Tag Archives: science

El Capitan ranked the most powerful supercomputer in the world

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When Cray Computing, a supercomputer manufacturer acquired by HP in 2019, announced that it would build El Capitan it expected the computer to reach a peak performance of 1.5 exaflops. Today, the 64th edition of the TOP500 — a long-running ranking of the world's non-distributed supercomputers — was published, and El Capitan not only exceeded that forecast by clocking 1.742 exaflops, but has claimed the title as the most powerful supercomputer in the world right now.

El Capitan is only the third “exascale” computer, meaning it can perform more than a quintillion calculations in a second. The other two, called Frontier and Aurora, claim the second and third place slots on the TOP500 now. Unsurprisingly, all of these massive machines live within government research facilities: El Capitan is housed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; Frontier is at Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Argonne National Laboratory claims Aurora. Cray had a hand in all three systems.

El Capitan has more than 11 million combined CPU and GPU cores based on AMD 4th-gen EPYC processors. These 24-core processors are rated at 1.8GHz each and have AMD Instinct M1300A APUs. It's also relatively efficient, as such systems go, squeezing out an estimated 58.89 Gigaflops per watt.

If you’re wondering what El Capitan is built for, the answer is addressing nuclear stockpile safety, but it can also be used for nuclear counterterrorism. Being more powerful than anticipated, it’s likely to occupy the throne for a long while before another exascale computer overtakes it.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/el-capitan-ranked-the-most-powerful-supercomputer-in-the-world-180037304.html?src=rss

The Morning After: Your Switch games will work on Nintendo’s next console

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You won't have to worry about repurchasing your Nintendo favorites when the Switch’s successor finally arrives. In its earnings report, Nintendo said its next console will have backwards compatibility and be able to run games made for the Switch. In addition, Switch Online will also be available on the Switch 2.

The earnings report takes a philosophical tone in talking about the why. Its online service, Nintendo Account, ties a user’s history to one account and enables the company, it said, to “maintain a continuous relationship” with them across console generations.

We’re all waiting: Nintendo downgraded its sales forecast for the fiscal year due to a big decline in console sales compared to last year.

— Mat Smith

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Japanese researchers just sent the world’s first wooden satellite to space, in a bid to figure out whether wood could be a future suitable material for all kinds of space activities. “With timber, a material we can produce by ourselves, we will be able to build houses, live and work in space forever,” said Takao Doi, an astronaut affiliated with Kyoto University.

Continue reading.

While we felt the Kindle Colorsoft was a solid first stab at a color ereader by Amazon, there’s an issue. After several buyers pointed out that a yellow band was discoloring the bottom of the display, the same issue occurred on our review unit. Now, the company says it’s offering refunds and replacements for anyone seeing the same issue. For the time being, Amazon has delayed shipments of the ereader while it juggles replacements. We’ve also pulled the score from our review until it’s resolved.

Continue reading.

TMA
Fox

Meta had plans to build an AI data center that relies on nuclear power in the US — it even already knew where it wanted to build the facility. According to the Financial Times, though, the company had to scrap its plans because a rare bee species was discovered on the land reserved for the project. The report didn’t say whether Meta is looking for a new site — one without rare bees.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-your-switch-games-will-work-on-nintendos-next-console-121526165.html?src=rss

Japan just sent the world’s first wooden satellite to space

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Japanese researchers just sent the world’s first wooden satellite to space, as reported by CNN. LignoSat, named after the Latin word for wood, was developed by Kyoto University and a company called Sumitomo Forestry. It was included in a SpaceX mission to the International Space Station (ISS) and will soon be released into orbit above the Earth.

Why do this? There are two main reasons. First of all, it’ll be a test as to the durability of wood when faced with the harsh conditions of space. If successful, the researchers plan on making more wooden structures and jettisoning them to the cosmos.

A wood satellite.
Kyoto University

“With timber, a material we can produce by ourselves, we will be able to build houses, live and work in space forever,” said Takao Doi, an astronaut affiliated with Kyoto University. This is the first step in a 50-year plan that includes planting trees and building actual timber houses on the moon and even Mars.

“Early 1900s airplanes were made of wood,” said Kyoto University forest science professor Koji Murata. “A wooden satellite should be feasible, too.”

For those balking at the idea of wooden structures being used in space, consider some of the benefits. The material should actually be more durable in space than on Earth because, well, the endless void doesn’t have any water or oxygen. There’s nothing to cause rot and it's very hard for it to catch fire. It even offers fairly decent protection from radiation.

The other reason has to do with all of those other satellites in orbit. The planet’s currently surrounded by more than 3,000 satellites, not to mention all kinds of affiliated space debris. Wooden satellites would eventually fall back down to Earth and burn up during re-entry.

Metal satellites will (mostly) burn up during the return trip, but not before creating harmful aluminum oxide particles. We don’t really have a plan in place for the ever-expanding amount of space junk entombing the planet, so this could help. Doi envisions a scenario in which “metal satellites might be banned in the future.” In any event, having a log cabin on the moon would be one heck of a good time. There's literally an Apple TV+ show plus about just that. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/japan-just-sent-the-worlds-first-wooden-satellite-to-space-194055742.html?src=rss

Webb’s latest Phantom Galaxy image sheds light on stellar feedback

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Today, NASA published a new image of the Phantom Galaxy, also known as M74 and NGC 628. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) captured it. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen the Webb telescope send a picture of the Phantom Galaxy back. NASA previously published one in 2022.

Below is the 2022 image for comparison. Despite the different colors, it’s clear that both images are of the same galaxy.

Phantom Galaxy Webb Image 2022
ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, J. Lee

Webb captured the older image using only its Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI). Conversely, the new one combines data from MIRI and Webb’s Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam). This combination allowed scientists from the Feedback in Emerging extrAgalactic Star clusTers (FEAST) team to observe the Phantom Galaxy’s nurseries.

For the uninitiated, stellar nurseries are regions in space full of gasses and molecular clouds. They’re where stars and planets are born. For that reason, some people also refer to them as star-forming regions.

The FEAST team’s primary mission is to examine stellar feedback in locations outside the Milky Way galaxy while also observing the formation of stars. By looking at how much energy from stars pours out into the surroundings, scientists can better understand how stars come into being.

Combined data from Webb’s MIRI and NIRCam instruments allowed scientists to conclude that the spiral arms of the Phantom Galaxy are where stars are more actively forming in the celestial body. Thanks to NIRCam, the JWST can now also see hydrogen emission lines, which aren’t as affected by the dust and show where massive stars are newly formed.

The JWST continues to send images back for us to enjoy, courtesy of a 68GB SSD. For those interested in viewing more, the ESA/Webb site has many of them.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/webbs-latest-phantom-galaxy-image-sheds-light-on-stellar-feedback-153026022.html?src=rss

NASA spent October hoisting a 103-ton simulator section onto a test stand to prep for the next Moon mission

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NASA spent the last two weeks hoisting a 103-ton component onto a simulator and installing it to help prepare for the next Moon missions. Crews fitted the interstage simulator component onto the Thad Cochran Test Stand at Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The connecting section mimics the same SLS (Space Launch System) part that will help protect the rocket’s upper stage, which will propel the Orion spacecraft on its planned Artemis launches.

The Thad Cochran Test Stand is where NASA sets up the SLS components and conducts thorough testing to ensure they’ll be safe and operating as intended on the versions that fly into space. The new section was installed onto the B-2 position of the testing center and is now fitted with all the necessary piping, tubing and electrical systems for future test runs.

Top-down view of the SLS interstage section installed at a test center.
NASA

The interstage section will protect electrical and propulsion systems and support the SLS’s EUS (Exploration Upper Stage) in the rocket’s latest design iteration, Block 1B. It will replace the current Block 1 version and offer a 40 percent bigger payload. The EUS will support 38 tons of cargo with a crew or 42 tons without a crew, compared to 27 tons of crew and cargo in the Block 1 iteration. (Progress!) Four RL10 engines, made by contractor L3Harris, will power the new EUS.

The interstage simulator section NASA spent mid-October installing weighs 103 tons and measures 31 feet in diameter and 33 feet tall. The section’s top portion will absorb the EUS hot fire thrust, transferring it back to the test stand so the test stand doesn’t collapse under the four engines’ more than 97,000 pounds of thrust.

NASA’s testing at Stennis Space Center will prepare the SLS for the Artemis IV mission, which will send four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft to the Lunar Gateway space station to install a new module. After that, they’ll descend to the Moon’s surface in the Starship HLS (Human Landing System) lunar lander.

You can catch some glimpses into NASA’s heavy lifting in the video below:

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasa-spent-october-hoisting-a-103-ton-simulator-section-onto-a-test-stand-to-prep-for-the-next-moon-mission-173008826.html?src=rss

NASA spent October hoisting a 103-ton simulator section onto a test stand to prep for the next Moon mission

Posted on by

NASA spent the last two weeks hoisting a 103-ton component onto a simulator and installing it to help prepare for the next Moon missions. Crews fitted the interstage simulator component onto the Thad Cochran Test Stand at Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The connecting section mimics the same SLS (Space Launch System) part that will help protect the rocket’s upper stage, which will propel the Orion spacecraft on its planned Artemis launches.

The Thad Cochran Test Stand is where NASA sets up the SLS components and conducts thorough testing to ensure they’ll be safe and operating as intended on the versions that fly into space. The new section was installed onto the B-2 position of the testing center and is now fitted with all the necessary piping, tubing and electrical systems for future test runs.

Top-down view of the SLS interstage section installed at a test center.
NASA

The interstage section will protect electrical and propulsion systems and support the SLS’s EUS (Exploration Upper Stage) in the rocket’s latest design iteration, Block 1B. It will replace the current Block 1 version and offer a 40 percent bigger payload. The EUS will support 38 tons of cargo with a crew or 42 tons without a crew, compared to 27 tons of crew and cargo in the Block 1 iteration. (Progress!) Four RL10 engines, made by contractor L3Harris, will power the new EUS.

The interstage simulator section NASA spent mid-October installing weighs 103 tons and measures 31 feet in diameter and 33 feet tall. The section’s top portion will absorb the EUS hot fire thrust, transferring it back to the test stand so the test stand doesn’t collapse under the four engines’ more than 97,000 pounds of thrust.

NASA’s testing at Stennis Space Center will prepare the SLS for the Artemis IV mission, which will send four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft to the Lunar Gateway space station to install a new module. After that, they’ll descend to the Moon’s surface in the Starship HLS (Human Landing System) lunar lander.

You can catch some glimpses into NASA’s heavy lifting in the video below:

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasa-spent-october-hoisting-a-103-ton-simulator-section-onto-a-test-stand-to-prep-for-the-next-moon-mission-173008826.html?src=rss

NASA’s Webb telescope detects the first potential brown dwarfs outside our galaxy

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The James Webb Space Telescope is making it possible to detect more celestial objects we previously wouldn't be able to, including ones that can further our knowledge on how our universe began. A team of astronomers, for instance, detected a "rich population of brown dwarf candidates" outside our own galaxy for the first time. The image above was captured using the telescope's Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam) instrument. 

We already know of the roughly 3,000 brown dwarfs inside the Milky Way, but Webb made it possible to find candidates 200,000 light years away from our planet. "Only with the incredible sensitivity and spatial resolution in the correct wavelength regime is it possible to detect these objects at such great distances," said Peter Zeidler, the team leader from AURA/STScI for the European Space Agency. "This has never been possible before and also will remain impossible from the ground for the foreseeable future."

Brown dwarfs are neither planets nor stars. They're free-floating objects around 13 to 75 times larger than Jupiter, and they aren't gravitationally bound to a star like exoplanets are. Yes, they're bigger than the biggest gas giants, but they're also not big enough to produce massive amounts of light, which is why they're sometimes called "failed stars." According to the scientists in this study, their observations support the theory that brown dwarfs form like stars do, they merely "don’t accrete enough mass to become a fully fledged star." As NASA notes, scientists think it's possible that a "great deal" of the universe's mass comes in the form of brown dwarfs. Seeing as they're mostly dark and can barely generate any light, they could help answer the "missing mass" problem that astronomers are still trying to solve. 

The team found the new brown dwarf candidates in a star cluster called NGC 602 near the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud dwarf galaxy. They explained that older Hubble observations showed that the cluster contains very young low mass stars, but Webb made it possible to look at them more closely. Based on what they've seen, the cluster exists in an environment comparable to the early universe, which means studying the brown dwarfs could provide more clues on how stars and planets formed billions of years ago.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasas-webb-telescope-detects-the-first-potential-brown-dwarfs-outside-our-galaxy-120007295.html?src=rss

NASA’s newest telescope can detect gravitational waves from colliding black holes

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NASA showed off a telescope prototype for a new gravitational wave detection mission in space. The telescope is part of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission led by the European Space Agency (NSA) in partnership with NASA.

The goal of the LISA mission is to position three spacecraft in a triangular orbit measuring nearly 1.6 million miles on each side. The three spacecraft will follow the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Each spacecraft will carry two telescopes to track their siblings using infrared laser beams. Those beams can measure distances down to a trillionth of a meter.

Gravitational waves are created during a collision between two black holes. They were first theorized by Albert Einstein in 1916 and detected almost a century later by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) Scientific Collaboration from the National Science Foundation, Caltech and MIT. A gravitational wave is detected when the three spacecraft shift from their characteristic pattern.

The LISA mission is scheduled to launch in the mid-2030s. The detection of gravitational waves could provide “enormous potential” to better our understanding of the universe, including events like black holes and the Big Bang that are difficult to study through other means, according to the official mission website.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasas-newest-telescope-can-detect-gravitational-waves-from-colliding-black-holes-194527272.html?src=rss

Prada reveals its spacesuit for NASA’s Artemis III mission

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Last October, Axiom Space and Prada partnered to create a new spacesuit for NASA's Artemis III mission — it's first crewed venture to the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. One year later, the pair has revealed a first look at the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) spacesuit during Milan's International Astronautical Congress. The suit is white with red and gray accents that admittedly does look chicer than a typical spacesuit. 

The pair claims the new spacesuit's design improves on flexibility, can manage an eight hour spacewalk and will sustain two hours of the lunar south pole's coldest temperatures. "Prada’s design and product development team worked alongside Axiom Space engineers on customized material recommendations and features that would both protect astronauts against the unique challenges of the lunar environment and visually inspire future space exploration," the companies said in a joint statement. 

The suit is almost finished, having undergone testing and simulations at Axiom Space, SpaceX and NASA facilities. It should enter a final review in 2025, following completion of the remaining evaluations. NASA initially planned to launch Artemis III in 2025 and pushed it to at least September 2026 early this year. The space agency originally awarded Axiom with the mission in 2022. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/prada-reveals-its-spacesuit-for-nasas-artemis-iii-mission-123014149.html?src=rss

NASA’s Europa Clipper mission is on its way to Jupiter

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NASA has launched its Europa Clipper spacecraft, the biggest one it has ever built for a mission heading to another planet, on top of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Mission controllers at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have confirmed that the Europa Clipper successfully separated from the rocket's second stage and has already deployed the two solar arrays flanking its main body. Now, the spacecraft has started its 1.8 billion-million journey Europa, one of Jupiter's moons and one of the most promising habitable worlds outside our own planet, which will take it five-and-a-half years to reach. 

The Europa Clipper will not be heading straight to Jupiter — it will instead fly by Mars and, in 2026, by Earth to use the planets' gravity to boost its momentum. NASA's plan is to use that momentum to slingshot the spacecraft towards the outer solar system. Europa has a thick icy shell that's estimated to be around 10 to 15 miles thick, covering a saltwater ocean that could have twice the water in our planet's oceans combined. Since scientists believe that life on our planet originated from the ocean, Europa's could also host organic compounds and contain energy sources. 

"Scientists believe Europa has suitable conditions below its icy surface to support life. Its conditions are water, energy, chemistry and stability," said Sandra Connelly, the Deputy Associate Administrator in the NASA Science Mission Directorate.

Upon reaching Europa in 2031, the Clipper will fly by the moon 49 times, coming as close as 16 miles to its surface. NASA equipped the spacecraft with nine instruments, including an ice-penetrating radar, cameras and a thermal instrument, housed inside a vault made of titanium and aluminum to protect them from the intense radiation produced by Jupiter. The Clipper will operate its instruments simultaneously every time it passes by the moon to investigate how thick Europa's outer shell truly is and how deep the ocean underneath all that ice is. It will also look for areas with warmer ice and find any plumes of water vapor that could be escaping from Europa's icy shell. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasas-europa-clipper-mission-is-on-its-way-to-jupiter-110041120.html?src=rss