Juno's finally made it to Jupiter! It'll take years to go through all the data that spacecraft is going to beam back to earth. Personally, I hope they find out more about it's big red spot. But the first sets of pictures are coming back. Quite the camera Juno has for whizzing through our solar system at 130,000 mph!
You may have heard Juno also broke a speed record! Juno is the record holder for top speed while orbiting a planet (geocentric orbit), the record for top speed through the solar system (heliocentric orbit) goes to Helios 1. Launched back in the 80's Helios 1 orbits the sun at 147,600 mph.
You may have heard Juno also broke a speed record! Juno is the record holder for top speed while orbiting a planet (geocentric orbit), the record for top speed through the solar system (heliocentric orbit) goes to Helios 1. Launched back in the 80's Helios 1 orbits the sun at 147,600 mph.
Here's a fun science tid-bit! We stuck 6 people in a small 36 x 20 foot tall dome on a mountain volcano in Hawaii for science and told them to act like they were on mars. I love it.
The Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) is the 3rd, and longest study of it's kind. The experiment lasted a year and was conducted to test the mental strain it would take on it's volunteers. All in hopes we learn something useful for NASA's eventual Mars missions, or even the Mars One colony.
So what did we learn?
So what did we learn?
Pack well, or else it might be a little on the monotonous side. The 3 male and 3 female crew of the dome found boredom was the hardest part. The crew were never able to go outside unless they were in a spacesuit, and only ever breathed recycled air. Their advice? Bring lots of books.
But beyond learning to salsa, the teams major experiment was learning how to extract water from the ground. The Hawaiian mountain was picked specifically for it's similar soil to mars. If we can extract water there, it should be possible to extract it on mars as well. Turns out they were successful. We'll be seeing more articles published about the entire simulation in the coming months.
But beyond learning to salsa, the teams major experiment was learning how to extract water from the ground. The Hawaiian mountain was picked specifically for it's similar soil to mars. If we can extract water there, it should be possible to extract it on mars as well. Turns out they were successful. We'll be seeing more articles published about the entire simulation in the coming months.
More evidence of a large gravitational force on the outskirts of the solar system has been found. Giving credence to the existence of a 9th planet in our solar system. Leading theories about its super long 10-20,000 year orbit suggest that Planet 9 is actually an exoplanet, a planet 'stolen' by our sun from another star some 4.5 billion years ago. Whatever it is, it would have to be several times larger than Earth to effect the orbits of the objects that have been found in the extreme outer solar system.
Scientists have published a new study in the Astronomical Journal reporting that several dozen previously unknown objects have been discovered.
"If you want to put a number on it, I'd be somewhere like 80 percent sure that there's a Planet X out there," said Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C.
Sheppard, Chadwick Trujillo and David Tholen, of the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii have been using the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii and the Dark Energy Camera on the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile to study these distant objects and believe that two or three more such finds could put Planet 9 on solid scientific ground. We should have a discovery (or not) within the next year or two.
"If you want to put a number on it, I'd be somewhere like 80 percent sure that there's a Planet X out there," said Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C.
Sheppard, Chadwick Trujillo and David Tholen, of the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii have been using the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii and the Dark Energy Camera on the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile to study these distant objects and believe that two or three more such finds could put Planet 9 on solid scientific ground. We should have a discovery (or not) within the next year or two.
Want to learn more?
To close out there has been some awesome developments in the tech sector. Carbon nanotubes have outperformed silicon transistors for the first time.
The UW-Madison engineers use a solution process to deposit aligned arrays of carbon nanotubes onto 1 inch by 1 inch substrates. The researchers used their scalable and rapid deposition process to coat the entire surface of this substrate with aligned carbon nanotubes in less than 5 minutes. The team's breakthrough could pave the way for carbon nanotube transistors to replace silicon transistors, and is particularly promising for wireless communications technologies. Credit: Stephanie Precourt
Discovered in the early 90's, Carbon nanotubes, or CNT's, encountered problems when trying to scale up the technology to an industrial level. Tho they promised the tech would revolutionize electronics those problems stalled any progress. Fast forward to 2016 and those problems are being solved and the revolution could be just around the corner.
The basic jist is that more CNT-based transistors can fit on a CNT chip then silicon-based transistors can fit on a silicon chip. CNT chips are smaller, faster, more efficient and generate less heat then their silicon based brothers.
For you and me? That equates to lightening fast processor speeds and a longer battery life for our devices. The future looks very bright indeed.
The basic jist is that more CNT-based transistors can fit on a CNT chip then silicon-based transistors can fit on a silicon chip. CNT chips are smaller, faster, more efficient and generate less heat then their silicon based brothers.
For you and me? That equates to lightening fast processor speeds and a longer battery life for our devices. The future looks very bright indeed.