An estimated 8 million tons of plastic trash enters the ocean each year, and most of it is battered by sun and waves into microplastics tiny flecks that can ride currents hundreds or thousands of miles from their point of entry
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IMAGE: The far side of the Moon always faces away from the Earth, making communications from lunar equipment there much more challenging. Fortunately, relay communication satellites can act as a bridge. view more
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Space: Science & Technology
Because of a phenomenon called gravitational locking, the Moon always faces the Earth from the same side. This proved useful in the early lunar landing missions in the 20th century, as there was always a direct line of sight for uninterrupted radiocommunications between Earth ground stations and equipment on the Moon. However, gravitational locking makes exploring the hidden face of the moon the far side much more challenging, because signals cannot be sent directly across the Moon towards Earth.
Scientists are developing data assimilation methods for Numerical Weather Prediction models that will increase the quality of initialization data from satellites. The Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) is designed to use data assimilation to investigate the potential impact of future atmospheric observing systems. Traditional OSSE processes require significant effort to compute, simulate, and calibrate information, then assimilate the data to produce a forecast. Therefore, model meteorologists are working to make this process more efficient.
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IMAGE: (Top panel, from left to right) July 12, 2012 coronal mass ejection seen in STEREO B Cor2, SOHO C2, and STEREO A Cor2 coronagraphs, respectively. (Bottom panel) The same images. view more
Credit: Talwinder Singh, Mehmet S. Yalim, Nikolai V. Pogorelov, and Nat Gopalswamy
The surface of the sun churns with energy and frequently ejects masses of highly-magnetized plasma towards Earth. Sometimes these ejections are strong enough to crash through the magnetosphere the natural magnetic shield that protects the Earth damaging satellites or electrical grids. Such space weather events can be catastrophic.
Astronomers have studied the sun s activity for centuries with greater and greater understanding. Today, computers are central to the quest to understand the sun s behavior and its role in space weather events.
Sandia researcher Humberto Tito Silva III has been named Engineer of the Year by AIAA, the world s largest aerospace technical society. Silva s work improved failure-rate predictions of aerospace flight systems as they reenter Earth s atmosphere. The work helps direct engineers to attack the worst problems first for reentry rockets, spaceships and satellites.