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the risk of concussion has been a hot-button issue,

Sensors within helmets can catch what human eyes often miss, alerting people on the sidelines that a player may need to be taken out of play and screened for a concussion

Jake Merrell, a graduate student in mechanical engineering at Brigham Young University

created a smart foam that works within football helmets to measure how hard a player just got hit

Motion sensors transmit data wirelessly to a tablet or computer when the foam in the helmet is compressed by the player's head, measuring the force and acceleration of the impact.

The helmet manufacturer Riddell debuted a similar concussion-alert product this year, called the InSite Impact Response System

is being used by some high school teams in the 2013 season.

Sensors inside the player's helmet lining measure the severity of a head impact and send an alert to the sidelines if a player has sustained a potentially concussion-inducing hit

the system only works in Riddell's Revolution Speed helmet so far.

"A coach will know within seconds exactly how hard their player just got hit

l plans to submit his project to the Head Health Challenge sponsored by GE and the NFL.

expensive communications and weather satellites that ring around us in geosynchronous orbit

no possibility of an Earth impact

altitude of 27,700 kilometers (17,200 miles). That is some 8000 km (5000 miles) inside the ring of geosynchronous satellites

if an asteroid the size of 2012 DA14 fell to Earth, the impact effect would be similar to the 1908 Tunguska event in Siberia

the K-T event that caused the mass extinction of the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago was caused by an asteroid about 10 km (6 mi) in diameter

no danger to the ISS crew and apparently they won’t have any chance to observe it.

ISS is not positioned right for observations

“No NASA space-based assets will be making measurements

asteroid is moving to fast

radar astronomers do plan to take images around eight hours after the flyby using the Goldstone antenna in California’s Mojave Desert

2012 DA 14

atmosphere above 12 miles, or 63,000 feet (19,200 meters)

is so thin that, if not protected, human blood will literally boil

, Baumgartner's airtight suit and the capsule around him will be continuously pressurized to create a personal atmosphere that isolates him from the void surrounding him

The smallest crack in this protective layer would cause almost immediate death

It is assumed this is what occurred on previous attempts to break Kittinger's record. Russian Pyotr Dolgov (1962) and American Nick Piantanida (1966) both died, most likely due to depressurization at extreme altitude

Baumgartner's balloon will be stressed by the cold, constructed as it is from plastic film just 0.0008 inch (0.02 millimeter) thick, to optimize weight-to-lift ratio

his balloon and capsule will pass through an atmospheric layer called the tropopause

Wind Could Blow Baumgartner off Course

Baumgartner Could Spin Uncontrollably, Even Fatally

flat-spin risk can be mediated with a technology first developed for Kittinger: a stabilization parachute to prevent further increase in rotation, deployed on command, or automatically if -3.5 G's are achieved.

Baumgartner has his eyes on a new speed record

won't open automatically

he will assume a rigid aerodynamic body position for the entire free fall—head first, arms at sides—and hope for the best.

Sonic Boom Could Do Unknown Damage

If Baumgartner becomes the first human to achieve supersonic speed with just his body—and without breaking his body—he will break new scientific ground.

Armstrong was tempted by the idea of trying to set down just shy of those boulders, which he knew would be of great interest to scientists on Earth. But they were going too fast; there were just too many rocks. Armstrong took over from the computer, steering Eagle over the giant crater and the boulder field, and flew onward, hunting for safer ground

it was crucial to land without any sideways motion, lest they risk tipping over at touchdown

The blast of the descent rocket was kicking up moon dust

Armstrong fixed his gaze on rocks sticking up through the blowing dust; using them as reference points

guided Eagle slowly downward, about as fast as an elevator