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<ul class="summary-list"><li>ChatGPT has made the world familiar with AI that can make everyone more productive.</li><li>But a pair of developments this month show AI could set humans on course for a new age of discovery.</li></ul>In many ways, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-chat-gpt-2023-1">ChatGPT era</a> has opened people's eyes to the ways in which artificial intelligence can help them accomplish tasks at home, in class, or at work.But if that's all you think the algorithms are limited to, think again. A pair of developments this month have shown how <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-use-chatgpt-at-work-job-save-time-ai-2023-2">AI can help humans</a> peer far beyond the peripheries of space and time they're familiar with to deliver real-world impact.On Monday, it was revealed that a team of researchers had used <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/what-is-machine-learning">machine learning</a> to solve one of archaeology's longest-enduring mysteries by decoding a near 2000-year-old scroll that was almost lost to the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD.The scroll, part of the Herculaneum papyri first discovered in a villa close to Pompeii in the 18th century, survived just enough for researchers to make it a subject of intense interest as they sought to decipher any bit of information they could from it.Those efforts struggled to make headway until former GitHub CEO and Ancient Rome enthusiast <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/github-ceo-nat-friedman-most-valuable-social-network-2020-1">Nat Friedman</a> became aware of its existence.He made it his mission to uncover the scroll's secrets by setting up a competition called the Vesuvius Challenge that invited researchers to use AI techniques like machine learning and computer vision to <a target="_blank" href="https://scrollprize.org/">"resurrect an ancient library from the ashes of a volcano."</a>The efforts seem to have paid off.A trio of researchers hailing from the US, Egypt, and Switzerland won $700,000 after using AI to analyze high-resolution CT scans of the rolled-up scroll, a remarkable feat given the damage that would be caused by attempting to unroll any one of these "lumps of carbonized ash."What they managed to decipher amounts to about 5% of one scroll, equivalent to around 15 columns of text that the Vesuvius Challenge says describe "pleasure" — a concept understood as "the highest good in Epicurean philosophy."<h2>AI is paving the way to the future too</h2><div type="image" title="Bill Gates" height="3142" width="4714" msid="107499527" hostid="261" sizebytes="363196"></div>As well as seeing AI be used to excavate the past, it seems to be getting used to forge a path to the future too.The same day the Vesuvius Challenge unveiled its winner, Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos-backed company <a target="_blank" href="https://www.koboldmetals.com/">KoBold Metals</a> shared that AI played a key role in its discovery of a copper deposit in Zambia that could be the country's largest find in 100 years.Copper is a vital metal for various components in electric vehicles, making it one of the most in-demand materials today. However, analysts have warned that <a target="_blank" href="https://about.bnef.com/blog/copper-prices-may-jump-20-by-2027-as-supply-deficit-rises/#:~:text=By%20Dr.&amp;text=The%20primary%20supply%20of%20copper,million%20metric%20tons%20by%202027.">prices of copper could jump as much as 20% by 2027</a> due to a shortage of supply.According to the company, the "majority of easy-to-find deposits have already been discovered," which means prospecting "mineral deposits of the future" will require looking deep underground.Its process for doing this involves using AI to crunch geoscience data about the Earth's crust — as well as maps and other historical documents — to allow their researchers to start figuring out if there are any deposits hidden in plain sight.The AI can model all this data into a map-style rendering that then allows the company to decide on locations that might hide deposits.<a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/KoBold_Metals/status/1754369261156663402?s=20">KoBold Metals president Josh Goldman</a> reckons that the AI-led discovery represents "one of the world's biggest high-grade large copper mines," having compared it in size to the Kakula mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ivanhoemines.com/what-we-do/operations-projects/kamoa-kakula-mining-complex/">produced 393,551 tonnes of copper in 2023.</a>Clearly then, billions of dollars aren't just being spent on AI for the sake of achieving some productivity and efficiency hacks. AI could also help usher humans into a new age of discovery.

AI is setting humanity on the path to a new age of discovery

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Scientists have known about Mars holes for years but an old image has reignited interest. </li><li>These holes could contain evidence of alien life on Mars and be a shelter for future astronauts.</li></ul>In case you hadn't heard, there's a hole on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-havent-we-been-to-mars-yet-2024-5">Mars</a> — multiple holes, actually. These holes, or pits, aren't news. Here's a photo of one from 2007:<div type="image" title="dark black hole on grey martian surface" height="246" width="491" msid="110917150" hostid="261" sizebytes="24096"></div>However, an image taken by the HiRISE camera in 2022 recently resurfaced on the University of Arizona HiRISE's <a target="_blank" href="https://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_075251_1775">Picture of the Day</a>, reigniting the conversation around these fascinating features.Any excuse to talk about these holes is a good one because they remain largely mysterious and full of promise for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-plan-colonize-mars-plan-unrealistic-scientists-explain-2023-10">future scientific missions</a>.<h2 id="02922bb5-b134-4beb-a59c-caadf4cc0a2f">What are those mysterious holes on Mars?</h2><div type="image" title="side by side images of holes on mars" height="1500" width="3000" msid="110917144" hostid="261" sizebytes="202650"></div>The holes, aka pits, are located on the flanks of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/martian-volcano-unlike-anything-on-earth-2017-2">ancient volcanoes</a> in Mars's Tharsis region, the largest volcanic region on the red planet and home to some of the biggest volcanoes in our solar system.As far as scientists can tell, Mars is no longer <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-close-up-photos-show-volcanoes-erupt-on-jupiters-moon-2024-2">volcanically active</a>. So there's no risk of these giant volcanoes erupting. But there is a possibility that residual underground lava tubes may still exist.Scientists think these holes are "skylights," or places where the ground above the lava tubes has caved in and created a gaping hole in the surface, Brandon Johnson, a geophysicist at Purdue University who studies impact craters throughout the solar system, told Business Insider.<div type="image" title="Olympus Mons volcano on Mars from the Viking 1 Orbiter. The mosaic was created using images from orbit 735 taken 22 June 1978. Olympus Mons is about 600 km in diameter and the summit caldera is 24" height="947" width="1024" msid="110917143" hostid="261" sizebytes="101872"></div>If these lava tubes are anything like Earth's, they could be the perfect place for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mars-colony-volcano-hawaii-hi-seas-2016-1">astronauts to hunker down</a> during their stay on Mars."There's more than one of these [pits] on Mars that we've seen," Johnson said. "But they're really interesting because they're places where astronauts might be able to go and be safe from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mars-radiation-levels-spacex-nasa-exposure-2018-4">radiation</a>."That said, it's unclear how deep these holes go or where they lead. We can only speculate from what we see on other planets, like our own.<div type="image" title="An underground lava tube is lit with a yellow lamp and a person stands inside." height="683" width="1024" msid="110917146" hostid="261" sizebytes="175578"></div>"On the Earth, these <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hawaii-man-fell-into-lava-tube-died-2019-11">lava tubes</a> can be large enough to walk around in, but they can also be small or the voids can be discrete or discontinuous," Ross Beyer, a planetary scientist with the SETI Institute, told Business Insider over email. "So these pits we see could open into larger caves, or they could just be isolated pits."Beyer added, "There's no way to know what's in them until we explore them in more detail."Besides hypothetical <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-says-man-will-go-mars-within-10-years-2023-2">human missions</a> that may, or may not, happen anytime soon, there's a far more important reason to explore these holes further.<h2 id="e80dfe2f-3842-4d28-964d-919f40576cf4">Is there life on Mars?</h2><div type="image" title="A hole in the grey surface of the moon with craters all around it." height="800" width="800" msid="110917151" hostid="261" sizebytes="24272"></div>These holes could be one of the best places to search for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-asks-help-retrieving-perseverance-mars-samples-alien-life-2024-4">evidence of extraterrestrial life</a> on Mars because they may offer a protective, warm sanctuary from the planet's unforgiving surface.For example, lava tubes on the moon can be as warm as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nasa.gov/solar-system/nasas-lro-finds-lunar-pits-harbor-comfortable-temperatures/">63 °F</a>. That's plenty warm enough for life to arise inside. It's unclear if lava tubes on Mars would also be this warm — it's not a stretch to imagine, just a challenge to confirm.Right now, the only information scientists know about these holes is what they can see from orbiting cameras in space. When it launched onboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft in 2005, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-mars-orbiter-best-images-15th-anniversary-2020-8">HiRISE camera</a> was the most powerful telescope to ever leave Earth's orbit and has since transformed our understanding of the red planet, snapping over <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0019103523003731">80,000</a> images. But it's still limited."Unfortunately, there is a limit to the 'angle' that we can get from orbit to look 'into' these pits. So sometimes we can see 'walls' and sometimes we can't," Beyer told BI.<div type="image" title="Illustration of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter" height="555" width="740" msid="110917148" hostid="261" sizebytes="20564"></div>The best way to explore below the surface would be to physically go inside by dispatching a rover to investigate the pit, Johnson said."There are missions proposed to essentially have a robot go on a line and drop down into one of these skylights and be able to explore what's inside of them," he said.But to be clear, just because there could be life in these pits, doesn't mean Mars definitely hosts extraterrestrials."This is a good place to look, but we don't know if there's life on Mars at all," Johnson said.In the meantime, to understand these mysterious holes as much as we can, "HiRISE and other Mars-orbiting spacecraft will certainly continue to take images of volcanic areas from orbit to try and characterize them better," Beyer said.

A mysterious hole on Mars could be a jackpot of scientific discoveries, from extraterrestrial life to where astronauts could live

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-james-webb-telescope-question-mark-space-galaxies-colliding-2023-8">NASA's James Webb Space Telescope</a> discovered signs of a vast ocean on the planet K2-18 b.</li><li>The <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shiny-planet-solar-system-metal-clouds-defies-science-2023-7">exoplanet</a> lies 120 light-years away, likely has an ice core, and may be a new type of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-tess-telescope-habitable-world-31-light-years-away-2019-7">habitable world</a>.</li></ul>The <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-james-webb-space-telescope-best-images-from-first-year-2022-12">James Webb Space Telescope</a> has discovered evidence that a planet beyond our solar system may be covered in an ocean of water.Astronomers can't directly look at the surface of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/astronomers-spot-star-swallowing-planet-sneak-peek-earth-death-2023-5">planet</a>, called K2-18 b, but Webb analyzed its atmosphere for hints of what may lie below.The results make this planet, just 120 light-years away, look more and more like a place that could be <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/james-webb-hunt-for-distant-worlds-some-may-harbor-life-2022-7">habitable for life</a>.<div type="image" title="James Webb Space Telescope" height="1536" width="2048" msid="103616892" hostid="261"></div>The most potentially game-changing discovery from <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-james-webb-space-telescope-new-image-farthest-star-detected-2023-8">the NASA observatory</a> — and the one to be most cautious about — is a hint of a molecule called dimethyl sulfide (DMS), which is only known to come from life. "We might be seeing literally the first steps towards <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-nasa-could-tell-us-aliens-are-real-2023-2">identification of life elsewhere</a>," Nikku Madhusudhan, an astronomer at the University of Cambridge who led the new research, told Insider.Though intriguing, that data is uncertain and is not a clear detection of that molecule. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-no-contact-with-aliens-2019-9">It's too soon to cry "aliens,"</a> but astronomers are keen to investigate further.<h2>Dimethyl sulfide would be a 'smoking gun' for life</h2>The only thing known to make DMS is life, mostly phytoplankton in Earth's oceans. Therefore, if it were confirmed on K2-18 b, it would be a "very good smoking gun for some sort of biological activity," down there, Madhusudhan said. However, such an extraordinary discovery requires extraordinarily strong evidence.When Madhusudhan's team massaged the new Webb data to mimic a particular type of instrument error, the signal for DMS disappeared.That's a strong mark against the molecule's existence on K2-18 b. It's one reason astronomers are extremely cautious about this possible detection and need another look at the planet.Here's one way to put the potential DMS finding into perspective: Some scientists have developed the <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=eded47f0fe5bf37ab41c573cd18fa0bd29d12cf57a32f2521cb4ac5cb30181d5&amp;postID=64ff619777744faa55c8cd43&amp;postSlug=new-planet-habitability-discoveries-nasa-james-webb-space-telescope-2023-9&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fs41586-021-03804-9.epdf%3Fsharing_token%3DaMvAzNSKTDpeQ_Lx50lBO9RgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0OiHZ7kRMaxJS4ikXfsEfuhWNXQC4W7SsC52JCjUDnSSqLC5BhXbWxxUcFJQ3KnlmY6LAuQF02dgmfPAEQqFuQhHT7iq8uOqnhGqUWJGAFWKU9xwVrg8ofZtBSQm0hNMoQ%253D" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"confidence of life detection" (CoLD) scale</a>, to rank the strength of evidence for alien life on a scale of one (weak) to seven (strong).This is level one at most, Madhusudhan said. It may not even make the scale at all unless another set of observations finds the same signal.<div type="image" title="illustration cartoon shows people in white lab coats building a staircase of green bricks with numbers 1 through 7 climbing it" height="1500" width="1722" msid="103616893" hostid="261"></div>"A lot more work is required before envisaging the possibility of alien life, beginning by a beyond-all-reasonable-doubt confirmation of the presence of DMS," said Doriann Blain, of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, who has previously studied K2-18 b.Madhusudhan agrees. He hopes to publish new results from fresh Webb observations by this time next year, providing more evidence either for or against the presence of DMS on K2-18 b."Our discovery is the kind that, if it survives, you will look at it 10 years from now and say, well, that's where it all started," Madhusudhan said.<h2>Webb solves the 'missing methane' mystery</h2>What is clear in the data, and groundbreaking in its own right, is that Webb detected methane in the atmosphere of K2-18 b.The discovery solves a decade-long "missing methane" problem, in which astronomers knew there should be methane in certain planets' atmospheres but they just couldn't find it. Finding methane is important because it contains carbon, which is a foundational element for life as we know it."Even the most basic thing that we are saying — that we found carbon-based molecules — is a huge revolution in the field," Madhusudhan said.Confirming these findings requires a lot more observation of K2-18 b. Over the course of the next year, Madhusudhan has time scheduled with Webb to observe the planet more, as does another team of astronomers.<h2>Webb spotted molecules in the planet's atmosphere that Hubble couldn't see</h2>At 2.6 times the size of Earth, and 8.6 times its mass, K2-18 b is not the type of planet that scientists traditionally consider when they're looking for alien life.It's a "sub-Neptune" or a "mini-Neptune." Its interior is probably filled with ice, rather than rock. As Blain put it: "K2-18 b is not exactly an Earth twin."But previous observations of this planet, with the Hubble Space Telescope, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/water-vapor-on-potentially-habitable-super-earth-exoplanet-2019-9">hinted that it could have water vapor in its atmosphere</a>. That was intriguing enough that Madhusudhan and his collaborators peered at it with Webb earlier this year. When starlight passes through K2-18 b's atmosphere, the molecules in the air there will absorb some wavelengths of light and reflect others. By analyzing which wavelengths make it through and shine at Earth, across the infrared spectrum of light, Webb can identify the unique "spectral" fingerprints of different compounds in the atmosphere.Webb can analyze those spectra in much higher resolution than Hubble. The results, shared on Monday by <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard/2023/webb-discovers-methane-carbon-dioxide-in-atmosphere-of-k2-18b">NASA</a> and the European Space Agency, were clear: There's probably carbon dioxide and methane in that atmosphere.<div type="image" title="chart showing spectra of starlight from planet k2-18 b that indicate carbon dioxide, methane, and possibly dimethyl sulfide" height="2160" width="3840" msid="103616894" hostid="261"></div>These <a href="https://esawebb.org/media/archives/releases/sciencepapers/weic2321/weic2321.pdf">findings</a>, which are set to be published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, put a new type of planet on the map in the search for alien life.Mini-Neptunes haven't been considered the best alien-life candidates in the past, but they seem to be the <a href="https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/what-is-an-exoplanet/planet-types/neptune-like/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">most common</a> type of planet in our galaxy. Now, with Webb's power, astronomers can see exactly what's in their atmospheres."It opens up other possibilities," Eliza Kempton, an astronomer at the University of Maryland, who specializes in the spectra of exoplanet atmospheres, told Insider."This is the first sub-Neptune-sized planet to show us a beautifully featured spectrum. This is something that we've been waiting for, for a long time," she said.<h2>This could be a new type of world: the 'Hycean' planet</h2>Planet K2-18 b could be the first known "Hycean" world — a theoretical type of planet with a thick hydrogen atmosphere and a surface covered in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/saturns-death-star-moon-mimas-may-have-a-secret-ocean-2022-1">an ocean of water</a>.The Webb observations of K2-18 b are "remarkably well in agreement" with models predicting the atmospheres of Hycean worlds, according to Markus Scheucher, who led some of those models. Namely, the presence of both methane and carbon dioxide with no ammonia, "would hint at an ocean interacting with the atmosphere," Scheucher, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told Insider in an email. "Based on what we know about how atmospheric chemistry operates, there is no other explanation," Madhusudhan, who led the team that first proposed Hycean worlds in 2021, said.Still, Kempton is not so certain and said more modeling needs to be done to ensure that the signatures Webb observed could only come from an ocean. Since the study of Hycean atmospheres is so new, it's possible that scientists haven't yet discovered other processes that could make the carbon dioxide and methane detected in K2-18 b's atmosphere. "I'd want to see those kinds of studies really digging into: 'Is this a unique signature of a water ocean or not?' — because it's such an indirect argument — before I'd be really comfortable saying there's liquid water under there," Kempton told Insider.If the ocean does exist, Madhusudhan said, there's a chance it would be too hot for life.Correction: September 13, 2023 — An earlier version of this article misstated Doriann Blain's past affiliation. Blain is currently at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, but studied K2-18 b at a different scientific institution.This story has been updated. It was originally published on September 12, 2023.Insider science reporter <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/marianne-guenot-ins">Marianne Guenot</a> contributed reporting to this story.

What the James Webb Space Telescope's discoveries on another planet mean &mdash; and don't mean &mdash; for the search for alien life

<ul class="summary-list"><li>JWST snaps thousands of photos of our universe, from sparkling <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/james-webb-space-telescopes-stellar-nurseries-stunning-detail-2024-3">stellar nurseries</a> to clusters of distant galaxies.</li><li>But it takes human image processors, like Joe DePasquale, to turn these photos into works of art.</li></ul>Two years ago today, NASA unveiled the first full-color space images captured by the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-james-webb-telescope-13-billion-old-galaxy-not-exist-2024-2">James Webb Space Telescope</a>.We often hear about the scientists who study <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-webb-space-telescope-reveals-uranus-rings-new-image-2023-12">JWST's space images</a> and what they discover, but behind these beautiful works of art are image processors like Joe DePasquale who can spend days, or even weeks, transforming a single image.Webb's raw telescope images can look like empty black boxes when they first beam back to Earth. It takes science, intuition, and sometimes a bit of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/learning/adobe-creative-cloud-photoshop-premiere-pro-price">Photoshop</a> to tease out the most important moments, DePasquale said.<div type="image" title="Cosmic cliffs" height="719" width="1244" msid="111697410" hostid="261" sizebytes="116640"></div>DePasquale is a principal science visuals developer at the Space Telescope Science Institute. He processed some of the very first Webb images that the public got to see.While working on an image, DePasquale gradually unveils details that sometimes amaze him. For the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/most-striking-photos-from-james-webb-space-telescopes-first-100-days">Deep Field image</a>, one of Webb's first images, he was astonished to see tiny dots around some galaxies at the center. These dots are globular clusters of stars that surround very distant galaxies."To be able to pull out that much detail in just this tiny part of the sky — seeing that in such clarity was amazing," DePasquale said.<h2 id="c94bc605-a7ae-4ece-b9a1-d14aedb28a3b">Unprecedented detail</h2><div type="image" title="James Webb Space Telescope" height="1363" width="2048" msid="111697412" hostid="261" sizebytes="181522"></div>After <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-james-webb-space-telescope-jwst-launch-date-october-2021-2020-7">Webb launched in 2021</a>, the next few months were "nail-biting," DePasquale said. Before the telescope could begin photographing the farthest reaches of the cosmos, it had to unfold and fully deploy in space."We watched every step along the way — the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-james-webb-space-telescope-to-unfold-after-launch-2021-12">mirrors unfolding</a>, the sunshield deploying, all of these things happening. There were 300 different single points of failure where if anything didn't work, the whole observatory would just be scrapped," he said.Webb deployed perfectly, and got to work <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-james-webb-space-telescope-best-images-2023">photographing our vast universe</a>. A single Webb photo, like the Deep Field image, can capture thousands of galaxies.<div type="image" title="Webb's first Deep Field image" height="2000" width="1960" msid="111697409" hostid="261" sizebytes="163048"></div>Pulling all that detail out of the raw Webb image was no easy task. The final photo is actually four different images stitched together. When DePasquale first lined them up, he noticed that the brightness was different in each panel. To get them to match, he had to use Photoshop to adjust the lighting of the panels by hand.It took about two weeks to process the Deep Field image from start to finish, he said. The end result is a sparkling portrait of the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasas-webb-telescope-snaps-first-full-color-image-2022-7">galaxy cluster SMACS 0723.</a><h2 id="34d5aa0e-b046-4cd3-bd93-00a9b728e227">Peering across the universe</h2><div type="image" title="Tarantula nebula" height="1157" width="2000" msid="111697408" hostid="261" sizebytes="237844"></div>Webb is the most powerful telescope ever launched into space. It can see what the universe looked like around a quarter of a billion years after <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/james-webb-space-telescope-spots-most-distant-supermassive-black-hole-2023-7">the Big Bang</a>, when the first stars and galaxies started to form.In its last two years of observations, Webb has fundamentally changed our understanding of the universe with <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-james-webb-space-telescope-3-galaxies-spotted-early-universe-2024-5">groundbreaking discoveries</a> like capturing the first images of stars forming inside the Pillars of Creation and the four most distant galaxies ever observed.<div type="image" title="pillars of creation towering clouds of dust two pictures side by side left is hubble's version faint dusty colors right is webb's version with way more stars and darker blue backdrop" height="1500" width="3105" msid="111697407" hostid="261" sizebytes="566852"></div>"Both Hubble and Webb are extremely high-angular-resolution telescopes. They're able to resolve very small details in these really distant objects," like the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/james-webb-space-telescope-captures-new-stars-in-tarantula-nebula-2022-9">Tarantula Nebula</a>, DePasquale told Business Insider.The Tarantula Nebula is a star-forming cloud of gas and dust located in the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-milky-way-may-collide-with-another-galaxy-sooner-than-expected-2019-1">Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy</a>, 170,000 light-years away from Earth. That's really far away, but the extremely high precision of Webb's huge mirror allows the telescope to collect a lot of light from any object it observes, so it can photograph distant objects in striking detail, DePasquale said.<div type="image" title="A collage of images that shows the process of processing JWST's Tarantula Nebula image." height="1709" width="1472" msid="111697413" hostid="261" sizebytes="117772"></div>Processing raw space images is both a science and an art. When processing the Tarantula Nebula image, DePasquale wanted to emphasize the cluster of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/space-new-telescope-image-shows-cone-nebula-in-stunning-detail-2022-11">hot, young stars</a> in the center. To do that, he enhanced the contrast between the light and dark parts of the image, and made the billowing clouds of the nebula glow in whites and made the young stars burn bright blue. He does a lot of this work by hand, manipulating the images using Photoshop."Our work transitions from being analytical and scientific into a more subjective realm, where it's more like a photographer. We make scientifically-informed aesthetic judgments about how to process the data to highlight <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jwst-captures-oldest-strand-cosmic-web-linking-galaxies-2023-7">key scientific features</a> within it," he said.

A James Webb Telescope scientist explains what it's like to create the most beautiful space images of our time 

<ul class="summary-list"><li>NASA released a new image of the recently-recovered long-lost space tomatoes.</li><li>Astronaut Frank Rubio misplaced the tomatoes in March while on the International Space Station.</li></ul>Imagine what would happen to a tomato if you lost it in your home — here on Earth — and found it eight months later.The red fleshy fruit would turn into a horrifically unrecognizable clump of white and black fuzz, worn down by time and bacteria.Not in space.Two space-grown tomatoes that NASA astronaut Frank Rubio mistakenly lost on the International Space Station earlier this year <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/missing-space-tomato-found-iss-nasa-astronaut-accused-ate-2023-12">turned up last week,</a> eight months after they went missing, vindicating Rubio, whose colleagues had accused him of eating them.And the tomatoes look remarkably good — dare we say, edible? — considering the ordeal they went through.In a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nasa.gov/missions/station/nasa-lets-ketchup-on-international-space-station-tomato-research/">press release on Thursday</a>, NASA shared a new image of what the rogue fruits looked like when they were found, reporting that they had become dehydrated and "slightly squished.""Other than some discoloration," NASA said, they "had no visible microbial or fungal growth."The tomatoes were grown on the International Space Station as part of NASA's VEG-05 project which was launched late last year to study crop growth, food safety, and flavor in space.The experiment used the space station's vegetable facility to grow dwarf tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage, kale, and flowers, in an effort to address the need for ongoing fresh food in space and on future missions to both the Moon and Mars, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nasa.gov/missions/station/nasa-teams-persevere-through-plant-challenges-in-space/">according to NASA</a>.The discovery of the long-lost tomatoes was announced earlier this month in a live-stream interview from the International Space Station.<div type="image" title="Frank Rubio smiles while gardening in space" height="512" width="768" msid="106005095" hostid="261" sizebytes="37770"></div>After the experimental tomatoes were harvested in March, each astronaut was given a sample in a Ziplock bag, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.space.com/international-space-station-lost-tomato-frank-rubio-found">Space.com</a> previously reported. The space-bound gardeners were instructed not to eat the fruit in case of potential fungal contamination. Rubio, however, soon lost track of his tomatoes while serving a record-breaking 371 days on the space station — leading to jabs from his fellow astronauts.The embattled astronaut was finally exonerated earlier this month after having left the space station. The missing fruits were ultimately located in a plastic bag, NASA said. The tomatoes will not be making a return voyage back to Earth, having already been discarded, according to NASA.But plant research continues on the space station even in the aftermath of the case of the missing tomatoes. Scientists involved in the Plant-Habitat-03 project are currently working to assess if genetic adaptions in a generation of plants grown in space are transferable to generations down the line, NASA said. The study's results could help researchers zero in on genetic elements in plants that make them adaptable to spaceflight, leading to the ability to grow several generations of crops while on missions.In addition to paving the way for future space missions, outer space gardening has psychological benefits for the astronauts participating, according to NASA, including increased quality of life and boosted morale — that is, if they're able to keep track of their prized tomatoes.

This is what happens to space tomatoes that get lost on the International Space Station for 8 months       

New Delhi, What was known in theory has now been confirmed twice. The Chandrayaan-3 mission has authenticated the presence of sulphur on the lunar south pole region after on site tests, a historical first that could provide clues to the origins of the Moon and also have profound significance for space exploration, say scientists. On Thursday, India's space agency ISRO said the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectroscope (APXS) instrument onboard the Pragyan rover confirmed the presence of sulphur and some other elements in the lunar south. Before that, on Tuesday, ISRO announced that another instrument, the Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS), found sulphur in the region. In line with expectations, ISRO also reported the LIBS instrument had detected aluminium, calcium, iron, chromium, titanium, manganese, silicon and oxygen. "The elements found on the Moon are not merely isolated compounds. They are time capsules carrying the whispers of cosmic history. Such findings not only reshape our comprehension of lunar formations but also offer potential prospects for lunar exploration and habitation," Akash Sinha, who was involved in developing software for the Pragyan rover, told PTI. "One prevailing theory is that the sulphur may be trapped within water ice, implying that we might be on the brink of a monumental discovery: the physical presence of water ice on the moon," the professor of practice at Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence in Delhi-NCR added. An old undated document from the US space agency NASA suggested the potential utilisation of sulphur for making lunar bricks or concrete using it with moon soil. Interestingly, China's reported plans to test printing bricks from lunar soil this decade for constructing a permanent moon base align with this idea. The revelation of sulphur's presence might hold clues to the Moon's composition and its volcanic past, scientists said. "Surface sulphur comes from volcanic activity, indicating heavy volcanism at some point in the Moon's history. However, the detection is from only one spot, so we need more data to gain a clearer picture," said T V Venkateswaran, a scientist at Vigyaan Prasar, an autonomous organisation under the Department of Science and Technology (DST). Sinha added that the discovery of sulphur represents a significant breakthrough in the understanding of lunar geology. "The presence of sulphur, especially in an area where volcanic activity-a common source of sulphur-is notably absent opens up intriguing possibilities about the origins of the Moon," he said. According to astrophysicist Sandip Chakrabarti, the in-situ measurements definitively confirm sulphur's presence in the region, a feat beyond the capabilities of the instruments on the previous Chandrayaan 1 and 2 orbiters. "The compositions show abundant lighter metals such as aluminium and also abundant sulphur and iron. Sulphur could come from lunar volcanoes. Only traces of heavy metals such as titanium, and chromium, were found. These are along the expected lines," Chakrabarti, director of the Indian Center for Space Physics in Kolkata, told PTI. These elements, he explained, aren't in their pure form and would need processing for future extraction. "The discoveries made by Chandrayaan-3 hold vast implications for lunar exploration. Beyond the allure of space travel, the presence of these elements paints a vivid picture of the Moon's character," Chakrabarti reflected. Experts also believe that aluminium's lightweight strength could become a resource for future missions, potentially transforming the Moon into a launchpad for further space exploration. Calcium's critical role in biological processes could fuel discussions about the Moon's potential as a scientific research hub. Chakrabarti expressed his enthusiasm for Pragyan's contribution. "It is indeed heartening that Pragyan is actually sending the composition of the topsoil of the landing area, namely, Shiv-Shakti point." He also highlighted the need for helium, hydrogen and water for future space travel, survival and power generation. "Right now, we are concentrating on survival on the Moon and not getting richer," he added. ISRO has initiated a thorough investigation into the presence of hydrogen. Venkateswaran, who is also a member of the outreach committee of the Astronomical Society of India, emphasised the rover's role in confirming a finding from Chandrayaan-1 about hydrogen particles reflected by the Moon's surface in 2008. "We do need to see water in any of its forms and hydrogen. That would be a genuine achievement," Chakrabarti added. Chandrayaan-3 touched down on the lunar south pole on August 23, making India the first country to land on the uncharted surface.

Chandrayaan's detection of sulphur, other elements will help unveil Moon's mysteries, say experts

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Indian-origin <keyword id="21544825" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sunita-Williams" source="keywords">Sunita Williams</keyword>' piloted 'Starliner' is set to launch into space on Saturday, after the joint mission of US space agency <keyword id="19935155" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="NASA" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="NASA" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="NASA">NASA</keyword> and aircraft major Boeing was previously hit by snags. The flight will mark Williams' third space mission. According to NASA, the flight to the orbiting International Space Station (<keyword id="20307956" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ISS" source="keywords">ISS</keyword>) is scheduled to lift off from Florida's Kennedy Space Centre around 10 pm Indian Standard Time today. 'Suni' Williams and fellow NASA <keyword id="20248602" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="astronaut" source="keywords">astronaut</keyword> Barry 'Butch' Wilmore will be the first humans to go aboard Starliner spacecraft as part of the US space agency's Commercial Crew Program. The Starliner spacecraft will be catapulted into space on an Atlas 5 rocket of the rocket company United Launch Alliance (ULA). It will dock with the ISS on Sunday and the astronauts will be at the ISS conducting a range of tests for about a week. Starliner will then undock from the ISS re-enter Earth's atmosphers and make a parachute and airbag-assisted landing in the southwestern United States on June 10, NASA said. If this mission is successful, NASA will begin the final process of certifying Starliner and its systems for crewed rotation missions to the International Space Station. The Starliner capsule will carry four astronauts, or a mix of crew and cargo, for NASA missions to low Earth orbit. NASA, Boeing, and ULA (United Launch Alliance) are ready for the June 1, launch of the agency's Boeing Crew Flight Test according to an announcement during a prelaunch media briefing from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. "I'm very proud of the teams who have worked really hard the last two and a half weeks to prepare for launch," said Steve Stich, manager, NASA's Commercial Crew Program. "We're really ready to go fly" he said. The integrated ULA Atlas 5 rocket and Starliner spacecraft stack rolled out to the pad at Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on May 30 in preparation for liftoff. Both Williams and Wilmore had remained in preflight quarantine inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building following their return to the Florida spaceport on May 28. Mission managers of the <keyword id="21541868" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Boeing-Starliner" source="keywords">Boeing Starliner</keyword>'s Crewed Test Flight (CFT) called off the mission on May 7, just two hours before the scheduled launch due to a valve glitch in the Atlas 5 rocket's upper stage. Boeing said in its statement that the valve was successfully replaced on May 11 and tested to confirm it was working properly. Later on May 14, NASA announced that the CFT mission scheduled for May 17 has been pushed to no later than May 21 due to what it described as a "small helium leak" in the spacecraft's service module. On May 17 the space agency said that the launch was further pushed back to May 25. The flight marking Boeing's first Starliner spacecraft mission with a human crew, is part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, which is working with the US aerospace industry through a public-private partnership to launch astronauts on American rockets and spacecraft from US soil. NASA selected Boeing and SpaceX in September 2014 to transport crew to the International Space Station from the United States. These integrated spacecraft, rockets and associated systems will carry up to four astronauts on NASA missions, maintaining a space station crew of seven to maximize time dedicated to scientific research on the orbiting laboratory. After a failed attempt in December 2019, Boeing conducted a successful uncrewed Orbital Flight Test 2 (OFT-2) in 2022. Its Starliner is expected to be reusable for up to ten missions within a six-month turnaround time, according to the aerospace company. Elon Musk-owned SpaceX company's Crew Dragon has performed 12 crewed missions since its first launch on May 30, 2020. Williams and Wilmore were both former commanders of the International Space Station. Williams, from Needham, Massachusetts, earned a physical science degree from the US Naval Academy, and a master's in engineering management from the Florida Institute of Technology. Her first spaceflight was Expedition 14/15 (from December 2006 to June 2007) launching on space shuttle Discovery's STS-116 mission to reach the International Station, according to NASA. While onboard, Williams established a world record for women at the time with four spacewalks. She concluded her tour of duty by returning to Earth with shuttle Atlantis' STS-117 flight to land at Edwards Air Force Base in California on June 22, 2007. Selected as an astronaut by NASA in June 1998, Williams has spent a total of 322 days in space on two missions and accumulated 50 hours and 40 minutes of cumulative EVA time on seven spacewalks. Williams worked with Roscosmos on its contribution to the space station and with the first Expedition crew. Meanwhile, 61-year-old, Wilmore has logged 178 days in space and has 25 hours and 36 minutes of time on four spacewalks. Boeing has planned six manned missions for the platform over the next six years, the projected end of the ISS' operating lifespan. NASA plans to use both SpaceX's Dragon and Boeing's Starliner to send up astronauts at least every six months from US soil. Both Boeing and SpaceX were given the responsibility in 2014 by NASA to send commercial crew missions to the ISS. Boeing received over USD 4 billion in US federal funds to develop the Starliner, while SpaceX received about USD 2.6 billion. SEE ALSO:<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/upcoming-cars-and-two-wheelers-launching-in-india-in-june-2024/slidelist/110591467.cms" target="_blank"></a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/upcoming-cars-and-two-wheelers-launching-in-india-in-june-2024/slidelist/110591467.cms" target="_blank">Upcoming cars and two-wheelers launching in India in June 2024</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/lok-sabha-exit-poll-2024-what-are-they-when-will-they-be-announced-and-all-you-need-to-know/articleshow/110565608.cms" target="_blank"></a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/lok-sabha-exit-poll-2024-what-are-they-when-will-they-be-announced-and-all-you-need-to-know/articleshow/110565608.cms" target="_blank">Lok Sabha Exit Poll 2024 – what are they, when will they be announced and all you need to know</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/huawei-beats-samsung-to-take-the-top-spot-in-global-foldable-smartphone-shipments/articleshow/110583786.cms" target="_blank"></a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/huawei-beats-samsung-to-take-the-top-spot-in-global-foldable-smartphone-shipments/articleshow/110583786.cms" target="_blank">Huawei beats Samsung to take the top spot in global foldable smartphone shipments</a>

Sunita Williams flies to ISS on NASA's Boeing Starliner tonight; 3rd time in space for Indian-origin astronaut

<ul class="summary-list"><li>NASA's James Webb Space Telescope observed three galaxies in the universe's very early stages.</li><li>The galaxies were likely forming around when our universe was 400 million to 600 million years old.</li></ul>NASA's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/james-webb-space-telescopes-stellar-nurseries-stunning-detail-2024-3">James Webb Space Telescope</a> detected three galaxies as they were likely forming during the universe's infancy, the space agency said Thursday.Data from the telescope, which is about 1 million miles from Earth, showed these galaxies feeding on gas when the universe was only about 400 million to 600 million years old, <a target="_blank" href="https://science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/galaxies-actively-forming-in-early-universe-caught-feeding-on-cold-gas/">NASA said in a press release</a>.That's extremely young by cosmological standards, since <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/universe-younger-expanding-faster-than-thought-study-new-physics-2019-4">most astronomers agree</a> that the universe is probably about 13.7 billion years old. In other words, these galaxies offer a rare glimpse of the universe in its infancy and an exciting opportunity for astronomers to learn more about what happened shortly after the Big Bang.It's all thanks to the telescope's tremendous observing power. "Without Webb, we would not be able to observe these <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-james-webb-telescope-13-billion-old-galaxy-not-exist-2024-2">very early galaxies</a>, let alone learn so much about their formation," Kasper Heintz, an assistant professor of astrophysics at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, said in the press release.<div type="image" title="illustration of james webb space telescope with gold panels against a starry purple background" height="709" width="1200" msid="110405762" hostid="261"></div>Heintz is the lead author of a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adj0343">study</a> on this latest Webb discovery.The press release said the images of the galaxies from the telescope looked like "faint red smudges," so the researchers relied on other data, specifically patterns of colors known as spectra.From that data, the team determined the presence of large quantities of gas around the galaxies that likely condensed to form young stars in the early <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/james-webb-space-telescopes-stellar-nurseries-stunning-detail-2024-3">universe</a>.<h2 id="5c1adff0-b478-4de2-b0f1-5f5d475f9f42">The cosmic dark ages</h2><div type="image" title="NASA's James Webb Space Telescope took this image of tens of thousands of galaxies." height="562" width="999" msid="110405763" hostid="261"></div>Studying young stars in the early universe is important because it helps astronomers understand a crucial moment in cosmic evolution: when the universe went from opaque to transparent, like what we see now.This is known as the Era of Reionization. If you'd lived in the universe before the Era of Reionization, you wouldn't have been able to observe distant stars and galaxies because gas all around you would have obstructed your view. For that reason, this period is often called the cosmic dark ages.But about 1 billion years after the Big Bang, heat from stars and galaxies turned that opaque gas transparent. This is why we can see distant stars and galaxies in the night sky.Astronomers study the Era of Reionization to understand the very early moments in our universe when galaxies and stars first formed. Webb's latest images of the three galaxies forming during the universe's infancy are so exciting because astronomers rarely witness galaxy formation so soon after the Big Bang."These <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-james-webb-telescope-megacluster-galaxies-magnifying-glass-discovery-2023-11">galaxies</a> are like sparkling islands in a sea of otherwise neutral, opaque gas," Heintz said.The team published its results in the peer-reviewed journal Science this week.

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