moon

2024 YR4 is not going to kill us, but could collide with the moon

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The James Webb space telescope has been observing the smallest object of all its history. For a good reason. It is about Famous Asteroid 2024 YR4 That, at the beginning of the year, it appeared in NASA’s planetary defense systems and ESA as a potentially dangerous object. First measurement. The images taken with the near infrared chamber (NIRCAM) of the Webb Telescope show the light reflected by the asteroid. Those taken with the Middle Infrared Instrument (Miri) show their thermal light. The set of these data has allowed astronomers Determine that 2024 YR4 measures 60 meters in diameterapproximately the height of a 15 -story building. However, the asteroid shares thermal properties with larger bodies, perhaps due to the rapid speed at which it is rotating or the lack of fine sand (regolito) on its surface. It is probably formed by rocks the size of a fist or even larger. It will not collide with the earth. Webb’s first observations, which began on March 8, have also confirmed what they had been saying NASA and ESA: 2024 YR4 is not a threat to our planet. The probability of crossing with the Earth in December 2032 is now 0.0011%. All relief, taking into account that It became 3.2% when there were not enough data yet to close the range of uncertainty in the calculations of his career. The UN will no longer have to coordinate with space agencies to try to divert it or to evacuate cities at risk. I could impact the moon. On the other hand, the Webb has confirmed a 2% chance that 2024 YR4 clash with the moon. It is still a very small probability (seen otherwise, there is a 98% probability that it does not happen), but in this case astronomers are in favor of the impact. That the asteroid clashes with the moon would not put us in danger, and instead would allow astronomers to document the impact of a meteorite, their effects on the satellite and the lunar surface material that would be triggered. While natural asteroids that impact the moon are not so rare, they are difficult to predict even after being observed, when their mass and speed are unknown. 2024 YR4 would be a perfectly controlled experiment thanks to all the data that scientists have collected about it. In favor of the impact. “Part of our motivation to continue observing this asteroid in particular is to find out if that number (the probability of impact with the moon) will also be reduced to zero,” he told New Scientist Andrew Rivkin, one of the astronomers of the Johns Hopkins University who asked for hours of the Webb Space Telescope to observe 2024 YR4. “We cross our fingers so that there is an impact on the moon,” added Alan Fitzsimmons, of the Queen’s University of Belfast. “It would have no effect on Earth, but it would allow us to study for the first time the formation of a lunar crater by a known asteroid.” Images | NASA, ESA, CSA In Xataka | In 2011, a collector bought in Morocco a meteorite. It has turned out to be a direct test of thermal water on Mars

All the resources that we can potentially extract from the moon, illustrated in this graphic developer

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Mars has become the long -awaited objective of space exploration. So much that the New “Manifest Destination” of the United States. This is something that has sown doubts about the future of Ambitious Artemis mission for go to the moonbut beyond to satisfy scientific curiosity, our satellite has a lot to offer as far as resources are concerned. And in this graph prepared by Visual Capitalist We can what resources we can get from the Moon and what is the degree of confidence we have for each of them. Scenery. The graph is more informative than attractive, that must be recognized, but clearly exposes not only what are the main resources of the moon, but the possibilities we have to take advantage of our current technology. Thus, we can see that there are resources that we have well measured, such as the amount of regolito or solar energyothers not calculated so precisely, and we can see clearly if they are resources that we can recover for land use right now or if they are resources that are out of our reach. Because, of course, one thing is to collect resources, and another very different to be able to pack them correctly and return them to the earth. Resources. The data that they have used for the elaboration of the graphic respond to those of the geological study that the United States developed in 2022 and there is something important that must be taken into account: we are at the dawn of something that seemed science fiction, the Mining on the Moon. There is a large presence of metals on the moon such as iron, titanium, aluminum or magnesium, but also the coveted silicon, which is the Base of our technology industry and solar panels. There are also ice-3, which is a Fuel potential for nuclear fusionrare metals, oxygen, and it is estimated that there is water, but not in a liquid state, but present in the form of ice in the craters that are permanently shaded. The main resources and their status are clearer in this table: resource Current classification Recoverable with our technology Reserve in 30 years Solar energy Measured Yeah Yeah Helio-3 Dear No A stranger Regolito Quantified No Yeah Oxygen in Regolito Quantified No Yeah Hydrogen retained water Quantified No Likely ice -shaped water Minimal or without evidence No A stranger Lunar mining. Before Elon Musk’s arrival to revolutionize space exploration at the governmental level, there were Plans For NASA to send drilling equipment to the Moon to establish a permanent extraction plant for 2032. It is an objective that may have been complicated taking into account recent events, but it is also something that would conflict with the Treaty of ultra -resters. That mining on the Moon is, as we say, very interesting due to the deposits we believe we have located in the satellite, but article 11 of the 1967 Treaty establishes that all the natural resources of the Moon are “common heritage of humanity.” In addition, “it cannot be subject to national appropriation through claims for sovereignty” and those resources “cannot be owned by any state, intergovernmental or non -governmental international organization, national organization or non -governmental entity or any natural person.” Interpretation of lunar soil by ESA Regolito. Returning to the graph, there are two resources that stand out on the rest, both because we know of their existence and because they are the simplest to take advantage of current technology. One of them is lunar dust, curiously. It is called a regolito And it is a carpet of rocky materials that has a couple of useful applications. The first thing is that it is composed of a large amount of oxygen and metals, elements that could be separated from dust to use them in other purposes. Through electrolysis, we can separate oxygen from metals and, although oxygen on Earth is a byproduct, on the moon it can be vital as a source of life. The dust obtained as waste can be used as construction material for brick or roads. There are other projects to take advantage of this abundant lunar resource: Improve regolito fertility through bacteria to be able to grow on the satellite floor. In fact, this soil fertilization is key not only for the colonization of the moon: also for the Martian adventures. Solar energy. Now, from the resources that we can extract from the moon and on the moon, solar energy is the most interesting. The reason is that we could start extracting in the short term because we have the technology to do so. In lunar poles, the sun is visible for long periods, so energy could be generated continuously because there is no rain with rain or clouds (this rainy March we have learned The price of rain in the generation of solar energy). To transmit that energy captured to Earth, lasers or microwave could be used. Projects. There are some in progress. On the one hand, we have Luna Ring, a Japanese project that wants to place a 400 -kilometer wide solar panel belt and 11,000 kilometers long (an absolute barbarity) around Ecuador lunar to send 13,000 theravats to the earth continuously. Is more than we currently need. On the other hand, the European Space Agency had the GE⊕-LPSa project that would consist of a lunar station with panels manufactured from lunar resources. Because yes, the regolito also has silicon and other metals that could be used in situ to make panels. Here the idea is to use that energy to feed the lunar bases. And another project is Blue Alchimist de Blue Origin. Again, taking advantage of the regolite to create panels, it also seeks to generate energy in an unlimited and constant way. Challenges. Now, they are not simple or cheap programs. Focusing on the most accurate project, which would be to produce energy because we know that there is light and we know how to send that energy to the earth, we … Read more

The sunset images on the moon are more than a curiosity. They will also help us solve an old mystery

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50 years after the last manned mission to the moon, NASA and other space agencies in the world have renewed their interest in exploration In situ of the satellite In the case of the US agency, this return to the moon has been bittersweet. To the recurring transpiés of the Artemis program The injured arrivals from American private probes are added. There are also exceptions here. Sunset on the moon. The first module mission Blue Ghost From the company Texana Firefly Aerospace has brought us A sequence of images They show us the sunset on the moon. The images are not only striking but can help us solve a question that persecutes us from the era of the Apollo missions. An enigma to solve. The doubt in question revolves around the phenomenon known as “Lunar horizon glow” (Lunar Horizon Glow) and is related to the dust of the satellite surface. This phenomenon was documented by THE SURVEYOR 7 MISSION that he arrived at the satellite at the end of 1968 and was also captured by the astronauts of the last manned lunar mission, Apollo 17. The data compiled by the probe could help us to inquire if this glow is due to the existence of small polka dust particles in suspension on the lunar surface and investigate in the phenomenon that would be causing this levitation in a place with a practically non -existent atmosphere such as the moon. The main hypothesis indicates that these particles could be electrically charged by the effect of solar radiation, which would make them repel with each other and thus levitate. Halo. The images show us for the first time in decades this unique luminous halo. In the photographs, the greenish glow caused by lunar dust in the lunar dusk can be seen. From eclipse to sunset. On March 2, the Blue Ghost module landed in the Mare Crisium de Luna region becoming the First private mission in reaching the satellite. The mission operated for 14 days, the strictly daytime part of the lunar day, that is, until a few hours later the dusk we see in the image. The mission brought 10 charges to the moon NASA experiments. During his activity period he sent 119 GB of data to Earth, of which 51 GB correspond to technological and scientific data, According to NASA. In those 14 days the mission too He could capture A unique event: the lunar eclipse of March 14. With unique detail: from the moon what was appreciated was an eclipse of sun caused when our planet interposed between the satellite and light in those 14 days the mission could also capture a unique event: the lunar eclipse of last March 14. With unique detail: from the moon what was appreciated was an eclipse of sun caused when our planet interposed between the satellite and light of the sun. CLPS The Firefly Aerospace mission is part of the Clps initiative (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) from NASA and the Artemis campaign. This program seeks that private companies cooperate with NASA in lunar exploration in order to outsource part of the agency’s efforts in this corner of the universe. The lunar missions framed in this initiative have been arriving with more grief than glory to our satellite. Only one of the four Missions launched to date has managed to land in the satellite with the ability to operate normally. In Xataka | It has passed again: the intuitive machines spacecraft has come alive to the moon, but has overturned at the last moment Image | Firefly Aerospace

The first time a ship recorded an eclipse from the moon was in 1967. The second has been today

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The blood moon is a land of blood from the lunar surface. The early morning of March 14, the Lunar Blue Ghost landizer of Firefly Aerospace He registered a solar eclipse from his unique perspective on the moon. It is the first commercial ship that achieves it. And the second in general, from the NASA Surveyor 3 probe in April 1967. Eclipse lunar, solar eclipse. In a lunar eclipse, the earth stands between the sun and the moon, projecting its shadow on the satellite, which acquires a reddish tone due to the longest wavelengths that are filtered through the atmosphere. Hence it is known as “blood moon.” From the point of view of the moon (the visible face of the moon, to be exact) is a solar eclipse. NASA’s Surveyor Lunar 3 probe was the first in register how the earth is blocking the sun to form a diamond ring, similar to the one we see from here during the total solar eclipses. The first private mission to record it. In addition to Surveyor, Apollo Missions Astronaut The Kaguya Japanese probe in 2009 They have been able to register them from the lunar orbit. But Blue Ghost has been the second ship to document a total solar eclipse from the satellite surface. Similarly, Firefly Aerospace has become the first private company to get this milestone. Not surprisingly, it is the first to have achieved a gentle in vertical, something they have tried Several companies in recent years with little success. Everything got red. The eclipse It started at 5:30 UTC on Friday. At 8:30 UTC, the ground around the ship and the surfaces of the ship itself They had acquired an intense reddish tone. At 9:30 UTC, the Blue Ghost lunar module photographed Your first diamond ring: The silhouette of the earth framed by the brightness of the sun, with a flash crowning it as a piece of goldsmiths. Firefly has been clearly victorious in one week in which another Texas company, Intuitive Machines, has tried to alunize its Nova-C ship. The landing “Athena” fell sideways and could not recharge his batteries, dying within a few hours. Blue Ghost, on the other hand, landed at first and deployed a heat probeamong other NASA experiments. Image | The eclipse seen from Earth and the Moon (NASA, Firefly Aerospace) In Xataka | The United States has returned to the moon after 50 years with a fleet of “low cost” ships. It is being chaotic In Xataka | There is a silent career to get the moon waves: dozens of companies have claimed part of their spectrum

Tonight we have a moon eclipse and with him a phenomenon surrounded by panic and superstitions: the “blood moon”

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An eclipse occurs when an astronomical body blocks another. The effect is usually the total or partial darkening of this second body. However, in some lunar eclipses, the shadow projected by the earth does not completely obscure the satellite but “dye” red. They are blood moons, and this morning we may have the opportunity to see one. Eclipse. This morning A total moon eclipse will occur which will carry the so -called “blood moon”, a darkening and redness of our satellite caused by the transit of the earth between this and the sun. The total eclipse will be visible throughout Latin America and can also be seen from the center and western the Iberian Peninsula and from the Canary Islands. The rest of the Spanish territory can only see an eclipse Penumbral de Luna. The gloom will begin to obscure the moon in Spain Around 5 in the morningPeninsular time (CET), but the partial eclipse will not begin until after 6 in the morning. The eclipse will reach the totality at 07:26 CET, at which time the moon will also be reddened in its path after the earth. Blood moon? This is the phenomenon known as Blood moon and it is common in lunar eclipses. Although it may seem contradictory, this color change is produced by the same phenomenon that gives blue to our heavens. Let’s start with the most basic. The moon lighting is because it reflects sunlight. The light that emanates the sun, although we associate it with yellowish or orange tones is, in reality, white. This target is actually the result of the fact that the sun emits light in a wide range of frequencies in the visible spectrum, whose sum generates white light. This fan of colors is what we can see in the rainbow or when we pass sunlight through a prism. Guilt of the atmosphere. When this white and multicolored light reaches the terrestrial atmosphere, This breaks it down as if it were a prism. The blue light, with a shorter wavelength, tends to spread when crossing with the gases of the atmosphere, bouncing and reaching our perspective as if it arrived from the sky. However, the longest wavelengths, reddish tones, They blur to a lesser extent and continue on their way. This makes the shadow of our planet project a kind of reddish ring around. It is this ring is what gives that copper color to the blood moon. This interaction between the solar rays and the atmosphere of our planet is also responsible for the sunrises and sunsets also becoming red. When the sun rises or puts on, its rays must cross a greater portion of atmosphere. This means that when they reach our environment they have lost dispersed the short wavelengths, that is, the blue tones. This leaves only the most reddish tones of these moments of the day. From superstition to science. If eclipses have always been surrounded by mystery and superstitions, the ominous red -dyed moon did not go unnoticed by our ancestors. Different cultures have developed various superstitions and beliefs related to this phenomenon. Today we know the cause of the unique phenomenon. Although the blood moon may have lost this mysticism, its spectacularity can still be appreciated. Preamble of a solar eclipse. Solar eclipses always come from a lunar eclipse that occurs about two weeks before or after this. The eclipse of this morning is one of these dual eclipses. And is that March 29 A partial solar eclipse will be produced that will be visible in part of the northern hemisphere, including Spain. In Xataka | Prepare for the first total lunar eclipse of the year: the main astronomical events of March 2025 and where they will see Image | NASA Scientific Visualization Studio

NASA decided to bombard the moon with low -budget commercial missions. The results are being bleak

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The image above was sent by the Athena Machines lunar module before running out of energy. Like his predecessor, he was horizontal, which prevented him from deploying his loads. To top it off, he did it in an orientation and an orography that did not allow him to recharge his batteries. Athena (IM-2) is one of the many Missions of the NASA Commercial Lunar Payload (Clps) Commercial Program. Announced in 2018, It is the return of the United States to the lunar surface after more than 50 yearssince NASA stopped doing lunar missions (manned or not) after Apollo 17. CLPS hires private companies to transport NASA scientific experiments To the moon. These companies develop commercial spaces that finance with NASA contracts and other agencies or companies interested in sending load to the Moon. For NASA it is a very low cost approach, since the contracts revolve around 100 million dollars per mission, while the alunizas of the Surveyor program of the 1960s cost 10 times more (adjusting their value from then on inflation). It is also a high -risk approach, how they are demonstrating the first results. NASA pays the agreed amount and does not cover cost overruns, transferring to companies a huge technical and financial challenge. For NASA a failure represents a manageable loss, so it is bombing the moon of CLPS missions. For companies, the pressure is increasing. A difficult beginning The CLPS missions had to start launching in 2020. The Orbitbeyond company canceled its contract in 2019 for financial problems, renouncing before starting. Masten Space, another selected, broke in 2022, canceling his mission planned by 2023. Astrobotic, Firefly Aerospace and Intuitive Machines ended up delaying their releases, but they are still in the race. However, of the four CLPS missions launched to date, only one has achieved a completely successful moon landing: ❌ Astrobotic pilgrim. The first CLPS mission. He received NASA 79.5 million dollars to transport 14 useful charges to the Moon. It was launched on January 8, 2024 with a Vulcan Centaur rocket of Ula. The ship suffered a propellant leak shortly after the launch that left it without possibilities to reach the lunar surface. He went down in history as First American attempt of moon landing from the Apollo missions, but the fuel escape left it unusable. First failure.❌ Odysseus of intuitive machines. The IM-1 mission received 77.5 million dollars from NASA to send six scientific instruments to the moon. It was launched on February 15, 2024 aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Spacex. Unlike pilgrim, the Nova-C ship “Odysseus” reached the lunar surface, But it was sidewayswhich prevented deploying many of its useful charges. Even so, it continued to work for seven days before running out of energy.✔️ Blue Ghost of Firefly Aerospace. The mission received a contract of 101.5 million from the NASA to take 10 useful charges to the moon. It was launched on January 15, 2025 in a Falcon 9 rocket in Spacex. The ship alunicized smoothly and vertically on March 2, 2025. It was the first completely successful mooning of a private company on the moon. Among other instruments, the mission deployed a heat probe under the lunar regol.❌ Athena of intuitive machines. The second mission of Intuitive Machines received 47 million dollars from NASA to display the prime-1 ice prospecting experiment on the moon. It was launched on February 27, 2025 in a Falcon 9 rocket. Like Odysseus, the Athena ship managed to descend to the Mons Mouton region, near the South Lunar Pole, but it was left aside again due to problems with its navigation sensors. Consequently, he could not recharge his batteries and died prematurely after transmitting images and some initial data. The NASA trailblazer lunar orbiter ran the same fate launched next to Athena as part of another agency’s low cost program: the Simplex missions. NASA lost contact with the orbiter shortly after its deployment. Its predecessor, the Cubesat Lunah-Map launched next to the Lunar Artemis I mission, also ended in failure due to a propulsion failure. Another moment that dazzled the Clps missions was the cancellation of the Viper Rover when it was already built. NASA’s rover, designed to search water in the South Lunar Pole, was going to be launched with the Astrobotic Griffin module, but was canceled by NASA so as not to have to take delays and cost overheads. Of course, instead of dismantling it, the agency has ended up making it available to private companies interested in operating it. The following to try Astrobotic, with the Lunar Griffin module, scheduled for the end of this year Intuitive Machines, with the IM-4 missions (which will take the prospect drill of the European Space Agency to the South Lunar Pole) and IM-3 (which will travel to an enigmatic lunar swirl, Reiner Gamma), in 2026 Firefly Aerospace, with the Blue Ghost 2 missions, next year, and Blue Ghost 3, in 2028 (using an orbiter and a landing module to investigate the Gruithuisen domes, a lunar territory never explored) And Draper, aboard the Apex module of the Japanese company Ispace, with the aim of alunizar on the hidden face of the moon The half full glass Image: Firefly Aerospace Despite these setbacks, each ship of the Clps program has helped the development of the companies involved. Although the scientific value of these missions is much lower than that of more advanced programs, such as those of the Chinese space agency, CLPS offers NASA a more economical and flexible path to explore the moon and start energizing a lunar economy. The program has had a difficult start (after all they were high -risk missions), but has fulfilled the objective of involving private industry in lunar exploration, lowering access to the moon and delivering some scientific results to a comparatively low cost. If the next missions manage to improve the success rate, CLPS will be the scientific support that the artemis man -manned program needs. Image | Intuitive machines In Xataka | Elon Musk has … Read more

The company that overturned on the Moon has sent a spacecraft again a year later. The same thing happened

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“We do not believe to be in the correct orientation on the moon, once again,” summarized the CEO of Intuitive Machines, Steve Altemus, at the beginning of a press conference on the injury of the Athena spacecraft. Nova-C has overturned again. The Nova-C Lunar Module “Athena” of the American company intuitive machines landed on the moon Thursday, March 6, at 5:30 p.m. UTC. The ship is alive, transmits telemetry and can receive commands. He even receives light in his solar panels, but is poorly oriented. After a week of travel, 39 turns to the moon and a descent maneuver on the South Lunar Pole in which the Methane and Liquid Oxygen Propulsion System apparently worked perfectly, something went wrong when perched on the satellite. Intuitive Machines does not know exactly where the ship is and where it is looking, but it seems to have been sideways. A year later. On February 22, 2024, Intuitive Machines was called to become the first private company to successfully alunizar. However, the Nova-C module “Odysseus” had a more abrupt landing than expected, left one of its legs and ended up turning on the moon. Athena has suffered the same destination. Intuitive Machines will wait for the probe Lunar reconnaissance orbiter NASA fly over the area to see exactly where it has been and which of its four sides is face down. For now, it is suspected that it can be on a slope. In energy saving mode. While finding what happened, Intuitive Machines has turned off several subsystems to preserve the useful life of the probe. In the South Lunar Pole, the temperatures are extreme and, depending on what position the ship and how much light will receive these days, it is possible that much of the energy is required to light heating. Athena was launched to Mons Mouton, a plateau near the South Lunar Pole, to display the NASA Prime-1 experiment with the aim of looking for ice water in the subsoil. It is possible that part of the scientific mission will continue, but the results of the mission will be “off-nominal,” said Steve Altemus, who however considers to continue in touch with the ship. Image | Nova-C “Odysseus” and Nova-C “Athena” (intuitive machines) In Xataka | After bankruptcy and an internal scandal, Firefly has made history: being the first private company to step on the moon

For the first time, a private company has managed to reach the moon successfully. And it has been after resurgence from bankruptcy

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The early morning of March 2, the Blue Ghost ship of Firefly Aerospace fell gently on the lunar surface. It was the First time in history that a private company achieved a completely successful moon landing: in vertical and with the solar panels well -oriented to survive the 14 days that a lunar day lasts. Blue Ghost nailed the moon landing. Preceded by the failures of the Beresheet ships (From the Israeli company Spaceil), Hakuto-R (of the Japanese ispace), Pilgrim (of the American astrobotic) and Odysseus (also American intuitive machines), Blue Ghost landed in a stable position after a descent maneuver designed to dodge rocks and dangerous geographical accidents. The lunar module touched soil in the Mare Crisium region, near the volcanic formation of Mons Latreille. The instruments and sensors on board reported that Blue Ghost was at an optimal angle, and the first images of the shadow projected by the Firefly Aerospace ship showed that it had perched on the lunar surface vertically. A respite for NASA. The historical achievement of the Texana company is also an achievement for NASA, which breathes quiet after the first round of the CLPS program (Commercial Lunar Payload Services), designed to send regular missions to the Moon in commercial ships. Intuitive machines I could achieve the second in a couple of dayswhen its new Nova-C module athens tries to alunize in the South Lunar Pole after Nova-C Odysseus overturns in February 2024. The Ghost Riders. On board the Blue Ghost module of Firefly there is a series of instruments, experiments and technological demonstrators, mainly from NASA, that will drill the soil to collect samples, investigate how the dust rises to mitigate the problems they represent in future lunar missions, and measure the level of radiation and the magnetic activity in the environment. Blue Ghost will display and operate these loads for 14 terrestrial days, equivalent to a lunar day, before the lack of sunlight and the very low temperatures compromise their batteries. An eclipse of earth. Blue Ghost has already given us overwhelming images of the Dawn on the moon or the Planet Earth in the firmament. “We are all in that image,” Firefly engineers recalled during the press conference. But the best will come in the last days of mission. Among the planned mission milestones are the capture in high definition of a total eclipse on March 14, when the earth blocks the sun from the perspective of the ship on the moon, as well as a recording of the lunar twilight on March 16 in which we will see the lunar dust levitating. The Renaissance of Firefly Aerospace. The Firefly feat is especially remarkable taking into account the recent history of the company, marked by a bankruptcy, an internal scandal and a sound change in property. Firefly was saved by the Ukrainian inverter Max Polykovwho invested around 200 million dollars and resurrected the company. However, Polykov was forced by the United States government to sell its majority participation in 2022 for a symbolic price of 1 dollar. And all for geopolitical reasons. Since then, Firefly was under the majority control of the private capital firm AE Industrial Partners. His current CEO is Jason Kim, who assumed the company’s management in October 2024 after his predecessor, Bill Weber, retired from An alleged inappropriate relationship With an employee. Image | Firefly Aerospace In Xataka | In 2011, a collector bought in Morocco a meteorite. It has turned out to be a direct test of thermal water on Mars

In 536 the sun began to shine less than the moon. The small ice age began then began

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The year 536 is sometimes called “The worst in history”, But this year only marked the beginning of a small ice age. An era of about 15 years in which sunlight was almost unable to reach the surface of the earth. Small ice age. For years it has been discussed what happened in the year 536 that triggered the “small ice age of late antiquity” (Lalia) that lasted until the 550s. The volcanic eruptions of this year and 541 or comet dust had been considered as possible causes, but we had A third hypothesis: An unknown underwater eruption. From historiography to the rings of the trees. From this era of darkness we have record through different sources: some historiographic, such as medieval texts in which there is talk of a sunlight so faint that it barely stood out about that of the moon. Others, more “modern”, such as the analysis of Tree rings. These rings appear as a result of the oscillations in their growth rate, a consequence of the succession of the seasons of the year and factors associated with it, such as the abundance of water. Or the hours of light. The suspects. And the hours of light were not abundant at this time. The cause of this long winter of 15 years would have been in a denser atmosphere full of dust or gas that would have prevented solar radiation from reaching the northern hemisphere. However, we are not sure what our atmosphere overshadowed. Volcanic activity has been the main suspect in the case. We know that the most powerful volcanoes can expel gases in such quantity that they can alter the terrestrial climate, usually for short periods of time. During this decade and a half we had proof of three volcanic eruptions, a “cataclysmic” eruption in 536, caused by a volcano in Iceland; and two others also relevant in 540 and 547. However, there are experts who consider that these three eruptions were not the cause of this small ice age, something else was needed. Submarine volcano. And that “something” could have been an underwater volcano. Is The hypothesis defended by an American team of researchers composed of Dallas Abbott and John Barron. They reached this conclusion when studying Greenland ice samples in which remains of marine microorganisms of tropical waters were found. According to this hypothesis, underwater rashes would have led to the atmosphere not only the gases of these events but also remains of sediments and marine life. An underwater eruption would also have vaporized a large amount of water that would have passed to the atmosphere. Huge consequences. All this would have had severe socio -economic consequences. Historical records speak of years in which cereal crops did not even allow bread, or snowfall in full summer. Towards the year 541 the so -called “Plaga de Justiniano” began in Egypt First epidemic Black plague of the Middle Ages. In the Iberian Peninsula this period of darkness could have unleashed The first of the crises that would end up resulting in the fall of the Visigothic kingdom and the Muslim conquer. Image | NOAA/National Science Foundation In Xataka | We believed that the huge eruption of Hunga Tonga had something to do with global temperature records. We didn’t even get closer In Xataka | Something weird happens in the Teide: although experts do not see signs of eruption, they insist that you have to follow it closely

The future of quantum computers depends on helium-3 from the Moon. There is already a plan to start bringing it in 2029

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Helium is the second lightest and most abundant chemical element in the universe, if we stick to ordinary matter. It is only surpassed in this classification by hydrogen. This noble gas accounts for between 24 and 26% of the total mass of stars, which are also responsible for manufacturing it. fusing hydrogen nuclei inside through the reactions of nuclear fusion that they carry out naturally, and which we talk to you about in quite some depth in the article that we dedicate to the life of the stars. Still, most of the helium in the universe was not made by stars: it was produced by the Big Bang, which is why scientists refer to it as “primordial helium.” But the most curious thing is that, despite how abundant it is in the universe, it is scarce on Earth. Its great lightness caused most of the helium contained in the cloud of dust and gas from which our planet was formed to escape gravitational confinement. Be that as it may, the real protagonist of this article is not the normal helium that we have all heard about; It is helium-3, an isotope that may play a crucial role in nuclear fusion reactions that will possibly help us solve forever our energy problems. And also in other areas, such as, for example, in dilution cooling systems that use superconducting quantum computersas well as other emerging technologies. Interlune plans to test the extraction of lunar helium-3 in 2027 Most of the helium that we can find in the universe has taken the form of an isotope known as helium-4, which is characterized by having two protons and two neutrons in its nucleus. Although, as we have seen, most of it was lost during the formation of the Earth, this gas can also arise as a result of natural radioactive decay of heavier chemical elements, such as uranium, radium or thorium, which are relatively scarce on our planet. The only difference between helium-4 and helium-3 is that the latter isotope has one less neutron in its nucleus. That’s all. We know that helium-4 nuclei have two protons and two neutrons, so helium-3 nuclei will have two protons and a single neutron. It may seem like an irrelevant difference, but it is not. It is a very important difference because the physicochemical properties of the element vary as a consequence of their lower atomic mass. And, in the case of these two isotopes of helium, their behavior also changes from the point of view of quantum mechanics. The solar wind spreads helium-3 throughout the solar system and beyond, causing it to reach surrounding planets in relatively large quantities. The bad news is that if helium-4 is relatively scarce on Earth, helium-3 is even more so. Stars, like our Sun, produce it in large quantities as a result of nuclear fusion reactions between hydrogen nuclei that occur when they are in the main sequence stage during which they burn most of their fuel. Once created, the solar wind spreads helium-3 throughout the solar system and even beyond, causing it to reach surrounding planets in relatively large quantities. The reason why this gas hardly accumulates on Earth is that our planet has a double protective shield: the atmosphere and the Earth’s magnetic field. These two barriers represent a very effective defense against the solar wind and cosmic radiation, which reaches the atmosphere mainly in the form of protons and high-energy alpha particles. The Moon, unlike the Earth, has no atmosphere, so it lacks this protective shield. Additionally, its magnetic field is much weaker than Earth’s and is not dipolar. The terrestrial, on the other hand, can be approximated to a magnetic dipole, so the magnetic field lines are directed from the north pole to the south pole. All this causes the surface of the Moon to be much more exposed to cosmic rays and the solar wind than the surface of the Earth, causing very significant quantities of helium-3 transported by the solar wind to accumulate there, which is deposited in rocks and lunar dust, a few meters deep. Up to a million tons of regolith need to be processed to obtain a single kilogram of helium-3 The first challenge that humanity will have to solve to appropriate the helium-3 accumulated on the Moon is none other than the processing of lunar regolithwhich is the loose layer of soil and rock fragments that covers the surface of the satellite. Interlune, a company founded in Seattle (USA) in 2020, plans to extract the regolith and process it using compact harvesting robots that, according to this company, are very efficient. The problem is that lunar dust is very abrasive, and, in addition, up to a million tons of regolith must be processed to obtain a single kilogram of helium-3. Even so, this company plans to test the extraction of this isotope with a lunar mission in 2027, and in 2029 it intends to build a pilot plant on the Moon. It sounds good, but a priori these dates seem excessively optimistic. Additionally, it is still unclear how much it will cost to transport lunar helium-3 to Earth using space vehicles. Be that as it may, we can be sure that it will not be easy or cheap to do so. Image | Pixabay More information | Quantum Insider In Xataka | Graphene is ready to break into quantum computers: scientists plan to use it in a new type of qubit

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