SPACE/COSMOS
Jeff Bezos sees no threat from Musk's Trump ties in competitive space race
Jeff Bezos told Reuters on Sunday that he trusts Elon Musk will not leverage his relationship with President-elect Donald Trump against Blue Origin. Bezos expressed optimism about the new administration's space policies, crediting Musk for prioritising public interest over personal gain.
Issued on: 13/01/2025 -
FRANCE24
By: NEWS WIRES
Jeff Bezos told Reuters on Sunday that he trusts Elon Musk will not leverage his relationship with President-elect Donald Trump against Blue Origin. Bezos expressed optimism about the new administration's space policies, crediting Musk for prioritising public interest over personal gain.
Issued on: 13/01/2025 -
FRANCE24
By: NEWS WIRES
Jeff Bezos walks near Blue Origin's New Shepard after flying into space on July 20, 2021 in Van Horn, Texas © Joe Raedle, AFP
Jeff Bezos in an interview with Reuters on Sunday said he does not think SpaceX CEO Elon Musk will use his close ties with US President-elect Donald Trump to undercut his space company Blue Origin, adding he feels "very optimistic" about the incoming administration's space agenda.
"Elon has been very clear that he's doing this for the public interest and not for his personal gain. And I take him at face value," said Bezos, founder of Blue Origin which rivals SpaceX in the space industry.
Bezos is in Cape Canaveral, Florida for the debut launch of Blue Origin's New Glenn, a 30 story-tall rocket that is expected to chip away at SpaceX's market dominance and kick start Blue Origin's long-delayed entrance in the satellite launch business.
Musk, who spent more than a quarter billion dollars to help elect Trump, has had the president-elect's ear on space matters and last month said the US should send missions straight to Mars instead of going to the moon first, raising industry concerns of a major shakeup to NASA's space exploration program.
"My own opinion is that we should do both - we need to go to the moon and we should go to Mars," Bezos said when asked if he was concerned about changes to NASA's moon program.
"What we shouldn't do is start and stop things. We should continue with the lunar program for sure," Bezos said.
Trump in his second term is expected to make sweeping changes to NASA's moon program and focus heavily on sending missions to Mars.
(REUTERS)
Jeff Bezos in an interview with Reuters on Sunday said he does not think SpaceX CEO Elon Musk will use his close ties with US President-elect Donald Trump to undercut his space company Blue Origin, adding he feels "very optimistic" about the incoming administration's space agenda.
"Elon has been very clear that he's doing this for the public interest and not for his personal gain. And I take him at face value," said Bezos, founder of Blue Origin which rivals SpaceX in the space industry.
Bezos is in Cape Canaveral, Florida for the debut launch of Blue Origin's New Glenn, a 30 story-tall rocket that is expected to chip away at SpaceX's market dominance and kick start Blue Origin's long-delayed entrance in the satellite launch business.
Musk, who spent more than a quarter billion dollars to help elect Trump, has had the president-elect's ear on space matters and last month said the US should send missions straight to Mars instead of going to the moon first, raising industry concerns of a major shakeup to NASA's space exploration program.
"My own opinion is that we should do both - we need to go to the moon and we should go to Mars," Bezos said when asked if he was concerned about changes to NASA's moon program.
"What we shouldn't do is start and stop things. We should continue with the lunar program for sure," Bezos said.
Trump in his second term is expected to make sweeping changes to NASA's moon program and focus heavily on sending missions to Mars.
(REUTERS)
Galaxy growth halted by supermassive black holes
By Dr. Tim Sandle
DIGITAL JOURNAL
January 11, 2025
Artist'ss impression of a black hole surrounded by matter waiting to fall in — Credit: © NASA, and M. Weiss (Chandra X -ray Center)
In a recent study published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, researchers using the James Webb Space Telescope found supermassive black holes suppressing star formation in ancient galaxies 11 billion light years away.
This discovery explains how massive galaxy clusters evolved into the dormant, giant elliptical galaxies seen today, shedding light on the co-evolution of black holes and galaxies.
Galaxy clusters are home to many giant elliptical galaxies that have completed their growth and are not forming stars. However, it is still unclear what shutdowns star formation. The answer now seems to be supermassive black holes, which slow star formation and help to transition the star formations into galaxies.
Understanding how galaxies form and complete their growth is an area of fundamental focus in astrophysics. The dense regions of the universe, like galaxy clusters, are dominated by giant elliptical galaxies: massive, ancient galaxies that consist of old stars.
The reason why supermassive black holes appear to play a key role is due to their intense energy which can suppress the gas supply to galaxies.
Against this backdrop, an international team of researchers investigated massive galaxies in an ancient galaxy cluster known as the Spiderweb protocluster, located 11 billion light years away, using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
Results from the James Webb Telescope near-infrared camera clearly show that massive galaxies with active galactic nucleus feedback from supermassive black holes have lower star formation. Source: Rhythm Shimakawa / Waseda University (with permission).
The research was led by Associate Professor Rhythm Shimakawa from Waseda University, Japan (Shimakawa is an Associate Professor at the Waseda Institute for Advanced Study (WIAS) and Center for Data Science). Located in the heart of Tokyo, Waseda University is a leading private research university.
Also involved were: Dr. Yusei Koyama from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan; Prof. Tadayuki Kodama from Tohoku University, Japan; Dr. Helmut Dannerbauer and Dr. J. M. Perez-Martinez from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias and Universidad de La Laguna, Spain.
The scientists succeeded in obtaining high-resolution maps of the recombination lines of hydrogen, which indicate the activity of star formation and supermassive black holes, through the Near-Infrared Camera mounted on JWST. The JWST Near-Infrared Camera has a spatial resolution ten times better than previous telescopes in the near-infrared wavelength around 4 microns
The research was led by Associate Professor Rhythm Shimakawa from Waseda University, Japan (Shimakawa is an Associate Professor at the Waseda Institute for Advanced Study (WIAS) and Center for Data Science). Located in the heart of Tokyo, Waseda University is a leading private research university.
Also involved were: Dr. Yusei Koyama from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan; Prof. Tadayuki Kodama from Tohoku University, Japan; Dr. Helmut Dannerbauer and Dr. J. M. Perez-Martinez from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias and Universidad de La Laguna, Spain.
The scientists succeeded in obtaining high-resolution maps of the recombination lines of hydrogen, which indicate the activity of star formation and supermassive black holes, through the Near-Infrared Camera mounted on JWST. The JWST Near-Infrared Camera has a spatial resolution ten times better than previous telescopes in the near-infrared wavelength around 4 microns
.
A stellar black hole has been identified in the Milky Way – Copyright AFP Menahem KAHANA
Detailed analysis showed that massive galaxies with active supermassive black holes exhibit no sign of star formation, meaning that their growth is severely hampered by supermassive black holes. The results support the theoretical prediction that the formation of giant elliptical galaxies is linked with supermassive black holes activity in the past.
“The Spiderweb protocluster has been studied by our team for more than 10 years using the Subaru Telescope and other facilities. With the new JWST data, we are now able to ‘answer the questions’ of understanding and predicting galaxy formation that we have accumulated,” remarks Dr. Shimakawa in a statement sent to Digital Journal.
He adds further: “This study marks a significant step forward in expanding our understanding of the co-evolution of SMBHs and galaxies in celestial cities.”
The study is titled “Spider-Webb: JWST Near Infrared Camera resolved galaxy star formation and nuclear activities in the Spiderweb protocluster at z = 2.16.”
Detailed analysis showed that massive galaxies with active supermassive black holes exhibit no sign of star formation, meaning that their growth is severely hampered by supermassive black holes. The results support the theoretical prediction that the formation of giant elliptical galaxies is linked with supermassive black holes activity in the past.
“The Spiderweb protocluster has been studied by our team for more than 10 years using the Subaru Telescope and other facilities. With the new JWST data, we are now able to ‘answer the questions’ of understanding and predicting galaxy formation that we have accumulated,” remarks Dr. Shimakawa in a statement sent to Digital Journal.
He adds further: “This study marks a significant step forward in expanding our understanding of the co-evolution of SMBHs and galaxies in celestial cities.”
The study is titled “Spider-Webb: JWST Near Infrared Camera resolved galaxy star formation and nuclear activities in the Spiderweb protocluster at z = 2.16.”
January 9, 2025
PARIS: It is still not clear what exactly fell onto a Kenyan village last month, but such events are likely to become increasingly common given the amount of space debris drifting above the planet.
What we know
A metallic ring of roughly 2.5 metres (8 feet) in diametre and weighing some 500 kilogrammes (1,100 pounds), crashed into Mukuku village, in Makueni county, in the south of the country on Dec 30.
The Kenya Space Agency (KSA) has opened an investigation and is examining the possibility that it might have been the separation ring from a rocket. Other theories have already surfaced however, and a KSA spokesman has said they have not ruled out anything.
The theories being examined
It is not even certain that what crashed in Kenya came from outer space. But for Romain Lucken who runs Aldoria, a French start-up that tracks debris in space, it is “absolutely plausible” that it did. He said he thought it might be part of the upper stage of a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) developed by India’s space agency.
“There is a mission that was sent up on Dec 30 with a return date that fits well, and most of all, a point of re-entry that fits very well, to within a few dozen kilometres,” he said. Aldoria, which has 15 telescopes around the world, searches for information on launches and then works out flight paths based on “the typical trajectories of each of the main launch sites”. But Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics, is not convinced.
It was McDowell who identified a piece of the International Space Station (ISS) that crashed down on a house in Florida last April. “I do not believe this object came from space. Maybe fell off an airplane,” he said. “Give me evidence it is space debris.” He has not however entirely ruled out that it is part of an Ariane 5 V184 launch in 2008 that finally returned to earth.
But the French aerospace group said: “This piece does not belong to an element from a European launcher operated by Arianespace.” John Crassidis at New York’s SUNY, which works with Nasa on space debris, endorsed the assessment released by the Kenya Space Agency.
“I think their technical assessments are 100 percent accurate, and they’re going to figure out what country it came from, because every country does things a little bit differently,” he said.
While it could be a separation ring from a rocket, as the KSA was considering, it might also have come from the upper stage of a rocket. “Those tend to be smaller,” he said.
Christophe Bonnal, a French specialist in space debris, said the debris might have come from a military launcher. “They are armoured, which fits with the fact that it is very big and heavy,” he said. But then it could also have come from a digger or a tank, he added.
Assessing the risk
So far, at least, such incidents have not caused any deaths, but since the number of space launches is rising, so too are the risks. “Ten years ago, an object that might create impact fragments re-entered the atmosphere every two weeks,” said Stijn Lemmens, a specialist in debris at the European Space Agency (ESA). “Now, that can happen twice a week.” For Lucken, at Aldoria, it is just a question of time.
Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2025
No comments:
Post a Comment