Short Takes – 8-9-24

Logistics: Russian Army Transport Disaster. StrategyPage.com article. Interesting look at anti-truck warfare. Pull quote: “Since 2022 Ukraine has continued its war on Russian truck transport. Recently long-range Ukrainian UAV attacks into Russia hit three Russian truck manufacturing plants. Without trucks Russian forces cannot move, and if enough trucks are destroyed, Russian troops can’t survive in Ukraine and must withdraw.”

Ship Brings Rocky Clues to Life’s Origins Up From Ocean’s ‘Lost City’. NYTimes.com article. Pull quote: “Its [Lost City] discovery, however, marked the scientific debut of a new class of deep spring very different from those previously studied, in which rock chimneys spew extraordinarily hot water black with minerals, nicknamed black smokers. In contrast, Lost City was located not atop the Mid-Atlantic rift but off to one side, its fluids cooler and spires taller.”

Powering Enzymes with Light to Make Ammonia. NewsWise.com article. Pull quote: “This biohybrid approach uses sunlight to drive the energy-demanding conversion reactions that can mitigate the co-production of greenhouse gases. The standard approach to making ammonia is the Haber-Bosch process. This process produces about 150 million metric tons (MmT) of ammonia per year but requires large amounts of energy and also produces about 280 MmT of carbon dioxide (CO2). The new process uses sunlight to catalyze NH3 production without generating CO2. It is also an attractive way to produce NH3 fertilizers close to where they will be used, minimizing CO2 emissions from shipping to farms. Making this process a reality requires understanding how to couple sunlight to drive the reaction.”

US Space Force will make history when SpaceX's Crew-9 mission launches in September. Space.com article. Fluff piece. Pull quote: “It will be only the second time astronauts have launched from a Space Force installation, and the first time the service sends an active Guardian to space from any facility. It will also be the first-ever crewed launch from SLC 40, and the first SpaceX mission to splash down in the Pacific Ocean when it concludes.”