Space

The space “guest” fell in 1931 near the Tunisian city of the same name. Nowadays, it has been found out that the meteorite is a diogenite, that is, it belongs to the type of objects made of solidified magma. The formation of the latter takes place inside the asteroid, and then, as a result of slow cooling, rather large crystals are formed.

In Tataouine, the size of crystals reaches up to 5 millimetres, and black veins speak about the impact of high temperature and pressure on them in the past. According to scientists, Tataouine was subjected to a pressure of about 25 GPa. At the bottom of the Mariana Trench, for example, this figure reaches only 0.1 gigapascal.

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Although diamonds are quite rare on our planet, on Uranus and Neptune they literally rain down from the atmosphere. New laboratory experiments have shown that such brilliant precipitation is formed at lower temperatures and pressures than previously thought. In other words, “diamond rain” turned out to be not so rare phenomenon in our system and in the Universe in general. In addition, it affects the magnetic field of the planets.
Scientists subjected polystyrene film to extreme pressure in interaction with the diamond, and then irradiated with X-rays, heating more than 2.2 thousand degrees Celsius. Experts were able to recreate the formation of “diamond precipitation”, similar to those that occur on the named planets.

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US space agency NASA is currently considering a new proposal to cover the potential needs of astronauts heading to the Red Planet. It is believed that the agency could develop a technique using synthetic biology to remove toxic perchlorates from ice deposits on Mars, making the water extracted from them suitable for human consumption.

According to a publication in New Atlas, the new technique NASA has proposed to use is called the regenerative perchlorate reduction system. This approach involves synthetic biology used to create genetically modified bacteria that can feed on perchlorates, converting them into oxygen and chlorides.

Although bacteria with this ability are not new, and they naturally occur on Earth, they cannot be sent to Mars. The research team intends to obtain key genes that act as catalysts for the corresponding reaction, and they are supposed to be mixed into strain 168 of Bacillus subtilis, which has been recognised as capable of space travel.

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At CES 2024 in Las Vegas in early January, Jackery showed a concept of its Mars Bot, which is essentially a robotic solar power station. According to a publication in New Atlas, the robot on four wheels with sliding solar panels will be able to automatically follow the position of the Sun in the sky, travelling to the point with the best possible illumination.

The developers of Mars Bot note that the body of their brainchild, made of aluminium alloy, is shockproof, as well as water- and dust-proof. Directly above the body on a special movable console installed a block of solar panels.

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In a happy coincidence, a group of astronomers from Green Bank Observatory in the US state of West Virginia found, presumably, the dimmest galaxy in the Universe, having made a mistake when entering coordinates into the telescope. The detected object appears to consist solely of scattered gas, and there are no visible stars in it.

The new galaxy, dubbed J0613+52, was spotted when incorrectly entered coordinates into the Green Bank telescope put it in the wrong position. Researchers were amazed to see a hitherto unknown isolated object, which was characterised as a dark primary galaxy.

According to scientists, this object was not subject to any influence from the outside, the stars were formed there by themselves, and not due to gravitational interaction with other objects. Experts stressed that the lack of neighbours and the dispersion of gas indicate that a limited number of stars were formed, and those that appeared, almost not visible, which makes the galaxy extremely dim, and it is not easy to notice with the available instruments.

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