月: 2021年3月

Applications are open for ESA’s first astronaut selection in over a decade, and all qualified candidates are encouraged to put themselves forward.
www.esa.int/About_Us/Careers_at_ESA/ESA_Astronaut_Selection/Calling_all_future_astronauts

So far, only two interstellar objects have been observed within our Solar System. While the first one, 1I/‘Oumuamua, had asteroidal characteristics, the second one, 2I/Borisov, showed clear evidence of cometary activity. We performed polarimetric observations of comet 2I/Borisov using the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope to derive the physical characteristics of its coma dust particles. Here we show that the polarization of 2I/Borisov is higher than what is typically measured for Solar System comets.
www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-22000-x

On Tuesday, March 30, SpaceX launched its fourth high-altitude flight test of Starship from Starbase in Texas. Similar to previous high-altitude flight tests, Starship Serial Number 11 (SN11) was powered through ascent by three Raptor engines, each shutting down in sequence prior to the vehicle reaching apogee – approximately 10 km in altitude. SN11 performed a propellant transition to the internal header tanks, which hold landing propellant, before reorienting itself for reentry and a controlled aerodynamic descent.
Shortly after the landing burn started, SN11 experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly. Teams will continue to review data and work toward our next flight test.
www.spacex.com/vehicles/starship/

地球研の20年を振り返り、未来を考える催しとして、第1部と第2部から成るシンポジウムを2日間にわたって開催することになりました。
第1部は主に研究者の方々を対象とし、総合地球環境学の未来を考えます。第2部は、より広い皆さまにもご参加いただきながら、人新世における人類と地球の未来可能性を考えます。皆さまのご参加をお待ちしております。
www.chikyu.ac.jp/rihn/20th/index.html

As early as Tuesday, March 30, the SpaceX team will attempt a high-altitude flight test of Starship serial number 11 (SN11) – our fourth high-altitude flight test of a Starship prototype from Starbase in Texas.
www.spacex.com/vehicles/starship/index.html

www.who.int/publications-detail-redirect/who-convened-global-study-of-origins-of-sars-cov-2-china-part

New observations with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) indicate that the rogue comet 2I/Borisov, which is only the second and most recently detected interstellar visitor to our Solar System, is one of the most pristine ever observed. Astronomers suspect that the comet most likely never passed close to a star, making it an undisturbed relic of the cloud of gas and dust it formed from.

www.eso.org/public/news/eso2106/?lang

This image taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope features NGC 7678 – a galaxy with one particularly prominent arm, located approximately 164 million light-years away in the constellation of Pegasus (the Winged Horse). With a diameter of around 115,000 light-years, this bright spiral galaxy is a similar size to our own galaxy (the Milky Way) and was discovered in 1784 by the German-British astronomer William Herschel.

www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2021/hubble-spots-a-galaxy-with-a-peculiar-arm

Set to launch next year, the agency’s Psyche spacecraft will explore a metal-rich asteroid in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasa-begins-final-assembly-of-spacecraft-destined-for-asteroid-psyche

房総半島から約500km沖、水深6,000m付近の海底をプラスチックごみの集積地と見込み調査した結果、ポリ袋や食品包装等の使い捨てプラスチックが大量に見つかった。 房総半島沖の大深度の海底に広がるプラスチックごみの密度(平均4,561 個 km-2)は、過去に記録された大深度の海底におけるプラスチックごみと比べて2桁も高く、海溝や海底谷など、ごみなどが集まりやすいと考えられる窪地と比較しても高い値を示した。
www.jamstec.go.jp/j/about/press_release/20210330/