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Category: space – Page 76

High-speed free-space data transmission could improve connectivity for space missions.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have achieved record-breaking data transmission speeds using plasmonic modulators, promising advancements in space communication and potential global high-speed internet access. With speeds potentially reaching 1.4 Tbit/s, this technology could change how the world connects.

Scientists have achieved data rates as high as 424Gbit/s across a 53-km (33-mile) turbulent free-space optical link using plasmonic modulators—devices that use special light waves called surface plasmon polaritons to control and modify optical signals. This new research establishes the foundation for high-speed optical communication links that transmit data through open air or space.

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The team also studied the direct interaction between charged particles in the solar wind as well as plasma around Mercury and BepiColombo itself. This process is complicated by the fact that when the spacecraft is facing the sun, it is heated and cooled, and heavier charged particles called ions can’t be detected because BepiColombo becomes electrically charged and repels them.

However, when BepiColombo slips into the shadow of Mercury, cool ions in a sea of plasma become detectable. This allowed BepiColombo to see ions of the elements oxygen, sodium and potassium around Mercury. The team thinks these particles originated from the surface of the tiny planet and were launched into space by meteorite strikes or solar wind bombardment.

“It’s like we’re suddenly seeing the surface composition ‘exploded’ in 3D through the planet’s very thin atmosphere, known as its exosphere,” MPPE instrument lead Dominique Delcourt, from the Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas, said in the statement. “It’s really exciting to start seeing the link between the planet’s surface and the plasma environment.”

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On October 7, 2024, the XB-1, Boom Supersonic’s groundbreaking supersonic demonstrator, completed its fifth test flight from the Mojave Air & Space Port, reaching a new top speed of Mach 0.69 (324 KIAS) and a maximum altitude of 17,800 feet.

Flown by Chief Test Pilot Tristan “Geppetto” Brandenburg, the aircraft remained airborne for approximately 50 minutes, setting a new record for the program in terms of speed, altitude, and flight duration.

This flight marked a key milestone as the halfway point of the planned 10 subsonic test flights, all leading toward supersonic speeds later this year. A crucial element of the test was the continued use of the flutter excitation system (FES), which was repaired and reinstalled to gather data at Mach 0.6, helping to expand the flight envelope towards transonic speeds. Additionally, the landing gear was retracted immediately after takeoff, a procedure that will now be standard in upcoming flights.

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TL;DR

Using a precise parallax method, scientists measured the distance to a star-forming region 66,000 light-years away on the far side of the Milky Way. This discovery, using the Very Long Baseline Array, confirmed the existence of the Scutum-Centaurus Arm and uncovered its undulating shape. The interstellar dust obstructing visible light made this feat more challenging, but tracking molecules like methanol and water helped scientists achieve this. This is part of a larger effort to map the entire Milky Way, with about a quarter still unexplored, offering more insights into the galaxy’s true structure.

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In 2023, the NASA OSIRIS-REx mission returned a sample of dust and rocks collected on the near-Earth asteroid Bennu. In addition to the information about the universe gleaned from the sample itself, the data generated by OSIRIS-REx might also present an opportunity to probe new physics. As described in Communications Physics, an international research team led by Los Alamos National Laboratory used the asteroid’s tracking data to study the possible existence of a fifth fundamental force of the universe.

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Scientists have discovered far more water ice deposits near the Moon’s south pole than previously hypothesized, which could help astronauts on future crewed missions to the lunar surface.

How much water ice could be present within the permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) near the Moon’s south pole? This is what a recent study published in The Planetary Science Journal hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated how water ice deposits could exist hundreds of miles beyond the PSRs located near the south pole, as opposed to close proximity to the south pole as previous studies have hypothesized. This study holds the potential to enable future crewed missions to locate water ice deposits, which could assist in water usage, oxygen generation from electrolysis, fuel, and energy.

For the study, the researchers used NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) to obtain data on hydrogen concentration within several PSR craters near the lunar south pole, along with potential sources of the hydrogen concentrations. The reason PSRs are targets for water ice is due to their extreme depths where sunlight doesn’t reach, resulting in temperatures well below-freezing and the accumulation of water ice over millions, if not billions, of years. The team found that hydrogen concentrations existed in craters several hundred miles from the direct south pole and with temperatures below 75 Kelvin (−198.15 degrees Celsius/-324.67 degrees Fahrenheit). Additionally, the team also concluded that the likely sources of the hydrogen concentrations were from a variety of sources, including solar radiation, comets, and meteorites.

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