Daily Archives: June 30, 2017

June 30, 2017 by Wynn Ho, The Conversation Credit: NASA

NASA's Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer, or NICER, is an X-ray telescope launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in early June 2017. Installed on the International Space Station, by mid-July it will commence its scientific work to study the exotic astrophysical objects known as neutron stars and examine whether they could be used as deep-space navigation beacons for future generations of spacecraft.

What are neutron stars? When stars at least eight times more massive than the Sun exhaust all the fuel in their core through thermonuclear fusion reactions, the pressure of gravity causes them to collapse. The supernova explosion that results ejects most of the star's material into the far reaches of space. What remains forms either a neutron star or a black hole.

I study neutron stars because of their rich range of astrophysical phenomena and the many areas of physics to which they are connected. What makes neutron stars extremely interesting is that each star is about 1.5 times the mass of the Sun, but only about 25km in diameter the size of a single city. When you cram that much mass into such a small volume, the matter is more densely packed than that of an atomic nucleus. So, for example, while the nucleus of a helium atom has just two neutrons and two protons, a neutron star is essentially a single nucleus made up of 1057 neutrons and 1056 protons.

Exotic physics impossible on Earth

We can use neutron stars to probe properties of nuclear physics that cannot be investigated in laboratories on Earth. For example, some current theories predict that exotic particles of matter, such as hyperons and deconfined quarks, can appear at the high densities that are present in neutron stars. Theories also indicate that at temperatures of a billion degrees Celsius, protons in the neutron star become superconducting and neutrons, without charge, become superfluid.

The magnetic field of neutron stars is extreme as well, possibly the strongest in the universe, and billions of times stronger than anything created in laboratories. While the gravity at the surface of a neutron star may not be as strong as that near a black hole, neutron stars still create major distortions in spacetime and can be sources of gravitational waves, which were inferred from research into neutron stars in the 1970s, and confirmed from black holes by the LIGO experiments recently.

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The main focus of NICER is to accurately measure the mass and radius of several neutron stars and, although the telescope will observe other types of astronomical objects, those of us studying neutron stars hope NICER will provide us with unique insights into these fascinating objects and their physics. NICER will measure how the brightness of a neutron star changes according to its energy, and how it changes as the star rotates, revealing different parts of the surface. These observations will be compared to theoretical models based on properties of the star such as mass and radius. Accurate determinations of mass and radius will provide a vital test of nuclear theory.

A GPS for deep space

Another aspect of neutron stars that could prove important for future space travel is their rotation and this will also be tested by NICER. Rotating neutron stars, known as pulsars, emit beams of radiation like a lighthouse and are seen to spin as fast as 716 times per second. This rotation rate in some neutron stars is more stable than the best atomic clocks we have on Earth. In fact, it is this characteristic of neutron stars that led to the discovery of the first planets outside our solar system in 1992 three Earth-sized planets revolving around a neutron star.

The NICER mission, using a part of the telescope called SEXTANT, will test whether the extraordinary regularity and stability of neutron star rotation could be used as a network of navigation beacons in deep space. Neutron stars could thus serve as natural satellites contributing to a Galactic (rather than Global) Positioning System and could be relied upon by future manned and unmanned spacecraft to navigate among the stars.

NICER will operate for 18 months, but it is hoped that NASA will continue to support its operation afterwards, especially if it can deliver on its ambitious scientific goals. I hope so too, because NICER combines and greatly improves upon the invaluable capabilities of previous X-ray spacecraft RXTE, Chandra, and XMM-Newton that are used to uncover neutron stars' mysteries and reveal properties of fundamental physics.

The first neutron star, a pulsar, was discovered in 1967 by Jocelyn Bell Burnell. It would be fitting to obtain a breakthrough on neutron stars in this 50th anniversary year.

Explore further: Image: Close-up view of neutron star mission's X-ray concentrator optics

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

A new NASA mission, the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER), is headed for the International Space Station next month to observe one of the strangest observable objects in the universe. Launching aboardSpaceX's ...

Professor Sudip Bhattacharyya of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, India, and Professor Deepto Chakrabarty (MIT), an adjunct visiting professor at the same institute, have shown that a population ...

Neutron stars are amongst the most exotic astrophysical objects in the Universe. Born from the supernova explosion of massive stars, neutron stars are so densely compacted by their own gravity that a sphere just 20 kilometers ...

An upcoming NASA astrophysics mission will uncover the physics governing the ultra-dense interiors of neutron stars. Using the same platform, the mission will demonstrate trailblazing space navigation technology.

(Phys.org) Neutron stars, the ultra-dense cores left behind after massive stars collapse, contain the densest matter known in the Universe outside of a black hole. New results from Chandra and other X-ray telescopes have ...

When a star with a mass of roughly ten solar masses finishes its life, it does so in a spectacular explosion known as a supernova, leaving behind as remnant "ash" a neutron star. Neutron stars have masses of one-to-several ...

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Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute/AEI) in Potsdam found that hidden dimensions as predicted by string theory could influence gravitational waves. In a recently ...

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Neutron stars could be our GPS for deep space travel - Phys.Org

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The German village that changed the war BBC News The research and development carried out in Peenemnde was not only crucial to the course of the biggest war in history, but impacted the future of weapons of mass destruction, as well as space travel. Today, all that remains of the complex is an old ...

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The fantasy of humans living on Mars is a step closer to reality after Elon Musk, the founder-CEO of California-based SpaceX, put his space-travel vision on paper this month.

Musk's article in the journal New Space has a fittingly lofty title: "Making humans a multi-planetary species." But it has an appropriately down-to-Earth goal: Musk begins by saying he's writing "to make Mars seem possible -- make it see it is something that we can do in our lifetimes. There really is a way that anyone can go if they wanted to."

What follows is 16 pages, mostly understandable for the layman, of plans and illustrations that are both inspiring and practical-looking.

Perhaps this exhortation to put heart and mind behind further exploration of outer space is just what Americans need at a time when public life is dominated by self-interest, narrow-mindedness and insularity.

Or maybe it's just a good investment opportunity and a hedge against whatever disaster could someday -- as Musk thinks might happen -- leave Earth uninhabitable.

Musk, whose SpaceX is the world's largest private producer of rocket engines, says it's possible to colonize Mars with as many as 1 million men and women over the next 50 to 100 years.

The key is affordability; he thinks the per-person cost of a Mars trip can be shrunk from an estimated $10 billion using conventional ways of space travel to $200,000 or less.

The key to such cost-cutting is having reusable, refuelable rockets, and hundreds of spaceships that could live in Earth orbit before beginning 80-day flights to Mars when the planets align properly every 26 months.

Musk, a South Africa native who founded Tesla and SolarCity, is estimated to be worth $15 billion. But even he can't personally fund sustained travel to Mars and a human base there.

Ultimately, Musk wants to encourage investment by other billionaires, and perhaps a public-private partnership.

That's why making the plans public and plausible is a step in the right direction.

But judge for yourself. See Musk's article at: http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/pdf/10.1089/space.2017.29009.emu

-- By the L.A. Daily News editorial board, Digital First Media

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EDITORIAL: An important step on long journey to Mars - Sentinel & Enterprise

Mae Jemison the first African American woman in space. Photograph: NASA/Roger Ressmeyer/Corbis/VCG/Getty Images

Female scientists provided the rocket fuel that launched the space race into orbit, but it wasnt until Hidden Figures was released that these women or, at least, three of these women gained global recognition. Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson have since been rightly lauded as pioneers, but the history of women in space is long and filled with shining stars. Here are a few more names we ought to remember.

Born in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1925, Nancy Grace Roman was a stargazer from an early age. When only 11, she formed an astronomy club with her classmates, going on to gain a PhD in astronomy. She followed her guiding star all the way to Nasa where, as chief of astronomy, she became the first woman to hold a managerial position. Leading the Hubble Space Telescope project was among her most famous achievements, earning her the Mother of Hubble nickname.

Valentina Tereshkova took up skydiving in her early 20s, and it was this expertise that led her to be selected, from among 400 applicants, for space travel. On 16 June 1963, aged 26, she was sealed inside the Vostok 6 and launched into space, where she spent almost three days, completing 48 Earth orbits.

Without the software created by Margaret Hamiltons team, the 1969 moon landing would never have taken place. In recognition of her contribution to space exploration, Hamilton has been given both the Nasa Exceptional Space Act Award (in 2003) and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (in 2016). She is also credited with creating the building blocks for modern software engineering.

Unlike the two Soviet Union women who preceded her, the then 32-year-old Sally Ride was already an experienced astrophysicist when she undertook her first space mission. During a pre-launch press conference, Ride was subjected to such inane questions as: Will the flight affect your reproductive organs? and: Do you weep when things go wrong on the job? Her smiling response: How come nobody ever asks Rick [crewmate Captain Rick Hauck] those questions?

Few people remember the second woman in space, so its lucky for Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya that she has another record to her name: in July 1984, two years after her first space flight, Savitskaya became the first woman to complete a spacewalk. In a 1995 interview she described the sexism she encountered upon first entering the Salyut 7 space station, when a male crewmate presented her with an apron and told her to get to work.

One of Dr Helen Sharmans pre-astronaut jobs involved improving the flavour of chocolate for Mars confectionery, but her space mission didnt take her quite as far as the Red Planet. She did, however, spend an eight-day mission aboard the Mir space station, having been selected live on television. After returning to Earth, Sharman dedicated herself to inspiring others, later publishing a childrens book called The Space Place.

I remember being irritated that there were no women astronauts, Mae Jemison said of her reaction to the 1969 moon landings, as a then 12-year-old. People tried to explain that to me, and I did not buy it. Twenty-three years later, the engineer and physician became the first African American woman in space. She took several symbolic objects along for the ride, including a photograph of Bessie Coleman, the first African American woman to fly an aeroplane.

Anousheh Ansari has said she prefers spaceflight participant to space tourist, but whatever you call it, this Iranian American entrepreneur blazed a trail when she self-funded her way to the International Space Station (ISS). She has since become a proponent of the privatisation of space and has announced plans to create a fleet of suborbital spaceflight vehicles for commercial use.

At time of writing, 57-year-old Peggy Whitson is actually in space, serving aboard the International Space Station. On 24 April 2017, she broke the record for the longest total time spent in space by any Nasa astronaut (534 days) and, in recognition of her achievement, received a televised phone call from the Oval Office. President Trump expressed his hope that a Nasa astronaut would land on Mars during my first term or, at worst, during my second term, to which Whitson responded: Well do our best.

On 5 November 2013, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully put a satellite into orbit around Mars, making India the first nation in the world to do so on its first attempt. Nandini Harinath, a 20-year veteran of ISRO and mother of two, was one of several female scientists to work on the project, working 20-hour days during the launch.

Hidden Figures is launching on Blu-ray and DVD on 3 July, and is available on Digital Download now.

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More hidden figures: 10 women who helped take us to space - The Guardian