Sci-tech
New study suggests planting billions of trees to stop climate change
Many current climate models are wrong in expecting climate change to increase global tree cover, the study warns. ETH Zurich ecologist Jean-François Bastin published a study in Science Thursday that is the first to calculate the amount of additional trees that could be planted to combat global heating without encroaching on crop or urban areas. [Full Article...]
Recordings of the Apollo 11 moon landing to be auctioned at Sotheby's
Faint traces of lunar dust appear on pages 19, 20, 21, 22, and parts of 23 as Armstrong and Aldrin's hands were in direct contact with lunar dust on the closed sample return containers. Technology pioneered by Professor Red Whittaker at Carnegie Mellon University offers outstanding mobility at a lightweight (13kg) and will become a test platform for autonomy that will usher in a new era of operabi... [Full Article...]
Largest Seaweed Bloom in the World Discovered
When it dies, the microalgae sinks to the bottom of the ocean, where it can snuff out ecologically important corals and seagrasses. What's more, the seaweed band - dubbed the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt - seems to be getting bigger. "They are always there, but once the ocean conditions are right they just develop into blooms and then large amounts of sargassum are transported to the Caribbea... [Full Article...]
National Trust to cease investment in fossil fuel
Moves to divest from fossil fuels have become increasingly common in recent years, amid increased climate pressure from investors, policymakers and the general public. Peter Vermeulen, the trust's chief financial officer, said many organisations had been working hard to persuade fossil fuel companies to invest in green alternatives, without success. [Full Article...]
NASA's Ascent Abort-2 Flight Test Launches atop Northrop Grumman Provided Booster
The three-minute launch-abort test took place at 6 a.m. CDT this morning at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station . Hopefully, we won't see the launch abort system at work during that flight - but it will be there in case it's needed. NASA said all 12 flight recorders have been recovered. The agency recently reached major milestones for the SLS rocket, assembling four of the five parts that mak... [Full Article...]
India to scale up commercialization of space activities, says FM Sitharaman
She said that "the time has come" for India to harness its space technology commercially. The ISRO Chairman K.Sivan had told IANS that the space agency wants to give a big push for production of the SSLV. Besides the launches of various crucial satellite missions in near future, the space agency has also lined up a slew of interplanetary missions like Aditya L1 sun mission (launch next year) and... [Full Article...]
NASA tests abort system on astronaut capsule built for moon missions
The test is critical to the success of the Artemis program , ensuring a safe flight for astronauts that will one day launch to the Moon and then Mars in Orion. "It looked like a complete mission success to me", said Blake Watters, a launch-abort-system propulsion engineer at Lockheed Martin Corp, Orion's manufacturer. [Full Article...]
Americans Produce Three Times The Global Average Of Waste
The research also shows that America lags behind other countries when it comes to recycling, only re-using 35 per cent of solid waste. At an average of 773 kilogrammes per head, the country generates around 12 per cent of global municipal solid waste ― approximately 239 million tonnes annually. [Full Article...]