We came with a crowded agenda in August in our content series, where we compile the most important space developments and discoveries every month. A lot has happened over the past month, both in terms of new discoveries and important developments.
From the unfortunate first launch attempt of NASA’s new manned Moon mission Artemis to the project where Russia will almost blind the orbiting satellites, all the news you shouldn’t miss is below, enjoy reading!
Space news in the past month
Russia builds new laser plant that will ‘blind’ orbiting satellites
There are many satellites orbiting our earth, and each satellite has different tasks. Some of these satellites are ‘spy satellites’ of countries.
To combat these satellites, Russia has begun to build a new laser facility to be located on Earth. The aim is to ‘blind’ the optical sensors of the satellites to prevent them from working over the country and receiving data.
There is no example of this type of laser being developed and working successfully, but if Russia is successful in this regard, it is thought that this will pave the way for the development of projects that directly disable satellites in the future.
The new laser, named Kalina, is said to have been developed to target low-orbiting spy satellites and can protect an area of 100,000 square kilometers from the ‘eyes’ of satellites. Russia claims to have used another much less powerful ‘satellite laser weapon’ in 2019, but this is not confirmed information.
James Webb captures a new image of the most distant star in the universe
One of the primary missions of the James Webb Space Telescope, which officially started its mission last month, is to image the first stars and galaxies and answer our questions about the formation of the universe. A new image from James Webb, who has obtained many important images and data since he took office, allows us to take a look at the most distant star in the universe.
In one corner of this image from James Webb, the most distant star in the universe, Earendel, discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope just earlier this year, is imaged.
Although the resulting image is not a detailed and ‘fascinating’ image, it is very important for scientists. Because it shows that we can obtain a lot of data by using gravitational lensing method to observe old and very distant stars that were formed in the young periods of the universe.
Although James Webb was developed to observe the first generation galaxies and stars, it was thought that these celestial bodies could not be directly observed one by one because they were so far away. However, these data indicate that we can make more detailed studies and observations than we thought, even on stars formed billions of years ago.
The oldest traces of dark matter in the universe have been detected for the first time: going back 12 billion years…
Dark matter is a ‘mysterious’ matter that covers almost 80% of the universe but we know very little about yet. The reason it has this ‘mysterious’ title is because it cannot be observed directly and does not emit energy or light.
However, although they cannot directly observe it, scientists continue to investigate the existence and structure of dark matter. New data reveals the oldest traces of dark matter ever.
Using ‘cosmic microwave background radiation’, scientists from Nagoya University in Japan searched for the oldest traces of dark matter and found traces of dark matter around early galaxies formed 12 billion years ago.
We can say that the cosmic microwave background radiation is the ‘trace’ formed by the energy left over from photons that were released approximately 380 thousand years after the formation of the universe and survived until today. Wherever we look in the universe, we can see this radiation and have it mapped out.
Using cosmic microwave background radiation, the research team peered into the depths of the universe and found traces of dark matter 12 billion years ago. However, according to the team’s statements, the data obtained conflicts with many theories about dark matter that have been considered ‘correct’ until now.
The team states that the most important finding is related to the structure of dark matter. Contrary to the accepted Lambda-CDM model, which suggests that dark matter should be denser in the early universe, the team’s data indicates that dark matter is less ‘densely’ clustered. The team emphasizes that more research is needed to confirm the data obtained.
It has been determined that there may be a second meteorite that brought the end of the dinosaurs
About 66 million years ago, a meteorite with a diameter of 12 km hit the earth, and this disaster wiped out the dinosaur species that dominated our planet at that time. Another newly discovered crater is that in the same period, a second giant meteorite hit our planet and was effective in the extinction of the dinosaurs. shows it can happen.
We still experience meteorite cases that fall on Earth today, but fortunately, these meteorites often break up when entering the atmosphere and either never reach our planet or arrive in small pieces. However, from the past to the present, we can detect that a large number of meteorites, which are not at all small in size, have hit our planet from the giant craters they left behind.
In a research carried out in West Africa, a kind of crater was discovered about 1300 meters below the ground. While it was stated that the diameter of the crater, which was discovered under 900 meters of water and 400 meters of sediment remains, is approximately 8 km in diameter, the researchers also simulated the damage and effects of the meteorite that caused a crater of this size.
He calculated that this crater, discovered on the ocean floor about 400 km from the coast in West Africa, struck the ocean bed at that time with a force of 5,000 megatons of TNT, strong enough to produce a 10 km wide fireball. It has been determined that the jump created by the asteroid, which is thought to have caused an earthquake with a magnitude of about 7, may have increased by 2 km at the time of impact, and the size of the waves reaching the shore could reach 100 km.
Examining the layers around this crater, which is called the rare crater, the team says that it is dated to about 66 million years ago, just like the meteorite event that we know brought the end of the dinosaurs.
According to the team, the asteroid that destroyed the dinosaurs may have disintegrated on its way to Earth, and these pieces of different sizes may have hit the Earth within a few hours or days. Another idea is that these two meteorites may have fallen on our planet a few million years apart as parts of the same asteroid that broke apart in the asteroid belt.
However, the team has yet to confirm these data, as this crater, which is currently submerged in water and sediment, has only been studied using seismic data. In the coming years, a closer examination of the crater is planned with new research and a larger mission.
Closest supermassive black holes to Earth ever discovered
Scientists, imaging the giant galaxy named NGC 7727, formed by the merger of two galaxies with the collision that started about 1 billion years ago, detected two supermassive black holes that started a ‘cosmic dance’ in the heart of the galaxy.
During their lifetimes of millions and billions of years, galaxies can ‘collide’ and merge with another nearby galaxy from time to time, and a new galaxy emerges. NGC 7727 is one of those galaxies and is the result of a merger that began about 1 billion years ago. Scientists photographing this galaxy imaged two supermassive black holes in the center of NGC 7727, each located at the center of its own galaxy before the collision but pulled together after the collision.
These two supermassive black holes are the closest supermassive black holes to our galaxy, and thus to Earth, ever detected. It is stated that the two black holes, which are only 1600 light-years away, will merge after about 250 million years to form a new and more powerful supermassive black hole. It is said that the study of such mergers and black hole formations will strengthen research on what awaits our galaxy, which will merge with Andromeda in the future.
As much oxygen has been produced on the surface of Mars as a small tree can produce
As you know, Mars is shown as the second celestial body to set foot after the Moon for humanity. With the researches and missions carried out, it is aimed to create an environment suitable for human life on the surface of Mars and to improve the conditions.
In this context, NASA sent Perseverance to Mars in 2020. Good news came from the spacecraft called Moxie, which was sent to Mars with Perseverance. It has been announced that the device developed by MIT, which produces oxygen by breaking down carbon dioxide, has been tested at night, during the day and in different weather conditions, and it has been able to produce 6 grams of oxygen in one hour of operation each time. This is said to be on par with the amount of oxygen a small tree produces. Moxie’s oxygen production was first announced about a year ago.
Stating that Moxie has been operated 7 times so far and it has managed to produce oxygen regularly each time, the scientists stated that they will carry out longer runs in the coming period and it is aimed to produce more oxygen.
The first launch of NASA’s manned Moon mission Artemis has been delayed twice!
Perhaps one of the most exciting news of August was the first launch of NASA’s Artemis mission. There would be no astronauts in this first launch of the mission, which will take place with a total of 3 launch stages. Unfortunately, the launch failed on the first attempt, and the mission was postponed to an undisclosed future date due to problems with the second.
The statement that this problem, which caused the launch, which was canceled twice due to the fuel leak, was resolved, came in the past days. It is aimed to refill the fuel tanks after the leak by September 17 and launch on September 27.
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