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Mars Base

Titan's Haze Is Dropping - Science News - 0 views

www.sciencenews.org/...Titans_haze_is_dropping

scibyte39 titan

shared by Mars Base on 21 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • sky is falling on Titan
  • shroud has plunged more than 100 kilometers since the Cassini spacecraft whizzed by in 2004
  • suggesting that shifting seasons can do more than dump rain
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • hazy layer that hovered 500 kilometers
  • sunk to an altitude of around 360 kilometers
  • One year on Titan is the equivalent of nearly 30 years on Earth
  • one Titan year after Voyager, the moon looks more or less as it did in 1981
  • Cassini first swung by in 2004, the haze had ballooned outward and covered the entire moon except for the wintry north pole vortex
  • , as winter comes to the south, the haze is shrinking, and images snapped by Cassini in late February reveal the beginnings of a vortex at the south pole
Mars Base

Photos of Asteroid Vesta Reveal Bright Surprises | Dawn Spacecraft | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/-vesta-surprising-surface.html

scibyte39 Vesta MarMedia

shared by Mars Base on 21 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • amazing new photos
  • reveal strange features never-before-seen on an asteroid
  • Dawn spacecraft highlight odd, shiny spots that are nearly twice as bright as other parts of the asteroid
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • suggesting it is original material left over from the space rock's birth 4 billion years ago
  • Vesta is one of the largest and brightest objects in the main asteroid belt
  • bright material originates from Vesta and has undergone little change since the formation of Vesta over 4 billion years ago
  • photos show surprisingly bright spots all over Vesta
  • bright areas range from large spots (around several hundred feet across) to simply huge, with some stretching across 10 miles (16 kilometers) of terrain
  • [Video: Vesta — Asteroid or Dwarf Planet?]
  • Astronomers have known about variations in Vesta's brightness for some time
  • Photos taken by the Hubble Space Telescope before Dawn arrived at the asteroid also revealed the bright patches.
  • scientists suspect the bright patches on Vesta were exposed during violent collisions with other space rocks
Mars Base

First-Ever Geologic Map of Jupiter's Volcanic Moon Io Unveiled | Jupiter's Pizza Moon |... - 0 views

www.space.com/moon-io-global-map-photos.html

scibyte39 Io jupiter MarMedia

shared by Mars Base on 21 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • first time, scientists have created a global geologic map of Jupiter's moon Io, the most volcanically active object in the solar system.
  • published this week by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS),
  • new map of Io's geology provides for the first time a detailed record of the different types of landforms and deposits that form the surface
Mars Base

Mercury Surprises: Tiny Planet Has Odd Interior, Active Past | Messenger Spacecraft | S... - 0 views

www.space.com/ries-messenger-spacecraft.html

scibyte39 MarMedia mercury messenger

shared by Mars Base on 21 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • interior unlike that of any other rocky planet in our solar system and a surprisingly dynamic history,
  • remained geologically active for a surprisingly large chunk of its evolutionary history, researchers said
  • planet's huge iron core is even larger than they had thought
  • ...24 more annotations...
  • likely overlain with a solid shell of iron and sulfur
  • layered structure not known to exist on Earth, Venus or Mars
  • Messenger has taken nearly 100,000 images and made more than 4 million measurements of the planet's surface
  • probe is mapping Mercury's surface and gathering data on the planet's composition, magnetic environment and tenuous atmosphere, among other features
  • s original science campaign was designed to last one Earth year
  • NASA announced in November that it had granted the spacecraft a one-year mission extension
  • officially began its extended mission earlier this week.
  • In one study
  • They found that the range of elevations was smaller than that found on either Mars or the moon.
  • also observed that the floors of many Mercury craters have been tilted substantially
  • suggest that internal forces pushed the craters up after the impacts created them
  • not out of the question that Mercury is still active today
  • not very likely
  • have not observed an active eruption or extrusion
  • determined that Mercury has "mascons," large positive gravity anomalies associated with big impact basins
  • first discovered on the moon in 1968 and caused great problems in the Apollo program because they tugged low-orbiting spacecraft around and made navigation difficult
  • Subsequently mascons were discovered on Mars
  • find out that Mercury has
  • appear to be a common feature of terrestrial planetary bodies
  • gravity calculations also suggest that Mercury has an iron core that comprises roughly 85 percent of the planet's radius
  • Earth's iron core covers about half of its radius
  • new findings should help shed light on Mercury's past
  • formation and evolution of rocky planets in general
  • looks like a layer of solid iron sulfide overlies Mercury's core — a feature not known to exist on any other terrestrial planet
Mars Base

Jellyfish inspires latest ocean-powered robot (w/ video) - 0 views

www.physorg.com/...ocean-powered-robot-video.html

scibyte39 robot MarMedia

shared by Mars Base on 21 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • American researchers have created a robotic jellyfish, named Robojelly, which not only exhibits characteristics ideal to use in underwater search and rescue operations, but could, theoretically at least, never run out of energy thanks to it being fuelled by hydrogen.
  • Constructed from a set of smart materials
  • ability to change shape or size as a result of a stimulus, and carbon nanotubes, Robojelly is able to mimic the natural movements of a jellyfish when placed in a water tank and is powered by chemical reactions taking place on its surface.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • To our knowledge, this is the first successful powering of an underwater robot using external hydrogen as a fuel source
  • jellyfish is an ideal invertebrate to base the vehicle on due to its simple swimming action
  • replicated in the vehicle using commercially-available shape memory alloys (SMA) – smart materials that "remember" their original shape – wrapped in carbon nanotubes and coated with a platinum black powder.
  • powered by heat-producing chemical reactions between the oxygen and hydrogen in water and the platinum on its surface
  • renewable element means Robojelly can regenerate fuel from its natural surroundings and therefore doesn't require an external power source or the constant replacement of batteries.
  • heat given off by these reactions is transferred to the artificial muscles of the robot, causing them to transform into different shapes.
  • robot still needs development to achieve full functionality and efficiency
Mars Base

First Ever Geologic Map of Io: 425 Volcanoes, No Craters - 0 views

www.universetoday.com/...of-io-425-volcanoes-no-craters

scibyte39 Io jupiter MarMedia

shared by Mars Base on 21 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • One of the reasons for making this map was to create a tool for continuing scientific studies of Io
  • target planning of Io observations on future missions to the Jupiter system
  • 19 different surface material types
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • mapping identified 425 paterae, or individual volcanic centers.
  • determined that most of the active hot spots occur in paterae, which cover less than 3 percent of Io’s surface
  • one feature you won’t see on the geologic map: impact craters
  • testifying to Io’s very active volcanic resurfacing
  • Io is so volcanically active — more than 25 times more volcanically active than Earth
  • most of the long-term surface changes resulting from volcanism are restricted to less than 15 percent of the surface
Mars Base

Self-Propelled Floating Robot Navigates an Arizona Lake | Space Exploration | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/ot-navigates-arizona-lake.html

scibyte39 robot MarMedia

shared by Mars Base on 21 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • floating robot made to land on a lake, propel itself around and gather data about the water and atmosphere as it goes
  • built it for future lake-landing missions to one of Saturn's moons, Titan.
  • could also be used for science and military missions on Earth,
  • ...12 more annotations...
  • weighs about 100 pounds,
  • In the video, the robot turns some circles and navigates on the lake's surface.
  • can carry 150 pounds' worth of sensing equipment
  • can be controlled from anywhere around the world using an Internet connection
  • working on making the craft more autonomous
  • wants to create data-gathering robots that have a sense of curiosity
  • investigate certain places, learn from what they find and use that information to decide what to explore next. 
  • an improved version
  • could help officials survey the cleanup of dangerously polluted water in munitions dumps and mines
  • also could help ocean scientists gather data about currents and pollution.
  • For a mission to Titan
  • NASA is interested in rovers that can land on liquid rather than on solid ground
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