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Powders of samples were weighed into precleaned Savillex beakers and dissolved with mixtures of 22 M HF and 14 M HNO₃ acids in a 2:1 volume ratio. The modern OIBs and four reference materials (that is, BHVO-2, BCR-2, AGV-2 and BIR-1) were digested on a hot plate at 120 °C for four days. Note that all chondrite and Archaean ultramafic/mafic rock samples were digested in Parr bomb vessels at 220 °C for three days to ensure full dissolution of refractory phases. Dissolution of the dried samples in 5–10 ml 6 M HCl at 120 °C and evaporation was carried out several times to decompose the fluorides formed from HF digestion until clear solutions were obtained. An aliquot of each sample was taken and spiked with a prepared ⁴⁷ Ti–⁴⁹ Ti double spike to determine in advance the Ti concentration using an iCAP RQ inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer at the Centre for Star and Planet Formation (StarPlan) at the University of Copenhagen. Afterwards, aliquots containing 6 µg Ti were taken and mixed with a ⁴⁷ Ti–⁴⁹ Ti double spike as described previously in ref. ³⁴. The dried mixtures were dissolved with 6 M HCl at 120 °C overnight to ensure sample–spike equilibration.

Titanium was separated from matrix elements following a three-step purification protocol using AG1x8 (200–400 meshes) and DGA resins^34,68, that is, first to separate Fe with 6 M HCl elution on AG1x8 columns, second to remove most of the major and trace elements through 12 M HNO₃ elution and to collect Ti with Milli-Q H₂O on DGA columns and third to purify Ti from the remaining matrix elements with 4 M HF cleaning on AG1x8 columns. An extra DGA pass can be carried out to remove trace amounts of Ca and Cr in the final Ti cuts. To destroy the resin particles and organics from column chemistry, the Ti cuts were treated with 14 M HNO₃ at 120 °C before storage in 0.5 M HNO₃ + 0.01 M HF acids.

Titanium isotopic compositions of the purified samples were measured using the ThermoFisher Scientific Neoma Multicollector ICP-MS. Sample solutions with 500–800 ppb Ti dissolved in 0.5 M HNO₃ + 0.01 M HF were introduced into the multicollector inductively coupled plasma source mass spectrometer by means of an APEX HF desolvating nebulizer from Elemental Scientific and a sapphire injector was used instead of the quartz-made injector to reduce the production of silicon fluorides from the use of HF solvent. An actively cooled membrane desolvation component was attached after the APEX to suppress oxide formation and to stabilize the signals, and N₂ gas at a flow rate of a few ml min⁻¹ was added to improve the sensitivity. Such a setting typically provides an intensity of around 15 V on ⁴⁸ Ti⁺ at an uptake rate of about 50 μl min⁻¹ for a 600-ppb Ti solution under a medium mass-resolution mode.

Scientists at the University of Arizona are counting down the days until a space probe carrying samples from an asteroid is back on Earth. FOX 10’s Steve Nielsen has more on the OSIRIS-REx mission, and why the samples are so important for researchers.

Of the 250 grams of samples, NASA officials will keep 75% of the samples in storage for future generations, whom might discover ways to test the rocks in ways we can’t even comprehend.

The secrets the samples hold could be endless.

Aditya L1 is India’s first space-based mission to study the Sun, which is scheduled to be launched in 2023. The spacecraft is named after Aditya, the Hindu god of the Sun. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) aims to place Aditya L1 in a halo orbit around the Sun-Earth L1 Lagrange point, which is about 1.5 million kilometres from Earth.

The mission’s primary objective is to study the Sun’s corona, which is the corona is a very hot and dynamic region. Aditya L1 will carry a number of instruments to study the corona, including a coronagraph, a spectrometer, and an imager.

A pair of rambunctious young stars takes center stage in a new near-infrared image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope.

Video above: Webb Telescope image reveals ethereal forms emerging from pillars Of creation.

A planet with conditions on the surface resembling Earth has been discovered a relatively short distance from us.

In fact, it’s just 31 light-years away, which is the space equivalent of ‘down the road’.

Scientists are always excited when it comes to the discovery of new exoplanets, and this is no different.

Engineers successfully tested hybrid printed circuits at the edge of space in an April 25 sounding rocket flight from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility near Chincoteague, Virginia. Electronic temperature and humidity sensors printed onto the payload bay door and onto two attached panels monitored the entire SubTEC-9 sounding rocket mission, recording data that was beamed to the ground. The experiment by aerospace engineer Beth Paquette and electronics engineer Margaret Samuels of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, sought to prove the space-readiness of printed electronics technology.

Printing electronic circuits on the walls and structures of spacecraft could help future missions do more in smaller packages.

This has been announced by Pulsar Fusion, the company responsible for its manufacture. The name Pulsar Fusion may not be familiar to most people, but it may soon achieve an unprecedented milestone in the world of nuclear fusion. Although there are many steps to take, Pulsar Fusion has been working since 2013 to achieve a rocket that breaks all known barriers to date.

Science_Hightech — operanewsapp.

Galileo was famously forced to deny his observations as they conflicted with Catholicism, defiantly saying “and yet it moves.” But did he really say this?