Science

Elon Musk SpaceX To Launch Kleos Space Satellite Cluster

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Scouting Mission (Red) and Polar Vigilance Mission (Yellow) Single Orbit Plots. Courtesy/KLEOS

SpaceX Falcon 9 launch. Courtesy/KLEOS

KLEOS SPACE News:

Kleos Space (ASX: KSS, Frankfurt: KS1), a space-powered Radio Frequency Reconnaissance data-as-a-service company, announces that it has signed a contract with Spaceflight Inc. to carry and launch a cluster of Kleos satellites on the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch scheduled for mid 2021.

This launch will be the second cluster launched by Kleos, following the expected launch of the Kleos Scouting Mission aboard the Indian Space Research Organisation’s Read More

AFRL Officer Jake Lutz Sees Space As His Future

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AFRL Navigation Technology Satellite-3 Program Manager Arlen Biersgreen looks on as 1st Lt. Jacob Lutz briefs senior leaders at the 2019 Air Force Association Air, Space and Cyber Conference. Photo by Jeanne Dailey/AFRL

Air Force Research Laboratory engineer lst Lt. Jacob Lutz examines the Navigation Technology Satellite-3 model he built using Legos. Photo by Tyrell Etsitty/AFRL

AFRL News:

KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE — First Lieutenant Jacob “Jake” Lutz will soon complete a successful assignment with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Space Vehicles Directorate at Kirtland Air Force Read More

Amateur Naturalist: Mosses And Lichens

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A boulder forms a square column nearly 20 feet tall. Photo by Robert Dryja

A boulder closeup is covered with patches of lichen and moss. Photo by Robert Dryja

By ROBERT DRYJA
Los Alamos

The wooded canyons throughout Los Alamos have boulders scattered in different ways. Large boulders may be standing alone or in piles along a hiking trail. Alternatively, they may be dispersed throughout a broad slope leading into a canyon.

Boulders that are taller than a person are impressive to see, whatever way they may be laying. Something curious also may be seen if they are looked at closely.

Why are some boulders Read More

LLNL: Record Equation Of State Measurement Pressures Sheds Light On Stellar Evolution

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Composite image of a white dwarf star inside a NIF target. Courtesy/Mark Meamber and Clayton Dahlen/LLNL

LLNL News:

Using the power of the National Ignition Facility (NIF), the world’s highest-energy laser system, researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and an international team of collaborators have developed an experimental capability for measuring the basic properties of matter, such as the equation of state (EOS), at the highest pressures thus far achieved in a controlled laboratory experiment.

The results are relevant to the conditions at the cores of giant Read More

AGU: Researchers Capture Rarely Heard Narwhal Vocals

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An Inuit hunter near Bowdoin Fjord in Greenland during a whale hunt in 2019. Photo by Evgeny Podolskiy

Dubbed the unicorns of the sea, narwhals can have tusks up to 10 feet long protruding from their head, weigh up to 4,200 pounds and grow to 17 feet in length. Source: worldwildlife.org. Courtesy/worldwildlife.org

AGU News:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — With the help of Inuit hunters, geophysicists recently recorded the various calls, buzzes, clicks and whistles of narwhals as they summered in a Greenland fjord.

The recordings help scientists better understand the soundscape of Arctic glacial fjords Read More

Night With A Nerd Virtual Bingo – Binary Numbers

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BSMA News:

The Bradbury Science Museum Association (BSMA) presents Night With a Nerd Virtual Bingo – Binary Numbers, 6-7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 13 via zoom video conferencing.

This virtual bingo game has STEM topics rather than numbers in the squares. For the binary numbers game – the squares will have the binary version and the decimal number will be called. 

Players will match to the binary numbers on their card. For example, if the number called is “65” the player would look for “1000001”.

Everyone can play. RSVP to the event to get a link to your bingo card sent to you on the day of the event. If you Read More

Megaripple Migration Offers Insights Into Martian Atmosphere

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Large, bright-toned ripples in the sand within Proctor Crater on Mars. Courtesy/NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

AGU News:

Scientists show for the first time that large sand ripples known as megaripples are migrating on Mars, according to a new study. The findings suggest Mars’s dusty surface might be much more active than previously suspected, offering clues about the Red Planet’s poorly understood atmosphere.

Sand dunes and ripples are typical features of deserts on both Earth and Mars. Megaripples are distinguished from smaller ripples by the coarser sand grains that gather Read More

LANL Builds SuperCam For Latest Mars Rover

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A rendering of NASA’s Perseverance rover. Courtesy/NASA/JPL-Caltech

SuperCam Lead Scientist Roger Wiens

By BONNIE J. GORDON
Los Alamos Daily Post
bjgordon@ladailypost.com

Roger Wiens is Los Alamos National Laboratory’s lead scientist on SuperCam, the instrument that sits atop the new Mars Rover Perseverance. He spoke with the Los Alamos Daily Post Monday about LANL’s role developing Supercam and the mission of the new Mars rover. Perseverance launched this morning at 6 a.m. on its journey to Mars. It will land Feb.18, 2021.

Perseverance joins NASA’s Curiosity Rover, launched about Read More

University Of Arizona Health Sciences Researchers Narrow In On Novel Treatment For Alzheimer’s Disease

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The University of Arizona College of Pharmacy in Tucson, Ariz. Courtesy photo

UA News:

TUCSON, Ariz. — A University of Arizona College of Pharmacy scientist has received $3.8 million in federal funding to continue research to develop medications to help prevent or reverse the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

Chris Hulme, PhD, professor of pharmacology and toxicology and a member of the college’s Arizona Center for Drug Discovery and the UArizona BIO5 Institute, is principal investigator for the five-year grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes Read More