spaceboy

EducationGuardian.co.uk | Higher | Antarctic craters reveal asteroid strike: "Scientists using satellites have mapped huge craters under the Antarctic ice sheet caused by an asteroid as big as the one believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs 65m years ago.

Professor Frans van der Hoeven, from Delft University in the Netherlands, told the conference that the evidence showed that an asteroid measuring between three and seven miles across had broken up in the atmosphere and five large pieces had hit the Earth, creating multiple craters over an area measuring 1,300 by 2,400 miles.

The effect would have been to melt all the ice in the path of the pieces, as well as the crust underneath. The biggest single strike caused a hole in the ice sheet roughly 200 by 200 miles, which would have melted about 1% of the ice sheet, raising water levels worldwide by 60cm (2ft).

But the climatic conditions were different at the time of the strike - about 780,000 years ago - from when the asteroid that is believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs struck Yucatan in Mexico.

That impact created dust storms and fires that, by blocking out the sun, cooled the Earth's atmosphere so much that the dinosaurs could not survive. The Antarctica strike occurred during an ice age, so even tidal waves would have been weakened to mere ripples by the calming effect of icebergs on the ocean."

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Big shuttle repairs not possible: "Space shuttle astronauts will fly next year without the ability to repair in orbit the type of damage that destroyed the Columbia vehicle in February 2003.

Flying foam debris on launch punched a 15-25cm opening in the shuttle's left wing, resulting in catastrophic heating of the airframe on its return to Earth.

The US space agency says no method of repair tested so far could withstand the 1,600C temperature of re-entry.

Nasa's answer to the problem is to stop debris damage occurring at lift-off.

To that end, the space shuttle fuel tanks have been redesigned. The agency believes they should no longer shed chunks of insulating foam of the size that fatally damaged Columbia."

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Bananas could power Aussie homes: "Australian engineers have created an electricity generator fuelled by decomposing bananas, and hope to build a full size fruit-fired power station.

At present, much of Australia's annual banana crop goes to waste, because the fruit are too bruised or small.

But rather than just letting them rot, the researchers would like to put the rejects to good commercial use.

If all goes according to plan, a banana-fuelled power plant capable of powering 500 homes could be built."

Duke's Vomit Comet Crew: "Through the NASA Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program (RGSFOP), four juniors from Duke University: John Fang, Isaac Chan, Dan Choi, and Gary Sing, have the chance to design and perform a study on the effects of microgravity (nearly zero-g) on a subject of their own choosing aboard the KC-135A, a.k.a. NASA's "Vomit Comet." This blog will provide information about their experiments and document their adventure."

MarsBlog

Guardian Unlimited | Today's issues | Y-fronts: "Even spacemen have issues with dirty underwear. There are no washing machines in space so Nasa has deliberated over what its astronauts should do with the offending garments. It's a question of feeding them to bacteria, growing plants with them, sending them into orbit or simply reusing them."

Guardian Unlimited Shopping | Motoring | Future of motoring is dolphin-shaped: "Its designers say the hydrogen-powered car, whose only emission is water and which is said to be capable of circling the globe using less power than your average lightbulb, heralds a new age of clean, quiet motoring. In 15-20 years, hydrogen powered vehicles could be commonplace on the roads, they say.

But only the diminutive will be able to drive the dolphin-shaped BOC Gh2ost at present - at 40kg, it weighs less than the interior fittings of a standard family saloon.

The car is expected to need the equivalent of just two gallons of petrol to navigate the globe using 25 watts of power."

Guardian Unlimited | Life | Space travel goes sailing: "US and Russian scientists are planning the ultimate in fuel-economy travel: they hope to launch a space sailing ship driven only by the pressure of sunlight later this year."

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | 09/08/04 Interactive. Messenger space probe to Mercury

Scotsman.com News - Sci-Tech - Stormy solution to rain crisis: "WITH water increasingly scarce in its parched and heavily populated north-eastern plain, China has become the world’s leading rainmaker, using aircraft, rockets and even anti-aircraft guns to seed the clouds for precious moisture. The hunt has become so intense that rival regions sometimes compete for clouds sailing across the sky.

Now, in 23 of the country’s 34 provinces, the provincial, county and municipal governments have set up what they call weather modification bureaus assigned to bombard the heavens regularly with chemicals in the hope of squeezing out more rainfall for China’s 1.3 billion residents.

The heavy cloud seeding is a dramatic example of China’s increasing difficulty in finding enough natural resources as its economy expands rapidly and its huge population consumes more goods.
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BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Solar System could be 'unique': "In the past 10 years, over 100 extrasolar systems (planetary systems orbiting stars other than the Sun) have been discovered from the wobble in their host stars, caused by the motion of the planets themselves.

But none of them seem to resemble our Solar System very much. In fact, these exoplanets have several important attributes that are entirely at odds with the Solar System as we know it.

Lead researcher Dr Martin Beer of the University of Leicester's theoretical astrophysics group, pointed out that much of the modelling done on the formation of planetary systems is based on our own one.

'But existing data suggests that the planets in the Solar System are truly different from other planets,' he told BBC News Online.

If this is the case, Beer and his colleagues argue in their research paper, it is unreasonable to base our understanding of all planetary systems on the one around the Sun.

They go on to speculate that if the Solar System is unique, then the search for Earth-like planets around other stars may be in vain."

Wired News: Probe Set to Test Einstein Theory: "NASA's Gravity Probe B spacecraft could begin testing Einstein's general theory of relativity as early as this week, according to mission controllers at Stanford University.


The probe, said to be one of the most precise scientific instruments ever assembled, was initially scheduled to begin taking measurements within 45 to 60 days of its April 20 launch into Earth orbit. But mission controllers were forced to delay operations time and again after discovering minor malfunctions in the spacecraft's microthrusters and observing unexpected behavior from its four gyroscopes."

Wired News: Da Vinci Gambles on X Prize: "It's a new frontier for Canada -- and for the online gaming industry.

Toronto's da Vinci Project on Thursday unveiled its Ansari X Prize craft, called Wild Fire, and announced that it will try to capture the $10 million cash jackpot with flights in October.

Da Vinci project leader and Wild Fire pilot Brian Feeney said the first launch is slated from an airport in Kindersley, Saskatchewan, early the morning of Oct. 2. It will be Canada's first manned space launch.

The launch -- made possible by a cash infusion from a last-minute backer, the GoldenPalace.com online casino -- will take place just three days after a Southern California team led by aerospace pioneer Burt Rutan makes its first prize launch."

news@nature.com - Could astronauts sleep their way to the stars?: "The state of suspended animation that astronauts enter during long-haul space flights is a staple of science-fiction movies. But now the European Space Agency (ESA) wants to turn it into reality.

Agency staff are planning future research into the possibility of inducing a hibernation-like state in humans. 'We are not sure whether it is possible,' says Marco Biggiogera, an expert on hibernation mechanisms at the University of Pavia, Italy, who is advising ESA. 'But it's not crazy.'

ESA believes hibernation would help astronauts to cope with the psychological demands of decades-long return journeys to destinations such as Saturn. And because less space and food would be needed on such missions, the spacecraft would be lighter and easier to launch.
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DiverseWorks ||| Programs : "Daniel Adame: Voyage Mars

Thursday, Friday and Saturday, March 3, 4 and 5, 2005 @ 8 PM
DiverseWorks Theater

A multi-media performance that investigates Mars as a conceptual starting point to explore cultural/social issues including: war, power, masculinity, space travel, red, and destination. Adame's highly energetic choreography and movement and unique collaboration with computer animation and sculptures provides an impressive launching pad for Voyage Mars. Adame's work Wormwood was a highlight of last season's Monday Night FootFall."

Electric cars that pay | csmonitor.com: "So, you're thinking of buying one of those gas-electric hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius or Honda Insight. They're trendy, conserve fuel, and reduce pollution. But to really go 'green,' some entrepreneurs and academics say, you should try a Volkswagen Jetta.

Not just any Jetta. A dark blue one that a California electric-car company has modified so that it not only uses electricity but generates it for other purposes. So, once it's parked, you plug it in and sell excess electricity to a utility."

remembering rebecca :: july 2004"'There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than is dreamt of in your philosophy.'

A recent study funded by NASA's Earth Science Department shows that the tiny sea plants release high quantities of cloud-forming compounds on days when the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays are especially strong. The compounds evaporate into the air through a series of chemical processes that result in especially reflective clouds. This, in turn, blocks the radiation from bothering the phytoplankton."

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Nasa launches Mercury mission: "Nasa this morning launched the first mission to Mercury for 30 years in an attempt to solve some of the mysteries of the closest planet to the sun.

The Messenger probe set off on a 5bn mile, six and a half year journey at 2.16am (0716BST) from Florida's Cape Canaveral air force station.

Liftoff came a day later than had been planned because of clouds from a tropical storm. 'A voyage of mythological proportions,' a flight controller announced as soon as Messenger had shed its final rocket stage."