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Mar- 2023 -7 MarchNASA
NASA’s PEACOQ Detector Could Transform How Quantum Computers Exchange Huge Quantities of Data
This close-up photograph shows an exquisitely sensitive single Performance-Enhanced Array for Counting Optical Quanta (PEACOQ) detector, which is being developed at JPL to detect single photons – quantum particles of light – at an extremely high rate. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA’s PEACOQ Quantum Detector Achieves World-Leading Milestone A new JPL– and Caltech-developed detector could transform how quantum computers, located thousands of miles apart, exchange huge quantities of quantum data. Quantum computers hold the promise of operating millions of times faster than conventional computers. But to communicate over long distances, quantum computers will need a dedicated quantum communications network. To help form…
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3 MarchAstrobiology
A World in a Test Tube: Removing Traces of Life in Lab Helps NASA Scientists Study Its Origins
Lead Image: This illustration of early Earth includes liquid water as well as magma seeping from the planet’s core due to a large impact. Scientists at NASA are investigating the chemistry that might have existed at this time in the planet’s history. Credit: Simone Marchi A specialized laboratory at JPL, designed to eliminate the chemical influence of modern organisms, allows scientists to investigate the chemistry that may have given rise to life. At NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Origins and Habitability Lab, you can find a world in a test tube. This is a simplified representation of the early Earth, reconstructed…
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2 MarchAsteroid
Planetary Defense Success! NASA’s DART Data Validates Asteroid Kinetic Impact Method
Lead Image: Asteroids have the potential to collide with the Earth and cause catastrophic damage. While most asteroids burn up in the atmosphere before they reach the surface, larger asteroids can cause significant damage and even mass extinction events. NASA’s DART mission showed that kinetic impact can be effective at altering the trajectory of an asteroid, representing a major planetary defense milestone. Credit: NASA Since NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) successfully impacted its target nearly five months ago, on September 26 — altering the orbit of the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos by 33 minutes — the DART team has been…
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1 MarchGeology
New Way To Pinpoint Hidden Helium Gas Fields – And Prevent a Global Supply Crisis
Lead Image: Helium is a gas vital for MRI scanners and high-tech industry – which is suffering from severe supply issues. Now research has identified a new concept in helium gas field formation that will help secure this rare gas for society. Here a tube of helium is seen glowing in the presence of a plasma ball. Credit: Oliver Warr – University of Ottawa; AEL AMS Laboratory Helium – essential for many medical and industrial processes – is in critically short supply worldwide. Production is also associated with significant carbon emissions, contributing to climate change. This study provides a…
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1 MarchAstronomy
Astronomers Show There Are Four Classes of Planetary Systems
Astronomers have long been aware that planetary systems are not necessarily structured like our solar system. Researchers from the Universities of Bern and Geneva, as well as from the National Centre of Competence in Research PlanetS, have now shown for the first time that there are in fact four types of planetary systems. In our solar system, everything seems to be in order: The smaller rocky planets, such as Venus, Earth, or Mars, orbit relatively close to our star. The large gas and ice giants, such as Jupiter, Saturn or Neptune, on the other hand, move in wide orbits around…
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