Toggle light / dark theme

A trio of scientists from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Université de Lyon, and Arizona State University, respectively, has found that a likely reason flat pancake-like volcanoes form on Venus’ surface is the planet has an elastic lithosphere and volcanoes that emit dense lava.

In their paper published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, M. E. Borrelli, C. Michaut, and J. G. O’Rourke describe how they used data collected by NASA’s Magellan mission in the 1990s, to simulate how one such flat-topped could have come about and what they learned by doing so.

Planetary scientists have been wondering for many years how the oddly shaped volcanic domes came to exist on the surface of Venus. With their flat shapes and steep sides, they are unlike any volcanoes seen on Earth—they look much more like pancakes than cones. To learn more, the research trio took a unique approach. They attempted to simulate how just one of them might have come about.

Vast, quasi-circular features on Venus’s surface may reveal that the planet has ongoing tectonics, according to new research based on data gathered more than 30 years ago by NASA’s Magellan mission.

On Earth, the planet’s surface is continually renewed by the constant shifting and recycling of massive sections of crust, called tectonic plates, that float atop a viscous interior. Venus doesn’t have tectonic plates, but its surface is still being deformed by molten material from below.

Seeking to better understand the underlying processes driving these deformations, the researchers studied a type of feature called a corona.

An analysis using unprecedented satellite observations reveals important information about how electrons get heated throughout the Universe.

What connects solar flares that induce space weather, geomagnetic storms that cause auroras, and magnetic disruptions that spoil confinement in magnetically confined fusion devices? All these events rapidly convert stored magnetic energy into kinetic energy of surrounding electrons and positively charged ions in the plasma state of matter. The energy conversion occurs via a fundamental process called magnetic reconnection [1]. But some aspects of reconnection remain poorly understood, despite decades of scrutiny through theoretical studies, ground-and satellite-based observations, lab experiments, and numerical simulations [2]. A key unresolved problem is determining how much of the released magnetic energy goes to the electrons and how much goes to the ions, and by what physical mechanisms this energization occurs.

Obayashi pursues the potential for the future of the space elevator from a construction standpoint, and describes a newly-designed, whole-space elevator system, including its construction process, which we designed on the basis of work by construction engineers who completed the world’s tallest free-standing tower, TOKYO SKYTREE®, in 2012.

In the following animation, a space elevator which climbs from the Earth Port as a departure port for people to Geostationary Earth Orbit Station at a height of 36,000 km is featured.

The space elevator is planned to be built by the year 2050 with a capacity to carry 100-ton climbers. It is composed of a 96,000-km carbon nanotube cable, a 400-m diameter floating Earth Port and a 12,500-ton counter-weight. Other facilities include Martian/Lunar Gravity Centers, an Low Earth Orbit Gate, a Geostationary Earth Orbit Station, a Mars Gate and a Solar System Exploration Gate.-Jacob’s Ladder 🤔 https://www.obayashi.co.jp/en/news/detail/the_space_elevator…cept.html#

Muons are elementary particles that resemble electrons, but they are heavier and decay very rapidly (i.e., in just a few microseconds). Studying muons can help to test and refine the standard of particle physics, while also potentially unveiling new phenomena or effects.

So far, the generation of muons in experimental settings has been primarily achieved using proton accelerators, which are large and expensive instruments. Muons can also originate from , rays of high-energy particles originating from outer space that can collide with atoms in the Earth’s atmosphere, producing muons and other secondary particles.

Researchers at the China Academy of Engineering Physics (CAEP), Guangdong Laboratory, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and other institutes recently introduced a new method to produce muons in experimental settings, using an ultra-short high-intensity laser.