rays

turn your rays into accidental weapons

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When we thought that the offshore energy It was the future of renewables, someone looked towards low Earth orbit and exclaimed “hold my tank.” One of the plans conquest of China’s renewables goes through placing farms that harvest solar energy around the Earth. The problem is that there is starting to be too much going on in low orbit and any failure in energy transmission can become a geopolitical headache. Because these solar farms can ‘attack’ the rest of the satellites with laser rays. Ideal. Peter Glaser already formulated the idea of ​​’farming’ solar energy in space and sending it to Earth in the sixties. In his idea, the energy would be sent through microwaves, but with the technology of the time and the structures necessary for sending information, the idea came to nothing. Now, with the possibility of reusing rockets, using lightweight materials and lasers with millimeter precision, things have changed. And it makes perfect sense. In space, and without the influence of the atmosphere, the solar panels They are capable of capturing the light spectrum differently. They are more efficient because the light arrives more directly, uninterrupted, and there is no need to clean dust or snow that interferes with the efficiency of the panel. Almost All advantages. In an article by Harvard Techology It exposes how China, Japan either USA are very interested in this technology. Although the main disadvantage is the very high initial cost and solving the energy loss that occurs in this wireless transmission, the advantages make it very attractive: Constant power supply. Reduced use of land space. Lower carbon footprint than on Earth. Improvement in the global distribution of energy to provide ‘clean’ electricity to areas that, due to terrestrial conditions, cannot install large plants. The plan. And, as we say, China has embarked on a space race tremendously ambitious. On the one hand, they are finalizing your own space station. On the other hand, they develop technologies to synchronize moon clocks and terrestrials that open the doors to more complex missions on our satellite. The Chinese space program is taking giant steps in a short timeand sending satellites that act as photovoltaic farms not only responds to that “first come, first served” plan, but also to the country’s interest in renewables. We see huge plants in their huge desertsand in space they would be even more efficient. He plan It involves having an operational orbital solar power plant for the next decade, before competitors such as Japan or the United States… and a Europe that is evaluating the potential of this technology. And China is not bluffing: they have been testing prototypes on the ground before launching a unit into low orbit at the end of this decade. laser beams. The adjacent problem, because there is an issue that has nothing to do with costs or energy transmission, is that we begin to have too many ‘things’ around the Earth. SpaceX just got the green light to deploy another 7,500 satellites starlink. It adds to all the satellites they already had in orbitthose of other competitorsthe geopositioning ones, all the scientific satellites, the junk that is spinning around and that is useless, but takes up space… and if there is any problem with the laser that transmits energy from those space solar farms, the consequences could be considerable. A investigation carried out by the Institute of Environmental Satellite Engineering in Beijing, and published in the Chinese scientific journal ‘High Power Laser and Particle Beams’ points to the risk that these farms represent for the rest of the satellites. If the laser beams that transfer the energy do not reach their target due to any error or unforeseen event, it could lead to an ‘attack’ on other satellites or even rockets taking off from Earth. Not so that they explode, but enough to overheat the solar panels of these systems, triggering an electric shock that forces the vehicle to stop and, therefore, the need to repair the affected system, with all that this implies. And the risk is greater when shorter wavelengths are used, which is when the laser ‘carries’ more energy. It’s something they’ve tested using laboratory models that recreate the characteristics of the orbital environment and firing ultrashort laser pulses at a test solar panel. Overbooking. With this study, the researchers they warn about the risks and warn those responsible for the systems that it is something that they should take into account in order to, for example, select laser power parameters that are safer or equip the solar panels of what is launched into space with a kind of shield. Obviously, when those space photovoltaic farms arrive, the engineers who perform the launch and trajectory calculations will have to take into account not only that there are more bodies floating, but also the laser segment towards Earth. And it’s a bigger problem when we see that low orbit is not only going to be more crowded in the short term, with all the competitors for offer global internet or the military satellitesbut also because big technology companies have an interest in put data centers in space. The operation would be very similar: collect solar energy, process the AI ​​data in orbit and transfer it by microwave to Earth. Image | H.T.R. In Xataka | We are launching more things into space than ever before. And the next problem is already on the table: how to pollute less

Mars has just entered the exclusive club of planets with rays. This is discouraging news for NASA.

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NASA’s Perseverance rover has captured a lightning strike on Mars for the first time. Although it may seem strange, it is only the fourth planet in which we have confirmed the presence of this type of electrical activity, after Earth, Jupiter and Saturn. Confirmed. Despite its thin atmosphere, scientists have suspected for decades that the red planet, with its constant whirlwinds and dust storms, must have some type of electrical activity. Now, thanks to the Perseverance rover, we finally have definitive proof. The discovery, published in the journal Natureconfirms that the Martian atmosphere crackles with electricity, although not exactly like the Earthly storms we know. They haven’t seen it, they’ve heard it. As much as we would have liked the Perseverance rover to photograph a blinding flash across the Martian sky, the first evidence of electrical activity on Mars is not visual, but auditory. NASA’s rover’s SuperCam instrument, equipped with a microphone originally designed to listen to the rover’s laser hitting rocks, has captured something unexpected: the sound of electrical discharges. Among dust devils. According to the data analyzed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratorythe rover recorded 55 electrical discharge events over two Martian years. Most associated with dust storms, and 16 of them when the rover was directly crossed by sand devils. “We got some good recordings where you can clearly hear the click,” Ralph Lorenz, Perseverance mission scientist, explains in a statement. But in a specific recording from sol 215 (the 215th Martian day of the mission), you hear not only the electrical crack, but also the swirling wind hitting the rover and grains of sand impacting the microphone. The triboelectric effect. How do these rays form on a planet without rain clouds? Because of the triboelectric effect, exactly the same physical principle that happens when we walk with socks on a carpet and then you touch a doorknob and, ouch, a spark jumps. On Mars, dust devils act like giant generators of static electricity: Hot air rises and begins to rotate, forming a vortex. When rotating, it raises dust and sand. The dust grains rub against each other, transferring electrons and generating charge. It’s not very encouraging. Although on Earth it also occurs in deserts, on Mars this effect is much more likely to result in electrical shocks. The Martian atmosphere is extremely thin, so the amount of charge needed to break air resistance and generate a spark is much smaller. This discovery is not just a meteorological curiosity; has profound implications for the planet’s chemistry and the search for life. Confirmation of these electrical discharges suggests that the Martian atmosphere may become charged enough to activate powerful chemical reactions. These sparks could be creating highly oxidizing compounds, such as perchlorates, which are very aggressive and can destroy the organic molecules (the building blocks of life) that the rover is trying to find. Image | NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona In Xataka | Who or what excavated the ravines on Mars? The answer is even stranger than we always thought

We always believed that the light guns fired invisible rays, but the reality is the opposite: it was the TV that shot

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Recognize it: if you are old enough to have played withA Light GunFor a while you thought that this gadget worked by firing rays of invisible light that television detected. Was it the position of the gun? The distance? Did the glass of the screen really knew when the goal was in front? Actually the solution was much simpler and ingenious. The light ray is in reverse: the gun is the receiver. Guns of what. First, let’s remember the history of the device: the light guns in video games began to appear in the thirties in mechanical arcades and evolved towards electronic video games in the 1970s and 1980s. Nintendo already experimented with early versions with its video shooting series for famicom in 1984, whose gun was not futuristic, but it seemed like a western revolver With the theme of the game. Nintendo arrives. The device of this most popular type was Nintendo Zapper for Nespossibly because he was accompanied by one of the most iconic games of the genre, ‘Duck hunt’. The Zapper was already tumbos since 1984 with the version for Famicom, but in 1985 it became the Zapper of NES and left in the United States with the science fiction design we know, automatically becoming a pop icon. In 1988 it was redesigned with bright colors to resemble even less to a real weapon and comply with the legislation. There were up to 17 official games for Zapper. In Xataka This genius has transformed the ZNA Zapper is an incredible laser ray gun But … how did it work? Actually the Zapper and the rest of the light guns of the time were not emitters, but light receptors. The process that followed to work was: when the player clenched a trigger, the screen turned black during a Frame. In the following, the objects to which they have to become white blocks, and the rest remains black. The human eye can barely distinguish this pair of Frames Inside the gun was a light sensor that detected if the area to which it was aimed had changed to Blanco. The game determined what objective had been “shot” according to the time in which this white block appeared, since each white objective was sequentially shown in a different frame. And of course, if the sensor detected the white light inside the expected interval, the shot was counted as a success. Only for old people. The ingenious method only worked on CRT screens, as technology depended completely on the speed and characteristics (on the shortcomings, let’s go) on the soda speed of the cathodic tube. On LCD screens, plasmas and other modernities, the delay changes, and so does the soda technology. What makes ancient games “rare” on modern televisions is also what prevents the gun sensor from correctly capturing the light and location of whites. {“Videid”: “X9HMC3A”, “Autoplay”: False, “Title”: “Nes Mini, Review and Spanish analysis”, “Tag”: “”, “Duration”: “250”} More guns. Then, especially in the field of recreational, more sophisticated guns arrived, such as ‘Operation Wolf’, which was actually a command that determined where it pointed according to the position of the gun, fixed in the machine of the machine (a method as ingenious as that of the Zapper, playing with what the player who is happening is believed). And then they arrived, in fact they do in machines that remain in operation, increasingly sophisticated systems, and that use infrared sensors or cameras to determine where the player points out. But the adorable imagination and naivety of the Zapper give him a unique personality. In Xataka | The Nintendo PlayStation exists: this is the history of the hybrid console that never reached the market (Function () {Window._js_modules = Window._js_modules || {}; var headelement = document.getelegsbytagname (‘head’) (0); if (_js_modules.instagram) {var instagramscript = Document.Createlement (‘script’); }}) (); – The news We always believed that the light guns fired invisible rays, but the reality is the opposite: it was the TV that shot It was originally posted in Xataka by John Tones .

An object never seen on the Milky Way is emitting radio waves with X -rays exactly every 44 minutes

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The Milky Way continues to present new mysteries through the telescope. An international astronomer team has discovered an objectuntil now unknown, which emits powerful radio bursts with a watchmaker’s precision. But the strangest thing is that we know that they are accompanied by X -rays. Context. One of the cosmic fashion phenomena in astronomy magazines are transitory long -period radio objects (LPRT), whose understanding is still in diapers. Since 2022 only 10 have been identified, which were overlooked or confused with other celestial objects. LPRT emit bursts of radio waves periodically, but with much longer intervals (of minutes or hours) than traditional pulsaries, which usually have periods of second or milliseconds. The progress in radio telescopes has opened a window to the transitory universe that allows astronomers to identify LPRTS more easily. One of the most powerful radio telescopes is the Australian Matrix Askap, which consists of 36 parabolic antennas 12 meters in diameter acting as a single instrument of 4,000 square meters. Double surprise. Astronomers have just added a new layer of complexity to the world of LPRTS with the discovery of Askap J1832-0911, an object that emits powerful radio wave explosions. Your pulses last two minutes and repeat every 44 minutes and 12 seconds. The finding is important because it is just the tenth LPRT discovered and places the new object among the 30 most brilliant radio sources in the sky. But the surprise came to cross the data with observations of the NASA X -ray Space Telescope. Chandra had observed the same area of ​​the night sky at the same time as Askap (what scientists have compared with “finding a needle in a haystack”). The Observatory discovered X -ray emissions from the same point and with the same cycle of 44 minutes and 12 seconds. It is the first time that an LPRT emitting waves of both frequencies. Collapsed lines. ASKAP J1832-0911 is around 15,000 light years from Earth, in a very populated region of our galaxy. This location greatly hinders its study in other wavelengths, because there are many objects that could be obscuring it, and an immense amount of dust that blocks our line of vision. Infrared searches have also not yielded results, although hope is put into future observations with the James Webb space telescope. Unlike other LPRTS that seem to “light” and “turn off” intermittently, the object has been active during the 10 months that observation has lasted, although with a variable brightness. The million dollar question. What exactly is Askap J1832-0911? There are many theories about what type of object could be producing such regular and energy signs. This object is different from everything we have seen before, but researchers do not believe it is an extraterrestrial civilization sending messages because the emission spectra are too broad. Instead, two main suspects shuffle. The first is an old magnetar: a neutron star with incredibly powerful magnetic fields in his last stage of life, possibly orbited by another star. The second is an ultra -freeized white dwarf: the remnant of a low -dough star at the end of its evolution, with an exceptionally strong magnetic field and a companion star. But for this theory to fit, the white dwarf would need the most intense magnetic field ever detected in one of its class, surpassing the 5 × 109 gauss. We know nothing. “Finding such an object suggests the existence of many more”, Nanda Rea saysCo-author of the study and professor of the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) in Spain. “The discovery of its X -ray transitory emission opens new perspectives on its mysterious nature.” This discovery not only adds a new mystery to the list of things that we do not understand the universe. He also suggests that LPRTS, of which we barely know 10, are more energy than was thought. Hunting to find more objects like this and decipher its origin has only begun. Image | POT

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