5.24.2004
Scientist defends mission to Mars
EducationGuardian.co.uk | Higher | Scientist defends mission to Mars: "The head of the ill-fated Beagle 2 mission to Mars today defended the project as an inquiry for British and European space agencies revealed its findings.
Speaking ahead of a press conference at the Department of Trade and Industry, the mission's chief scientist, Professor Colin Pillinger, said the project had not been run 'on a shoestring' and defended the team behind it."
Speaking ahead of a press conference at the Department of Trade and Industry, the mission's chief scientist, Professor Colin Pillinger, said the project had not been run 'on a shoestring' and defended the team behind it."
5.23.2004
NM and X Prize create X Prize Cup
ANSARI X PRIZE: "The X PRIZE Foundation (XPF) and the New Mexico Office of Space Commercialization (NMOSC) have joined together to continue the quest for a future in which the general public will personally participate in space travel and share in its benefits. The first step is the ANSARI X PRIZE competition that challenges teams from around the world to be the first private commercial venture to take civilian tourists to sub-orbital space and bring them back safely at least twice within a two-week time period. The next step is the X PRIZE Cup, a multi-faceted event that will take place at the Southwest Regional Spaceport during the same timeframe each year. All of the teams with their privately developed vehicles from the ANSARI X PRIZE competition are invited to participate for cash prizes in a competitive series of races, culminating in a single X PRIZE Cup winner.
A Public Spaceflight Exposition will be held in conjunction with the races to provide exciting, entertaining and educational experiences that will engage and capture the interest and imagination of the general public. The Spaceflight Exposition will provide realistic space experiences and a direct educational outreach to the public and further the development of a space tourism market.
The X PRIZE Cup and Public Spaceflight Exposition is expected to become the largest space-oriented event on Earth, attracting hundreds of thousands of people from around the world to follow their teams. It will become the event of the 21st century where people can become a part of creating and opening the space frontier..."
A Public Spaceflight Exposition will be held in conjunction with the races to provide exciting, entertaining and educational experiences that will engage and capture the interest and imagination of the general public. The Spaceflight Exposition will provide realistic space experiences and a direct educational outreach to the public and further the development of a space tourism market.
The X PRIZE Cup and Public Spaceflight Exposition is expected to become the largest space-oriented event on Earth, attracting hundreds of thousands of people from around the world to follow their teams. It will become the event of the 21st century where people can become a part of creating and opening the space frontier..."
Data From Recent Test Flight of Private Spacecraft Released
NightSky Friday - Satellite Spotting: See Dramatic Iridium Flares Now
NightSky Friday - Satellite Spotting: See Dramatic Iridium Flares Now: "What Allen fortuitously saw was an 'Iridium flare,' caused by one in a new fleet of satellites that have been put into Earth orbit over the past several years; satellites that can briefly appear to flare to incredible brilliance.
And you can spot them, too, especially if you take the time to find out when they're likely to occur."
And you can spot them, too, especially if you take the time to find out when they're likely to occur."
5.17.2004
a transit of Venus
The New York Times > Science > Space & Cosmos > Venus Returns for Its Shining Hour: "On June 8, people in the right places on Earth will be able to see Venus move across the face of the Sun in a kind of minieclipse that is visible twice every century or so. The last such occurrence, called a transit of Venus, was in 1882. It inspired an international effort to use the event to answer one of the most pressing scientific questions of the day: What is the exact distance between the Sun and Earth?"
5.15.2004
New Scientist
New Scientist: "Hollywood now has one less disaster scenario to worry about. The Earth, it seems, will be safe when its magnetic field falters during the next reversal of its magnetic poles.
A new model of the way the Earth interacts with the solar wind indicates that a replacement field will form in the upper atmosphere during the switch.
Scientists had previously thought that the planet would be left without a protective shield to stop lethal radiation from space reaching the surface.
The strength of the Earth's magnetic field is known to drop during 'magnetic reversals', when the north and south poles swap places. Records of the field direction, frozen into sediments laid down on the seabed, show that the magnetic field has reversed hundreds of times in the past 400 million years.
In normal circumstances, the magnetic field protects the Earth's surface from dangerous high-energy particles, including particles from the sun and cosmic rays from deep space.
But as the field switches polarity, it can drop to below 10 per cent of its normal strength for thousands of years. Such a weakened field would allow lethal radiation to reach the Earth's surface, with potentially disastrous consequences for the atmosphere, the climate and particularly for life."
A new model of the way the Earth interacts with the solar wind indicates that a replacement field will form in the upper atmosphere during the switch.
Scientists had previously thought that the planet would be left without a protective shield to stop lethal radiation from space reaching the surface.
The strength of the Earth's magnetic field is known to drop during 'magnetic reversals', when the north and south poles swap places. Records of the field direction, frozen into sediments laid down on the seabed, show that the magnetic field has reversed hundreds of times in the past 400 million years.
In normal circumstances, the magnetic field protects the Earth's surface from dangerous high-energy particles, including particles from the sun and cosmic rays from deep space.
But as the field switches polarity, it can drop to below 10 per cent of its normal strength for thousands of years. Such a weakened field would allow lethal radiation to reach the Earth's surface, with potentially disastrous consequences for the atmosphere, the climate and particularly for life."
CNN.com - Remote medicine on frontier of space - May 10, 2004
CNN.com - Remote medicine on frontier of space - May 10, 2004: "Technology developed for the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo moon programs called telemetry, or long-distance monitoring of vital signs, ended up saving lives in intensive care units. The instruments use computers and body sensors to monitor heart rate, respiration and brain activity.
They became common in hospitals across the nation during the 1970s. Those advances helped send intensive care mortality rates plummeting from about 40 percent in the 1960s to only 7 percent a decade later, Snyder said.
The applications on Earth are already beginning.
Researchers recently installed one of the devices in the locker room of the Detroit Red Wings hockey team. The technology also has been used by the U.S. armed forces to diagnose casualties on the front lines of in Iraq.
Dr. Scott Dulchavsky, chairman of surgery at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, and principal investigator for the NASA initiative, said the experiments can give insights into how the equipment is used in an emergency -- whether it's a Mars mission or a hockey game."
They became common in hospitals across the nation during the 1970s. Those advances helped send intensive care mortality rates plummeting from about 40 percent in the 1960s to only 7 percent a decade later, Snyder said.
The applications on Earth are already beginning.
Researchers recently installed one of the devices in the locker room of the Detroit Red Wings hockey team. The technology also has been used by the U.S. armed forces to diagnose casualties on the front lines of in Iraq.
Dr. Scott Dulchavsky, chairman of surgery at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, and principal investigator for the NASA initiative, said the experiments can give insights into how the equipment is used in an emergency -- whether it's a Mars mission or a hockey game."
CNN.com - Private spaceship sets altitude record - May 13, 2004
CNN.com - Private spaceship sets altitude record - May 13, 2004: "Aircraft designer Burt Rutan and his firm Scaled Composites took a giant leap early Thursday toward becoming the first private company to send a person into space.
Scaled Composites, funded by Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Paul Allen, set a new civilian altitude record of 40 miles in a craft called SpaceShipOne during a test flight above California's Mojave Desert...
"...The Rutan-designed White Knight aircraft, with SpaceShipOne attached to its belly, rolled down the Mojave Airport runway at 7:41 a.m. PT Thursday.
The strangely shaped White Knight carried SpaceShipOne to 50,000 feet. Then 50 minutes after takeoff, the spacecraft separated from White Knight and rocketed into the stratosphere.
'There was tremendous acceleration. We went very, very fast, and I went straight up' for two minutes, said 62-year-old pilot Mike Melvill, who floated weightlessly as he leveled out at 212,000 feet.
When SpaceShipOne glided back to Mojave Airport and rolled to a stop, Melvill was greeted by about 75 people, mostly employees of Scaled Composites and their families.
Shortly after his flight, a very excited Melvill told CNN that seeing the sky go from blue to black was the thrill of his life.
'I feel great, it was fabulous. I would pay a million dollars to do that again,' he said..."
Scaled Composites, funded by Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Paul Allen, set a new civilian altitude record of 40 miles in a craft called SpaceShipOne during a test flight above California's Mojave Desert...
"...The Rutan-designed White Knight aircraft, with SpaceShipOne attached to its belly, rolled down the Mojave Airport runway at 7:41 a.m. PT Thursday.
The strangely shaped White Knight carried SpaceShipOne to 50,000 feet. Then 50 minutes after takeoff, the spacecraft separated from White Knight and rocketed into the stratosphere.
'There was tremendous acceleration. We went very, very fast, and I went straight up' for two minutes, said 62-year-old pilot Mike Melvill, who floated weightlessly as he leveled out at 212,000 feet.
When SpaceShipOne glided back to Mojave Airport and rolled to a stop, Melvill was greeted by about 75 people, mostly employees of Scaled Composites and their families.
Shortly after his flight, a very excited Melvill told CNN that seeing the sky go from blue to black was the thrill of his life.
'I feel great, it was fabulous. I would pay a million dollars to do that again,' he said..."
Wired News: Space Tug Could Save Hubble
Wired News: Space Tug Could Save Hubble: "A new line of robotic spacecraft designed to tug wayward communications satellites back into their proper orbits could extend the life of the Hubble Space Telescope, according to the CTO of British aerospace firm Orbital Recovery.
Set to launch in 2007, Orbital Recovery's first ConeXpress Orbital Life Extension Vehicle, or CX OLEV, will be equipped with a pole that can attach to a nozzle found on the motors of many commercial satellites. Once attached, the CX OLEV can use its engines to raise or lower a satellite to an operable orbit. The two spacecraft can then remain connected as needed for up to 10 years."
Set to launch in 2007, Orbital Recovery's first ConeXpress Orbital Life Extension Vehicle, or CX OLEV, will be equipped with a pole that can attach to a nozzle found on the motors of many commercial satellites. Once attached, the CX OLEV can use its engines to raise or lower a satellite to an operable orbit. The two spacecraft can then remain connected as needed for up to 10 years."
5.10.2004
A Dim Speck in Space With a Fantastic View
The New York Times > Science > Space & Cosmos > A Dim Speck in Space With a Fantastic View: "een from Earth, Sedna, the recently discovered farthest known object in the solar system, is a dim speck. But what's the view from Sedna?
NASA released an artist's painting answering this question. The Sun, eight billion miles away, is still the brightest object in Sedna's daytime sky. Venus, Earth and Mars are too faint to be seen with the naked eye, but a Sedna citizen (one with human-quality eyesight) could spy them with binoculars."
NASA released an artist's painting answering this question. The Sun, eight billion miles away, is still the brightest object in Sedna's daytime sky. Venus, Earth and Mars are too faint to be seen with the naked eye, but a Sedna citizen (one with human-quality eyesight) could spy them with binoculars."
5.09.2004
New Crater Beckons Mars Rover
The New York Times > Science > New Crater Beckons Mars Rover: "erched on the edge of a 430-foot-wide crater, the Mars rover Opportunity has spied a new treasure trove of rocks that promise to tell a richer, deeper story of the planet's geological past.
At a news conference yesterday at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., Dr. Steven W. Squyres, the mission's principal investigator, called a high-resolution color panorama 'surely the most spectacular image yet from this mission.'
The photograph of the crater, named Endurance after Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton's ship in the 1914 expedition to Antarctica, is spectacular not just for 'sheer scenic grandeur,' Dr. Squyres said, but 'also for the scientific potential that it offers.'"
At a news conference yesterday at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., Dr. Steven W. Squyres, the mission's principal investigator, called a high-resolution color panorama 'surely the most spectacular image yet from this mission.'
The photograph of the crater, named Endurance after Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton's ship in the 1914 expedition to Antarctica, is spectacular not just for 'sheer scenic grandeur,' Dr. Squyres said, but 'also for the scientific potential that it offers.'"
