Computer model shows moon's core surrounded by liquid - Earth Gravitational pull

A team of researchers with team members from China, the U.S. and Japan has created a computer model that shows that the moon is not solid all the way through, instead, it shows a liquid layer surrounding the core. 

In their paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience, the team suggests the liquid layer, if it's really there, is caused by friction due to Earth's gravity.

Scientists have noted anomalies in measurements of the moon's orbit and associated gravitational readings for some time.

Such anomalies have defied explanation, however, as models built to replicate them have generally produced results that weren't very clear.

The Earth and the Moon, an image taken from Mars by the MRO.

Credit: Nasa

At root however, has been the idea that the moon's core may be covered by a thin layer of liquid.

The team noted that gravitational readings of the moon indicate that there is rotation at the core that is not the same as other rotation measurements near the core. This suggests a liquid outer layer.

To getter a better idea of what might be going on at the moon's center, the researchers built a computer model that takes into account the gravity exerted by the moon, the earth and the sun.

Early Science Fiction Image of Moon

When set into motion, the model showed that a liquid layer over the core gave the same gravity readings as scientists have found when measuring the real moon.

This suggests, the team reports, that a liquid layer does truly exist, and likely has been there for a very long time.

As for why such a layer would exist, the team suggests that the tug of Earth's gravity, tidal heating, is likely playing a role, causing friction between the core and material above it, resulting in the creation and maintenance of a liquid layer.

A lot more research will have to be done, of course, before scientists accept the results of the computer model but if such research should prove that there is a liquid layer, scientists might have to do some rethinking of theories that describe the origin of the moon.

If the moon was created due to a large body striking Earth, why did it not cool down over the four and half billion years since then, to the extent that it would be too cold for a liquid layer to exist today?

More information: Nature Geoscience (2014) DOI: 10.1038/ngeo2211

NASA Cassini: Saturn's moon Titan - Land of Lakes

Cassini spacecraft looked though layers of haze to the lakes of Titan's northern regions. 

Saturn’s moon, Titan (3,200 miles, or 5,150 kilometers across), has a hydrological cycle similar to Earth's, but instead of water, Titan's lakes and seas contain liquid methane and ethane. 

Lit terrain seen here lies on the leading hemisphere of Titan. North on Titan is up. 

The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Jan. 1, 2014, at a distance of approximately 114,000 miles (183,000 kilometers) from Titan.

NASA's Cassini Image: Titan's Ligeia Mare - Second largest liquid lake

Ligeia Mare represents the second largest known body of liquid on Saturn's moon, Titan, shown here in a false-colour image obtained by NASA's Cassini mission. 

Ligeia Mare contains liquid hydrocarbons, such as ethane and methane, and makes up one of the many seas and lakes located in Titan's north polar region. 

The image consists of a false-colour mosaic of synthetic aperture radar images obtained by the Cassini spacecraft between February 2006 and April 2007. 

In this image, liquids, dark to the radar, appear black and the solid surface of Titan, which appears bright to the radar, appears yellow. 

Image released May 22, 2013.

ESA prepares new technologies for future launchers

ESA and the DLR German Space Center fired a Texus rocket 263 km into space on 27 November to test a new way of handling propellants on Europe’s future rockets.

Texus 48 lifted off at 10:10 GMT (11:10 CET) from the Esrange Space Centre near Kiruna in northern Sweden on its 13-minute flight.

During the six minutes of weightlessness – mimicking the different stages of a full spaceflight – two new devices were tested for handling super-cold liquid hydrogen and oxygen propellants and then recovered for analysis.

Building on over 30 years of Texus missions, flight 48 was the first to demonstrate a new technology for future launchers.

DLR procured the rocket for this flight, which was performed under ESA’s Cryogenic Upper Stage Technologies (CUST) project as part of the Future Launchers Preparatory Programme (FLPP).

ESA Portal - Europe prepares new technologies for future launchers

Improved upper stage
ESA is working on a restartable cryogenic upper stage to improve Europe’s launchers.

Liquids naturally float around in weightlessness but to ensure engine ignition after a long coast in low-gravity, propellant must be held ready at the tank’s outlet using ‘capillary’ forces – the same force that helps paper towels soak up water.

Although this has already been mastered for launchers and satellites that use storable liquids, higher-performance cryogenic fluids are more difficult to handle.

On Texus 48, liquid nitrogen represented the cryogenic propellants to ease cost and safety constraints, and simplify the thermal design.

“The launch of Texus 48 demonstrating new technologies for future rockets was a success. It also shows great cooperation with DLR, where joint efforts made this flight possible on time,” said Guy Pilchen, Future Launchers Preparatory Programme Manager.

In Liquid and Air, Scientists Find Order Among the Chaos - NYTimes.com

In Liquid and Air, Scientists Find Order Among the Chaos - NYTimes.com

Assisted by instruments that can track in fine detail how parcels of fluid move, and by low-cost computers that can crunch vast amounts of data quickly, researchers have found hidden structures beyond Monterey Bay, structures that explain why aircraft meet unexpected turbulence, why the air flow around a car causes drag and how blood pumps from the heart's ventricles. In December, the journal Chaos will highlight the research under way to track the moving skeletons embedded in complex flows, known as Lagrangian coherent structures.

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