Electrochemical devices producing oxygen in space face limited buoyancy, hindering gas bubble removal and increasing reaction overpotentials. Now, it has been shown that commercial magnets can enhance the reaction efficiency and induce phase separation in microgravity. The optimized magnetoelectrochemical architectures developed here may guide the designs of future life-support systems.
The object, dubbed 3I/ATLAS, has caught the attention of Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb, who has a long track record of making controversial predictions about previous interstellar objects being relics from an extraterrestrial civilization.
While there’s been a growing consensus among astronomers that the latest object is a comet, Loeb has continued to entertain the idea that it may have been sent to us by an intelligent species from outside of the solar system — and he’s far from backing down.
In a blog post over the weekend, Loeb pointed to observations by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, which showed a “glow of light, likely from a coma, ahead of the motion of 3I/ATLAS towards the Sun.”
We bring you an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at this iconic mission with Dr Linda Spilker, from her first job out of college to serving as the current Voyager Project Scientist.
Before it met the 30,000–50,000 kelvin wall at the edge of our Solar System, Voyager 1 took its final images.
More than 50 years after the last manned moon mission, the Apollo program is still making groundbreaking discoveries.
Lunar rock collected by Apollo 17 is revealing more about the Light Mantle, a distinctive bright streak across the moon’s surface. It’s believed to be the remains of an ancient landslide that happened in the distant past, but the exact cause is unknown.
Asteroid strikes, debris from a nearby mountain and seismic activity are all possibilities, but orbital photographs can only reveal so much. Scientists are now studying a rock core from Apollo 17 that was recently unsealed for the first time in 50 years, allowing new insights into the geology of the area.
Scientists unveil nuclear battery with 50-year lifespan and triple efficiency.
Researchers in China have developed a novel nuclear battery that can withstand at least half a century of radiation and deliver three times the energy efficiency of conventional designs.
The team set out to improve battery performance in extreme environments, led by Haisheng San, PhD, a professor at Xiamen University, and Xin Li, PhD, a researcher at the China Institute of Atomic Energy.
According to the scientists, conventional power systems, especially those used in extreme conditions such as space or deep-sea infrastructure, struggle with long-term reliability.
The sky at night. It inspires awe. It inspires thoughts of an existential nature: Who are we? Why are we here? And, perhaps most importantly of all, in which direction should I roll this big ball of shit? That is, if you’re a dung beetle.
“African ball-rolling dung beetles exploit the [Sun], the [Moon], and the celestial polarization pattern to move along straight paths, away from the intense competition at the dung pile,” wrote the study authors. “Even on clear moonless nights, many beetles still manage to orientate along straight paths. This led us to hypothesize that dung beetles exploit the starry sky for orientation, a feat that has, to our knowledge, never been demonstrated in an insect.”