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Mars Base

Potentially habitable Earth-like planet discovered; May have similar temperatures to ou... - 0 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...140630133425.htm

scibyte135 exoplanet

shared by Mars Base on 01 Jul 14 - No Cached
  • A potentially habitable Earth-like planet that is only 16 light years away has been discovered
  • The "super-Earth" planet, GJ 832 c, takes 16 days to orbit its red-dwarf star
  • has a mass at least five times that of Earth.
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • It receives about the same average stellar energy as Earth does and may have similar temperatures to our planet
  • These characteristics put it among the top three most Earth-like planets
  • It receives about the same average stellar energy as Earth does, because red dwarfs shine more dimly than our Sun, and may have similar temperatures to our planet
  • These characteristics put it among the top three most Earth-like planets, according to the Earth Similarity Index developed by scientists at the University of Puerto Rica in Arecibo
  • research group
  • says that if the planet has a similar atmosphere to Earth it may be possible for life to survive, although seasonal shifts would be extreme
  • "However, given the large mass of the planet, it seems likely that it would possess a massive atmosphere, which may well render the planet inhospitable
  • A denser atmosphere would trap heat and could make it more like a super-Venus and too hot for life," says Professor Tinney.
  • The planet was discovered from its gravitational pull on its parent star, which causes the star to wobble slightly
  • This team had previously found, in 2009, that the star has a cold Jupiter-like planet with a near-circular orbit of about nine years, called Gliese GJ b.
Mars Base

This Week's Sky at a Glance, July 4-12 | Sky & Telescope - 0 views

www.skyandtelescope.com/...weeks-sky-glance-july-412

scibyte135 LookingUp

shared by Mars Base on 08 Jul 14 - No Cached
  • Friday, July 11
  • Mars and Spica form a striking pair in the southwestern sky at dusk! They're now just under 2° apart.
  • On Sunday evening they'll be at their minimum separation, 1.3°
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • Full Moon tonight and Saturday night
  • Mercury
  • low in the glow of sunrise to the lower left of Venus
  • Venus
  • low in the east during dawn
  • Mars (
  • high in the southwest at dusk with Spica, a little fainter, closing in on it each day
  • Jupiter is lost in the sunset
  • Saturn
  • Saturn
  • highest in the south in late twilight
Mars Base

'Scarecrow' Rover Goes Off-Roading in Dumont Dunes - Mars Science Laboratory - 0 views

mars.jpl.nasa.gov/...index.cfm

scibyte135 Curiosity

shared by Mars Base on 04 Jul 14 - No Cached
  • Curiosity’s Stunt Double
  • Scarecrow has a full-size version of Curiosity's wheels and other driving equipment, but doesn't have the "brains."
  • Engineers use it to test drive on different types of terrain
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  • engineers scour the Dumont Dunes area and look for the best spot to practice driving over dunes like those Curiosity may drive over on Mars
  • a course of sand ripples for the Scarecrow rover to drive over. On Mars, the Curiosity rover may cross similar sand ripples on its way to Mount Sharp
  • Engineers test the rover’s driving skills on soft sand ripples
Mars Base

Reversal of type 1 diabetes in mice may eventually help humans - 0 views

medicalxpress.com/...es-mice-eventually-humans.html

scibyte135 Diabetes

shared by Mars Base on 15 Jun 14 - No Cached
  • Investigators at the University of Cincinnati (UC) have found a therapy that reverses new onset Type 1 diabetes in mouse models and may advance efforts in combating the disease among humans.
  • Type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed in children and young adults and affects about 5 percent of all people with diabetes
  • . In Type 1 diabetes, the body does not produce sufficient insulin, which is central to glucose metabolism: without insulin, blood glucose rises
  • ...15 more annotations...
  • There is no cure for Type 1 diabetes though it can be controlled with insulin therapy
  • by using an antibody to stimulate a specific molecule in the innate immune system we can reverse—with a high rate of success—new onset diabetes in mice that have already developed the symptoms of diabetes
  • The cause of this reversal is a preservation of the endocrine pancreatic beta cells that produce insulin
  • These cells are preserved from the autoimmune attack which is the hallmark of Type 1 diabetes
  • The key to reversing Type 1 diabetes in mice,
  • is catching the disease at its onset, which is typically within a very short time window
  • The time frame would be longer in humans, but it is still a relatively short time from new onset to end-stage Type 1 diabetes
  • Ridgway says this approach differs from most in combating Type 1 diabetes because his team's therapies in mice do not directly interact with T-cells
  • treatment of autoimmunity has often been directed at suppressing an over-zealous adaptive immune response by eliminating auto-reactive T-cells
  • In Type 1 diabetes, autoimmunity causes the body's T-cells to attack its insulin-producing beta cells.
  • targeting a different part of the immune system
  • There are two arms of the immune system.
  • respond to many different antigens
  • The innate system tends to have a stereotypical response. We are targeting a receptor that is found mostly on the innate immune cells, such as dendritic cells.
  • Additional study will be required, but the therapy may hold promise because one agonistic anti-TLR4 agent is already FDA approved and others are under development
Mars Base

India's 1st Mars Mission Celebrates 100 Days and 100 Million Kilometers from Mars Orbit... - 0 views

www.universetoday.com/...ising-right-behind-nasas-maven

scibyte135 India-MarsOrbiterMission

shared by Mars Base on 22 Jun 14 - No Cached
  • India’s
  • Mars Orbiter Mission or MOM, has just celebrated 100 days and 100 million kilometers out from Mars on June 16, until the crucial Mars Orbital Insertion (MOI) engine firing
  • NASA’s MAVEN orbiter
  • ...19 more annotations...
  • MAVEN arrives about 48 hours ahead of MOM on September 21, 2014.
  • rendezvous on September 24, 2014
  • MOM probe
  • will study the atmosphere and sniff for signals of methane.
  • Working together, MOM and MAVEN will revolutionize our understanding of Mars atmosphere, dramatic climatic history and potential for habitability
  • MOM was designed and developed by the Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) at a cost of $69 Million and marks India’s maiden foray into interplanetary flight
  • before reaching Mars, mission navigators must keep the craft
  • on course
  • from Earth to Mars through a series of in flight Trajectory Correction Maneuvers (TMSs).
  • The second TCM was just successfully performed on June 11 by firing the spacecraft’s 22 Newton thrusters for a duration of 16 seconds
  • TCM-1 was conducted on December 11, 2013 by firing the 22 Newton Thrusters for 40.5 seconds
  • Two additional TCM firings are planned in August and September 2014.
  • the probe has flown about 70% of the way to Mars, traveling about 466 million kilometers out of a total of 680 million kilometers (400 million miles) overall, with about 95 days to go.
  • One way radio signals to Earth take approximately 340 seconds
  • ISRO reports the spacecraft and its five science instruments are healthy. It is being continuously monitored by the Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) and NASA JPL’s Deep Space Network (DSN). Remove this ad
  • Although they were developed independently and have different suites of scientific instruments, the MAVEN and MOM science teams will “work together” to unlock the secrets of Mars atmosphere and climate history, MAVEN’s top scientist
  • MAVEN’s principal Investigator
  • “We have had some discussions with their science team, and there are some overlapping objectives,”
  • “At the point where we [MAVEN and MOM] are both in orbit collecting data we do plan to collaborate and work together with the data jointly,”
Mars Base

Type 1 diabetes 'reversed' in mice - Medical News Today - 0 views

www.medicalnewstoday.com/...278289.php

scibyte135 Diabetes

shared by Mars Base on 07 Jul 14 - No Cached
  • There are two parts to the immune system: the innate immune system, which we are born with and attempts to fight infection straight away; and the adaptive immune system, which takes time to mount a response that is more specific to the particular pathogen.
  • The innate immune system includes a group of cells known as dendritic cells that send messages to the adaptive immune system
  • Previous studies have already established that non-obese diabetic mice have faulty innate immune cells, and that this could be partly due to a defect in TLR4, which many suspect helps to prevent type 1 diabetes when it functions normally
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • While the TLR4 pathway in humans is similar to that of mice, there are some differences, so further study is required to see if the treatment will work in humans
  • there is also a chance, if the therapy works in humans, that it will do so with an agonistic anti-TLR4 agent that is already approved, or under development
Mars Base

Sun sends more 'tsunami waves' to Voyager 1 - 0 views

phys.org/...14-07-sun-tsunami-voyager.html

scibyte136 Voyager1

shared by Mars Base on 12 Jul 14 - No Cached
  • NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has experienced a new "tsunami wave" from the sun as it sails through interstellar space
  • Such waves are what led scientists to the conclusion, in the fall of 2013, that Voyager had indeed left our sun's bubble, entering a new frontier
  • "Normally, interstellar space is like a quiet lake,
  • ...15 more annotations...
  • Ed Stone of the California Institute of Technology
  • But when our sun has a burst, it sends a shock wave outward that reaches Voyager about a year later. The wave causes the plasma surrounding the spacecraft to sing."
  • Data from this newest tsunami wave generated by our sun confirm that Voyager is in interstellar space
  • The mission has not left the solar system—it has yet to reach a final halo of comets surrounding our sun—but it broke through the wind-blown bubble, or heliosphere, encasing our sun
  • ur sun goes through periods of increased activity, where it explosively ejects material from its surface, flinging it outward
  • These events, called coronal mass ejections, generate shock, or pressure, waves. Three such waves have reached Voyager 1 since it entered interstellar space in 2012
  • The first was too small to be noticed when it occurred and was only discovered later, but the second was clearly registered by the spacecraft's cosmic ray instrument in March of 2013
  • another instrument on Voyager
  • The plasma wave instrument can detect oscillations of the plasma electrons
  • This ringing of the plasma bell is what led to the key evidence showing Voyager had entered interstellar space
  • "The tsunami wave rings the plasma like a bell," said Stone. "While the plasma wave instrument lets us measure the frequency of this ringing, the cosmic ray instrument reveals what struck the bell—the shock wave from the sun."
  • denser plasma oscillates faster, the team was able to figure out the density of the plasma
  • In 2013, thanks to the second tsunami wave, the team acquired evidence that Voyager had been flying for more than a year through plasma that was 40 times denser than measured before—a telltale indicator of interstellar space
  • Now, the team has new readings from a third wave from the sun, first registered in March of this year
  • These data show that the density of the plasma is similar to what was measured previously, confirming the spacecraft is in interstellar space
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