Water on the Moon May Be Easier to Reach Thanks to Meteorite Strikes, Solar Wind

https://www.space.com/water-on-moon-kicked-up-meteorites-solar-wind.html

Since the discovery of water on the moon’s south pole about a decade ago, scientists have wondered about the water cycle on the rocky structure’s coldest region. New research provides clues as to how the water may have escaped its icy grave and splattered across the lunar surface.

NASA scientists suggest that elements from the space environment such as meteorites and solar wind that impact the lunar surface may free water molecules trapped in the lunar soil and cause them to bounce off somewhere else, according to a statement by NASA. That could potentially make it easier to reach by future astronauts, researchers said, since explorers wouldn’t necessarily have to venture into the permanently dark craters at the moon’s poles known to host water ice.

“People think of some areas in these polar craters as trapping water and that’s it,” William Farrell, a plasma physicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and lead author of the new study, said in the statement. “But there are solar wind particles and meteoroids hitting the surface, and they can drive reactions that typically occur at warmer surface temperatures. That’s something that’s not been emphasized.”

Related: Photos: The Search for Water on the Moon

Solar wind, the stream of charged particles flowing from the sun, regularly hits the moon and kicks up the water molecules, while meteoroids that impact the lunar surface can hurl small soil particles that contain ice grains as far as 19 miles (30 kilometers) from their original location, according to the study. 

“This research is telling us that meteoroids are doing some of the work for us and transporting material from the coldest places to some of the boundary regions where astronauts can access it with a solar-powered rover,” Dana Hurley, a planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, said in the statement. “It’s also telling us that what we need to do is get on the surface of one of these regions and get some firsthand data about what’s happening.”

One of the bigger mysteries that scientists are hoping to unravel with future moon missions is the lunar water cycle. Nearly 40 years after astronauts first landed on the moon, water was discovered in the moon rock samples brought back by the Apollo missions, dismissing previous beliefs that the moon’s surface was completely barren. 

A gravity map of the moon's southern latitudes overlaid on terrain based on data from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

A gravity map of the moon’s southern latitudes overlaid on terrain based on data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. 

(Image credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio)

The presence of water outside of the moon’s cold and rough south polar region means astronauts could have better access to water molecules in the lunar soil, which makes studying the moon’s water — and potentially mining the natural resource — a whole lot easier.

Additionally, the primary way scientists currently detect water on the moon is through remote sensing instruments that identify chemical elements based on the light that the lunar surface reflects or absorbs, according to NASA. Therefore, regions of the moon where sunlight is completely absent — like the permanently shadowed craters that contain water — are not exactly ideal for that type of detection.

The latest research also suggests that the space environment is not only moving water around on the lunar surface but could also be adding water to the moon. Chemical reactions between the solar wind and the lunar regolith could create water on the surface, and icy comets that crash into the moon could also boost the moon’s water supply.

“We can’t think of these craters as icy dead spots,” Farrell said.

The study was published July 1 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

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July 24, 2019 at 11:16AM

SpaceX’s Starhopper Rocket Prototype Aborts 1st Untethered Hop Attempt

https://www.space.com/spacex-starhopper-rocket-untethered-hop-abort.html

SpaceX fired up its Starhopper test vehicle for its biggest hop yet Wednesday (July 24), but the rocket aborted the flight just seconds into the attempt. 

Starhopper, a prototype for SpaceX’s Starship program, ignited its Raptor engine for about 3 seconds at the company’s Boca Chica test site in South Texas, but the vehicle failed to lift off. Instead of hopping up about 65 feet (20 meters), the rocket belched flame and smoke, then shut down. 

“It appears as though we have had an abort on today’s test,” SpaceX certification engineer Kate Tice said during a 20-minute live webcast of the Starhopper test. “As you can see there, the vehicle did not lift off today.”

SpaceX's Starhopper test vehicle attempts its first untethered test hop on July 24, 2019 at the company's Boca Chica, Texas test site. The vehicle did not lift off as planned..

SpaceX’s Starhopper test vehicle attempts its first untethered test hop on July 24, 2019 at the company’s Boca Chica, Texas test site. The vehicle did not lift off as planned..

(Image credit: SpaceX)

SpaceX’s Starhopper has performed a tethered test hop in April as well as ground tests of the rocket’s main Raptor engine. Today’s test flight was designed to be the first untethered flight for Starhopper, with its Raptor engine firing at 80% capacity, Tice said. 

“This is a development program,” Tice said. “Today was a test flight designed to test the boundaries of the vehicle.”

More details will be added as they are available. 

You can see SpaceX’s full video of the Starhopper test hop below. 

Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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July 24, 2019 at 08:29PM

The FDA asked a supplement company to recall all their products. Here’s what you need to know.

https://www.popsci.com/herbal-doctor-remedies-recall/

Supplement companies do a lot to try to convince you they're safe and effective—but sometimes they can be neither.

Supplement companies do a lot to try to convince you they’re safe and effective—but sometimes they can be neither. (Deposit Photos/)

On Wednesday the Food and Drug Administration announced a voluntary recall by the company Herbal Doctor Remedies, a brand of herbal supplements distributed by several online retailers. What’s surprising about this recall is that it includes all of Herbal Doctor Remedies products. So, the first takeaway is obvious: if you have any products manufactured by this company, throw them away. Contact a physician (and file a report with the FDA) if you suspect you’ve had any side-effects to them. Contact the company if you’re hoping to get some kind of refund, though of course your results may vary.

But you may be wondering what prompted such a sweeping and troubling recall—as well you should. Here are a few things to know about what went wrong with Herbal Doctor Remedies, as well as what this incident can teach you about supplements in general.

Why the recall?

The FDA hasn’t cited any specific manufacturing problems, but reports that Herbal Doctor Remedies failed to follow Current Good Manufacturing Practices (CGMPs). The FDA doesn’t have oversight over dietary supplements in the same way it does actual drugs, but the CGMPs exist to ensure that products contain what their packaging claims they contain and in the right quantities. That also covers things they shouldn’t contain, like pesticides or random contaminants. There are a lot of ways a company can fail to meet the CGMPs, but the easiest way to attract the FDA’s ire on this is to have a factory that doesn’t meet adequate cleanliness standards, or to have a manufacturing process that leaves too much opportunity for error.

Herbal Doctor Remedies has a second offense, too: they’re marketed without FDA approval in a way that could put consumers at risk. The FDA doesn’t approve supplements before they go to market, and generally only steps in if customers are reporting adverse effects (which wasn’t the case here). But supplements only get to enjoy that easy-breezy regulatory status if they distinguish themselves from drugs (which, as its name suggests, the FDA regulates quite heavily). Herbal Doctor Remedies is a classic example of the thin line between a perfectly legal supplement and an extremely illegal drug. It all comes down to labeling.

What are supplements allowed to say they can do?

The FDA has some rather complex guidelines for how foods and dietary supplements can market their benefits. It’s fine, for example, for a fiber supplement to say on its packaging that fiber is good for gut health and regularity. We have lots of evidence to support this. If a large body of experts like the National Academy of Sciences says X is good for preventing Y, that’s generally fair game as well. When it comes to basic benefits a vitamin or mineral can give you, as long as a company isn’t misrepresenting how their product fits in (saying, for instance, that a cereal with 1 gram of fiber is good for your gut because of how great fiber is), most claims are fine.

But supplements can’t claim to treat or prevent a specific disease. Something that treats or prevents a specific disease is a drug. And the FDA has to evaluate drugs to determine their safety and efficacy.

Herbal Doctor Remedies tripped this wire several times over, and you need only look at the company’s product names to see how: they sell "Worm Off," "Deafness Off," "Sperm Booster," and "Stomach Flu," to list just a few.

There’s nothing wrong with selling people deworming pills or antivirals, but if you’re telling someone that the product they’re buying will get rid of their intestinal parasites or cure their influenza, the FDA wants proof that this is at least reasonably true. Otherwise, there’s a chance people will forego medical attention or prescribed pharmaceuticals in favor of your product. This might sometimes turn out okay, but if your claims are unfounded and not based on solid evidence, your product is putting that customer’s health in serious peril.

If you don’t use any untested ingredients and don’t claim to treat or prevent a disease, efficacy doesn’t matter. Supplements just have to manage not to hurt a bunch of people and avoid lying (or at least getting caught lying) about what they contain. If that sounds like a low bar, it is.

How do I know the supplements I’m taking are effective?

You don’t! That’s the rather shocking truth about supplements in the United States. Companies are tasked with policing themselves on efficacy and safety. Unlisted fillers in lieu of promised ingredients are common, which opens the door to all sorts of risks—allergic reactions, unexpected interactions between medications, and toxic contaminants, for example. According to a 2017 study, the U.S. Poison Control Centers get calls about bad reactions to supplements about every 24 minutes. The FDA is supposed to step in when supplements are causing harm, but it’s basically an honor system—and lots of companies don’t report their customers’ complaints.

Should I take supplements at all?

Lots of supplements are harmless or even beneficial. But you have to confirm their safety and efficacy yourself. The United States Pharmacopeial Convention runs a voluntary testing program to confirm labels are accurate and manufactured safely, so picking a company that opts in is a no-brainer.

It’s important to note that while we need certain vitamins and minerals to survive, we’re (mostly) better off getting them from balanced diets full of as many whole, unprocessed foods as possible. There are certain conditions that can benefit from supplements, but that’s something you should get a physician’s advice on. Sometimes even safe and well-made medications can cause harm: experts now say daily aspirin is a mistake for most adults, too many antioxidants can actually encourage cancerous cell growth, and excess vitamin D can give you kidney stones and make your bones weak. In other words, you shouldn’t assume any daily medication, whether it’s an OTC drug or an herbal supplement, is a better-safe-than-sorry addition to your morning routine.

If you know a company is trustworthy, this graphic from Information Is Beautiful can help you suss out just how much evidence there is that a supplement does what you want it to. For instance, you’ll see that omega 3 is very likely effective in lowering risk of preterm birth, while evidence that it lowers the risk of colorectal cancer is merely "promising." The same substance’s effect on cardiovascular disease is slightly less well-supported—it’s "inconclusive" and needs more research—and evidence suggests it has no effect against Crohn’s disease, asthma, or diabetes. Omega 3 also makes an appearance on the "harmful" side of the chart, because fish oil intake is linked with increased prostate cancer risk. All of this is to say that there are lots of things that supplement companies can gently suggest their products can do for you, but the truth is a lot more complicated.

via Popular Science – New Technology, Science News, The Future Now https://www.popsci.com

July 25, 2019 at 11:10AM