The crater in the center of this HiRISE image defines where zero longitude is on Mars, like the Greenwich Observatory does for the Earth. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Although the photo above isn’t new (it was captured by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE), on the
Zooming out a bit, we see the Airy-0 crater is a wider context. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
The larger crater that sits within this crater, called the Airy Crater, originally defined zero longitude for Mars, but as higher resolution photos became available, a smaller feature was needed. This crater, called Airy-0 (zero) was selected because it did not need to adjust existing maps.
These days, longitude on Mars is measured even more precisely using radio tracking of landers such as InSight, but everything is still defined to keep zero longitude centered on this crater.
The full view image shows more of the surrounds of the Airy-0 crater on Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
This image was captured by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE), on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The map is projected here at a scale of 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) per pixel.
For more recent image of stunning craters on Mars, see Martian Brain Freeze: Mars Express Reveals Utopia Planitia.
A team of researchers at Université de Toulouse has attempted to calculate the entire global footprint of space science, including both ground-based and space-based observatories. In their paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy, the team suggests the footprint of space science adds up to 1.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere each year, and it has a lifetime footprint of 20.3 million metric tons. Andrew Ross Wilson, with the University of Strathclyde, has published a News & Views piece in the same journal issue describing the difficulty in calculating the footprint of astronomical research efforts and the methods that are used to do so; he also outlines the work done by the team with this new effort.
The work by the researchers involved obtaining and scouring prior astronomy research papers that included descriptions of the amount of energy used during 46 space-based projects and 39 that were ground-based. Such projects included things like the construction and operation of new observatories as well as the launching of space-based observatories. They also noted projections given for energy costs needed to maintain such projects over their lifetime. For example, they note that the Hubble Space Telescope was found to have an estimated total footprint of 555,000 metric tons and the recently deployed James Webb telescope was calculated to have a footprint of 300,000 metric tons. The team then expanded their effort to make estimations, using data from their work, regarding the total amount of carbon released by the astronomy community worldwide.
The researchers note that carbon release as part of astronomy research runs the gamut and can include the following:
Construction of facilities
Fuel that is burned by rockets
Emissions from coal fired power plants used to produce the electricity to run the supercomputers used to crunch data
Emissions from planes as researchers fly to attend meetings all over the world
The researchers note that, due to the unique nature of the work done by the astronomy community, it is important that they set themselves as a good example of planet caretakers. They suggest the astronomy community needs to slow down its planning and construction phases to allow for including tallies of a carbon footprint. They also suggest that steps be taken to reduce their footprint.
Amazon says its carbon footprint grew 19% last year
More information:
Jürgen Knödlseder et al, Estimate of the carbon footprint of astronomical research infrastructures, Nature Astronomy (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41550-022-01612-3
Andrew Ross Wilson, Estimating the CO2 intensity of the space sector, Nature Astronomy (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41550-022-01639-6
Citation:
Calculating the global carbon footprint of space science (2022, March 22)
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from https://phys.org/news/2022-03-global-carbon-footprint-space-science.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no
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A nighttime photograph taken from the International Space Station ESA / NASA
An international team of astronomers has determined how much astronomical facilities — namely, the telescopes on the ground and in space that astronomers use to study the sky — contribute to climate change. Reporting in Nature Astronomy, the team estimates that this footprint outweighs all other research-related activities, a finding that has big implications for the future of the field.
The researchers felt spurred to conduct the study by current events: “Humankind is facing a climate emergency,” says team member Annie Hughes (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Germany). “The scientific evidence is unequivocal that human activity is responsible for modifying the climate. The scientific evidence is equally clear that we must change our activities in the next decade.”
Astronomers, like everybody else, have a carbon footprint. This oft-used term can have subtly different definitions; in this case, Jürgen Knödlseder (University of Toulouse, France) and colleagues define it as the total greenhouse gas emissions of a facility over its life cycle. Emissions consist mostly of carbon dioxide and methane but include a number of other heat-trapping gases as well.
A general lack of data makes it difficult to determine how much astronomers contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Previous studies have focused on research-related activities such as flying to conferences and using supercomputers. But the biggest source of astronomy’s carbon footprint, the new study finds, is the construction and operation of increasingly larger telescopes.
Because precise data is lacking, often due to issues of confidentiality, the team came to this conclusion using a technique called economic input-output analysis. It basically determines carbon emissions by cost and/or weight. Knödlseder compares the process to fueling a car: Filling a tank all the way full instead of halfway will double its weight. Doubling the fuel will both cost twice as much and produce twice the emissions.
Using this input-output analysis, the team calculated that current astronomy facilities over their life cycles produce the equivalent of 20 million tons of carbon dioxide, with an annual emission of more than 1 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.
“To give you some perspective,” Knödlseder notes, “this is the annual carbon footprint of countries like Estonia, Croatia, or Bulgaria.” Another piece of perspective: The U.S. in 2019 contributed emissions equivalent to more than 6.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide.
It’s a Start
Cost/weight data has the benefit of being publicly available, though still sometimes difficult to find, Knödlseder says. That makes any kind of calculation possible at all. But Andrew Ross Wilson (University of Strathclyde, UK), who wrote an accompanying perspective piece for Nature Astronomy, says that the method is not commonly used in carbon accounting, particularly for space activities.
“It was found that using economic input-output methods . . . significantly overestimates the total environmental impacts,” Wilson says. The reasons are many: For one, the space industry, often funded by the state, is not a truly free market. Also, the custom-made materials used in space missions often cost more because of their research and development rather than their manufacturing.
“As such,” Wilson says, “the European Space Agency (and others) have created a new process database to fill these gaps more accurately and do not recommend applying economic input-output databases to space life-cycle assessments.”
Knödlseder’s team acknowledges these caveats, but they argue that providing these first-order estimates is a crucial first step. The next step is for facilities to conduct their own, more detailed analyses — and then take action.
“I think Knödlseder’s assessment is a fairly decent first-order approximation due to the lack of data that was available to him and his team,” Wilson agrees. “It is certainly a good first step for more detailed assessments.”
But he cautions, “I’m not convinced any space life-cycle assessment practitioner would particularly use this result to inform their own analyses. ESA certainly wouldn’t look twice at this estimation.”
Slow Science
Nevertheless, Knödlseder’s team argues even the rough numbers are basis for action: “The solutions are in our hand, we only need to be able to take them,” says team member Luigi Tibaldo (Institute of Research in Astrophysics and Planetology, France).
The first step is to switch existing facilities from fossil fuels to renewable power sources, an effort already underway in many places. Difficulties remain for telescopes in remote locations, though, since they’re not typically connected to the local power grid. The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in Chile, for example, is powered by diesel-fueled generators. Other facilities may be easier to fold into ongoing systematic changes.
But those actions won’t be enough, the team argues. Astronomers must also slow the pace at which we build new facilities. Benefits extend beyond reducing emissions, as “slow science” would give us more time to fully make use of the data we already have. Certainly, research for entire PhD theses have been conducted using solely archived observations.
The European Southern Observatory is building the Extremely Large Telescope at Cerro Armazones in Chile, one of several large astronomy projects underway. The telescope will be 39 meters across. ESO / L. Calçada
Jennifer Wiseman, senior project scientist of the Hubble Space Telescope, agrees on the value of archival data. “We’ve made the archive of Hubble data so robust that at least as many scientific papers are published these days based on archival data as from new observations,” she says. “This means good, multiple uses of data that will be available for many years to come.”
But many astronomers take issue with slowing down. Indeed, some members faced resistance from colleagues even before publishing the paper.
“There’s nothing that says astronomy can’t or won’t switch to renewable energy sources along with the rest of the economy,” says John Mather (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), the project scientist of the James Webb Space Telescope. “The carbon footprints being calculated are not constants of nature, they’re just estimates of a piece of a system governed by feedback loops.”
Mather also raises a counterargument to slowing the pace of science: “Some kinds of astronomy are already becoming difficult or impossible due to light pollution, radio interference, and satellite constellations,” he says. “It can be argued that we should increase our efforts to learn everything we can, as soon as possible, before we can’t.”
Still, the team remains stalwart in their position: “Fighting climate change is a collective challenge, and everyone, every activity sector and every country, has to contribute to meet that challenge,” Knödlseder says. “In fighting climate change, there are no priority solutions; we have to activate all possible lever arms to bring our emissions down. Of course, some measures will be more efficient than others, but we need them all to succeed.”
Paleontologists in Spain have analyzed two sets of fossilized dinosaur footprints and calculated the animals’ speeds at the times the prints were made. The team found the dinosaurs that made the prints could move at nearly 28 miles per hour, a speed that equals that of the world’s fastest humans.
Of course, humans like Usain Bolt can only achieve such speeds briefly; the dinosaurs that produced the tracks would have sprinted longer distances. Theropods—generally carnivorous, bipedal dinosaurs like T. rex and velociraptor—would have needed to move quickly in order to catch their prey. The team’s research on the fossilized footprints was published in Scientific Reports.
Dinosaur biomechanics tells paleontologists a lot about the ecology of the ancient past and the evolution of species. “Behavior is something very difficult to study in dinosaurs,” lead author Pablo Navarro-Lorbés, a paleontologist at the University of La Rioja, told the AP. “These kind of findings are very important, I think, for improving that kind of knowledge.”
In September, a different team found that bipedal dinosaurs like those that made the recently studied tracks likely used their tails to balance as they changed their momentum, a trait that some birds (modern dinosaurs) still exhibit today.
Models of Tyrannosaurus rex, a theropod dinosaur, at the American Museum of Natural History in 2019.Photo: Drew Angerer (Getty Images)
The tracks were found in northern Spain, at a site called La Rioja. They were preserved in two trackways, one comprising six footprints and the other comprising seven. All the footprints are three-toed and about a foot long.
The team calculated the animals’ speed by measuring the spacing between the footprints and estimating the animals’ hip height. (The researchers believe the track-makers were around 6 to 6.5 feet tall and 13 feet to 16 feet nose to tail.) The average stride length of these trackways was 265 centimeters, or about 8.7 feet. Usain Bolt’s average stride length is 247 centimeters, or about 8.1 feet.
The team compared the recent trackways and the calculated speeds of the dinosaurs that made them to other known theropod trackways, to get an idea of what sort of animal may have made them. Though the paleontologists were not able to declare a specific species, they stated in the paper that the footprints indicated a “medium-sized, non-avian theropod.”
The track-makers in what is now Spain were among the fastest-yet-known dinosaurs. But they didn’t quite clinch top spot; that honor goes to a group of dinosaurs that left prints in what is now Utah. Those animals were traveling at over 30 miles per hour when they left the prints.
A crumbling hunk of rock found in a field in England is a rare meteorite from the earliest days of the solar system, dating back about 4.6 billion years.
The meteorite was found in Gloucestershire in March by Derek Robson, a resident of Loughborough, England, and the director of astrochemistry at the East Anglian Astrophysical Research Organisation (EAARO). The meteorite was sitting in the imprint of a horseshoe left behind in a field, according to Loughborough University.
The space rock is a carbonaceous chondrite, a rare category that makes up only 4% to 5% of meteorites that are found on Earth. These meteorites hail from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and formed early in the history of the solar system. Intriguingly, they often contain organic, or carbon-bearing, compounds, including the amino acids that make up the basic building blocks of life. This raises questions about whether these meteorites hold clues to how living things first emerged in the solar system.
Related: The 7 strangest asteroids: Weird space rocks in our solar system
Unlike other space debris, this chunk of rock didn’t endure the violent collisions and intense heat involved in the creation of the solar system’s planets and moons.
Rather, the meteorite has “been sitting out there, past Mars, untouched, since before any of the planets were created,” Shaun Fowler, a microscopist at Loughborough University, said in a statement, “meaning we have the rare opportunity to examine a piece of our primordial past.”
The rock is small, charcoal-colored and fragile, sort of like a chunk of crumbling concrete. The meteorite is mostly made of minerals such as olivine and phyllosilicates, Fowler said, as well as round grains called chondrules, which were partially molten beads incorporated into the asteroid when it first formed.
“But the composition is different to anything you would find here on Earth and potentially unlike any other meteorites we’ve found — possibly containing some previously unknown chemistry or physical structure never before seen in other recorded meteorite samples,” Fowler said.
At high magnification using an electron microscope, spherical mineral beads called chondrules are visible embedded in the meteorite. (Image credit: The Loughborough Materials Characterisation Centre)
Researchers at Loughborough University and EAARO are using electron microscopy to study the surface of the meteorite down to the nanometer (a billionth of a meter), as well as techniques called vibrational spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction, which allow them to delve into the chemical structure of the minerals in the meteorite. If the team can confirm the presence of amino acids in the sample, the findings might reveal new information about how the early geochemistry of the solar system set the stage for life. The examination of the meteorite is still in the initial stages.
“At this stage, we have learned a good deal about it, but we’ve barely scratched the surface,” Sandie Dann, a chemist at Loughborough University, said in the statement.
When you think about the average day in the life of a toddler, crayons, and cartoons likely come to mind. Discovering an immaculately preserved 215-million-year-old dinosaur footprint? Probably not.
National Museum Wales
But that’s just what happened when 4-year-old Lily Wilder was taking a nature walk with her father on a rocky beach at Bendricks Bay near the Welsh town of Barry last month.
The indented impression spotted by eagle-eyed Lily measures just shy of four inches. Experts believe it was created by a two-footed dinosaur that likely stood about 30 inches tall and was 8.2 feet long.
Its species—one that’s not been seen before—is a mystery that’s set the scientific community alight. Karl-James Langford of Archaeology Cymru hailed the find as “the finest impression of a 215-million-year-old dinosaur print found in Britain in a decade.”
“Lily saw it when they were walking along and said, ‘Daddy look!’” Lily’s mom Sally Wilder said in a statement widely reported by the UK media.
“When Richard came home and showed me the photograph I thought it looked amazing… Richard thought it was too good to be true. I was put in touch with experts who took it from there.
“We were thrilled to find out it really was a dinosaur footprint and I am happy that it will be taken to the national museum where it can be enjoyed and studied for generations.”
After permission was granted by Natural Resources Wales to remove the fossil from the beach legally, the specimen was transported to Amgueddfa Cymru, the National Museum in Cardiff, where expert paleontologists hope to discover its secrets.
They believe by studying it, they will be able to better learn how such dinosaurs actually walked. “Its spectacular preservation may help scientists establish more about the actual structure of their feet as the preservation is clear enough to show individual pads and even claw impressions,” an Amgueddfa Cymru spokesperson told The Daily Mail.
MORE: 2nd Grader Wins $30,000 Scholarship for Her Dinosaur Doodle Inspired by Dreams of Paleontology
“Its acquisition by the museum is mainly thanks to Lily and her family who first spotted it,” Amgueddfa Cymru Paleontology Curator Cindy Howells told The Irish Times, giving credit where credit was due.
Apart from its scientific potential, Howells also pointed out Lily’s dino-mite discovery was part of one perhaps unexpected but hopefully trending upside to the coronavirus lockdown.
“During the Covid pandemic scientists from Amgueddfa Cymru have been highlighting the importance of nature on people’s doorstep, and this is a perfect example…
RELATED: Dinosaur Unearthed in Argentina Could Be the Largest Animal That Ever Walked the Earth
“Obviously, we don’t all have dinosaur footprints on our doorstep but there is a wealth of nature local to you if you take the time to really look close enough.”
CHECK OUT: The First Time a 10-Year-old Boy Uses His Birthday Metal Detector, He Unearths a Centuries-Old Sword
And if you want to find something truly spectacular? Just bring your favorite 4-year-old along as scout.
(MEET the girl who made the paleontological find in the ITV News video below.)
SHARE the Fun Find From Wales With Your Friends on Social Media…
LONDON — A four-year-old girl has made a big discovery.
Walking along a beach in Wales with her father and pet dog, she spotted an extremely well-preserved dinosaur footprint that has excited paleontologists worldwide.
Lily Wilder made the discovery near Bendricks Bay in south Wales, U.K., finding an imprint thought to have been left 220 million years ago.
“It was on a low rock, shoulder height for Lily, and she just spotted it and said, ‘look Daddy,'” her mother Sally Wilder, 41, told NBC News by telephone on Saturday.
“She is really excited but doesn’t quite grasp how amazing it is,” Sally, an engineer, said. Adding that her husband took photos at the beach and later shared them with the family. It was Lily’s grandmother who encouraged them to reach out to local experts and fossil enthusiasts for further investigation.
Although it is impossible to identify exactly which type of dinosaur left the 10-centimeter (3.9-inch) footprint, some facts are discernable, Cindy Howells, Amgueddfa Cymru National Museum of Wales paleontology curator, told NBC News.
It’s likely the footprint was made by a dinosaur that stood about 75 centimeters (29.5 inches) tall and 2.5 meters (about 8 feet) long, she said.
It would have been a slender animal with a tail that walked on its two hind feet and actively hunted other small animals and insects, she added. The specimen footprint is known as a “grallator,” and could help scientists establish more about how dinosaurs walked.
“It’s brilliant,” Howells told NBC News.
“It really is stunning preservation … You can see every detail of the muscles and where the joints are in the foot.”
It’s likely that Wales and many other land masses historically had dinosaurs roaming around them, said Howells. Sadly, there are no fossilized bones to match the print, she said, but similar footprints had been found in the United States, known to have been made by the dinosaur “coelophysis.”
“We’ve not even found a fraction of the total species of dinosaurs yet,” said Howells, adding that the print Lily found provides a very useful “clue.”
Download the NBC News app for breaking news and politics
The Welsh beach is protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and the preserved fossil has now been safely removed. It will soon be taken to the National Museum Cardiff for future generations to enjoy and for scientists to study, the museum said in a statement.
The museum, currently closed because of the coronavirus pandemic, said that once it reopens, Lily and her school class will be invited to see the article and have her name listed beside it as an official “finder.”
Lily, who loves dinosaur TV shows and has a collection of toys and models, told NBC News the T-Rex was her favorite.
While she played with her little brother George, 1, Lily’s mother said she encouraged parents facing coronavirus lockdown restrictions to take their children for walks in nature, where it’s safely possible.
“We’re going to keep encouraging exploring outside,” Sally said. “It’s great as it gets them really interested and the whole family can learn together.”
LONDON — A four-year-old girl has made a big discovery.
Walking along a beach in Wales with her father and pet dog, she spotted an extremely well-preserved dinosaur footprint that has excited paleontologists worldwide.
Lily Wilder made the discovery near Bendricks Bay in south Wales, U.K., finding an imprint thought to have been left 220 million years ago.
“It was on a low rock, shoulder height for Lily, and she just spotted it and said, ‘look Daddy,'” her mother Sally Wilder, 41, told NBC News by telephone on Saturday.
“She is really excited but doesn’t quite grasp how amazing it is,” Sally, an engineer, said. Adding that her husband took photos at the beach and later shared them with the family. It was Lily’s grandmother who encouraged them to reach out to local experts and fossil enthusiasts for further investigation.
Although it is impossible to identify exactly which type of dinosaur left the 10-centimeter (3.9-inch) footprint, some facts are discernable, Cindy Howells, Amgueddfa Cymru National Museum of Wales paleontology curator, told NBC News.
It’s likely the footprint was made by a dinosaur that stood about 75 centimeters (29.5 inches) tall and 2.5 meters (about 8 feet) long, she said.
It would have been a slender animal with a tail that walked on its two hind feet and actively hunted other small animals and insects, she added. The specimen footprint is known as a “grallator,” and could help scientists establish more about how dinosaurs walked.
“It’s brilliant,” Howells told NBC News.
“It really is stunning preservation … You can see every detail of the muscles and where the joints are in the foot.”
It’s likely that Wales and many other land masses historically had dinosaurs roaming around them, said Howells. Sadly, there are no fossilized bones to match the print, she said, but similar footprints had been found in the United States, known to have been made by the dinosaur “coelophysis.”
“We’ve not even found a fraction of the total species of dinosaurs yet,” said Howells, adding that the print Lily found provides a very useful “clue.”
Download the NBC News app for breaking news and politics
The Welsh beach is protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and the preserved fossil has now been safely removed. It will soon be taken to the National Museum Cardiff for future generations to enjoy and for scientists to study, the museum said in a statement.
The museum, currently closed because of the coronavirus pandemic, said that once it reopens, Lily and her school class will be invited to see the article and have her name listed beside it as an official “finder.”
Lily, who loves dinosaur TV shows and has a collection of toys and models, told NBC News the T-Rex was her favorite.
While she played with her little brother George, 1, Lily’s mother said she encouraged parents facing coronavirus lockdown restrictions to take their children for walks in nature, where it’s safely possible.
“We’re going to keep encouraging exploring outside,” Sally said. “It’s great as it gets them really interested and the whole family can learn together.”
Adela Suliman
Adela Suliman is a London-based reporter for NBC News Digital.
