Rolling less coal USs wind and solar will generate more power than coal in 2024 Utility-scale solar generation is up by over 30% amid future uncertainties. John Timmer Jan 27, 2025 3:57 pm | 61 Credit: zhongguo Credit: zhongguo Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreThe Energy Information Agency has now released data on the performance of the US's electric grid over the first 11 months of 2024 and will be adding the final month soon (and a month is very little time for anything to change significantly in the data). The biggest story in the data is the dramatic growth of solar energy, with a 30 percent increase in generation in a single year, which will allow solar and wind combined to overtake coal in 2024.But the US energy demand saw an increase of nearly 3 percent, which is roughly double the amount of additional solar generation. Should electric use continue to grow at a similar pace, renewable production will have to continue to grow dramatically for a few years before it can simply cover the added demand.Going for the SunIn the first 11 months of 2024, the US saw its electrical use grow by 2.8 percent, or roughly 100 Terawatt-hours. While there's typically year-to-year variation in use due to weather-driven demand, the US's consumption has largely been flat since the early 2000s. There are plenty of reasons to expect increased demand, including the growth of data centers and the electrification of heating and transit, but so far, there's been no clear sign of it in the data.As a result, the rapid growth of renewables has largely displaced fossil fuel generationspecifically coalrather than meeting increased demand. Despite the rise in demand, however, the long-term decline in coal has continued in 2024, with generation via coal down by nearly 5 percent. This will mean that this is the first year that wind and solar will combine to outproduce coal. Collectively, they'll account for roughly 17 percent of the US's energy production, while coal will only provide about 15 percent.The boost in wind and solar production has also been larger than the increase in generation from natural gas, which remains the single largest source of power on the grid, generating nearly 44 percent of the electricity used in the US. The fraction of the total US electric use generated by each source of power. The numbers will not add up to 100 percent as some minor sources of power were not included. JOHN TIMMER The fraction of the total US electric use generated by each source of power. The numbers will not add up to 100 percent as some minor sources of power were not included. JOHN TIMMER The total Terawatt-hours generated by different sources of electricity. The total Terawatt-hours generated by different sources of electricity.The fraction of the total US electric use generated by each source of power. The numbers will not add up to 100 percent as some minor sources of power were not included. JOHN TIMMER The total Terawatt-hours generated by different sources of electricity.While wind currently accounts for 60 percent of the "wind plus solar" figure, it's unlikely to stay on top for long. Generation from wind power grew by 7.6 percent compared to the same period a year earlier. By contrast, utility-scale solar generation increased by 31 percent over that same period, with small-scale solar (including rooftop installations) estimated to have increased by 15 percent.Adding in hydropower and a handful of minor sources like geothermal brings the total renewable electricity generated in the first 11 months of 2024 up to 23 percent of the total demand. Adding in nuclear to get the total of emissions-free generation brings the total up to 41 percentjust shy of the 44 percent produced by natural gas.A complicated futureAnother way to look at things is that, between the decline of coal use and added demand, the grid had to generate an additional 136 TW-hr in the first 11 months of 2024. Sixty-three of those were handled by an increase in generation using natural gas; the rest, or slightly more than half, came from emissions-free sources. So, renewable power is now playing a key role in offsetting demand growth. While that's a positive, it also means that renewables are displacing less fossil fuel use than they might.In addition, some of the growth of small-scale solar won't show up on the grid, since it offset demand locally, and so also reduced some of the demand for fossil fuels. Confusing matters, this number can also include things like community solar, which does end up on the grid; the EIA doesn't break out these numbers.We can expect next year's numbers to also show a large growth in solar production, as the EIA says that the US saw record levels of new solar installations in 2024, with 37 gigawatts of new capacity. Since some of that came online later in the year, it'll produce considerably more power next year. And, in its latest short-term energy analysis, the EIA expects to see over 20 GW of solar capacity added in each of the next two years. New wind capacity will push that above 30 GW of renewable capacity each of these years. The past few years of solar installations have led to remarkable growth in its power output. Credit: John Timer That growth will, it's expected, more than offset continued growth in demand, although that growth is expected to be somewhat slower than we saw in 2024. It also predicts about 15 GW of coal will be removed from the grid during those two years. So, even without any changes in policy, we're likely to see a very dynamic grid landscape over the next few years.But changes in policy are almost certainly on the way. The flurry of executive orders issued by the Trump administration includes a number of energy-related changes. These include defining "energy" in a way that excludes wind and solar, an end to offshore wind leasing and the threat to terminate existing leases, and a re-evaluation of the allocation of funds from some of the Biden administration's energy-focused laws.In essence, this sets up a clash among economics, state policies, and federal policy. Even without any subsidies, wind and solar are the cheapest ways to produce electricity in much of the US. In addition, a number of states have mandates that will require the use of more renewable energy. At the same time, the permitting process for the plants and their grid connections will often require approvals at the federal level, and it appears to be official policy to inhibit renewables when possible. And a number of states are also making attempts to block new renewable power installations.It's going to be a challenging period for everyone involved in renewable energy.John TimmerSenior Science EditorJohn TimmerSenior Science Editor John is Ars Technica's science editor. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Biochemistry from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. When physically separated from his keyboard, he tends to seek out a bicycle, or a scenic location for communing with his hiking boots. 61 Comments

tough decisions A long, costly road ahead for customers abandoning Broadcoms VMware "We loved VMware, and then when Broadcom bought em, we hated em. Scharon Harding Jan 27, 2025 1:36 pm | 66 Credit: Sheldon Cooper/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Credit: Sheldon Cooper/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreBroadcom's ownership of VMware has discouraged many of its customers, as companies are displeased with how the trillion-dollar firm has run the virtualization business since buying it in November 2023. Many have discussed reducing or eliminating ties with the company.Now, over a year after the acquisition, the pressure is on for customers to start committing to a VMware subscription, forego VMware support, or move on from VMware technologies. The decision is complex, with long-term implications no matter which way a customer goes.Ars Technica spoke with an IT vendor manager who has been using VMware's vSphere since the early 2000s. The employee, who works for a global food manufacturing firm with about 5,500 employees, asked to keep their name and company anonymous due to privacy concerns for the business."We love it. ... It's hard for us to figure out how we can live without it, but we're going to," the IT manager said.The food manufacturer has about 300 VMware virtual machines (VMs), and every company application runs on top of VMware. Its five-year enterprise agreement with VMware expired in December, making the manufacturer ineligible for VMware support unless it buys a VMware subscription. The company started exploring virtualization alternatives this summer because costs associated with running vSphere are set to rise fourfold, according to the IT manager. As with other VMware customers, the price increases are largely due to Broadcom bundling unwanted VMware products together."They wouldn't sell us what we need," the IT manager said.While it looks for a new platform, the manufacturer is relying on support from Spinnaker, which started offering software maintenance support for VMware following Broadcoms acquisition. In an example of how widespread VMware support concerns are, Spinnakers VMware support business has had more leads than any of Spinnaker's other support businesses, including for Oracle or SAP, said Martin Biggs, Spinnakers VP and managing director of strategic initiatives and EMEA.Organizations contacting Spinnaker are reporting price increases of 36x on average, Biggs told Ars. The largest price rise Spinnaker has heard about is a reported twentyfold increase in costs, he said.Biggs said that Broadcom has started to discount some subscriptions, with price increases going from seven- or eightfold to three- or fourfold, or "sometimes a little bit less. This could pressure customers to commit to VMware while terms are more favorable than they might be in the future. Speaking to The Register this month, Gartner VP analyst Michael Warrilow said he feared Broadcom would raise VMware prices higher in the future.Heightening the potential consequences associated with staying with or leaving VMware, Warrilow emphasized that Broadcom prefers two- or three-year subscriptions, meaning customers may find themselves facing a more pricey VMware sooner than later.Everybody's asking what everybody else is doing, and everybody else is asking what everybody else is doing, so nobody's really doing anything, he said. The Register also recently reported that customers are being pressured into three-year long VMware subscriptions, citing an unnamed VMware customer that it spoke with and a discussion on Reddit. When reached for comment, Broadcom only referred The Register to a June blog post by Broadcom CEO Hock Tan about evolving VMware strategy.Losing supportSupport is a critical factor for numerous customers considering migrating from VMware, especially because VMware perpetual licenses are no longer being sold or supported by Broadcom. But there's also concern about support offered to clients with subscriptions.For the food manufacturer currently researching VMware rivals, a perceived lack of support under Broadcom was also a deterrent. The company's IT manager said that after Broadcom bought VMware, the manufacturer was no longer able to contact VMware directly for support and was told in July that it should direct problems to IT distributor Ingram Micro moving forward.The manager said this information was relayed to the customer after a support ticket it filed was automatically moved to Ingram, with Broadcom telling the firm it wasnt big enough to receive direct support. Ingram's response times were a week or longer, and in December, Ingram announced a severe reduction of its VMware business (VMware still works with other distributors, like Arrow).Support concerns from VMware resellers started before Ingrams announcement, though. An anonymous reseller, for example, told CRN that it had to wait a month on average for VMware quotes through a distributor, compared to two to three days pre-Broadcom. The Register, citing VMware customers, also reported that Ingram was having difficulties handling the increased responsibilities it assumed," citing VMware customers.Migration is burdensomeIn a January Gartner research note entitled "Estimating a Large-Scale VMware," Gartner analysts detailed the burdens expected for large-sized companies moving off of VMware. The note defined a large-scale migration as a concerted program of work covering the migration of a significant portion of virtualized workloads that would likely represent 2,000 or more" VMs, "and/or at least 100 hosts. That's a much larger migration than the food manufacturer's 300 VMs, but Gartner's analysis helps illustrate the magnitude of work associated with migrating.Gartner's note estimated that large-scale migrations, including scoping and technical evaluation, would take 18 to 48 months. The analysts noted that they expect a midsize enterprise would take at least two years to untangle much of its dependency upon VMwares server virtualization platform.The analysts also estimated migration to cost $300 to $3,000 per VM if the user employed a third-party service provider. Critically, the report adds:It is highly likely that other costs would be incurred in a large-scale migration. This includes acquisition of new software licenses and/or cloud expenses, hardware purchases (compute, storage), early termination costs related to the existing virtual environment, application testing/quality assurance, and test equipment.The heavy costsin terms of finances, time, and staffforce customers to face questions and hesitations around leaving VMware, despite many customers facing disruption from Broadcom-issued changes to the platform.When asked if theres anything Broadcom could do to win back the food manufacturers 300 VMs, its IT manager told Ars that if Broadcom offered a subscription to vSphere alone, the manufacturer would reconsider, even if subscription costs were twice as expensive as before.For the global food manufacturer, the biggest challenge in ditching VMware is internal, not technical. "We just don't have enough internal resources and timing," the manager said. "That's what I'm worried about. This is going to take a lot of time internally to go through this whole process, and we're shorthanded as it is. It's such a big, heavy lift for us, and we're also very risk averse, so swapping out that piece of technology in our infrastructure is risky."Stuck between a rock and a hard placeVMware users are now at a crossroads as they're forced to make crucial decisions for their IT infrastructure. Ditching or sticking with VMware both have long-lasting implications; migrations are onerous and pricey, but life under Broadcom will be expensive, with potential future bumps and twists.Broadcom has previously responded to Ars' and others' requests for comment around customer complaints with blog posts from Broadcom's Tan that emphasize commitment to VMware's strategic changes. But some will brave costly challenges to avoid those moves. Summarizing their take on Broadcom's changes, the food manufacturer's IT executive said, "We loved VMware. And then when Broadcom bought 'em, we hated 'em."Scharon HardingSenior Technology ReporterScharon HardingSenior Technology Reporter Scharon is a Senior Technology Reporter at Ars Technica writing news, reviews, and analysis on consumer gadgets and services. She's been reporting on technology for over 10 years, with bylines at Toms Hardware, Channelnomics, and CRN UK. 66 Comments

China's internet is in love with Liang Wenfeng after his firm, DeepSeek, sparked an AI uproar in the US.His burst of stardom has come largely off the back of a subsequent market rout in the US.Local media are now calling Liang a "genius," an "AI hero of Guangdong," and a "great god."As US tech stocks roiled on Monday from the hype about Chinese startup DeepSeek, the company's founder is being lauded as a hero back home.Hedge fund manager Liang Wenfeng, who started the artificial intelligence firm as a side project in 2023, went viral on Chinese social media on Tuesday largely because of the rout.DeepSeek's cost-effectiveness was already making waves in the tech industry over the last two weeks, but it was the latest market reaction that pushed Liang into internet stardom in China.DeepSeek's story is now that of a Chinese startup which says it spent $6 million building a large language model rival to ChatGPT shocking investors and AI scientists so much that US stocks like Nvidia lost a collective $1 trillion in on-paper value within a day.In a bout of national pride, viral threads on Weibo, China's version of X, regularly referenced Liang's hometown of Zhanjiang in Guangdong province."DeepSeek is a megahit: internet users buzz about three AI heroes of Guangdong," said one top thread with 18 million views, as of Tuesday morning Beijing time.Liang was listed as one of those "heroes," alongside Moonshot AI's founder, Yang Zhilin, and the AI scientist He Kaiming, who is an author of one of the most-cited papers on machine learning.Notably, China's social media is heavily moderated, making it difficult to determine the full scope of discussion on any given topic. However, that can also provide insight into the rhetoric and topics that are encouraged or permitted in its online spaces.Another major Weibo discussion, with more than 52 million views, anticipated Liang's return to his hometown for the Lunar New Year, which begins on Wednesday. The Yangcheng Evening News, a Guangdong-based regional newspaper, praised Liang as a "genius" and "great god with foreign fame.""Let us wish that he shall create more miracles," the paper wrote."The country must protect him! Seriously," wrote a popular Shanghai-based blogger with 2.2 million followers.Liang was also spotted among several advisors who gave suggestions to Chinese Premier Li Qiang at a symposium last week on Beijing's direction on AI.Having Li's ear could be significant, because the premier is the top official responsible for implementing Chinese leader Xi Jinping's executive decisions. Time Magazine, for example, described him as Xi's COO in its 100 Most Influential People list for 2024.But the DeepSeek founder's presence at the symposium gained attention online more because of Liang's age: The 40-year-old was filmed sitting among a panel of visibly older men."How the post-85 youth from Zhanjiang 'surprised' the world," one viral thread about him said. Generations are popularly referred to as "post-1990" or "post-1980" in China, as opposed to "millennial" or "Gen Z."Liang, who grew up in the 1980s in Guangdong, and his firm rocked the tech space earlier this month with the release of their flagship AI model, R1, which experts say is sophisticated enough to compete with ChatGPT.DeepSeek said it used only 2,000 Nvidia H800 chips to train R1, meaning it spent about $6 million a cost dwarfed by the billions invested into AI by US tech giants.As of press time, the DeepSeek app hit the number 1 spot on Apple's Top Free Apps chart.DeepSeek and Liang's quant hedge fund, High Flyer, did not respond to requests for comment sent by Business Insider.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's net worth fell by about $20 billion on Monday.Huang lost nearly 20% of his net worth after Chinese AI startup DeepSeek triggered a tech sell-off.DeepSeek is an "excellent AI advancement," Nvidia told Business Insider.Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang lost nearly 20% of his net worth after Chinese AI upstart DeepSeek sparked a sell-off in AI-related stocks on Monday.Huang's net worth fell from $121 billion to around $100 billion, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.Nvidia shares plunged by nearly 17% when markets closed on Monday, shedding nearly $600 billion in market value. The shares have since gone up by 1.51% in after-hour trading.Huang wasn't the only tech billionaire who saw his net worth decline. Oracle co-founder and CTO Larry Ellison lost $22.6 billion, or 12% of his net worth, per Bloomberg. The outlet said that the world's 500 richest people lost a combined $108 billion on Monday.When approached for comment, a spokesperson for Nvidia told Business Insider that DeepSeek is an "excellent AI advancement" and a "perfect example" of test-time scaling.Test-time scaling refers to techniques that can improve a model's performance by adjusting how it processes information, instead of retraining it on more data."DeepSeek's work illustrates how new models can be created using that technique, leveraging widely-available models and compute that is fully export control compliant," the spokesperson said, adding that the company's products would still be needed to run AI models."Inference requires significant numbers of Nvidia GPUs and high-performance networking," the spokesperson continued.DeepSeek spooked investors this week after its free chatbot app hit the top spot on Apple's US App Store's ranking on Monday. The startup's high-performing but relatively cheaper models have raised concerns that demand for AI hardware like Nvidia's chips may drop.On Monday, President Donald Trump told GOP lawmakers at their annual policy retreat that DeepSeek's cheaper models are both a "positive" and a "wake-up call" for American tech companies."That's good, because you don't have to spend as much money. I view that as a positive, as an asset," Trump said."The release of DeepSeek, AI from a Chinese company, should be a wake-up call for our industries that we need to be laser-focused on competing to win," he added.Last week, Trump announced Stargate, a new AI joint venture between OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle and Emirati investor, MGX. Trump said Stargate will invest up to $500 billion on AI infrastructure over the next four years.

There were rumors floating around last week that The Expansethe outstanding adaptation of the James S.A. Corey sci-fi book serieswould be fleeing Prime Video, the platform that saved the show from an early cancellation back in 2018, like a rogue ship through a Ring gate across alien worlds. io9 was unable to corroborate those rumors at the time, but now it seems the news is true or at least, half-true. It is apparently confirmed that the first three seasons of The Expanse will be leaving Prime Video in 11 days. If you have a Prime Video subscription, you can see for yourself; this message appears on the season one and season three screens (although not the season two screen for some reason). Screenshot: Prime Video Nerdist tweeted out a PSA that seasons 1-3 are departing the streamer February 7. io9 has further reached out to Prime Video for clarification or comment, and will update if theres a response. The Expanse concluded in 2022 after a truncated sixth season; seasons 4-6 do not have that ominous message attached to their Prime Video landing pages. That makes a certain amount of sense because, as mentioned above, seasons 1-3 aired on the Syfy Channel before the show was cancelledthen revived by Prime Video with the same cast and production company. Perhaps theres a behind-the-scenes deal in place to keep the Prime Video-released seasons available to watch, even if rights issues mean the first three are going away. If youre an Expanse fan whos not sworn off physical media, you can still pick up all the seasons on Blu-ray, with a complete set released in late 2023. If you have sworn of physical media but you cant stand the thought of not having the early days of the protomolecule intrigue at your fingertips, might be time to reconsider. Remember the Cant! Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Li Eaves, a Flower and Plants Shop / Raw Architecure StudioSave this picture! Bo ZhouRetail InteriorsNanjing, ChinaArchitects: Raw Architecure StudioAreaArea of this architecture projectArea:10 mYearCompletion year of this architecture project Year: 2024 PhotographsPhotographs:Bo Zhou, Raw Architecure Studio Lead Architects: Wu Shufan, Li Yawei More SpecsLess SpecsSave this picture!Li Eaves: The ancients built a pavilion shaped like a bamboo hat on a rural road every ten miles that shelter pedestrians from wind and rain, and shade from cold and hot. So "Li" reminds people of its function of providing shelter from rain and sun. Eave is the main architectural construction style for this design. "Li Eaves" was named by our friend Zhou Bo for this project. We have been invited by our friend Yuan Hua who has newly taken over a Flower and plant shop. The storefront left by the previous owner already possesses a certain visual quality. The main demand for a new storefront is to provide shade for the flowers and plants placed outside, protecting them from the intense direct sunlight in summer. At the same time, it is also hoped that a small corner for rest can be created under the enclosure wall next to the shop.Save this picture!Save this picture!The shop is located in Ji'e Lane on the south side of Zhujiang road, the central area of Nanjing's main city. Ji'e Lane is a traditional street space in Nanjing, with shops lining the ground floor of residential buildings on both sides. In recent years, with the popularity of trendy shops, the stores at both ends near Hongmiao and Taiping North road have been constantly upgraded and renovated. While, the shops in the middle of the lane are mostly hardware stores, and groceries, which are of low quality and outdated in terms of business. However, they are mostly run by the house owners who are very familiar with each other. The lane is filled with a relaxed and vivid daily life ambiance. Reading City is a part of our team's daily work. Also, we do some design practices in small-scale urban renewal. In this case, we attempt to renew the storefront within 3 days in a DIY way, which would be an interesting renovating construction practice.Save this picture!Save this picture!Directly facing the Present (about the Choice of Construction Form) - The residential building where "Li Eaves" belongs was built in the 1980s and 1990s, with the typical appearance of that erasimple and unremarkable in design. It also has traces of residents' additions, repairs, and government renovations in different periods, presenting a visual state of randomness and disorder. The most direct response to the construction is to avoid touching the original building too much. Meanwhile, in terms of visual presentation, we aim to create a warm ambiance with a certain affinity and crafted look to respond to the spatial scale and visual density of the traditional lane environment.Save this picture!Save this picture!The concept of the form originates from its functional requirements: overhanging and shading. The flower and plants shop was originally built using the enclosing wall and the courtyard of the residence building. Its roof and facade do not have the structural capacity to support direct attachment. The direct response to the current situation is to take root from the bottom of the second-floor balcony of the main building over the existing signboard. After the overhanging part is completed on the top of the signboard, the shading elements naturally adopt a way of downward hanging. Thus, the form logic of "Li Eaves" is generated.Save this picture!Save this picture!Industrial Materials and Handcrafting - To achieve the goal of rapid and independent assembly, we chose a timber structure system that is easy to manually build. All structural timber components have the same cross-section, which is commonly available in the market. The components are pre-cut by the manufacturer according to the drawings and assembled on-site using bolt connections.Save this picture!The production of the sunshade panels also benefits from industrial manufactures. Each sunshade panel consists of a main and a secondary frame, with the secondary frame wrapped in bamboo weaving fabric and then fixed to the main frame. The main and secondary frames are custom-made at an oil painting frame manufacturer, with accurate size and shape, and reliable joints, which effectively reduces the difficulty of on-site assembly, saves time, and keeps the cost under control.Save this picture!Joints Density and Visual Perception - The warm texture conveyed by the wood complements the natural ambiance of the flower and plant shop. We chose small cross-section short components to increase the number of joints, hoping that pedestrians can fully perceive the texture and granularity of the components at a close distance. Enhancing visual retention helps to convey a warm and relaxed ambiance more vividly. The overlapping timber beams stick out layer by layer for the end joints of the cantilever beams, which are reminiscent of the unique charm of traditional Chinese wooden structures. After the completion of "Li eaves", it gained the favor of the neighboring residents, attracting many passersby to stop and take photos. To some extent, the new construction adds vitality and improves the original environmental quality of the lane.Save this picture!This is a spontaneous attempt at street interface renewal, and it is also a positive environmental renovation of urban micro-public spaces. At the same time, we also hope that through the method of using industrial materials and handcrafted production, we can provide a certain professional demonstration for some self-renewal construction activities.Save this picture!Project gallerySee allShow lessAbout this officePublished on January 28, 2025Cite: "Li Eaves, a Flower and Plants Shop / Raw Architecure Studio" 28 Jan 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1026095/li-eaves-a-flower-and-plants-shop-raw-architecure-studio&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save? / You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream

Few natural sights are revered as much as the aurora borealis, and scientists at NASA are hoping that two new rocket missions will help illuminate the processes that lead to such a magnificent light display. The two missions, with launch windows that opened January 21, 2025, are aiming for the Alaskan night sky, where auroras shine regularly during the winter.Auroras are byproducts of the interaction between solar wind and the Earths magnetosphere, containing its magnetic field. Following a solar flare or a coronal mass ejection, plasma from the Sun is propelled through space. When this burst of energy reaches the Earths magnetic field, electrons start colliding with gasses like oxygen and nitrogen, causing them to give off a vibrant glow that generates auroras. With the new missions, NASA scientists want to know exactly why these collisions happen in the first place. The missions are part of NASAs Sounding Rockets program, which launches small rockets containing scientific instruments into space. These rockets usually spend a brief period of time in space (5 to 20 minutes) and travel at lower speeds, making them suitable for some experiments that satellites can't conduct.The Role of Electron AccelerationOne mission, codenamed GIRAFF (Ground Imaging to Rocket investigation of Auroral Fast Features), will send two rockets. Each one will fly into a different type of aurora: one is intended for fast-pulsating auroras, which flash on and off a few times a second, and the other for flickering auroras, which flash up to 15 times a second.The variation between fast-pulsating and flickering auroras may lie in the different ways electrons accelerate. To better understand this concept, both rockets will measure key factors in the electron acceleration process, including the energy, quantity, and relative arrival times of electron populations that form the auroras.Pursuing Black AurorasThe other mission, Black and Diffuse Aurora Science Surveyor, will study black auroras, also known as anti-auroras. These contradictory-sounding phenomena appear to lack light in certain regions, leaving gaps of dark space in an otherwise colorful aurora.The European Space Agencys Cluster mission, featuring four satellites examining the Earths magnetosphere, has previously observed black auroras. Astronomers believe their creation involves a process that deviates from the normal trajectory taken by electrons that arrive from solar storms; rather than proceed further into the Earths ionosphere (the ionized upper atmosphere where charged particles reside), the electrons likely reverse direction and slip back into space.The rocket for this mission will head for black aurora regions to survey electron populations, which researchers hope will provide insight on the reason behind the reversal of electrons.A Busy Year For AurorasThe aurora borealis moves in a somewhat unpredictable manner, making it tricky to target them precisely. To prepare, NASA researchers will track the auroras with ground-based cameras, looking to determine the right path that the rockets should take. They plan to aim the rockets not at the exact location of the auroras, but where they predict the auroras could appear. These missions come at a time when the sun is very active, leading to higher frequency and intensity of solar storms. Last year, the Sun reached its solar maximum as its magnetic field flipped, representing the peak of activity during its 11-year solar cycle. The effects of the solar maximum will continue to be visible here on Earth for much of 2025, explaining why this year's auroras are expected to put on a strong show.Read More: The Dazzling Sun of 2024Article SourcesOur writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:Center for Science Education. Auroras: The Northern and Southern Lights NASA. Sounding RocketsThe European Space Agency. Black Auroras Jack Knudson is an assistant editor at Discover with a strong interest in environmental science and history. Before joining Discover in 2023, he studied journalism at the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University and previously interned at Recycling Today magazine.

https://preview.redd.it/ns2fcjzfbnfe1.jpg?width=3413&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ceb89e54afc8dc212746209ed5dfdbd1b32e0483 see the release announcement on YouTube: ==> https://youtu.be/3SweaEBlPn4 submitted by /u/NodeSpaghetti [link] [comments]

Joakim Stigsson, Lead Environment Artist at Embark Studios, shared a new stunning interior project, Mountain Lodge, which was created with Unreal Engine 5, Blender, and Substance 3D.The modular scene features more than 100 assets with game production quality. According to the artist, the project is an update of one of his previous environments made with CryEngine, recreated with the most recent version of Unreal Engine using its latest features. The scene is set up with dynamic lighting using Lumen, which allows one to adjust light, switch between day and night, change the sunlight angle, and more.Check out the breakdown and take a look at the scenes assets:Before, the artist shared another spectacular environment, Desert Gas Station, and provided a breakdown of its creation in our interview:Other Joakim Stigssons projects include the Middle Eastern Courtyard project, the contribution to the creation of The Last of Us II environments as an Environment Texture Artist at Naughty Dog, and more:Get the Mountain Lodge scene here and visit the creators ArtStation page. Also, dont forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our new Discord server, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, TikTok, and Threads, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.Source link The post Check Out This Light & Spacious Interior Made with UE5 appeared first on CG SHARES.