RSID: <<2022-01-14T00:31Z MFSK-32 @ 9265000+1500>>

Welcome to program 239 of Shortwave Radiogram.

I'm Kim Andrew Elliott in Arlington, Virginia USA.

Here is the lineup for today's program, in MFSK modes as noted:

  1:41 MFSK32: Program preview (now)
  2:53 MFSK32: Plans for Pandora mission to study exoplanets
  7:05 MFSK64: Kitty litter clay captures methane from air*
11:46 MFSK64: This week's images*
28:33 MFSK32: Closing announcements

* with image(s)

 

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And visit http://swradiogram.net

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From Phys.org:

Pandora mission to study stars and exoplanets continues toward
flight

by Kassandra Bell
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
January 12, 2022

The Pandora mission, co-led by a national laboratory and a NASA
flight center, has passed a crucial step on its path to study
stars and planets outside our solar system, or exoplanets.

After a successful concept study report and system requirements
review, NASA approved the mission to continue toward flight.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and NASA's Goddard
Space Flight Center (GSFC) are co-leading Pandora as part of
NASA's new Astrophysics Pioneers program, with LLNL leading the
project management and NASA GSFC leading the science.

The mission will study approximately 20 stars and exoplanets by
analyzing starlight that passes through exoplanets' atmospheres,
using a technique called transit spectroscopy.

Pandora will disentangle signals to understand which are from
exoplanet atmospheres and which are from starspots, stellar
phenomena that are similar to sunspots and can contaminate data.
The celestial untangling will address and mitigate the impact of
stellar inhomogeneities on exoplanet data obtained with NASA's
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which was launched on
Christmas Day.

"We're excited to build a telescope that will complement large
observatories like JWST," said Pete Supsinskas, LLNL project
manager.

Over the next 21 months, Pandora will mature its mission concept
and demonstrate that its half-meter telescope is ready for
flight. The mission is leveraging LLNL's experience and
capabilities in optics design, fabrication and small satellites.

"This is a huge step because, while it's a small satellite,
Pandora will deliver impactful science for NASA's astrophysics
program," said Ben Bahney, LLNL's program leader for Space
Science and Security. "And we're doing it efficiently, under
unprecedented budget constraints for mission-quality science."

Pandora is part of NASA's Astrophysics Pioneers program, which
focuses on small, low-cost, yet ambitious missions to unlock new
secrets from the cosmos. The mission will be developed under a
$20 million cost cap. Integrating LLNL Space Science and Security
Program's aluminum telescope design with commercial products will
help lower costs.

Pandora is led by Elisa Quintana, principal investigator at GSFC,
and Supsinskas at LLNL. Co-investigators from NASA Ames and
several universities will provide scientific contributions to the
project. It is expected to launch in late 2024 or early 2025.

https://phys.org/news/2022-01-pandora-mission-stars-exoplanets-flight.html

Shortwave Radiogram now changes to MFSK64 ...

 

RSID: <<2022-01-14T00:37Z MFSK-64 @ 9265000+1500>>

This is Shortwave Radiogram in MFSK64

Please send your reception report to radiogram@verizon.net
 

From New Atlas:

Cheap, common kitty litter clay captures methane from the air

By Michael Irving
January 10, 2022

Carbon dioxide may hog the headlines as a climate change villain,
but methane is actually a far more potent greenhouse gas. An MIT
team has now demonstrated a new way to remove methane from the
air, even at very low concentrations, with a common type of clay
used to make cat litter.

Methane is emitted in large quantities from agriculture, coal
mining, melting permafrost, and as a by-product of natural gas
processing and transport. Compared to carbon dioxide, methane is
81 times more potent at trapping heat in the atmosphere in its
first 20 years up there, and 27 times more potent over a whole
century. That means methane capture and removal should be a key
part of our climate mitigation strategies.

And now, MIT researchers may have a promising new approach using
zeolite clays - common, porous mineral structures that are often
used as commercial adsorbents, such as cat litter. The team found
that by treating the zeolite with copper the material became very
effective at pulling methane out of the air around it.

To test the idea in the lab, the researchers placed particles of
the copper-treated zeolite into a reaction tube and passed air
containing different concentrations of methane through it. The
methane levels ranged from two parts per million (ppm), right up
to two percent concentration, which the team says covers the
range of methane levels in ambient air. The reaction tube was
also heated to different temperatures to help the process along.

And sure enough, the zeolite was able to capture and convert 100
percent of the methane in the tube when heated to 310 °C (590
°F). That’s far cooler than other methane capture methods
require, and it works at much lower concentrations, both of which
could help the new technique function practically in the real
world.

But there is, of course, a catch - the method converts the
methane into carbon dioxide. Turning one greenhouse gas into
another is less than ideal, but the researchers say that there
would still be a net benefit. Converting half of the atmospheric
methane (already a tall order) would only add about 0.2 percent
of today’s atmospheric CO2, but bring about a saving of 16
percent in terms of radiative warming.

Other types of zeolites have been used in past studies for
methane capture, but with the benefits of operating at room
temperature and converting the gas to useful methanol. However,
they only really worked with natural gas - the main component of
which is methane - rather than ambient air, so they're more
useful for stopping methane leaks at the source rather than
pulling the gas out of the atmosphere.

The team says that the most promising place to first use the new
catalyst would be in coal mines and dairy barns, which often
contain concentrated pockets of methane. The technological
requirements for these locations would be relatively simple and
could be integrated into existing air circulation systems.
However, there are of course more hurdles to overcome before this
technique may reach viability, including how to get the air to
flow more efficiently through the clay material.

“Many questions remain for scaling this and all similar work,"
says Rob Jackson, an Earth systems professor who was not involved
in the study. "How quickly will the catalyst foul under field
conditions? Can we get the required temperatures closer to
ambient conditions? How scaleable will such technologies be when
processing large volumes of air?”

The researchers have been awarded a US$2-million grant from the
US Department of Energy to develop the technology into equipment
that can be tested in mines and farms.

The research was published in the journal ACS Environment Au.

https://newatlas.com/environment/methane-capture-zeolite-kitty-litter/

See also:

https://news.mit.edu/2022/dirt-cheap-solution-common-clay-materials-may-help-curb-methane-emissions


Image: Zeolite, depicted as the complex structure in the middle,
absorbs the methane that passes through it ...

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This is Shortwave Radiogram in MFSK64

Please send your reception report to radiogram@verizon.net

This week's images ...

If there is any multipath reception this weekend, it might be
visible in these stripes. https://bit.ly/3fmFTsR ...

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Firefighters extinguish forest fires, in Surubi'y, Paraguay,
January 10. https://bit.ly/3qmKJfY ...

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Tourists visit icefalls illuminated by colorful lights at
Dadunxia Scenic Spot in Gansu province, China, January 1.
https://bit.ly/3tsHwgX

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Rupture No 1: Blowtorching the Bitten Peach, created by Heather
Phillipson, at the Tate Britain Duveen Galleries, London.
https://bit.ly/3zWcaAM ...

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A winter street scene in Tokyo. https://bit.ly/31Szl23 ...

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Snowy owls are rare around Washington DC, but this one has lately
been catching pigeons and rats near Union Station.
https://wapo.st/3A1r5cL ...

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Sunset seen from the West Side of South Bend, Indiana, January
11. https://bit.ly/3HZAbtb ...

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Frozen waves under a colourful chinook sunrise at Abraham Lake,
Alberta. https://bit.ly/3tpiUWC ...

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Our painting of the week is "Mill in Sunlight: The Winkel Mill"
by Piet Mondriaan. https://bit.ly/33texi8 ...

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Shortwave Radiogram returns to MFSK32 ...





 

RSID: <<2022-01-14T00:58Z MFSK-32 @ 9265000+1500>>

This is Shortwave Radiogram in MFSK32 ...

 

Shortwave Radiogram is transmitted by:

WRMI, Radio Miami International, wrmi.net

and

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Please send reception reports to radiogram@verizon.net

And visit http://swradiogram.net

Twitter: @SWRadiogram or twitter.com/swradiogram

I'm Kim Elliott. Please join us for the next Shortwave
Radiogram.