Astronaut stuurt robot vanuit ruimtestation ISS door hangar in Nederland - HLN.be

Bron: Belga

Via een scherm kon de astronaut van het Europese Ruimtevaartbureau ESA zien waar hij het voertuig naartoe stuurde. Volgens ESA had de test nauwelijks beter kunnen verlopen. Voor de proef was een uur uitgetrokken, maar Parmitano trotseerde de baan in minder dan een halfuur.

Lees ook

Eerste koekjes in de ruimte: astronauten op ISS krijgen een oven voor bakexperiment

Het ruimtevaartbureau is zeer enthousiast over de samenwerking tussen mens en robot. “Een rover op Mars zou weken over het werk hebben gedaan dat Luca en de Analog-1-rover in een halfuur verrichten”, zei projectmanager Kjetil Wormnes. En dat is zeer van belang voor ESA, want ESA stuurt volgende zomer met Rusland een robotjeep en een stabiel platform naar Mars. Hoofdvraag van die missie is of op de Rode Planeet ooit leven heeft bestaan.

De technieken die ESA vandaag heeft uitgeprobeerd, kunnen bij toekomstige missies goed van pas komen. Astronauten kunnen op deze manier veilig en comfortabel vanuit een ruimteschip of -basis een robot aansturen die op onderzoek uitgaat. Ze hoeven dan niet zichzelf in een ruimtepak te hijsen. Alleen al het aantrekken van zo’n pak en de deur “uitgaan” door een luchtsluis duurt uren.

Human Spaceflight

✔@esaspaceflight

 · Nov 25, 2019

Replying to @esaspaceflight and 2 others

This is the view @astro_luca sees in space as he moves the #Analog1 rover through a simulated lunar terrain in the Netherlands to search for scientifically interesting rocks.

Human Spaceflight

✔@esaspaceflight

And this is what we see on Earth! Spooky to see the #Analog1 robot move, knowing the operator is thousands of kilometres away orbiting our planet.

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12:39 PM - Nov 25, 2019

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“Archeologen graven gemummificeerde leeuwenwelpjes op in Egypte” - HLN.be

Bron: Belga

Er werden ook 75 houten en bronzen standbeelden van katten gevonden, in verschillende vormen en maten. In houten dozen zaten gemummificeerde katten. Er waren ook standbeelden van andere dieren, zoals mangoesten en kleine krokodillen.

“Als de resultaten bevestigd worden, is het de eerste keer dat in Egypte intacte gemummificeerde leeuwenwelpjes ontdekt zijn”, aldus Mostafa Waziri als topman van de Hoge Raad van Antiquiteiten. Tot nu zijn enkel skeletten van leeuwen gevonden. De leeuwenmummies zouden in de zevende eeuw voor Christus begraven zijn. 

In de bekende necropolis van Saqqara zijn honderdduizenden dieren geofferd en achtergelaten in graven.Egypte kondigde recent een reeks ontdekkingen aan die de toeristische sector in het land er weer bovenop zouden moeten helpen.

 REUTERS 

Standbeelden van katten.

 EPA 

Gemummificeerde katachtigen worden tentoongesteld in Saqqara.

AFP 

Een van de recent ontdekte graftombes waar archeologen aan het werk zijn.

 REUTERS

{ https://www.hln.be/ }

Jacht naar (vorig) leven op mars gaat verder: complex plan moet gesteente naar de aarde brengen -  HLN.be

Bron: The Guardian

Het plan werd ‘Mars Sample Return’ gedoopt en moet zo’n 500 gram gesteente dat afkomstig is van mars, naar onze aarde brengen. “En laten we duidelijk zijn, elke stap van de missie belooft behoorlijk uitdagend te worden”, zo stak Jan Wörner, directeur van de Europese ruimtevaartorganisatie, van wal tijdens de voorstelling.

Om het gesteente te verzamelen zullen in de eerste plaats twee marsrovers of robots worden ingezet. De eerste rover verzamelt de staaltjes in metalen buisjes, terwijl de tweede robot die buisjes in een container zo groot als een voetbal, moet opslaan. Vervolgens zal het materiaal in een baan rond mars gekatapulteerd worden door een raket om daar onderschept te worden door een onbemand ruimteschip. Tot slot zullen de staaltjes van mars per parachute in de woestijn in Utah gedropt worden.

Lees ook

Marsrover Curiosity deelt nieuwe selfie van zijn bijzonder experiment

Leven op mars

Waarom de twee ruimtevaartagentschappen uitpakken met zo’n complex plan? Wetenschappers popelen om materiaal afkomstig van mars te bestuderen gezien de omstandigheden op de rode planeet miljarden jaren geleden vergelijkbaar waren met die op aarde. De planeet had destijds een dikke atmosfeer en er was stromend water te vinden op het oppervlak.

Vandaag is het grootste deel van die atmosfeer echter verdwenen en wetenschappers stellen zich de vraag of er vroeger sprake was van geëvolueerd leven.

Inadequate methodes

“We hebben op dit moment slechts twee manieren om het gesteente van mars te bestuderen”, aldus astrobioloog Susanne Schwenzer. “We kunnen sondes naar mars sturen en daar rotsmonsters analyseren of we kunnen stukjes bestuderen die als meteorieten op de aarde arriveren.”

Maar die methodes hebben enkele nadelen. De sondes worden belemmerd door hun (gelimiteerde) opslagplaats, batterijduur en ondervinden vaak problemen bij het landen op de rode planeet. En het bestuderen van meteorieten - stukjes rots die de ruimte werden ingeblazen nadat grotere meteorieten mars troffen - levert nog meer problemen op. “Vaak wordt het gesteente besmet na de aankomst op aarde. Bovendien weten we niet vanwaar op mars de meteorieten afkomstig zijn.”

Vandaar de luide roep van wetenschappers om het gesteente zelf te verzamelen en naar aarde te brengen. 

En wat met dat leven? 

De halve kilogram aan gesteente van mars zal onderzocht worden door wetenschappers wereldwijd. Hun zoektocht naar leven zal zich daarbij vooral focussen op de aanwezigheid van fossiele microben. Al bestaat er een kleine kans dat er nog steeds leven is op mars. “Het is zeer onwaarschijnlijk dat we levende organismen naar de aarde zullen brengen. Zelfs als we dat doen, is het erg onwaarschijnlijk dat ze schadelijk zullen zijn”, verklaart Sanjay Vijendran, lid van de ‘Mars Sample Return’. “We kunnen dat echter niet als vanzelfsprekend beschouwen en alle maatregelen die ervoor zorgen dat de staaltjes geen bedreiging voor de planeet vormen, zullen genomen worden.”

{ https://www.hln.be/ }

6,800-YEAR-OLD RITUAL SITE THREE TIMES BIGGER THAN STONEHENGE'S SARSEN CIRCLE DISCOVERED

6,800 year old "roundel" discovered in Poland

Hannah Osborne
Newsweek

A huge ancient ritual site dating back over 6,800 years has been discovered in Poland. It is believed to have been used by neolithic people for between 200 and 250 years, with new features added every few dozen years, archaeologists have said.

The circular structure is 360 feet in diameter, which is over three times the size of the inner Sarsen Circle at Stonehenge and roughly the same size as the monument's outer ditch.

The structure, which has been called a "roundel" because of its circular shape, was first spotted in 2017. Since then archaeologists have been working at the site to understand its significance. In an article on PAP, a website run by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education Website, researchers have announced radiocarbon dating indicates the site was built before 4,800 B.C.

The roundel is located in the village of Nowe Objezierze, about 50 miles east of Berlin, Germany. It consists of a central area surrounded by three gates that lead to the interior. It then has four ditches circling it. Each ditch is larger and deeper than the last, and it appears they were dug at relatively regular intervals, with a new one being added every few dozen years. The ditches were about 4 to 6.5 feet deep.

Other similar circular enclosures dating to between 4,850 B.C. and 4,600 B.C. are found in a fairly limited area of Europe, including around the River Danube. These are generally thought to have had a ritual purpose and served as some sort of astronomical calendar.

Discussing the new roundel in Poland, project leader Lech Czerniak, from the University of Gdańsk, told PAP: "This is quite sensational, given the fact that it coincides with the dating of structures located on the Danube, considered the oldest. It seems equally important that the four ditches surrounding the central area of the structure probably did not function simultaneously, but every few dozen years, a new ditch with an ever larger diameter was dug.

"The primary focus of the project are questions about the social aspects of the functioning operation of roundels, including what prompted the inhabitants of a given region to make a huge effort in building and maintaining the roundel, where the idea and knowledge necessary to build this object came from, and how often and for how long the object was used."

As well as dating the roundel, archaeologists also excavated the area and found hundreds of bones, ceramics, stone and flint artifacts and shells and dye. The bones are now being analyzed by experts and the team hopes to find out more about the communities that used the structure for worship. It is thought that like the other circular enclosures, the Roundel was used as a "ritual calendar."

"It is worth realizing that many so-called pre-literate communities celebrated the most important holidays once in a few, or even a dozen or so years, but very intensely," Czerniak said.

Comment: 

See also:

• Book Review: Where Troy Once Stood
• Meteorites, Asteroids, and Comets: Damages, Disasters, Injuries, Deaths, and Very Close Calls
• Winter Solstice: From Chaos to Creation
• Study details immense timber henge at Newgrange, Ireland, discovered during summer drought
• 'Spanish Stonehenge' resurfaces following drought in Extremadura
• Ancient city of Petra was a 'celestial calendar', says new study
• America Before by Graham Hancock - Book review

And check out SOTT radio's:

• MindMatters: America Before: Comets, Catastrophes, Mounds and Mythology
• MindMatters: Everything's a Remix: Origins of the World's Mythologies
• MindMatters: The Meaning of the World's Mythologies

See Also:

• Two lion cub mummies discovered in Egypt for the first time
• Ray McGovern offers Congress 'Ukraine for Dummies'
• 7,000-year-old burial of female "shaman" in Sweden was one of the last hunter-gatherers

{ https://www.sott.net/category/19 }

VIDEO: Aliens Read Map Wrong, UAP Storm “Spot 51” Instead?

While the great unwashed Facebook hordes were storming Area 51 in Nevada, something equally strange transpired over Minnesota in an area known locally as “Spot 51”. Friday, September 20th, Todd Mitchell, owner of Country Campground in Detroit Lakes, MN, ran his 24-hour security video camera just like any other evening. But this night he wondered if it might document something more exciting than camper arrivals, perhaps some dramatic lightning strikes from an incoming thunderstorm. What he didn’t know was he had recorded something even more extraordinary.

Later when Mitchell reviewed his footage, he forgot all about the lightning when he noticed what appeared to be a fuzzy, black object flitting erratically among the storm clouds, trailing what could be easily mistaken for dark fumes behind it. To the viewer’s eye, it sure looks like a skybound smoke monster, repeatedly performing feats of aerial acrobatics before it vanishes into thin air. Or perhaps it’s an alien spaceship suffering the effects of a faulty exhaust system. Or maybe someone just let the air out of one prime specimen of Charles Fort’s normally invisible sky jellyfish. Any of those options qualify the strange object as Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP).

Mitchell provided the footage to his TV news station, noting that on a local map, the Detroit Lakes Chamber of Commerce identifies Country Campground as “Spot 51”. The video combined with that revelation resulted in yucks and ample banter at the end of WDAY’s Sept. 25th evening news broadcast. But at least they didn’t play the X-Files theme music.

Looks like I spoke too soon! They saved the X-Files theme music for the second report. To their credit, the TV crew visited the scene, interviewed Mitchell, and even delved into the county’s UFO-related history.

Some may propose that the object Mitchell captured is merely a bug on the lens or some other equally pedestrian explanation. I contacted witness Todd Mitchell and he provided a link to three video clips, which he has uploaded to YouTube for your examination.

Mitchell acknowledges that some of the office to the back of the camera is reflected by the double pane window he shoots the video through. He identifies the small lights to the left and the center of the screen as the reflection of his “Dish Network rack system”. To the far right side, there is additional room reflection.

In Part 1, the video seemed perfectly normal until Mitchell drew my attention, about 10 seconds in, to a tiny, barely perceivable black dot off to the right of the screen, in the part of the sky just above a small tree. The dot moves slowly upward in a more-or-less straight line. Of all three of the objects appearing in these video clips, this one most clearly seems to demonstrate the crawling movement of a bug. It traverses the screen smoothly, seemingly unaffected by wind shear or changes in sky composition, as if creeping across a  perfectly flat surface.

In Part 2, we see much more erratic moment, that is also consistent with bugs flying close to the lens. However, the smokey trailing effect following the movement is interesting, but may just indicate video blurring caused by extreme speed.

Part 3, is the most curious because at the last moment some commenters point out that the object seems to weave through a cloud.

When I asked Mitchell if he had ever experienced anything strange or paranormal before his response was, “Oh, heck, no!” “There’s a lot of things that you can generally explain or guess at. But for this I have no guesses,” he says.

When Mitchell’s footage went public, a Native American man stopped by the campground for a visit. He came to share with Mitchell the possibility that perhaps the mysterious sky dweller Mitchell captured on video was a sacred Thunder Being — a bringer of life, a protector of humanity, and an important part of the man’s native heritage. Mitchell intends to review past footage to see if there is any correlation between thunderstorms and the appearance of the strange objects. If there is some relationship to thunderstorms, perhaps that will help explain the similarities between Mitchell’s footage and another strange object spotted in Nebraska during a thunderstorm in 2015.

So what’s your take, is this simply the work of displaced insects attracted to the lights of the campground or could it be something far stranger?

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

Henry Lee was someone whose diligent research in the 19^th century uncovered numerous tales of sea serpents and over-sized creatures of the oceans. He spent some of his time addressing one of the most controversial of all aspects of this phenomenon. Namely, the disturbing issue of people being attacked – maybe even killed – by creatures of the sea. Of this particular issue, Lee said: “I have often been asked whether an octopus of the ordinary size can really be dangerous to bathers. Decidedly, ‘Yes,’ in certain situations. The holding power of its numerous suckers is enormous. It is almost impossible forcibly to detach it from its adhesion to a rock or the flat bottom of a tank; and if a large one happened to fix one or more of its strong, tough arms on the leg of a swimmer whilst the others held firmly to a rock, I doubt if the man could disengage himself under water by mere strength, before being exhausted. Fortunately the octopus can be made to relax its hold by grasping it tightly round the ‘throat’ (if I may so call it), and it may be well that this should be known.”

Lee continued with his position on all of this: “That men are occasionally drowned by these creatures is, unhappily, a fact too well attested. I have elsewhere related several instances of this having occurred. Omitting those, I will give two or three others which have since come under my notice. Sir Grenville Temple, in his ‘Excursions in the Mediterranean Sea,’ tells how a Sardinian captain, whilst bathing at Jerbeh, was seized and drowned by an octopus. When his body was found, his limbs were bound together by the arms of the animal; and this took place in water only four feet deep.”

Lee was not done; indeed, his files were voluminous: “Mr. J. K. Lord’s account of the formidable strength of these creatures in Oregon is confirmed by an incident recorded in the Weekly Oregonian (the principal paper of Oregon) of October 6th, 1877. A few days before that date an Indian woman, whilst bathing, was held beneath the surface by an octopus, and drowned. The body was discovered on the following day in the horrid embrace of the creature. Indians dived down and with their knives severed the arms of the octopus and recovered the corpse.

Lee cited the work of Clemens Laming, the author of a book titled The French in Algiers. In its pages, as Lee learned, was a case that could have resulted in overwhelming tragedy. Thankfully, it didn’t quite get to that point: “The soldiers were in the habit of bathing in the sea every evening, and from time to time several of them disappeared–no one knew how. Bathing was, in consequence, strictly forbidden; in spite of which several men went into the water one evening. Suddenly one of them screamed for help, and when several others rushed to his assistance they found that an octopus had seized him by the leg by four of its arms whilst it clung to the rock with the rest. The soldiers brought the ‘monster’ home with them, and out of revenge they boiled it alive and ate it. This adventure accounted for the disappearance of the other soldiers [italics mine].”

Lee was hardly done: “The Rev. W. Wyatt Gill, who for more than a quarter of a century has resided as a missionary amongst the inhabitants of the Hervey Islands, and with whom I had the pleasure of conversing on this subject when he was in England in 1875, described in the Leisure Hour of April 20th, 1872, another mode of attack by which an octopus might deprive a man of life. A servant of his went diving for ‘poulpes’ (octopods), leaving his son in charge of the canoe. After a short time he rose to the surface, his arms free, but his nostrils and mouth completely covered by a large octopus. If his son had not promptly torn the living plaister from off his face he must have been suffocated – a fate which actually befell some years previously a man who foolishly went diving alone [italics mine].”

“In Appleton’s American Journal of Science and Art, January 31st, 1874,” said Lee, “a correspondent describes an attack by an octopus on a diver who was at work on the wreck of a sunken steamer off the coast of Florida. The man, a powerful Irishman, was helpless in its grasp, and would have been drowned if he had not been quickly brought to the surface; for when dragged on to the raft from which he had descended, he fainted, and his companions were unable to pull the creature from its hold upon him until they had dealt it a sharp blow across its baggy body. A similar incident occurred to the government diver of the colony of Victoria, Australia. Whilst pursuing his avocation in the estuary of the river Moyne he was seized by an octopus. He killed it by striking it with an iron bar, and brought to shore with him a portion of it with the arms more than three feet long.”

There is a lesson to be learned here. Be very careful when you go swimming in our oceans and seas: you may not be aware of what lurks below you, just ready to strike. Perhaps, fatally so.

{  https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

Today, we know much more about what happens to people when they die - and what we are learning does not support materialism. Even medical scientists take near-death-experiences seriously now.

The doorway or barrier is a common event in a typical NDE. The experiencer instinctively knows that to pass through the door or barrier means they would not come back to their life.

In the next video a brief NDE experience told by Paul Swain on what it was like to be at the edge of the afterlife.

Then, in a continuing interesting discussion, Robert J. Marks and Walter Bradley, after whom the Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence is named, looked at near-death experiences (NDEs) which I recommend you to read the in-depth article (including excerpts, podcast, video and additional information on NDEs) at Mindmatters.ai

  

Other videos, selected bij peter2011

{ http://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com/ }

100 ufos caught on camera 2019

documentary

{ https://www.youtube.com/ }

Driver Stuck in Traffic Captures a Video of Strange Rotating Disc in NC

Experts logged eleven UFO sightings last month in North Carolina. However, if you include a lesser-known report made close to Shelby, approximately 50 miles west of Charlotte, it is an even dozen.

The potential sighting has surfaced publicly after a video showing a disc-like object appeared on YouTube. The UFO on the video remained stationary for several minutes before disappearing over Cleveland County.

According to the witness, the video was recorded in the morning rush hour on 25^th of October. The footage requested viewers to offer ideas on what the mysterious thing might have been.

Aaron Bostic, 33, said that he was stuck in traffic on U.S. 74 in Shelby when a diamond-shaped object came into his view glowing brightly against a cloudy sky. He observed the object was somewhat rotating. He added that it stuck out like a sore thumb.

Initially, he thought it was a plane landing at Charlotte Douglas Airport or a big stunt drone but later wondered as it stayed in the same spot for around two minutes.

He showed the video to his co-workers, but nobody knew what it could have been. He added that the UFO did not have the flashing lights of a helicopter and no right contours to be a blimp.

{ http://www.latest-ufo-sightings.net/ }

Several Residents Have Witnessed a UFO in the Dubai Sky

UAE residents who happened to be outdoors shared clips online, showing a glowing object that flew over Al Khalil Road on Wednesday night.

According to the report, a single UFO appeared for a short time at around 7:45 pm over the skies of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Astronomer Ebrahim Al Jarwan said that this was the second reported sighting within the month.

Al Jarwan, who works at Sharjah Planetarium as a general supervisor, stated that they have also been investigating the strange incident.

Indian expatriate Shiny Shajudheen and daughter Ashley spotted the UFO in the sky from Al Khail Gate in Al Quoz at around 7:50 pm.

According to Mr Shajudheen, he was driving within their community, and his daughter first saw the strange fireball. He then pulled over and took a video.

Before hitting the record button, he saw two trails of flares crisscrossing each other. The video only shows both of them swirling while slowing going down.

He said that it was an impressive sight, but they felt scared as they could not understand what they had witnessed.

{ http://www.latest-ufo-sightings.net/ }

Scientists Find a Spot Where No Life Can Survive. That's Bad News for Alien Hunters.

By Yasemin Saplakoglu - Search For Life

The Dallol hydrothermal pools are harsh environments.

(Image: © Shutterstock)

Unearthly greens and yellows color the scorching-hot landscape surrounding the Dallol volcano in northern Ethiopia. This alien-like world is filled with hydrothermal pools that are some of the most extreme environments on the planet — and some of them seem to be completely devoid of life, according to a new study.

Different life-forms on our planet have adapted to survive under some pretty harsh conditions, places that are superhot, superacidic or supersalty, to name a few, said study senior author Purificación López-García, the research director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research. 

But can life survive in a single environment that combines all three conditions, such as in the colorful waters of the Dallol hydrothermal region?

• Related: 7 Most Mars-Like Places on Earth

To figure out if this extreme environment oversteps the limits for life on our planet, the researchers sampled a number of brines— or pools of water with high concentrations of salt — in the area. Some were extremely hot, salty and acidic, while others were still very hot and salty but weren't too acidic or basic. The scientists analyzed all the genetic material found in the samples to identify any organisms living there. 

Some of the milder pools were chock-full of sodium chloride, a condition that some tiny organisms can withstand; the more extreme environments had high concentrations of magnesium-based salt, which is "deleterious for life," because magnesium breaks down the cell membrane, López-García said.

In these most extreme environments, that were really acidic, hot and contained magnesium salts, the researchers found no DNA and thus no trace of a living organism, the study said. The scientists did detect a small hint of DNA from single-celled organisms called archaea if they "forced the conditions" in those samples, López-García said. That means they took the sample and kept amplifying the DNA — imagine zooming into a picture —  to see if there was a very small quantity that they'd missed. But the researchers hypothesized that this small amount of DNA is likely the result of contamination from a neighboring salt plain, brought from people who visit the area or wind. 

On the other hand, in the less extreme ponds, the researchers found a large diversity of microbes, again mostly archaea. "The diversity of archaea is really very, very large and very surprising," López-García said. Researchers found some archaea that are well known to live in areas of high salt concentration and some that the scientists had no idea could survive in even the relatively less-salty ponds.

Their findings suggest that there is a gradient of extreme environments, some of which harbor life and others that don't and might serve as a bit of a caution in the search for life elsewhere in the cosmos, she added. "There is this idea … that says any planet with liquid water on the surface is habitable," she said. But as the lifeless pools of Ethiopia may suggest, water "might be a necessary condition, but it is far from sufficient."

What's more, using electron microscopes, the researchers also detected the presence of biomorphs or "mineral precipitates that can mimic tiny cells" in samples taken from both the lifeless pools and those found to harbor life, López-García said. "If you go to Mars or to fossil environments and you see little, rounded things, you might be tempted to say that these are microfossils, but they might not be."

Proving that life doesn't exist

There were some weaknesses in this study, John Hallsworth, a lecturer at The Institute for Global Food Security at Queen's University Belfast in Northern Ireland wrote in an accompanying commentary published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution. For example, the researchers' DNA analysis couldn't determine if the detected organisms were alive or active, and it's unclear if their measurements of the water factors such as pH were done accurately, he wrote. 

Even so, the team "managed to characterize the geochemistry and microbial diversity of a large number of brines that span a wide range of physicochemical conditions, revealing the extensive diversity of the archaeal communities present," Hallsworth wrote.

• Related: Gallery: Rainbow of Extreme Life in Great Salt Lake

What's more, a couple of months ago, another group of researchers came up with the opposite conclusion after they, too, sampled the waters in the Dallol area. In the most extreme ponds of the area, those researchers found that archaea were "thriving," and various types of analysis suggested that these microorganisms didn't originate from any type of contamination, said Felipe Gómez, a biochemist at Spain's Center of Astrobiology and the lead author of that study, which was published in May in the journal Scientific Reports. 

"Given the risk of detecting any type of contamination, microbiologists that work in extreme environments take many precautions to avoid it," he said. "In our work, we sampled in completely aseptic conditions," or those free from contamination. It's unclear why there is a discrepancy between the studies, and though "they claim that they do not see what we report," that doesn't mean the older findings are incorrect, he said. "More work needs to be done."

But this older paper is "weak" because the researchers only found traces of one type of archaea that's similar to archaea living in the neighboring salt plain, and didn't do enough to prevent contamination, López-García said.  

"Dispersal is active in the area," so this trace of archaea could have been carried in by the wind or tourists, similar to how her team also discovered traces of archaea but hypothesized that they were contaminants from the neighboring salt plain, she said.

The new findings were published on Oct. 28 in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.

• World's Most Extreme Laboratories
• The 8 Hottest Places on Earth
• Too Hot to Handle: 7 Sizzling Places on Planet Earth

Originally published on Live Science.

{ https://www.space.com/ }

Watch a Brilliant Fireball Flash Over St. Louis' Historic Arch (Video)

Physicists Just Created the Most Detailed Simulation of the Universe in History

What If Space-Time Were 'Chunky'? It Would Forever Change the Nature of Reality.

By Paul Sutter - Astrophysicist - Space 

(Image: © Shutterstock)

Is our fundamental reality continuous or is it chopped up into tiny, discrete bits?

Asked another way, is space-time smooth or chunky? The question cuts to the heart of the most fundamental theories of physics, linking together the way space and time intersect with the material of our everyday existence. 

However, experimentally testing the nature of space and time has been impossible, because of the extreme energies needed to probe such tiny scales in the universe. That is — until now. A team of astronomers has proposed an ambitious new plan to use a fleet of tiny spacecraft to detect subtle changes in the speed of light, a hallmark of some of the most mind-bending theories of the cosmos. If space and time are indeed broken up into little bits, the research could pave the way for a completely new understanding of reality.

• Related: The 18 Biggest Unsolved Mysteries in Physics

Chunky vs. smooth

The question of "what is space and time?" goes back thousands of years, and our modern understanding rests on two strangely incompatible pillars: quantum mechanics and Einstein's theory of general relativity.

In general relativity, space and time are woven together into the unified fabric of space-time, the four-dimensional stage that underpins our universe. This space-time is continuous, which means that there are no gaps anywhere; it's all a smooth texture. Space-time isn't just a platform for us to act our parts, however; it's also a player too: The bending and warping of space-time gives us our experience of gravity.

• Related: 8 Ways You Can See Einstein's Theory of Relativity in Real Life

In the opposite corner, a set of rules called quantum mechanics governs the interactions of the very tiny things in the universe. Quantum mechanics rests on the idea that not much of our everyday experience is smooth and continuous, but chunky. In other words, it's quantized. Energy, momentum, spin and so many other properties of matter come in only discrete little packets.

What's more, quantum mechanics itself also splits itself into two camps. On one hand, we have the familiar particles of our everyday existence, such as electrons and protons, that interact and do other interesting things. These are obviously very chunky, as they're discrete "things." On the other hand, we have the quantum fields. In the subatomic world, each kind of particle has its own field that spreads throughout space-time; when we think of particles, we think of little vibrations in their fields, which in turn interact with other particles, and do some other interesting things. The fields are understandably very smooth.

Bits of time and space

So, we have some smooth pictures of our universe and some chunky ones. When it comes to space-time itself, we can easily imagine extending the concepts of quantum mechanics all the way to their logical conclusion, and ruling that space and time are discrete: The very fabric of reality is divided up like pixels on a computer screen, and what we experience as smooth, continuous movement is nothing but a grid of discrete pixels at the tiniest of scales.

• Related: The Illusion of Time: What's Real?

Many theories of merging together quantum mechanics and general relativity, like string theory and loop quantum gravity, predict some form of discrete space-time (although the precise predictions, interpretations and implications of that chunkiness are still poorly understood). If we could find evidence for discrete space-time, it would not only completely rewrite our understanding of reality, but also open the door to a revolution in physics.

This discreteness can reveal itself only in the most subtle ways; otherwise we would've spotted it by now. Various theories have predicted that if space-time were indeed chunky, then the speed of light may not be entirely constant — it may shift ever so slightly depending on the energy of that light. Higher energy light has a shorter wavelength, and when the wavelength becomes small enough, it can "see" the chunkiness of spacetime. Imagine walking down sidewalk: with big feet you don't notice any small cracks or bumps, but if you had microscopic feet you would trip over every little imperfection, slowing you down. But this shift is incredibly tiny; if space-time is discrete, it's on a scale more than a billion times smaller than what we can currently probe in our most powerful experiments.

A quest for the grail

Enter GrailQuest: the Gamma-ray Astronomy International Laboratory for Quantum Exploration of Space-Time. A team of astronomers submitted a proposal for this mission in response to a call for new space-time-hunting ideas from the European Space Agency (ESA). Their proposal is detailed in the arXiv database, meaning that it hasn't yet been reviewed by peers in the field.

Here's the scoop: In order to see if the speed of light changes with different energies, we need to collect a huge amount of the highest-energy light in the universe, and GrailQuest hopes to do just that.

GrailQuest consists of a fleet of small, simple spacecraft (the exact number varies, from just a few dozen if the satellites are larger to well over a few thousand if they're smaller) to constantly monitor the sky for gamma-ray bursts. These are some of the most powerful explosions in the universe. Like their name suggests, these bursts release copious amounts of high-energy photons, a.k.a. gamma rays. These gamma rays travel across billions of years before reaching the fleet of spacecraft, which record the energy of the gamma rays and the differences in timings as the burst washes over the fleet.

With enough accuracy, GrailQuest might be able to reveal if space-time is discrete. At least, it has the right setup: It's examining the highest-energy light (which is affected the most in theories that predict that space-time is chunky); the gamma rays have been traveling for billions of light-years (allowing the effect to build up over time); and the spacecraft are simple enough to produce en masse (so the entire fleet can see as many events as possible, all across the sky).

How would our conceptions of reality change if GrailQuest were to find evidence for the discreteness of space-time? It's impossible to say — our current theories are all over the map when it comes to implications. But no matter what, we're going to have to wait. This round of ESA proposals is for launches sometime between 2035 and 2050. While we're waiting, we can debate if the time elapsed between now and then is fundamentally smooth or chunky.

• The 12 Strangest Objects in the Universe
• From Big Bang to Present: Snapshots of Our Universe Through Time
• The Large Numbers That Define the Universe

Paul M. Sutter is an astrophysicist at The Ohio State University, host of Ask a Spaceman and Space Radio, and author of Your Place in the Universe.

• Originally published on Live Science. 

{ https://www.livescience.com/news }

NASA cameras capture ‘soundwaves from mystery spacecraft’ hurtling across Earth

The images taken from the International Space Station have sparked a fierce debate online, with some believing it was proof of the US government controlling the weather. Others claimed the “craft” was actually a top-secret sonic weapon

By Simon Green - Video News Editor

NASA cameras on the International Space Station have captured soundwaves travelling across Earth from a new form of “space technology”, conspiracy theorists have claimed.

The collection of baffling photos appear to show something cutting through the clouds to send miles upon miles of “ripples” trailing off behind it.

YouTube conspiracists Blake and Brett Cousins – of thirdphaseofmoon – noticed the images on NASA’s website and posted footage giving their thoughts earlier today.

“These are some of the best images I’ve seen from NASA, this is blowing me away,” Brett says.

“What we’re seeing is something ripping through the clouds that is creating a pattern that we haven’t seen before.

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“What kind of craft is zipping through the clouds to cut clouds and make this ripple effect?

“Whatever it is, it’s massive.”

Blake then likens the patterns to those created by soundwaves and claims the fact the ISS was over the Earth at the exact spot to capture the images was no coincidence.

“What’s amazing to me is that NASA and the ISS were in the exact spot at the right time to capture this, I think this was an experiment,” he continues.

“The ISS wanted to get some good images of this – they are super hi-res.

“Is this some sort of secret sonic weapon that we’re not aware of?”

NASA/thirdphaseofmoon/YouTube

His brother agrees, suggesting that the agency was showcasing “new space technology”.

The footage has sparked fierce debate since surfacing on YouTube.

Some viewers suggested the “craft” could be alien in origin, while others believed it looked like a “cloaked military mother ship”.

{ https://www.dailystar.co.uk/ }

China's Microsatellite Crash Site on the Moon Spotted by NASA Lunar Orbiter

Longjiang-2 was designed to orbit the moon for a year. The satellite exceeded that estimate, but its mission still needed to come to an end, and China wanted to crash the spacecraft to ensure it wouldn't clutter up lunar orbit.

Now, a new lunar crater has been identified, and it's most likely the result of that impact, according to a statement from Mark Robinson, leader of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) team at Arizona State University.

In his remarks about the images released from the instrument, Robinson saluted the team — led by amateur radio operator Daniel Estévez of Tres Cantos, Spain — that estimated that the small spacecraft impacted the lunar surface somewhere within Van Gent crater (16.69 degrees North, 159.52 degrees East).

The LROC team used these coordinates to image the area on Oct. 5. Through a careful comparison of pre-existing LROC Narrow Angle Camera images, the LROC team located a new impact crater (16.6956 degrees N, 159.5170 degrees E, plus or minus 10 meters) just 1,076 feet (328 m) from the estimated site.

The crater is 13 feet by 16 feet (4 by 5 m), with the long axis oriented southwest to northeast.

Based on the crater's size and proximity to the estimated crash coordinates, "we are fairly confident that this new crater formed as a result of the Longjiang-2 impact," Robinson wrote.

• China's Chang'e Program: Missions to the Moon
• See the Moon Like the Apollo Astronauts with These Epic Panoramic Photos
• Photos from the Moon's Far Side! China's Chang'e 4 Lunar Landing in Pictures

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Building a Planet B for Humanity Isn't a Good Enough Reason to Explore Space

An artist's depiction of life on Mars.

(Image: © NASA)

That reliance on Earth is not surprising considering how many characteristics of other worlds make them inhospitable or even threatening to humans. But the tie to Earth does throw a wrench in dreams of shuffling off our terrestrial coil — dreams that can be an attractive alternative to the difficulty of tackling the challenges of life at home.

"For me, the question is balance," Denning said. "How can we be enthusiastic about the human capacity to explore while maintaining our focus on what needs to happen here on this planet?"

Some approaches developed to address challenges of spaceflight can also shape life on Earth; NASA regularly highlights "spinoff" technologies you don't need to go to orbit to appreciate. Other challenges and solutions of space lack those spinoff applications.

Sometimes, the idea of a fallback world is stretched even further beyond the bounds of possibility, to places we can't pragmatically visit. "Amazing scientific discoveries, for example, exoplanets, get co-opted into problematic stories about our own life here on Earth. Exoplanets do get framed as a Planet B," Denning said. "That's become the story, that that is why exoplanets are important, because maybe we can go there when we've destroyed Earth." That reasoning ignores the scientific importance of studying these distant alien planets.

Transferring humanity elsewhere also has consequences for destination worlds. Some of those concerns are addressed by planetary-protection guidelines, which are designed in part to reduce the odds that terrestrial contamination will prevent scientists from being able to determine whether life exists on other worlds.

Still, Denning said she's not convinced that those guidelines are enough to protect either other worlds and any life there or even astronauts themselves. "I'm not saying Mars off limits forever or anything like that," she said. "In my ideal universe, we would just be slowing down and taking more time and making sure that we get it right for everybody's sake, for the sake of any humans you're sending out there as well."

Those concerns apply to exploration on the scale of just a handful of astronauts as well as to the more sizable and permanent migration implied by the term Planet B. But in both cases, humans have a lot of potential to change the worlds they visit, purposefully or accidentally. And Denning said she wishes we would spend more time now discussing what those worlds' futures may someday look like.

"We've got worlds out there that we haven't really messed up yet," Denning said, wistfully pointing out that if we're careful, we can keep them that way. "Wouldn't it be nice?"

• Mars One's Red Planet Colony Project (Gallery)
• The Search for Life on Mars (A Photo Timeline)
• Mars Ice Home: A Red Planet Colony Concept in Pictures

Email Meghan Bartels at mbartels@space.com or follow her @meghanbartels. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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