Space
Mysterious region of space directly above Earth’s atmosphere causes spacecraft to slow down
A mysterious region of outer space just above Earth’s atmosphere is causing spacecraft to slow down, and researchers are trying to figure out why. The same area has interfered with GPS and other technology, prompting NASA to launch a recent mission to determine the cause.
“At about 250 miles above Earth, the spacecraft feel more drag, as if they hit an obstacle,” said Mark Conde, a physicist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and principal investigator for NASA’s Cusp Region Experiment-2, or CREX-2 mission, in a press release announcing the new work.
According to the same release, the air at this altitude and at this location above the North Pole is “noticeably denser” than the rest of the air in the spacecraft’s orbit, which led to the deceleration. However, as the release notes, “no one knows why or how.”
In trying to solve this mystery, the researchers first looked at the area of space that caused this strange effect. And they discovered that it’s not just spacecraft that are having these problems.
“Strange things are happening in Earth’s atmosphere at high latitudes,” the release explains. “Around local noon, when the Sun is at its highest point, a funnel-shaped tear in our planet’s magnetic field passes overhead.
Earth’s magnetic field normally protects us from the stream of charged particles known as the solar wind, but this periodic tear above the North Pole allows this wind to penetrate directly into Earth’s atmosphere, causing all sorts of trouble.
“Radio and GPS signals behave strangely as they pass through this part of the sky,” the study release notes, and then talks about the most recent mystery.
“Over the past 20 years, scientists and spacecraft operators have noticed something else unusual when spacecraft pass through this area: They slow down.”
That’s where NASA’s CREX-2 mission is headed.
When it arrives, “the rocket will eject 20 containers the size of soda cans, each with its own small rocket engine, in four directions.
These containers are designed to burst at different altitudes, where they will release vapor beacons, which are essentially particles found in fireworks that glow. Researchers hope these particles will form a three-dimensional grid around the target area, allowing the team behind the mission to figure out the cause of the spacecraft’s mysterious slowdown.
“The wind will paint the sky with these glowing clouds,” the release explains, “showing how the air moves in this unusual area of the atmosphere.”
“The team is optimistic,” the same release adds, “The sun is in a more active stage of its natural cycle this time, increasing the chances that space weather conditions will be favorable for their mission to study an unusually dense region of the atmosphere.”
“The team is optimistic,” the same release adds, “The Sun is in a more active stage of its natural cycle this time, increasing the chances that space weather conditions will be favorable for their mission to study the unusually dense region of the atmosphere.”
According to a December 1 NASA update, “The CREX-2 payload was successfully launched at 3:25 a.m. ET from the Andøya Space Center in Norway.”
In addition, “Preliminary reports indicate that the flight was successful, and the vapor ampoules worked as planned. Good data were obtained, including data from the vapor imaging team.”
Now we await the results and, hopefully, the solution to the mystery.
An organization of civilian volunteers dedicated to the study of
unidentified flying objects (UFOs) has issued a statement based on
decades of studying eyewitness reports. According to Mutual UFO Network,
“alien bases” may be hiding off the coast of Alaska, reports the-sun.com.
Researchers
say the deep waters in this region may hold something surprising. After
analyzing reports from the ship’s crew from 1945, they hypothesized
that alien objects could be lurking underwater, off the coast of the
state.
Alleged sightings of alien spacecraft nearly 80 years ago
have become a key point in research. Members of the organization believe
that UFOs move over water and may have “bases.”
Researchers
allege crew members on a U.S. Army transporter ship sailing past Island
Adak saw a massive UFO sized 150 to 200 feet emerge from the water.
Although these reports are nowhere to be found, UFO enthusiasts believe
the unidentified flying vehicles likely were used to commute to
different supposed alien bases hiding in the deep waters.
As
the “secret reports” of the sailors aren’t available, investigators
have taken it upon themselves to unravel the mystery surrounding the
unidentified flying objects and they believe the ocean has alien bases
that humans aren’t aware of.
Enthusiasts claim that UFOs may be
using “underwater networks” or wormholes as superhighways to travel
between points in the universe. UFO researcher Johnny Enoch added that
such objects could serve as a vehicle for aliens.
There are also
theories that other places on Earth could serve as bases for alien life.
A mountain in Seoul, South Korea is believed to be hiding a UFO,
according to Dr. Steven Greer.
An episode of the series “The
Alaska Triangle” features satellite imagery that claims to show one of
the “alien bases” in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.
Meanwhile,
another researcher featured in the program showed markings from the sea
bed that she claimed could have been roadways for aliens.
While
the mysteries of the ocean remain unsolved, researchers continue their
search, trying to unravel the mystery of what may be hiding in the
depths of the waters off the coast of Alaska.
A volcanic comet the size of a mid-sized US city has
violently exploded for the second time in four months as it continues
racing toward the earth. And following the massive eruption, the cloud
of ice and gas sprouted what looked like a pair of gigantic devil horns.
The city-sized comet, named 12P/Pons-Brooks, is a cryovolcanic — or
cold volcano — comet. It has a solid nucleus, with an estimated diameter
of 18.6 miles, and is filled with a mix of ice, dust and gas known as
cryomagma. The nucleus is surrounded by a fuzzy cloud of gas called a
coma, which leaks out of the comet’s interior.
When solar radiation heats the comet’s insides, the pressure builds up
and the comet violently explodes, ejaculating its ice-cold innards into
space through seeping cracks in the nucleus’s shell.
Live Science report:
On Oct. 5, astronomers detected a large outburst from 12P, after the
comet became dozens of times brighter due to the extra light reflecting
from its expanded coma, according to the British Astronomical Association (BAA), which has been closely monitoring the comet
Over the next few days, the comet’s coma expanded further and developed its “peculiar horns,” Spaceweather.com
reported. Some experts joked that the irregular shape of the coma also
makes the comet look like a science fiction spaceship, such as the
Millennium Falcon from Star Wars.
The unusual shape of the comet’s coma is likely due to an irregularity in the shape of 12P’s nucleus, Richard Miles, a BAA astronomer, told Live Science after the comet’s previous eruption.
The outflowing gas is likely being partially obstructed by a notch
sticking out on the nucleus, Miles said. As the gas continues to expand
away from the comet, the irregularity in the coma’s shape becomes more
defined and noticeable, he added.
12P is currently hurtling toward the inner solar system, where it
will be slingshotted around the sun on its highly elliptical 71-year
orbit around our home star — similar to the green comet Nishimura, which
pulled off a near-identical maneuver on Sept. 17.
12P will reach its closest point to Earth on April 21, 2024, when it
may become visible to the naked eye before being catapulted back toward
the outer solar system. It will not return until 2095.
This is the second time 12P has sprouted its horns this year. On July
20, astronomers witnessed the comet blow its top for the first time in
69 years (mainly due to its outbursts being less frequent and harder to
spot during the rest of its orbit). On that occasion, 12P’s coma grew to
around 143,000 miles (230,000 km), which is around 7,000 times wider
than the comet’s nucleus.
It is unclear how large the coma grew during the most recent
eruption, but there are signs the outburst was “twice as intense” as the
previous one, the BAA noted. By now, the coma has likely shrunk back to
near its normal size.
As 12P continues to race toward the sun, there is a high probability
that we will witness several more major eruptions. It is possible that
those eruptions will be even bigger than the most recent one as the
comet soaks up more solar radiation, according to Spaceweather.com.
But 12P is not the only volcanic comet that astronomers are currently
monitoring: 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann (29P) — the most volatile volcanic
comet in the solar system — has also had several noticeable eruptions
in the last year.
In December 2022, 29P experienced its largest eruption in around 12 years, which sprayed around 1 million tons of cryomagma into space. And in April this year, for the first time ever, scientists accurately predicted one of 29P’s eruptions before it actually happened, thanks to a slight increase in the comet’s brightness in the lead-up to the icy explosion.
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