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British billionaire Richard Branson on Sunday soared more than 50 miles above the New Mexico desert aboard his Virgin Galactic rocket plane and safely returned in the vehicle’s first fully crewed test flight to space, a symbolic milestone for a venture he started 17 years ago.

Branson, one of six Virgin Galactic employees strapped in for the ride, touted the mission as a precursor to a new era of space tourism, with the company he founded in 2004 poised to begin commercial operations next year.

“We’re here to make space more accessible to all,” an exuberant Branson, 70, said shortly after embracing his grandchildren following the flight. “Welcome to the dawn of a new space age.”

The success of the flight also gave the flamboyant entrepreneur bragging rights in a highly publicised rivalry with fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos, the Amazon online retail mogul who had hoped to fly into space first aboard his own space company’s rocket.

“Congratulations on the flight,” Bezos said on Instagram. “Can’t wait to join the club!”

Space industry executives, future customers and other well-wishers were on hand for a festive gathering to witness the launch, which was livestreamed in a presentation hosted by late-night television comedian Stephen Colbert. Joining the reception was another billionaire space industry pioneer, Elon Musk, who is also founder of electric carmaker Tesla.

Grammy-nominated R&B singer Khalid performed his forthcoming single “New Normal” after the flight.

The gleaming white spaceplane was carried aloft attached to the underside of the dual-fuselage jet VMS Eve (named for Branson’s late mother) from Spaceport America, a state-owned facility near the aptly named town of Truth or Consequences. Virgin Galactic leases a large section of the facility.

Reaching its high-altitude launch point at about 46,000 feet, the VSS Unity passenger rocket plane was released from the mothership and fell away as the crew ignited its rocket, sending it streaking straight upward at supersonic speed to the blackness of space some 53 miles (86 km) high.

The spaceplane’s contrail was clearly visible from the ground as it soared through the upper atmosphere, to the cheers of the crowd below.

At the apex of the climb with the rocket shut down, the crew then experienced a few minutes of microgravity, before the spaceplane shifted into re-entry mode, and began a gliding descent to a runway back at the spaceport. The entire flight lasted about an hour.

“I was once a child with a dream looking up to the stars. Now I’m an adult in a spaceship looking down to our beautiful Earth,” Branson said in a video from space.

Back at a celebration with supporters from a stage outside Virgin Galactic’s Gateway to Space complex at the spaceport, he and crewmates doused one another with champagne.

Retired Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield pinned Virgin-produced astronaut wings onto the blue flight suits worn by Branson and his team. Official wing pins from the Federal Aviation Administration will be presented later, a company spokesman said.

High-cost tickets

Virgin Galactic has said it plans at least two further test flights of the spaceplane in the months ahead before beginning regular commercial operation in 2022. One of those flights will carry four Italian astronauts-in-training, according to company CEO Michael Colglazier.

He said 600 wealthy would-be citizen astronauts have also booked reservations, priced at around $250,000 (roughly Rs. 1.86 crores) per ticket for the exhilaration of supersonic flight, weightlessness, and the spectacle of spaceflight.

Branson has said he aims ultimately to lower the price to around $40,000 (roughly Rs. 29.7 lakhs) per seat as the company ramps up service, achieving greater economies of scale. Colglazier said he envisions eventually building a large enough fleet to accommodate roughly 400 flights annually at the spaceport.

The Swiss-based investment bank UBS has estimated the potential value of the space tourism market reaching $3 billion (roughly Rs. 22,340 crores) annually by 2030.

Proving rocket travel safe for the public is key.

An earlier prototype of the Virgin Galactic rocket plane crashed during a test flight over California’s Mojave Desert in 2014, killing one pilot and seriously injuring another.

Space race

Branson’s participation in Sunday’s flight, announced just over a week ago, typified his persona as the daredevil executive whose various Virgin brands – from airlines to music companies – have long been associated with his ocean-crossing exploits in sailboats and hot-air balloons.

His ride-along also upstaged rival astro-tourism venture Blue Origin and its founder, Bezos, in what has been popularised as the “billionaire space race.” Bezos has been planning to fly aboard his own suborbital rocketship, the New Shepard, later this month.

Branson has insisted he and Bezos are friendly rivals and were not racing to beat one another into space.

“We wish Jeff the absolute best and that he will get up and enjoy his flight,” Branson said at a post-flight press conference.

Blue Origin, however, has disparaged Virgin Galactic as falling short of a true spaceflight experience, saying that unlike Unity, Bezos’s New Shepard tops the 62-mile-high-mark (100 km), called the Kármán line, set by an international aeronautics body as defining the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and space.

“New Shepard was designed to fly above the Kármán line so none of our astronauts have an asterisk next to their name,” Blue Origin said in a series of Twitter posts on Friday.

However, US space agency NASA and the US Air Force both define an astronaut as anyone who has flown higher than 50 miles (80km).

A third player in the space tourism sector, Musk’s SpaceX, plans to send its first all-civilian crew (without Musk) into orbit in September, after having already launched numerous cargo payloads and astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA.

The spaceplane’s two pilots were Dave Mackay and Michael Masucci. The three other mission specialists were Beth Moses, the company’s chief astronaut instructor; Virgin Galactic’s lead operations engineer Colin Bennett; and Sirisha Bandla, a research operations and government affairs vice president.

All recounted afterward being mesmerised by the view through Unity’s windows. Mackay described the immense blackness of space against the brightness of Earth’s surface, “separated by the beautiful blue atmosphere, which is very complex and very thin.”

“Cameras don’t do it justice,” he told reporters. “You have to see it with your own eyes.”

© Thomson Reuters 2021

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Mealworms Can Eat Plastic, But Study Shows Limited Impact on Pollution Crisis

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December 4, 2024

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Mealworms Can Eat Plastic, But Study Shows Limited Impact on Pollution Crisis

An experiment conducted by researchers at the University of British Columbia has revealed the limited potential of mealworms in addressing plastic pollution. The study, published in Biology Letters on December 4, estimated that 100 mealworms would take approximately 138 days, or 4.5 months, to consume a single disposable face mask made from polypropylene. The findings underscore the challenges of relying on insect larvae for large-scale plastic degradation as per various reports.

Plastic Pollution and Microplastics: A Growing Concern

The research focused on microplastics, which are plastic fragments smaller than 5 millimetres and linked to severe health issues such as increased risks of heart attacks and strokes, as suggested by prior studies. Earlier experiments had demonstrated the ability of several insect species, including yellow mealworms (Tenebrio molitor) and superworms (Zophobas atratus), to degrade various types of plastics. However, most of those studies utilised powdered or pure forms of plastic, rather than the manufactured items people use daily, as reported by researchers.

Real-World Testing and Observations

Led by ecologist Dr Michelle Tseng, the team opted for a more realistic approach by using disposable face masks containing additional materials from manufacturing processes. To encourage consumption, the plastic was processed into microbits and blended with wheat bran. According to Dr Tseng in a statement, the insects readily consumed this mixture, termed “face-mask granola.”

No significant reduction in the insects’ lifespan was observed. However, questions regarding the safety of using these larvae as feedstock in agriculture, particularly for poultry, were raised. Dr Tseng noted that mealworms consuming large amounts of microplastics may not remain safe for further use in food chains, as reported.

Challenges and Future Directions

The feasibility of using mealworms for large-scale plastic degradation remains doubtful due to the slow consumption rate. During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Asia alone reportedly used 2 billion face masks per day, highlighting the impracticality of such a solution. Researchers have suggested that exploring the microbial composition of these insects could lead to advancements in waste breakdown technologies. Nonetheless, reducing plastic usage is emphasised as the most effective approach to managing this environmental crisis.

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Climate Change Causes Decline in Rice Quality Across East Asia, New Study Suggests

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December 4, 2024

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Climate Change Causes Decline in Rice Quality Across East Asia, New Study Suggests

A decline in rice quality across East Asia has been attributed to climate warming, according to a study published in Geophysical Research Letters. The research, led by Dr Xianfeng Liu of Shaanxi Normal University in China, highlights the vulnerability of rice—a dietary staple for billions—to rising temperatures. Using 35 years of data from Japan and China, the team analysed how various climate factors affect the “head rice rate” (HRR), a critical measure of rice quality based on the proportion of intact grains after milling.

Key Climate Factors Impacting Rice Quality

The study identified warmer nighttime temperatures as the primary driver behind reduced rice quality, as per reports. For Japan, HRR began declining at night temperatures exceeding 12 degrees Celsius, while for China, the threshold was 18 degrees celsius. Elevated nighttime temperatures during flowering and grain development phases were found to hinder photosynthesis and starch accumulation, causing more grains to break during processing.

Reportedly, solar radiation emerged as the second most significant factor, with higher radiation levels linked to reduced HRR. Other contributing factors included reduced precipitation and increased daytime vapor pressure deficit, with HRR declining when the latter exceeded 0.5–1 kPa.

Projected Declines in Rice Quality

As per multiple reports, projections under moderate and high greenhouse gas emissions scenarios suggest that rice quality will continue to deteriorate. Between 2020 and 2100, HRR is expected to decline by up to 1.5 percent in Japan and 5 percent in China, with the impact intensifying after 2050 under higher emissions. Southern regions in both countries, closer to the equator and more vulnerable to rising nighttime temperatures, face the greatest challenges.

Implications for Food Security

The findings raise concerns over the adaptability of rice cultivars to climate change. Southern provinces in China, the nation’s primary rice-growing regions, may struggle to mitigate these impacts, posing risks to food security, human nutrition, and economic stability. The study underscores the urgent need for climate-resilient agricultural practices and crop varieties to safeguard global rice supplies.

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NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Discovers Fourth Planet in Kepler-51 System

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December 4, 2024

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NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Discovers Fourth Planet in Kepler-51 System

A recent study published in The Astronomical Journal has revealed the discovery of a fourth planet in the Kepler-51 system, an already remarkable planetary system known for hosting three ultra-low-density “super-puff” planets. This discovery was made by a research team led by Dr Jessica Libby-Roberts, a postdoctoral fellow at Penn State’s Centre for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds, and Dr Kento Masuda, Associate Professor of Earth and Space Science at Osaka University. The finding suggests that the gravitational influence of the newly identified planet, named Kepler-51e, explains unexpected variations in the transit timings of the system’s known planets.

Unexpected Findings During Observations

As per a report by Phys.org, the researchers initially aimed to study Kepler-51d using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) but observed its transit occurring two hours earlier than predicted. This significant deviation prompted further analysis of data from NASA’s Kepler and TESS telescopes, Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based observatories such as the Apache Point Observatory (APO) and Palomar Observatory, as per reports. According to the team, only a four-planet model could account for the observed transit timing variations.

Insights Into the Kepler-51 System

Kepler-51e is believed to have a mass comparable to the existing planets in the system, following a relatively circular orbit of approximately 264 days. However, its classification as a “super-puff” remains uncertain due to the lack of transit data needed to calculate its radius and density. The inner three planets, known for their extremely low densities, continue to intrigue scientists. The team noted that accounting for the fourth planet alters previously estimated masses of the inner planets, slightly increasing their values while maintaining their status as super-puffs.

Future Implications of the Study

Dr Libby-Roberts, in a statement, indicated the potential for further exploration, stating that Kepler-51e’s orbit, located just inside the system’s habitable zone, suggests the possibility of additional planets or complex gravitational interactions. Continued observations may uncover planets farther from the star, contributing to the search for potentially habitable worlds. Researchers are also analysing data from JWST to study the atmospheric composition of Kepler-51d, which may shed light on the formation mechanisms of such unusual planets.

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