Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences | New and Recent Articles

The definition of life and its universal attributes remains debated, making extraterrestrial life detection inherently uncertain. Robust analytical strategies therefore should not rely on single techniques, even if highly specific, but instead integrate complementary approaches capable of probing multiple classes of biosignatures. Here we present the concept and prototype development of an automa…

In this study, we investigate the anisotropic Bianchi type-V spacetime in the context of Barber’s second self-creation theory (SCT) of gravitation with generalized ghost pilgrim dark energy (GGPDE) and dark matter (DM). We employ the vanishing trace condition of the energy momentum tensor as given by Reddy et al. and the relationship between metric potentials as given by Collins et al. to obtain …

One of the main concerns for Ground-Based Augmentation Systems (GBAS) is the occurrence of anomalous ionospheric conditions. In particular, ionospheric scintillation poses a significant threat, as strong scintillation events can cause GNSS receivers to lose signal lock, thereby reducing the number of available satellites for position computation. This often results in a degradation of system cont…

We examined the thermospheric wind and temperature response over the South American sector during the main and early recovery phases of the 10–11 May 2024 geomagnetic superstorm. Our coordinated set of Fabry-Perot Interferometer (FPI), satellite-derived, and radar observations were obtained from observatories located at El Leoncito (Argentina, 31.8°S, 69.3°W), Cachoeira Paulista (Brazil, 22.7°S, …

Geomagnetic field forecasting is critical for mitigating space weather hazards, yet single-station prediction remains a challenge due to the complex, non-linear coupling of vector components. In this work, we propose a Graph Neural Network (GNN) architecture enhanced with Temporal Convolutional Networks (TCN) to forecast the H, D, and Z components. By modeling the observatory’s sensors as nodes i…

Space weather is a recognized source of risk to civil aviation through its effects on communication, navigation, surveillance, and radiation systems. Historically, aviation space weather research has achieved substantial progress in identifying the physical mechanisms and operational vulnerabilities associated with individual subsystems, specific technologies, and sensitive regions, which laid th…

The deployment of deep learning models directly onboard satellites is emerging as a promising approach to real-time space-weather monitoring. However, applying this paradigm to solar flare forecasting introduces three challenges: limited computational resources, the susceptibility of onboard weight storage to radiation-induced multiple-bit upsets (MBUs), and variations in power availability acros…

Astronauts on the International Space Station still depend on resources brought by cost-intensive resupply missions. To enhance their independence from Earth and prepare for long-term crewed missions to the Moon or Mars, there is an urgent need to develop self-sustained habitats that rely on in situ utilization of resources, thus reducing mass, space, and environmental constraints. One promising …

The nature of spacetime in quantum gravity remains a fundamental problem, rooted in the conflict between the background independence of general relativity and the fixed-background structure of quantum field theory. This paper proposes a concrete, emergentist framework in which classical continuous spacetime is not fundamental but arises as a low-energy effective description of an underlying quant…

The persistent discrepancy between the various measured values of the Hubble constant is one of the most interesting problems in modern cosmology. This problem, in which a discrepancy of approximately 5σ arises between measurements of the early and late universe, is known as the Hubble Tension. On the other hand, Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are high-energy, transient extragalactic phenomena that are…

We have developed deep learning algorithms to detect and classify pulsating auroras in video data captured by the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) All-Sky Imagers (ASIs). We label auroral data into four categories: “bad viewing condition”, “no aurora”, “other aurora” and “pulsating aurora”. In contrast to all prior studies centered on auroral image clas…

Using synoptic magnetograms from the National Solar Observatory/Kitt Peak spanning 19 February 1975, to 25 September 2003, we investigate the phase relationships among different types of magnetic elements at low and high solar latitudes. At low latitudes, the magnetic fields of sunspots and ephemeral regions significantly lead the network magnetic fields by approximately half a solar cycle. At hi…

A high resolution two-dimensional multi-fluid model of sporadic-E layers was developed and driven with physically realistic mesosphere, lower thermosphere (MLT) winds measured over Albuquerque, New Mexico. The realistic E-region winds are produced by the HYdrodynamic Point-wise Environment Reconstructor (HYPER) model that ingests meteor derived wind observations from a Spread-spectrum Interferome…

Accurate prediction of stratospheric wind and temperature profiles is essential for understanding regional atmospheric dynamics over the complex terrain of the Tibetan Plateau. However, conventional numerical weather prediction models are computationally expensive, while statistical time-series models are limited in capturing the nonlinear evolution of atmospheric variables across both temporal a…

The predominant fusion chain in stellar nucleosynthesis produces positron and neutrino byproducts in equal amounts. An extremely high neutrino flux can be directly measured, but the unobservable, yet equally high flux of positrons is traditionally considered to be short-lived antimatter that annihilates upon contact with electrons. The electrons are traditionally assumed to be populated in such e…

Europa, Jupiter’s ice-covered moon, harbors a subsurface ocean representing a prime target for astrobiological investigation. This study presents computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis of a radioisotope-powered thermal ice penetrator (cryobot) designed for Europa subsurface access, with explicit treatment of the melting-sublimation phase regime transition. A dual-regime thermal model is deve…

An HF beacon network has been deployed in eastern Alaska to estimate plasma number densities in the ionospheric volume overhead. The network includes three dual-frequency CW transmitters employing pseudorandom noise (PRN) codes and three receivers. The network spans latitudes 62–68° north geographic. Observables from the network include the signal amplitude, Doppler shift, and group delay of all …

During the 1980s, aerial observations over the Venezuelan Guiana Shield led to the hypothesis that a circular geomorphological feature might represent an impact structure. Radar imagery was subsequently requested and circulated among researchers, but the interpretation remained unresolved. Recently rediscovered correspondence and imagery enabled a re-evaluation using modern digital elevation mode…