Mercury's Sulphur Secrets, Jupiter's Slimmer Profile, and NASA's Launch Tower Setback

Versus Spacetime Series twenty nine, episode fifty seven, for broadcast in the thirteenth of May twenty six. Coming up on space Time, how the strange magmas on Mercury shaped the planet differently to the Earth, confirmation of a slimmer Jupiter, and work on NASA's launch tower too at the Kennedy Space Center has been formally halted. All that and more coming up on space Time. Welcome to space Time with Stewart Gary. A new study has found that sulfur rich magmas on the planet Mercury have reshaped the tortured world's interior, revolution and crustal formation very differently compared to that on Earth. Mercury is the nearest planet to the Sun. It's a small, rocky world about which scientists still know very little. Two missions to the planet have revealed that Mercury is covered by an iron pore and sulfur rich crust. Importantly, it's also reduced. That's a chemical state in which the substances have gained electrons. In fact, it's the most reduced planet in the Solar System. One of the studies authors, Regip de Scupta from the Rice Space Institute, says mercury surface looks completely different to that of the Earth, so scientists couldn't study its magmatic evolution using assumptions built on our understanding of the Earth. But a key to better understanding this distant world might come from a meteorite called indract, which crashed to the ground in Azerbaijan back in eighteen ninety one. Indract looks very similar to the chemical composition of mercury, and so the authors realize they could use it to study how mercury's unique chemical makeup shape the planet. That's because indract is as chemically reduced as the rocks on mercury. In fact, there's speculation that it may well have originated there. So during colleagues devolved a model melt composition of indract to cook their own mercury rocks in a high pressure, high temperature oven. The process is really fairly simple. Makes interacts chemical ingredients together in a small glass vial, change the settings in the facility to match the conditions on mercury, add the chemicals, and cook. This process of cooking a rock can show what happens chemically inside mercury by using the temperature, pressure, and chemical constraints derived both from spacecraft observations and from computer simulations. The authors were able to create what they believe are mercury like conditions in order to understand how magma's foreman evolve. There, they found that sulfur lowers the temperature at which these reduced melted rocks begin to crystallize. That means sulfur rich magmas on Mercury may stay molten at lower temperatures, and similar magmas here on Earth. Mercury's unique chemical composition, its low iron content, high sulfur content, and the chemically reduced state it's in is the reason for the significantly did increased crystallization temperature. Sulfur is I guess you'd call it a promiscuous element. It likes to be bound to other elements, usually iron. Iron rich planets like Mars and the Earth have most of their sulfur bound to iron, but Mercury's low iron content means its sulfur needed to find a different binding partner. Specifically, it could bind to major rock forming elements like magnesium and calcium. On Earth, these rock forming elements would typically bind to oxygen, resulting in a stable structure called a silicon network made up of silicon, oxygen, and rock forming elements. When sulfur replaces oxygen, however, that network becomes weaker and crystallizes at lower temperatures. The research suggests that sulfur occupies a similar structural position on Mercury as oxygen does on Earth, and that fundamentally changes how the planet's mattle solidified. There are still many questions about Mercury which remain to be answered, and the Joint European Space Agency Japan aerospacex Peration Agency BIPPI Columbo mission will hope to answer those when it arrives at Mercury later this year. This report from EAS TV. With a thin crust of rocks surrounding a dense iron core. There's more to Mercury than the first appears. Temperatures on the heavily cratered surface range from around four hundred and fifty degrees celsius down to minus one hundred and eighty, and there are signs of past volcanic activity. Mercury has been visited twice, first in nineteen seventy four by NASA's Mariner ten probe, and some forty years later by Messenger, which spent four years in orbit. Messenger mapped the surface and even discovered strong evidence for water ice in shaded craters. But the mission also raised new questions about this mysterious planet, questions that BEPI Columbo arbiters will be trying to answer. The big step forward for BEPY Columbo is the fact that we have two spacecraft, the European Space Agency spacecraft which is designed to look at the surface of the planet and to study the planet in detail, and the second spacecraft is designed to look at the environment. And so having two spacecraft will enable us to do a great deal of new science compared to the previous. Missions protected by the multi layered insulation, handstitched thermal blankets and a radiator to dissipate heat. Isa's Mercury Planetary Orbiter carries eleven science instruments. It will focus on studying the surface and internal composition of the planet. We will provide the three D images of the entire surface of Mercury and then there will be a global mapping with a spectrograph for the composition. It means that we will provide the composition within the specta range covered by our instrument of the entire surface of Madcur. A primary objective of the Japanese Mercury magnetospheric orbiters. Five instruments will be to study the planet's magnetic field. To combine data from the orbiters will enable scientists to build up a picture of the magnetic bubble or magnetosphere surrounding the planet and the influence of charged particles from the Sun known as the solar wind. With Epical on board. With a two satellite approach, we have one satellite, the MMO, sitting in the solar wind and the other one is inside the mimetosphere, so we can see what is coming towards the magnetosphere and what is driving changes within the magnetosphere. In that report from mes TV, we'd from Bibyklimber Mission scientists Emma Bunds from the University of Lister, Gabriel Criminees and Daniel Hayna from the Technical University of branchwag this space time still to came, confirmation of a slightly slimmer Jupiter, and Nessa formerly orders a Holt to all work and launch tower too at the Kennedy All that and more still the calm on space time well. As we reported earlier, a new study has now revised science as understanding of the size of the Solar System's largest planet, the gas giant Jupiter, finding it some eight kilometers narrow at the equator and twenty four kilometers flatter at the poles. The new confirmation, reported in the journal Nature Astronomy, measured Jupiter's dimensions with unprecedented precision. For more than fifty years, astronomers thought they knew the size and shape of Jupiter based on six measurements made by NASA's Voyager and Pioneer spacecraft. The studies lead author Eli Glente from Israel's Weismann Institutes is These original measurements were based on radio signals sent from the spacecraft back to Earth. Glenty says those missions provided a foundation, but now scientists can use data from as many as twenty six measurements made thanks to NASA's Juno spacecraft. Just by knowing the distance to Jupiter and watching how it rotates allows scientists to figure out roughly its shape and size, but making really accurate measurements calls for far more sophisticated methods. Launched in twenty eleven and orbiting Jupiter since twenty sixteen, Juno has been sending streams of raw data back to Earth. When NASA extended the mission in twenty twenty one, the spacecraft was able to keep studying Jupiter and its moons more closely, and juno's new expanded path placed the spacecraft in an orbit that allowed it to pass behind Jupiter from Earth's point of view, something its earlier orbit couldn't do, and JUNO passing behind Jupiter provides an opportunity for use science objectives. When the spacecraft passes behind the planet, its radio communications signal is blocked and bent by Jupiter's atmosphere. Juno's principal investigator, Scott Bolton from the Southwest Resil Institute in San Antonio, Texas, says this enables a more accurate measurement of Jupiter size. The JUNO team at the Weisman Institute seized on the new opportunity and tracked how the radio signals bent as they passed through Jupiter's atmosphere. This allowed the authors to translate this information into detailed maps of Jupiter's temperature and density, producing the clearest picture yet of the giant planet size and shape. The new findings show the King of Planets is far more flattened that the poles compared to previous estimates, and Galati says those few kilometers matter because shifting the radius by just a little let's models of Jupiter's interior fit both the gravity data and atmospheric measurements far better. This implication was then tested using models for the interior density structure of Jupiter to show that the refined shape helps bridge the gap between the models and the measurements. The study also has broader implications for understanding the structure of gas planets in general. That's because Jupiter serves as a standard reference for the study of gas giants both within our Solar System and beyond, and the earlier measurements didn't account for Jupiter's powerful winds. By including these extreme winds in their calculations, the authors cleared up some long standing discrepancies in earlier measurements. It's difficult to see what's happening beneath those swirling clouds of Jupiter, but the radio data is giving scientists to window into the depth of Jupiter' zonal winds and powerful hurricanes, and the work on the winds ties in with a recent study of Jupiter's vast polar cyclones. That research used generous measurements of these cyclones motions to predict how deep into the interior they extend. Overall, and improved understanding of Jupiter's winds enabled scientists to better understand the relationship between the planet's atmosphere and its deep interior. This space time still to come. NASAs issued a formal stop work order on construction of its second mobile launched tower, and later in the science report warnings the deadly H five and one strand of bird flu has found new ways to infect humans. All that and more still to come on space time, NASA is issued a formal stop work order on construction of its second mobile launch tower at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The move comes in the wake of the agency's decision to continue with the existing Space Launch System SOLS rocket in only its current Block one form rather than proceed with a larger Block one B in Block two versions. The second mobile launch tower would have been needed to handle the taller SLS Block one B in Block two, which would have used the bigger four engine Exploration upper stage rather than the single engine interim cryogenic propulsion stage which is used on the SOLS Block one. The interim cryogenic propulsion stage, which was only ever intended for use in the Atomus one, two, and three missions, was based on the second stage of the Narra tired Delta four rocket, and so production has been shut down. The original plans called for Atoms four onwards to use the more powerful Specially develop Exploration upper stage, but with that program canceled allegedly to standardize the SLS design, NASA will now instead switched to a two engine cent or five upper stage based on that currently used on the United launch a lines Vulcan rocket, as well as being two meters taller and fitted with repositioned umbilicals for the expiration upper stage. The second mobile launch tower is also structurally stiffer and more than three meters wider in order to handle the bigger loads which were planned for the now defunct Block one B and Block two versions. NASA says it will now start stripping parts off the second launch tower for use of spares on Tower one. The agency says the second mobile launch tower was too heavy, it was years late, and it was pushing close to a billion US dollars in costs. This is base time and Time Out of Tech. Another brief look at some of the other stories making news in Science this week with a science report. A new study has shown how the deadly H five N one strand of bird flu can spread between dairy cattle and humans using several different paths, not just through exposure to contaminated milk. The findings, reported in the journal Plus Biology, based on air, farm water, and milk samples from fourteen dairy farms, which all tested positive for H five one across two regions of California. The authors detected the virus in the air from the ex hooured breadth of infected cows in milking sheds, as well as in wastewater from those sheds, and they also found many cows that tested positive for H five N one despite not showing any symptoms. The findings highlight the sheer matter of the virus now circulating on infected farms and the range of ways in which H five H one infection can spread between cows and people. The authors say providing cleaner air in milking sheds and ensuring any milk from infected animals is properly disposed of could cut the risk of this deadly bird flues spreading. Scientists have used data from the lifetime surveillance of Astronaut Health Program, together with measurements of vision and eye health both before and after spaceflight to determine which astronauts are most likely to develop spaceflight associated neuro ocular syndrome. The condition includes changes in both long and short sightedness, the loss of the eyes around shape at the back, the development of wrinkles or lines at the very back of the eye, and optic disc edema, where the spot at the back of the eye where the optic nerve connects squells up. A report in the Journal of the American Medical Association found body mass index was the strongest predictor of whether an astronaut will experience this problem, and those carrying more weight were at greater risk. Now this may be because weightlessness changes the amount of pressure in the eye, and these effects are therefore more pronounced among people who are heavier. A new study claims celebrity worship says a lot about a person's self worth. In today celebrity and influencer driven culture, psychologists are increasingly interested in why people form strong emotional connections with certain famous figures. The new research, reported in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, suggest that celebrity admiration is closely linked to how clearly people understand themselves. The study, led by scientists from Flinders University, suggests that people who feel less certain about who they are may be looking at celebrities to try and help find their own identity. There are new warnings out today about streaming scams, which are sending malicious programs hidden inside infected data. With the details, we're joined by technology editor Alex harrav Royt from tech advice Start Life. The latest scam is to do with live streaming. Now, streaming has obviously become a common way for any of us to stay connected, whether it's graduation ceremonies or community events, I mean funerals. There's also virtual events and milestones. But regardless of the occasion, scammers are finding ways to take advantage. No surprise, right, and they're exploiting these live stream links and they're using these moments to catch people off guard and carry out cyber crimes. So I've seen people trying to watch boxing matches on pirate streams and I'm telling them, all, you don't do this, but they're doing it, and all of a sudden, they are Internet security software. In this case, I remember it being Norton was popping up every few seconds that was blocking some sort of a scam, you know, some sort of vulnerability. So you've got to watch out these days for fake event links to private or exclusive streams for concerts or sports or other events. You've got aid fakes, which is using celebrities or CEOs or people that you'd think like Elon must for example, and they're inevitably sprooking some sort of cryptocurrency or surveys opportunities to make money. And then of course you've got public funeral notices or social media posts to create fake live stream pages that might even charge you to watch. And of course these people are just ripping you off. And also bots are inflating the viewership of various accounts so incredibly. You know, people are falling to this, and it's there's a sting in the tail. I'm surprised that that's happening in this day and age. We're so careful about what we download, what we see because we're assuming almost everything's AI these days, it's still happening. Well, nobody's really thinking that a live screen for some event is going to be fraudulent. Obviously, if you're trying to catch a boxing match or some sort of a thoughts event, and may're not paying for it through the traditional streaming service. If you don't expect there's going to be some sort of scamming, you're living in some sort of fantasy world. But you know, let's imagine some important celebrity is killed or just dive dantural courses, whatever it is, and suddenly on your social media feed just say, ah, here's a stream to watch the funeral or watch the recording of the live screen. And people don't immediately think that there's something bad about that, so they click. But in that stream could be software that's targeting vulnerabilities for an out of date Prome browser or out of date operating system version, and it's coming through a browser. So this is just one of the ways that people are catching regular surfers unaware, and they're trying to figure back on that and then infect you in some way and get you involved at your community to be doing cryptocurrency mining in the background or whatever the scams are. But it's just one of the latest things. Actually, this actually came from gen which is the new name for the parent company of Norton. They've got a fourth quarter threat report, so This is the biggest finding from their threat report. The dangerous thing is what if there's some sort of a vulnerability that the internet security software can't block. Well, they're always zero day vulnerabilities, oren't they. Well that's exactly right. And look the site that I write for besides by own, is called it wire dot com. And there was a c panel vulnerability, a zero DA c panel vulnerability, and people were being advised to urgently update their sea panel software. And there were hosting companies that were blocking access to sea panel. Now, the hosting company we used didn't do that. Hire it website was white, and up in the top left tank corner was a notification for a cryptocurrency payment of zero point one bitcoin, which is about seven and a half thousand US dollars or about ten thousand Australian dollars. They wanted the receipt for some sort of proof of payment to be tweeted to a particular addresses they'd given, and then they had sort of will help you get your site back. But these were just opportunistic scameras. I'm sure if we'd paid the money, which we didn't, nothing would have happened. Because it's not the traditional ransomware where everything was encrypted, the whole thing was white. Now we had backups, and in fact, we decided to use an AI driven system to create a whole new site, not running on Joomler or WordPress or anything like that. And now us up is fresh and modern, looks fantastic, and we were able to rebuild it within just two or three days and download all of the data. Had we tried to restore the site from backups, I mean it was an older version of jumas that needed updating anyway, and you know, you don't know whether things are corrupted, but we were able to get all of the data from the phpre database, all the articles, and we've slowly been uploading it. So if you got have a look at ity dot com, if you've been there before, you'll notice all it looks modern and new. And we were attacked by as zero day vulnerability for which there was no known fix. You had to well, the patch came out after the zero day of vulnerability had spread, so you know, instead of writing about the news, our site became the news. But we were able to recover it very quickly, far faster than the posting company was able to allow us to download all the data because there were tens of thousands of customers all trying to download their backups at the same time. It was downloading very slowly. But we've got good people on our team and we were able to actually rise like a feeding from the ashes. But a lot of people, if they are not prepared with backups and haven't got the latest versions of operating systems on their computers, they may lose everything. And you know, if it can happen to das, it can happen to anybody. That's Alexaharavrouyt from Take Advice, Start Life, and this is space Time, and that's the show for now. Spacetime is available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through at bytes dot com, SoundCloud, YouTube, your favorite podcast download provider, and from space Time with Stuart Gary dot com. Space Time's also broadcast through the National Science Foundation, on Science Own Radio and on both iHeartRadio and tune In Radio. And you can help to support our show by visiting the Spacetime Store for a range of promotional merchandising goodies, or by becoming a Spacetime Patron, which gives you access to triple episode commercial free versions of the show as well as lots of bonnus audio content which doesn't go to air, access to our exclusive Facebook group, and other rewards. Just go to space Time with Stuart Gary dot com for full details. You've been listening to space Time with Stuart Gary. This has been another quality podcast production from bytes dot com