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)
Friday, February 16, 2024
Aging population will widen labour gap in Canadian agriculture: report
The Canadian Press
A new report says by 2030, Canada's agriculture industry will have a domestic labour gap of more than 100,000 jobs.
The council says that this growing gap is due in part to Canada's aging population.
More than 30 per cent of the agriculture workforce is expected to retire over the same period.
The report says temporary foreign workers will play an important role in narrowing the gap, with about four in five of those 100,000 jobs to be filled by a foreign worker.
However, it says that even with a projected increase in temporary foreign workers by 2030, 22,000 positions will still remain vacant.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 15, 2024.
General Motors, Panasonic sign investment deals with Canadian graphite producer
Mathieu Dion, Bloomberg News
Feb 15, 2024
General Motors Co. and Panasonic Holdings Corp. have signed agreements to buy electric-vehicle battery materials from Nouveau Monde Graphite Inc. and will invest in the Canadian miner to help it produce high-quality graphite in North America.
GM and Panasonic have each committed to purchase 18,000 metric tonnes of active anode material annually over a period of six to seven years, Nouveau Monde Graphite said in a statement Thursday.
The mining company has a project in Saint-Michel-des-Saints, Quebec, about 100 miles north of Montreal, and plans to build a graphite concentrator nearby. A refining facility for the production of active anode material, which accounts for about half of an electric vehicle battery, will also be built in Becancour, Quebec, where GM and Ford Motor Co. are already constructing EV battery-component plants.
The cost to build the entire operation is estimated at about US$1.2 billion, and Nouveau Monde Graphite plans to raise $725 million in debt and $475 million in equity. GM and Panasonic are each injecting $25 million into the company now.
The two companies and potential co-investors may participate in future funding worth hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the statement.
“We needed players ready to commit over a 10-year period, so three years of construction and seven years of supply in large quantities,” Nouveau Monde Chief Executive Officer Eric Desaulniers said in an interview. “We will now be able to set up a financial structure, which could not have happened otherwise. It is really the most important milestone for us to continue our progress.”
Shares of Nouveau Monde rose as much as 36 per cent in early trading and were up 18 per cent at C$3.28 at 10:45 a.m. in Toronto.
The firm is also backed by the financial arm of the Quebec government, London-based private equity shop Pallinghurst Resources LLP and Japan’s Mitsui & Co.
Graphite is a key material used to make the anode, the negative electrode of EV batteries, while the cathode is the positive electrode which includes lithium. Almost no battery-grade graphite is produced in North America, and the battery supply chain relies heavily on China, which has at least 90 per cent of the global natural graphite anode capacity, according to BloombergNEF.
Canadian graphite miner NMG scores deals
with GM, Panasonic
Cecilia Jamasmie | February 15, 2024 | Computer rendition of the Matawinie graphite mine, NMG’s flagship operation. (Image courtesy of Nouveau Monde Graphite.)
Nouveau Monde Graphite (TSX-V: NOU) (NYSE: NMG) inked on Thursday multi-year offtake agreements with General Motors (NYSE: GM) and Panasonic Holdings, with both companies also vowing to invest in the Canadian miner to help it produce high-quality graphite in North America.
GM and Panasonic have each committed to purchase 18,000 tonnes of natural graphite active anode material annually over a period of six to seven years, the Montreal-based miner said. They are also making equity investments of $25 million each in the company.
The two firms and potential co-investors could join future rounds of financing worth hundreds of millions of dollars, Nouveau Monde Graphite (NGM) said in a statement.
NGM aims to raise $1.2 billion to build the whole project, with $725 million coming from debt and $475 million from equity. The miner aims to become North America’s first fully integrated source of natural graphite active anode material, which accounts for about half of an electric vehicle (EV) battery.
To achieve this goal, it is is developing the Matawinie project in Saint-Michel-des-Saints, Quebec, about 100 miles north of Montreal, where it also plans to build a graphite concentrator.
NMG will also install a refining facility for the production of active anode material in Becancour, Quebec. This is the same area where GM and Ford Motor Co. are already constructing EV battery-component facilities.
The Matawinie open pit mine is expected to produce 103,000 tonnes of graphite a year over the course of 25 years and is part of a larger strategy to turn Canada into a production centre for lithium ion batteries.
The miner said the investments and agreements are seen as a testament to the company’s bankability and are expected to boost the commercialization of a local and traceable value chain for the EV market in North America.
Map of NMG’s integrated extraction and advanced manufacturing routes to supply Panasonic Energy and GM. (Courtesy of Nouveau Monde Graphite.)
“We had been looking for top-tier EV and battery manufacturers to bolster our commercial vision [of becoming a leader in the market],” NMG’s founder, president and chief executive, Eric Desaulniers, said in a statement. “Thanks to visionary customers and investors, we are now moving toward establishing a fully local and traceable value chain.”
NMG is also backed by the Quebec government’s financial arm, London-based private equity shop Pallinghurst Resources LLP and Japan’s Mitsui & Co.
The West is looking for sources of graphite outside China, the world’s top producer and exporter, which also refines more than 90% of the world’s graphite into the material that is used in virtually all EV battery anodes.
NMG said its recent acquisition of the Uatnan project for its Phase-3 expansion also provides a supply opportunity for Western EV and battery manufacturers looking to secure and grow active anode material volumes as their production increases.
Immigration surge fuels male population boom in Canada
Randy Thanthong-Knight, Bloomberg News
An influx of new immigrants is shifting Canada’s gender ratio, as a higher share of male newcomers helps squeeze the female majority to its smallest margin in decades.
The population of adult men grew 3.4 per cent over the past year, while women rose 2.9 per cent, making the spread between the growth of the two groups the widest in nearly 50 years of records, according to an analysis by Doug Porter, chief economist at Bank of Montreal.
The gap is even larger in the 25-to-44 age group, in which men have seen a 4.8 per cent jump and women a 3.9 per cent increase. There are 141,000 more men than women in this age bracket as of January, compared with a long-run average difference of zero.
“What we’ve seen in the last 10 years is that the growth rate in the male population has steadily been rising faster than the female population in that age group. It seems to be something a little bit more permanent,” Porter said in an interview.
The figures highlight the country’s changing demographic trends due to its liberal immigration policy, which aims to rapidly expand the pool of workers to stave long-term economic decline from an aging populace.
Canada’s population growth accelerated to 3.2 per cent over a one-year period to Oct. 1, faster than any Group of Seven nation, China or India. Almost all of the increase was driven by a surge in international migration, especially among foreign students and temporary workers.
From the late 1970s to around the early 2010s, Canada’s population increasingly skewed female, but the trend has been reversing over the past decade as the male cohort grew faster. In 2022, the gap between men and women was at its narrowest in more than 30 years.
Globally, advanced economies with older populations tend to have more women because they generally live longer. Countries with a higher share of young people, on the other hand, tend to skew male, while government policies can amplify that disparity. Large migrant worker populations have also led to wide sex imbalances in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
“The issue is less economic in the short term than it is social and economic in the long term,” said Armine Yalnizyan, a labour economist and a research fellow at the Atkinson Foundation, an equality-focused charitable group.
“Because it means that we are putting the premium on dealing with labour shortages and economic needs and forgetting that we are humans who need to form families, who get sick, who get old.”
Canada's a 'very stable' market for auto investment: Champagne
Ben Cousins, BNN Bloomberg
Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne says the world has begun to take notice that Canada has all the right factors when it comes to investment in the auto industry.
Champagne, speaking with BNN Bloomberg from the 2024 Canadian International AutoShow in Toronto, said global players have opened themselves to the opportunities that Canada can provide.
“The world has realized that we have the talent, we have the strong ecosystem, we have the critical minerals and proximity to the assembly line, the resources … and access the market,” Champagne said in the television interview on Friday.
“It makes Canada, in a world where you see a lot of turbulence, very stable, very predictable.”
The federal government has made a big push in recent years to attract investment from electric vehicle manufacturers, offering as much as $15 billion in production subsidies to Stellantis NV, $13 billion for Volkswagen AG and $4.6 billion for battery maker Northvolt AB.
Now, Honda is in talks to expand its footprint in Canada, with a bigger manufacturing facility in Ontario and potentially a new battery plant in Quebec, sources told Bloomberg News last week.
Champagne said these major investments were meant to keep up with the Inflation Reduction Act from the U.S., but are likely to be much smaller and different in the future as the act hits a “cliff” after 2023.
“Now, you're seeing others who want to complement the supply chain and I think what we're saying to the world now is that Canada is about the most complete supply chain,” he said.
Last week, Canada topped BloombergNEF’s Global Lithium-ion battery supply chain ranking, marking the first time China has not held the top spot. The report highlighted Canada’s “consistent manufacturing and production advances” for its spot as the new world leader in battery supply.
Champagne said his phone has been ringing about more investment opportunities since the ranking came out.
“People realize that Canada is the place to be, we own the podium,” he said. “It's a very good base to be able to attract future investment in the country.”
With files from Bloomberg News
House committee tells Loblaw and Walmart to sign grocery code or risk legislation
The Canadian Press
The House of Commons committee studying food prices is urging Loblaw and Walmart to sign on to the voluntary grocery code of conduct or risk having it legislated.
In a letter on Friday, the committee told the chief executives of Loblaw and Walmart Canada that they believe the immediate implementation of the code is an essential step to tackle the issues facing the food industry.
If one or both of the companies decides not to participate, "the Committee will not hesitate to recommend that the federal and provincial governments adopt legislation to make it mandatory," reads the letter signed by committee chair Kody Blois.
The industry-created code seeks to create a set of rules for fair dealing in the negotiations between suppliers and grocers.
Both Walmart and Loblaw have said they will not sign the code as currently drafted, warning it could lead to higher prices for Canadians.
Asked for comment on the letter, Loblaw spokeswoman Catherine Thomas said the grocer's goal is to ensure the code is "in the best interest of everyone, particularly consumers."
"We have been and remain committed to working with the industry on a code that is reciprocal, fair and based on good faith dealings across the supply chain," she said in an email.
Walmart did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
MPs on the committee have heard several times from the major grocers over the past year, grilling executives on their profits during inflation, their efforts to stabilize prices and their concerns about — or support for — the grocery code of conduct.
Proponents of the code say it will help level the playing field for suppliers and smaller grocery companies. They say large grocers like Loblaw and Walmart currently have too much power in these negotiations.
If either one of the two retailers decides not to participate, the committee says in its letter that would undermine the code's powers.
"We share the view of the overwhelming majority of stakeholders that the Code’s implementation will provide stability to suppliers and retailers, as the implementations of similar codes in Australia and the United Kingdom have demonstrated," the letter reads, adding that Competition Bureau officials have testified that they don't have concerns about the code's provisions.
"I think we've come a long way, but if it's required to go the regulatory route to create a mandatory environment, so be it," said Michael Graydon, CEO of the Food, Health & Consumer Products of Canada association and chairman of the interim board that's overseeing the code.
He said without Loblaw and Walmart, the code doesn't work.
In December, Metro president and CEO Eric La Flèche told the committee that Metro is willing to sign the code but that it won't be effective without all companies on board.
Though the code is meant to be voluntary, some have called for it to be legislated to ensure all industry players sign on.
Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay said in December that with the code at an impasse, the industry had "failed to meet the moment."
"To say this is disappointing would be an understatement," he said in an emailed statement.
"We’re actively examining all available federal options — that includes legislation," MacAulay said, noting that he and federal Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne had asked provincial and territorial counterparts to do the same.
MacAulay did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Graydon said "all the value in the letter" resides in the committee's resolve to recommend legislation if the companies don't sign on.
"We need government to step in ... We have tried very, very hard to get a voluntary program put in place," he said.
Gary Sands, a member of the code's interim board and senior vice-president at the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers, said he is pleased to see the committee take this step.
If the committee has to recommend that the code be legislated instead of voluntary, Sands said many organizations including the CFIG would support it.
"We want an industry-designed and industry-led code, but if that does not materialize because of companies not supporting, then we'll be calling for governments to enact what industry has already developed."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 16, 2024.
Air Canada warns of higher costs from new agreement with pilots
Mathieu Dion, Bloomberg News
\\ Air Canada shares tumbled after the airline warned it may face higher operating costs in 2024 as it works out a new labour agreement with its more than 5,000 pilots.
The adjusted cost per available seat mile — a key measure of airline expenses — may increase 2.5 per cent to 4.5 per cent in 2024, the Montreal-based carrier said in its earnings report Friday. Shares of Canada’s largest airline fell as much as 7.5 per cent in Toronto trading, the most in a year, and traded at $17.86 at 1:49 p.m.
Chief Financial Officer John Di Bert said on a conference call with analysts that the company is wrestling with cost headwinds from “lagging inflation” as well as regulatory changes and the pending deal with pilots.
“A new agreement with pilots will bring a change in wages and other cost-related items,” he said. “We have factored our best estimates into our guidance with a view of the Canadian market.” Regulatory changes in Canada over customer disruptions and higher airport fees and infrastructure costs might also boost operating costs, Air Canada said.
The Air Line Pilots Association, representing Air Canada’s aviators, is in a mediation process with Air Canada until June 1. The union has previously said it was looking to close the pay gap with large U.S. airlines, which have significantly increased their pilots’ pay in the past year. WestJet Airlines Ltd., Canada’s second-largest carrier, agreed to a contract in May that included a 24 per cent compensation bump over four years.
Pilots in the U.S. are paid 50 per cent to 300 per cent more than pilots in Canada, the union said in a statement responding to Air Canada’s earnings release.
“Air Canada is one of the most profitable airlines in North America, but has yet to recognize the value of its pilots and compensate them accordingly,” Charlene Hudy, the union’s local head, said in the statement.
Air Canada reported an adjusted loss of 12 Canadian cents per share for the fourth quarter, trailing analysts’ average estimate of profit of 1 cent per share. Operating revenue jumped 11 per cent to $5.18 billion as operated capacity grew.
“Higher capital-expansion commitments this year should mean positive but lower free cash flow year-over-year,” Citigroup Inc. analyst Stephen Trent said in a note to clients. “Although the call included more focus on 2024’s ex-fuel seat-mile costs than we had anticipated, this year’s free cash flow generation still appears to be trending well above the carrier’s average pre-pandemic historical levels.”
CN, CPKC file requests for conciliation amid ongoing negotiations with union
The Canadian Press
CN and Canadian Pacific Kansas City both say they have filed requests for conciliation in ongoing collective agreement negotiations with the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference.
CPKC says in a press release that it's been negotiating since September but that it and the union "remain far apart on the issues."
The Calgary-based company says the negotiations are for two collective agreements representing approximately 3,280 workers across Canada.
It says the two agreements expired at the end of 2023 but will remain in effect until a new deal is reached.
Meanwhile, Montreal-based CN says its negotiations are on behalf of about 6,000 workers across the country.
It says in a release that CN is proposing a modernization of its compensation model to address recent regulatory changes that have challenged crew availability.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 16, 2024.
SPACE
Can astronomers use radar to spot a cataclysmic asteroid?
Scientists share their latest findings and the future of radar in planetary science and defense
How can humans protect the Earth from “devastating asteroid and comet impacts?” According to the National Academies and their 2023-2032 Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey, ground based astronomical radar systems will have a “unique role” to play in planetary defense.
There is currently only one system in the world concentrating on these efforts, NASA’s Goldstone Solar System Radar, part of the Deep Space Network (DSN). However, a new instrument concept from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) called the next generation RADAR (ngRADAR) system will use the National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Telescope (GBT) and other current and future facilities to expand on these capabilities.
“There are many applications for the future of radar, from substantially advancing our knowledge of the Solar System, to informing future robotic and crewed spaceflight, and characterizing hazardous objects that stray too close to Earth,” shares Tony Beasley, NRAO’s director.
“NRAO, with the support of the National Science Foundation and oversight by Associated Universities, Inc., has a long history of using radar to further our understanding of the Universe. Most recently the GBT helped confirm the success of NASA’s DART mission, the first test to see if humans could successfully alter the trajectory of an asteroid, “ shares NRAO scientist and ngRADAR project director Patrick Taylor.
The GBT is the world’s largest fully steerable radio telescope. The maneuverability of its 100-meter dish enables it to observe 85 percent of the celestial sphere, allowing it to quickly track objects across its field of view. Adds Taylor, “With the support of Raytheon Technologies, ngRADAR pilot tests on the GBT—using a low-power transmitter with less output than a standard microwave oven—have produced the highest-resolution images of the Moonever taken from Earth. Imagine what we could do with a more powerful transmitter.”
Scientists sharing their results at AAAS include Edgard G. Rivera-ValentÃn of Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and Marina Brozović of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages Goldstone and the DSN. Adds Brozović, “The public might be surprised to learn that the technology we use in our current radar at Goldstone hasn’t changed much since World War II. For 99% of our observations, we transmit and receive from this one antenna. New radar transmitter designs, like ngRADAR on the GBT, have the potential to significantly increase the output power and waveform bandwidth, allowing for even higher resolution imaging. It will also produce a scalable and more robust system by using telescope arrays to increase the collecting area.”
“NRAO is an ideal organization to lead these efforts because of the instruments we have available to receive radar signals, like the Very Long Baseline Array has done in our pilot ngRADAR project,” explains Brian Kent, NRAO scientist and director of science communications, who coordinated the presentation at AAAS, “Future facilities like the next generation Very Large Array, as a receiver, will create a powerful combination for planetary science.”
How does ground-based astronomical radar expand our understanding of the Universe? By allowing us to study our nearby Solar System, and everything in it, in unprecedented detail. Radar can reveal the surface and ancient geology of planets and their moons, letting us trace their evolution. It can also determine the location, size, and speed of potentially hazardous Near Earth Objects, like comets or asteroids. Advances in astronomical radar are opening new avenues, renewed investment, and interest in joint industry and scientific community collaborations as a multidisciplinary venture.
About NRAO & GBO
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.
The Green Bank Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation and is operated by Associated Universities, Inc.
Laboratory study on conditions for spontaneous excitation of "chorus emission," wave of space plasma
Exploring common plasma phenomena in laboratory and space through experiments in the RT-1 artificial magnetosphere
WHEN THE PLASMA CONFINED IN THE DIPOLE MAGNETIC FIELD OF RT-1 CONTAINS A SIGNIFICANT RATIO OF HIGH-TEMPERATURE ELECTRONS (RED PARTICLES), THE SPONTANEOUS FORMATION OF A CHORUS EMISSION (WHITE EMISSION LINES) IS CHARACTERIZED BY A VARIABLE FREQUENCY (SOUND HEIGHT) LIKE BIRDSONG.
A dipole magnetic field, created by a ring current, is the most fundamental type of magnetic field that is found both in laboratories and in space. Planetary magnetospheres, such as Jupiter's, effectively confine plasma. The RT-1 project aims to learn from nature and create a magnetosphere-type high-performance plasma to realize advanced fusion energy. Simultaneously, the artificial magnetosphere offers a means to experimentally understand the mechanisms of natural phenomena in a simplified and controlled environment. The whistler mode chorus emission, observed in the space surrounding the Earth, known as "Geospace", is an important phenomenon which is related to the aurorae and space weather. The chorus emission has been actively investigated primarily through spacecraft observations, theoretical studies, and numerical simulations. While spacecraft are powerful tools for studying the actual space environment, the planetary magnetosphere is a huge and complex system that is difficult to understand in its entirety. Also, it is not easy for human beings to manipulate the space environment. On the contrary, laboratory settings allow us to create a simplified research object that is extracted from the complex properties of nature in a controlled environment. Therefore, experimental studies are expected to play a complementary role in the observation and theory of understanding chorus emissions. However, it is not straightforward to create a magnetospheric environment in the laboratory. Laboratory experiments on chorus emissions in a magnetospheric dipole magnetic field have never so far been conducted.
A research team from the National Institute for Fusion Science in Toki, Japan, and the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences at the University of Tokyo in Kashiwa, Japan, has successfully conducted laboratory studies on the whistler mode chorus emission using the RT-1 device. This "artificial magnetosphere" has a magnetically levitated superconducting coil to create a planetary magnetosphere-type dipole magnetic field in the laboratory. Using high-temperature superconducting technology, a 110 kg coil is magnetically levitated in a vacuum vessel, and the generated magnetic field confines the plasma. This unique setup allows operation without any mechanical support structures to the coil, making it possible to generate plasma in an environment akin to that of a planetary magnetosphere, even within a ground-based facility. In this study, the research team filled the vacuum vessel of the RT-1 with hydrogen gas and injected microwaves to create high-performance hydrogen plasma, primarily by heating electrons.
In the experiments plasmas were generated in various states and investigations into the generation of waves were made. Consequently, a spontaneous production of the whistler wave chorus emission was observed when the plasma contained a considerable ratio of high-temperature electrons. Measurements were also taken of the strength and frequency of the chorus emission from the plasma, focusing on its density and the state of the high-temperature electrons. The findings revealed that the generation of a chorus emission is driven by an increase in high-temperature electrons, responsible for plasma pressure. Additionally, increasing the overall plasma density had the effect of suppressing the generation of the chorus emission. Through this study, it was clarified that the chorus emission is a universal phenomenon occurring in plasma with high-temperature electrons in a simple dipole magnetic field. Properties revealed in the experiment, including appearance conditions and wave propagation, may enhance our understanding of the chorus emission and related phenomena observed in geospace.
These results have been published in a journal of the Nature publishing group, Nature Communications.
Electromagnetic waves of a chorus emission have the potential to further accelerate hot electrons to higher energy states, leading to the formation of aurorae and satellite failures. These electromagnetic waves, along with energetic particles, play a crucial role in space weather phenomena. In geospace, when explosive events (flares) occur on the solar surface, they give rise to magnetic storms, causing large fluctuations in the electromagnetic field and the generating large amounts of energetic particles. This not only causes satellite failures and impacts the ozone layer but is also known to disrupt power and communication networks on the ground. With the expansion of human activity today, understanding space weather phenomena has become increasingly important. However, numerous mechanisms and phenomena in this area remain unresolved. The outcome of this study is expected to contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms behind the diverse space weather phenomena.
In the field of fusion plasma, which aims to ultimately solve energy problems, the loss of particles and structure formation due to interaction with waves is one of the central research issues. A precise understanding of the complex interactions between spontaneously excited waves and plasma is essential for achieving fusion. Wave phenomena with frequency variations have been widely observed in high-temperature plasmas for fusion, indicating the existence of a shared physical mechanism with the chorus emission. The findings from this study represent a step forward in comprehending the common physical phenomena found in both fusion and space plasmas. It is anticipated that future research will advance further with increased cooperation between these two fields.
Glossary
Whistler mode chorus emission
Whistler waves are one of the fundamental waves propagating in plasma. In chorus emissions observed around geospace and Jupiter, fluctuation events with frequency variations similar to birdsong occur repeatedly. They are thought to be closely related to aurorae and space weather phenomena, such as the production and transport of high-energy electrons.
Ring Trap 1 device (RT-1)
The RT-1 is an experimental apparatus located at the University of Tokyo. Utilizing high-temperature superconducting technology, a dipole field coil is magnetically levitated, enabling plasma experiments to be conducted in an environment close to that of the planetary magnetosphere.
Dipole magnetic field
The dipole field is the configuration of a magnetic field produced by a ring current. The shape of planetary magnetospheres, such as Earth and Jupiter, closely resembles a dipole magnetic field which is characterized by a highly non-uniform strength, rapidly weakening as it expands away. This unique characteristic enables the stable confinement of high-performance plasma.
Geospace
Geospace is the space around the Earth that is particularly closely linked to human activities. In this region, plasma confined by the Earth's magnetic field gives rise to various phenomena. With the expansion of human activities into space, the study of magnetospheric disturbances, capable of causing aurora phenomena, as well as power and communication failures, has emerged as an active research field known as "space weather”.
Exploring Chorus Emission of Space Plasma in Laboratory: Experiments in Artificial Magnetosphere RT-1 to Understand Nature and Advance Fusion Research
In the "artificial magnetosphere" RT-1, originally designed for an advanced fusion concept by drawing inspiration from nature, this study has conducted experiments to understand the natural phenomena and elucidate the conditions for the appearance of a "chorus emission" in space plasma.
SWRI SCIENTISTS USED DATA FROM THE JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE TO MODEL THE SUBSURFACE GEOTHERMAL PROCESSES THAT COULD EXPLAIN HOW METHANE ENDED UP ON THE SURFACES OF ERIS AND MAKEMAKE, TWO DWARF PLANETS IN THE DISTANT KUIPER BELT. THE ILLUSTRATION POINTS TO THREE POSSIBILITIES, INCLUDING THE POTENTIAL THAT LIQUID WATER EXISTS WITHIN THESE ICY BODIES AT THE EDGE OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM, FAR FROM THE HEAT OF THE SUN.
SAN ANTONIO — February 15, 2024 —A team co-led by Southwest Research Institute found evidence for hydrothermal or metamorphic activity within the icy dwarf planets Eris and Makemake, located in the Kuiper Belt. Methane detected on their surfaces has the tell-tale signs of warm or even hot geochemistry in their rocky cores, which is markedly different than the signature of methane from a comet.
“We see some interesting signs of hot times in cool places,” said SwRI’s Dr. Christopher Glein, an expert in planetary geochemistry and lead author of a paper about this discovery. “I came into this project thinking that large Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) should have ancient surfaces populated by materials inherited from the primordial solar nebula, as their cold surfaces can preserve volatiles like methane. Instead, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) gave us a surprise! We found evidence pointing to thermal processes producing methane from within Eris and Makemake.
The Kuiper Belt is a vast donut-shaped region of icy bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune at the edge of the solar system. Eris and Makemake are comparable in size to Pluto and its moon Charon. These bodies likely formed early in the history of our solar system, about 4.5 billion years ago. Far from the heat of our Sun, KBOs were believed to be cold, dead objects. Newly published work from JWST studies made the first observations of isotopic molecules on the surfaces of Eris and Makemake. These so-called isotopologues are molecules that contain atoms having a different number of neutrons. They provide data that are useful in understanding planetary evolution.
The JWST team measured the composition of the dwarf planets’ surfaces, particularly the deuterium (heavy hydrogen, D) to hydrogen (H) ratio in methane. Deuterium is believed to have formed in the Big Bang, and hydrogen is the most abundant nucleus in the universe. The D/H ratio on a planetary body yields information about the origin, geologic history and formation pathways of compounds containing hydrogen.
“The moderate D/H ratio we observed with JWST belies the presence of primordial methane on an ancient surface. Primordial methane would have a much higher D/H ratio,” Glein said. “Instead, the D/H ratio points to geochemical origins for methane produced in the deep interior. The D/H ratio is like a window. We can use it in a sense to peer into the subsurface. Our data suggest elevated temperatures in the rocky cores of these worlds so that methane can be cooked up. Molecular nitrogen (N2) could be produced as well, and we see it on Eris. Hot cores could also point to potential sources of liquid water beneath their icy surfaces.”
Over the past two decades, scientists have learned that icy worlds can be much more internally evolved than once believed. Evidence for subsurface oceans has been found at several icy moons such as Saturn’s moon Enceladus and Jupiter’s moon Europa. Liquid water is one of the key ingredients in determining potential planetary habitability. The possibility of water oceans inside Eris and Makemake is something that scientists are going to study in the years ahead. If either of them is habitable, then it would become the most distant world in the solar system that could possibly support life. Finding chemical indicators of internally driven processes takes them a step in this direction.
“If Eris and Makemake hosted, or perhaps could still host warm, or even hot, geochemistry in their rocky cores, cryovolcanic processes could then deliver methane to the surfaces of these planets, perhaps in geologically recent times,” said Dr. Will Grundy, an astronomer at Lowell Observatory, one of Glein's co-authors and lead author of a companion paper. “We found a carbon isotope ratio (13C/12C) that suggests relatively recent resurfacing.”
This work is part of a paradigm shift in planetary science. It is increasingly being recognized that cold, icy worlds may be warm at heart. Models developed for this study additionally point to the formation of geothermal gases on Saturn’s moon Titan, which also has abundant methane. Furthermore, the inference of unexpected activity on Eris and Makemake underscores the importance of internal processes in shaping what we see on large KBOs and is consistent with findings at Pluto.
“After the New Horizons flyby of the Pluto system, and with this discovery, the Kuiper Belt is turning out to be much more alive in terms of hosting dynamic worlds than we would have imagined,” said Glein. “It’s not too early to start thinking about sending a spacecraft to fly by another one of these bodies to place the JWST data into a geologic context. I believe that we will be stunned by the wonders that await!”
A team co-led by Southwest Research Institute found evidence for hydrothermal or metamorphic activity deep within the icy dwarf planets Eris and Makemake (artistic illustration). Located in the Kuiper Belt, a vast donut-shaped region of icy bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune at the edge of the solar system, Eris and Makemake are comparable in size to Pluto and its moon Charon.
CREDIT: DANIEL JAMPOLSKI AND LUCIANO REZZOLLA, GOETHE UNIVERSITY FRANKFURT
FRANKFURT. The interior of black holes remains a conundrum for science. In 1916, German physicist Karl Schwarzschild outlined a solution to Albert Einstein's equations of general relativity, according to which the center of a black hole consists of a so-called singularity, a point at which space and time no longer exist. Here, the theory goes, all physical laws, including Einstein's general theory of relativity, no longer apply; the principle of causality is suspended. This constitutes a great nuisance for science: after all, it means that no information can escape from a black hole beyond the so-called event horizon. This could be a reason why Schwarzschild's solution did not attract much attention outside the theoretical realm for a long time – that is, until the first candidate for a black hole was discovered in 1971, followed by the discovery of the black hole in the center of our Milky Way in the 2000s, and finally the first image of a black hole, captured by the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration in 2019.
In 2001, Pawel Mazur and Emil Mottola proposed a different solution to Einstein's field equations that led to objects which they called gravitational condensate stars, or gravastars. Contrary to black holes, gravastars have several advantages from a theoretical astrophysics perspective. On the one hand, they are almost as compact as black holes and also exhibit a gravity at their surface that is essentially as strong as that of a black hole, hence resembling a black hole for all practical purposes. On the other hand, gravastars do not have an event horizon, that is, a boundary from within which no information can be sent out, and their core does not contain a singularity. Instead, the center of gravastars is made up of an exotic – dark – energy that exerts a negative pressure to the enormous gravitational force compressing the star. The surface of gravastars is represented by a wafer-thin skin of ordinary matter, the thickness of which approaches zero.
Theoretical physicists Daniel Jampolski and Prof. Luciano Rezzolla of Goethe University Frankfurt have now presented a solution to the field equations of general relativity that describes the existence of a gravastar inside another gravastar. They have given this hypothetical celestial object the name "nestar" (from the English “nested”).
Daniel Jampolski, who discovered the solution as part of his Bachelor’s thesis supervised by Luciano Rezzolla, says: “The nestar is like a matryoshka doll”, adding that, “our solution to the field equations allows for a whole series of nested gravastars.” Whereas Mazur and Mottola posit that the gravastar has a near infinite thin skin consisting of normal matter, the nestar’s matter-composed shell is somewhat thicker: “It’s a little easier to imagine that something like this could exist.”
Luciano Rezzolla, Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics at Goethe University, explains: “It’s great that even 100 years after Schwarzschild presented his first solution to Einstein’s field equations from the general theory of relativity, it’s still possible to find new solutions. It’s a bit like finding a gold coin along a path that has been explored by many others before. Unfortunately, we still have no idea how such a gravastar could be created. But even if nestars don't exist, exploring the mathematical properties of these solutions ultimately helps us to better understand black holes”.
FIGURE 1. TOPOGRAPHIC DATA ARE DRAPED OVER INFRARED IMAGE DATA SHOWING COMPLEX TECTONIC STRUCTURES AND VOLCANIC DEPOSITS IN THE ERIDANIA REGION OF MARS. WARM COLOURS ARE HIGHER ELEVATION.
Volcanoes are a common feature on the surfaces of solid planets within the solar system, resulting from magmatic activity occurring within the planetary crust. On Earth, volcanism is driven primarily by heat and crustal recycling associated with plate tectonics, but Mars lacks plate tectonics and the driver of volcanism is not well understood.
Recent research by Professor Joseph MICHALSKI, a geologist in the Department of Earth Sciences at The University of Hong Kong (HKU), has revealed intriguing insights into the volcanic activity on Mars. He proposes that Mars has significantly more diverse volcanism than previously realised, driven by an early form of crust recycling called vertical tectonics. The findings, recently published in Nature Astronomy, shed light on the ancient crust of Mars and its potential implications for understanding early crustal recycling on both Mars and Earth.
Traditionally, Mars has been known to have large shield volcanoes similar to those in Hawaii. However, it was not known that Mars also possessed the diverse, explosive volcanoes that form on Earth due to crustal recycling.
The recent research conducted by Professor Michalski and his international team discover a vast number of diverse volcanoes in the ancient crust of Mars. ‘We have known for decades that Mars has volcanoes, but most of the recognised volcanoes correspond to large basaltic shield volcanoes similar to the ones that make up Hawaii,’ he explains. ‘In this work, we show that the ancient crust has many other types of volcanoes such as lava domes, stratovolcanoes, calderas and large shields of ash, not lava. Further, most scientists see Mars as a planet composed of basalt, which has low silica content and represents little crustal evolution, but these volcanoes have high silica content which means they formed from a complex process of magma evolution not known before.’
The paper suggests that intense volcanism occurred on ancient Mars, causing the crust to collapse into the mantle, where the rocks re-melted, resulting in magmas that have high silica. This tectonic process, called vertical tectonics, is hypothesised to have occurred on the ancient Earth, but rocks on Earth from that period (the Archean, more than 3 billion years ago) are highly modified by later geological activity, so we cannot see evidence for this process clearly on this planet. Therefore, exploring other planets like Mars, which has volcanism but no plate tectonics, can help reveal the mysteries of early crustal recycling on both the Red Planet, and by analogy, on early Earth.
Professor Michalski concluded, ‘Mars contains critical geological puzzle pieces that help us understand not only that planet, but the Earth as well. Martian volcanism is much more complex and diverse than has been previously thought.’
‘This is a significant discovery because it has revealed that crustal recycling can occur not only in plate tectonic regimes dominated by horizontal movements, but can also occur in pre-plate tectonic regimes dominated by vertical movements. This finding can help earth scientists revolve the long-term controversial issues of how and when felsic continents formed in our planet (Earth)’, said Professor Guochun ZHAO, the Chair Professor of HKU Earth Sciences.
About Professor Joseph Michalski A Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences and Deputy Director of the Laboratory for Space Research at HKU, he collaborated with colleagues from mainland China and USA on this research project. He is a Research Fellow of the Hong Kong Research Grants Council, and winner of a Tencent Xplorer Prize in 2023. The funding for this work was provided by the RGC Collaborative Research Fund.
For more information on Professor Joseph Michalski's research, please visit: http://www.clays.space; Twitter: @JoePlanets
For media enquiries, please contact Ms Casey To, External Relations Officer (tel: 39174948; email: caseyto@hku.hk / Ms Cindy Chan, Assistant Director of Communications of HKU Faculty of Science (tel: 3917 5286; email: cindycst@hku.hk).
Figure 2. Colour image data are draped onto topography to show a 3-D view of a large stratovolcano in the Eridania region of Mars.
Associate professor Jekan Thanga and a team of student researchers in the College of Engineering are developing smart, robot-built sandbag shelters for NASA astronauts on the moon.
UARIZONA AEROSPACE ENGINEERING STUDENTS, FROM LEFT: MIN SEOK KANG, ATHIP THIRUPATHI RAJ, CHAD JORDAN CANTIN, SIVAPERUMAN MUNIYASAMY AND KORBIN AYDIN HANSEN DISPLAY A SMART SANDBAG STRUCTURE. CANTIN AND HANSEN ARE UNDERGRADUATES.
NASA has big plans for its Artemis program – to return Americans to the moon for the first time since 1972 and establish a lunar base for humans by the end of the decade.
With NASA funding, a team of University of Arizona engineers is using robot networks to create termite-inspired structures that will help astronauts survive the moon's harsh environment.
Associate professor Jekan Thanga and his students in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, in the College of Engineering, have developed prototypes of their lunar sandbag structures and the underlying concept for a network of robots that can build them. The structures contain sensors that aid in construction, then alert astronauts to changes in environmental conditions.
Tech Launch Arizona, the university’s commercialization arm, worked with Thanga to file patents on the distributed computer processing networks that the team developed to link these structures and robots together.
Sivaperuman Muniyasamy, an aerospace engineering doctoral student, and Thanga presented a paper detailing the technology on Feb. 1 at the American Astronautical Society Guidance, Navigation and Control Conference.
"By publishing the paper at the conference, we're gaining feedback from other experts that really helps us move forward," said first author Muniyasamy.
Teaming up for moon landings
Thanga estimates astronauts will first land on the moon as part of Artemis in 2026 or 2027. In a consortium called LUNAR-BRIC, his team is partnering with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Caltech and MDA, a space robotics company, to develop technology for Artemis moon landings.
"It's no accident this team has an academic partner, a commercial partner and a government agency," Thanga said. "Given the challenges, part of the path is for us to collaborate."
The moon structures are just a start for Thanga's university team and LUNAR-BRIC in their quest to support a space economy. Within a few years of the first successful landing, he said, NASA will look to building facilities for long-term habitation and industry, such as environmentally responsible moon and asteroid mining.
Moon dwellers will need semi-permanent safe shelters while they search for optimal locations to erect permanent buildings, Thanga said, adding that he is confident the fundamentally simple sandbag structures will be employed.
Insect inspiration
Thanga was first intrigued by a YouTube video showing the work of Nader Khalili. In the 1980s, the late architect presented to NASA the idea of sandbag structures for lunar and space habitation. Then Khalili developed SuperAdobe sandbag construction for homes around the world.
Thanga layered onto Khalili's ideas the concepts of insect skyscrapers. These cathedral termite mounds common in African and Australian deserts regulate the subterranean nest environment.
"In the case of the termites, it's very relevant to our off-world challenges. The extreme desert environments the termites face are analogous to lunar conditions," Thanga said. "Importantly, this whole approach doesn't rely on water. Most of the moon is bone-dry desert."
Thanga has long been interested in applying the architecture of insect social systems – like a termite colony constructing and maintaining a large, complicated mound – to distributed robot networks, in which machines work together cooperatively without human intervention.
"Learning about that helped direct me toward distributed systems for construction," he said.
Thanga's team investigated whether sandbags filled with regolith, soil and mineral fragments from the moon's surface, could replace traditional building materials for lunar housing, warehouses, control towers, robot garages, landing pads, protective jackets for robots, and blast walls to protect assets during turbulent takeoffs and landings.
The quickly and easily robot-assembled sandbag shelters reduce the material that must be transported to the moon, provide good climate control, and protect against moonquakes and other hazards.
Robots embed sensors and electronics in the sandbags and fill them with lunar regolith before assembling the structures in place. Some sensors provide location data to help the robots place the sandbags. Others supply environmental information and communication capabilities to warn of danger. On the moon, temperatures range from -298 to 224 degrees Fahrenheit; micro-meteors bombard the surface at an average of 60,000 mph; and solar radiation and lunar dust threaten exploration.
Serving underrepresented students
NASA has granted Thanga's team $500,000 for lunar surface projects through the agency's Space Technology Artemis Research program, or M-STAR, which is part of NASA's Minority University Research and Education Project, or MUREP. Those funds extend until summer 2024. Funding from another MUREP program, MIRO, helps cover costs of the lunar projects.
MIRO, which supports STEM research and education at Minority-Serving Institutions, has provided $1 million a year for UArizona student research projects over the last five years.
"The goal is to raise the participation of underrepresented groups in aerospace," Thanga said. "And these are hands-on, student-centric projects."
Muniyasamy, who moved from India to study at the university and plans to launch a space mining company after completing his Ph.D., leads a team of eight undergraduate and master's students working on lunar surface projects.
"This lab offers me the exact environment – it's startup culture," he said. "I'm leading a team and working with multidisciplinary people. I'm glad I'm here."
