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- Adventures with electronics: serial lunar missions and woody biopolymer
Adventures with electronics: serial lunar missions and woody biopolymer
Russia has obtained substances from soybeans that will help clean water areas from oil products. Also, Russian scientists discovered that lignin, a wood biopolymer, can be used to make bioelectronics, and engineers created a mixer to produce suspensions and emulsions of high homogeneity. In addition, the U.S. launched two lunar modules with one rocket, and Chile tested a wide-angle telescope with the largest digital camera. These are the top 5 scientific news for the week, selected by Izvestia.
Reagents from plant raw materials will clean the seas from oil products
Russian scientists have created a reagent from vegetable raw materials, which effectively removes oil products. The new substance consists of phospholipids extracted from crushed soybeans - a cheap and available raw material - and isobutyl alcohol.
Specialists of the Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas, FIC "Krasnoyarsk Scientific Center SB RAS", A.V. Topchiev Institute of Petrochemical Synthesis RAS and N.S. Kurnakov Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry RAS and FIC "Krasnoyarsk Scientific Center SB RAS" took part in the scientific work.
Co-author of the study is graduate student Baira Ubushayeva
- Phospholipids make up the membranes of any living cells. The obtained reagent is easily decomposed in the environment, and therefore does not lead to its pollution. In terms of efficiency, it surpasses most of the known compounds and is environmentally friendly," Delgir Sanjieva, the head of the project, a senior researcher at INHS RAS, associate professor at the Department of General and Applied Chemistry of the Gubkin Russian State University of Natural Sciences, explained to Izvestia.
She added that in the experiments the reagent reduced the area of the oil slick by 89-93% in a minute. The tests were conducted at both normal and low temperatures. Due to this new reagent can be used for cleaning both arctic water areas and warm-water reservoirs. Among other things - to eliminate the consequences of fuel oil spill in the Black Sea.
Wood polymer will be used for bioelectronics
Lignin may become a suitable material for bioelectronics devices. This conclusion was reached by a group of researchers from the N.P. Laverov Arctic Research Center of the URO RAS and the Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M.V. Lomonosov.
Lignin is the second most common natural polymer after cellulose. It binds cellulose fibers and is responsible for the rigidity of wood structure. The lignin content in plants ranges from 18 to 35%.
Scientists have studied the electrophysical properties of the biopolymer and established their relationship with physical and chemical characteristics. As a result, the experts concluded that lignin can be used, in particular, to create capacitors - devices that accumulate charge and quickly give the resulting energy.
- Analyzing the properties of natural and technical lignins shows that this biopolymer has unique properties. Its structure is close to the materials used to produce capacitor dielectrics, - explained the head of the group, Director of the Institute of Environmental Problems of the North of the Laureate Center, Professor of the Arctic Federal University Konstantin Bogolitsyn.
He noted that in the future scientists will try to modify lignin components to enhance certain electrophysical properties. This will help to expand the areas of application of biopolymers.
A new mixer will help to obtain a mass of high homogeneity
Engineers from the D.I. Mendeleev Russian University of Chemical Technology have developed an innovative industrial mixer for horizontal type. The proposed layout has shown greater efficiency compared to traditional mixing technologies in tanks.
The new equipment allows to achieve high homogeneity and emulsions - mixtures based on liquid and solid materials (suspensions) or only liquid substances (emulsions).
Engineers from the D.I. Mendeleev Russian University of Chemical Technology
- The device consists of a tube with a shaft through which the starting materials become a super-homogeneous mass. This is necessary, for example, for the production of high-quality composites for aircraft and automobile construction, creation of synthetic fabrics and food products,- told "Izvestia" one of the developers, a graduate student of the Advanced Engineering School of the Russian Chemical Technology University Alexander Ushkov.
Experts noted that the introduction of the development into production lines will help reduce the number of rejects and reduce the cost of final products.
Serial launch of satellites will accelerate the exploration of the Moon
On January 15, a Falcon 9 rocket launched two lunar modules into space. The launch took place from the site LC-39B at Kennedy Space Center. In flight were sent Blue Ghost ("Blue Ghost") from the U.S. company Firefly Aerospace and the module Hakuto-R M2 Resilience ("Resilience").
The vehicles are expected to land on the lunar surface in 1.5 months and four to five months, respectively. As a payload they carry scientific instruments to develop new technologies for exploration, study of lunar resources.
Both missions are sent under the NASA program, which is focused on the development of services for the commercial development of lunar resources. Within a year on this project will send another half a dozen interplanetary expeditions.
- In this century, the resources of the Moon will be involved in the work of Earth industry. And now it is being decided who will benefit the most in this process," Lev Zeleny, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences and scientific head of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Izvestia.
He noted that Russia' s lunar exploration plans do not meet the demands of a country with serious space ambitions. At the same time, scientific programs are constantly shifting "to the right", which is fraught with the loss of positions in the future world order.
In Chile tested the most wide-angle telescope
January 14 in Chile successfully completed the first tests of the new 8.4-meter telescope of the Vera Rubin Observatory. It is being built by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.
Testing took three months. As a result, scientists have obtained the first experimental image. The image is a composite with a total resolution of 144 megapixels. The imaging area covered a fragment of the sky, which is twice the apparent size of the full Moon.
The first image from the Vera Rubin Observatory's engineering camera, published on January 14, 2025
The observatory is equipped with a total of three reflector telescopes. The main mirror has a diameter of 8.4 meters, the second has a diameter of 3.4 meters, and the third has a diameter of 5 meters. Together they allow to cover an area 50 times larger than the area of the Moon in the sky. The world's largest digital camera will be responsible for the clarity of the images. Its resolution is 3200 megapixels. It consists of 189 light-sensitive CCD-matrices capable of working in the visible, infrared and ultraviolet ranges of electromagnetic radiation.
The main objectives of the observatory are to create the most detailed map of the sky and the Milky Way. In addition, scientists will monitor distant galaxies and look for unusual astrophysical objects. Such as supernovae flares and black holes. The scientific facility is named in honor of Vera Rubin, an American amateur astronomer and daughter of immigrants from the Russian Empire. Her studies of the rotation rate of galaxies were among the first confirmations of the existence of dark matter.
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