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There’s always a need for new technologies or for novel uses of existing technologies to lower the cost of space exploration and extend our reach. Lightsails are a novel type of spacecraft that could eventually be our first visitors to nearby stars like the Alpha Centauri system. But they could be put to productive use right here in our Solar System.

Lightsail technology is not exactly new. The Planetary Society proved that the technology is feasible as propulsion for small satellites when they relied on sunlight alone to change the orbit of their LightSail 2 spacecraft in 2022. Japan’s IKAROS 3 spacecraft successfully demonstrated lightsail technology on an interplanetary spacecraft when it flew by Venus in 2010.

Those missions were relatively modest, but they provided critical proof that lightsail technology can work.

These missions relied purely on sunlight for their energy. That can restrict their use to inner solar systems, where sunlight is abundant. But some engineers think we can augment the Sun’s energy with powerful lasers aimed at lightsails. With that additional directed energy, lightsails could travel further into the Solar System.

A new paper shows how lightsails could be used to visit the icy moons Europa and Enceladus, two prime targets in the search for life. The paper is “A Light Sail Astrobiology Precursor Mission to Enceladus.” It’s in its pre-print stage and hasn’t been peer-reviewed yet. The authors are Manasvi Lingam from the Florida Institute of Technology, Adam Hibberd from the University of Texas, and Andreas Hein from the Institute for Interstellar Studies and the University of Luxembourg.

Jupiter's second Galilean moon, Europa. What's under all that ice? (Credit: NASA/JPL/Galileo spacecraft)
Jupiter’s second Galilean moon, Europa. What’s under all that ice? (Credit: NASA/JPL/Galileo spacecraft)

“Icy moons with subsurface oceans of liquid water rank among the most promising astrobiological
targets in our Solar System,” the authors write. “In this work, we assess the feasibility of deploying laser sail technology in lieu of conventional chemical propulsion to instantiate precursor life-detection missions.”

Note the word precursor. That word is aimed at the limitations of lightsail spacecraft. Most importantly, they’re unable to decelerate like spacecraft with other types of propulsion systems. But lightsail spacecraft are simpler and less expensive than other spacecraft designs. How can they fit into our exploration of these important Solar System bodies, where life might find refuge in warm, salty oceans buried under kilometres of ice?

Lightsail spacecraft may struggle to decelerate, but they can control their attitude, as Japan’s IKAROS spacecraft demonstrated. It used LCDs with controllable reflectivity to alter its attitude and trajectory. So while a lightsail can’t enter orbit around moons like Europa and Enceladus, they could perform flybys. That’s why the authors call them “precursor” missions.

The researchers have their eye on the plumes that come from the buried oceans on both moons. Sampling the chemistry of both of those plumes would be a huge step forward in understanding their potential habitability. “We principally investigate such laser sail missions to Enceladus and Europa, as these two moons emit plumes that seem accessible to in situ sampling,” they write.

What they’re proposing are more correctly called laser sails because it’s powerful lasers that make them feasible. They point to the potential of GigaWatt Lasers, a technology being researched and developed but still out of reach. With powerful lasers like these, the authors say a laser sail spacecraft could reach Europa in 1 to 4 years of travel and Enceladus in 3 to 6 years of travel. These numbers are for a 100 kg (220 lb) spacecraft travelling at about 30 km s?1.

But GigaWatt lasers are no ordinary lasers. These are super-villain-scale machines that could burn down a city if one were aimed at Earth. Not only that, but they may have to be built in the Arctic or Antarctic for a mission to Enceladus. The implications of building powerful energy infrastructure in
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The Early Universe Had No Problem Making Barred Spiral Galaxies

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Spiral galaxies like the Milky Way are like cosmic snowflakes—no two are exactly alike. For many years, astronomers thought spirals couldn’t exist until the universe was about half its present age. Now, a newly discovered galaxy in the early Universe is challenging that idea.

CEERS-2112 is an early “cosmic snowflake” with spiral arms and a bar across its middle. The amazing thing is that it’s showing this structure when the Universe was only 2 billion years old. That’s about five billion years earlier than astronomers expected something like that to exist. The fact that a perfectly formed spiral exists so early tells us that our ideas about galaxy formation in early cosmic history need some re-tuning.

Surveying the Early Universe

This galaxy showed up in a survey done by the JWST called “Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science” (CEERS). It uses JWST imaging and spectroscopy to do a survey of the early Universe to find the earliest galaxy. The analysis of the CEERS-2112 galaxy was done by an international team led by astronomer Luca Constantin of the Centro de Astrobiología in Spain.

CEERS results should show astronomers the early populations of galaxies at high redshifts (distances). They will also help them estimate related star-formation conditions and black hole growth. Finally, the work should give some insight into the formation of galaxy disks and bulges. Essentially, CEERS data should add to our store of knowledge about first light and reionization (which occurred after the Big Bang) and explain the formation and evolution of early galaxies.

Early deep-field images of very distant galaxies show shreds of galaxies and irregular clumps of stars in the early Universe. That was evident in some of the first Hubble Deep-Field images. The most distant ones in the images looked more blobby and indistinct. And, some of them appeared to be colliding, which fits into the collisional model of galaxy formation.

This view of nearly 10,000 galaxies is called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. It shows some galaxies in the early Universe, (which appear as red blobs). Credit: NASA/ESA/HUDF
This view of nearly 10,000 galaxies is called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. It shows some galaxies in the early Universe, (which appear as red blobs). Credit: NASA/ESA/HUDF

Forming Galaxies in the Early Universe

Prior to the Hubble and JWST eras, astronomers really felt that it would take a long time to form spiral galaxies. They often describe a hierarchical model of galaxy formation. That’s where smaller clumpy galaxies collide to form larger ones. Over time, those objects begin to develop structures like spiral arms and bars.

“In such galaxies, bars can form spontaneously due to instabilities in the spiral structure or gravitational effects from a neighboring galaxy,” according to astronomer and team member Alexander de la Vega. He is a post-doctoral researcher currently at the University of California Riverside. “In the past, when the Universe was very young, galaxies were unstable and chaotic. It was thought that bars could not form or last long in galaxies in the early universe.”

The spiral arms are likely the result of density waves moving through the galaxy. The bars also form from density waves radiating out from the center. That compresses material in the arms and bars, leading to bursts of star formation. That could explain why these regions in galaxies seem brighter, with their populations of hot young stars. All of this takes time to accomplish. That’s why astronomers suggested that it would take about half the age of the Universe to form spiral galaxies.

CEERS-2112 is Part of the Early Universe

CEERS-2112 upends the discussion about spiral formation, according to de la Vega. “Finding CEERS-2112 shows that galaxies in the early Universe could be as ordered as the Milky Way,” he said. “This is surprising because galaxies were much more chaotic in the early Universe and very few had similar structures to the Milky Way.”

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Apollo Samples Contain Hydrogen Hurled from the Sun

regolith jpeg

According to the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, men should drink 3.7litres of water a day and women 2.7litres. Now imagine a crew of three heading to the Moon for a 3 week trip, that’s something of the order of 189 litres of water, that’s about 189 kilograms! Assuming you have to carry all the water rather than recycle some of it longer trips into space with more people are going to be logistically challenging for water carriage alone. Researchers from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) have discovered lunar rocks with hydrogen in them which, when combined with lunar oxygen provide a possibly supply for future explorers.

A total of 382 kilograms of rock was brought back from the Moon by the Apollo program (I weigh about 80kg so that’s almost five of me in weight – and its all muscle I promise!) Some of the samples were immediately studied while others were sealed for future research hoping that future instrumentation would be more sensitive.

A research team from NRL, led by Katherine D. Burgess and team members Brittany A. Cymes and Rhonda M. Stroud, have recently announced their findings whilst studying some of the lunar rock. They wanted to understand the source of water on the Moon and to understand its formation. Future lunar exploration especially permanent lunar bases will rely heavily upon existing lunar resources. The paper articulates “Effective use of the resource depends on developing an understanding of where and how within the regolith the water is formed and retained”.

Image showing Buzz Aldrin's footprint in the dusty lunar regolith - Credit NASA
Buzz Aldrin’s footprint in the lunar regolith – the soft powdery material found over the surface of the Moon (Credit – NASA)

Transmission electron microscopy was used as part of the study to explore lunar sample 79221. The technique utilises a particle beam of electrons to visualise specimens and generate a highly magnified image. In particular, the team looked at grains of the minerals apatite and merrillite and discovered signs of ‘space’ weathering due to the solar wind. The solar wind is a stream of charged particles that rush outward from the Sun at speeds of up to 1.6 million km per hour!

They found hydrogen signatures in samples in vesicles – small holes left behind after lava cools. The discovery confirms that solar wind is being trapped in detectable quantities proving a potential reservoir that could be accessible to future explorers.

Hydrogen itself is a tremendously useful resource and if that can be mined from the lunar surface material it can aide many aspects of exploration. The real buzz around the discovery is that it may finally resolve the mystery about the origins of lunar water and that it might well be the result of chemical interactions between the solar wind and lunar rocks. If we can understand the origins of the lunar water – and we may finally be close to that now – then we can be sure we use it effectively to reach out further into the Solar System.

Source : Hydrogen detected in lunar samples, points to resource availability for space exploration

The post Apollo Samples Contain Hydrogen Hurled from the Sun appeared first on Universe Today.

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The Best Clothing Layers for Winter in the Backcountry

Tet19 047 Me on Teton Crest Trail copy cropped 16 jpg

By Michael Lanza

There’s one certainty about the clothing layers we use in winter: We get our money’s worth out of them. While a rain shell or puffy jacket may rarely come out of our pack on a summer hike or climb, we almost invariably wear every article of clothing we carry when backcountry, Nordic, or downhill skiing, snowshoeing, snowboarding, climbing, or trail running in winter. That’s money spent wisely to make us more comfortable and safer.

Every winter, I test out new clothing layers doing many of those activities frequently—something I’ve been doing for more than 25 years, previously as the lead gear reviewer for Backpacker magazine for 10 years and even longer running this blog. This review spotlights the best shell and insulated jackets, base layers, and pants I’ve found for high-exertion and moderate-exertion activities in winter.

Tet19 047 Me on Teton Crest Trail copy cropped 17 jpg
Hi, I’m Michael Lanza, creator of The Big Outside. Click here to sign up for my FREE email newsletter. Join The Big Outside to get full access to all of my blog’s stories. Click here for my e-guides to classic backpacking trips. Click here to learn how I can help you plan your next trip.

A backcountry skier in Idaho’s Boise Mountains.
” data-image-caption=”My son, Nate, backcountry skiing in Idaho’s Boise Mountains.
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/thebigoutside.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/DSC_3743.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/thebigoutside.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/DSC_3743.jpg?fit=900%2C600&ssl=1″ src=”https://i0.wp.com/thebigoutside.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/DSC_3743.jpg?resize=900%2C600&ssl=1″ alt=”A backcountry skier in Idaho’s Boise Mountains.” class=”wp-image-50099″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/thebigoutside.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/DSC_3743.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/thebigoutside.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/DSC_3743.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/thebigoutside.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/DSC_3743.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/thebigoutside.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/DSC_3743.jpg?resize=150%2C100&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/thebigoutside.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/DSC_3743.jpg?w=1200&ssl=1 1200w” sizes=”(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px” data-recalc-dims=”1″ />My son, Nate, backcountry skiing in Idaho’s Boise Mountains.

In my story “How to Dress in Layers for Winter in the Backcountry,” I offer advice—based on four decades of backcountry experience—on how to choose a specific, personalized layering system for different exertion levels and body types in temperatures near or below freezing. Use the tips in that story, along with this review, to make the best choices in winter outdoor apparel for your activities, your climate, and your body.

Please share your experiences with any of these products in the comments section at the bottom of this review. I try to respond to all comments. And if you make a purchase through any of the affiliate links to online retailers in this story or other reviews at The Big Outside, you support my work on this blog at no cost to you. Thanks for doing that.

Don’t go out in the cold without my “12 Pro Tips For Staying Warm Outdoors in Winter.”

Backcountry avalanche instructor Chago Rodriguez skiing in the shadow of Mount Heyburn in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains.
” data-image-caption=”Expert backcountry avalanche instructor Chago Rodriguez skiing in the shadow of Mount Heyburn in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains. Click photo to learn about his courses.
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/thebigoutside.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Saw13-028-Pass-north-of-Mt.-Heyburn-Sawtooths-ID.jpg?fit=300%2C199&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/thebigoutside.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Saw13-028-Pass-north-of-Mt.-Heyburn-Sawtooths-ID.jpg?fit=900%2C598&ssl=1″ src=”https://i0.wp.com/thebigoutside
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