Yutu-2 Lunar Rover Finds Sticky Soil on the Far side of the Moon
The first rover to visit the far side of the moon, China's Yutu-2, has found stark differences between there and the near side. These include stickier, more supportive soil on the far side and a greater abundance of small rocks and impact craters.
Despite several exploratory missions to the moon, crewed and uncrewed, the moon's far side has remained unexplored because of difficulties communicating with Earth from there. But in 2019, China's Chang'e 4 mission deposited the Yutu-2 rover to roam the far side's surface.
Jan 19, 2022
South Africa Launches 1st 'Made In Africa' Satellites
South Africa launched its first satellite constellation developed entirely in the continent of Africa. Three locally produced nanosatellites, which made up the country's first Maritime Domain Awareness Satellite (MDASat) constellation, were launched from Cape Canaveral in the United States, as part of American aerospace company SpaceX's Transporter-3 mission.
Transporter-3, SpaceX's third dedicated rideshare mission, carried a total of 105 spacecraft for various organisations and governments, including CubeSats, microsats, PocketQubes and orbital transfer vehicles.
Jan 17, 2022
Pandora Mission to Study Stars and Exoplanets Passes Crucial Step
The Pandora mission, co-led by a national laboratory and a NASA flight center, passed a crucial step on its path to study stars and planets outside our solar system, or exoplanets.
After a successful concept study report and system requirements review, NASA approved the mission to continue toward flight. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) are co-leading Pandora as part of NASA's new Astrophysics Pioneers program, with LLNL leading the project management and NASA GSFC leading the science.
The mission will study approximately 20 stars and exoplanets by analyzing starlight that passes through exoplanets' atmospheres, using a technique called transit spectroscopy.
Pandora will disentangle signals to understand which are from exoplanet atmospheres and which are from starspots, stellar phenomena that are similar to sunspots and can contaminate data. The celestial untangling will address and mitigate the impact of stellar inhomogeneities on exoplanet data obtained with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which was launched on Christmas Day.
Astronomers Discover Evidence of Super-Sized Moon Orbiting a Jupiter-Sized Planet
Astronomers reported a second, super-sized moon orbiting a Jupiter-sized planet beyond our solar system. If confirmed, the sighting could mean that exomoons are as common in the universe as exoplanets, and that big or small, such moons are a feature of planetary systems. But it could be a long wait. The first-ever sighting of an exomoon four years ago is still awaiting confirmation, and verification of this newest candidate could be as equally long and contentious.
Astronomers have found more than 10,000 exoplanet candidates so far, but exomoons are far more challenging.
The team spotted the giant exomoon candidate orbiting the planet Kepler 1708b, a world 5,500 light-years from Earth in the direction of the Cygnus and Lyra constellations. This new candidate is about a third smaller than the Neptune-sized moon that Kipping and his colleagues earlier found orbiting a similar Jupiter-sized planet, Kepler 1625b.
Jan 16, 2022
China Builds 'Artificial Moon' for Gravity Experiment
Chinese scientists have built an "artificial moon" research facility that will enable them to simulate low-gravity environments using magnetism.
The facility, slated for official launch this year, will use powerful magnetic fields inside a 2-foot-diameter (60 centimeters) vacuum chamber to make gravity "disappear." The scientists were inspired by an earlier experiment that used magnets to levitate a frog.
Scientists plan to use the facility to test technology in prolonged low-gravity environments before it is sent to the moon, where gravity is just one-sixth of its strength on Earth. This will allow them to iron out any costly technical kinks, as well as test whether certain structures will survive on the moon's surface and assess the viability of a human settlement there.
Jan 15, 2022
ISRO Successfully Tests Cryogenic Engine for Gaganyaan Rocket
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully conducted the qualification test of Cryogenic Engine for Gaganyaan programme for a duration of 720 seconds at ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC), Mahendragiri, Tamil Nadu. According to the space agency, the performance of the engine met the test objectives and the engine parameters were closely matching with the predictions during the entire duration of the test.
This successful long-duration test is a major milestone for the Human Space Programme – Gaganyaan. It ensures the reliability and robustness of the cryogenic engine for induction into the human-rated launch vehicle for Gaganyaan. Further, this engine will undergo four more tests for a cumulative duration of 1810 seconds. Subsequently, one more engine will undergo two short-duration tests & one long-duration test to complete the cryogenic engine qualification for Gaganyaan Programme.
Physicists Discover New Type of 'Strange Metal'
A team of physicists from the United States and China detected the unexpected signatures of strange metallicity in a material in which electrical charge is carried not by electrons, but by more 'wave-like' entities called Cooper pairs.
Strange metals, also known as non-Fermi liquids, are a class of materials that do not follow the traditional electrical rules.
Their behavior was first discovered around 30 years ago in materials called cuprates.
These copper-oxide materials are most famous for being high-temperature superconductors, meaning they conduct electricity with zero resistance at temperatures far above that of normal superconductors.
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