The two-hour launch window will open at 4 a.m. on July 31, and will be repeated each day (at slightly earlier times) through August 19, the US space agency said in a statement.

After launch, it will orbit directly through the solar atmosphere – the corona – closer to the surface than any human-made object has ever gone

While facing brutal heat and radiation, the mission will reveal fundamental science behind what drives the solar wind, the constant outpouring of material from the Sun that shapes planetary atmospheres and affects space weather near Earth.

At Astrotech Space Operations in Florida, the Parker Solar Probe will continue testing, and eventually undergo final assembly and mating to the third stage of the Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle.

“This is the second most important flight Parker Solar Probe will make, and we’re excited to be safely in Florida and continuing pre-launch work on the spacecraft,” said Andy Driesman, Parker Solar Probe project manager from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland.

For the next several months, the spacecraft will undergo comprehensive testing; just prior to being fueled, one of the most critical elements of the spacecraft, the thermal protection system (TPS), or heat shield, will be installed.

The TPS is the breakthrough technology that will allow Parker Solar Probe to survive the temperatures in the Sun’s corona, just 3.8 million miles from the surface of our star.

“There are many milestones to come for Parker Solar Probe and the amazing team of men and women who have worked so diligently to make this mission a reality,” Driesman said.

“The installation of the TPS will be our final major step before encapsulation and integration onto the launch vehicle.”

Throughout its seven-year mission, Parker Solar Probe will explore the Sun’s outer atmosphere and make critical observations to answer decades-old questions about the physics of stars.

Its data will also be useful in improving forecasts of major eruptions on the Sun and the subsequent space weather events that impact technology on Earth, as well as satellites and astronauts in space.

IANS

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“We were surprised to see an exoplanet with the same high density, showing that Mercury-like planets are perhaps not as rare as we thought,” Armstrong said.

Named K2-229b, the planet is 20 per cent larger than Earth but has a mass 2.6 times greater—and a dayside temperature of over 2000 degrees Celsius.

Situated at about 340 million light years away from Earth, it finds itself very close to its host star (around a hundredth of the distance between the Earth and the Sun), which itself is a medium-sized active K dwarf in the Virgo Constellation.

K2-229b orbits this star every fourteen hours, according to the study published in the journal Nature Astronomy.

“Interestingly K2-229b is also the innermost planet in a system of at least three planets, though all three orbit much closer to their star than Mercury. More discoveries like this will help us shed light on the formation of these unusual planets, as well as Mercury itself,” Armstrong added.

Using the K2 telescope, Armstrong and colleagues employed the Doppler spectroscopy technique—also known as the ‘wobble method’ to discover and characterise this faraway planet.

The dense, metallic nature of K2-229b has numerous potential origins, and one hypothesis is that its atmosphere might have been eroded by intense stellar wind and flares, as the planet is so close to its star.

Another possibility is that K2-229b was formed after a huge impact between two giant astronomical bodies in space billions of years ago—much like the theory that the Moon was formed after Earth collided with a body the size of Mars, according to the study.

Discovering details about far-flung planets across the universe gives us more clues as to how planets in our own solar system formed.

As K2-229b is similar to Mercury, the researcher believe that knowing more about the former can potentially reveal more about the latter.

IANS

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The launch of the low-cost rocket—with a height of 10 metres and 53 centimetres in diameter—took place from the Uchinoura Space Centre in Kagoshima prefecture and was aired live on YouTube, Efe news reported.

The rocket, an improved version of JAXA’s SS-520, was carrying a micro-satellite weighing three kilograms and was developed by the University of Tokyo to capture images of the Earth’s surface.

JAXA had launched the first of these rockets on January 2017, which fell into the sea after launch due to short-circuit caused by vibrations during take-off.

The current launch aimed to test the ability of the Japanese aerospace agency to launch low-cost rockets that can put micro satellites into space at affordable rates against a background of growing demand from the private sector.

Satellites for weather observation or defence that are in use are normally large and are commissioned by the authorities.

In recent years there has been increase in the development of smaller ones by private firms for use in traffic control or geographical studies.

IANS

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GOLD and ICON will team up to explore the ionosphere, a boundary area between Earth and the space where particles have been cooked into a sea of electrically-charged electrons and ions by the Sun’s radiation, reports Xinhua news agency.

These layers of near-Earth space are increasingly becoming a part of human domain as it is home to radio signals used to guide airplanes, ships and Global Positioning System satellites.

NASA said the two missions were complementary. ICON in low-Earth orbit, at 560 km above Earth, flies through and just above the ionosphere, like a close-up camera.

GOLD runs in geostationary orbit over the Western Hemisphere, about 35,398 km above the planet’s surface. It will build up a full-disk view of the ionosphere and the upper atmosphere beneath it every half hour.

The two missions can cooperate with each other when ICON passes through GOLD’s field of view and each mission can get a snapshot of the same region. This overlap in their data makes it easier to identify what caused a certain change to the upper atmosphere at a given time, NASA said.

One of the missions’ goals is to measure how upper atmosphere changes in response to hurricanes and geomagnetic storms.

“We used to think only solar wind could affect the ionosphere, and only the lower atmosphere was affected by terrestrial weather,” said Doug Rowland, ICON mission scientist at NASA.

“But now we’re going to get to see how that energy couples together.”

The solar wind is the Sun’s constant outflow of charged particles and magnetized material.

GOLD will also explore how the upper atmosphere reacts to geomagnetic storms, which are temporary disturbances of Earth’s magnetic field set off by solar activity.

During night-time, GOLD will examine disruptions in the ionosphere, which are dense, unpredictable bubbles of charged gas that appear over the equator and tropics, sometimes interfering with radio communications.

IANS

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The probe will use Venus’ gravity during seven flybys over nearly seven years to gradually bring its orbit closer to the Sun, according to a NASA statement.

The spacecraft will fly through the Sun’s atmosphere as close as 6.2 million kilometres to our star’s surface, well within the orbit of Mercury and closer than any spacecraft has gone before.

The Parker Solar Probe will perform its scientific investigations in a hazardous region of intense heat and solar radiation.

The primary science goals for the mission are to trace how energy and heat move through the solar corona and to explore what accelerates the solar wind as well as solar energetic particles.

In 2018, NASA will also add to its existing robotic fleet at the Red Planet with the InSight Mars lander designed to study the interior and subsurface of the planet .

The US space agency’s first asteroid sample return mission, OSIRIS-REx, is scheduled to arrive at the near-Earth asteroid Bennu in August 2018, and will return a sample for study in 2023.

Launching no later than June 2018, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will search for planets outside our solar system by monitoring 200,000 bright, nearby stars.

To continue the long-term record of how Earth’s ice sheets, sea level, and underground water reserves are changing, NASA will also launch the next generation of two missions – ICESat-2 and GRACE Follow-On – in 2018.

IANS

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The study, published in the journal Nature, showed that star formation stopped earlier in those galaxies with bigger black holes than those with smaller black holes.

The findings reveal a close correlation between the mass of a galaxy’s central black hole and its star formation history.

Observational evidence of a connection between supermassive black holes and star formation has been lacking, until now.

“This is the first direct observational evidence where we can see the effect of the black hole on the star formation history of the galaxy,” said study-co-author Jean Brodie, Professor at University of California, Santa Cruz, US.

The new results reveal a continuous interplay between black hole activity and star formation throughout a galaxy’s life, affecting every generation of stars formed as the galaxy evolves.

Every massive galaxy has a central supermassive black hole, more than a million times more massive than the Sun.

It reveals its presence through its gravitational effects on the galaxy’s stars and sometimes powering the energetic radiation from an active galactic nucleus (AGN).

The new findings back up the idea that energy pouring into a galaxy from an active galactic nucleus turns off star formation by heating and dispelling the gas that would otherwise condense into stars as it cooled.

The study, led by Ignacio Martin-Navarro, a postdoctoral researcher at UC Santa Cruz, focused on massive galaxies for which the mass of the central black hole had been measured in previous studies by analysing the motions of stars near the centre of the galaxy.

To determine the star formation histories of the galaxies, Martin-Navarro analysed detailed spectra of their light obtained by the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Massive Galaxy Survey.

Spectroscopy enables astronomers to separate and measure the different wavelengths of light from an object.

The researchers used computational techniques to analyse the spectrum of each galaxy and recover its star formation history by finding the best combination of stellar populations to fit the spectroscopic data.

“It tells you how much light is coming from stellar populations of different ages,” Martnn-Navarro said.

When he compared the star formation histories of galaxies with black holes of different masses, he found striking differences.

These differences only correlated with black hole mass and not with galactic morphology, size, or other properties.

“For galaxies with the same mass of stars but different black hole mass in the centre, those galaxies with bigger black holes were quenched earlier and faster than those with smaller black holes. So star formation lasted longer in those galaxies with smaller central black holes,” Martin-Navarro said.

IANS

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The general prevailing theory is that our solar system formed billions of years ago near a supernova.

But the new scenario, detailed in the Astrophysical Journal, instead begins with a giant type of star called a Wolf-Rayet star.

They burn the hottest of all stars, producing tonnes of elements which are flung off the surface in an intense stellar wind.

As the Wolf-Rayet star sheds its mass, the stellar wind plows through the material that was around it, forming a bubble structure with a dense shell.

“The shell of such a bubble is a good place to produce stars,” because dust and gas become trapped inside where they can condense into stars, said study co-author Nicolas Dauphas, Professor at University of Chicago in the US.

The researchers estimate that one to 16 per cent of all Sun-like stars could be formed in such stellar nurseries.

The study addresses a nagging cosmic mystery about the abundance of two elements in our solar system compared to the rest of the galaxy.

Meteorites left over from the early solar system suggests there was a lot of aluminium-26.

In addition, studies increasingly suggest we had less of the isotope iron-60.

This brings scientists up short, because supernovae produce both isotopes.

“It begs the question of why one was injected into the solar system and the other was not,” said co-author Vikram Dwarkadas from University of Chicago.

This brought the scientists to Wolf-Rayet stars, which release lots of aluminium-26, but no iron-60.

As for the fate of the giant Wolf-Rayet star, the researchers believe that its life ended long ago, likely in a supernova explosion or a direct collapse to a black hole.

IANS

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The odd object, called 2006 VW139/288P, is the first known binary asteroid that is also classified as a main-belt comet.

Asteroids and comets are believed to be ancient remnants of the earliest years of the formation of our solar system more than four billion years ago.

While asteroids are known as inactive, rocky body orbiting the Sun, comets are bodies of ice, rock, and organic compounds that can be several miles in diametre and they can be at times active. Ice of comets can vaporise in sunlight forming an atmosphere (coma) of dust and gas and, sometimes, a tail of dust and/or gas.

Hubble observations revealed ongoing activity in the binary system 2006 VW139/288P.

It probably broke into two pieces roughly 5,000 years ago due to a fast rotation, said the study published in the journal Nature.

Hubble was used to image the asteroid in September 2016 just before the asteroid made its closest approach to the Sun.

The images revealed that it was actually not one, but two asteroids of almost the same mass and size, orbiting each other at a distance of 60 miles.

“We detected strong indications for the sublimation of water ice due to the increased solar heating—similar to how the tail of a comet is created,” explained team leader Jessica Agarwal of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Germany.

The combined features of the binary asteroid—wide separation, near-equal component size, high eccentricity orbit, and comet-like activity—also make it unique among the few known binary asteroids that have a wide separation.

The researchers believe that understanding its origin and evolution may provide new insights into the early days of the solar system.

Main-belt comets may help to answer how water came to a bone-dry Earth billions of years ago.

The fact that 2006 VW139/288P is so different from all other known binary asteroids raises some questions about how common such systems are in the asteroid belt.

“We need more theoretical and observational work, as well as more objects similar to this object, to find an answer to this question,” Agarwal said.

IANS

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Funded by Oxfam India, the study basically evaluated the role of electricity access on health outcomes in rural Chhattisgarh.

“The results establishes a strong correlation between sustainable development goals, focusing on good health and well-being (Goal 3), and focusing on affordable and clean energy (Goal 7),” it said.

The CEEW study is based on an evaluation of 147 PHCs, including 83 having solar photovoltaic (PV) systems across 15 districts in Chhattisgarh.

Despite being a power surplus state, one-third of the PHCs in Chhattisgarh are either un-electrified or without regular power supply. About 90 per cent of PHCs reported power cuts during peak operating hours.

One-third of the PHCs experienced power cuts in the evening. More than 21 per cent of the PHCs reported damage of medical equipment due to voltage fluctuations.

“The analysis found that a solar PV system provides three-four hours of backup electricity for a PHC. Also, peak generation from solar PV systems coincides with peak load times for PHCs, 12 p.m.-4 p.m., making solar not simply an effective backup generation system but also a potential primary mode of power supply,” said the study.

It said that higher comfort due to better lighting and running fans in the solar PHCs increased patients’ willingness to get admitted.

“Scaling solar systems across PHCs is in India’s interest as it meets the targets of the National Solar Mission as well as the National Health Mission. In Chhattisgarh, CEEW found that solar provided a reliable power backup to PHCs, especially during peak load hours and after sundown,” said Arunabha Ghosh, CEO, CEEW.

According to Ghosh, while installing solar systems, priority should be given to power-deficit PHCs, especially those that have been designated to provide 24×7 services.

“Solar systems for PHCs must also be tailored to local needs and considerations. Other states must also focus on creating robust operations and maintenance services for solar powered PHCs,” she said.

In Chhattisgarh, 90 per cent of the solar powered PHCs reported cost savings from using solar PV systems over diesel generators. Diesel power costs Rs24-26 per kWh while solar plus battery costs around Rs12-14 per kWh.

The ability of solar-powered PHCs to operate cold chain, storing vaccines and drugs, and newborn care equipment also improved significantly in Chhattisgarh.

According to the Rural Health Statistics 2016, India has about 25,000 PHCs. Of the functional PHCs in India, 4.6 per cent are un-electrified, affecting over 38 million rural households depending on these healthcare facilities.

IANS

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“They are saving labour costs. Besides, greater soil carbon storage and lesser input requirements mean that perennial crops have the potential to mitigate global warming,” Erik J. Sacks, Associate Professor of Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois, told this correspondent in an e-mail.

China’s Yunnan Agricultural University (YAU) started working on perennial rice after the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines wound up this project in 2001 owing to a financial crisis.

At YAU, Fengyi Hu and his colleagues developed a perennial rice by crossing Oryza sativa—the short-lived Asian rice—with a wild African perennial O. longistaminata.

The cross, known as PR 23, “apparently lasts at least five years and gives 10 seasons of grain twice a year with yields comparable to seasonal rice”, Nandula Raghuram, Professor and Dean of Biotechnology at New Delhi’s Indraprastha University, told this correspondent.

“It seems very convincing and promising,” said Raghuram, one of the 50 delegates from over a dozen countries who recently toured different perennial rice-growing sites in the Yunnan province and tasted the cooked rice. “Farmers we spoke to seemed enthusiastic about adopting perennial rice and possibly other crops because of lower input costs.”

Noting that perennial rice is a great idea, “next only to hybrid rice”, he said perennial legumes are also being developed and it may be possible to have both rice and legume grow perennially in alternative rows/plots on the same field. “This also reduces or eliminates the need for nitrogen fertiliser and reduces the pest/pathogen problems typical to monocultures,” Raghuram said.

Work on developing perennial wheat, buckwheat, sorghum and sunflower are also at various stages in China.

“The fact is that rice farmers in China are beginning to adopt perennial rice because they see the benefits to themselves,” Sacks said. “Similarly, in the US, some leading farmers are beginning to adopt Kernza (a perennial wheat-like crop) because they find the market conditions and environmental benefits advantageous.”

Perennial crops hold many benefits, including reduced chemical runoff—which means less water pollution—and reduced soil erosion as these plants develop much greater root mass and protect the soil year-round. Their superior capacity to store carbon and manage resources is widely recognised by ecologists and soil scientists.

The Land Institute in Kansas, according to Timothy Crews, its Director of Research, plans to convert US farmlands to 70 percent perennial crops from the current 25 percent within 50 years.

However, M.S. Swaminathan, considered the father of India’s Green Revolution, said the main problem with perennial varieties is the need to effectively manage the “unholy triple alliance” of weeds, pests and pathogens.

“Perennial rice used to be common in the past, but I think because of the pest problem, farmers had given it up,” Swaminathan told this correspondent. “There is also perennial wheat and many crops in nature that tend to be perennial. The advantage of perennial crops is that they will be very helpful where there is labour shortage and where the work is being done by family labour.”

Raghuram admitted that perennial crops may not be a panacea for all the ills of agriculture—especially agrarian distress and farmers’ suicides in India—but “they can be an engine for progressive change, both in economic and environmental terms. The challenge for scientists, extension workers and policymakers is to make it happen”.

“While the present varieties of perennial rice developed in China may be suited for Chinese agro climates, “they do offer adequate proof of concept that they can be developed for other agro climates and markets”, Raghuram noted.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which has been highly supportive of the Chinese efforts to develop perennial rice, is keen to extend this technology to other parts of the world.

“Perennial rice, combined with perennial legumes, has huge potential in Asia, especially India,” Hans Dreyer, director of FAO’s plant production division, told this correspondent on the telephone. “A south-south collaboration on this technology can make this happen.”

Anil Rajvanshi, director of Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute in Phalton, Maharashtra, who is visiting the Land Institute in the US this month, is all for perennials.

“In India we should have a national mission for developing perennial crops for wheat and rice, and ultimately for other crops and vegetables,” Rajvanshi told this correspondent. “Crops are like factories. We never destroy a factory after the produce is made and sold. In fact, most of the time we tweak the machinery and use the same factory to produce different products.”

“Yet in agriculture, after the harvest we uproot the plants, till the soil and replant a new crop. This increases soil erosion, takes away a lot of minerals from the soil and uses up a huge amount of water and energy to develop new root structure, besides increasing the time of harvest,” he added.

“Perennial crops, on the other hand, hold the soil and tremendously reduce the energy required for food and fruit production,” Rajvanshi concluded.

IANS

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