Off Topic The Science Discovery Thread

Boeing's long awaited launch of it's Starliner didn't quite live up to expectations. In fact it fell well short. After the separation of the capsule from the Atlas V rocket, the thrusters failed to activate which prevented it from reaching it's target, the International Space Station. Boeing were forced to scrub the mission and return Starliner to earth.

 

After the failed mission Boeing's Starliner last month, Musk's SpaceX is going from strength to strength. Today they launched another 60 satellites for the Starlink Program. By around 2025, SpaceX hopes to have something like 12,000 satellites deployed for internet access.

 

Mysterious radio signal is coming from a nearby galaxy, scientists announce

"But they are perhaps more excited about the nature of the galaxy that is sending them out. It appears to be similar to our own, they say."

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/tech...cientists-announce/ar-BBYH2SA?ocid=spartanntp

 

Earth-Sized, Potentially Habitable Planet Discovered 100 Light-Years Away

“Less than two years after starting its mission, NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, has found what may be its first habitable planet, CNN reports.

The body orbits the cool M-dwarf star TOI 700 in the Dorado constellation 100 light-years away from Earth. According to NASA, the planet, dubbed TOI 700 d, is about 20 percent larger than our own and it sits at just the right distance from its sun to support liquid water. It's one of three planets in the solar system, the others likely being an Earth-sized rocky planet and a gas planet 2.6 times the size of Earth. TOI 700 d is believed to be tidally locked, meaning only one half faces the sun at all times, and orbits there last approximately 37 Earth days.


NASA launched TESS in April 2018 with the goal of discovering planets outside our solar system, including those with the potential to host life. The satellite was built to locate Earth-sized planets orbiting neighbouring stars, but this recent discovery almost went undetected. The star TOI 700 was initially thought to be as hot as our own sun, which would have made TOI 700 d uninhabitable. Upon closer inspection, researchers noticed the star was actually relatively cool and small, potentially placing TOI 700 d in the Goldilocks zone for nurturing life.

After TESS's finding was confirmed using the infrared technology of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, researchers further studied the planet by modelling its potential atmosphere and surface conditions. These computer models can give astronomers an idea of just how hospitable TOI 700 d is before future missions, such as NASA's James Webb Space Telescope launching in 2021, can collect more evidence.

TOI 700 d may be one of the closest known habitable planets to Earth, but that doesn't mean humans will be visiting it anytime soon. To put the 100 light-year distance into perspective, Mars is less than half a light-year away from Earth, and it can take seven months to get there.”


So, given the current technology, it would take around 120 years to get there. I would imagine that within that 120 years the technology would have progressed somewhat

 

I think you have to redo your maths Ron. From what I gather, it only takes 183 seconds for light to travel from Earth to Mars.

 

The only maths I did Cyc was to use the figures published (ie "To put the 100 light-year distance into perspective, Mars is less than half a light-year away from Earth, and it can take seven months to get there.”
So my maths was:
(100/0.5) =200 times as long as it takes to get to Mars. Therefore 1400 months to get to this new planet ie aprox 120 years

 

‘Living robot’ developed by scientists using frog embryos

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/tech...using-frog-embryos/ar-BBYV8FU?ocid=spartanntp

Incredible. The mind boggles at what "we" could be reading in 10 years time

 

Can't get my head round that at the moment Oddy; but, using that logic, how far away is Mars in kms; and also the Moon?

 

Moon. 384,000ks.

Mars. 313,000,000ks.

 

The planet is 946,073,047,258,080 ks away.

I've just done some calculations Ron. Don't place too much trust in the results.

If we traveled at 40,000 kph, (the fastest a human has traveled in space) it would take something like 2,700,000 years to reach the planet.

 

You wouldn't want to get half way there and realise you've left the kettle on and gotta turn back...

 

There must be an error in the source data provided by the article.

They say it takes about 7 months to reach Mars, which they say is less than 0.5 of a light year (by les than, I assume they mean a bit less than). If this planet is 100 light years away then, given the info provided, it should take 200 times as long to get there (ie 1400 months)

Wait. I think that "less than 0.5 light years away" could be bullshit. According to one answer I looked up, Mars is "Minimum: 0.00000062363 light years" away

That would make a nonsense of that article

 

In that case I might just pop over there one day

 

There is ongoing work by scientists to discover a way of travelling as fast as, or faster than light. One day there will be a breakthrough but it will not be by trying to get something to go faster. With the speed at which discoveries are being made and past theories disproved, who knows what may be discovered over the next 100 years or so; unthinkable things no doubt. How long will it be before they teleport a rat to Mars for example? The main problem with teleporting in its current state is that the original object is destroyed whilst its clone appears somewhere else. Maybe they could try it with criminals and communicate via some fast as light transmission. As long as we can teleport a teleporter maybe the clone of the clone will be able to return and report in person. Just a thought. You probably think I'm crazy but what's new.

 

It's a big place out there. From what I've just read, NASA'a Voyager 1 is moving at about 62,000 kph. If we traveled at that speed, it would take about 34,000,000,000,000 years to to reach the so called edge of the universe. But of course this can't ever happen because the "frontier" is expanding much quicker than the speed of light, let alone the 62,000 kph of Voyager 1.

I'm not sure about these figures, they seem a bit light on for me.

 

Don't forget the Phoenicians thought the World was flat and thought they were about to fall off the edge when they sailed past the Rock of Gibraltar. In those days what on earth would they have thought if someone had talked about what might be possible with a mobile phone or that we would have someone stepping out on the moon and sending pictures back from Mars etc. Progress is amazing, with the unthinkable becoming the norm: and the rate of progress is accelerating

 

Proxima Centauri, the sun's nearest neighbor, may host a 2nd alien planet. Meet Proxima c.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/tech...net-meet-proxima-c/ar-BBYZv2p?ocid=spartanntp

One day

 

I love this space stuff.

 

WTF

Bricks Alive! Scientists Create Living Concrete

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/worl...te-living-concrete/ar-BBZ16y8?ocid=spartandhp