Delaware State Flower emerges as a symbol of the state’s agrarian legacy and natural allure. Let us learn more about this plant along with its growing requirements and significance.
21.08.2023 - 11:40 / theunconventionalgardener.com / guest
Header image: Asteroid Ryugu, from the Hayabusa2 spacecraft. Image credit: ISAS / JAXA, CC BY
Trevor Ireland, The University of Queensland
Just over 12 months ago, we were sitting at Woomera, in the Australian outback, waiting for a streak of light in the sky to testify that the Hayabusa2 spacecraft had returned from its voyage to collect a little piece of a near-Earth asteroid called Ryugu. Unfortunately for us, it was cloudy in Woomera that day and we didn’t see the spacecraft come in.
But that was the only imperfection we saw in the return. We found and retrieved Hayabusa2, brought it back to Woomera, cleaned and examined it.
The sample capsule was removed from the spacecraft. It was in good shape, it had not exceeded 60℃ on reentry, and the capsule rattled when it was turned over, suggesting we did indeed have a solid sample. Its vacuum had been maintained, allowing whatever gases had been released from the asteroid sample to be collected, and a preliminary analysis of these was carried out in Woomera.
A year down the track, we know a lot more about that sample. In the past month, three papers have now been published concerning the first analysis of the Ryugu samples, including an article in Science this week concerning the relationship between the material seen at the asteroid, and the sample returned to Earth.
These observations open a window into the formation of the Solar System, and helps to clear up a meteorite mystery that has puzzled scientists for decades.
All up, the sample weighs about 5 grams, split between the two touchdown sites that were sampled.
The first sample came from Ryugu’s exposed surface. To get the second sample, the spacecraft fired a small disk at the asteroid to make a little crater, then
Delaware State Flower emerges as a symbol of the state’s agrarian legacy and natural allure. Let us learn more about this plant along with its growing requirements and significance.
Header image: Lupinus albus (altramuces o chochitos), by Calapito via Wikimedia Commons.
Header image: Suited up to simulate the conditions of working outside on Mars. Jonathan Clarke (the author, left) with visiting engineer Michael Curtis-Rouse, from UK Space Agency (right). Jonathan Clarke personal collection, Author provided.
The red planet. It may hold no life, but is it dead? [Image credit: NASA/JPL]
Crew at the International Space Station capture Typhoon Noru [Image credit: NASA]
The role downunder played in helping track the Apollo 8 mission to the Moon.
Just over a year ago, when we were celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing, I talked about the lack of diversity in space and mentioned Mary Jackson. In 2016, the movie Hidden Figures shared the stories of Mary Jackson and two other Black female mathematicians – Katherine Johnson and, Dorothy Vaughan. They worked at NASA when a ‘computer’ still meant a person carrying out mathematical calculations. The film is based on a book by Margot Lee Shetterly, which I am reading at the moment. The book offers a more detailed and accurate account of the prejudice these women (and others) had to overcome.
Can we grow food on the Moon or Mars? That was the question that started Dr Wieger Wamelink, ecologist and exobiologist at the University of Wageningen in the Netherlands, on a research quest in 2013.
Lauren Samuelsson, University of Wollongong
Header image: One of the Vanguard satellites being checked out at Cape Canaveral, Florida in 1958. NASA
Header image: Melburnians admire the first primrose to arrive in the colony, transported by a Wardian case, in Edward Hopley’s A Primrose from England, circa 1855. [Bendigo Art Gallery, Gift of Mr and Mrs Leonard Lansell 1964]
Header image: St Canice’s rooftop garden, where a horticultural therapy program demonstrated its benefits for mental health and wellbeing. Author provided