Science

On September 17, 2024, a fascinating asteroid named 2024 ON zipped past Earth, offering scientists a rare view of a snowman-shaped space rock. While the object was classified as a potentially hazardous asteroid due to its proximity to our planet, it posed no immediate threat and passed safely at a distance of 620,000 miles.

Radar images captured by NASA’s Goldstone Solar System Radar in California revealed the asteroid’s unique structure. The asteroid, approximately 1,150 feet (350 meters) long, consists of two distinct lobes, with one lobe being about 50% larger than the other. This unusual shape, resembling a snowman, is known as a “contact binary” — a phenomenon that occurs when two smaller asteroids merge due to gravitational forces.

A High-Speed Journey

Asteroid 2024 ON travelled at a staggering speed of 19,842 mph (31,933 kph) as it passed Earth, about 26 times the speed of sound. Despite its size and speed, the asteroid posed no risk to our planet, passing over 2.5 times the distance between Earth and the moon.

Although classified as potentially hazardous, recent measurements have allowed scientists to predict the asteroid’s future trajectory with high accuracy. As a result, 2024 ON is not expected to pose any danger to Earth for many decades, offering reassurance despite its hazardous label.

The Prevalence of Contact Binary Asteroids

Asteroids like 2024 ON, known as contact binaries, make up an estimated 14% of near-Earth asteroids larger than 660 feet (200 meters). One of the most well-known contact binaries is Selam, a small moonlet orbiting the asteroid Dinkinesh. Such asteroids provide valuable insights into the formation and evolution of celestial bodies within our solar system.

As space agencies continue to observe near-Earth objects, radar and other tracking technologies allow for better predictions and understandings of their behaviour. In fact, 2024 has seen more than 60 asteroids pass between Earth and the moon, thanks to increased observational efforts using AI-powered algorithms.

While asteroid 2024 ON’s recent visit sparked interest due to its snowman-like appearance, it serves as a reminder of the importance of ongoing asteroid tracking. Fortunately, with no immediate threat, we can appreciate the cosmic beauty and scientific insights it offers without worry for Earth’s safety.

Chandrayaan-3, the successful lunar mission launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), continues to contribute to lunar exploration. A recent analysis of data transmitted by the Pragyan rover has led to the identification of a 160 km wide ancient crater. This crater is believed to have been formed before the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin, which was previously regarded as the moon’s oldest and largest impact basin. The discovery further highlights the significance of Chandrayaan-3 in advancing our understanding of the moon’s geological history.

Older Crater Uncovered by Pragyan Rover

The analysis was conducted using data from both the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover, which completed their primary mission on September 3, 2023. After this, they were placed in sleep mode. A paper released by scientists from the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in Ahmedabad, including Dr. S. Vijayan, titled “Chandrayaan-3 landing site evolution by South Pole-Aitken basin and other impact craters”, reveals that the Chandrayaan-3 landing site was within a previously buried crater. This crater is thought to be much older than the SPA basin itself, which lies around 350 km from the SPA basin’s rim.

A Closer Look at the Landing Site

Using the Pragyan rover’s navigation camera (Navcam) and a high-resolution optical camera, ISRO captured images of a heavily degraded, semi-circular structure surrounding the landing site. This structure is now being considered one of the oldest features on the lunar surface. Scientists suggest that this ancient crater was covered by ejecta materials from the SPA basin and 11 other surrounding impact basins.

Future Lunar Missions Could Benefit

The findings from this mission are providing valuable insights into the moon’s history and are expected to assist in future lunar explorations, such as Chandrayaan-4, which is slated for 2027. Prof. Anil Bhardwaj, a JC Bose Fellow and Director at PRL, acknowledged this discovery in a post, crediting Dr. S. Vijayan and his team for their pioneering research.

Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, the much-anticipated rival to SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, has taken a major step forward with a successful second-stage hot-fire test. This crucial test was conducted to validate key interactions between the rocket’s subsystems, its two BE-3U engines, and the ground control systems. The test, which lasted 15 seconds, represents a major advancement for New Glenn as it heads towards its first orbital launch in November 2024.

Validating the Second Stage Systems

The recent test focused on the New Glenn rocket’s second stage, ensuring its subsystems work cohesively under real-world conditions. The BE-3U engines, designed for high-energy missions, performed exceptionally well, demonstrating the thrust vector control system and the tank pressurization system to steer and fuel the rocket during its flight. The test also allowed Blue Origin’s launch operations team to rehearse critical launch procedures, ensuring the team was prepared for the November mission. This launch will take place at Cape Canaveral, Florida, from Launch Complex 36.

Looking Ahead: New Glenn’s First Mission

After several delays, Blue Origin has confirmed that New Glenn’s first mission (NG-1) will transport the Blue Ring orbital platform, designed by Blue Origin, into space. This mission marks a significant milestone for the company, which has thus far focused mainly on suborbital tourism with its New Shepard rocket.

A Rival to SpaceX

While Blue Origin has been slower to market, New Glenn is seen as a potential game changer in the commercial space industry. With a height of over 320 feet and its powerful BE-3U and BE-4 engines, New Glenn is built for ambitious missions, ranging from low Earth orbit to geosynchronous orbit.

While violence prevention education has increased in U.S. schools, only one in 10 schools today require violence prevention discussions in class, according to research presented during the American Academy of Pediatrics 2024 National Conference & Exhibition at the Orange County Convention Center.

Chloe Gao, MD/Ph.D. Candidate and lead research author on “Implementation of Educational Programming and Policies to Prevent Bullying, Sexual Harassment, and Violence in US Schools, 2008–2020,” studied data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from principals and health education teachers regarding efforts their schools made to prevent bullying, sexual harassment and violence.

“Bullying, sexual harassment, and violence can create hostile school environments that negatively impact students’ academic performance, health, and developmental outcomes,” Gao said. “Some students drop out of school in order to avoid these situations, a choice that impacts them for the rest of their lives.”

Two in three schools in the U.S. reported at least one violent incident from 2021–2022.

A total of 2,718 schools were included in the data where Gao found two out of five schools didn’t provide families with information on bullying and sexual harassment. Data further showed that the availability of anti-bullying and sexual harassment educational materials remained low, ranging from 56.2% in 2008 to 61.4% in 2020.

With children spending most of their time in school, the setting provides a unique chance for anti-bullying and harassment education. Despite this, Gao said gaps linger as program quality and availability varies from state to state.

Teen girls were particularly impacted with data showing the percentage of teen girls reporting sexual violence increased from 15% in 2017 to 18% in 2021.

Gao said the need is urgent for improved anti-bullying and sexual harassment measures, stating schools should be looking into how to best improve policies already in place and implementing them across the board.

“School is supposed to be a safe place for all. A place children can learn, grow, and play no matter what circumstance they come from,” Gao said. “We need to make sure that we are engaging schools in the fight against youth bullying, sexual harassment, and violence.”

By simulating fake people while interacting with popular smart voice assistants, such as Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple’s Siri, researchers have uncovered the different approaches each system takes to learning users’ personal preferences and habits.

“I don’t know that consumers have the intuition that when you’re talking out loud, that also could potentially be used to profile you and then target you with ads,” says David Choffnes at Northeastern University in Massachusetts.

A team of Chinese scientists has studied the first lunar farside samples brought back by the Chang’e-6 mission. The findings mark a significant milestone in lunar exploration science and technical exploration capability. The study was published in National Science Review on Sept. 16.

“As the first samples collected from the moon’s far side, these samples will provide an unparalleled opportunity for lunar research,” said Prof. Li Chunlai from National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC), one of the corresponding authors of this study.

The samples help to advance the understanding of several key aspects of lunar science, including the moon’s early evolution, the variability of volcanic activities between the nearside and farside, the impact history of the inner solar system, the record of galactic activity preserved in the lunar weathering layer, the lunar magnetic field and its anomalies and duration, and the composition and structure of the lunar crust and mantle.

The samples were gathered from the lunar surface using drilling and scooping techniques. The team analyzed their physical, mineralogical, petrographic, and geochemical properties. The analysis showed that the collected samples reflect a mixture of “local” basaltic material and “foreign” non-mare material. The rock fragments are mainly basalt, breccia, and agglutinates. The primary constituent minerals of the soils are plagioclase, pyroxene, and ilmenite, with very low olivine abundance. The lunar soil in the samples is mostly a mixture of local basalts and non-basaltic ejecta materials.

The lunar surface is divided into three very distinct geochemical provinces based on variations in geochemical characterization and petrologic evolutionary history. These are the Procellarum KREEP Terrane (PKT), the Feldspathic Highland Terrane (FHT), and the South Pole-Aitken Terrane (SPAT).

“These local mare basalts document the volcanic history of lunar farside, while the non-basaltic fragments may offer critical insights into the lunar highland crust, South Pole-Aitken impact melts, and potentially the deep lunar mantle, making these samples highly significant for scientific research,” said Prof. Li.

“These insights are expected to lead to new concepts and theories regarding the origin and evolution of the moon, and refine its use as an interpretive paradigm for the evolution of the terrestrial planets,” added Prof. Li.

Adding together the lunar samples gathered from the six Apollo missions, three Luna missions, and the Chang’e-5 mission, a total of 382.9812 kg of lunar samples have been collected. These lunar samples have provided scientists with critical information on the formation and evolutionary history of the moon. “Returned lunar samples are essential to planetary science research, as they provide key laboratory data to link orbital remote sensing observations to actual surface ground truth,” said Prof. Li.

The samples have contributed to the development of hypotheses, such as the moon’s giant impact on early Earth’s origin, the lunar magma ocean, and the Late Heavy Bombardment. These earlier studies of lunar samples, all of them collected from the lunar nearside, have significantly advanced the discipline of planetary science. “Nearside samples alone, without adequate sampling from the entire lunar surface, especially from the farside, cannot fully capture the geologic diversity of the entire moon. This limitation hampers our understanding of the moon’s origin and evolution,” said Prof. Li.

Scientists gained the much-needed farside lunar samples when the Chang’e-6 mission collected 1,935.3 grams of lunar samples from the South Pole-Aitken Basin on June 25, 2024.

The lunar samples collected from the nearside by the Apollo, Luna, and CE-5 missions included samples from the PKT and the FHT. Until now, no samples had been collected from the unique SPAT on the lunar farside. Scientists believe the South Pole-Aitken Basin was formed 4.2 to 4.3 billion years ago in the Pre-Nectarian period. It is the largest confirmed impact basin in the solar system.