.  The imposing delta rises more than 130 feet (40 meters) above the crater floor and is riddled with boulders, pockets of sand and jagged cliffs -- and it could be the best place to search for signs of ancient life if it ever existed on Mars.  Ingenuity has the crucial task of surveying two dry river channels to see which one Perseverance should use to climb to the top of the delta.  It can also share images of features that could become potential science targets for the rover.

'Floating Sensors' Spread Like Dandelion Seeds

Dropped by a drone, the battery-free devices hover 100 meters in the air.

Dandelions have evolved to disperse their seeds more than a kilometer in the air.  Researchers from the University of Washington want to give sensors that kind of distance, in a way that supports agricultural and environmental-monitoring applications.  Like dandelion seeds, the sensors float in the breeze.  The device, about 30 times as heavy as a 1-milligram dandelion seed, can travel up to 100 meters on a windy day.  To keep the devices light and to ensure that the sensors landed with the solar panels facing skyward, the UW engineers needed to mimic the dandelion's shape.

Sensor data like temperature, humidity, pressure, and light can be shared from a distance of 60 meters.  The engineers designed the lightweight, flexible circuits and electronics to include a capacitor, a device that stores some charge overnight.

Princeton Plasma Physics Lab

PPPL is developing advanced low-temperature plasma applications ranging from nanofabrication for micro- electronics to plasma thrusters for space travel.

The team developing the spherical NSTX-U, PPPL's flagship fusion device, is advancing the physics and engineering basis for a next-step fusion reactor based on the spherical design.

The Princeton Collaborative Low Temperature Plasma Research Facility is a joint venture involving PPPL and Princeton University providing researchers with access to world-class diagnostics and computational tools for measuring and experimenting with low-temperature plasmas.

A new type of rocket thruster that could take humankind to Mars and beyond has been proposed.  The device would apply magnetic fields to cause particles of plasma, electrically charged gas also known as the fourth state of matter, to shoot out the back of a rocket and, because of the conservation of momentum, propel the craft forward.  Current space-proven plasma thrusters use electric fields to propel the particles.

The new concept would accelerate the particles using magnetic reconnection, a process found throughout the universe, including the surface of the sun, in which magnetic field lines converge, suddenly separate, and then join again, producing lots of energy.

In this new type of magnet, metal acts as insulation, and therefore, would not be damaged by particles.  In addition, it would operate at higher temperatures than current superconducting electromagnets do, making it easier to maintain.

PPPL scientists have achieved a break-through in the conceptual design of twisty stellarators, experimental magnetic facilities that could reproduce on Earth the fusion energy that powers the sun and stars.  The breakthrough shows how to more precisely shape the enclosing magnetic fields in stellarators to create an unprecedented ability to hold the fusion fuel together.

21 April 2022

Mars rover Perseverance rumbles by crashed artifacts in the Martian desert

NASA's Perseverance rover is on a mission to sleuth out past evidence of life on Mars.  Along the way, it found evidence of Earthlings.

This week, the space agency posted an image of two objects the rover passed while traversing the Martian desert:  a discarded parachute and a metal capsule.  Both played vital roles in helping the car-sized exploration rover land safely on Mars.

Note the objects in the middle of the image. On left is the collapsed orange
and white parachute; on right is a conspicuous part of the shell that housed
the rover as it plunged through Mars' atmosphere in February 2021.

Landing the 2,260-pound, $2.7 billion rover on Mars was an impressive feat, dubbed the "seven minutes of terror."  The plummeting spacecraft, traveling at some 1,000 mph, deployed a supersonic parachute to slow down.  It ditched its heavy heat shield.  Before choosing a safe landing spot (free of boulders, pits, or dangerous rocks), it abandoned the parachute; then a rocket-powered apparatus fired up and hovered in the air while carefully lowering the rover down to the ground.  Everything must work swimmingly — and it did.

The rover is now on its way to a dried-up delta in Mars' Jezero Crater, a place planetary scientists believe once hosted a lake.  "This delta is one of the best locations on Mars for the rover to look for signs of past microscopic life."

19 April 2022

Photo from 30 September 2021

In the past year, Ingenuity has made 25 flights, with a total of 46.5 minutes in the air to travel 5,824 meters, with a maximum height of twelve meters, on a mission that was intended only as a technological demonstration that you could fly on Mars, but that has gone much further.

After the five scheduled flights, the helicopter would have been left behind, while Perseverance continued on its way, as it was thought that “it would be unable to keep up with its pace”.

But with each flight, they have learned that it can follow the rover, maintain communication with it, charge its batteries, spend the frosty nights without being damaged.  Little by little they have widened the limits to “fly farther, faster, take pictures and add to the scientific value of the mission”.

In fact, Ingenuity has become a kind of helper.  “We no longer have to send Perseverance somewhere that could possibly be dangerous, such as sandy ground where its wheels can fit.”  The helicopter goes and takes photos, which help scientists understand the geochemical components of an area, without “worrying about whether Perserverance has to arrive or not.”

Ingenuity opens up the possibility that, “in five or ten years”, instead of a rover, a series of drones can be sent to Mars with different scientific instruments; this one is only provided with cameras.

14 April 2022

Ingenuity 25th flight sets records for speed, distance

NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity just flew farther and faster than it ever has before.  Ingenuity "broke its distance and ground speed records, traveling 704 meters [2,310 feet] at 5.5 meters per second while flying for 161.3 seconds."

According to Ingenuity's flight log, the greatest distance covered by the helicopter had been 2,051 feet (625 meters), achieved during a flight in July 2021.  Its previous speed record was 5 meters per second, which it reached on multiple flights. (5 meters per second is about 11.2 mph, or 18 kph. 5.5 meters per second is roughly 12.3 mph, or 19.8 kph.  Friday's sortie didn't set a duration record, however; that mark is 169.5 seconds, set during an August 2021 flight.

Ingenuity landed on the floor of Mars' Jezero Crater in February 2021 with NASA's life-hunting, sample-caching Perseverance rover.  The little chopper deployed from the rover's belly that April and embarked upon a five-flight, one-month mission designed to show that aerial exploration is possible on Mars despite the planet's thin atmosphere.

Ingenuity quickly left that initial campaign in the dust.  It's now flying on an extended mission, performing reconnaissance for Perseverance, which is making its way to an accessible remnant of the ancient river delta that once existed within Jezero.  Friday's flight was the second in five days for Ingenuity and its fifth sortie in the last month.  Perseverance has been making serious tracks on its drive to the delta, and Ingenuity needs to keep up.  In fact, the mission team wants the helicopter to get to the delta first.

"Ingenuity only communicates with the helicopter base station on Perseverance, so it needs to stay close enough to have a good connection."

7 April 2022

Ingenuity completes its 24th flight on Mars

Ingenuity completed its 24th flight on Mars, traveling a short 33 feet for 69.5 seconds in order to place it in a good position for an upcoming record-setting 25th flight.

The red dot on the map to the right indicates Perseverance’s present position.  The green dot shows where Ingenuity landed today.  The tan dashed lines indicate the planned routes for both.

Ingenuity’s next flight will take it out of the rough terrain of Seitah and much closer to Three Forks.

With Flight 24 in the log book, it is now time to look forward to the upcoming effort that charts a course out of Séítah.  Flight 25 – which was uplinked yesterday – will send Ingenuity 704 meters to the northwest (almost 80 meters longer than the current record – Flight 9).  The helicopter’s ground speed will be about 5.5 meters per second (another record) and we expect to be in the rarefied Martian air for about 161.5 seconds.

30 March 2022

Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Completes 23rd Flight – total distance flown is over 5,000 meters

NASA's Mars Ingenuity helicopter recently completed its 23rd excursion, flying for 129.1 seconds across 358 meters.

The latest milestone—which brings the copter's total distance flown to more than 5,000 meters – more than 3.1 miles.

The autonomous chopper has survived almost a year on the Red Planet – well beyond the 31-day original technology demonstration mission for which it was designed.

Ingenuity's mission has been extended through September 2022, allowing it to continue testing its limits in order to support the design of future Mars air vehicles.  To enhance the chances of success, NASA's JPL is making software updates to improve operational flexibility and flight safety.

24 March 2022

Mars helicopter Ingenuity flight 22 successful

"The trip lasted 101.4 seconds and Ingenuity got up to 33 feet in the air.  The team is planning another flight perhaps as early as later this week."

Ingenuity has been scouting possible routes and destinations for Perseverance as the rover hunts for signs of ancient life on Mars.

19 March 2022

Mars helicopter Ingenuity flight 21 another success

"Ingenuity successfully completed its 21st flight on the Red Planet.  The small rotorcraft traveled 370 meters [1,214 feet] at a speed of 3.85 meters per second [8.61 mph] and stayed aloft for 129.2 seconds."

NASA helicopter captures stunning view of the Martian desert

NASA's trusty helicopter will soon enter some precarious terrain.  The aerial craft Ingenuity is headed to a dried-up river delta in the Jezero Crater, a land filled "with jagged cliffs, angled surfaces, projecting boulders, and sand-filled pockets that could stop a rover in its tracks (or upend a helicopter upon landing)."

The image shows windswept sand in the foreground, and hilly, even mountainous terrain beyond. You can also spot the helicopter's shadow on the bottom of the frame, and a glimpse of the ball-like end of one of its legs on the upper left side of the image.

Over a series of at least three flights, NASA will send Ingenuity across an expanse of desert dubbed "Séítah".  its next journey is expected to span some 1,150 feet — while avoiding a hill.

The chopper will accompany the car-sized Perseverance rover on a journey through the dry river delta, a place planetary scientists suspect once teemed with water.

10 March 2022

Mars helicopter Ingenuity aces 20th flight; passes anniversary of first flight

The 4-pound (1.8 kilograms) Ingenuity landed on the floor of Jezero Crater with NASA's life-hunting, sample-caching Perseverance rover on Feb. 18, 2021.  Pn Friday, February 25, Ingenuity notched yet another milestone, this one of the round-number variety — its 20th Martian sortie.

"Flight 20 was a success! In its 130.3 seconds of flight, the #MarsHelicopter covered 391 meters [1,283 feet] at a speed of 4.4 meters per second [9.8 mph], bringing it closer to @NASAPersevere's landing location."

Ingenuity and Perseverance spent their first (Earth) year on Mars exploring locales to the south and west of their touchdown zone.  The duo are now heading back toward the landing site, on their way to more exciting real estate beyond.

"The delta in Jezero Crater is the reason we chose the landing site, and we hope to get to it later this spring."  Ingenuity is helping Perseverance get there, capturing airborne imagery that allows the rover's handlers to choose the safest and most efficient route toward the delta region.

26 Febuary 2022

When we saw one of the James Webb Space Telescope's first images earlier this month, it was made up of 18 versions of the same star coming from 18 different mirrors.  On Friday, NASA shared a view of that star again, but this time as a single, shining object.

The Webb team will continue to fine-tune the mirrors to "make the single dot of starlight progressively sharper and more focused in the coming weeks."  The mirror-alignment process started in early February and is expected to last three months. Each successful step brings Webb closer to full operation.

Thought for the Day

On this day, 26 February in 1616, the Roman Catholic Church banned Galileo Galilei from teaching or defending the view that the Earth orbits the Sun.

To put this in context, the Magellan expedition had completed the first recorded circumnavigation of the Earth in 1522 – 94 years prior.

Later, in 1633, Galileo, under threat of torture and facing his inquisitors, recanted.  But as he left the courtroom, he is said to have muttered, ‘all the same, it moves’.

It took the Church until 1822 to admit its mistake, and it was only in November of 1992 that the Vatican admitted Galileo was right.  At a ceremony in Rome, before the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Pope John Paul II officially declared that Galileo was right.

17 Febuary 2022

Mars helicopter Ingenuity aces 19th flight after historic Red Planet weather delay

The dust storm couldn't keep NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity grounded forever.  The 4-pound (1.8 kilograms) Ingenuity aced a 100-second sortie on February 8th, its 19th Red Planet flight overall but its first since December 15.

The flight had originally been targeted for January 5.  But on New Year's Day, a big dust storm kicked up near the 28-mile-wide (45 kilometers) Jezero Crater, which Ingenuity and its robotic partner, NASA's Perseverance rover, have been exploring since February 2021.

The Ingenuity team decided to stand down until the dust storm passed, making Ingenuity the first aircraft ever to have a flight delayed by inclement weather on another planet.

Two main factors underlay the decision to delay.  First, Ingenuity is solar powered, so lots of dust in the air could affect its ability to recharge its batteries.  Second, airborne dust absorbs solar radiation and heats up the surrounding atmosphere, thinning it out slightly.  That may not sound like a big deal, but Mars' air is just 1% as dense as that of Earth at sea level, so flying there is tricky even in the best of circumstances. The delay turned out to be the right call.  The dust storm did indeed roll over Jezero Crater, and the effects were observed by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the weather station aboard Perseverance, and Ingenuity's sensors.

About a 7% ddrop in air density was observed, which put density below the lower threshold of safe flight and would have imparted undue risk to the spacecraft.

The dust also reduced the amount of sunlight absorbed by Ingenuity's solar array, which fell about 18% below normal 'clear sky' levels.

The flight took Ingenuity out of a rugged patch of Jezero's floor known as South Séítah, over a ridge and onto a plateau.  Ingenuity stayed aloft for 99.98 seconds and covered about 205 feet (62 meters).

3 Febuary 2022

Dust storm grounded Mars helicopter, but it's ready to fly again

One of the Red Planet's famous dust storms has kept the Mars helicopter Ingenuity grounded for two weeks, but the aircraft is scheduled for its 19th flight as early as Sunday, according to NASA.

Around the first of the year, NASA planned Flight 19 of the tiny, 4-pound helicopter on Jan. 5. But weather forecasters on Ingenuity's team in California noticed signs of the approaching dust storm.

Ingenuity is holding up much better than anyone expected.  NASA designed the aerial drone to demonstrate powered, controlled flight on another planet for the first time in a 30-day mission.  But Ingenuity has been functioning nominally for over nine months.  "We do not see significant signs of wear to any components.  However ... the Mars helicopter has numerous off-the-shelf parts that were not designed for space exploration."

"A strong regional dust storm appeared on the first day of the new year, encompassing Jezero crater just as we scheduled Flight 19.  We have never seen a storm of this strength so early in the Mars year before."  Instruments on the nearby Perseverance rover and on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that circles Mars indicated the storm could arrive just as Flight 19 took off.  Dust storms have two negative impacts on Ingenuity.  First, they obscure sunlight needed for the aircraft's solar panels.  Secondly, suspended dust particles are heated by sunlight which makes the air less dense -- a problem for the helicopter's rotors.  The dust storm resulted in an 18% drop in the amount of power flowing to Ingenuity's batteries from its solar panels, and air density dropped below safe thresholds.

Ingenuity is due to fly about 207 feet on Flight 19, heading north back toward its original landing field, in preparation for it to scout further northern pathways for Perseverance, ahead of an approach to an ancient river delta that is still 1.5 miles away.

20 January 2022

Tonga volcano helping space scientists understand Mars

NASA scientists say that the eruption of a submarine volcano in Tonga is helping them to understand how features formed on the surfaces of Mars and Venus.

The explosion has been calculated at more than 500 times the force of the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945.

The volcanic island, which began to form from ash and lava expelled from an undersea volcano in early 2015, piqued the interest of researchers because of its similarity to structures on Mars and possibly also Venus.  “We don’t normally get to see islands form.”  But this one offered “a front-row seat”.

Submarine eruptions differ significantly from those that occur on land, and can produce different landforms.  The presence of large quantities of sea water can make the explosions more violent, while also rapidly cooling the lava and restricting the amount of gas emitted from it.

16 January 2022

Device Diagnoses COVID-19 from Saliva

Engineers at MIT and Harvard University have designed a small tabletop device that can detect SARS-CoV-2 from a saliva sample in about an hour.  In a new study, they showed that the diagnostic is just as accurate as the PCR tests now used.

The device can also be used to detect specific viral mutations linked to some of the SARS-CoV-2 variants that are now circulating.

The device produces a fluorescent readout that can be seen with the naked eye, and the researchers also designed a smartphone app that can read the results and send them to public health departments for easier tracking.

The new diagnostic can be assembled for about $15, but those costs could come down to a cost as low as $2 to $3 per device if the devices were produced at large scale.

13 January 2022

Ingenuity's 19th flight – may have had a problem attempting takeoff

Red supergiant star's death witnessed by astronomers for the first time

Researchers had detected bright radiation from the red supergiant for the last year, and it was under observation during the last 130 days before it collapsed into a Type II supernova.

"Direct detection of pre-supernova activity in a red supergiant star has never been observed before in an ordinary type II supernova.  For the first time, we watched a red supergiant star explode."

The observational data suggests that at least some stars must undergo significant changes in their internal structure, leading to the ejection of gas ahead of their collapse.  The data revealed evidence of dense circumstellar material around the star at the time of the explosion.

Further monitoring post-explosion and additional data helped researchers to determine that the red supergiant star was 10 times more massive than the sun.

"I am most excited by all of the new ‘unknowns’ that have been unlocked by this discovery."

James Webb Space Telescope is fully deployed

"#NASAWebb is fully deployed!  With the successful deployment & latching of our last mirror wing, that's: 50 major deployments, complete.  178 pins, released.  20+ years of work, realized," the agency tweeted.  "Next to #UnfoldTheUniverse:  traveling out to our orbital destination of Lagrange point 2!"

"This is the last of the major deployments on the observatory, and its completion will set the stage for the remaining five and a half months of commissioning, which consist of settling into stable operating temperature, aligning the mirrors and calibrating the science instruments."

There are another five-and-a-half months of set-up activities on the docket before Webb will be ready to deliver its first images.  The next step will be a multi-day, multi-step mission to activate and move each of Webb's 18 primary mirror segments out of their launch configuration.

Webb has a million-mile journey to reach its destination – in another two weeks – where it can orbit the sun in line with the Earth.  The trip takes the JWST to the second Lagrange (L2) point, a point that enables continuous communications with Webb through the Deep Space Network.

The telescope will "explore every phase of cosmic history," according to NASA, peering back 13.7 billion years.  "Webb will reveal new and unexpected discoveries and help humanity understand the origins of the universe and our place in it.  The promise of Webb is not what we know we will discover; it’s what we don’t yet understand or can’t yet fathom about our universe."

China to complete major space station in 2022

China has recommitted itself to completing its orbiting space station by the end of the year and says it is planning more than 40 launches for 2022, putting it roughly level with the United States.  Launches would include those of two Shenzhou crewed missions, two Tianzhou cargo spacecraft and the station’s additional two modules.  Named Mengtian and Wentian, the science modules will join the Tianhe core module that is currently home to a three-person crew.

Among the most anticipated is the launch expected around March of the Space Launch System — a 1,010-meter (332-foot-) rocket slated for future lunar missions.

The current six-month mission Shenzhou-13 by the crew aboard Tianhe is China’s longest since it first put a human in space in 2003, becoming only the third country to do so after Russia and the U.S.

Upon completion, the station will weigh about 66 tons, about a quarter the size of the International Space Station.  The ISS launched its first module in 1998 and weighs around 450 tons.

2 January 2022

Cloth masks do not protect against Omicron

Single-layer cloth masks may not provide adequate protection against the very infectious omicron variant of COVID-19.  Cloth masks can only block larger droplets of COVID-19, not smaller aerosols or particles that can also carry the virus.

N95 masks protect against Omicron.  Surgical masks block the COVID-19 virus through its polypropylene electrostatic charge characteristics, while N95 masks have a tighter mesh of fibers than surgical or cloth masks with also electrostatic charge characteristics, which allows the mask to be most efficient at blocking inhaled and exhaled particles.

However, more research is needed to know if surgical masks will protect against the very contagious omicron variant.  "If everyone is just wearing a cloth mask or just a surgical mask, it won’t make any difference" against the omicron variant.

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