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Alabama Student Names NASA’s Mars Helicopter “Wit”
NASA’s Mars helicopter, destined to be the first aircraft to attempt powered flights on another planet, has been named “Wit”.
The name was chosen during NASA’s “Name the Rover” essay contest. Out of 28,000 submissions, Alabama high school student Vaneeza Rupani Alabama’s entry was selected.
The mill will travel to Mars attached to the belly of the Perseverance rover, which is preparing for launch in July or August this year. For several months after the rover’s landing, Ingenuity will remain encapsulated in a protective cover to protect it from debris during entry, descent, and landing.
When the timing of the rover’s mission is correct, Ingenuity will deploy to stand up and operate alone on the surface of the red planet. If the two-kg, solar-powered craft, a combination of specially designed components and commercially available parts, survives the cold Martian nights during its pre-flight departure, the team will proceed with testing.
If successful during its 30-day experimental flight test window on Mars, the small spacecraft will demonstrate that powered flights can be conducted on Mars, allowing future missions to make better use of second-generation helicopters and adding aerial dimension to scans. More about this here.
Also read: A treasure trove of Viking-era artifacts and an ocean creature that may be the world’s largest animal.
Fossils reveal first known aquatic dinosaur
Scientists have first found evidence showing that Spinosaurus aegyptiacus, the longest known predatory dinosaur, was an aquatic animal.
Researchers have long opposed the idea that dinosaurs lived in aquatic habitats.
A team from the University of Detroit has discovered that the particular type of dinosaur used tail-powered swimming locomotion to hunt prey in massive river systems.
It is the first time that such an adaptation has been reported in a dinosaur. The findings are based on the only existing Spinosaurus skeleton in the world, found in the Sahara desert in Morocco. The unearthed fossil is also the most complete skeleton of a Cretaceous predatory dinosaur from continental Africa.
The skeleton was first discovered in 2008. In a previous study, Spinosaurus were identified as carnivorous dinosaurs with adaptations for an amphibian lifestyle.
However, some suggestions that it may have been a dinosaur that actually inhabits water were met with considerable opposition from some researchers. Between 2015 and 2019, the team recovered many more fossils from the skeleton, including a remarkably full, fin-shaped tail, capable of extensive lateral movement and characterized by extremely long spines. Read more about this in the National Geographic.
The highest concentration of microplastics ever found on the seafloor
The researchers have recorded the highest level of microplastics on the seafloor, with up to 1.9 million pieces in a thin layer that covers just 1 square meter.
More than 10 million tons of plastic waste enter the oceans each year. However, less than one percent of this consists of plastic straws and carry bags.
About 99 percent end up as small fragments and fibers deposited on the seafloor. Deep-sea ocean currents act as conveyor belts, concentrating microplastics within large accumulations of sediment, called “microplastic hot spots.”
These hotspots appear to be the deep sea equivalents of the “garbage patches” formed by currents on the ocean surface.
Microplastics on the sea floor are mainly made of textile fibers. These do not filter effectively into domestic wastewater treatment plants and easily enter rivers and oceans. More about this in CNN.
A small asteroid approaches Earth, the closest flybys ever recorded
An asteroid 4-8 meters in size, called 2020 HS7, recently flew past Earth, passing close to satellites orbiting the geostationary ring. The asteroid flew at a distance of approximately 42,735 km from Earth’s center and only approximately 1,200 km from the nearest satellite.
After the initial discovery, observers around the world quickly set their sights on the “new” space rock, determining that it would safely pass our planet in one of the closest flybys ever recorded.
As the asteroid approached the geostationary ring, it passed “below” the closest satellite and did not pose any significant risk since its orbits did not cross. Read more about this here.
Huge amounts of methane are leaking from the US oil fields. USA
The Permian Basin, the largest oil-producing area in the United States, releases more than double the amount of methane emissions into the atmosphere than previously assumed.
A study by researchers at Harvard University has revealed that the area wastes enough energy to power seven million Texas homes for a year.
The Permian Basin represents more than a third of crude oil and 10 percent of natural gas in the United States.
The study also found that the methane gas leakage rate constitutes 3.7 percent of all gas extracted in the basin, which is approximately 60 percent higher than the national average leakage rate.
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, and since the Permian Basin is huge, this excess waste is a significant contribution to the already warmer climate on earth. Read more about this here.
Also read: Evidence of brain surgery in ancient Greece, a sharp rise in methane emissions in 2019
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