Tech / Technology

NASA solar spacecraft keeps on going faster and faster and faster

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NASA’s Parker Solar Probe spacecraft is speeding up as it orbits the sun. By late 2024, it will reach a whopping 430,000 miles per hour. The probe is capturing unprecedented data about our star.
An artist's conception of NASA's Parker Solar Probe passing through the sun's outer atmosphere, or corona.

Over the past couple years, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has continually smashed its own speed records. And in the next year, it will continue to break more records.

The agency’s well-fortified spacecraft is swooping progressively closer to the sun, and during each pass, picks up more speed. In 2018, soon after its launch, the probe became the fastest human-made object ever built, and by 2024 it will reach a whopping 430,000 miles per hour.

At such a speed, one could travel from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., in 20 seconds.

The spacecraft recently reached 394,736 mph. “It’s very fast,” Nour Raouafi, an astrophysicist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and project scientist for the mission, told Mashable.

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The spacecraft, fitted with a thick heat shield, has been making passes through the sun’s outer atmosphere, also known as its corona. It’s the first mission to reach the corona, and the unprecedented data collected will help scientists forecast how eruptions from the sun’s surface will impact Earth, and answer research quandaries about the solar wind — the stream of particles and radiation constantly emitted by the sun.

“It’s like opening a new book that we’ve never read before,” Raouafi said.

An artist's conception of the Parker Solar Probe, with its heat shield facing the sun.

An artist’s conception of the Parker Solar Probe, with its heat shield facing the sun.
Credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins APL / Steve Gribben

How the solar probe goes so fast

Parker’s exceptional, increasing speed is an inevitable part of orbiting the sun, a sphere of hot gas 333,000 times as massive as our dense planet. For another perspective, 1.3 million Earths could fit inside the sun. Crucially, when you swing by such a massive and gravitationally powerful object, you pick up a lot of speed.

The spacecraft is now flying its 17th orbit around the sun, allowing the craft to boost its speed by over 240,000 mph since 2018. And out in space, there’s nothing to stop this motion. “Once it’s going, it’s going,” Raouafi said. (The probe strategically passes by Venus for “gravity assists” that propel it closer to the sun; these Venusian flybys minimally slow the craft, but ultimately result in it picking up even more speed as it zips nearer to the massive star.)

At such a torrid pace, the craft begins a new orbit every three months, allowing its instruments to collect a wealth of information about the solar environment. “Every three months we have a new load of new data,” marveled Raouafi. “It will take years and years to study.”

How the probe will unravel solar mysteries

Space weather researchers have some weighty questions. They want to know why the solar wind accelerates after it leaves the sun, reaching up to 2 million mph. They want to grasp why the corona (which reaches 2 million degrees Fahrenheit) is so much hotter than the sun’s surface (it’s 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit). And they want to understand how extreme space weather, caused by different types of solar explosions, can behave and ultimately impact Earth.

A particularly threatening solar eruption is called a coronal mass ejection, or CME. These occur when the sun ejects a mass of super hot gas (plasma). “It’s like scooping up a piece of the sun and ejecting it into space,” NOAA space weather scientist Mark Miesch told Mashable earlier this year.

These events can wreak havoc on our power grids and communication networks. Infamously, a potent CME in 1989 knocked out power to millions in Québec, Canada. The CME hit Earth’s magnetic field on March 12 of that year, and then, wrote NASA astronomer Sten Odenwald, “Just after 2:44 a.m. on March 13, the currents found a weakness in the electrical power grid of Quebec. In less than two minutes, the entire Quebec power grid lost power. During the 12-hour blackout that followed, millions of people suddenly found themselves in dark office buildings and underground pedestrian tunnels, and in stalled elevators.”

Two views of a coronal mass ejection, or CME, ejected from the sun in February 2000.

Two views of a coronal mass ejection, or CME, ejected from the sun in February 2000.
Credit: SOHO / ESA / NASA

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The Parker solar probe’s researchers expect the spacecraft, fitted with instruments to measure and image the solar wind, will enable us to better forecast when and where a potent CME may hit. For example, when a CME erupts from the sun’s surface, it must travel over 92 million miles to reach Earth, but along the way this hot gas will “pile up” the solar wind ahead of it. “That will affect its arrival time to Earth,” Raouafi said. Knowledge about these space dynamics is critical: A good space weather forecast would allow power utilities to temporarily shut off power to avoid conducting a power surge from a CME, and potentially blowing out power to millions.

On the outskirts of the corona, the spacecraft is relentlessly exposed to brutal heat and radiation, and in September 2022 it flew through “one of the most powerful coronal mass ejections (CMEs) ever recorded,” NASA said. Yet the craft remains in great shape. That’s largely thanks to a 4.5-inch-thick carbon heat shield that’s pointed at the sun. The shield itself heats up to some 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit, but just a couple of feet behind the shield, the environs are surprisingly pleasant.

“Most of the instruments are working at room temperatures,” Raouafi said.

Tech / Technology

The creepiest skulls ever spotted in space

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Space is teeming with objects that, from the right perspective, might resemble things we’re familiar with. This visual tendency is called “pareidolia,” and it results in creepy cosmic images.
Asteroid 2015 TB145, which looks similar to a skull, once passed within 302,000 miles of Earth.

The universe is rife with mystery.

Ambitious space missions, like the James Webb Space Telescope and Martian rovers, are helping scientists grasp what’s out there: Could any of the rocky, Earth-sized planets in the TRAPPIST solar system host life? How did galaxies teeming with stars and planets, like our Milky Way, come to be? Did hellish Venus once harbor oceans?

Some of these cosmic questions may be answered in the coming years and decades; some will take longer.

Yet these same spacecraft also beam back patterns and images that we sometimes interpret as being familiar: perhaps a face in rock, or a colossal hand in a cosmic cloud. This tendency to see a distinctive image in a foreign (or one might say extraterrestrial) pattern is known as “pareidolia.”

“Here at NASA, we often hear from people who think they see something familiar in an image from Mars, or another planet, or somewhere else in the cosmos. And it’s true — they do see something familiar, but it’s actually because they’re experiencing pareidolia,” the space agency explains.

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What follows are some instances of skulls seeming to appear in space images. Of course, there really aren’t colossal skulls zooming through the cosmos, or our solar system. Right?

The Perseus cluster

A cluster of galaxies captured by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.

A cluster of galaxies captured by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Credit: Chandra X-ray Observatory ACIS Image

This haunting image was captured by NASA‘s Chandra X-ray Observatory, an instrument that detects X-ray emissions (as opposed to something like visible light emissions) from hot areas of the universe.

This skull-like pattern actually shows the core of a group of distant galaxies called the “Perseus cluster.” You’re essentially looking at the extremely hot gas in and around the supergiant galaxy, Perseus A. Directly at center, between two dark cavities, is a supermassive black hole, a region with such enormous gravity not even light can escape. The twin dark cavities are giant — “each large enough to contain a galaxy half the diameter of our Milky Way galaxy,” NASA explains — and likely created by bursts of energized particles released from around the galactic black hole. ­

The “mouth” of the skull, seen at two o’clock from the image’s center, is a smaller galaxy (with some 20 billion stars) that’s falling into the more massive Perseus A (yes, galaxies tend to collide).

The skull asteroid (aka the “Halloween asteroid”)

Asteroid 2015 TB145, which looks similar to a skull, once passed within 302,000 miles of Earth.

Asteroid 2015 TB145, which looks similar to a skull, once passed within 302,000 miles of Earth.
Credit: National Science Foundation / Arecibo Observatory

In the right light, asteroid 2015 TB145 looks awfully creepy.

What’s more, astronomers discovered this space rock in October 2015 — and then it made its closest pass to Earth that Halloween.

Asteroid 2015 TB145, measuring some 2,050 to 2,300 feet wide, is awfully dark. It reflects almost no light, just around 5 percent of sunlight. “This means that it is very dark, only slightly more reflective than charcoal,” Pablo Santos-Sanz, an astronomer from the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia, told the Spanish science publication SINC.

Like most asteroids, the “Halloween asteroid” is a relic from our early solar system. It formed some 4.6 billion years ago, but never developed into part of a larger planetary mass, the likes of which created our planets. NASA calls Asteroid 2015 TB145 a “dead comet,” meaning it’s shed much of the water ice and other “volatiles” around its rocky or metallic core.

It’s a “near Earth asteroid,” i.e., its orbit brings the rock somewhat close to Earth (but it isn’t on track to hit our planet) from time to time. In 2088, for example, the asteroid will come within 20 lunar distances (a lunar distance is the length between Earth and the moon, or some 239,000 miles) from us. And in the right light, it might continue to intrigue, or creep out, the masses.

Skull Nebula

The "Skull Nebula," formed from the outgassed layers of a dying star.

The “Skull Nebula,” formed from the outgassed layers of a dying star.
Credit: ESO / VLT

Some 1,600 light-years away lies the “Skull Nebula.”

Formally called NGC 246, it’s a cosmic object called a planetary nebula, which forms when a medium-sized star like the sun grows old and sheds its outer layers of gas, often in a grandiose cosmic display. An extremely dense core (a white dwarf star) is left in the middle of the clouds.

The Skull Nebula is located in the constellation Cetus, which means “The Whale.” “This ethereal remnant of a long dead star, nestled in the belly of The Whale, bears an uneasy resemblance to a skull floating through space,” writes the European Southern Observatory (ESO), a collaborative science organization of European nations.

Face on Mars

A natural feature on Mars that, from an image taken in 1976, looks similar to a face or skull.

A natural feature on Mars that, from an image taken in 1976, looks similar to a face or skull.
Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech

The “face on Mars” is a famous example of pareidolia.

NASA’s Viking spacecraft captured a feature on Mars with a face-like pattern in 1976. Yet, “The ‘face’ does not stand the test of time,” writes NASA. Decades later, other spacecraft took higher resolution images of the face, showing that it’s simply natural Martian topography.

On far left is an image taken by NASA's Viking spacecraft in 1976. The images at center and right were snapped by the Mars Global Surveyor in 1998.

On far left is an image taken by NASA’s Viking spacecraft in 1976. The images at center and right were snapped by the Mars Global Surveyor in 1998.
Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS

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Indeed, you can find instances of pareidolia all over the cosmos. It’s not inherently a bad thing — it can be a valuable way to draw interest to a cosmic object.

Though, sometimes, the resemblance can be a little too close for comfort.

Tech / Technology

Meta rejected Unbound’s sex toy ads — until they marketed to men

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Sexual wellness brand Unbound made ads for a fake male-focused company, Thunderthrust. Meta approved Thunderthrust’s ads.
rejected and approved unbound and thunderthrust facebook ads

For years, online and offline spaces have rejected ads for products to help make sex better for women — but approved ones for men. In 2019, sex toy brand Dame sued the MTA over rejected subway ads (which they eventually settled). That same year, Dame and fellow brand Unbound pointed out this discrepancy with a quiz on what ads are blocked versus which are approved. When the ad centers a women’s sex toy, it’s rejected; when it’s about an erectile dysfunction product, it’s approved.

It’s sad to say that in 2023, the case is still the same. Now, Unbound tested whether Meta would approve its product ads if they were targeted to men — and it did.

When Unbound submitted ads for products like its Ollie wand vibrator, Bandit cock ring, or Cuffies handcuffs as they are, Meta rejected them. These ads feature the bright-colored products alone or with hands, usually in front of a colorful or sky backdrop.

“We want as many people as possible to have the best sex possible,” Unbound’s CEO and co-founder Polly Rodriguez said in a video on Twitter. “But the problem is that we cannot reach them.”

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Unbound’s senior content manager Maddy Siriouthay went on to explain that many advertising platforms write their compliance policies through the lens of family planning — products that assist or prevent pregnancy. Here is a snippet from Meta’s Adult Product or Services ad policy:

Ads must not promote the sale or use of adult products or services. Ads promoting sexual and reproductive health products or services, like contraception and family planning, must be targeted to people 18 years or older and must not focus on sexual pleasure.

In practice, however, Unbound found a plethora of ads to improve erectile dysfunction and “male” sexual performance. Some of these ads contained explicit language and body parts.

As an experiment, Unbound edited their products to be in stereotypical dude colors (gray), changed the target audience, and created a name for a fake male fitness and performance enhancing company, Thunderthrust. The toys themselves stayed the same, and Unbound submitted Thunderthrust ads for approval.

unbound ollie wand vibrator ad rejected by meta

Unbound’s original ad for Ollie, its wand vibrator, rejected by Meta.
Credit: Unbound

thunderthrust black and white ad featuring bare back of male with black wand vibrator

Unbound’s “Thunderthrust” ad for Ollie, approved by Meta.
Credit: Unbound

Meta approved these male-targeted ads.

This is a long-standing problem that companies like Unbound are fighting against. Earlier this year, these brands along with the Center for Intimacy Justice filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requesting that the FTC take action against Meta’s rejection of female-focused ads. This comes after Meta’s policy change in October 2022 to allow sexual health, wellness, and reproductive health ads — but, judging from this experiment, there’s still more to be done.

The Center has an ongoing petition to #StopCensoringSexualHealth, which Unbound workers encourage people to sign in its Thunderthrust videos.

“These policies are discriminatory in the way they are written, because they only allow one gender identity access to the tools and information that support a holistic definition of sexual wellness,” said Rodriguez in a second Twitter video.

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“We’d love to talk to Meta about improving the policies so that they are less gendered in how they are written and applied, and we’d welcome any conversation at any point in time,” Rodriguez told Mashable, while commenting that Meta has historically not been willing to come to the table.

Mashable reached out to Meta for comment and will update this story if received.

“Vibrator ads might seem a tedious hill to die on,” said Siriouthay in Unbound’s video, “but companies like Meta which own social media networks like Facebook and Instagram have major influence in what we see every day, which can then influence our subconscious beliefs, and the choices we make, and the opportunities we have.”