Synopsis: Domenii: Space:

This year, for the first time, there was none only dry earth. The state's governor, Jerry brown, made the journey for the annual measurement

according to Jay Famiglietti of NASA's Jet propulsion laboratory in California. The current drought in the Sierra nevada,

These molecules then diffuse into a cavity just outside the placenta, known as the intervillous space.

He borrowed the algorithm his colleagues used to analyse the Earth vibrations, and incorporated it into his modified MRI SCANNER.

#First pocket rockets take tiny satellites for a spin The next giant leap in space exploration could start with a small spin around the lab. A new propulsion system for shrunk-down satellites called Cubesats just passed a key lab test,

Cubesats, cheap, simple satellites built from off-the-shelf parts, promise a revolution in space exploration but only if only we can steer them.

Because they are so simple to build, they could open up space exploration to students and countries that lack their own space programmes,

says Paulo Lozano at the Massachusetts institute of technology. e want to offer space access to people who don currently have space access,

Lozano told a meeting of science writers in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Sunday. About 10 of the 1-kilogram satellites can hitch a ride into space with a larger payload.

Once theye there, they can do serious science, from climate modelling to exoplanet hunting. But they are stuck also in that orbit for their entire working lives.

Not only does this limit their usefulness, but Cubesats can become dangerous space junk. f little satellites had the capability to move,

we could do a lot of things that currently we cannot, Lozano says. So Lozano and his colleagues are designing a miniature propulsion system small enough to fit in your pocket that can steer Cubesats around low-Earth orbit

or even out of the solar system altogether. Instead of chemical fuel, which is heavy and inefficient, they use an ionic liquid,

made entirely of positively or negatively charged ions. Because the material is liquid at room temperature, it is safer and simpler to take it into space than a plasma or gas.

Applying an electric field can send these ions streaming away from the satellite at high speeds

producing a force in the opposite direction. The theory was sound, but a few questions kept Lozano up at night.

Would the ions left behind corrode the spacecraft? Would the spacecraft itself remain neutrally charged,

or would the positive ions left behind pull the negative ions back in, cancelling out the thrust?

This August, Lozano and his students tested the complete system, Cubesat and all. They put it in a vacuum chamber

and magnetically levitated it to mimic the conditions in space, and placed the thrusters on opposite sides of the Cubesat to push it in a circle,

rather than having it fly around the lab. One thruster emitted positive ions and the other negative ones, keeping the Cubesat neutrally charged.

After 20 minutes of continuous firing, the Cubesat spun at about 2 rotations per minute.

Lozano says this would be enough to take a Cubesat from an altitude of 400 kilometres up to 800 kilometres

or to deorbit it at the end of its life. t produces the force it should be producing given the amount it was told emitting,

Lozano New Scientist. ee quite happy. Next, the team fired the thrusters continuously for 140 hours,

using up all the fuel without corroding the spacecraft. his is one of the other show stoppers we had at the beginning:

How long until the satellites are ready for flight? The team has given three of their propulsion systems to the NASA Glenn Research center in Ohio,

where they are running more tests. t up to them if they want to fly them, Lozano says. hope maybe this year

From the lab to the stars After creating the DWLS, Escuti looked for potential applications.

And that search brought him to a team of astronomers at Leiden University including Frans Snik, Matthew Kenworthy,

For years, astronomers have devised telescopes that, in theory, can use light to help them unravel the mysteries of the universe.

But these theoretical designs were hampered often by the limits of technology.""Light is everything in astronomy--it's the carrier of almost all information

and knowledge we have of the universe, "says Snik. Now Escuti was being asked to help turn theory into reality."

"The astronomers I am working with at Leiden had ideas for novel components and instrument designs that could make better use of the light collected by telescopes,

"Escuti says.""They wanted to know if we could make holograms with specific characteristics that had previously been technologically impossible.

And we could.""For example, he said, his team has provided the astronomers with geometric phase holograms that they have used build advanced coronagraphs--telescopes that can see things close to stars--to study exoplanets beyond our solar system."

"They wanted to redistribute the blazing light of the halo around a star, so that the faint light coming from a planet orbiting that star can be observed with better contrast

--and then analyze the planet's light to learn about its composition and other characteristics,

"Escuti says.""They're now able to do that with better performance than ever before. We've been working with them for a few years now,

and have helped create several new astronomical tools.""Snik added the new options offered by their technology provides significant new potential for astronomical research."

"With these components and techniques, we have for the first time in perhaps many decades fundamentally expanded the astronomer's toolkit for manipulating light from astronomical sources,

Down to earth applications In addition to astronomy, the DWLS has found use in creating geometric phase holograms for use in mobile displays, holographic imaging,

and remote-sensing devices for everything from satellites to cameras. One high-profile application was the visually impressive"Rainbow Station,

Escuti is continuing to work on new applications with direct support from the National Science Foundation and the Jet propulsion laboratory

The X-rays required were generated by electrons that were accelerated to nearly the speed of light over a distance of approximately one centimeter by laser pulses lasting around 25fs.

but also to greatly improve the precision of atomic clocks, telescopes, and GPS equipment. The research was performed by scientists from the Laser Physics

Besides the absolute speed of light passing from one point to another, light has speed another, measured by how fast the crests of a wavelength move, known as phase velocity.

This speed of light increases or decreases depending on the material it passes through. When light passes through water, for example, its phase velocity is reduced as its wavelengths are squeezed together.

meaning light no longer behaves as a moving wave, traveling through space in a series of crests and troughs.

The crests and troughs oscillate only as a variable of time, not space.""This uniform phase allows the light to be stretched or squashed, twisted or turned, without losing energy.

#Liquid Water Likely Flows On the Salty Hills of Mars It almost as if our moon turned blood red last night to herald NASA latest Red planet news. At 11:30 EDT,

NASA Headquarters will hold a press conference to discuss their most recent finding: new data that suggests liquid water exists on Mars even today.

This could be the first time in mission history that we have definitive reason to believe there might be microbial life on our closest neighbor.

In a paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience, Dr. Alfred S. Mcewen and other scientists identified waterlogged molecules salts of a type known as perchlorates in readings from orbit. hat

In 1972, NASA Mariner 9 spacecraft discovered evidence of erosion features on Mars that implicated the presence of water at some point in the planet past.

the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) aboard the European space agency Mars Express spacecraft took a photo of a water ice crater 35 meters in diameter at the Martian north pole.

Finally, in March of this year, NASA and colleagues at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) uncovered evidence of a massive ancient ocean that once covered almost half of Mars northern hemisphere.

But until now, scientists had not yet found any signs of liquid water on the present-day surface of Mars

In 2011, Dr. Mcewen (a planetary geologist at the University of Arizona and principal investigator of images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter) spotted dark streaks sloping down some of Mars canyons and mountains.

but measurements indicate very low humidity on Mars only enough for 10 microns, or about 1/2, 500th of an inch, of rain across the planet if all of the wetness were wrung out of the air.

That idea cannot be ruled entirely out if the lower part of the atmosphere turns out more humid than currently thought.

The other possibility is frozen that water underground might be seeping to the surface during the summer.

but even a state-of-the-art humanoid such as NASA's Robonaut has only 42 sensors in its hand and wrist,

. and with support from NASA. It incorporates commercially available fiber Bragg grating sensors, which detect strain by measuring shifts in the wavelength of light propagating through optical fiber.

Without it, blind people can have a tough time learning their way around a new space.

#A 3d printed, Battery-Powered Rocket engine Nothing demonstrates engineering prowess and technical knowhow quite like rocket science.

To launch even a lightweight rocket into space, the cost is easily upwards of $100 million

you quickly arrive at the rocket engine, Peter Beck, CEO of New zealand-based private spaceflight company Rocket Lab, tells Popular Science.

Its really difficult to build a low-cost rocket engine and one you can produce in large numbers.

To combat the exorbitant costs of space travel, Rocket Lab is reshaping both the way rocket engines are manufactured

and the way they function. Today at the Space Symposium in Colorado, the company unveiled its brand-new engine, named Rutherford--the first-ever battery-powered rocket engine.

The design, made almost entirely of 3d printed parts, will be used on Rocket Labs Electron orbital launch vehicle,

which will get its first test spin later this year. Rocket engines today more or less follow the same formula.

Liquid fuel and a liquid oxidizer combine within a combustion chamber and ignite. Ultimately its this combustion that thrusts the rocket forward.

However, feeding the propellants into the chamber is complicated a process, requiring separate turbopumps to transport the liquids at super-high speeds into a high-pressure area.

Typically, another engine is needed just to operate these pumps, requiring extra hardware and additional fuel.

which propel rockets by accelerating ions. Such an engine is currently being used on the Dawn mission to the dwarf planet Ceres. However,

Rutherford is the first to incorporate battery power in its engine. If that wasn't unique enough,

The Rutherford engine will be the main propulsion source for Rocket Labs Electron vehicle which the company hopes to use as a low-cost method for launching satellites and other small payloads of up to 220 pounds into space.

They estimate that their rocket, which is 65 feet long and 3 feet wide, will only cost about $4. 9 million for each liftoff.

As the nation closely watches Spacexs attempts to bring down the cost of spaceflight by reusing its rockets,

Rocket Lab hopes this new design will also alleviate some of the financial burden that comes with space travel.

The program is about reducing cost and increasing launch frequency to create a solid space infrastructure,

says Beck. And the more communication satellite constellations circulating our planet, the closer we get to a more connected world d

#Augmented reality Glasses Are Coming To The Battlefield Using a pair of augmented reality glasses, a Marine signals intelligence (SIGINT) specialist monitors web traffic while he lies on the ground,

can be hard to read when the Marine moves between bright sunlight and the shade of a building,

#MIT Invention Turns Salt water Into Drinking water Using Solar power From plants to people, every living thing on this planet needs water.

Using the sun instead of fossil fuels to power a desalination plant isn't a totally new idea.

But the movement of the earth's tectonic plates isn't like the smooth movement of gears in a machine.

the earth jerks in a sudden and devastating release, cracking along a fault, or fracture in the earth's crust.

is a fault where one part of the earth is pushed up and over another section of the earth.

a geologist who worked in the region told Kate Ravilious for Cosmos s

#Haptic Gloves Use Air pressure To Simulate The Feel Of Virtual Objects Virtual reality has focused typically on matters of sight and sound,

and perhaps even automatic parking in environments where space is limited. The good news is that

and in drones they detect the force of gravity, letting the craft know which way is down.

theye a great model for micro-robots, where all space is at a premium. Tiny rescue robots in the future may not have room for an accelerometer, even a small one,

with various rain clouds virtually scattered about the space and an immense funnel that darts about the room.

but also to squeeze into tight spaces as it moves forward (moving the aluminum component can change its direction).

until they discover a way for the liquid metal to react with the atmosphere). The liquid metal could be used to build self contained pumps that don't require outside power or batteries, saving on weight and complexity for items like night vision and laser cooling pumps.

since the sun's rays don't reach that far. But each GENESI node and sensor includes a miniature wind turbine that harvests energy from passing trains.

and they run a high risk of running into each other in confined spaces. Now researchers from The swiss Federal Institute of technology have created an artificial eye and navigation system for these drones based on insectsvision,

or changes in how light is reflectederfect for maneuvering drones through small spaces with lots of obstacles.

000 Years Your DNA holds an incredible amount of information in a very small space.

what could become an information black hole without realizing it. A team of swiss engineers hope to employ DNA as a method to store more data.

it no longer makes sense to throw our digitized cultural documents into an informational black hole

#Super-Strong Material Inspired By Squid Teeth Is Self-Healing A team of researchers led by engineers from Penn State university has created the first material that heals itself in the presence of water, according to a study published yesterday in Scientific Reports.

#Plug Your Toaster Into the Sun Sunport lets you use solar power at homeithout the panels.

or who don have the space. But a new device called the Sunport lets you use solar energy, anywhere,

and Phone for Outlet Space is No more Samsung has released a monitor with a charging station at the base where users can wirelessly charge their phones.

You step into the space expecting to see something new to lose yourself in stunning compositions anderhaps most importantlyivid colors.

The Hoope idea originated from a NASA camp where Damel team bested 80 other scientists in developing an impactful product.

but it will have the advantage of being able to continue producing power even after the sun goes down.

The 800 rows follow the sun as it tracks across the heavens, whirring quietly every few minutes as their shadows slip further east.

the four plants at Ouarzazate will occupy a space as big as Morocco capital city,

In contrast, water and sunlight are available in vast abundance. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart and from LMU Munich have created now a material that uses light to produce the versatile energy source hydrogen from water.

What is needed is a substance that directly uses the energy of sunlight to split the hydrogen-oxygen bonds in water.

From the lab bench to practical applications Despite the early success, these materials are still far from being considered for industrial hydrogen generation using water and sunlight.

whereas compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles compress natural gas into an empty tank under 250 atmospheres (3, 600 psi).

such as 35 atmospheres, but gives it all up at a pressure where the engine can operate,

between 5 and 6 atmospheres. MOFS, which have a lot of internal surface area to adsorb gaseshat is,

along with serving to increase natural gas-powered vehicle driving range within the limited cargo space. atural gas storage in porous materials provides the key advantage of being able to store significant amounts of natural gas at low pressures

and chilled to temperatures colder than outer space has revealed an unexpected phase transition that crosses two different phase categories.

an associate professor in Purdue's Dept. of Physics and Astronomy who led the research.""It is something like changing water from liquid to ice;

and the ultrapure crystals used in this research were grown by a group led by Michael Manfra, professor of physics and astronomy at Purdue.

and a pressure as high as 10,000 atmospheres, which is 10 times the pressure one would feel in the deepest part of the ocean, the Mariana trench.

The microwave-assisted strategy works by increasing the space, and therefore decreasing the interaction, between individual layers of Mos2 nanosheets.

and hydrogen fuel cells,"said Yugang Sun, a nanoscience scientist in Argonne's Nanoscience and Technology Div."

Earth-abundant materials that could provide low-cost alternatives to platinum-based catalysts. Platinum is an extremely efficient catalyst for splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen

and offering new conceptual tools that can be applied more broadly in the quest to split water with sunlight.

"Excited electrons When building a sun-capturing electrode, scientists aim to use as much of the solar spectrum as possible to excite electrons in the electrode to move from one state to another,

In contrast to conventional solar photovoltaic cells that produce electricity directly from sunlight, solar thermal generation of energy is developed as a large power plant in

which acres of mirrors precisely reflect sunlight onto a solar receiver. That energy has been used to heat a fluid that in turn drives a turbine to produce electricity.

and protect our planet for future generations"said EPA Administrator Gina Mccarthy.""Today's announcement presents a major environmental, social and public health opportunity for the U s,

So, we have a much larger input space than current electronics allow for, "he said. The prototype is based on advances in so-called'electronic skin'that allow robots to better sense their environment,

of our increasingly fragmented forests Can a forest that exists only in the spaces between roads

and seemingly defy gravity. Here we individually control dozens of loudspeakers to tell us an optimal solution to generate an acoustic hologram that can manipulate multiple objects in real-time without contact,

"said Rob Shepherd, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and senior author of a paper in Advanced Materials.

That 20 percent comes directly from sunlight, which is harvested by a flat solar panel on top of the battery.

#Amateur radio enthusiast makes contact with the International space station In the century or so since radio technology has been with us,

52 year-old UK resident Adrian Lane, who recently had a brief but exhilarating conversation with the astronauts on board the International space station (ISS.

Remember that the ISS is orbiting more than 320 km (200 miles) above Earth and travelling at around 29,772 km h (18,500 mph),

The radio enthusiast had spent several weeks trying to make contact with the space station after learning it was due to pass over his house."

It's not every day you get to talk to some guy out in space, "Lane told The Daily telegraph.

"I said to them how wonderful Earth must look from up there, "he added, saying the total conversation lasted around 50 seconds in total."

but when you look down at Earth it is full of colour. I basically asked who he was

"Astronauts on board the ISS spend much of their time taking care of more important and scientific tasks,

It's made possible thanks to a ham radio installed on board the space station for various educational projects

Most of the time, communications are approved officially by NASA. For example, schoolchildren from the UK are scheduled to talk to Britain's first fully fledged astronaut

Tim Peake, using the same ham radio technology later on this year. Lane says he spends most of his time communicating with fellow amateur radio enthusiasts around the world,

600 kilotonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere within three years. ts closure marks the end of coal fired power generation in New zealand,"

we have a much larger input space than current electronics allow for. The researchers say that iskin could be used as a remote control mechanism for other sorts of digital devices,

but says the potential of this research could radically change the way modern society derives its power. f we can convert all the human-made structures on the surface of Earth,

and we can have distributed food and fuel across the planet, he told Hall at the ABC

#A magnetic'wormhole'that connects two regions of space has been created Researchers in Spain have created a tiny magnetic wormhole for the first time ever,

and they've used it to connect two regions of space so that a magnetic field can travel'invisibly'between them.

A wormhole is effectively just a tunnel that connects two places in the Universe. So far scientists have simulated this process,

"It changes the topology of space, as if the inner region has been erased magnetically from space, "lead researcher Àlvar Sánchez explains.

The research will have practical applications in areas that use magnetic fields-for example, it could lead to the creation of MRI machines that don't require people to lie inside the claustrophobic machine,

#This transparent lithium-ion battery charges itself with sunlight Researchers in Japan have invented a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that can charge itself using sunlight-no solar cell required.

when the battery is exposed to sunlight, it becomes tinted to about 30 percent light transmittance,

they were able to facilitate charging via sunlight or other bright sources of illumination. In testing

and receive data at the speed of light. Light-based computers are increasingly looking like our best shot at clearing the biggest roadblock to faster computers:

They are planned also for use in the next Mars rover vehicle, "said Laws.""But if they become easier and cheaper to make,

including as exceptionally strong components in personal electronic devices, in space exploration vehicles, and as hydrogen storage materials in next generation batteries,"he added.

NASA finds evidence of liquid water flowing on the surface of Mars NASA told us it was announcing something big today,

the space agency says images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) have revealed compelling evidence of liquid brines flowing across the planet's surface.

The seasonal rivers of salty water mean there's a greater chance of Mars being able to support life now or in the future.

As far as space exploration goes, it's one of the most significant and historical announcements in many years,

NASA scientists have known for some time about the appearance of gullies or dark streaks on the surface of Mars during warmer weather

-while it was suspected that trickling water was the cause, the new evidence means NASA is now almost certain.

What's changed is that the agency's scientists have managed to identify and track hydrated salts in these gullies-using an image spectrometer on the MRO,

the NASA team has been able to link these salts to areas where the slope gullies

According to the new model put together by the space agency the summer months on Mars see a shallow subsurface flow of briny water coming down from the planet's canyons and crater walls.

They appear in various spots on the surface when the temperature reaches about minus 23 degrees Celsius (10 degrees Fahrenheit) and then fade in colder conditions.

or it could be created by some kind of condensation process in the atmosphere of Mars."Our quest on Mars has been to'follow the water'in our search for life in the universe,

"said NASA's John Grunsfeld in a press statement.""This is a significant development, as it appears to confirm that water

-albeit briny-is flowing today on the surface of Mars."Perhaps the biggest potential consequence of the discovery is that visitors to the Red planet could use the water that's hidden away to support themselves

then these sites would be prime candidates for landing spots on the first manned mission to the planet."

-which is why the discovery that water is now likely to be regularly flowing across Mars is commented so stunning

"The brine on Mars might not directly support life but it suggests that the arid world isn't as dry as once thought.

and turning it into pellets A pilot project to suck CO2 out of the atmosphere and turn it into pellets that can either be used as fuel

"It's now possible to take CO2 out of the atmosphere, and use it as a feed stock, with hydrogen,

when the sun isn't shining. The idea of a lithium-air or lithium-oxygen battery isn't new scientists have known for a while that these types of batteries can hold up to 10 times the charge of today's lithium-ion packs (imagine not having to charge your phone for a whole week.

It works with solar radiation and the cooling is achieved by means of a thermodynamic adsorption-desorption cycle lasting 24 hours.

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