Apple sued over alleged ineffectiveness of Apple Watch's blood oxygen reader on people of color

by Orlando Mayorquin, USA Today

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Apple is facing a federal class-action lawsuit that claims the blood oxygen reader in the Apple Watch yields inaccurate results for people of color.

The suit, filed Saturday on behalf of plaintiff Alex Morales in New York, draws on old and new pandemic-era literature that shows that pulse oximeter technology is ineffective in measuring blood oxygen levels in darker skin tones, according to Morales' attorney Spencer Sheehan.

This flaw came to the fore during the pandemic as overwhelmed hospitals used the devices to determine oxygen levels in COVID-19 patients and help make decisions about care. The Food and Drug Administration recently initiated a review of the technology with the goal of offering recommendations to make it effective on all skin types.

But it's unclear whether Apple uses the same technology as a standard pulse oximeter. It calls its feature the "Blood Oxygen" app, and presents it as "breathtaking innovation" online. It also measures blood oxygen at the wrist, as opposed to the fingertip as with pulse oximeters.

Apple did not immediately respond to an inquiry from USA TODAY Tuesday about the lawsuit or the nature of its blood oxygen reader's technology and its effectiveness across skin colors.

Sheehan called the claim in the lawsuit about the app's ineffectiveness "a reasonable inference," based on existing knowledge about the limits of pulse oximeters with regard to skin color.

Apple notes on its website that the blood oxygen reading may be affected by "permanent or temporary changes" to the skin, such as tattoos.

"The ink, pattern, and saturation of some tattoos can block light from the sensor, making it difficult for the Blood Oxygen app to get a measurement," Apple's website reads. But the page makes no explicit mention of a person's natural skin color.

Morales bought an Apple Watch with the blood oxygen reader feature between 2020 and 2021, according to the lawsuit.

He believed the watch purported to measure his blood oxygen levels "without regard to skin tone," and "would not have purchased" or "paid as much" for the watch had he known otherwise.

Sheehan, a New York-based lawyer and a known prolific filer of consumer class-action suits, said he expected Apple to argue that it warns consumers that the product is not intended for medical use.

"Yes, you're not getting this at a drugstore or a medical goods store," Sheehan told U.S. TODAY. "Nonetheless, if a product is presented as a feature that is described as a … blood oxygen monitor, you will expect that it will function without respect to a person's skin color."

The suit alleges Apple violated several laws, including New York state law, and a federal multi-state class action law that prohibits "deceptive business practices."

It alleges Apple committed fraud and unjustly enriched itself by misrepresenting its product's capability and seeks a jury trial.

Attorneys for Apple were not listed at publication time in online court documents, which showed that Apple had received official notice of the lawsuit on Tuesday.

2022 USA Today

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Commercial smartwatch provides reliable blood oxygen saturation values as compared to a medical-grade pulse oximeter

21ST CENTURY ALCHEMY

Quasicrystal formed during accidental electrical discharge

Cross-section of a fulgurite sample showing fused sand and melted conductor metal from a

 downed powerline. Credit: Luca Bindi et al

A team of researchers from Università di Firenze, the University of South Florida, California Institute of Technology and Princeton University has found an incidence of a quasicrystal formed during an accidental electrical discharge.

In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes their study of a quasicrystal found in a sand dune in Nebraska.

Quasicrystals, as their name suggests, are crystal-like substances. They possess characteristics not found in ordinary crystals, such as a non-repeating arrangement of atoms. To date, quasicrystals have been found embedded in meteorites and in the debris from nuclear blasts. In this new effort, the researchers found one embedded in a sand dune in Sand Hills, Nebraska.

Study of the quasicrystal showed it had 12-fold, or dodecagonal, symmetry—something rarely seen in quasicrystals. Curious as to how it might have formed and how it ended up in the sand dune, the researchers did some investigating. They discovered that a power line had fallen on the dune, likely the result of a lightning strike. They suggest the electrical surge from either the power line or the lightning could have produced the quasicrystal.

The researchers note that the quasicrystal was found inside of a tubular piece of fulgurite, which they suggest was also formed during the electrical surge due to fusing of melted sand and metal from the power line.

Diffraction pattern of a quasicrystal showing 12-fold symmetry. Credit: Luca Bindi et al

In looking at the quasicrystal using an electron microscope, the researchers were able to make out its composition. In so doing, they found bits of silicon dioxide glass, which told them that temperatures inside the sand dune during the electrical discharge had to have reached at least 1,710 degrees Celsius. They also found that the quasicrystal had been retrieved from an area of transition between melted aluminum alloy and silicate glass. Their work confirmed that the object they were studying was, indeed, a quasicrystal, and that it had a previously unseen composition.

The researchers conclude that finding a quasicrystal in such a place suggests that others are likely out there, as well, having formed due to lightning strikes or downed power lines. They also suggest their work could lead to techiniques to create quasicrystals in the lab.

More information: Luca Bindi et al, Electrical discharge triggers quasicrystal formation in an eolian dune, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2215484119

Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 

© 2022 Science X Network

Newly discovered quasicrystal was created by the first nuclear explosion at Trinity Site

ECOCIDE

South Asian Black carbon aerosols accelerate loss of glacial mass over the Tibetan plateau

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES HEADQUARTERS

Black carbon aerosols are produced by the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomass, and are characterized by strong light absorption. Black carbon deposition in snow/ice reduces the albedo of snow/ice surfaces, which may accelerate the melting of glaciers and snow cover, thus changing the hydrological process and water resources in the region.

The South Asia region adjacent to the Tibetan Plateau has among the highest levels of black carbon emission in the world. Many studies have emphasized black carbon aerosols from South Asia can be transported across the Himalayan Mountains to the inland region of the Tibetan Plateau.

Recently, a joint research team led by Prof. KANG Shichang from the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Prof. CHEN Deliang from the University of Gothenburg, and Prof. Robert Gillies from Utah State University analyzed the influence of black carbon aerosols on regional precipitation and glaciers over the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Their findings were published in Nature Communications on Nov. 30.

The researchers found that since the 21st century, South Asian black carbon aerosols have indirectly affected the mass gain of the Tibetan Plateau glaciers by changing long-range water vapor transport from the South Asian monsoon region.

"Black carbon aerosols in South Asia heat up the middle and upper atmosphere, thus increasing the North­–South temperature gradient," said Prof. KANG. "Accordingly, the convective activity in South Asia is enhanced, which causes convergence of water vapor in South Asia. Meanwhile, black carbon also increases the number of cloud condensation nuclei in the atmosphere."

These changes in meteorological conditions caused by black carbon aerosols make more water vapor form precipitation in South Asia, and the northward transport to the Tibetan Plateau was weakened. As a result, precipitation in the central and the southern Tibetan Plateau decreases during the monsoon, especially in the southern Tibetan Plateau.

The decrease in precipitation further leads to a decrease of mass gain of glaciers. From 2007 to 2016, the reduced mass gain by precipitation decrease accounted for 11.0% of the average glacier mass loss on the Tibetan Plateau and 22.1% in the Himalayas.

"The transboundary transport and deposition of black carbon aerosols from South Asia accelerate glacier ablation over the Tibetan Plateau. Meanwhile, the reduction of summer precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau will reduce the mass gain of plateau glaciers, which will increase the amount of glacier mass deficit," said Prof. KANG.

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JOURNAL

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-022-35128-1 

ARTICLE TITLE

South Asian black carbon is threatening the water sustainability of the Asian Water Tower

HEY CONSPARITORIALISTS

NASA and HAARP conclude asteroid experiment

Business Announcement

UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS

A powerful transmitter in remote Alaska sent long wavelength radio signals into space Tuesday with the purpose of bouncing them off an asteroid to learn about its interior.

The asteroid, 2010 XC15, is estimated to be about 500 feet across and is passing by Earth at two lunar distances, which is twice the distance between the Earth and the moon.

Results of Tuesday’s experiment at the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program research facility at Gakona could aid efforts to defend Earth from larger asteroids that could cause significant damage.

“We will be analyzing the data over the next few weeks and hope to publish the results in the coming months,” said Mark Haynes, lead investigator on the project and a radar systems engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “This experiment was the first time an asteroid observation was attempted at such low frequencies.

“This shows the value of HAARP as a potential future research tool for the study of near-Earth objects,” he said.

Several programs exist to quickly detect asteroids, determine their orbit and shape and image their surface, either with optical telescopes or the planetary radar of the Deep Space Network, NASA’s network of large and highly senstive radio antennas in California, Spain and Australia.

Those radar-imaging programs don’t provide information about an asteroid’s interior, however. They use signals of short wavelengths, which bounce off the surface and provide high-quality external images but don’t penetrate an object. 

Long wavelength radio signals can reveal the interior of objects. 

HAARP, using three powerful generators, began transmitting chirping signals of long wavelength at 2 a.m. Tuesday and continued sending them uninterrupted until the scheduled end of the 12-hour experiment.

The University of New Mexico Long Wavelength Array near Socorro, New Mexico, and the Owens Valley Radio Observatory Long Wavelength Array near Bishop, California, are also involved in the experiment.

Data analysis is expected to take several weeks.

The Tuesday experiment also served as a test for probing an asteroid larger than 2010 XC15.

Asteroid Apophis, discovered in 2004, will make its closest approach to Earth on April 13, 2029. It will come within about 20,000 miles of Earth, closer than the many geostationary satellites orbiting the planet.

Apophis, which NASA estimated to be about 1,100 feet across, was initially thought to pose a risk to Earth in 2068, but its orbit has since been better projected by researchers and is now not a risk to the planet for at least a century.

Tuesday’s test follows tests in January and October in which scientists bounced long-wavelength signals off the moon in preparation for this week’s experiment. 

Haynes said understanding the makeup of an asteroid’s interior, especially of an asteroid large enough to cause major damage on Earth, can increase the chances of an effective defense. Knowing the distribution of mass within a dangerous asteroid could help scientists target devices designed to deflect an asteroid away from Earth.

Amateur scientists from around the world reported receiving the outgoing transmission, said Jessica Matthews, HAARP’s program manager. The reports will help infer the conditions of the ionosphere during the experiment.

“Our collaboration with JPL is not only an opportunity to do great science but also involves the global community of citizen scientists,” she said. “So far we have received over 300 reception reports from the amateur radio and radio astronomy communities from six continents who confirmed the HAARP transmission.” 

The University of Alaska Fairbanks operates HAARP under an agreement with the Air Force, which developed and owned HAARP but transferred the research instruments to UAF in August 2015. 

---

CONTACTS:

• Ian J. O’Neill, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, ian.j.oneill@jpl.nasa.gov

• Rod Boyce, University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, 907-474-7185, rcboyce@alaska.edu

Mysterious gamma-ray emitting bubbles around the center of our Galaxy explained

Evidence shows strong outflowing winds responsible for the “Fermi bubbles”

Peer-Reviewed Publication

TOKYO METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: FAST WINDS FLOWING OUT FROM THE GALACTIC CENTER CREATES A FORWARD SHOCK AND A REVERSE SHOCK. THE LATTER FORMS THE OUTLINE OF THE FERMI BUBBLES. view more 

CREDIT: TOKYO METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY

Tokyo, Japan – A scientist from Tokyo Metropolitan University has shown that large gamma-ray emitting bubbles around the center of our Galaxy were produced by fast blowing outward winds and the associated “reverse shock.” Numerical simulations successfully reproduced the temperature profile observed by an X-ray telescope. Such outflows have been observed in other galaxies; this finding suggests similar winds may have been blowing in our own Galaxy until quite recently.

The universe is full of massive celestial objects which are yet to be explained. One of these are the “Fermi bubbles,” so-called because they were first discovered by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope in 2010. These bubbles are enormous gamma-ray emitting regions which extend either side of the center of our Galaxy over approximately 50,000 light years, protruding out from the plane of the Galaxy like balloons as shown in the figure. Despite their mind-blowing scale, the mechanism by which they are formed is yet to be deciphered.

Now, Professor Yutaka Fujita from Tokyo Metropolitan University has presented theoretical evidence demonstrating how such objects may have been formed. Since their discovery, many hypotheses have been put forward about the formation of the Fermi bubbles, including an explosive activity of the central supermassive black hole, winds from the black hole, and steady star formation activity. Telling these scenarios apart is a challenging task, but the availability of state-of-the-art X-ray observations from the Suzaku satellite gives us a chance to compare measurements with what we expect from various scenarios.

The simulations of Professor Fujita considered fast outflowing winds from the black hole injecting the necessary energy into the gas surrounding the center of the Galaxy. Comparing with the measured profiles, they found that there was a good chance that the Fermi bubbles are produced by the fast outflowing winds, blowing at 1000km per second over 10 million years. These are not winds as we would experience them on earth, but streams of highly charged particles traveling at high speeds and propagating through space. These winds travel outwards and interact with surrounding “halo gas,” causing a “reverse shock” that creates a characteristic temperature peak. The Fermi bubbles correspond to the volume on the inside of this reverse shock front. Importantly, simulations also showed that an instantaneous explosion at the center could not reproduce the profiles measured by the telescope, lending weight to a scenario based on steady winds generated by the central black hole.

The author notes that the winds predicted by the simulation are similar to outflows observed in other galaxies. The correspondence suggests the same kinds of massive outflows seen in other parts of the universe were present in our own Galaxy until fairly recently.

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grants-in-Aid (Grant Numbers 20H00181, 22H00158, and 22H01268).

---

JOURNAL

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

DOI

10.1093/mnras/stac3312 

ARTICLE TITLE

Evidence for powerful winds and the associated reverse shock as the origin of the Fermi bubbles

SPORT and petitSat CubeSats to shed light on space weather disturbances

Business Announcement

NASA/GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER

 

IMAGE: THE IONOSPHERE CONSTANTLY GLOWS AND WILL BE THE MAIN FOCUS OF STUDY FOR THESE TWO SATELLITES. HERE, AN AURORA IS CAPTURED AS SEEN FROM THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION. view more 

CREDIT: NASA

Two CubeSats, or small satellites, are on a quest to provide insight on space weather disturbances and the subsequent impact on communication signals. The dynamic duo, the Plasma Enhancements in the Ionosphere-Thermosphere Satellite (petitSat) and Scintillation Prediction Observations Research Task (SPORT), arrived at the International Space Station on Nov. 27, 2022, as part of SpaceX’s 26th commercial resupply mission for NASA. Both CubeSats deployed from the space station on Dec. 29, 2022, at 8:55 a.m. EST.

Scientists on both missions are most interested in studying a layer in Earth’s upper atmosphere known as the ionosphere. The ionosphere is where the impacts of space weather on our technology are felt most strongly. It's home to many satellites, including the International Space Station. Radio waves and GPS signals travel through the ionosphere, and variations there can interfere with, or even disrupt, our communication signals. Space weather can also create electric currents that can induce electrical charge in orbiting satellites, and, in extreme cases, cause power outages on the ground.

Day in and day out, the ionosphere is cooked by the Sun's radiation into a soup of positively charged ions and negatively charged electrons, called plasma. Fluctuations in the ionosphere cause low-density and high-density regions – bubbles and blobs – to form in the plasma. These bubbles and blobs can scatter radio signals, sometimes sending them crashing into each other in a phenomenon called scintillation. The result is noisy radio signals, which can reduce the reliability of communication and navigation systems, or even disrupt signals completely.

“If you put a pencil into a glass of water that’s half full, the pencil appears broken,” said Linda Habash Krause, the project scientist for SPORT at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “What happens when you have bubbles? Similar to the pencil in the water, the signals go through ample bends.”

Unfortunately, scientists do not understand exactly how the plasma bubbles and blobs arise. Once petitSat and SPORT are launched from the space station, the two CubeSats will use complementary scientific instruments to investigate the conditions that cause these disruptive features to form.

“The idea is that the science teams will work together and cross compare,” said Jeff Klenzing, the principal investigator of petitSat at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

SPORT is equipped with six instruments to make measurements throughout the ionosphere. It will help determine the conditions that exist just before plasma bubbles form and, ultimately, how their evolution impacts ground-based communications signals. SPORT will transmit data back to the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE), where the data will be distributed to researchers at INPE, NASA, and other U.S. partners.

In a complementary fashion, petitSat will work to determine what triggers plasma blobs, when they appear, or even how large a region they occupy.

Both petitSat and SPORT will provide improved observations and insights into space weather phenomena which impact communications. These missions will collectively enhance our understanding of our ever-changing space environment and amplify current capabilities of small satellites to directly benefit our society.

The more we learn about space weather – and how to predict it – the better we can protect our astronauts, spacecraft, and technology.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M; BIG DATA

Google to pay $9.5 million to resolve Washington DC location tracking suit

Nice location data! That'll be $9.5 million.

By Christianna Silva on December 31, 2022

Google has to pay out big after it settled a lawsuit for allegedly "deceiving users and invading their privacy" in Washington, D.C.

Washington DC Attorney General Karl Racine — who also recently won a settlement against Grubhub — accused Google of violating the D.C. Consumer Protection Procedures Act and employing "dark patterns," or design choices that are meant to trick users into doing things that don't benefit them, like turning on location tracking.

SEE ALSO: Grubhub ordered to pay $3.5 million in Washington DC deceptive practices suit

Google has agreed to a settlement payout of $9.5 million and to change its practices regarding how it tells users about collecting, storing, and using their location data. Through it all, Google still denies any wrongdoing, according to the DCist. The site also agreed to create a compliance report every year for the next four years to prove that it is abiding by the terms of the settlement.

The complaint, which Racine filed in January 2022, alleged that Google led customers to believe they're in control of whether or not the platform collects and keeps their location data, but that isn't the case; instead, consumers "cannot prevent Google from collecting, storing, and profiting from their location," the complaint read, according to Engadget.

"We sued because Google made it nearly impossible for users to stop their location from being tracked," Racine tweeted after the settlement was reached. "Now, thanks to this settlement, Google must also make clear to consumers how their location data is collected, stored, and used."

In a blog post from November, Google wrote that the "settlement is another step along the path of giving more meaningful choices and minimizing data collection while providing more helpful services."

Christianna Silva is a Senior Culture Reporter at Mashable. They write about tech and digital culture, with a focus on Facebook and Instagram. Before joining Mashable, they worked as an editor at NPR and MTV News, a reporter at Teen Vogue and VICE News, and as a stablehand at a mini-horse farm. You can follow them on Twitter @christianna_j.

China says demands for negative COVID-19 tests from travelers are 'discriminatory'

CGTN

The UK government has announced that passengers arriving from China will require a negative COVID-19 test after an increase in infections in China.

Starting on January 5, those traveling from China will need to show a negative COVID-19 test taken no more than two days prior to departure, UK's Department of Health and Social Care said in a statement.

Airlines will be required to check all passengers on outbound flights from China for tests, and passengers will not be allowed to board a flight without providing evidence of a negative test result, it added.

The UK joins other countries, including the United States and India, to impose COVID-19 tests for travelers from China. France, South Korea and Spain have also done so.

UK officials had said on Thursday that the government was reviewing whether to impose restrictions on people arriving from China.

'Discriminatory' measures

Chinese media on Friday called the imposition of COVID-19 tests by various countries on travelers arriving from China "discriminatory."

Popular columnist Frazer Nelson has also questioned this in his article for The Spectator, in which he argues that the data in Singapore from travelers in China confirms Beijing's evidence that the variants it is dealing with have been in the UK for months.

"So why, even in theory, would it be a problem if people flew in from China or anywhere else with a virus that is now ubiquitous?" writes Nelson.

'Putting people and their lives front and center'

In an article for The Guardian, Zheng Zeguang, the Chinese ambassador to the UK, wrote: "Over the past weeks, Beijing has become the first city to go through the infection peak, and life and work are returning to normal in the capital. The Covid-19 situation in China is generally stable and controllable, and people are making plans to work, study and travel."

Zheng said this is what gave the Chinese government the confidence to announce new cross-border travel rules, requiring no mandatory COVID-19 test for those visiting China, and in cases where someone tests positive while in the country they will not be required to quarantine.

"Over the past three years, China has always put people and their lives front and center while it tries to keep COVID-19 under control, and promote economic and social development. Our response policies have been effective, science-based and in line with China's national conditions," he argued. "China has withstood the impact of five infection waves around the world, successfully avoided the widespread prevalence of the original strain and the Delta variant, and greatly reduced severe cases and mortality,"

Zheng added: "As the Covid-19 situation in China continues to improve, the effects of policies to stabilize economic growth continue to emerge, and the exchange of Chinese and foreign personnel becomes easier, China's long-subdued consumer demand will be released, investor confidence will be boosted and the economy will rebound strongly. This is good news for not just China but the entire global economy," added the ambassador.

Source(s): Reuters

Workers at Iran’s Abadan refinery strike as protests continue


A general view of Abadan oil refinery in southwest Iran, is pictured from

Iraqi side of Shatt al-Arab in Al-Faw south of Basra, Iraq September 21, 2019. (Reuters)

Bloomberg
Published: 31 December ,2022

Workers at Iran’s biggest oil refinery went on strike on Saturday, impacting repairs and safety checks at the facility, according to unconfirmed reports and footage published on social media.

It wasn’t clear if production was affected at the Abadan site. A call for comment was unanswered outside regular business hours.

Commissioned more than a century ago, the Middle East’s oldest oil refinery is located in the southern Khuzestan province near the Gulf and has a reported processing capacity of 400,000 barrels per day.

Industrial strikes have become more widespread across Iran, including in the key energy sector, following protests that have swept the nation since mid-September, triggered by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. She was arrested for allegedly flouting strict Islamic dress codes.

Security forces used tear gas and opened fire on anti-government demonstrators in the western city of Javanroud near Iraq’s border on Saturday, according to media reports.

Videos showed clashes in a graveyard during a traditional religious ceremony marking the 40th day since the death of at least seven people that rights groups say were killed amid unrest in the city.

The Norway-based Hengaw Human Rights Organization, which monitors Iran’s protests, said riot police shot dead a 22-year-old man in Javanroud on Saturday while several others were wounded. Videos showed the man being stretchered with a bullet wound to the chest.

None of the reports or footage could be immediately verified by Bloomberg.
Authorities have so far hanged two men in connection with the unrest following fast-tracked trials.

More than 400 people have been killed in the Islamic Republic’s crackdown on protests, with thousands more in prison and at least 100 people facing execution, according to human rights groups.

Studies on moon mining and DNA

 December 31, 2022
By Giancarlo Elia Valori

Will moon mineral extraction soon be underway? The National Aeronautics and Space Administration plans to build a moonbase. What makes it so anxious about such a new goal?

Compared to the vast universe, human beings are undoubtedly less than grains of sand. Although space exploration has been going on for more than half a century, the extraterrestrial bodies on which humans have set foot are limited to the moon, which is the closest to the earth. Moreover, only the United States of America has achieved manned moon landings and there is still a long way to go for human space exploration.

At the same time, space exploration activity by the People’s Republic of China has gradually expanded in recent years. Moon sampling, the Tianwen-1 space mission to the red planet, the Martian rover Zhurong and the Tiangong (Celestial Palace), a Chinese modular space station under construction, part of the fourth permanent space station programme in history (after the Saljut, Skylab, Mir and the International Space Station), all are important symbols of China’s turning into a space power.

However, with the progress of the Chinese space industry, NASA – which is on the other side of the Pacific Ocean – is also feeling much pressure, with its desire to initiate a plan to go back to the moon and maintain its leading position in space technology thanks to the Artemis project.

Faced with pressure from Chinese moon landings and space station research, NASA has announced that it will go back to the moon in 2024. This time, with the return to the moon, the United States of America has set two main goals for itself: a new manned lunar landing; and the return to the moon to look for ways to enable humans to live permanently on the surface of our satellite and exploit it scientifically and for mining.

The Artemis project aims to establish a moonbase in the meteorite crater near the satellite south pole, named after the explorer Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874-1922). This is the first task. Once the moonbase is successfully established, NASA will be able to obtain in advance the technology for the future construction of the base on Mars.

Is mineral extraction part of the programme? NASA plans to build a moonbase. The peaks on the rim of Shackleton Crater are continuously exposed to sunlight, but the interior is permanently shaded. Scientists also call it the crater of eternal night. The permanent shadow inside leads to a low temperature, which has captured and frozen volatile components emitted by celestial bodies when they hit the moon. The Lunar Prospector, launched on 7 January 1998 by NASA, found a higher than normal amount of hydrogen gas in the craters during its measurement mission to the moon, indicating the presence of water ice. The Lunar Prospector, was designed for a short polar orbit analysing our satellite, mapping the surface and any polar ice deposits, measuring the magnetic field and gravity, and studying lunar events.

Once the water ice extraction technology is achieved, the construction of both the moonbase and the Mars base can be greatly improved. The water ice can break down into hydrogen and oxygen, the main components of rocket fuel. In the future, the moonbase could also serve as a space service station.

With a view to developing moon mining technology, NASA has also launched a competition called Break the Ice Lunar Challenge. Well-known technology companies such as Masten Space Systems, Lunar Outpost and Honeybee Robotics have currently joined the challenge.

They plan to use rocket engines to design a moon mining vehicle weighing over 800 kilograms. When the moon mining vehicle reaches a site containing water ice, its engine enclosed in the dome will start up, launching the water ice-laden debris into a vacuum device that separates and stores the water ice particles.

According to the plan, this moon mining vehicle is capable of mining operations from twelve craters per day. Each crater can produce about 100 kilograms of ice and more than 420,000 kilograms of lunar water ice can be recovered each year.

Besides lunar water ice, the Artemis programme also includes research into the extraction of helium-3. Helium-3 (He-3) is a very valuable resource in space, and its presence on earth is rather limited. It is formed by the decay of tritium (hydrogen-3, the third isotope of the element hydrogen, after protium and deuterium). In the soil of the moon surface, there is one million tonnes of helium-3.

Helium-3 can continuously supply energy to the moonbase. If the fusion energy of helium-3 is used, just 200,000 tonnes of helium-3 can enable a population of nearly one and a half billion people to use electricity for an entire year. It is also very likely that this type of space minerals will change the energy process of rockets and cause a qualitative transformation of human space technology.

NASA has quickly embarked on the project to return to the moon, mainly because the satellite soil collected by the Chinese probes on the moon contains this type of future energy.

NASA must also complete the technology to withstand space radiation for the Artemis project. The surface of the moon, like the surface of Mars, is not protected by an ozone layer. This is precisely the reason why space radiation there is very high. Studies have shown that space radiation can easily penetrate the bulkheads of manned spacecraft and pass through crew members’ bodies. Space radiation can damage the DNA of crew members, causing a number of irreparable consequences.

With a view to solving the threat of space radiation, NASA approached the research institutes of the University of Washington and Harvard University to ask for collaboration and participation in studies. In the high-tech competition, they found a very powerful small molecule. It plays an important role in repairing DNA damaged by space radiation and in restoring muscle and skeletal loss in weightlessness.

This molecule is involved in the synthesis of cofactors in human cells and is a substance found in the human body and in nature. People can restore or increase the level of cellular cofactors in the body by supplementing the molecule, which is able to restore declining mitochondria and repair damaged DNA. Likewise, astronauts can also repair damaged DNA by supplementing the molecule after having been exposed to space radiation.

NASA has collected a large amount of data on the radiation exposure of astronauts during space activities over the past decades. Based on this data, the Ames Research Center – one of NASA’s ten largest centres, located in California’s Silicon Valley at Moffett Field Airport – has developed a roadmap for radiation resistance in the human body. In the roadmap, NASA plans to use modern gene editing technology to modify astronauts’ DNA so that they can adapt to the high-radiation space environment.

Judging by the current level of technology, however, when we return to the moon in 2024, it is estimated that gene editing technology will not yet have reached the point where it can affect astronauts’ DNA. NASA can rely on the aforementioned molecule, which will be safe and reliable only after marketing. A few years ago, some biological companies focused on studying molecules against ageing and on restoring levels to cope with mitochondrial diseases.

Scientific tests and marketing have demonstrated the molecule safety, and NASA wants to use this material to complete the relevant tests on the moonbase before it can be used in large-scale space activities.

The moon is the closest celestial body to the earth, and is a unique outpost for humans to improve space technology. Although it looks desolate, it contains a lot of energy that the earth does not have. Humans can probably improve aerospace technology on the moon to a higher level than on earth.

It must be said, however, that if we are serious about mining or other activities on the moon, concluding relevant binding treaties is essential, and all countries carrying out space activities must be able to comply with them. In this way, the moon is protected and severe consequences are avoided for what will happen “in the sky” if there is conflict on earth.