Latest news with #Ehlmann
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Golden Records tell the story of Earth. Will alien worlds ever find them?
In 1977, NASA launched Voyagers 1 and 2 from Cape Canaveral, Florida into space to embark on a grand tour of the far reaches of our solar system. Mounted on board each probe was a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk—a cosmic 'message in a bottle' engraved with sights, sounds, and depictions of life on Earth, collectively known as the Golden Records—on the slim chance some far-off alien civilization might discover them. And in Disney and Pixar's animated film Elio, in theaters June 20, that's exactly what happens when main character Elio encounters aliens who believe he is Earth's leader. 'It's meant to be a sort of a letter of introduction to any culture who might find the probe,' says Bethany Ehlmann, a planetary scientist at the California Institute of Technology and a 2013 National Geographic Emerging Explorer, of the real-life Golden Records. Though these gilded greetings were partly intended for an alien audience, they mostly served as a message to humans and our tiny blue marble planet. 'It's a love letter to Earth and all that we have come through to get to the point where we could send these probes to understand our solar system.' But where are the Golden Records now—and how much longer are they intended to last in space? We spoke to the experts, including Ehlmann, to find out. When tasked with figuring out what to include in the intergalactic mixtape aboard the Voyager probes, renowned astronomer Carl Sagan assembled a team of scientists, artists, and engineers. For a true depiction of life on Earth aboard humankind's most distant physical emissary, the team included a variety of sounds associated with daily life and nature, like bird calls, humpback whale songs, children's laughter, footsteps, heartbeats, brain wave scans, and a kiss. There are also 90 minutes of music contained on the disk, including Western classical compositions from Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, and Stravinsky, Senegalese percussion music, Australian Aboriginal songs, and Chuck Berry's 'Johnny B. Goode.' (The close of cosmos, and golden voices in the stars.) The carefully thought-out record, designed to endure space travel for billions of years, also consists of spoken greetings in 55 modern and ancient languages, as well as 115 analog-encoded photographs of Earth and its inhabitants. Engraved on the cover of these records is a map to help find one's way to Earth relative to nearby known, flashing, dense cores of stars called pulsars. There are etched diagrams of a hydrogen atom—the most common element in the universe—and instructions for playing each record. Each disk is enclosed in a protective, gold-plated aluminum jacket, together with a cartridge and a needle to play it. "The spacecraft will be encountered and the record played only if there are advanced space-faring civilizations in interstellar space," Sagan, leader of the Voyager Golden Record project, wrote. "But the launching of this 'bottle' into the cosmic 'ocean' says something very hopeful about life on this planet." (Dear Voyagers: How your billion-year journey carries true love.) Over the years, the Voyager probes flew by the solar system's most distant four planets at a rate of 35,000 miles per hour, sending back detailed views of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and their moons. Voyager 2 flying by Uranus and Neptune is the only time humanity has seen these worlds up close. After completing their primary missions to collectively fly by all four outer planets in 1989, the twin probes kept chugging along through the vast outer reaches of the solar system. Voyager 1 and 2 exited the solar system and entered interstellar space in 2012 and 2018, respectively. At more than 15 billion miles from Earth, Voyager 1 has become the most distant human-made object in space. Voyager 2, in second place, is now about 13 billion miles away. The interstellar environment they're in contains a stew of cosmic gas, dust, and rays. The twin Voyager probes are equipped with radiation-resistant parts, but the onslaught of charged particles in their current neck of the woods still pose a threat to their aging electronics. Both Voyager spacecrafts are still collecting and sending back data, updating humans on their intergalactic adventures, albeit slowly—it takes nearly 20 hours for these signals to reach Earth, given the immense distance they need to travel. We're now reaching the end of the Voyager missions, as the twin probes' plutonium power supplies are running out of juice. The Voyager team is attempting to extend their lifetime for as long as they can by shutting down non-essential instruments like heaters to conserve power. 'More than 47 years into the mission, there's very little power left,' says Suzanne "Suzy" Dodd, the current project manager for the Voyager missions. 'The goal of the mission is to get it to 50 years.' Even after the probe's science mission ends, though, the Golden Records will keep quietly drifting further and further into the cosmic abyss, likely for millions and even billions of years.'Long after we've lost communications with the spacecraft, it'll still be traveling with this record—a time capsule,' Dodd says. She remarks that it's exciting 'to think about a little piece of us, a little piece of what Earth and humanity is all about, traveling around the center of our galaxy to be found by whatever being might be out there.' But, as Dodd points out, there are enormous physical and chronological distances involved. It's going to take around 40,000 years for the probes to drift into the vicinity of any other star system, when Voyager 1 will pass within 1.6 light-years of the star Gliese 445. Around the same time, Voyager 2 will be within 1.7 light-years of the star Ross 248. The Golden Records have left a huge cosmic impact. According to Ehlmann, most spacecrafts that followed the Voyager mission included some sort of message from our Earthly abode. 'People sometimes think of science as a cold and calculating endeavor, but really it's the expression of curiosity and awe,' she says. 'It's an ability to leave your mark in the universe.' And almost fifty years after they first took flight, our pair of plucky robot emissaries to the stars continues embarking on the deepest journey ever into space. 'Who knows? The Voyager probes, a million years from now, may end up in some alien museum,' Ehlmann says. 'It's exciting to imagine.'
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Missouri's marijuana tax battle reaches State Supreme Court
FLORISSANT, Mo. – A marijuana company is arguing at the Missouri State Supreme Court that dispensaries are being overtaxed. Attorney Eric Walter with Armstrong Teasdale LLP argued that Florissant marijuana dispensaries are paying too much in taxes. 'They're competing against the black market that's always been there and they're also competing against this Delta 8 that's being sold in gas stations and that isn't taxed,' he said. In 2022, when the state constitution was amended for marijuana sales, it said the governing body of 'any' local government is authorized to impose an additional sales tax of up to 3%. But Walter and St. Louis County disagree on if that applies to multiple governing bodies or just a single local governing body. Robust Missouri, which has a Florissant facility, argues the city imposes that 3% tax because the facility is within city limits. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now St. Louis County is also imposing its own 3% tax, though, which Walters argues is not the intention of the constitutional amendment. A circuit court sided with the county. An appeals court sided with the dispensaries. So now the case is at the supreme court and St. Charles County has also intervened. 'Everybody pays taxes today on their bourbon or Budweiser and they pay a state tax, they pay county taxes and they pay city taxes,' said St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann. 'They do co-exist and they do overlap and that is the regular sales tax that everybody pays on everything else, including marijuana products. So the counties, even on sales in the city, the counties are getting that portion that would otherwise come to them,' Walter said. Walter says this tax is on top of a 6% state tax and other local sales taxes that apply to all sales, leading to marijuana being taxed as much as 17%. But Ehlmann argues the counties are strictly following the state constitution. 'If you put it in the constitution, you better get it right because, as we're finding out right now, if it turns out that it's not written the way you thought it was, you're out of luck,' Ehlmann said. Ehlmann says this 3% tax has already generated $2.5 million for the county this year. St. Louis County says it has collected more than $6 million since this tax was implemented in 2023. There is no set time for when the supreme court will make a decision on the case. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
MTV Lebanon
27-02-2025
- Science
- MTV Lebanon
NASA Launches Satellite on Mission to Detect Water on the Moon
A dishwasher-sized NASA satellite was launched into space from Florida on Wednesday to identify where water - a precious resource for lunar missions - resides on the moon's surface in places such as the permanently shadowed craters at its poles. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral carrying NASA's Lunar Trailblazer orbiter. The Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft was built by Lockheed Martin's (LMT.N), opens new tab space division. The satellite was a secondary payload onboard the rocket, with the primary payload being a lunar lander mission led by Intuitive Machines (LUNR.O), opens new tab. The lunar surface is often thought of as arid but previous measurements have found the presence of some water, even in warmer sun-lit locations. In cold and permanently shadowed places at the lunar poles, it has long been hypothesized that there could be significant amounts of water ice. Lunar Trailblazer, which weighs about 440 pounds (200 kg) and measures about 11.5 feet (3.5 meters) wide when its solar panels are fully deployed, is being sent to find and map this water on the moon's surface. For future moon exploration, including potential long-term lunar bases staffed by astronauts, lunar water would be of vital importance because it could be processed not only as a drinking supply but also into breathable oxygen and hydrogen fuel for rockets. The bottoms of hundreds of craters at the moon's South Pole, for instance, are permanently shadowed and may hold ice patches. Some water also may be locked inside broken rock and dust on the lunar surface. Lunar Trailblazer is scheduled to perform a series of moon flybys and looping orbits over a span of several months to position itself to map the surface in detail. It eventually will orbit at an altitude of roughly 60 miles (100 km) and collect high-resolution images of targeted areas to determine the form, distribution and abundance of water and to better understand the lunar water cycle. "We see tiny amounts of water on sunlit portions of the moon, which is mysterious," said planetary scientist Bethany Ehlmann, the mission's principal investigator and director of Caltech's Keck Institute for Space Studies. But, Ehlmann added: "The most interesting (aspect) for many is the potentially large amounts of ice in the permanently shadowed regions of the lunar poles. Lunar Trailblazer will peer inside to see how much is at the surface." Such locations could serve as a resource for lunar explorers in the future. "Understanding where a rover would drive or an astronaut would walk to examine deposits for science and future resource use will benefit all future landed missions," Ehlmann said. Two Lunar Trailblazer instruments will take measurements from orbit together. The Lunar Thermal Mapper, or LTM, will map and measure the lunar surface temperature. The High-resolution Volatiles and Minerals Moon Mapper, or HVM3, will look at the moon's surface for a telltale pattern of light given off by water. "We believe that the movement of water on the moon is likely driven by the surface temperature. So by measuring the presence and amount of water via the HVM3 instrument and the surface temperature via the LTM instrument we can better understand this relationship," said University of Oxford planetary scientist Tristram Warren, who worked on developing the LTM instrument. Lunar water is thought to come from several potential sources. One possibility is that solar wind - charged particles from the sun - could react with lunar minerals to create water. Another source might be comets or meteorites, which may have delivered water to the moon over billions of years. The exact amount of lunar water remains uncertain, but it is potentially hundreds of millions of tons. "Other than for human exploration, lunar water is also scientifically very exciting. The moon has been orbiting near the Earth almost since the formation of Earth itself. So understanding the origin of the lunar water might help us to understand the origin of water on Earth," Warren said.
Asharq Al-Awsat
27-02-2025
- Science
- Asharq Al-Awsat
NASA Launches Satellite on Mission to Detect Water on the Moon
A dishwasher-sized NASA satellite was launched into space from Florida on Wednesday to identify where water - a precious resource for lunar missions - resides on the moon's surface in places such as the permanently shadowed craters at its poles. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral carrying NASA's Lunar Trailblazer orbiter. The Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft was built by Lockheed Martin's space division. The satellite was a secondary payload onboard the rocket, with the primary payload being a lunar lander mission led by Intuitive Machines. The lunar surface is often thought of as arid but previous measurements have found the presence of some water, even in warmer sun-lit locations. In cold and permanently shadowed places at the lunar poles, it has long been hypothesized that there could be significant amounts of water ice. Lunar Trailblazer, which weighs about 440 pounds (200 kg) and measures about 11.5 feet (3.5 meters) wide when its solar panels are fully deployed, is being sent to find and map this water on the moon's surface. For future moon exploration, including potential long-term lunar bases staffed by astronauts, lunar water would be of vital importance because it could be processed not only as a drinking supply but also into breathable oxygen and hydrogen fuel for rockets. The bottoms of hundreds of craters at the moon's South Pole, for instance, are permanently shadowed and may hold ice patches. Some water also may be locked inside broken rock and dust on the lunar surface. Lunar Trailblazer is scheduled to perform a series of moon flybys and looping orbits over a span of several months to position itself to map the surface in detail. It eventually will orbit at an altitude of roughly 60 miles (100 km) and collect high-resolution images of targeted areas to determine the form, distribution and abundance of water and to better understand the lunar water cycle. "We see tiny amounts of water on sunlit portions of the moon, which is mysterious," said planetary scientist Bethany Ehlmann, the mission's principal investigator and director of Caltech's Keck Institute for Space Studies. But, Ehlmann added: "The most interesting (aspect) for many is the potentially large amounts of ice in the permanently shadowed regions of the lunar poles. Lunar Trailblazer will peer inside to see how much is at the surface." Such locations could serve as a resource for lunar explorers in the future. "Understanding where a rover would drive or an astronaut would walk to examine deposits for science and future resource use will benefit all future landed missions," Ehlmann said. Two Lunar Trailblazer instruments will take measurements from orbit together. The Lunar Thermal Mapper, or LTM, will map and measure the lunar surface temperature. The High-resolution Volatiles and Minerals Moon Mapper, or HVM3, will look at the moon's surface for a telltale pattern of light given off by water. "We believe that the movement of water on the moon is likely driven by the surface temperature. So, by measuring the presence and amount of water via the HVM3 instrument and the surface temperature via the LTM instrument we can better understand this relationship," said University of Oxford planetary scientist Tristram Warren, who worked on developing the LTM instrument. Lunar water is thought to come from several potential sources. One possibility is that solar wind - charged particles from the sun - could react with lunar minerals to create water. Another source might be comets or meteorites, which may have delivered water to the moon over billions of years. The exact amount of lunar water remains uncertain, but it is potentially hundreds of millions of tons. "Other than for human exploration, lunar water is also scientifically very exciting. The moon has been orbiting near the Earth almost since the formation of Earth itself. So, understanding the origin of the lunar water might help us to understand the origin of water on Earth," Warren said.
CBC
27-02-2025
- Science
- CBC
NASA launches satellite for mission to map water on the moon
A dishwasher-sized NASA satellite was launched into space from Florida on Wednesday to identify places on the moon's surface where water exists — for example, in the permanently shadowed craters at the lunar poles. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral carrying NASA's Lunar Trailblazer orbiter built by Lockheed Martin's space division. The satellite was a secondary payload onboard the rocket, with the primary one being a lunar lander named Athena for a mission led by American space exploration company Intuitive Machines. The lunar surface is often thought of as arid, but previous measurements have found the presence of some water, even in warmer sun-lit locations. Scientists have long hypothesized that there could be significant amounts of water in the form of ice located in cold and permanently shadowed spots at the lunar pole. The bottoms of hundreds of craters at the moon's South Pole, for instance, are permanently shadowed and may hold patches of ice. Some water also may be locked inside broken rock and dust on the lunar surface. Lunar Trailblazer, which weighs about 440 pounds (200 kg) and measures about 3.5 metres wide when its solar panels are fully deployed, is being sent to find and map this water on the moon's surface. For future moon exploration, including potential long-term lunar bases staffed by astronauts, lunar water would be of vital importance because it could be processed not only for drinking, but also into breathable oxygen and hydrogen fuel for rockets. Satellite to orbit moon to map surface Lunar Trailblazer is scheduled to perform a series of flybys and looping orbits over a span of several months to position itself to map the surface in detail. Eventually, it will orbit at an altitude of roughly 100 km and collect high-resolution images of targeted areas to determine the form, distribution and abundance of water and to better understand the lunar water cycle. "We see tiny amounts of water on sun-lit portions of the moon, which is mysterious," said planetary scientist Bethany Ehlmann, the mission's principal investigator and director of Caltech's Keck Institute for Space Studies. But, Ehlmann added: "The most interesting (aspect) for many is the potentially large amounts of ice in the permanently shadowed regions of the lunar poles. Lunar Trailblazer will peer inside to see how much is at the surface." Such locations could serve as a resource for lunar explorers in the future. "Understanding where a rover would drive or an astronaut would walk to examine deposits for science and future resource use will benefit all future landed missions," Ehlmann said. Two Lunar Trailblazer instruments will take measurements from orbit together. The Lunar Thermal Mapper, or LTM, will map and measure the lunar surface temperature. The High-resolution Volatiles and Minerals Moon Mapper, or HVM3, will look at the moon's surface for a telltale pattern of light given off by water. "We believe that the movement of water on the moon is likely driven by the surface temperature. So by measuring the presence and amount of water via the HVM3 instrument and the surface temperature via the LTM instrument we can better understand this relationship," said University of Oxford planetary scientist Tristram Warren, who worked on developing the LTM instrument. Lunar water is thought to come from several potential sources. One possibility is that solar wind — charged particles from the sun — could react with lunar minerals to create water. Another source might be comets or meteorites, which may have delivered water to the moon over billions of years. The exact amount of lunar water remains uncertain, but NASA estimates it is potentially hundreds of millions of tonnes. "Other than for human exploration, lunar water is also scientifically very exciting," Warren said. "The moon has been orbiting near the Earth almost since the formation of Earth itself. So understanding the origin of the lunar water might help us to understand the origin of water on Earth."
