Category: Points of Information

Very brief descriptions, with appropriate links, of current or recent news items.

A new theory for making liquid water once possible on Mars

1:14 pm

In order to explain the many gullies on Mars, scientists at Brown University have now proposed a new model that says liquid water could exist periodically on the surface of Mars, caused by the cyclical changes in the planet’s rotational tilt, ranging from 11 to 60 degrees.

From editor’s summary of the paper:

Some steep slopes on Mars have gullies with morphologies suggesting that they were formed by a fluid. However, the planet’s current climate is not conducive to the melting of water ice at those locations, and mechanisms involving carbon dioxide ice do not explain the distribution of the gullies. [This paper] simulated how the climate of Mars differed when its axis tilted by different amounts over the past few million years. At a tilt of 35 degrees, the ice caps partially melted, raising the atmospheric pressure, and there were higher summer temperatures. Under these conditions, the atmospheric pressure at the gullies would be above the triple point of water, so it could melt to form a liquid.

The paper estimates these conditions last existed on Mars about 630,000 years ago, though the process repeated itself many times over the past several million years, each time causing some water ice to melt and flow down to form gullies. As the planet’s inclination then changed, conditions changed as well, producing colder temperatures at these latitudes so the water froze once again.

Though this is only a model with many uncertainties, it suggests a more reasonable explanation for the past existence of liquid surface water on Mars, temporary, periodic, and rare, than most other models. Combined with the possibility that ice glaciers themselves could have contributed to the formation of many of Mars’ riverlike channels, it seems that scientists are beginning to form a rough concept explaining how Mars evolved to what it is today.

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The icy floor of one of Mars’ most ancient craters

12:44 pm

Overview map

The icy floor of one of Mars' most ancient craters
Click for original image.

Cool image time! The picture to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on April 3, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It focuses on a small crater in the center of 265-mile-wide Greeley Crater, named in 2015 after the late Ron Greeley, who had been involved in almost every planetary mission from the 1960s until his passing in 2011.

Greeley Crater is intriguing because of its age, estimated to be about four billion years old, as indicated by crater counts and the crater’s heavily eroded condition.

This ancient crater, which has already been heavily eroded and filled with sediment, is difficult to make out against the Martian landscape due to its relatively shallow depth of only 1.5 kilometres – indeed, the crater rim has disappeared altogether in places.

Greeley is also intriguing by its location in the southern mid-latitudes. On the overview map above the red dot inside Greeley marks the location of today’s picture. This is a region with lots of evidence of ice and glacial features inside craters. The picture shows a small two-mile-wide crater about 500 feet deep inside Greeley. Both inside and outside the crater the surface suggests ice, either in glacial formations on the crater floor or as a soft flat plain that allows impacts to sink in without producing a rim or much ejecta.

While research has suggested a large number of glaciers in the outlined region on the western edge of the overview map, the evidence continues to build that near-surface ice exists everywhere throughout the mid-latitudes of Mars.

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King Charles III proposes his own vision for space, focused not on private enterprise but on achieving a globalist utopia

10:47 am

We’re here to help you! King Charles III yesterday announced a major space policy concept which he dubbed Astra Carta, aimed at making the leftist utopian vision the prime guidance for any future exploration or settlement of the solar system.

The statement from the Palace says the “Astra Carta aims to convene the private sector in creating and accelerating sustainable practices across the global space industry. It also recognises the unique role that space can play in creating a more sustainable future on Earth and the need for the space industry to consider environmental and sustainability impacts beyond our planet. Its ambition encourages a focus on placing sustainability at the core of space activity.”

You can read a detailed summary of Astra Carta’s goals here [pdf]. Its aims however make clear Charles’ globalist and Marxist goals, as previously outlined by his 2021 Terra Carta proposal for Earth:
» Read more

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Blue Origin negotiating with India to use its rockets and capsule for Orbital Reef space station

10:20 am

According to the head of India’s space agency ISRO, he has been in discussions with Blue Origin about using different versions of that nation’s largest rocket (dubbed LVM-3 or GSLV-Mk3 depending on configuration) and its manned capsule (still under development) for eventually ferrying crew and cargo to Blue Origin’s proposed Orbital Reef space station.

Somanath said: “We are exploring … In fact, we’ve already discussed it with Blue Origin and they are very keen to consider this option of LVM-3 becoming a crew capsule mission to service the Orbital Reef. It is a possibility and we are engaging through IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre).”

On the challenge of integrating a docking system that is compatible, he said standard docking systems are in the public domain. “…Whoever can design a docking system that matches with the US design and standard, can be used. However, we will still need to have agreements with agencies to try it out given that there are multiple interfaces — electrical, mechanical and so on. It is not just one document, we will need to work with them to develop it. We will do that.

It appears Somanath has also had discussions with NASA about also providing the same service to ISS.

An Orbital Reef deal however suggests something very disturbing about Blue Origin. The plan had been to use Blue Origin’s New Glenn orbital rocket (also still under development but years behind schedule) to launch crew and cargo capsules to the station. That in fact is supposed to be Blue Origin’s main technical contribution to the station. Why would the company then look to India for such capability, unless it recognizes that there are more problems with New Glenn that it has not revealed?

It is also possible that Jeff Bezos is simply expressing his leftwing globalist agenda with these negotiations. Or it could mean some combination of both. This situation bears watching.

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Using pulsars scientists detect background signal of the universe’s gravitational waves

10:07 am

The uncertainty of science: Using the variations in the precise radio pulses sent out by many pulsars over a fifteen year year astronomers think they have detected the background signal produced by many gravitational waves over time throughout the universe.

Astrophysicists using large radio telescopes to observe a collection of cosmic clocks in our Galaxy have found evidence for gravitational waves that oscillate with periods of years to decades, according to a set of papers published today in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. The gravitational-wave signal was observed in 15 years of data acquired by the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) Physics Frontiers Center (PFC), a collaboration of more than 190 scientists from the US and Canada who use pulsars to search for gravitational waves. International collaborations using telescopes in Europe, India, Australia and China have independently reported similar results.

Imagine that each wave is a single wave on the ocean. This detection is the rough equivalent of looking at the ocean’s overall surface and measuring the general roughness of all the waves.

The press is making a big deal about this discovery. It is good science, and will over time provide valuable insights into evolution and merger of black holes, but it is not that big a deal, especially because this research carries with it many assumptions and uncertainties that good scientists recognize. They thus remain somewhat skeptical about the data. Mainstream journalists however consider gravitational waves cool, and so they hype any press release about them, sometimes to the point of absurdity.

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MOXIE instrument on Perseverance sets new record for oxygen production

9:54 am

The MOXIE instrument on Perseverance this month doubled its last record for producing oxygen from the thin Martian atmosphere of carbon dioxide.

“This was the riskiest run we’ve done,” [Michael Hecht, MOXIE’s principal investigator] told Space.com in an exclusive interview. “This could have gone wrong,” he said, and could have led to minor damage to the instrument, but it didn’t. The milestone setting Mars run took place on June 6, operating during the Martian night, and lasted 58 minutes, Hecht said.

The requirements for MOXIE were to produce 6 grams of oxygen an hour, a rate that was eventually doubled. “We rolled the dice a little bit. It was ‘hold your breath and see what happens,'” Hecht said.

Informally dubbed by Hecht and his team as “the last hurrah,” MOXIE delivered the goods on its 15th run on Mars since first gulping up Martian atmosphere within Jezero Crater on April 20, 2021.

Producing twelve grams of oxygen per hours is a very big deal. A person requires about 20 grams per hour, so this demonstration instrument has shown it can produce more than half that. Build a larger version designed to work continuously, and you easily will create enough oxygen on Mars to sustain a colony.

This means the first humans to arrive on Mars will not need to bring oxygen, only enough Moxies. More important, the oxygen supply will be infinite, putting no limit to their stay.

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Redwire gets new contract to build two more replacement solar panels for ISS

9:44 am

Redwire has gotten a new contract from NASA, through its main contractor Boeing, to build two more Roll-Out Solar Arrays (IROSA) for ISS that are being installed to replace the stations aging original solar panels.

Since 2021, a total of six Redwire-built arrays have been developed, delivered, and deployed on the ISS, augmenting its critical power supply. Each wing provides an additional 20+ kW of power once deployed, and all eight IROSA wings combined will provide more than 160 kW for over 10 years.

These roll out arrays are installed during a space walk, and then roll out on top of the old panels. They are small but more power efficient.

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Google employees (!) force the company to drop sponsorship of queer event

1:43 pm

Is free speech and debate finally possible at Google?
Is free speech and debate finally possible at Google?

Pushback? It appears that a petition signed by hundreds of Google employees has compelled the company to drop sponsorship of a queer drag queen event in San Francisco because the performer’s “provocative and inflammatory artistry is considered a direct affront to the religion, beliefs and sensitivities of Christians.”

The authors also demanded an apology from the organizers, saying they had complained to Google’s HR department – People Operations – alleging the venue violated the company’s event guidelines regarding sexually explicit activity.

When I saw this article earlier today my jaw dropped, for two reasons. First, it is astonishing that such a petition was put together by Google employees, considering that most are very leftist and strongly support the queer agenda, to the point of causing the firing of one software manager because he expressed publicly some reservations about it. You would think the mob mentality that dominates this corporate culture would cause its employees to keep quiet about their opposition to such sponsorship.

Yet, these employees put together a petition, and got hundreds to sign it. Moreover, it appears those employees faced little pushback from the leftist mob that has previously run Google.

Second, it is astonishing that Google followed through. » Read more

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Perseverance spots a doughnut-shaped rock

1:03 pm

Doughnut-shaped rock in Jezero Crater
Click for original image.

The Mars rover has spent the last few months exploring just beyond the western rim of half-mile-wide Belva crater, which sits on top of the delta that eons ago flowed into 30-mile-wide Jezero Crater. During that time the science team has been using its various cameras to study the surrounding terrain.

One of those cameras is the SuperCam Remote Micro Imager. This camera is a variation of Curiosity’s ChemCam, designed initially to look very closely at nearby objects. The Curiosity team however discovered they could also use ChemCam to look at distant objects, and in this case the Perseverance team was doing the same with SuperCam, gazing outward at more remote features.

The result was the picture to the right, cropped, reduced, brightened, and sharpened to post here. It was taken on June 23, 2023, and shows what appears to be a several-foot-wide rock with a hole in its center. According to the SETI Institute’s tweet that publicized the picture, the rock might be “a large meteorite alongside smaller pieces.”

If this was Curiosity I would be certain the science team would take the rover close to the rock. The Perseverance team however seems to have different goals, mostly centered on finding drill spots for obtaining its core samples for later return to Earth. It has not therefore been as exploratory as Curiosity. It seems to have rarely diverged from its planned route, and when it has it has not done so to look at singular features like this. We shall see what they finally decide.

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Sierra Space says first Dream Chaser will be ready for launch by December

12:41 pm

In a presentation at an investor conference on June 27, 2023, a Sierra Space official provided an update on the status of its first Dream Chaser reusable mini-shuttle, dubbed Tenacity, stating that they expect it to be ready for launch by December, with the main question whether its ULA Vulcan launch rocket will also be ready.

The launch is supposed to be the second for Vulcan, but the first launch was just delayed for an undetermined amount of time so ULA can make modifications to the rocket’s Centaur upper stage. Once Tenacity is flying Sierra has a contract with NASA for seven cargo flights to ISS, with plans beyond.

The company is also working on a second version that can carry both crew and cargo. Vice said that version will have 40% greater cargo capacity than the first version and can support a six-person crew.

The ability of Dream Chaser to glide back to Earth in a runway landing, rather than splash down in the ocean, is a key selling point to customers, he argued. “We just think that landing at runways around the world is a huge differentiator: low-g landing back on a runway for both time-critical cargo and science, but also just the way people are going to want to fly back and land.”

The official also indicated that this human-rated version is being designed to work with the private Orbital Reef space station that Sierra Space is building in partnership with other companies. The company also said it is planning its own free flying version of its Orbital Reef LIFE module that the company hopes to launch by the end of 2026, ahead of Orbital Reef. If so, that would make this the sixth independent private space station planned by American companies.

Because much of this presentation was designed to impress potential investors, we should take it with a touch of skepticism. Nonetheless, that the company is considering launching its own station, independent of the Blue Origin-led Orbital Reef station, suggests it has its own doubts about whether that project will ever take off as planned, and has thus decided to make its own contingency plans.

Hat tip to Jay, BtB’s stringer.

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Another tourist site for future Starship passengers on Mars

12:16 pm

Another tourist site for future Starship passengers on Mars
Click for original image.

Cool image time! The picture to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on April 11, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It shows the northwest quadrant of a 7-mile-wide crater whose western rim was smashed by the later impact that created a smaller 2.8-mile-wide crater.

What makes this location interesting is what fills both craters, and how that material appears to flow through a gap in the smaller crater. The color strip suggests the peaks of the rim and small knobs are dust-covered, while the flat materials below are either “coarser-grained materials” that might also have elements of frost or ice within them. The science team thinks ice is involved, having labeled this picture “Ice Flow Features between Craters.”
» Read more

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