After its seven-month journey to the red planet, Nasa's Perseverance rover has successfully landed in the Jezero Crater, a 45km (28 miles) wide depression near the Martian equator.
What makes this mission so remarkable is that unlike previous missions to Mars (or other extraterrestrial bodies), Nasa elected to land in one of the trickiest terrains on the planet. Even requiring a special "sky crane" to gently lower the rover down to the surface.
Why the tricky landing site?
Long ago the Jezero Crater played host to a giant water-filled lake. They picked this site because it has the highest probability of discovering remnants of ancient microbial life.
Perseverance will now commence its mission to drill and collect samples of the martian regolith (soil) in locations that scientists hope might host ancient microbial fossils.
We previously covered the "Interplanetary Cargo Ship" and the remarkable sequence of events that will transport the samples back to Earth for analysis. For engineering nerds (myself included) this entire decade-long mission is incredible!
Think about this, if life once existed on Mars, independent from life on Earth, what does that mean for the rest of the cosmos? Surely life occurring on two planets in our Solar System could't just be a fluke.
Perhaps we are not alone.
At least we'll be able to finally answer Bowie, is (was) there life on Mars?
[Read more here]
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World’s First Roundabout?
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The Faroe Islands are a chain of islands located 320 km north of Scotland and about halfway between Norway and Iceland.
The Faroese population of around 52 thousand is pretty much as isolated as you can get. There are bridges/tunnels connecting the main islands but there are no railways, and for many of the islands the only way to pass between is by helicopter.
This level isolation is set to change thanks to The Eysturoyartunnilin infrastructure project: a subsea tunnel connecting the two islands Streymoy and Eysturoy.
This project also includes the world’s first underwater roundabout which has just opened on the 19th December 2020. The subsea tunnel has three branches which in total are 11.24 km (7 miles) long.
And not only has the project delivered a functional underwater roundabout it is also a must-see. It features an 80m artwork piece by renowned Faroese artist Tróndur Patursson and light effects.
Probably nice to have something to take your mind off the fact you are 50m below the sea surface. Remember to give way to the right, and the jellyfish.
[Read more here]
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Raven's solving problems...
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Meet Bran, the 11 year old raven.
As a member of the Corvid family of crows, Bran possesses superior problem-solving abilities. He's able to do so because unlike other birds he is capable of conscious thought.
Meaning unlike his Avery brethren, he can actively think about what he is seeing, develop a strategy in his head and then act upon it.
It might sound simple to us but other than mammals, only Corvids and the Cephalopoda family (octopus, squids, cuttlefish etc) are capable of conscious thought.
[Watch Bran Solving Problems]
[Watch Bran Recycling]
[Watch Bran Find His Stone]
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- New mRNA vaccine is able to reprogram the immune system to shrink tumour cells and prevent them spreading.
- Hawk-Eye could replace Wimbledon line judges.
- UK to launch 'high risk' science agency.
- An Israeli startup is 3D printing cultured ribeye steaks.
- NASA contractor signs deal to build greenhouses in Earth’s orbit.
- Volunteers rescue more than 2,500 cold-stunned sea turtles in Texas.
- Former Reddit CEO is looking to solve climate change by planting 1 trillion trees at his new startup, Terraformation |
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Mind Bender Answer:
LEGO produces approximately 306 million tires per year—far more than any other manufacturer in the world. They may be tiny toy tires, but the fact still stands.
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Thanks
Thank you for reading today's Digital Caffeine!
If you learned something interesting share it with someone who'd find it cool!
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Have a great day, see you on Friday!
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