Thursday 21 September 2017

Hope to discover sure signs of life on Mars? New research says look for the element vanadium

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A new article suggests NASA and others hunting for proof of Martian biology in the form of 'microfossils' could use the element vanadium in combination with Raman spectroscopy to confirm traces of extraterrestrial life.
via Science Daily
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Solar eruption ‘photobombed’ Mars encounter with Comet Siding Spring

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When Comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) passed just 140,000 kilometers from Mars on 19th October 2014, depositing a large amount of debris in the Martian atmosphere, space agencies coordinated multiple spacecraft to witness the largest meteor shower in recorded history. It was a rare opportunity, as this kind of planetary event occurs only once every 100,000 years.
via Science Daily
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NASA’s Osiris-Rex Spacecraft Is Headed for a Flyby With Earth

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The spacecraft will make a flyby of Earth on Friday, using the planet’s gravity to steer it toward Bennu, an asteroid it will visit next year.
via New York Times

Next stop: the superconducting magnets of the future

A September Morning Sky

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The Moon, three planets, and a bright star gathered near the ecliptic plane in the September 18 morning sky over Veszprem Castle, Hungary. In this twilight skyscape, Mercury and Mars still shine close to the eastern horizon, soon to disappear in the glare of the Sun. Regulus, alpha star of the constellation Leo, is the bright point next to a waning crescent Moon, with brilliant Venus near the top of the frame. The beautiful morning conjunction of Moon, planets, and bright star could generally be followed by early morning risers all around planet Earth. But remarkably, the Moon also occulted, or passed directly in front of, Regulus and each of the three planets within 24 hours, all on September 18 UT. Visible from different locations, timing and watching the lunar occultations was much more difficult though, and mostly required viewing in daytime skies.

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From stars to galaxies

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Explore stellar nurseries in our Milky Way and other galaxies as viewed through the infrared eye of the Herschel space observatory
via ESA Space Science
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Herschel/Highlights/From_stars_to_galaxies

CERN openlab tackles ICT challenges of High-Luminosity LHC

CERN computing centre in 2017 (Image: Robert Hradil, Monika Majer/ProStudio22.ch)

CERN openlab has published a white paper identifying the major ICT challenges that face CERN and other ‘big science’ projects in the coming years.

CERN is home to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s most powerful particle accelerator. The complexity of the scientific instruments at the laboratory throw up extreme ICT challenges, and make it an ideal environment for carrying out joint R&D projects and testing with industry.

A continuing programme of upgrades to the LHC and the experiments at CERN will result in hugely increased ICT demands in the coming years. The High-Luminosity LHC, the successor to the LHC, is planned to come online in around 2026. By this time, the total computing capacity required by the experiments is expected to be 50-100 times greater than today, with data storage needs expected to be in the order of exabytes.

CERN openlab works to develop and test the new ICT solutions and techniques that help to make the ground-breaking physics discoveries at CERN possible. It is a unique public-private partnership that provides a framework through which CERN can collaborate with leading ICT companies to accelerate the development of these cutting-edge technologies.

With a new three-year phase of CERN openlab set to begin at the start of 2018, work has been carried out throughout the first half of 2017 to identify key areas for future collaboration. A series of workshops and discussions was held to discuss the ICT challenges faced by the LHC research community — and other ‘big science’ projects over the coming years. This white paper is the culmination of these investigations, and sets out specific challenges that are ripe for tackling through collaborative R&D projects with leading ICT companies.

The white paper identifies 16 ICT ‘challenge areas’, which have been grouped into four overarching ‘R&D topics’ (data-centre technologies and infrastructures, computing performance and software, machine learning and data analytics, applications in other disciplines). Challenges identified include ensuring that data centre architectures are flexible and cost effective; using cloud computing resources in a scalable, hybrid manner; fully modernising code, in order to exploit hardware to its maximum potential; making sure large-scale platforms are in place to enable global scientific collaboration; and successfully translating the huge potential of machine learning into concrete solutions       .

“Tackling these challenges — through a public-private partnership that brings together leading experts from each of these spheres — has the potential to positively impact on a range of scientific and technological fields, as well as wider society,” says Alberto Di Meglio, head of CERN openlab.

“With the LHC and the experiments set to undergo major upgrade work in 2019 and 2020, CERN openlab’s sixth phase offers a clear opportunity to develop ICT solutions that will already make a tangible difference for researchers when the upgraded LHC and experiments come back online in 2021,” says Maria Girone, CERN openlab CTO.

 

Follow the launch event for the white paper live via webcast from 09:50 CEST today.


via CERN: Updates for the general public
http://home.cern/about/updates/2017/09/cern-openlab-tackles-ict-challenges-high-luminosity-lhc