Space

The need to build a railway on the Moon is dictated by two factors. The first is the long distances between target objects, such as mineral deposits or water ice. The Moon is very large to walk on it on foot, much less to transport any cargo, a special transport system is needed to explore it.

The second factor is more important. Due to the absence of atmosphere and moisture, dust on the Moon does not turn into dirt, the soil is not subject to erosion, so all the formed small grains of sand do not disappear anywhere. They are constantly present on the surface and have a mechanical effect on everything they come in contact with. Dust particles work as an abrasive material, accumulate static electricity and deform everything around them, causing even more fine particles to form.

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Astronomers report the approach of a rare cosmic phenomenon – in the night sky will soon appear in the star T Coronae Borealis (T CrB), not inferior in its brightness Polaris. Observers will be able to see its glow in the constellation Northern Crown, without using any optical devices. This event should be tried not to miss, because the next such flare will be only in 8 decades.

T Coronae Borealis is available for observation with strong binoculars now. Its brightness is about +10 magnitude, but will increase sharply to +2 at the time of the outburst. Flares occur regularly with a period of 80 years – they have been observed twice in recorded history. The last such outburst occurred in 1946. It is expected that the next burst of luminosity lasting several days will take place from March to September this year.

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The American agency NASA has published an image of an ‘unidentified object’ flying over the surface of the Moon. However, it is not related to aliens and is the fruit of human labour. The photo shows the Korean orbiter Danuri, travelling with the NASA spacecraft in almost parallel orbits. It was launched in 2022 and performs communications research in near-lunar orbit.

Goddard Flight Centre specialists had to demonstrate all their skills to calculate the exact time when the NASA space probe camera could catch a glimpse of Danuri. In the photo, this spacecraft looks like a long thin strip instead of a real vehicle with wings of solar panels.

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Researchers from the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory of the University of Arizona have presented a new hypothesis about the past of the Earth’s natural satellite, which could explain one strange lunar paradox. Back in the 1970s, when the first samples of local minerals were delivered from the Moon, scientists noticed an abnormally high content of ilmenites among them. These are heavy, titanium- and iron-rich rocks that are usually found closer to the planet’s core.

Ilmenites can rise from the subsurface to the surface as a result of seismic processes, but this is a rare phenomenon and their content in the upper rocks is always small. On the Moon everything is different – one gets the impression that its interior was inexplicably turned to the surface. As if some phenomenon ‘turned inside out’ the cosmic body.

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Titan is an extremely difficult object to study because it has a dense atmosphere of nitrogen and methane, the latter forming many organic compounds under the influence of solar radiation. Some of them fall as rain, some remain as clouds, and some form sedimentary rocks. It is suggested that Titan’s surface is an analogue of a swamp with puddles of ‘primordial soup’ that may one day give rise to new life.

To explore such a world, a device in the form of a multi-rotor drone has been specially created. It is not able to fly, but can make long ‘jumps’, avoiding obstacles and flying over puddles. ‘Dragonfly’ will move between objects of interest to scientists on the surface of Titan and study them with the help of instruments on board. The vehicle has a nuclear propulsion system that operates on the RITEG principle to maximise the duration of the mission.

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