Planetary 'autopsies' indicate worlds like Earth are common in the cosmos, suggesting life also is

A new way of studying planets in other solar systems.

WASHINGTON – A new way of studying planets in other solar systems — by doing sort of an autopsy on planetary wreckage devoured by a type of star called a white dwarf — is showing that rocky worlds with geochemistry similar to Earth may be quite common in the cosmos.

In a study published on Thursday, researchers studied six white dwarfs whose strong gravitational pull had sucked in shredded remnants of planets and other rocky bodies that had been in orbit. This material, they found, was very much like that present in rocky planets such as Earth and Mars in our solar system.

Given that Earth harbors an abundance of life, the findings offer the latest tantalizing evidence that planets similarly capable of hosting life exist in large numbers beyond our solar system.

“The more we find commonalities between planets made in our solar system and those around other stars, the more the odds are enhanced that the Earth is not unusual,” said Edward Young, a geochemistry and cosmochemistry professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), who helped lead the study published in the journal Science. “The more Earth-like planets, the greater the odds for life as we understand it.”

The first planets beyond our solar system, called exoplanets, were spotted in the 1990s, but it has been tough for scientists to determine their composition. Studying white dwarfs offered a new avenue.

A white dwarf is the burned-out core of a sun-like star. In its death throes, the star blows off its outer layer and the rest collapses, forming an extremely dense and relatively small entity that represents one of the universe’s densest forms of matter, exceeded only by neutron stars and black holes.

Planets and other objects that once orbited it can be ejected into interstellar space. But if they stray near its immense gravitation field, they “will be shredded into dust, and that dust will begin to fall onto the star and sink out of sight,” said study lead author Alexandra Doyle, a UCLA graduate student in geochemistry and astrochemistry.

“This is where that ‘autopsy’ idea comes from,” Doyle added, noting that by observing the elements from the massacred planets and other objects inside the white dwarf scientists can understand their composition.

The researchers observed a fundamental characteristic of the rocks: their state of oxidation. The amount of oxygen present during the formation of these rocks was high — just as it was during the formation of our solar system’s rocky material. They focused on iron, which when oxidized ends up as rock.

“Rocks are rocks, even when they form around other stars,” Young said.
The closest of the six white dwarf stars is about 200 light-years from Earth. The farthest is about 665 light-years away.



Mysterious Light Ball: UFO Spotted Near Australia’s Toowoomba

Analysis: Chinese drones UAVs at military parade Beijing China October 2019

Aviation defence industry technology

During the military parade in Beijing, China, which was held during the celebrations marking 70 years of the founding of the People's Republic of China, military unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) of China were showcased among other miliary equipment in a parade. Here is the complete list and analysis of Air Recognition editorial team of these UAVs and drones shown during the military parade in order of appearance, on October 1, 2019.

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WZ-8 "Dark Sword" high-altitude reconnaissance drone (Picture source: Air Recognition)

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The weaponry includes reconnaissance drones in multi-range and multi-altitude areas.

Among them, a high-altitude high-speed reconnaissance drone, the only all black-coating UAV in the parade, made public appearance for the first time.

The phalanx showcases the new-type combat force in the future warfare and all these aerial armaments reviewed are domestically-developed, said Dang Dongxing, a military official of one of the phalanxes, noting that China's unmanned combat armaments are close to or have reached the world-leading level in some aspects.

The hypersonic  WZ-8 "Dark Sword" UAV was unveiled. It could likely be able to fly at a high-supersonic speed and have stealth capabilities, military analysts said. They added that the new drone has small wings and is shaped like a dagger. It is meant to be launched in the air via a bomber or transport aircraft.

The drone could provide more reliable reconnaissance data than satellites. The biggest advantage of the drone is that it can effectively gather intelligence in real-time in a controllable way compared to other platforms like satellites, Wu Jian, editor of Defense Weekly under Shanghai-based Xinmin Evening News, was quoted as saying by Global Times.

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 JY-203 (Picture source: Air Recognition)

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The JY-203 UAV system is a reconnaissance system based upon Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) sensor (Ku band), which is installed on UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), and also on broad range of other aircraft - turbo-prop, jet, or helicopter. JY-203 system can keep constant imaging resolution within the entire effective detection area, and has certain penetration characteristics, under the influence of light, dust, smoke, fog, cloud and temperature. It is featured with a large detection area and long detection range.

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Aisheng BZK-008 (Picture source: news.cn )

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The Aisheng BZK-008 UAV (also called CH-91) is designed to carry out tasks related to reconnaissance of the terrain and airspace, the implementation of observation and patrol missions, aerial photography and aerial photography of the terrain, and monitoring and control.

The CH-91 is a fixed-wing UAV in twin-boom layout with an inverted v-tail and a pair of skids as landing gear. Propulsion is provided by a two-blade propeller driven by a pusher engine mounted at the rear end of the fuselage.

The CH-91 has a maximum takeoff weight of 210. It can fly at a maximum speed of 320 km/h and has a cruising speed of 210 km/h at a maximum distance of 410 km/h with a maximum altitude of 5,100 m.

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Sky Saker FX500 (Picture source: Air Recognition)

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The Sky Saker FX500 reconnaissance UAV system, by Norinco, adopts high-speed UAV platform of low RCS (Radar Cross-Section) propelled by turbojet engine. It is equipped with GPS and INS combined navigation system, laser illuminator and can be loaded with such airborne mission equipment as multi-purpose opto¬electronic reconnaissance equipment, synthetic aperture radar and digital camera, etc. as required. It has a payload capacity of 50 kg and an endurance of 2 hours. The Sky Saker FX500 can fly at a maximum speed of 800 km/h. With high altitude penetration, it can perform penetration at an altitude of up to 9,000 m.

The Sky Saker FX500 can be equipped with various mission payloads, such as GPS+INS combined navigation system, TV reconnaissance equipment, forward-looking IR reconnaissance equipment, laser illuminator, synthetic aperture radar, digital camera and information transmission equipment, etc.

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 Wing Loong II (Picture source: news.cn)

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The Wing Loong II UAV MALE is developed primarily for the export market and is intended for surveillance and aerial reconnaissance missions. The Wing Loong II is an improved version of the Wing Loong 1 UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) in the category of MALE (medium-altitude Long-Endurance) designed and manufactured in China by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC). Compared with Wing Loong I, the Wing Loong II has an optimized aerodynamic design, an improved airframe and upgraded airborne systems, featuring better capabilities in terms of flight, payload and information capacity.

The Wing Loong II UAV MALE is powered by a turbocharged engine, driving a three-bladed propeller, mounted at the rear section. It can fly during 20 hours and has a maximum speed of 370 km per hour. The Wing Loong II has an operational radius of 1,500 km and that it is equipped with a satellite communications system.

It has a maximum payload capacity of 400 kg. It is able of carrying up to 12 laser-guided bombs or missiles with a total weight of 480 kilograms. The Wing Loong 1 can carry only two bombs or missiles with a combined weight of 100 kg. At Zhuhai Air Show 2016, the Wing Loong II was shown with different types of bombs and missiles as the FT-9/50 50kg bomb, GB3 250 kg laser-guided bomb, TL-10 bomb and more. The electro-optical payload pod, fitted under the forward section of the fuselage, is integrated with day/night and infrared cameras and sensors to collect surveillance and targeting data in both day and low-light / night conditions.

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GongJi GJ-11 "Sharp Sword" stealth attack drone (Picture source: Air Recognition)

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Another new drone on display in Beijing was the GJ-11 "Sharp Sword" long-range stealth attack drone, which is based on the American-made B-2 strategic bomber, and is designed to strike targets deep in enemy territory without being detected.

The design of the Chinese-made GJ-11 "Sharp Sword" seems very similar to the American-made X-47B from Northrop Grumann and the Russian-made Okhotnik (Hunter) which has performed its first successful maiden flight on July 2019.

The GJ-11 is part of a unmanned aerial vehicle program launched in China by Shenyang Aircraft Design Institute (SYADI) of Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) and Shenyang Aerospace University. The Sharp Sword is jet-powered and has a wingspan of 14 meters. It's not yet known the precise mission Sharp Sword is assigned, but possible missions would including reconnaissance and eventually combat missions. On Nov 21 2013, Sharp Sword conducted a 20-minute long maiden flight from HAIG's airfield.

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ASN-301 (Picture source: Air Recognition)

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The ASN-301 is a delta-wing aircraft with a pusher propeller that looks virtually identical to the Harpy. It is designed to fly into hostile airspace and loiter until it detects a radar, at which point it homes in on the target and destroys it. The ASN-301 has a flying time of 4 hours and a range of 280 km. Rather than holding a separate high-explosive warhead, the drone itself is the main ammunition. The warhead contains a total of 7,000 fragment and has a destructive range of 20 m.

It can either operate fully autonomously, or it can be controlled by a remote operator. It is designed to attack radar systems and is optimized for the SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) role.

Chinese scientists are trying to develop drones that can fly without the help of a satellite

Photo: AP

Scientists and engineers in southern China say they have developed technology that will allow drones to navigate accurately without satellite guidance.

Most unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) rely on systems such as China’s BeiDou or America’s GPS to find their way around, but signals can be jammed or weakened.

Military drones can be equipped with terrain-contour matching software and guidance systems such as gyroscopes to watch their speed and direction and use that information to work out their position from point of take-off.

But these systems are too bulky, complex and expensive for commercial drones. At the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology in Guangdong province, Professor Zhou Yimin and her colleagues think they have a simple solution to a weighty problem.

They developed software that can fix an object on the ground, such as a tree, from a series of images taken by a video camera aboard the drone. The data is combined with the readings from the UAV’s movement sensors and a flight path coordinated.

According to a patent filed by Zhou’s team in July, the system had to overcome a problem – an industry standard camera takes 30 frames per second, far more than the computer aboard a typical drone can process.

To solve the problem, Zhou allowed the computer to “cherry-pick” the photos it used for ground reference. She wrote an algorithm that would quickly look over the images and single out those with helpful landmarks.

This could also mean that the tree could be blurred by motion or blocked from view by a building. But the drone would fly on and its sensors would correct its course when observations resumed.

Zhou could not be reached for comment on her team’s findings.

On Monday, a scientist at the institute in Shenzhen – home to some of the world’s biggest drone producers – confirmed the development but would not talk about the accuracy and effective range of the system because of its possible military sensitivity.

Engineers are seeking alternatives to satellite navigation for commercial drones. Photo: Nvidia

Professor Zhao Long, digital navigation centre director with the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, said it was becoming possible for small drones to fly without satellite help thanks to the maturity of alternative technology and the falling cost of hardware.

US-based company Nvidia launched a similar project in 2017, while this year Everdrone, a Swedish company, completed the first autonomous journey between two hospitals in Gothenburg using a UAV with limited GPS help.

“But there are still some environments in which they [drones] cannot fly,” Zhao said.

This may including night-time flights where UAV cameras struggle to find reference points.

Out-of-the-box commercial drones using GPS, BeiDou, Europe’s Galileo or Russia’s Glonnas receivers will not navigate in no-fly zones near sensitive facilities such as airports and government buildings.

But governments and armed forces were already preparing for GPS-free drones, Zhao said.

The latest anti-drone systems consist not only of a device to jam satellite signals, but also have low-frequency sound monitors, highly sensitive radar and powerful lasers to locate and destroy intruders.

“[So] I don’t see a reason why alternative guidance technology should be barred from civilian [use],” Zhao said.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: new drone navigation system may rival GPS

The Next Space Race: Is America Ready For Chinese Space Drones?

 Flying Cloud uav, concept from CASIC's 3rd Academy

 Feiyun solar-powered drone

In a major breakthrough, China has unveiled a formidable new high-altitude drone that could give its military a significant advantage.

Designed to operate in “near space,” 12.5 miles above sea level or higher, China’s new drones can break through air defenses, avoid radar detection, and collect valuable intelligence while staying well beyond the range of anti-aircraft fire.

Operating at these heights has been a challenge that has long eluded engineers. Dubbed a drone “death zone” as the air at this elevation makes it difficult to generate lift and extremely low temperatures cause electrical equipment like batteries to fail.

Until now, the U.S. military’s RQ-4 Global Hawk has been the highest-flying drone, operating at altitudes of 60,000 feet. But in a recent test, Chinese engineers surpassed that, flying an experimental drone at 82,000 feet.

At a research facility in Inner Mongolia, two drones were attached to a weather balloon and deployed at 30,000 feet and 82,000 feet. Roughly the size of a bat and weighing about as much as a soccer ball, the drones were launched by an electromagnetic pulse sling shot that catapulted them out at 60 mph.

The drones coasted to targets over sixty miles away, automatically adjusting their flight path and sending data back to a ground station. Most notably, due to their small size, they were barely detectable on radar during their test flight.

The drones were equipped with several sensors, including a terrain mapping device and an electromagnetic signal detector that would allow it to pinpoint military troops. However, the drones could not carry cameras, as that would require a bulky antenna to transmit photo or video data, which would throw off its delicate aerodynamics.

Its wings and body are seamlessly blended into a flat, tailless design that generates lift in the thin atmosphere of near space. Some models, like the two recently tested, do not have engines, instead drifting to their targets like a glider.

“The goal of our research is to launch hundreds of these drones in one shot, like letting loose a bee or ant colony,” Professor Yang Yanchu, the head of the project from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told the South China Morning Post.

Militaries have long sought to take advantage of near space as it offers an opportunity to gather intelligence over large-areas without the costs or vulnerabilities of satellites.

As advanced militaries increasingly rely on satellites for everything from intelligence to communications to missile guidance, they have become high-priority targets during wartime, and are difficult to defend. Therefore, having near space vehicles capable of gathering intelligence, relaying data, and serving as a backup or even replacement satellites would be invaluable.

But so far no country has been able to operate in near space, as most aircraft cannot fly at such high altitudes and it is too low for satellites.

China has been actively developing new technology that would allow it to operate in this largely uncontested new frontier with its Scientific Experiment System of Near Space, a pilot program led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

In June, China test flew a solar-powered drone at 65,000 feet. The massive drone, dubbed the Caihong-T4, has a wingspan of 130 ft and is designed to stay aloft for months at a time with minimal supervision.

Not to be outdone, NASA currently holds the record with its Helios Prototype, which soared to nearly 97,000 feet on solar power.

But unlike these prototypes and current high-altitude drones which cost millions of dollars, China’s newest high-flying drone would only cost a few hundred yuan.

With these cheap, stealthy high-altitude drones, China has leapt ahead in the near space race.

Eugene K. Chow writes on foreign policy and military affairs. His work has been published in The Week, Huffington Post, and The Diplomat. This article first appeared in 2017.

Helicopter dubbed ‘Super Great White Shark’ makes waves at Tianjin airshow

A futuristic-looking helicopter prototype has attracted an enormous amount of attention just by sitting on the ground at the airshow in Tianjin, China. The ‘Super Great White Shark’ looks like a flying saucer – or a robot vacuum.

Images of the circular rotorcraft appeared online on the eve of the fifth China Helicopter Exposition, which officially opened in Tianjin on Thursday. While in the “initial stage of its design,” according to the machine-translated sign at the exhibit, it is supposed to draw on the “mature” design technologies used in the contemporary US and Russian attack and cargo helicopters.

Chinese UFO pic.twitter.com/B3KVL3qgtE

— Alert 5 (@alert5) October 9, 2019

‘UFO Flying Saucer’ on Display at Chinese Air Show – While the U.S. government seems to be preoccupied with tariffs on conventional Chinese goods, someone needs to be keeping an eye on that countr... https://t.co/JNSo7soSkQ pic.twitter.com/ZjFdADC3Ax

— Stranger Times (@mystrangertimes) October 13, 2019

The sign also claims that a new “conceptual design of propeller blades has been successfully applied in helicopter design.” 
A cutaway schematic of the vehicle that has circulated on the Chinese internet shows two pilots seated in the cockpit mounted in the middle of a giant rotor, encased in the saucer-like body of the helicopter.



All of the images and video from Tianjin show the prototype sitting on the ground, rather than in flight. If it actually takes to the skies, this would mean that Chinese helicopter designers have finally solved the challenge of making a functioning rotorcraft – something that has baffled Western inventors since the Second World War.
The most famous of these experiments has to be the VZ-9 Avrocar, the “flying saucer” developed by Avro Canada in 1958 as a secret weapon for the Cold War. It never overcame the thrust and stability problems, however, and was canceled in 1961.

As for the ‘Super Great White Shark,’ some social media users have already noted that it resembles the Roomba family of robotic vacuum cleaners far more than the deep-sea predator it was named after.

UFO ON THE MOON SEEN BY CHINESE ROVER https://t.co/1EkPsDikhV via @YouTube

— MultiMedia (@jnetscripts) October 13, 2019

DF-17 hypersonic boost-glide missile

 Dongfeng-17 (DF-17), glider vehicles for its ballistic missiles,  which is now capable of gliding in outer atmosphere at upwards of five times the speed of sound or more, making it more able to evade missile defence systems.

Dong Feng 17 (DF-17) hypersonic boost-glide missile. No effective defence against this weapons.

Unlike traditional ballistic missile re-entry vehicles, which are propelled to great heights by a booster rocket only to fall back to Earth on a roughly predictable trajectory, boost-glide vehicles leverage atmospheric lift and drag forces to glide – imagine a pebble skipping over the surface of a lake. As they glide they accumulate tremendous heat and speed. To a limited degree, they can manoeuvre low to evade radars designed to look for high-flying missile re-entry vehicles outside the Earth’s atmosphere. Because they give such little warning, in the final moments of flight, the weapons can catch point defences – such as short-range missile defence systems – off guard.


DF-17 was a conventional-only weapon.







DF 17, DF 100 & DF 41 make debuts at National Day parade
 

CJ 100 or DF 100 Cruise Missile

     DF-100 Hypersonic Cruise Missile at National Day Military Parade 2019. With a range of 2000-3000 kms that is capable of hitting land targets or large warships.

The People's Liberation Army Rocket Force, or PLARF, posted the full video on social media on Sept. 25, 2019. Sometime afterward, the original one-minute long montage was replaced with one that omitted the launch of the unknown weapon and replaced it with unrelated footage of known missiles, according to the SCMP.

There is no obvious indication about what this new missile is or what its mission may be. The video shows that it is vertically launched from a 10-wheel transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) that appears to be able to carry two of the weapons in a ready-to-fire configuration. Photos of preparations for the 70th-anniversary parade in Beijing on Oct. 1, 2019, have shown a similar, previously unseen TEL with its entire rear section tarped off.

A screenshot from the original PLARF video showing the TEL as the missile begins to blast off.

  
From Weibo


Chinese Internet
A similar-looking TEL seen during preparations for the parade in Beijing on Oct. 1.

It seems to be CJ-100 near space supersonic(Mach 3~5) cruise missile. https://t.co/ACZ82CPOFl pic.twitter.com/LSt46g4IkR

— dafeng cao (@dafengcao) September 25, 2019

The weapon itself appears to have at least two distinct parts, a main body with a very large rocket booster attached to the end. The booster would fall away at some point in the early stage of flight.

The main weapon has large strakes or fins and what appear to be a number of relatively long and thin fairings at the tail end, which some have suggested could be ramjet intakes. An air-breathing ramjet propulsion system would fit with the large booster motor, since the weapon would then need to get up to an appropriate speed and altitude before its engines could function properly. A number of existing Chinese supersonic anti-ship missiles, such as the YJ-12 series or the newer HD-1, use a similar general configuration.

Chinese Internet
China's HD-1 supersonic anti-ship cruise missile.

The PLARF already operates the ground-based subsonic CJ-10 land-attack cruise missile, which has a range of approximately 930 miles. This has led some to believe that this new weapon is a supersonic, or possibly hypersonic, land-attack cruise missile intended to replace that existing weapon.

Hypersonic speed is defined as greater than Mach 5. The wide nose and missile body, together with the strakes/fins, would seem to make it unlikely that this is indeed a hypersonic weapon.

Others have posited that it could be a new quasi-ballistic missile. However, the strakes/fins and possible ramjet propulsion would be at odds with what one would expect to see in a weapon that is supposed to fly in a ballistic flight path.

Regardless of the exact nature of its configuration, the weapon could also potentially be intended for other roles instead of or in addition to striking land targets, including engaging hostile ships at extended ranges. The PLARF has already developed significant anti-ship ballistic missile capabilities, most notably with the DF-21D medium-range ballistic missile and the DF-26 intermediate-range ballistic missile, the latter of which is seen in the video below.

Quantum Radar Could Completely Change Warfare

A new high definition radar system that could change the nature of warfare has been demonstrated for the first time. The result, quantum radar, is a high definition detection system that provides a much more detailed image of targets while itself remaining difficult to detect. Quantum radars could provide users with enough detail to identify aircraft, missiles, and other aerial targets by specific model.

According to the MIT Technology Review, researchers at Austria’s Institute of Science and Technology used entangled microwaves to create the world’s first quantum radar system.

Under a principle known as quantum entanglement, two particles can be linked together regardless of distance, forming what scientists call a quantum entangled pair. When something happens to one particle it can be noticed in the other particle. This in turn leads to a process called quantum illumination, where information about one particle’s environment can be inferred by studying the other particle.

Quantum radars involve pairing photon particles together, shooting one downrange while keeping the second captive for observation. The downrange particle will act in a certain manner as it bounces off certain objects, behavior that can be observed in the captive particle. The result is much more detailed information about the target than seen in previous radars.

Today’s radars can detect targets very well, but provide little detail. Radars can detect an object and note it's altitude, bearing, and distance, but otherwise the target is a big, featureless blob. Air defenders must rely on other things, such identifying radar and other electromagnetic signals emanating from the target, to discern whether the blob is an enemy fighter, bomber, or even a commercial civilian aircraft.

Quantum radars, on the other hand, could provide enough detail for radar systems to identify the object based on physical characteristics. A Su-35 Flanker-E fighter, for example, could be identified by the sweep of its wings, the shape of its nose, and the number of engines.

Another benefit of quantum radars: they emit very little energy and are thus difficult to detect. All contemporary radars emit electromagnetic radiation to detect objects. This radiation makes the radar itself detectable. It’s a lot like having lots of people holding flashlights in a dark room: turning on your flashlight allows you to find other people but the flashlight beam leads straight back to you, giving away your presence and location.

A lack of detectability offers a distinct tactical advantage in warfare. A friendly quantum radar could detect a flight of enemy aircraft without revealing its own presence. This could cause the enemy warplanes to put off defensively jamming local radars and radio signals—which itself is noticeable to the defenders. Their guard down, they could then be ambushed by friendly air defense missiles and fighters waiting for them.

Quantum radars has been billed as a means for detecting stealth aircraft, with claims that it renders efforts to make aircraft invisible to radar useless. According to three experts polled by Engineering and Technology, anti-stealth claims are a “gross oversimplication” and the main advantage of quantum radar is the high definition aspect. 

Source: MIT Technology Review

China Says It Made a 'Quantum Radar'