It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Monday, February 26, 2024
UK
This month is set to be the moistest February in 258 years
Brace yourselves for a moist Monday morning (Picture: PA/Metro Graphics)
In a welcome change from the usual wet and windy weather, this week will see the weather be wet and windy.
But it’ll be even wetter than usual in Britain, with the amount of rain bucketing it down in the week ahead set to make it the wettest February in 258 years.
In other words, don’t head out without an umbrella this week.
The Met Office has warned that parts of the south east are at risk of flooding, with a yellow weather warning in effect until 9am today.
Morning commutes will likely drag on for longer than usual, the national weather service says, with delays and cancellations likely.
‘There is a small chance that homes and businesses could be flooded, causing damage to some buildings,’ the weather warning says.
This particular corner of England will be pretty wet today (Picture: Metro Graphics)
But this won’t be the last of the rain, with bands forecast for tomorrow, Wednesday and even heavier rainfall set for Thursday.
Overall, 129mm of rain – two-and-a-half times the 48mm average – will have drenched Britain by the end of the month, Met Office figures show.
Central England needs just 5mm more rain by Thursday to break the overall February record.
‘Monday has rain and stronger winds in the south-east, with rain spreading on Tuesday, and Wednesday seeing further rain arrive from the west,’ forecasters say.
‘Rain will turn heavy at times through Thursday as a broad band of cloud and rain is likely to spread across much of the UK.
‘Friday and through the weekend has areas of showers sometimes banding together for longer spells of rain.’
Officials say flooding is widely expected along the southern coast (Picture: Getty Images)
As of yesterday evening, the Environment Agency has issued 52 red flood warnings up and down England mainly in the south and the midlands. This means flooding is ‘expected’.
Most of the southern coast has been blanketed by amber flood alerts, with flooding ‘possible’ in 189 locations.
‘Flooding is probable across parts of the south and midlands on Monday, with river response into Tuesday in the south east,’ environmental officials say.
‘Groundwater flooding is possible throughout this week in parts of the south.
‘Lands, roads and some properties may flood and there may be travel disruption.’
Channel 4 weatherman Liam Dutton said some parts of the UK have seen up to three times more rain than usual for February.
‘The ground is currently saturated quite widely across the UK, making flooding possible even with modest amounts of rainfall,’ he added.
Shipwreck found over a century after bodies of crewmembers washed ashore: "120-year-old mystery" solved
By Stephen Smith Updated on: February 26, 2024
In July 1904, the steamship SS Nemesis was transporting coal to Melbourne, Australia, when it ran into a powerful storm and vanished. All 32 people on board were considered lost, and in the weeks that followed, the bodies of crewmembers and debris from the iron-hulled ship washed ashore, but the location of the 240-foot vessel remained a mystery.
Until now.
The ship has finally been identified more than a century later. It was initially spotted when a company searching for sunken shipping containers came across the wreck by accident, the New South Wales Ministry of Environment and Heritage announced this weekend.
"The 120-year-old mystery of SS Nemesis and the 32 crew members lost at sea has been solved," government officials declared in a news release.
Underwater camera image from SS Nemesis survey by RV Investigator - Midships showing deckhouse. CSIRO
In 2022, a remote sensing company called Subsea Professional Marine was trying to find cargo boxes lost off the coast of Sydney when it came across the shipwreck by chance, officials said. The vessel, which could not be officially identified at the time, was about 16 miles offshore and 525 feet underwater.
Government officials suspected the wreck might be the doomed SS Nemesis but it wasn't officially confirmed until September 2023 when CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, was able to capture underwater imagery that definitively showed the distinctive features of the steamship.
The CSIRO research vessel, RV Investigator, used advanced multibeam echosounders to map the wreck site and underwater cameras to obtain high-resolution images of the vessel. They showed the severely damaged vessel resting upright on a sand plain.
"Our visual inspection of the wreck using the drop camera showed some key structures were still intact and identifiable, including two of the ship's anchors lying on the seafloor," Phil Vandenbossche, a CSIRO hydrographic surveyor on board the voyage, said in a statement
.
Drop camera image from SS Nemesis survey by RV Investigator - Ship's anchor with wobbegong shark.
After an up-close survey of the shipwreck, officials also pinpointed what likely happened to the vessel. They determined that when the SS Nemesis was hit by large wave off the coast of Wollongong, the engine was overwhelmed and the ship "sank too quickly for life boats to be deployed."
Government officials say they are now committed to finding family members of the Australian, British and Canadian crewmembers who went down with the 1,393-ton ship. About half of the crew on the British-built ship were from the U.K., including the captain, Alex Lusher, chief mate, T.A. Renaut, and second mate, W.D. Stein, officials said.
"Around 40 children lost their parents in this wreck and I hope this discovery brings closure to families and friends connected to the ship who have never known its fate," said NSW Minister for Environment and Heritage Penny Sharpe.
The video imagery collected by CSIRO will now be "stitched together" to create a 3D model of the wreck for further investigation, officials said.
"The loss of Nemesis has been described as one of Sydney's most enduring maritime mysteries and has even been described by shipwreck researchers as the 'holy grail,'" Sharpe said. "Thanks to collaborative work with CSIRO and Subsea, using modern technology and historical records, Heritage NSW has been able to write the final chapter of SS Nemesis' story."
The announcement of the wreck's discovery comes just month after researchers found the wreck of the MV Blythe Star, a coastal freighter that sank half a century ago off the coast of Australia. The 10 crewmembers on board escaped from the ship before it sank, but three died before rescuers found the crew two weeks after the sinking.
Only about half of the more than 200 shipwrecks off the New South Wales coast have been located, officials said.SS NEMESISMITCHELL LIBRARY, STATE LIBRARY OF NEW SOUTH WALES
WEST BANK
Palestinian Authority’s Entire Government Resigns as U.S. Plots End to Gaza War
Amanda Yen Mon, 26 February 2024 Zain Jaafar/Getty Images
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh handed in the resignation of his entire government to the group’s President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday, as the U.S. and other allies attempt to plan for an end to the brutal conflict between Israel and Hamas currently raging in the Gaza Strip.
Shtayyeh, whose government oversees parts of the occupied West Bank, cited the mounting violence in the Palestinian territories as the reason for his resignation. He also signaled steps the Palestinian Authority could take toward governing a potential Palestinian state in the wake of the current conflict, which began when the militant group Hamas launched a bloody attack into Israel last October.
“The decision to resign came in light of the unprecedented escalation in the West Bank and Jerusalem and the war, genocide and starvation in the Gaza Strip,” Shtayyeh said. “I see that the next stage and its challenges require new governmental and political arrangements that take into account the new reality in Gaza and the need for a Palestinian-Palestinian consensus based on Palestinian unity and the extension of unity of authority over the land of Palestine.”
He also lashed out at Israel’s efforts to defenestrate the decades-old organization and strip it of “any political significance,” as well as the international community’s attacks on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which administers aid for Palestinian refugees.
The move came amid months of pressure from the U.S. and other international partners on Abbas to revamp the PA into a reliable governing entity after the war—and on Israel to accept plans for a future Palestinian state.
Netanyahu has repeatedly stated that recognizing a Palestinian state would be “rewarding Hamas” for its atrocities. Last week, he unveiled a sparse vision for Gaza after the war, which called for “local elements with administrative experience” to govern. He did not mention the Palestinian Authority, which President Joe Biden has argued should lead both Gaza and the West Bank after the war.
The Palestinian Authority, which was created 30 years ago as part of a plan for eventual Israel-Palestine peace, is unpopular among Palestinians and hasn’t controlled Gaza since 2006, when Hamas took control of the territory.
Abbas is expected to select economist Mohammad Mustafa as the next prime minister. Mustafa leads the Palestine Investment Fund and is a member of Abbas’ inner circle.
The death toll in Gaza is likely to cross a grim milestone this week, the enclave’s health ministry said over the weekend, with an estimated death toll of more than 30,000 people. The conflict has also injured nearly 70,000 more.
SLIM is defying the odds yet again after a two-week lunar night. JAXA/Takara Tomy/Sony Group Corporation/Doshisha UniversitySHARE
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced on Monday that its historic Smart Lander for Investigating Moon has defied the odds—after surviving a brutal, two-week lunar night while upside down, SLIM’s solar cells subsequently gathered enough energy to restart the spacecraft over the weekend. In an early morning post to X, JAXA reported it briefly established a communication relay with its lunar lander on Sunday, but the moon’s extremely high surface temperature currently prevents engineers from doing much else at the moment. Once SLIM’s instrument temperatures cool off in a few days’ time, however, JAXA intends to “resume operations” through additional scientific observations as long as possible.
SLIM arrived near the moon’s Shioli crater on January 19, making Japan the fifth nation to ever reach the lunar surface. Although JAXA’s lander successfully pulled off an extremely precise touchdown, it did so upside down after its main engines malfunctioned about 162-feet above the ground. The resulting nose-down angle meant SLIM’s solar cell arrays now face westward, thereby severely hindering its ability to gather power. Despite these problems, the craft’s two tiny robots still deployed and carried out their reconnaissance duties as hoped and snapped some images of the inverted lander. Meanwhile, SLIM transmitted its own geological survey data back to Earth for a few precious hours before shutting down.
Although JAXA officials cautioned that might be it for their lander, SLIM defied the odds and rebooted 10 days later with enough juice to continue surveying its lunar surroundings, such as identifying and measuring nearby rock formations.
“Based on the large amount of data obtained, analysis is now underway to identify rocks and estimate the chemical composition of minerals, which will help to solve the mysteries surrounding the origin of the Moon. The scientific results will be announced as soon as they are obtained,” JAXA said at the time.
But by February 1, the moon’s roughly 14.5-day lunar night was setting in, plunging temperatures down to a potentially SLIM-killing -208 Fahrenheit. Once again, JAXA bid a preemptive farewell to their plucky, inverted technological achievement—only to be surprised yet again over the weekend.
Figure 2:
The rocks on which a detailed 10-band observation was performed. Due to different solar illumination conditions, a few of the rocks selected for observation were changed and additions added. CREDIT: JAXA, RITSUMEIKAN UNIVERSITY, THE UNIVERSITY OF AIZU
In the few days since the most recent lunar evening’s conclusion, SLIM apparently recharged its solar cells enough to come back online. But as frigid as the moon’s night phases are, its daytime temperatures can be just as brutal. According to JAXA, some of the lander’s equipment initially warmed up to over 212-degrees Fahrenheit. To play it safe, mission control is giving things a little time to cool off before tasking SLIM with additional scans, such as using its Multi-Band Camera to assess nearby regolith formations’ chemical compositions.
JAXA has a few more days before the moon enters another two-week night, during which SLIM will go into yet another hibernation. While it could easily succumb to the lunar elements this next time, it’s already proven far more resilient than its designers thought possible. It may not surpass expectations as dramatically as NASA’s Mars Ingenuity rotocopter (RIP), but the fact that SLIM made it this long is cause enough for celebration.
The DART planetary defense mission reshaped the Dimorphos asteroid
In the process of proving we could deflect asteroids we also learned quite a bit about them
Dimorphos turned out to be a “rubble pile”. This high-resolution view of Dimorphos was created by combining the final 10 full-frame images obtained by DART’s Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Optical navigation. Image credits: NASA.
Dimorphos, a potato-shaped moonlet orbiting the larger asteroid Didymos, was virtually unknown to most people until recently. But on September 26th, 2022, it became the stage for a historic event: the first deliberate planetary defense mission, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART).
DART was a daring initiative to assess humanity’s ability to prevent a catastrophic asteroid collision. The idea was to target Dimorphos and change its moonlet’s orbit through a direct kinetic impact. The successful mission marked a historic moment. It demonstrated for the first time that human ingenuity could indeed modify the path of celestial objects.
But this was just one aspect of the mission. DART is not just about testing our ability to deflect potentially Earth-threatening asteroids. It’s also about exploring asteroids and the birth of our solar system.
Dimorphos is weak
The DART mission deflected the moonlet Dimorphos by directly colliding with it at high speed. This impact altered Dimorphos’s momentum, resulting in a change to its orbital path around its parent asteroid, Didymos.
As a result, NASA researchers were expecting DART to create a sizable crater. But the mission reshaped Dimorphos’s surface in unforeseen ways. The collision generated an ejecta curtain, propelling debris into space and altering the asteroid’s surface topography. This phenomenon provided critical data on the asteroid’s structural integrity and the dynamics of ejecta in microgravity environments, offering new perspectives on asteroid material composition and behavior.
Sabina Raducan and her team used advanced shock physics simulations, guided by initial DART mission findings, to study the impact on Dimorphos. Their models, which closely matched the actual impact observations, indicate that Dimorphos is a weak asteroid, with surface characteristics similar to other asteroids.
The simulations suggest Dimorphos is a “rubble-pile” asteroid, a type characterized by a loose collection of rocks bound by weak gravitational forces. Surprisingly, the mission uncovered that Dimorphos’s cohesive strength was much lower than anticipated, and its bulk density was comparable to other well-studied asteroids like Ryugu and Bennu. These findings suggest that despite their varied appearances and orbits, these space rocks share common origins or formation processes.
Radar images from the Arecibo Observatory from 2003. This was our best view of Dimorphos then. Image via Wikimedia Commons.
The findings, once more, are important on two fronts. Firstly, they suggest that many asteroids may have formed in the same way and may be structurally weak.
This paves the way for more effective defensive mechanisms against potential asteroid threats — which may just prove to be useful in the future. Enriching our understanding of our solar system is, at the same time, making us a bit safer in the solar system.
The study was published in Nature Astronomy.
Astronomers detect an extremely red supermassive black hole in the early universe growing in the shadows
BEER-SHEVA, Israel, February 28, 2024 – Analyzing images from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a group of astronomers led by Dr. Lukas Furtak and Prof. Adi Zitrin from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has detected an extremely red, gravitationally lensed supermassive black-hole in the early Universe. Its colors suggest that the black hole lies behind a thick veil of dust obscuring much of its light. The team managed to measure the black hole mass and discovered that it was significantly more massive, compared to its host galaxy, than what has been seen in more local examples. The finding was published in Nature two weeks ago.
The JWST, launched two years ago, has revolutionized our view of early galaxy formation. It has led to the detection of very early galaxies in greater abundances and greater brightnesses than previously predicted, and revealed some new types of objects.
The group of astronomers had detected in JWST images what seemed to be a lensed, quasar-like object from the early universe. Quasars are bright active galactic nuclei: supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies that are actively accreting material.
"We were very excited when JWST started sending its first data. We were scanning the data that arrived for the UNCOVER program and three very compact yet red-blooming objects prominently stood out and caught our eyes," says Dr. Lukas Furtak, a postdoctoral researcher at BGU and the lead author of the discovery papers. "Their “red-dot” appearance immediately led us to suspect that it was a quasar-like object".
Furtak and the UNCOVER group started investigating the object. “We used a numerical lensing model that we had constructed for the galaxy cluster to determine that the three red dots had to be multiple images of the same background source, seen when the Universe was only some 700 million years old”, says Prof. Zitrin, an astronomer at BGU and one of the lead authors of the discovery papers.
"Analysis of the object's colors indicated that it was not a typical star-forming galaxy. This further supported the supermassive blackhole hypothesis", says Prof. Rachel Bezanson, from University of Pittsburgh and co-lead of the UNCOVER program. "Together with its compact size, it became evident this was likely a supermassive black hole, although it was still different from other quasars found at those early times", Prof. Bezanson added. The discovery of the uniquely red and compact object was published last year in the Astrophysical Journal. But that was just the beginning of the story.
"Using the spectra, we managed to not only confirm that the red compact object was a supermassive black hole and measure its exact redshift, but also obtain a solid estimate for its mass from the width of its emission lines", says lead author Dr. Furtak. "Gas is orbiting in the gravitational field of the black hole and achieves very high velocities that are not seen in other parts of galaxies. Because of the Doppler shift, light emitted by the accreting material is red-shifted on one side and blue-shifted on the other side, according to its velocity. This causes emission lines in the spectrum to become broader."
But the measurement led to yet another surprise, published in Nature two weeks ago: the black-hole's mass seems to be excessively high compared to the host galaxy's mass.
"All the light of that galaxy must fit within a tiny region the size of a present-day star-cluster. The gravitational lensing magnification of the source gave us exquisite limits on the size. Even packing all the possible stars into such a small region, the black hole ends up being at least 1% of the total mass of the system,” says Prof. Jenny Greene from Princeton University and one of the lead authors of the recent paper. "In fact, several other supermassive black-holes in the early Universe have now been found to show a similar behavior, which lead to some intriguing views of black hole and host galaxy growth, and the interplay between them, which is not well understood."
Astronomers do not know if such supermassive black-holes grow, for example, from stellar remnants, or perhaps from material that directly collapsed into black holes in the early Universe.
"In a way, it's the astrophysical equivalent of the chicken and egg problem", says Prof. Zitrin. “We do not currently know which came first – the galaxy or black hole, how massive the first black holes were, and how they grew."
Since many more such “little red dots” and other active galactic nuclei have recently been detected with JWST, hopefully, we will have a better idea soon.
THIS ARTIST’S IMPRESSION SHOWS THE MAGNETIC WHITE DWARF WD 0816-310, WHERE ASTRONOMERS HAVE FOUND A SCAR IMPRINTED ON ITS SURFACE AS A RESULT OF HAVING INGESTED PLANETARY DEBRIS.
WHEN OBJECTS LIKE PLANETS OR ASTEROIDS APPROACH THE WHITE DWARF THEY GET DISRUPTED, FORMING A DEBRIS DISC AROUND THE DEAD STAR. SOME OF THIS MATERIAL CAN BE DEVOURED BY THE DWARF, LEAVING TRACES OF CERTAIN CHEMICAL ELEMENTS ON ITS SURFACE.
USING ESO’S VERY LARGE TELESCOPE, ASTRONOMERS FOUND THAT THE SIGNATURE OF THESE CHEMICAL ELEMENTS CHANGED PERIODICALLY AS THE STAR ROTATED, AS DID THE MAGNETIC FIELD. THIS INDICATES THAT THE MAGNETIC FIELDS FUNNELED THESE ELEMENTS ONTO THE STAR, CONCENTRATING THEM AT THE MAGNETIC POLES AND FORMING THE SCAR SEEN HERE.
When a star like our Sun reaches the end of its life, it can ingest the surrounding planets and asteroids that were born with it. Now, using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) in Chile, researchers have found a unique signature of this process for the first time — a scar imprinted on the surface of a white dwarf star. The results are published today in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
“It is well known that some white dwarfs — slowly cooling embers of stars like our Sun — are cannibalising pieces of their planetary systems. Now we have discovered that the star’s magnetic field plays a key role in this process, resulting in a scar on the white dwarf’s surface,” says Stefano Bagnulo, an astronomer at Armagh Observatory and Planetarium in Northern Ireland, UK, and lead author of the study.
The scar the team observed is a concentration of metals imprinted on the surface of the white dwarf WD 0816-310, the Earth-sized remnant of a star similar to, but somewhat larger than, our Sun. “We have demonstrated that these metals originate from a planetary fragment as large as or possibly larger than Vesta, which is about 500 kilometres across and the second-largest asteroid in the Solar System,” says Jay Farihi, a professor at University College London, UK, and co-author on the study.
The observations also provided clues to how the star got its metal scar. The team noticed that the strength of the metal detection changed as the star rotated, suggesting that the metals are concentrated on a specific area on the white dwarf’s surface, rather than smoothly spread across it. They also found that these changes were synchronised with changes in the white dwarf’s magnetic field, indicating that this metal scar is located on one of its magnetic poles. Put together, these clues indicate that the magnetic field funneled metals onto the star, creating the scar [1].
“Surprisingly, the material was not evenly mixed over the surface of the star, as predicted by theory. Instead, this scar is a concentrated patch of planetary material, held in place by the same magnetic field that has guided the infalling fragments,” says co-author John Landstreet, a professor at Western University, Canada, who is also affiliated with the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium. “Nothing like this has been seen before.”
To reach these conclusions, the team used a ‘Swiss-army knife’ instrument on the VLT called FORS2, which allowed them to detect the metal scar and connect it to the star’s magnetic field. “ESO has the unique combination of capabilities needed to observe faint objects such as white dwarfs, and sensitively measure stellar magnetic fields,” says Bagnulo. In their study, the team also relied on archival data from the VLT’s X-shooter instrument to confirm their findings.
Harnessing the power of observations like these, astronomers can reveal the bulk composition of exoplanets, planets orbiting other stars outside the Solar System. This unique study also shows how planetary systems can remain dynamically active, even after 'death'.
Notes
[1] Previously, astronomers have observed numerous white dwarfs polluted by metals that were scattered over the surface of the star. These are known to originate from disrupted planets or asteroids that veer too close to the star, following star-grazing orbits similar to those of comets in our Solar System. However, for WD 0816-310, the team is confident that vaporised material was ionised and guided onto the magnetic poles by the white dwarf's magnetic field. The process shares similarities to how auroras form on Earth and on Jupiter.
More information
This research was presented in a paper titled “Discovery of magnetically guided metal accretion onto a polluted white dwarf” to appear in The Astrophysical Journal Letters (doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ad2619).
The team is composed of Stefano Bagnulo (Armagh Observatory & Planetarium, UK [Armagh]), Jay Farihi (Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, UK), John D. Landstreet (Armagh; Department of Physics & Astronomy, Western University, Canada), and Colin P. Folsom (Tartu Observatory, University of Tartu, Estonia).
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) enables scientists worldwide to discover the secrets of the Universe for the benefit of all. We design, build and operate world-class observatories on the ground — which astronomers use to tackle exciting questions and spread the fascination of astronomy — and promote international collaboration for astronomy. Established as an intergovernmental organisation in 1962, today ESO is supported by 16 Member States (Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom), along with the host state of Chile and with Australia as a Strategic Partner. ESO’s headquarters and its visitor centre and planetarium, the ESO Supernova, are located close to Munich in Germany, while the Chilean Atacama Desert, a marvellous place with unique conditions to observe the sky, hosts our telescopes. ESO operates three observing sites: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope and its Very Large Telescope Interferometer, as well as survey telescopes such as VISTA. Also at Paranal ESO will host and operate the Cherenkov Telescope Array South, the world’s largest and most sensitive gamma-ray observatory. Together with international partners, ESO operates ALMA on Chajnantor, a facility that observes the skies in the millimetre and submillimetre range. At Cerro Armazones, near Paranal, we are building “the world’s biggest eye on the sky” — ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope. From our offices in Santiago, Chile we support our operations in the country and engage with Chilean partners and society.
After almost three decades in orbit, a large satellite called ERS-2 came barreling back down to Earth on Wednesday, finally meeting its end by burning up in our atmosphere. Safe to say that the old codger went out in a blaze of glory — and thankfully, we've got photos documenting its epic final moments.
Those photos, released earlier this week, come courtesy of the European Space Agency (ESA), and were captured by cameras on board nearby satellites operated by Australian space company HEO.
Taken between mid-January and early February, they depict ERS-2 plunging down to our atmosphere a few weeks before re-entering it. Note that it's a long journey, and the spacecraft was still some 180 miles above Earth. But at a pace of some six miles per day, it wouldn't be long before it inevitably reached our atmosphere.
As manyhaveobserved, the grainy images make it strongly resemble a TIE Fighter from "Star Wars," perhaps in pursuit of some meddling rebel hiding out on Earth.
Climate Pioneer
ERS-2 was decommissioned in 2011, and has spent the better part of the years that followed slowly de-orbiting to make room for other satellites.
Launched in 1995, in its heyday it was the "most sophisticated Earth observation spacecraft ever developed and launched by Europe," the ESA said, gathering critical data on our planet's climate, and specifically its ozone layer.
With its advanced capabilities, ERS-2 also helped scientists understand the severity of global warming and climate change, such as revealing that the Earth's ice sheets, once believed to be stable, were actually melting at a rapid pace.
The satellite was still functioning when it was decommissioned over a decade ago, but it was decided that its remaining fuel should be used to push itself down out of its orbit. By the time it neared our atmosphere, no fuel was remaining, and so its re-entry was uncontrolled.
On Wednesday, it finally came hurtling through the atmosphere. Most if not all of it would disintegrate and burn up due to the immense drag, with any errant debris falling into the ocean. And thus marked the end of a beloved satellite, cremated in the coolest way possible.
"Goodnight everyone. Goodnight ERS-2," ESA Operations said on X, formerly Twitter.
Intuitive Machines' Odysseus moon lander beams home 1st photos from lunar surface
The first private moon landing just happened, and we now have some more updates on the achievement.
It has been four days since the first private moon landing took place, an event shrouded in a variety of emotions. We'll get into that in just a bit. First things first, a few hours ago, we got some brand new footage of the feat — as well as a sad but inevitable update on the lander's fate.
For a quick explanation, on Feb. 26, Intuitive Machinesannounced on X (formerly Twitter) that Odysseus is still communicating with ground control despite having gently tipped over on its side after a bit of a wonky lunar touch down. Better yet, Odysseus managed to send back a pair of images from the moon. One was taken as it approached its landing site, dubbed Malapert A, and the other seems to be the first close-up angle we've seen of the lunar surface.
It would also appear that NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been scanning the moon from lunar orbit since 2009, caught sight of Odysseus (as it has done with many a moon lander before) from an altitude of about 56 miles (90 km). Dutifully, it beamed its birds-eye-view back to Earth. "Images from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera team confirmed Odysseus completed its landing at 80.13°S and 1.44°E at a 2579 m elevation," Intuitive Machines explained in the X post. "After traveling more than 600,000 miles, Odysseus landed within 1.5 km of its intended Malapert A landing site, using a contingent laser range-finding system patched hours before landing."
Odysseus sent images from the lunar surface of its vertical descent to its Malapert A landing site. (Image credit: Intuitive Machines)
However, in addition to this moon gallery, mission controllers offered a more practical update on the mission, too. "Based on Earth and moon positioning, we believe flight controllers will continue to communicate with Odysseus until Tuesday morning," the team said in a statement on the company website.
If you're a little dismayed by the quality of Odysseus' images (not LRO's, those are always surprisingly high-resolution), you can blame the complicated, almost twisty landing situation the lander had to endure on Feb. 22.
An LRO image showing where Odysseus is positioned on the moon. (Image credit: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University)
The drama
When the geometric Odysseus spacecraft arrived on the lunar surface, its achievement wasn't immediately met with cheer. The team was perplexed.
It was because the lander wasn't phoning home at first; even the company's public broadcast of the event was spotted with radio silence, nervous laughter and stalling. The estimated time of landing had passed, but where was the concrete proof that Odysseus didn't crash? Furthermore, tensions were heightened by a dramatic situation that'd happened just a couple hours earlier; Odysseus' laser rangefinders, meant to tell the spacecraft where it is and how fast it's going, stopped working. Engineers had to scramble to solve the problem as the issue arose just hours before the landing window opened — a window that was ultimately delayed due to the mishap.
Brilliantly, the team found a way to repurpose one of Odysseus' 12 payloads known as the Navigation Doppler Lidar for Precise Velocity and Range Sensing to act as the mission's new compass. In a sliver of good luck, the NDL had some laser software of its own that could serve as a substitute GPS.
Yet even when Odysseus finally sent back a communications signal, the signal was extremely faint.
Eventually, after looking into what's going on with the spacecraft, scientists were able to confirm that Odysseus was alive and well on the moon. However, they also realized Odysseus, somewhere on the road to landing, accidentally tipped over during its journey, ending up on its side. Per Intuitive Machines, this image of the landing, captured by a camera on the starboard aft-side of the lander, was taken approximately 35 seconds after Odysseus pitched over prior to touchdown.
Odysseus captured this image approximately 35 seconds after pitching over during its approach to the landing site. (Image credit: Intuitive Machines)
All wasn't lost, as the team said there were science investigations onboard that could still be used. For instance, according to the Feb. 26 X post, "Hazard Relative Navigation algorithms detected nine safe landing sites within the targeted south pole region, which is an area that contains permanently shadowed regions that may be rich in resources, including water ice that could be used for future propulsion and life support on the moon."
Odysseus also seemingly got a bit stronger over time compared to its original delicate comms signal. Still, one major imagery component of the mission experienced a setback.
Originally, a camera dubbed EagleCam was supposed to deploy as Odysseus landed, capturing some spectacular views of the whole sequence. Yet, "the decision was made to power down EagleCam during landing and not deploy the device during Odysseus' final descent," Mike Cavaliere, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University's director of news and media relations, wrote in an update on Feb. 23. That's the university behind EagleCam's design. Cavaliere did, however, assure that EagleCam would be turned on for a photoshoot at a later date.
According to Intuitive Machines' latest update, the team has also confirmed that Odysseus represents "the furthest south any vehicle has been able to land on the moon and establish communication with ground controllers." This is a big deal because space agencies have been racing to get to the lunar south pole as of late, including the Indian Space Research Organization's Chandrayaan-3 and Russia's (failed) Luna-25 endeavor.
And at the end of the day, even with its hiccups, Odysseus is a lander that'll surely be going down in history. It's the first private spacecraft to reach the lunar surface and the first successful proof-of-principle for NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, meant to revolutionize the way we see lunar exploration's accessibility play out in the future. Alas, we'll soon need to say goodbye.
"Flight controllers intend to collect data until the lander's solar panels are no longer exposed to light," Intuitive Machines said in the X post. Without sunlight, Odysseus will be left to withstand the frigid lunar night — a night that most of our robotic explorers do not survive.
‘Towering presence’ Lord Jacob Rothschild dies aged 87
Holly Williams, PA Business Editor Mon, 26 February 2024
Former prime minister Sir Tony Blair has been among those paying tribute to financier and member of the well-known Rothschild banking dynasty, Lord Jacob Rothschild, after his death at the age of 87.
Described by his family as a “towering presence in many people’s lives”, Lord Rothschild started his career in the family bank, NM Rothschild & Sons, in 1963.
He went on to found businesses and charitable foundations and was a renowned patron of the arts and philanthropist.
Lord Rothschild’s family have an estimated fortune of about £825 million, according to last year’s Sunday Times Rich List, and give away a reported £66 million to Jewish causes, education and art.
In a statement to the PA news agency, the family said: “Our father Jacob was a towering presence in many people’s lives, a superbly accomplished financier, a champion of the arts and culture, a devoted public servant, a passionate supporter of charitable causes in Israel and Jewish culture, a keen environmentalist and much-loved friend, father and grandfather.
“He will be buried in accordance with Jewish custom in a small family ceremony and there will be a memorial at a later date to celebrate his life.”
Tributes poured in for Lord Rothschild from across the business, political and cultural sectors.
Sir Tony, who now runs the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change think tank, said: “Jacob was a dear friend and a wonderful human being. I will miss him immensely.
“He was of course a towering figure in Britain’s Jewish community but his impact was global in his support for great causes, including in the arts and the environment, and in his tireless work to advance peace in the Middle East.”
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, ex-chancellor George Osborne, who is now chairman of the British Museum, said Lord Rothschild “made the very most of the privilege he was born into, contributing hugely to the cultural and commercial life of Britain”.
He said: “His contributions to the Waddesdon Gallery make it one the jewels of the British Museum.
“Smart, curious, full of new projects and with a dry humour – he will be missed.”
Born in Berkshire, Lord Rothschild was educated at Eton College and studied history at Christ Church College, Oxford.
After leaving the Rothschild bank he took control of Rothschild Investment Trust, now RIT Capital Partners, and later co-founded the then J Rothschild Assurance Group, now St James’s Place, with Sir Mark Weinberg in 1980.
He was chairman of RIT Capital Partners, one of the largest investment trusts quoted on the London Stock Exchange, until 2019, and was also deputy chairman at then BSkyB Television, director of RHJ International, now known as BHF Kleinwort Benson Group, and was a member of the council for the Duchy of Cornwall for the then Prince of Wales.
In the cultural sector he was chairman of trustees at The National Gallery and chairman of The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
H also sat for numerous portraits, including by Lucian Freud and David Hockney.
The National Gallery tweeted: “Jacob Rothschild was a businessman, entrepreneur, philanthropist and cultural leader.
“Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones.”
Lord Rothschild also founded Windmill Hill Asset Management, to manage the family’s philanthropic portfolio, and was chairman of the trustees for The Rothschild Foundation charity.
One of his biggest philanthropic commitments was to Waddesdon Manor and the Waddesdon estate in Buckinghamshire, having taken over the management on behalf of the National Trust from his cousin Dorothy de Rothschild in 1988.
In a post on X, the Rothschild Foundation and Waddesdon Manor said they were “deeply saddened” by his death.
“He will be greatly missed by his family, his colleagues and his many friends,” they said.
The Rothschild Foundation said Lord Rothschild’s daughter, Hannah Rothschild, would succeed him as chairman of the charity.
The foundation added: “Jacob Rothschild was an extraordinary person and his loss will be felt by many.
“The family is committed to continuing his legacy and the foundation which he loved and endowed.”
He was married for more than 50 years to Serena, who died in 2019 and with whom he had four children, Hannah, Beth, Emily and Nat, and many grandchildren.
US oil company investing billions into South China ethylene facility
In 2024, ExxonMobil will invest an additional US$1.4 billion, reports suggest, into its Huizhou, Guangdong, China, ethylene chemical plant.
An aerial view of a polyethylene plant. (Image: Adobe Stock)
The US-based oil-and-gas corporation made the announcement via ExxonMobil China Chairman Jean-Marc Taton, who spoke at the Guangdong Provincial High-quality Development Conference held February 18, as reported by China-owned media.
The two-phase project started with facility construction in 2020. ExxonMobil announced additional investments in 2021, noting the plant will contain a “flexible feed steam cracker, three performance polyethylene lines, and two differentiated performance polypropylene lines.”
To date, ExxonMobil has invested approximately $10 billion into the ethylene site, stated reports.
According to ExxonMobil, the chemical complex will produce performance polymers used in packaging, automotive, agricultural, and consumer products for hygiene and personal care.
“Demand for performance polymers will continue to increase in China, and we’re well positioned to meet the needs of that growing market,” said ExxonMobil Chemical Company President Karen McKee in 2021.
SS NEMESISMITCHELL LIBRARY, STATE LIBRARY OF NEW SOUTH WALES
