Alone in a dark cave: What can we learn from extreme survival experiments?
Monday, 03 July 2023 15:58
Why do humans undertake journeys of personal exploration, or subject themselves to challenging conditions for long periods of time? What might we learn from their experiences?
British mountaineer George Mallory undertook his fatal attempt to summit Mount Everest in 1924 simply "because it's there". While such quests may have deeply personal motivations, research carried out during expeditions in extreme conditions can contribute to our understanding of how humans respond to environmental challenges.
The research outcomes can potentially be applied to a variety of settings, including remote locations here on Earth and even human space exploration.
Searching for extreme environments
Many explorers seek out "extreme environments." This term describes harsh and unusual environmental conditions where it is difficult for life forms like humans to survive and thrive.
Examples include places that experience extremes of temperature, pressure, altitude, rainfall, breathable air, natural light, or hazardous chemical concentrations.
In recent years, humans have undertaken many extreme experiments, either alone or in groups.
In June 2023, Joseph Dituri, a biomedical engineer at the University of South Florida, completed a record-breaking 100 days living 9.15 meters underwater in a special habitat.
Hawai'i observatories add color, depth to European Euclid mission
Monday, 03 July 2023 15:19
Launched on July 1, 2023, the European Euclid mission will observe billions of galaxies over one-third of the sky to create a map of the Universe. But Euclid's map will be in black and white; telescopes in Hawai'i, including the Subaru Telescope, are needed to determine the colors of the galaxies. The color data will be used to deduce the distance, thus creating a 3D map, uncovering the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy.
The European Space Agency (ESA) Euclid space telescope mission will explore the mysteries of dark matter, dark energy, and cosmic evolution.
First data from Europe’s Lightning Imager
Monday, 03 July 2023 12:00
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Discover the first results from Europe’s first Lightning Imager onboard the Meteosat Third Generation. The Lightning Imager can continuously detect rapid flashes of lighting in Earth’s atmosphere whether day or night from a distance of 36 000 km.
This is the first time a geostationary weather satellite has the capability to detect lightning across Europe, Africa and the surrounding waters. Each camera can capture up to 1000 images per second and will continuously observe lightning activity from space. The data will give weather forecasters greater confidence in their predictions of severe storms.
European satellite strikes lightning
Monday, 03 July 2023 10:50
The first ever satellite instrument capable of continuously detecting lightning across Europe and Africa has now been switched on. New animations from the innovative ‘Lighting Imager’ confirm the instrument will revolutionise the detection and prediction of severe storms.
Watch live: First data from Europe’s first lightning detector
Monday, 03 July 2023 08:40
Watch live: First data from Europe’s first Lightning Imager
Tune in at 14:00 CEST for the first results from MTG’s lightning detector
Commanding role for Andreas in space
Monday, 03 July 2023 06:00
ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen will be commander of the International Space Station (ISS) during his Huginn mission, becoming the sixth European astronaut to fulfil this role.
SpaceX Dragon splashes down carrying 3,600 pounds of samples, experiments
Monday, 03 July 2023 01:28
A SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft splashed down off the coast of Florida Friday, carrying about 3,600 pounds of scientific experiments and samples from the International Space Station.
The Dragon detached from the ISS's Harmony module Thursday and made a parachute-assisted splashdown at about 10:30 EDT off the coast of Florida Friday.
The Dragon spacecraft was launched from Kenned Ingenuity phones home
Sunday, 02 July 2023 09:34
The 52nd flight of NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter is now in the official mission logbook as a success. The flight took place back on April 26, but mission controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California lost contact with the helicopter as it descended toward the surface for landing.
The Ingenuity team expected the communications dropout because a hill stood between Saturn's Rings shine in Webb's observations of Gas Giant
Sunday, 02 July 2023 09:34
On June 25, 2023, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope turned to famed ringed world Saturn for its first near-infrared observations of the planet. The initial imagery from Webb's NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) is already fascinating researchers.
Saturn itself appears extremely dark at this infrared wavelength observed by the telescope, as methane gas absorbs almost all of the sunlight falling Using lensed gravitational waves to measure cosmic expansion
Sunday, 02 July 2023 09:34
The universe is expanding; we've had evidence of that for about a century. But just how quickly celestial objects are receding from each other is still up for debate.
It's no small feat to measure the rate at which objects move away from each other across vast distances. Since the discovery of cosmic expansion, its rate has been measured and re-measured with increasing precision, with some A quantitative analysis of the in-orbit collision risks
Sunday, 02 July 2023 09:34
The amount of space debris has not stopped increasing since the first satellite was launched in 1957. The European Space Agency (ESA) estimates that there are more than 131,000,000 useless space waste objects, between 1 millimeter and 10 centimeters, currently orbiting around the Earth at an average speed of 36,000 kilometers per hour, which come from different sources such as last stages of roc Rivada Space Networks joins Astra Carta Initiative for Global Space Sustainability
Sunday, 02 July 2023 09:34
Rivada Space Networks has joined the #Astra Carta initiative to accelerate space sustainability. Launched by the Sustainable Markets organization, Astra Carta brings to reality a vision for space sustainability outlined by His Majesty King Charles III, when he was the Prince of Wales, at the UK Government's Summit for Space Sustainability in 2022.
Following the Global Leaders on Space Sust ESA unveils its comprehensive, high-resolution image library in a revamped platform
Sunday, 02 July 2023 09:34
The European Space Agency (ESA) has recently re-introduced its specialized photo platform, 'ESA Photolibrary for Professionals', enhanced with a sleek new user interface, advanced search capabilities, and added download options. Users who sign up for an account on this platform can gain access to an extensive selection of professional, high-resolution images - the largest compilation available f Beyond Gravity's computer powers Europe's Euclid Space Telescope
Sunday, 02 July 2023 09:34
The European Space Agency's (ESA) Euclid telescope, equipped with a computer from space supplier Beyond Gravity, successfully launched on July 1 aboard a SpaceX Falcon9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA. The mission of the telescope is to delve into the dark universe's composition and evolution, projecting a large-scale map of the Universe across time and space by observing billions of ga