Latest news with #planetaryexploration
Yahoo
13-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
John Casani, engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab whose craft unlocked the solar system's secrets
John Casani, who has died aged 92, was an American spaceflight engineer who led the teams that pioneered Nasa's explorations of the planets since the dawn of the Space Age. They took the first close-up images and scientific measurements of remote planets, moons and asteroids across the length and breadth of our solar system – from burning Mercury to freezing Neptune, in space endeavours unequalled before or since. Working at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California, Casani was at the centre of the golden age of space exploration for five decades from the late 1950s. Some of his spacecraft from the 1970s are still functioning in deep space, having now outlived him. His early spacecraft were so small that he carried them around in a briefcase – but despite their primitive design, they became the first objects to escape the Earth's gravity and measured our planet's radiation belts. Casani was project manager for the two Nasa Voyager probes that departed Earth in 1977 for the outer planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Despite being the fastest man-made craft to that date, Voyager 2 took 12 years to reach the final planet, Neptune. Now, having left our solar system and entered uncharted interstellar space, both Voyagers are still functioning as they approach 48 years since launch. Voyager 1 is zipping along at more than 38,000 mph, still the fastest human-built object. The two craft carry the celebrated Voyager Golden Records, which have messages for any alien civilisations which might stumble across these earthly emissaries in some distant corner of the galaxy. Casani asked the astronomer Carl Sagan to come up with the content – recordings of natural sounds including surf, wind, and animals, greetings in 55 languages, music, pictures of Earth and drawings of two naked humans. Casani later ran the troubled Galileo mission to Jupiter for a decade. In 1985 the completed spacecraft was being transferred to Cape Canaveral in Florida for launch when the space shuttle Challenger exploded in flight, killing seven crew. Galileo was designed for launch on another shuttle, but the fleet was grounded, and so it missed the carefully planned trajectory to its destination. Galileo languished on Earth for four more years while Casani's team came up with a complicated new pathway to Jupiter via Venus, two asteroids and two fly-bys of Earth. With everything ready for a second launch attempt, anti-nuclear protesters threatened to disrupt the mission due to concerns about the nuclear power sources it carried. So the spacecraft was delivered to the Kennedy Space Center by a high-speed truck convoy that departed JPL in the middle of the night. Fearing that the trucks might be hijacked by the protesters, or by terrorists seeking the plutonium, the route was kept secret from the drivers in advance. They drove across the US in one almost continual trip. Protests erupted as activists stormed the Space Center, and three were jailed, but Galileo launched without incident. After 18 months in the vicinity of Venus and Earth, Galileo was commanded to unfurl its main antenna as it sailed deeper into space. But the mechanism had by now spent four years in unplanned storage and would not work. Without the big antenna, the stream of photos and data from distant Jupiter would be a meagre trickle. Casani and his team re-purposed two smaller antennae and salvaged most of the mission's scientific objectives. John Richard Casani was born on September 17 1932 to Jack and Julia Casani in Philadelphia, spending his childhood in the city's suburbs. From an early age he was fascinated by mechanical devices and invented several for his parents' home – a garage door opener and automatic light switches. He graduated in electrical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 1955. After brief employment at the US Air Force's Rome Air Development Center in New York, he went off on a capricious road trip to California fuelled by a lack of direction in life. But he was soon hired, almost by accident, by Nasa's then-secretive Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, where he stayed. In addition to the Voyagers and Galileo, Casani also worked on space probes to the Moon, Mars and Saturn. In 1994 he was appointed JPL's Chief Engineer, a position created specifically for him. Casani co-wrote The Moons of Jupiter (2004) which described the discoveries of Nasa's Galileo probe. He also appeared in The Farthest, a 2017 documentary on the Voyager craft. He did not live to see his biography Born to Explore: John Casani's Grand Tour of the Solar System by Jay Gallentine, which is to be published in December 2025. John Casani's wife, Lynn, née Seitz, died in 2008. The couple had five sons. John Casani, born September 17 1932, died June 19 2025 Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Curiosity Cracked Open a Rock on Mars And Discovered a Huge Surprise
A rock on Mars spilled a surprising yellow treasure after Curiosity accidentally cracked through its unremarkable exterior. When the rover rolled its 899-kilogram (1,982-pound) body over the fragile lump of mineral in May last year the deposit broke open, revealing yellow crystals of elemental sulfur: brimstone. Although sulfates are fairly common on Mars, this represents the first time sulfur has been found on the red planet in its pure elemental form. Related: What's even more exciting is that the Gediz Vallis Channel, where Curiosity found the rock, is littered with objects that look suspiciously similar to the sulfur rock before it got fortuitously crushed – suggesting that, somehow, elemental sulfur may be abundant there in some places. "Finding a field of stones made of pure sulfur is like finding an oasis in the desert," said Curiosity project scientist Ashwin Vasavada of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in July 2024. "It shouldn't be there, so now we have to explain it. Discovering strange and unexpected things is what makes planetary exploration so exciting." Sulfates are salts that form when sulfur, usually in compound form, mixes with other minerals in water. When the water evaporates, the minerals mix and dry out, leaving the sulfates behind. These sulfate minerals can tell us a lot about Mars, such as its water history, and how it has weathered over time. Pure sulfur, on the other hand, only forms under a very narrow set of conditions, which are not known to have occurred in the region of Mars where Curiosity made its discovery. There are, to be fair, a lot of things we don't know about the geological history of Mars, but the discovery of scads of pure sulfur just hanging about on the Martian surface suggests that there's something pretty big that we're not aware of. Sulfur, it's important to understand, is an essential element for all life. It's usually taken up in the form of sulfates, and used to make two of the essential amino acids living organisms need to make proteins. Since we've known about sulfates on Mars for some time, the discovery doesn't tell us anything new in that area. We're yet to find any signs of life on Mars, anyway. But we do keep stumbling across the remains of bits and pieces that living organisms would find useful, including chemistry, water, and past habitable conditions. Stuck here on Earth, we're fairly limited in how we can access Mars. Curiosity's instruments were able to analyze and identify the sulfurous rocks in the Gediz Vallis Channel, but if it hadn't taken a route that rolled over and cracked one open, it could have been sometime until we found the sulfur. The next step will be to figure out exactly how, based on what we know about Mars, that sulfur may have come to be there. That's going to take a bit more work, possibly involving some detailed modeling of Mars's geological evolution. Meanwhile, Curiosity will continue to collect data on the same. The Gediz Vallis channel is an area rich in Martian history, an ancient waterway whose rocks now bear the imprint of the ancient river that once flowed over them, billions of years ago. Curiosity drilled a hole in one of the rocks, taking a powdered sample of its interior for chemical analysis, and is still trundling its way deeper along the channel, to see what other surprises might be waiting just around the next rock. An earlier version of this article was published in July 2024. First Visual Evidence Confirms A Star Exploded Twice Largest Mars Rock on Earth Could Sell For US$4 Million Here's How to Watch Mercury Photobomb Your 4th of July Fireworks
Sustainability Times
17-05-2025
- Science
- Sustainability Times
'Sea Storms Rattle the Core': Shocking New Study Reveals Ocean Waves Penetrate Deep Into Earth's Interior Layers
IN A NUTSHELL 🌊 Ocean storms in the North Atlantic generate microseisms that travel through the Earth's core, providing new insights into its structure. in the North Atlantic generate microseisms that travel through the Earth's core, providing new insights into its structure. 🔍 Researchers used spiral-shaped seismometers in Australia to detect PKP waves, a rare type of seismic wave caused by cyclones. in Australia to detect PKP waves, a rare type of seismic wave caused by cyclones. 🌌 This method could revolutionize planetary exploration by offering a way to study the interiors of planets and moons without tectonic activity. by offering a way to study the interiors of planets and moons without tectonic activity. ⚙️ Challenges include the faintness of storm-generated signals and the need for advanced equipment and precise data processing techniques. In a groundbreaking study, scientists have discovered that ocean storms can provide valuable insights into the Earth's interior. Traditionally, researchers relied on earthquakes to study the Earth's core, but this method has proven unreliable. Now, ocean storms, particularly those in the North Atlantic, are offering a more consistent and revealing alternative. As these storms unleash chaos on the ocean's surface, they send shockwaves deep into the Earth, traveling through its liquid outer core and solid inner core. This innovative approach not only enhances our understanding of Earth's structure but also opens new possibilities for exploring other planets. Catching the Sound of the Ocean When massive storms rage across the North Atlantic, they generate powerful ocean waves that clash, producing tiny vibrations known as microseisms. Unlike vibrations caused by tectonic activity, these microseisms result from storm waves colliding. While their energy is much weaker than that of earthquakes, some of these vibrations can travel thousands of miles through the Earth's core. Previously dismissed as mere background noise, microseisms have now emerged as a treasure trove of data, thanks to advanced equipment and sophisticated processing techniques. To capture these subtle vibrations, researchers from the Australian National University (ANU) deployed two arrays of spiral-shaped seismometers in remote areas of Queensland and Western Australia. These instruments were specifically designed to detect PKP waves, a rare type of seismic wave generated by cyclones that travel through Earth's core. During Australia's summer months, the team successfully recorded signals produced by winter storms in the far northern Atlantic. Although the strength of these microseisms was only a fraction of that produced by earthquakes, their frequent and uniform occurrence made them ideal for studying the Earth's inner layers. 'Concrete That Heals Itself': Scientists Create Lichen-Inspired Material That Uses Microbes to Seal Cracks Automatically What It Means for Earth and Beyond While Earth is known for its tectonic activity, many other planetary bodies lack such frequent geological events. However, they do have atmospheres and storms, which could generate similar microseisms. By detecting these vibrations, scientists could gain insights into the interiors of planets without relying on earthquakes. This technique, however, presents certain challenges. The faint storm-generated signals can be easily masked by local noise, and their detection depends on factors such as seafloor topography, ocean depth, and storm characteristics. As a result, not all locations on Earth or other planets are equally suitable for this approach. According to Hrvoje Tkalčić, a co-author of the study and professor at ANU, the signals are complex and vary based on the source and receiver path. Efficient methods and modern observational infrastructure, such as ocean bottom seismometer pools, are essential for detecting and recording these signals. Future research will focus on refining equipment and studying how seismic waves change as they pass through different parts of Earth's core. The findings of this study have been published in the journal Seismological Research Letters. Lead Transformed into Gold: CERN Scientists Stun World with Historic Alchemy Breakthrough After Decades of Failed Experiments The Implications for Planetary Exploration The discovery that ocean storms can reveal information about the Earth's interior has significant implications for planetary exploration. As scientists seek to understand the composition and structure of other planets, this method offers a promising alternative to traditional seismic techniques. By detecting microseisms generated by storms on other planets, researchers can gather data about their internal structures without relying on tectonic activity, which may be absent. This approach is particularly valuable for exploring icy moons and other celestial bodies where earthquakes are unlikely to occur. Abhay Pandey, a PhD student at ANU and study co-author, emphasizes that this method could be instrumental in identifying planets with cores, even those lacking plate tectonics or volcanic activity. By leveraging weather-driven vibrations, scientists can gain a deeper understanding of our solar system and beyond, paving the way for future exploration missions. This Colossal Chinese Telescope Just Turned to the Moon: Hunt for Buried Lunar Water Enters Unstoppable New Phase Challenges and Future Directions Despite the exciting potential of using ocean storms to study planetary interiors, several challenges remain. The faintness of storm-generated signals requires advanced equipment and precise data processing techniques. The detection of these signals is influenced by various factors, including the seafloor's shape, ocean depth, and storm intensity. As such, researchers must carefully select study locations to maximize the effectiveness of this approach. Moving forward, scientists will continue to refine their equipment and methods to enhance the detection and analysis of microseisms. By improving our understanding of how these vibrations interact with Earth's core, researchers can unlock new insights into our planet's structure. Additionally, as we venture into space exploration, this method could become a valuable tool for studying the interiors of other planets and moons. How will this innovative approach shape our understanding of the universe and our place within it? Our author used artificial intelligence to enhance this article. Did you like it? 4.4/5 (24)
