First images from Biomass mission show vibrant Earth

• The Biomass mission from the European Space Agency is taking images of Earth to acquire data about forest biomass and how it changes over time.
• The mission’s goal is to aid scientists understand the role forests play in the Earth’s carbon cycle.
• The first images from Biomass show a vibrant Earth, revealing details of the landscape through the forest canopy down to the floor.
• ESA published this original article on June 23, 2025. Edits by EarthSky.

Biomass mission delivers vibrant Earth images

On June 23, 2025, the European Space Agency (ESA) revealed the first stunning images from its groundbreaking Biomass satellite mission at the Living Planet Symposium. It marks a major leap forward in our ability to understand how Earth’s forests are changing and exactly how they contribute to the global carbon cycle. But these inaugural glimpses go beyond forests. Remarkably, the satellite is already showing potential to unlock new insights into some of Earth’s most extreme environments.

Biomass – an Earth explorer research mission developed within ESA’s FutureEO programme – was launch less than two months ago. This new mission is, therefore, still in the process of being commissioned, but its first set of images are stunning none the less.

ESA’s Biomass Project Manager, Michael Fehringer, commented:

As is routine, we’re still in the commissioning phase, fine-tuning the satellite to ensure it delivers the highest quality data for scientists to accurately determine how much carbon is stored in the world’s forests.

Biomass is equipped with novel space technology, so we’ve been closely monitoring its performance in orbit, and we’re very pleased to report that everything is functioning smoothly and its first images are nothing short of spectacular. And they’re only a mere glimpse of what is still to come.

More about Biomass

Biomass is the first satellite to carry a P-band synthetic aperture radar. Its signal is capable of penetrating forest canopies to measure woody biomass: trunks, branches and stems. These measurements serve as a proxy for carbon storage, the assessment of which is the mission’s primary objective.

While it settles into its life in orbit, ESA’s pioneering Biomass mission is already returning data. The satellite, its instrument and systems are still being calibrated. So researchers cannot yet use these first data to quantify carbon or support scientific advances. But they do show that Biomass is well on track to achieving its goals.

Simonetta Cheli, ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes, said:

Looking at these first images, it’s clear to see that our Earth Explorer Biomass satellite is set to deliver on its promise.

We fully expect that this new mission will provide a groundbreaking leap in our ability to understand Earth’s forests. It will combine cutting-edge radar technology with the scientific excellence that will unlock vital insights into carbon storage, climate change and the health of our planet’s precious forest ecosystems.

Bolivian forests

Biomass’ first image (at top) features part of Bolivia. Bolivia has experienced significant deforestation, ranking among the highest globally for primary forest loss. Although there are complex reasons at play, this is primarily driven by forest clearance for agricultural expansion.

This vibrant image is from the radar instrument’s different polarization channels. Each color reveals distinct characteristics of the landscape. For instance, green hues mainly represent rainforest, red hues forested floodplains and wetlands, and blue–purple is indicative of grasslands. Meanwhile, black areas are rivers and lakes.

In the Amazon basin, some rivers run wild. Unhindered by dams, they are free to meander, but some more dramatically than others. The image captures one such wanderer, the Beni River, which flows from the Andes Mountains across the Bolivian lowlands northeast toward Brazil.

The true strength of the Biomass mission lies not in identifying features from a single image, but in its unique sampling technique and ability to combine multiple observations of the same area to reveal forest height and biomass. This enables scientists to accurately quantify forest carbon stocks and better understand the role of tropical forests in the global carbon cycle.

Biomass mission vs. Copernicus-Sentinel 2

The second image, an image in two parts, is the same capture of Bolivia from Biomass but featured below an image of the same area from Copernicus Sentinel-2.

Although the images appear visually similar, the Biomass image offers significantly more information for quantifying forest carbon stocks. This is primarily thanks to its long-wavelength radar, which can penetrate the canopy and characterize the entire forest structure. In contrast, the optical Sentinel-2 image captures only the top of the canopy.

Northern Brazil

This third image is actually the very first acquisition Biomass returned. It offers another striking view of the Amazon rainforest, but this time over northern Brazil.

In the southern part of the image, pink and red hues reveal the presence of wetlands. This highlights Biomass’ ability to penetrate dense vegetation and detect features down to the forest floor. The dominance of red tones along the river indicates forested floodplains. Meanwhile, the northern area, depicted in rich green, reveals more rugged topography and dense, continuous forest cover.

Volcanoes of Indonesia

The fourth image features tropical forests on islands in Indonesia. This is the Halmahera rainforest, situated in mountainous terrain, much of which has volcanic origins. Several volcanoes remain active in the area, including Mount Gamkonora, visible near the northern coast in this image.

This particular image clearly demonstrates that, beyond providing insights into rainforests, the Biomass P-band radar also reveals topographic features, as its long wavelength can penetrate down to the forest floor.

Biomass sees Gabon in Africa

The fifth capture features Gabon in Africa. The Ivindo River, which is vital to the health of the rainforest, is clear to see in this striking image. Other than the river and tributaries, the image is predominantly green, representing dense forest. The visibility of distinct topographical features in this image further underscores the radar’s capability to image through forest canopies to the terrain underneath.

Examining other aspects of Earth from the Biomass mission

Biomass also offers opportunities to explore other aspects of our planet, as the last two images below demonstrate.

The radar should be able to penetrate through dry sand by as much as 16 feet (five meters). Data can, therefore, be used to map and study sub-surface geological features in deserts, such the remains of ancient riverbeds and lakes. This will help understand the past climate and also help prospect fossil water resources in desert regions.

Indicating that this can indeed be achieved, the sixth image, below, shows the stunning structure of part of the Sahara Desert in Chad. This image covers part of the Tibesti Mountains, a mountain range in the central Sahara, mainly located in the extreme north of Chad.

The last image shows a portion of the vast Antarctic Transantarctic Mountains with one of the large ice streams, Nimrod Glacier, flowing into Ross Ice Shelf.

The long wavelength of Biomass’ radar allows for deeper penetration into ice. This enables the retrieval of valuable information on ice velocity and the internal structure of the ice. These are capabilities that shorter wavelength radars cannot achieve effectively. And this image indicates that this could be a possibility.

Bottom line: The Biomass mission has revealed its first images! See vibrant pics of Earth from space, highlighting forests and more.

• Via ESA
• Read more: 1st photo of Earth from space, 78 years ago

{ https://earthsky.org/space/ }

28-06-2025 om 21:56 geschreven door peter  

Door de prachtige foto’s die telescopen en satellieten van planeten, sterrenstelsels en nevels hebben gemaakt, zou je bijna vergeten hoe mooi onze eigen planeet is. Maar ESA’s gloednieuwe Biomass-satelliet steekt daar nu een stokje voor.

De Biomass-satelliet is nog geen twee maanden geleden gelanceerd en moet gaan onderzoeken hoe onze bossen eraan toe zijn en hoe ze door de tijd heen veranderen. Daarnaast hopen onderzoekers dat de satelliet meer inzicht kan geven in de rol die bomen spelen in de koolstofcyclus (zie kader).

Bomen en koolstof
Bossen worden ook wel de longen van de aarde genoemd. Ze geven zuurstof af en halen koolstofdioxide (CO2) uit de atmosfeer. Die koolstof slaan de bomen op, tot ze worden omgehakt; als de bomen sterven en vergaan, komt de CO2 weer vrij. Tot zover is het een vrij helder verhaal. Minder duidelijk is echter hoeveel CO2 de bossen wereldwijd op dit moment hebben opgeslagen en hoe de mate waarin bomen koolstof opslaan nu precies verandert onder invloed van stijgende temperaturen en hogere CO2-concentraties in de atmosfeer. De Biomass-satelliet moet daar meer inzicht in geven. De satelliet is daartoe onder meer uitgerust met een radarsysteem dat deze in staat stelt om dwars door het bladerdak heen te kijken en de zogenoemde ‘biomassa’ – de stammen en takken – van bossen te meten. Omdat bomen het leeuwendeel van de koolstof die ze opnemen in die stammen en takken opslaan, kan uit die metingen worden afgeleid hoeveel koolstof er op dit moment in bossen zit opgeslagen – en hoe die hoeveelheid door de tijd heen verandert.

Testen
Op dit moment is de Biomass-satelliet nog niet in bedrijf; ESA is druk bezig om de systemen aan boord van de satelliet te testen en goed af te stellen. Dat is allesbehalve saai. Zo resulteert het onder meer in de eerste beelden van Biomass en die zijn volgens projectmanager Michael Fehringer “niet minder dan spectaculair”.

Bolivia
En daar is weinig aan gelogen. Zo heeft Biomass bijvoorbeeld bovenstaande afbeelding afgeleverd. We zien hier een stukje van Bolivia – waar ontbossing een groot probleem is. Op de levendige afbeelding zien we regenwoud (in groentinten), beboste uiterwaarden en wetlands (in roodtinten), graslanden (in blauwpaarse tinten) en rivieren en meren (in zwart). De wild slingerende rivier de Beni springt daarbij met name in het oog.

Brazilië
Nog zo’n mooie opname zie je hieronder (links), van het Amazonewoud in Brazilië. De opname laat mooi zien dat Biomass dwars door het bladerdak kan kijken, tot op de bosbodem. Zo zie je onderin rode en roze tinten die op de aanwezigheid van wetlands wijzen. In het noorden zijn dan weer heuvels te vinden die – afgaand op de groentint – heel dicht bebost zijn.

Gabon
Ook de foto die je hier rechtsboven ziet, gemaakt in Gabon (Afrika) is prachtig. De Ivindo-rivier springt er duidelijk uit. Deze rivier is van levensbelang voor het omringende regenwoud waar Biomass dus ook weer dwars doorheen gluurt, zodat de topografische kenmerken van het gebied aan het licht komen.

Woestijnen
Maar Biomass kan nog meer, zo onthult de foto hieronder. Het radarsysteem waarmee de satelliet is uitgerust kan namelijk niet alleen dwars door bladeren heen kijken, maar ook dwars door tot wel vijf meter droog zand heen ‘gluren’. En daarmee is de satelliet bijvoorbeeld in staat om ondergrondse structuren – zoals de restanten van oude rivierbeddingen en meren – in woestijnen op te snorren. Die restanten kunnen onder meer onthullen welk klimaat de woestijn in het verleden kende en hoe de woestijn er onder dat klimaat precies uitzag.

IJs
En daar blijft het niet bij. Want het radarsysteem aan boord van Biomass kan ook vrij diep in ijs gluren en zo meer inzicht geven in de interne structuur daarvan. Om dat te demonstreren, maakte Biomass de foto hieronder, met daarop een stukje van het enorme Transarctisch Gebergte en de Nimrod-gletsjer (beiden te vinden op Antarctica).

De beelden zijn prachtig om te zien, maar onthullen bovenal dat Biomass in staat is om de hoge verwachtingen waar te maken en ons een ongeëvenaard inkijkje te geven in bossen – en en passant ook in woestijnen en ijsmassa’s – op onze eigen prachtige planeet. “We verwachten dat deze nieuwe missie een baanbrekende sprong voorwaarts betekent in ons begrip van de bossen op aarde,” aldus Fehringer. “En essentiële inzichten zal opleveren als het gaat om koolstofopslag, klimaatverandering en de gezondheid van de kostbare bosecosystemen op onze planeet.”

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28-06-2025 om 21:33 geschreven door peter  

A cosmic ray-like signal was recorded, seeming to come from below the Antarctic ice. 

(Westend61/Getty Images)

Two Anomalous Radio Signals Detected Coming from Antarctic Ice

The unusual radio pulses were detected by the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) experiment, a range of instruments flown on NASA balloons high above Antarctica that are designed to detect radio waves from cosmic rays hitting the atmosphere. The goal of the experiment is to gain insight into distant cosmic events by analyzing signals that reach the Earth. Rather than reflecting off the ice, the radio signals appeared to be coming from below the horizon, an orientation that cannot be explained by the current understanding of particle physics and may hint at new types of particles or interactions previously unknown to science.

ANITA was placed in Antarctica because there is little chance of interference from other signals; to capture the emission signals, the balloon-borne radio detector is sent to fly over stretches of ice, capturing what are called ice showers.

Image credit: Stephanie Wissel / Penn State.

“The radio waves that we detected were at really steep angles, like 30 degrees below the surface of the ice,” said Dr. Stephanie Wissel, a physicist at Penn State.

“By our calculations, the anomalous signal had to pass through and interact with thousands of km of rock before reaching the detector, which should have left the radio signal undetectable because it would have been absorbed into the rock.”

“It’s an interesting problem because we still don’t actually have an explanation for what those anomalies are, but what we do know is that they’re most likely not representing neutrinos.”

Usually emitted by high-energy sources like the Sun or major cosmic events like supernovas or even the Big Bang, there are neutrino signals everywhere.

The problem with these particles, though, is that they are notoriously difficult to detect.

“You have a billion neutrinos passing through your thumbnail at any moment, but neutrinos don’t really interact,” Dr. Wissel said.

“So, this is the double-edged sword problem. If we detect them, it means they have traveled all this way without interacting with anything else.”

“We could be detecting a neutrino coming from the edge of the observable Universe.”

“Once detected and traced to their source, these particles can reveal more about cosmic events than even the most high-powered telescopes, as the particles can travel undisturbed and almost as fast as the speed of light, giving clues about cosmic events that happened light-years away.”

“Teams of researchers around the world have been working to design and build special detectors to capture sensitive neutrino signals, even in relatively small amounts.”

“Even one small signal from a neutrino holds a treasure trove of information, so all data has significance.”

“We use radio detectors to try to build really, really large neutrino telescopes so that we can go after a pretty low expected event rate.”

ANITA is one of these detectors, and it was placed in Antarctica because there is little chance of interference from other signals.

To capture the emission signals, the balloon-borne radio detector is sent to fly over stretches of ice, capturing what are called ice showers.

“We have these radio antennas on a balloon that flies 40 km above the ice in Antarctica,” Dr. Wissel said.

“We point our antennas down at the ice and look for neutrinos that interact in the ice, producing radio emissions that we can then sense on our detectors.”

These special ice-interacting neutrinos, called tau neutrinos, produce a secondary particle called a tau lepton that is released out of the ice and decays, the physics term referring to how the particle loses energy as it travels over space and breaks down into its constituents. This produces emissions known as air showers.

“If they were visible to the naked eye, air showers might look like a sparkler waved in one direction, with sparks trailing it,” Dr. Wissel said.

“We can distinguish between the two signals — ice and air showers — to determine attributes about the particle that created the signal.”

“These signals can then be traced back to their origin, similar to how a ball thrown at an angle will predictably bounce back at the same angle.”

The recent anomalous findings, though, cannot be traced back in such a manner as the angle is much sharper than existing models predict.

Stephanie Wissel/Penn State

By analyzing data collected from multiple ANITA flights and comparing it with mathematical models and extensive simulations of both regular cosmic rays and upward-going air showers, the researchers were able to filter out background noise and eliminate the possibility of other known particle-based signals.

The scientists then cross-referenced signals from other independent detectors like the IceCube Experiment and the Pierre Auger Observatory to see if data from upward-going air showers, similar to those found by ANITA, were captured by other experiments.

The analysis revealed the other detectors did not register anything that could have explained what ANITA detected, which led the authors to describe the signal as anomalous, meaning that the particles causing the signal are not neutrinos.

The signals do not fit within the standard picture of particle physics, and while several theories suggest that it may be a hint of dark matter, the lack of follow-up observations with IceCube and Auger really narrow the possibilities.

“Our team is currently designing and building the next big detector,” Dr. Wissel said.

Stephanie Wissel/Penn State

“The new detector, called PUEO, will be larger and better at detecting neutrino signals, and it will hopefully shed light on what exactly the anomalous signal is.”

“My guess is that some interesting radio propagation effect occurs near ice and also near the horizon that I don’t fully understand, but we certainly explored several of those, and we haven’t been able to find any of those yet either.”

A rendering of what PUEO will look like once deployed.

(Christian Miki/University of Hawaii)

“So, right now, it’s one of these long-standing mysteries, and I’m excited that when we fly PUEO, we’ll have better sensitivity.”

“In principle, we should pick up more anomalies, and maybe we’ll actually understand what they are.”

“We also might detect neutrinos, which would in some ways be a lot more exciting.”

• The team’s paper was published in the journal Physical Review Letters.
• A. Abdul Halim et al. (Pierre Auger Collaboration). 2025. Search for the Anomalous Events Detected by ANITA Using the Pierre Auger Observatory. Phys. Rev. Lett 134, 121003; doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.121003
• This article is based on a press-release provided by Penn State.

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28-06-2025 om 21:06 geschreven door peter  

Time, not space plus time, might be the single fundamental property in which all physical phenomena occur.

Image credit: M. Weiss / Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

“These three time dimensions are the primary fabric of everything, like the canvas of a painting,” Dr. Kletetschka said.

“Space still exists with its three dimensions, but it’s more like the paint on the canvas rather than the canvas itself.”

“These thoughts are a marked difference from generally accepted physics, which holds that a single dimension of time plus the three dimensions of space constitute reality.”

“This is known as spacetime, the concept developed more than a century ago that views time and space as one entity.”

Dr. Kletetschka’s mathematical formula of six total dimensions — of time and space combined — could bring scientists closer to finding the single unifying explanation of the Universe.

Dimensions of time beyond our everyday forward progression are difficult to grasp. Theoretical physicists have proposed many variations.

The new work adds to a long-running body of research by theoretical physicists on a subject outside of mainstream physics.

“Earlier 3D time proposals were primarily mathematical constructs without these concrete experimental connections,” Dr. Kletetschka said.

“My work transforms the concept from an interesting mathematical possibility into a physically testable theory with multiple independent verification channels.”

“The theory could be used to predict currently unknown particle properties and aid in pursuing the origin of mass — and, ultimately, helping solve one of the biggest questions in physics.”

Three-dimensional time is a theory in which time, like space, has multiple independent directions — typically imagined as three axes of time motion, similar in concept to the spatial X, Y and Z axes.

Imagine you are walking down a straight path, moving forward and therefore experiencing time as we know it. Now imagine another path that crosses the first one, going sideways.

If you could step onto that sideways path and remain in the same moment of regular time, you might find that things could be slightly different — perhaps a different version of the same day.

Moving along this perpendicular second path could let you explore different outcomes of that day without going backward or forward in time as we know it.

The existence of those different outcomes is the second dimension of time. The means to transition from one outcome to another is the third dimension.

“This theory overcomes some of the problems with earlier three-dimensional time theories that are based on traditional physics,” Dr. Kletetschka said.

“Those earlier theories, for example, describe multiple time dimensions in which cause-and-effect relationships are potentially ambiguous.”

“The new theory ensures that causes still precede effects, even with multiple time dimensions, just in a more complex mathematical structure.”

In three-dimensional time, the second and third dimensions are thought by some researchers, notably theoretical physicist Itzhak Bars of the University of Southern California, to become apparent, or unfold, at levels of extreme energy such as during the early Universe or in high-energy particle interactions.

The new approach might even help resolve the grandest of all unresolved physics challenges: unifying quantum mechanics — the behavior of particles at the smallest scales — and gravity into a single quantum theory of gravity.

A quantum theory of gravity could lead to, or become, a grand theory of the Universe — the so-called theory of everything.

The elusive unifying theory would unite the four fundamental forces of nature — electromagnetism, strong nuclear force, weak nuclear force and gravity.

The Standard Model of particle physics unites the first three. Gravity is explained through Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity.

The two are incompatible, so physicists have been searching for that theory of everything to unite them. Finding the origin of particle masses is central in that pursuit.

Dr. Kletetschka believes his theory of three-dimensional time can help.

The framework accurately reproduces the known masses of particles such as electrons, muons and quarks and also explains why these particles have these masses.

“The path to unification might require fundamentally reconsidering the nature of physical reality itself,” Dr. Kletetschka said.

“This theory demonstrates how viewing time as three-dimensional can naturally resolve multiple physics puzzles through a single coherent mathematical framework.”

• His paper was published in the journal Reports in Advances of Physical Science.
• Gunther Kletetschka. 2025. Three-Dimensional Time: A Mathematical Framework for Fundamental Physics. Reports in Advances of Physical Sciences 9: 2550004; doi: 10.1142/S2424942425500045

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28-06-2025 om 17:00 geschreven door peter  

The idea of an entire continent tearing in half sounds like a plot from the latest apocalyptic blockbuster - but scientists say that it could soon become a reality in Africa. 

A massive crack is ripping through Earth's second-largest continent, from the north east to the south. 

Eventually, the entire continent could split apart - leaving eastern Africa with its own coastline, separated from the rest of Africa. 

In a new study, researchers uncovered evidence of rhythmic surges of molten rock rising from deep within the Earth's surface, beneath Ethiopia. 

These pulses are gradually tearing the continent apart and forming a new ocean, according to researchers from Swansea University. 

'The split will eventually go all the way down Africa,' lead author Dr Emma Watts told MailOnline. 

'It has already begun and is happening now but at a slow rate – 5-16 mm per year – in the north of the rift.

'Regarding timescales, this process of Africa being torn apart will take several million years before it is completed.' 

Scientists say a massive crack has started ripping through Africa, from the north east to the south, starting at the Afar region in Ethiopia. Pictured, active lava flows spilling out of the Erta Ale volcano in Afar, Ethiopia

Scientists at the University of Southampton uncovered evidence of rhythmic surges of molten mantle rock rising from deep within the Earth beneath Africa. These pulses are gradually tearing the continent apart and forming a new ocean

The split has already started at the northeast of Africa off the coast of Ethiopia, where the Red Sea flows into the Gulf of Aden. This image shows the hypothesized hot upwelling of mantle over the next few millions of years 

Dr Watts and colleagues point to the Gulf of Aden, a relatively narrow body of water separating Africa in the south and Yemen in the north. 

Like a small tear in a piece of clothing, the gradual separation event could start at the Gulf of Aden and gradually spread downwards. 

As it does so, it would split through the middle of enormous bodies of water in East Africa, such as Lake Malawi and Lake Turkana. 

By the time the split is complete, perhaps five to 10 million years from now, Africa will be made up of two landmasses.

There will be the larger landmass in the west featuring most of the 54 modern-day African countries, such as Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, Ghana and Nambia. 

Meanwhile, the smaller landmass to the east will include Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and a large portion of Ethiopia. 

'The smaller part that breaks away towards the east will be approximately 1 million square miles in area and the remaining larger landmass will be just over 10 million square miles,' Dr Watts told MailOnline.

For the study, the team collected more than 130 volcanic rock samples from across the Afar region. 

The Gulf of Aden (pictured) is a relatively narrow body of water separating Africa in the south and Yemen in the north - and this is where the split has already begun

The Afar region is a rare place on Earth where three tectonic rifts meet - the Main Ethiopian Rift, the Red Sea Rift, and the Gulf of Aden Rift - together known as a triple junction. Pictured, fresh basaltic lava flows in the region of Afar, Ethiopia

This region is characterized by high volcanic activity. Pictured, a succession of volcanic deposits at Boset Volcano in the Main Ethiopian Rift

In this region, three tectonic plates meet, called the Main Ethiopian Rift, the Red Sea Rift and the Gulf of Aden Rift, which are 'divergent', meaning they're moving away from each other. 

The experts used these samples, plus existing data and advanced statistical modelling, to investigate the structure of the Earth's crust and the mantle below it.

The mantle, the planet's thickest layer, is predominantly a solid rock but behaves like a viscous fluid. The divergence (moving apart of the plates) aids the rising of the mantle. 

'We found that the mantle beneath Afar is not uniform or stationary – it pulses,' said Dr Watts. 

'These ascending pulses of partially molten mantle are channelled by the rifting plates above.' 

Over millions of years, as tectonic plates are pulled apart at rift zones like Afar, they stretch and thin almost like soft plasticine, until they rupture, marking the birth of a new ocean. 

Geologists have long suspected a hot upwelling of mantle, but until now, little was known about the structure of this upwelling, or how it behaves beneath rifting plates.

The team say the pulses appear to behave differently depending on the thickness of the plate, and how fast it’s pulling apart.

Earth is made up of three layers – the crust, the mantle and the core, which was later separated into 'inner' and 'outer'. A recent study suggested the existence of an 'innermost core' too 

For the study, the team collected more than 130 volcanic rock samples from across the Afar region. Pictured, microscope image of a thin sliver of one of the volcanic rocks from Afar, Ethiopia

At the Afar region, the entire rift valley floor is covered with volcanic rocks, which suggests that, in this area, part of the Earth's crust has thinned almost to the point of complete break up.

When this happens, a new ocean will begin forming by the solidification of magma in the space created by the broken-up plates.

Eventually, over a period of tens of millions of years, seafloor spreading will progress along the entire length of the rift.

The study, published in Nature Geoscience, shows that the mantle plume beneath the Afar region is not static, but dynamic and responsive to the tectonic plate above it.

'We have found that the evolution of deep mantle upwellings is intimately tied to the motion of the plates above,' said co-author Dr Derek Keir, associate professor in earth science at the University of Southampton and the University of Florence.

'This has profound implications for how we interpret surface volcanism, earthquake activity, and the process of continental breakup.' 

The Earth is moving under our feet: Tectonic plates move through the mantle and produce Earthquakes as they scrape against each other

Tectonic plates are composed of Earth's crust and the uppermost portion of the mantle. 

Below is the asthenosphere: the warm, viscous conveyor belt of rock on which tectonic plates ride.

The Earth has fifteen tectonic plates (pictured) that together have moulded the shape of the landscape we see around us today 

Earthquakes typically occur at the boundaries of tectonic plates, where one plate dips below another, thrusts another upward, or where plate edges scrape alongside each other. 

Earthquakes rarely occur in the middle of plates, but they can happen when ancient faults or rifts far below the surface reactivate. 

These areas are relatively weak compared to the surrounding plate, and can easily slip and cause an earthquake.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

28-06-2025 om 01:11 geschreven door peter  

Life on Mars? Mysterious 'mushroom' is spotted on the Red Planet in photo snapped by NASA's Curiosity rover

• READ MORE: Mysterious 'flying saucer' in the Sahara Desert is discovered 

By WILIAM HUNTER

Scientists have spent decades scouring the Martian surface for any signs of life.

Now, a photo snapped by NASA's Curiosity rover has sparked speculation that the hunt might finally be over.

A picture taken from the Martian surface appears to show a 'mushroom' growing on the Red Planet.

The strange discovery has led some alien hunters to declare: 'Life...has been found!'

The photo was taken by the Curiosity rover on September 19, 2013, but was spotted in the archives by UFO hunter Scott Waring.

Mr Waring says: 'This object has a curved bottom part of a stem, same as those on Earth.

'I'm not sure how or why NASA could overlook such a thing... since NASA's mission is to find life on other planets and moons.'

However, scientists say there is a much simpler explanation.

A photo taken by NASA's Curiosity rover has sparked speculation after appearing to capture a mushroom growing on the Red Planet 

Alien hunters have seized on the strange structure, claiming it as evidence of life on Mars 

NASA's Curiosity rover was launched to Mars in 2011 with the goal of discovering whether the planet had the right conditions to support microscopic life.

To help this search, the rover is equipped with multiple cameras, a drill to gather rock samples, and sets of tools to analyse the chemical compositions of samples.

However, despite a decade of searching, Curiosity has never found any evidence that Mars is or ever was home to any form of alien life.

But that hasn't stopped wild speculation following many of the rover's discoveries.

Following his discovery of this archived image, Mr Waring claims that the rocky structure is a mushroom that has 'clearly pushed up out of the Mars dirt.'

He adds: 'NASA should have poked it, bumped it, knocked it over, cut it open with their tools on Curiosity rover or at least use that million-dollar laser they burn rocks and dirt with.'

And Mr Waring isn't the only one who agrees. Commenters on social media flocked to share their support for his claims.

One wrote: Looks like a mushroom to me! NASA know far more about MARS than they let on.'

However, despite having a similar shape to some fungi, scientists say that there is a simple explanation for these images

(stock image)

Online, the images of Martian 'mushrooms' started a flurry of speculation as users claimed that it 'looks like a mushroom to me'

Scientists have found no evidence that life exists or ever has existed on Mars. But there is good evidence that the planet does contain water 

While another boldly claimed: 'What people fail to realize is if life is found on just one other planet in the solar system, then that basically means there is life everywhere in the Universe mathematically.'

However, scientists are not convinced by this supposed evidence.

Dr Gareth Dorrian, a planetary physicist from the University of Birmingham, told MailOnline that this is simply a 'flat roughly disc-shaped rock sitting atop a smaller stone at the bottom.'

'My best guess would be they were not originally in that position, but like two rocks lying in the desert, one just below the surface and the other on the surface above it,' he explained. 

'Over time the wind could gradually blow the sand and dust away and the top one would gradually settle onto the bottom one.'

Dr Dorrian points out that wind-driven processes like this on Earth often produce remarkable and strange formations.

Alternatively, these 'mushrooms' could be geological structures called concretions, which formed billions of years ago when there was liquid water on Mars.

As water flows through sediment, it dissolves the minerals and rearranges them in a more compact form to leave behind a solid block.

This is not the first time that scientists have found a 'mushroom on Mars'. However, these are just a type of geological feature called a concretion (pictured top right)

Since these are harder than the surrounding rock, they are often left standing above the surface.

Just like the hoodoo rock spires of the American southwest, these structures often take on a mushroom-like shape as the wind carves away the softer bedrock to leave a thin 'stem'.

Part of the reason that Curiosity didn't stop to take any more measurements, as Mr Waring suggests, is that these are common on the Martian surface. 

Additionally, Dr Dorrian points out that, even if there were life on Mars, the chances of a living organism being found on the Martian surface are extremely low.

The atmospheric pressure at the Martian surface is roughly equivalent to that found 20 miles above the surface of Earth, meaning the atmosphere is very thin.

This allows a constant stream of ultraviolet and particle radiation in the form of cosmic rays to bombard the surface.

Dr Dorrian says: 'This unhealthy combination of radiation is well known to damage complex molecules like DNA and would quickly sterilise the surface where this image was taken.'

As if that wasn't bad enough, Dr Dorrian notes that temperature above ground would make it impossible for any organism to survive. 

Concretions formed on Mars billions of years ago when water flowed through the sediment and left behind hard blocks of material that resisted being weathered by the wind 

These same processes are responsible for the formation of the Hoodoo pillars in the American Southwest which also often have a mushroom-like shape 

Temperatures swing from a comfortable 20°C (68°F) during the day to -100°C (-148°F) at night, well below the freezing point of water and far colder than anywhere on Earth. 

'No known forms of life can simultaneously tolerate these extremes of temperatures, radiation levels, and low atmospheric pressure, including mushrooms,' says Dr Dorrian.

'If life does exist on Mars, it is more likely to be found below ground, such as in underground reserves of water, where it would be shielded from the harsh environment at the surface.'

That means this photograph almost certainly shows a common and naturally occurring rock formation, rather than life growing in an impossibly harsh environment.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

27-06-2025 om 23:38 geschreven door peter  

The photograph so detailed it's impossible to see with the naked eye: Vera C Rubin Observatory releases the first images from its whopping 3,200 MEGAPIXEL camera

• READ MORE: Dead NASA satellite inexplicably comes back to life

By WILIAM HUNTER

Scientists have revealed the first images from the world's largest digital camera, the Vera C Rubin Observatory. 

Located on top of the Cerro Pachón mountain in Chile, this revolutionary telescope is poised to supercharge our study of the universe. 

Equipped with a 5.4ft x 9.8ft digital camera, the telescope can capture an area about three times that of the moon with every photo. 

With a resolution of 3,200 megapixels - 67 times more than an iPhone 16 Pro - each image would need 400 4K high-definition television screens to display at its original size. 

One of its first stunning images shows the Trifid and Lagoon nebulae, vast clouds of colourful gas located some 9,000 light-years from Earth.

Combining 678 different pictures taken over seven hours, the photograph reveals blue and pink swirls of interplanetary gas and the glow of young stars being formed.

In another image, the massive telescope captures around 10 million galaxies - just 0.5 per cent of the 20 billion galaxies it will observe over its lifetime.

However, these are only the very first test images from the cutting-edge telescope, with thousands more soon to come. 

Scientists have revealed the first images from the world's largest digital camera, the Vera C Rubin Observatory. This image shows the pink clouds of the Trifid Nebula (middle) and the smaller stellar nursery of the Lagoon Nebula (top right), located around 9,000 light-years from Earth 

Located on top of the Cerro Pachón mountain in Chile, this revolutionary telescope is poised to supercharge our study of the universe 

Perched 8,770ft (2,670m) above the Chilean Andes on a mountain dedicated to space research, the newly completed Vera C Rubin Telescope is in the perfect place to watch the stars.

The location is very high, exceptionally dark, and far enough above sea level to avoid much of the interference from Earth's atmosphere. 

The observatory's four goals are to map changes in the sky, study the formation of the Milky Way, map the solar system, and understand dark matter. 

As these test images offer a tantalising glimpse of what is to come, the observatory is soon to start a decade-long vigil watching the night sky.

With its unique, fast-moving design, astronomers will snap an image of the sky once every 40 seconds for eight to 12 hours every single night.

As part of the Legacy Survey of Space and Time, the telescope will map the entire southern night sky once every three days for the next ten years.

At its peak, the observatory will be generating tens of thousands of images every night, which will be sent to scientists around the world.

The UK will also play a critical role in this project by hosting the data centres to process the enormous quantities of data.

This is a small section of a test photo taken by the Vera C Rubin Observatory of the Virgo cluster, the full image contains over 10,000 galaxies 

Another small section of the same image shows spiral galaxies interacting in the heart of a dense galaxy cluster 

By repeatedly taking images of the same sections of the sky, the Vera C Rubin Observatory will enable scientists to detect the smallest changes.

Dr Eduardo Bañados, from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, says the telescope will give astronomers a 'cosmic movie' of the next decade.

'This will allow us to go beyond just discovering such super-distant galaxies, but also learning about their physical properties,' says Dr Bañados.

The system will alert scientists anytime it detects that something has changed, with up to 10 million data alerts being generated every night.

These alerts might be tiny fluctuations in the light from a distant galaxy or the glint of sunlight on an asteroid approaching Earth.

Scientists believe that the telescope will increase the catalogue of objects in the solar system tenfold. 

Speaking at a press conference revealing the test images, Aaron Roodman, Deputy Director for the observatory's construction, said: 'Since we take images of the night sky so quickly and so often, we'll detect millions of changing objects literally every night.

That means, if there is a ninth planet hiding somewhere in the solar system, the Vera C Rubin telescope will be able to find it.

The Vera C Rubin Observatory will map the entire southern night sky once every three days for the next decade, to create an unprecedented 'cosmic movie' 

Some scientists believe there might be a ninth planet orbiting 700 times further from the sun than Earth, well beyond the range of conventional telescopes. 

But by using a three-mirror system to focus even the faintest amounts of light, the Vera C Rubin Observatory will be able to see this planet if it is there. 

Light from distant galaxies is reflected from a 27.5-foot (8.4m) primary mirror, into an 11.2-foot (3.4m) secondary mirror, back into a 15.7-foot (4.8m) mirror, which bounces it into the waiting camera.

The setup is so sensitive that a single speck of dust or the light from a stray LED is enough to cause distortion.

However, overcoming those difficulties will give scientists an unprecedented window into the galactic past.

Mr Roodman says: 'We also will combine those images to be able to see incredibly dim galaxies and stars, including galaxies that are billions of light-years away.

'Rubin Observatory is truly a discovery machine. It will enable us to explore galaxies, stars in the Milky Way, objects in the solar system, and all in a truly new way.'

More photos from the Vera C Rubin Observatory will be released in a live-streamed event at 16:00 BST today.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

27-06-2025 om 22:37 geschreven door peter  

View of NASA's InSight lander on Mars.

Image Credit: NASA.

Since it landed on the red planet in November 2018, NASA’s InSight mission has detected more than one thousand Marsquakes successfully. The lander has offered us unprecedented insight into Mars. InSight has spent more than four years on the Martian surface.

The mission has rewarded us with various symphonic sounds on Mars. NASA has captured – thanks to the spacecraft’s exquisitely sensitive seismometer – a series of “curious sounds” on Mars, as heard in some of the audio recordings that NASA recently published. The Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) instrument was built to pick up different vibrations that may appear subtly as a simple breeze on Mars.

Unprecedented insight

Some of the sounds captured by the InSight mission correspond to Marsquakes and wind gusts on Mars. The sounds have been modified and adjusted by scientists so that the human ear can hear them. InSight’s seismograph is capable of recording sound waves such as those produced by gusts of wind or even by the movements of the robotic arm of the probe and other mechanical tools.

Never before were scientists able to hear what’s going on on Mars. Numerous past rover missions have offered an unprecedented view of the Martian landscape. But up until InSight made its way to the surface of Mars, we weren’t really able to hear what Mars sounds like.

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“It’s been exciting, especially in the beginning, hearing the first vibrations from the lander,” said Constantinos Charalambous, an InSight science team member at Imperial College London who works with the SP sensors. “You’re imagining what’s really happening on Mars as InSight sits on the open landscape.”

Most of the data InSight was sent to gather is related to quakes. Unlike on Earth, Marsquakes are caused by cooling and contraction, which results in stress fractures on the Martian Crust. Since Mars has a cratered surface, quakes on the red planet can persist for about a minute. In comparison, quakes on Earth last for seconds at a time. During the day, InSight’s different parts are in movement. They also produce sounds.

In addition to that, the seismometer also picks up wind gusts. This means that to hunt for quakes, researchers listen for changes in the instruments during the night. In addition to hearing quakes and wind gusts on Mars, the InSight instruments have picked up a series of strange changes. A weird whistling noise can be heard from Mars’s surface in one of the recordings. Although scientists don’t know exactly what causes it, they believe the noise was produced due to interference with the seismometer’s electronics.

The InSight lander has also recorded its own unique sounds. Researchers at NASA refer to them as dinks and donks, and these peculiar sounds are caused due to the expansion and contraction of the various parts inside the seismometer. These changes within the instrument are most likely caused due to heat loss.

Eerie sounds on Mars

Check out some of the strangest noises picked up by InSight on Mars here below. Here’s the first quake on Mars recorded by the InSight lander (at the start of the recording; what you will hear is the wind on Mars):

This is the recording of another quake on Mars:

Here’s another noise picked up on Sol 235 on Mars:

Here are some of the sounds that the lander produces when it is working on the surface of Mars:

And in this recording below, you can hear the various “dinks and dongs” the lander produces:

Here is an extra recording. In the audio track below, you’ll hear sounds from InSight’s Pressure Sensor on Mars:

InSight, whose solar panels are covered in think layers of Martian sand is no longer operating on the surface of Marts. However, the plethora of scientific data it has gathered during its mission on Mars has helped us to redefine our knowledge of the red planet.

As scientists recently said, “the goal of the InSight mission was to rewrite the textbooks. We have done it, literally.” This is because the lander has provided scientists on Earth with unprecedented data that has helped us understand the red planet inside out. InSight exceeded its expected lifespan of two years, but dust buildup on its solar panels depleted the spacecraft’s energy, rendering it silent. Despite several attempts, NASA officially ended the InSight mission in December 2022.

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26-06-2025 om 23:52 geschreven door peter  

A Mission To Collect A Sample From Apophis

By Andy Tomaswick  

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24-06-2025 om 18:40 geschreven door peter  

Vera Rubin Observatory has already found thousands of new asteroids

In just 10 hours of observing the night sky, the powerful new telescope detected more than 2000 new asteroids, including a few that will pass near Earth

By James Dinneen

Amid the millions of distant stars and galaxies captured in the first images released from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory are thousands of never-before-seen asteroids whizzing around the solar system.

“These two beautiful galaxies were photobombed by asteroids,” said ´eljko Ivezić at the University of Washington in Seattle, presenting an image showing several asteroids streaking past two spiral-armed galaxies during a press briefing on 23 June.

During just 10 hours of observing the night sky, the telescope – situated in the clear air high atop a mountain in the Chilean Andes – captured 2104 previously unknown asteroids. Of these, seven are on a trajectory that would pass near Earth, though none pose a risk of hitting us, said Ivezić.

The telescope was not primarily designed to detect near-Earth objects, but to conduct a decade-long survey expanding our view of the entire universe. But the same qualities that make it useful for that purpose are also good for asteroid detection: “You need to scan the sky very fast, with a very large field of view, for a long time,” said Ivezić.

The asteroids were identified by scanning the same region of sky and noting what was moving. In a composite image Ivezić displayed during the briefing, the asteroids appeared as coloured streaks on a background of bright objects in deeper space. This gives us a better picture of our planetary neighbourhood and its inhabitants. “They were not a surprise,” he said. “We have exquisite simulations.”

During the course of its 10-year survey, the telescope is expected to detect about 5 million new asteroids, quintupling the number identified in previous centuries of searching.

Any new detections will be reported on a daily basis to the Minor Planet Center in the US, which will analyse their orbital trajectories and identify any objects that could pose a threat to Earth. “Within 24 hours, everyone in the world will know that there is a particular object which could be hazardous,” says Ivezić.

Matthew Payne at the Minor Planet Center says only an estimated 40 per cent or so of the near-Earth objects large enough to pose a threat have been found. The radical increase in the number of detections from the Vera Rubin Observatory will help quickly find the rest of them, he says.

The huge increase in observations of other objects in the solar system – from the main belt asteroids between Mars and Jupiter to objects further out beyond the orbit of Neptune – is also expected to give us new insight into our immediate cosmic neighborhood. “It will revolutionise, broadly, solar system science,” says Payne.

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{ https://www.newscientist.com/ }

23-06-2025 om 23:24 geschreven door peter  

De Vera Rubin-telescoop in de beschermende koepel.

NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory

De Vera Rubin telescoop in Chili zal om de drie dagen beelden doorsturen van de zuidelijke sterrenhemel. "Uniek aan dit project is dat heel zwakke objecten gemeten zullen worden en dat gedurende tien jaar", zegt Conny Aerts, sterrenkundige aan de KU Leuven. "We zullen een hele mooie film kunnen maken, maar gaan er wel tien jaar geduld voor moeten hebben". 

Wetenschappers zullen de komende jaren de grote hoeveelheid data analyseren en op zoek gaan naar veranderingen. "Dat kunnen sterrenstelsels zijn, maar ook brokstukken in ons eigen zonnestelsel, die kunnen bewegen en veranderen in helderheid. Uit die veranderingen kunnen wij dan een heel dynamisch proces in beeld brengen, waarmee een heel grote groep wetenschappers - elk in hun eigen specialisme - aan het werk gaat."

"Het is ook uitkijken wat het Vera Rubin project ons kan leren over het mysterie van 'donkere materie' en 'donkere energie'", zegt Aerts nog. "We weten nog niet zo goed wat donkere materie is in het heelal. We weten dat er iets van materiaal moet zijn dat we niet kunnen zien, vandaar de term 'donker'. Vera Rubin is de stichtingsmoeder van dit onderwerp. Door nu tien jaar lang beelden hiervan te nemen, hopen we dat we de bewegingen van de sterrenstelsels beter gaan begrijpen, in termen van die donkere materie.

De Vera rubin Telescoop prijkt op een berg in de Atacamawoestijn, op een hoogte van 2.700 meter. Het is de beste locatie om waarnemingen te doen. "Het is de hoogste en droogste locatie waardoor er zo weinig mogelijk negatieve invloed is van de aardatmosfeer." Ideale omstandigheden en een huzarenstukje aan technologie: de telescoop heeft een lens van ruim 8 meter doorsnede, en een camera zo groot als een suv.

Het Vera C. Rubin Observatory gaat jacht maken op onder andere kosmische explosies en langs razende planetoïden – mini-planeetjes in een baan rond de zon. Ook moet hij inzicht bieden in de ware aard van twee mysterieuze bestanddelen van het heelal: donkere materie (onzichtbaar spul waarvan het bestaan wordt afgeleid uit zwaartekrachtmetingen) en donkere energie, de aanjager van de versnellende uitdijing van de ruimte.

‘Deze nieuwe telescoop is al tientallen jaren in de planning’, zegt Koen Kuijken van de Leidse Sterrewacht. ‘Geweldig dat hij nu echt kan beginnen.’ Kuijken is verbonden aan de Europese Euclid-missie – een twee jaar geleden gelanceerde ruimtetelescoop die net als Vera Rubin onderzoek doet aan donkere materie en donkere energie.

Het Vera Rubin Observatory (genoemd naar een Amerikaanse pionier op het gebied van donkere materie) is een telescoop van superlatieven. De 8,4 meter brede spiegel is de grootste enkelvoudige telescoopspiegel ooit gemaakt. De drie ton zware digitale camera is de grootste ter wereld, met 3,2 miljard pixels.

De extreem compacte telescoop fotografeert elke dertig seconden een gebied aan de hemel dat 45 keer zo groot is als de vollemaan. Twee keer per week wordt op die manier de hele sterrenhemel boven Chili in detail vastgelegd – nacht na nacht, tien jaar lang.

Door een kleine zevenhonderd opnamen ‘bij elkaar op te tellen’ brengt de Vera Rubin-telescoop kleurrijke gaswolken in het Melkwegstelsel ongekend helder in beeld.

NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory

Computeralgoritmes vergelijken de verschillende foto’s van hetzelfde stuk sterrenhemel, en komen op die manier veranderingen op het spoor: ontploffende sterren in verre sterrenstelsels, bewegende hemellichamen zoals planetoïden en kometen, of sterren die onverwacht van kleur of helderheid veranderen. Al die ontdekkingen worden automatisch doorgegeven aan andere telescopen, die er vervolgens in detail onderzoek aan kunnen doen.

Daarnaast legt de Rubin-telescoop een catalogus aan van twintig miljard sterrenstelsels. Uit hun ruimtelijke verdeling – de grootste 3D-kaart van het heelal ooit gemaakt – en uit hun nauwkeurig opgemeten vormen komen sterrenkundigen meer te weten over donkere energie en over de verdeling van donkere materie in het heelal.

Tijdens een testperiode van tien uur heeft Rubin al miljoenen sterrenstelsels vastgelegd en enkele duizenden tot nu toe onbekende planetoïden opgespoord. Volgens Brian Stone van de Amerikaanse National Science Foundation zal het Vera Rubin Observatory meer informatie over het heelal verzamelen dan alle bestaande optische telescopen bij elkaar.

‘Rubin is de volgende stap in de gestage ontwikkeling van de moderne big data-sterrenkunde’, aldus Kuijken. ‘Het wordt helemaal geweldig wanneer we deze data over enkele jaren kunnen gaan combineren met beelden van ruimtetelescoop Euclid.’

• Luister hieronder naar onze wetenschapspodcast Ondertussen in de kosmos. Kijk voor al onze podcasts op volkskrant.nl/podcasts.

Aangezien het om een Amerikaans project gaan, zullen wetenschappers bij ons nog even moeten wachten om te mogen werken met de beelden. Aerts kijkt alvast uit om ze ook te kunnen gebruiken in educatieve projecten en jongeren zo warm te maken voor de wetenschap.

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23-06-2025 om 21:55 geschreven door peter  

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21-06-2025 om 21:45 geschreven door peter  

Op 17 juni 2025 lanceerde autofabrikant Honda een experimentele raket. Het voertuig bereikte niet de ruimte, maar steeg tot 271,4 meter en landde vervolgens verticaal, binnen 37 centimeter van het beoogde doel. De raket is nog lang niet te vergelijken met die van de gevestigde ruimtevaartspelers, maar de prestatie is toch opmerkelijk. Dat juist een autofabrikant dit voor elkaar krijgt, toont opnieuw hoe snel en fundamenteel de ruimtevaart aan het veranderen is.

Raketten die keer op keer kunnen worden gebruikt: twintig jaar geleden leek het nog een waanidee. Maar vandaag de dag wordt het steeds meer werkelijkheid, en het verandert de manier waarop we over ruimtevaart denken. Herbruikbare raketten beloven de kosten van ruimtereizen drastisch te verlagen, waardoor meer wetenschappelijk onderzoek, satellietlanceringen en zelfs ruimtetoerisme mogelijk worden. Maar hoe zijn we op dit punt gekomen?

De eerste stappen: NASA’s Space Shuttle
Het idee van herbruikbare raketten begon eigenlijk al decennia geleden met de Space Shuttle van NASA, die van 1981 tot 2011 vloog. Dit ruimtevaartuig was een pionier: de orbiter (het deel dat astronauten en lading naar de ruimte bracht) kon meerdere keren worden gebruikt. Maar volledig herbruikbaar was het voertuig zeker niet. Bij elke lancering werd de enorme externe brandstoftank weggegooid, en de vastebrandstofboosters, die hielpen bij de start, moesten na elke vlucht uitgebreid worden gereviseerd.

Dit maakte de 135 missies van de Shuttle extreem duur: zo’n 1,5 miljard dollar per vlucht. Bovendien kende het programma twee tragische dieptepunten, de explosie van de Challenger in 1986 en de ramp met de Columbia in 2003, waarbij in totaal 14 astronauten omkwamen. Toch bewees het programma dat hergebruik technisch mogelijk was en legde het de basis voor wat later zou volgen.

De doorbraak: SpaceX en Blue Origin
De echte revolutie begon in 2015, toen SpaceX, het ruimtevaartbedrijf van Elon Musk, iets ongekends deed. Een Falcon 9-raket van het bedrijf werd naar de ruimte gelanceerd en landde daarna verticaal terug op aarde, rechtop, met behulp van zijn eigen motoren, een beetje zoals een helikopter die landt. Deze verticale landing was een doorbraak: het toonde aan dat de duurste onderdelen van een raket hergebruikt konden worden zonder ingrijpende reparaties.

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21-06-2025 om 20:43 geschreven door peter